Warcraft 3, Blizzard’s real-time strategy game from 2002, is getting a brand-new patch. Patch 1.29 has been released onto Blizzard’s public test realm and includes balance changes for heroes, 16:9 widescreen support and updates to the map pools.
But a patch to a 16-year-old game isn’t the real news here. In fact, Blizzard last updated Warcraft 3 in 2017 and has been working on updates to its classic games for years. What’s potentially more interesting is the installation process for the strategy game itself and Blizzard’s plans to promote Warcraft 3’s latest update.
User r_ez on the World of Warcraft subreddit pointed out that installing Warcraft 3 will open a new launcher, similar to that of the current Battle.net launcher. Polygon was able to replicate this by installing Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. According to WoWhead, this launcher was previously only used to update the game, while the installer was still legacy.
This change in style has the community thinking that Warcraft 3 could be integrated into Blizzard’s Battle.net client. There is also widespread hope that this new installer could herald the long-speculated Warcraft 3 remaster, akin to the StarCraft remaster that Blizzard released last year.
To further increase speculation, Blizzard recently announced a Warcraft 3 invitational tournament. The tournament will be held Feb. 27-28.
Hosted by casters Neo and Remo of Back2Warcraft, join us on February 27 and February 28 on Twitch for a slew of special events, including Free-for-All, 4v4’s, and other friendly competitions. Well-known Warcraft III competitors from around the world will be getting together live at Blizzard HQ to showcase their talents in friendly competition!
We love and continue to support our Warcraft III community, and we’re excited to see classic competitors like Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen, Park “Lyn” Joon, and Kim “ReMinD” Sung Sik try out all the new PTR changes for themselves—including balance adjustments to many heroes, 16:9 widescreen support, and more – all playable now on the PTR!
Will Warcraft 3: Remastered be announced at the invitational? It’s certainly possible. After all, StarCraft: Remastered was first announced around this time last year at an event in Seoul, Korea. All we know for sure is that a Warcraft 3 remaster may be closer than we thought.
Polygon reached out to Blizzard about the Warcraft 3: Remastered rumors, but the company said it doesn’t comment on rumors and speculation.