Hail Warchiefs, Lichs, Commanders, and Keepers,

Thanks for the help on PTR over the weekend. We’ll keep an eye on live health, but hope we’ve addressed the major issues introduced with 1.31 so the team can pour full effort into Reforged.

KNOWN ISSUE
There is a problem patching from in game that may result in an infinite loop. WE are working on a fix, but you can use the standalone updater if you encounter this issue.

SPECIFIC CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

• All natives are now zero-indexed

BUG FIXES

• The game successfully regains focus to fullscreen after minimizing during download or lobby transitions
• Custom maps appear on the game creation list
• Browsing the game creation list no longer causes a crash
• Lua maps no longer crash on save
• Map data no longer corrupts on save
• Illusion no longer deals 1 damage
• Elf units set to patrol or follow during the night cycle no longer remain in Shadowmeld
• Using Staff of Teleport on a possessed worker followed by casting Scroll of Teleport no longer causes a desync
• Video options are saved when switching between windowed and fullscreen mode with Alt+Enter
• Units\Creeps\Medivh\GenericGlow2_mip1.blp no longer missing
• Objects\InventoryItems\PotofGold\GOLDCoin.blp no longer missing
• (2)Terenas Stand LV - Each Dark Wizard replaced with a Renegade Wizard and a Rogue

Greetings Raiders, Tinkerers, Harbingers, and Wardens,

Please join us over the weekend to help vet these fixes on the test servers.

SPECIFIC CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

• All natives are now zero-indexed

BUG FIXES

• The game successfully regains focus to fullscreen after minimizing during download or lobby transitions
• Custom maps appear on the game creation list
• Browsing the game creation list no longer causes a crash
• Lua maps no longer crash on save
• Map data no longer corrupts on save
• Illusion no longer deals 1 damage
• Elf units set to patrol or follow during the night cycle no longer remain in Shadowmeld
• Using Staff of Teleport on a possessed worker followed by casting Scroll of Teleport no longer causes a desync
• Video options are saved when switching between windowed and fullscreen mode with Alt+Enter
• Units\Creeps\Medivh\GenericGlow2_mip1.blp no longer missing
• Objects\InventoryItems\PotofGold\GOLDCoin.blp no longer missing
• (2)Terenas Stand LV - Each Dark Wizard replaced with a Renegade Wizard and a Rogue

Hail Warchiefs, Lichs, Commanders, and Keepers,

This is our last major patch prior to Reforged. In addition to sweeping enhancements to World Editor, it contains major updates to the rendering technology, and we’ve been making significant server patches in parallel.

Progress isn’t without its compromises. The team did their damnedest to get Arranged Teams working within the legacy system. We’ve made strides to that end, but were unhappy with the experience. We decided it was more important to get this behemoth of a patch out the door then continue to delay. That means AT will return with Reforged, not before.

We deeply appreciate those of you playing on ladder, in custom games, and creating new maps. One day we’ll look back at these moments in the crucible of change ruefully, but until then your passion fuels us. The march toward Reforged continues.

SPECIFIC CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS

• Integrated Direct3D 11 and Metal graphic APIs
• Added 64 bit support for Windows and Mac
• Dropped 32 bit support for Mac
• Sounds are disabled when the client is not active
• Expanded supported window modes within Options
• See World Editor Updates for more details on many additions and improvements including beta support for Lua
• Join the fray over in Balance Updates for multiplayer and map pool changes
• Battle.net disabled for Reign of Chaos
  Dev Comment: We’ve been encountering non-trivial issues connecting players over Battle.net as we unify the game client - a prime example being disconnects caused by erroneous matches between Chaos and Throne. Custom maps created with RoC data are still playable, this affects melee only. A major benefit to this change is players who owned Reign of Chaos only now have The Frozen Throne.

BUG FIXES

• Triggers won’t be lost during saves (Thank you, Bribe)
• 256 bones are available (Thank you, Retera)
• Custom movies play correctly (Thank you, Gustafsson)
• DBZ Tribute Elite 2.5.1g no longer causes desyncs
• Builders_and_Fighters_CFVers_1.08 no longer causes desyncs
• Char Def 4 3.0 Fix 5 English loads
• HM RPG v7.00 loads
• NCD6.9 ENG Dannebox loads
• Maps no longer download again with each patch
• Sound data no longer transferred between maps
• Commands issued while a unit is affected by Possession no longer trigger after control is restored
• Switching window focus with Open Broadcaster Software running no longer causes freezes
• Combat and death sounds are no longer played globally for observers
• Movement speed and attack speed data labels are no longer reversed for Envenomed Spear in the editor
• Disease Cloud will now stack properly when using custom buff data
• Runed Bracer’s tooltip now accurately describes that it reduces spell damage, not magic damage

