Blizzard recently announced a remaster for their legendary real-time strategy game, Warcraft III. While the remaster of the beloved RTS first seemed like a simply coat of HD paint, we’ve been finding out bits and pieces of the changes Blizzard is making to the game.
So far these changes have been to further refine and ultimately better balance its core mechanics so the aged RTS is a better eSports contender. Now, we’ve learned the game’s story is being retconned to further bring it in line with the changes made in World of Warcraft, their MMORPG follow-up that sort of did its own thing with established Warcraft lore.
“When we went to Korea [for StarCraft: Remastered] and talked with pros and people still playing in game rooms, the overwhelming feedback was ‘Please don’t change the game.’ ‘Make it pretty, give us a modern matchmaker and then quietly step away, Blizzard.’ Getting those marching orders made the endeavor not just easier but more focused,” senior producer Pete Stillwell said in an interview with Polygon. “But with [Warcraft 3: Reforged], we’ve talked with the communities in Europe and in China [who say], ‘Hey, we don’t think this game is done.”
Stillwell later clarified that they don’t want to simply remaster Warcraft III, but instead “do more with it,” hence the push to retcon things in the game’s various storylines came up. This is being done by writer Christie Golden, an author that worked with Blizzard on multiple Warcraft novels.
Golden is working to bring “parity” with the stories in Warcraft III and its MMO successor World of Warcraft, with a “renewed focus” on a few central characters “that we thought deserved a little bit more time in the limelight.”
Stillwell noted that there’s been “16 years of evolution of this franchise outside of this game.” He added that “central characters like Jaina and Sylvanas” mean “so much more to the world now who didn’t get as much focus” in Warcraft III, mostly due to us not knowing where the series would take them.
While there are certainly some things only added in World of Warcraft that wouldn’t make sense if not for being included in this new version of Warcraft III, it’ll be interesting to see how much is changed.
Warcraft III: Reforged is launching sometime next year, for PC and Mac. The game is up for pre-order over on its official website.