KNOWN ISSUES

• Mac clients are not able to take screenshots
• Lua errors report the wrong line number
• Mac requires legacy CD keys to launch
• Arranged teams are not available

COMMAND LINE CHANGES

• The ‘/’ command line argument flag is no longer supported (use ‘-’ instead)
• Removed: -nativefullscr (Replacement: -windowmode fullscreen)
• Removed: -fullscreen (Replacement: -windowmode windowedfullscreen)
• Removed: -window (Replacement: -windowmode windowed)
• Removed: -swtnl (Replacement: nothing, Warcraft uses hardware texture and lighting)
• Removed: -d3d (Replacement: -graphicsapi Direct3D9 [May be removed in the future])
• Remvoed: -opengl (Replacement: -graphicsapi OpenGL [May be removed in the future])

REGISTRY CHANGES

• Removed: “Gfx Fullscreen” (Replacement: the window mode is now stored in the preferences)
• Removed: “Gfx OpenGL” (Replacement: -graphicsapi OpenGL on the command line)
• Removed: “Gfx SwTNL” (Replacement: nothing, Warcraft uses hardware texture and lighting)

WORLD EDITOR UPDATES
(Beta) Added Lua as a supported scripting language. To create a Lua map:

1. Create a blank map
2. Open Scenario > Map Options
3. Select Lua from the Script Language dropdown

• Maps save in the selected language
• Maps that are written only in standard libraries can switch to Lua
• Maps that use custom script will have to disable all custom triggers before conversion

(Beta) Object modification system API allows new changes to many items, abilities, units and more at run-time.

• Maps can be saved and loaded as folders (as well as MPQs)
  • The map structure can now be updated outside of the editor (such as adding files). In the editor go to File > Save As and then select to save the map as a directory or an MPQ. This feature coupled with auto-import allows maps to be manipulated and developed by multi-person teams more easily.
• Loose files in a map are now auto-imported in World Editor
  • Historically, an imported file would be noted in the .imp file. Loading the map only load/save files that were stored in the import file. Auto-import loads and save files that are stored in the map folder automatically. This also makes manipulation of map files outside the editor possible.
• Added support for many popular community created functions
• Added Custom User Interface functions to allow map makers to add, remove, and adjust UI frames
• When saving a map as an MPQ, the editor no longer saves file times to make maps deterministic
• The editor now creates a backup map file on save
• The data layout in CASC has changed, each directory with the “.w3mod” suffix acts as an overlay for the engine
• Maps are .w3mods with a different extension (.w3m or .w3x) which allows us to support maps that contain all locales in one map
• Folders can now be nested in the Trigger Editor
• Globals are now part of the trigger tree, and can be put in relevant categories
• Doodad height is now an adjustable property (Requires “Reset Fixed Object Heights” disabled)
• When creating new objects in the object editor you are now given the option to customize it
• Scripts can now detect when any unit is damaged
• Scripts can now detect and modify the damage done before armor
• Scripts can now detect and modify the attack type, damage type, and weapon type (Note, modifying these only works in the pre-armor event)
• GroupAddUnit/GroupRemoveUnit now returns true/false if a unit was added/removed
• More group manipulation natives (BlzGroupAddGroupFast, BlzGroupRemoveGroupFast, BlzGroupGetSize, BlzGroupUnitAt)
• Bitwise functions (BlzBitOr, BlzBitAnd, BlzBitXor)
• When JassHelper is enabled, it now only shows the JassHelper error dialog
• Removed deadzone when using the editor on widescreen displays
• Tooltip Previewer displays how text will appear in game
• BlzSetAbilityResearchExtendedTooltip now displays the correct string
• BlzGetLocalUnitZ now returns the correct height
• Setting Use Custom Color to True for the waterfall doodad no longer causes a crash
• Units given custom spellcaster icons do not crash the game client when selected
• Certain custom models are no longer lost due to textures being relocated in the game
• Items have a new field, Stock Initial After Start Delay. This allows mapmakers to specify how much of an item starts in stock on a shop if it has an initial start delay.

BALANCE UPDATES

ORC
Blademaster
Windwalk

• Cooldown now occurs when Windwalk breaks
• Reduced the cooldown of Windwalk from 5 seconds to 2 seconds across all levels

Critical Strike

• Now benefits from all damage once again, not just base damage

Dev Comment: Reducing Critical Strike’s damage sources lowered overall burst, and had the downside of making his stats unclear. The Blademaster was also able to strike and fade away without recourse if Windwalk was activated 5 seconds prior to get attacking. These changes increase the Blademaster’s damage, but leaves him vulnerable to counterattack.

Kodo Beast

• Devour can target Mountain Giants without Resistant Skin

Tauren
Pulverize

• Tauren now start with a reduced Pulverize that deals 20 damage
• The Pulverize upgrade has been changed to “Upgrade Pulverize,” which increases the damage of Pulverize to 60
• Upgrade Pulverize lumber cost reduced from 250 to 225 lumber

Dev Comment: Prior changes made the Tauren Totem easier to construct early, but it is still rare to see Tauren on the battlefield. This change is intended to make your first few Tauren more viable to takeover your front line. Reducing the upgrade’s lumber cost also helps with the transition. Overall, your upgrade cost is similar to a fully upgraded Knight or Abomination.

Spiked Barricades

• Reduced the number of upgrade levels from 3 to 2
• Tier 1 is 5 base damage + 20% of the attacker’s damage
• Tier 2 is 5 base damage + 50% of the attacker’s damage

Dev Comment: Spiked Barricades has not had much of a role in high level 1v1 games. Giving the upgrade extra percentage based damage increases the effectiveness against late game units, and reducing upgrade level count should help with it coming online faster. This does make the upgrade more complex, so we look forward to hearing feedback about this direction.

HUMAN

Knight
New Upgrade: Sundering Blades

• Researched at the Barracks
• Requires Castle, Lumber Mill, and Blacksmith
• 100 gold / 100 lumber / 40 second research time
• Increases Knight’s damage against Medium armor by 15%

Dev comment: While the Knight is quite formidable in single combat with other units, we wanted to improve its role vs medium armor further than the default damage bonus of 150%. This allows Knights to be more threatening vs ranged units they chase down, such as Crypt Fiends, and increases their ability to fight against Mountain Giants.

Paladin

• Equipping Orbs no longer slows attack speed when attacking air units

Animal War Training

• Knight base Hit Points increased by 50
• Gryphon Rider base Hit Points increased by 50
• Dragonhawk Rider base Hit Points increased by 50
• Animal War Training provides 100 Hit Points, down from 150
• Animal War Training lumber cost reduced from 175 to 125

Dev comment: This change is intended to help Human players transition to their Tier 3 units. Increasing base hit points should help reduce the reliance on Animal War Training, and reducing the lumber cost should slightly help the overall transition to these units.

Control Magic

• Additional mana cost up from 35% to 45%

Dev comment: We had reduced the additional mana cost of this ability to promote its usage, but it ended up inhibiting more strategies than it promoted.

Orb of Fire

• Bonus Damage reduced from 10 to 7
• No longer gives area of effect damage
• New effect: Decreases the effectiveness of healing abilities and hit point regeneration by 35% for 3 seconds

Dev comment: By shifting the Orb of Fire into an anti-healing role, Human players will be better equipped to focus fire enemy units in the late game against powerful healers like the Death Knight. This should benefit late game unit combinations such as Riflemen, casters, and Gryphons. Its effectiveness is not determined by a unit’s raw stats, so it should be viable for ranged and melee heroes.

NIGHT ELF

• Ultravision is now applied to Mountain Giants, Spirits of Vengeance, and Avatars of Vengeance

Dark Ranger
Life Drain

• Life Drain now applies the Dark Minion effect of the current rank of Black Arrow (Requires at least 1 point in Black Arrow)

Dev comment: Drain Life and Black Arrow didn’t synergize. Black Arrow’s short debuff meant Drain Life was unlikely to result in a Dark Minion. This change benefits Drain Life by letting it gain the intended effect - but not damage bonus - of Black Arrow.

Demon Hunter
Mana Burn

• Mana cost reduced from 60 to 50 across all levels

Dev Comment: While part of the lower usage of DH is due to the popularity of Keeper, we also agreed with feedback that the increased cost of Mana Burn was a factor.

Druid of the Claw
Base Stats

• Minimum damage in bear form increased from 22 to 23

Dev comment: Prior nerfs were in response to feedback that Druids of the Claw were… overbearing… at Tier 3. They stopped mauling structures as badly, but their role became fuzzy with the preeminence of Mountain Giants. This is a small change - Night Elf has been doing well at a high level lately - but is intended to sweeten the honey pot when you decide to feed these beasts.

Glaive Thrower
Vorpal Glaives Upgrade

• Now increases projectile speed from 1400 to 2000
• No longer guaranteed to hit its primary target
• No longer changes to do damage in a line, instead Glaive Throwers keep their pre-upgrade circular area of effect damage

Dev comment: We were not happy with Vorpal Glaives homing ability always inflicting full damage to the target. The upgrade now increases the Glaive’s speed, but returns to having a chance to miss - similar to other siege weapons. This leans into the Glaive Thrower’s personality of being a high velocity siege weapon while fixing the bug.

Hippogryph Rider
Base Stats

• Base hit points increased from 780 to 785

Dev comment: The Hippogryph Rider is a merge of both the Hippogryph and Archer, this means they share hit points as well. This should have minimal balance impact beyond making it more consistent with their individual hit points.

Keeper of the Grove
Base Stats

• Night vision radius reduced from 900 to 800
• Base Intelligence reduced from 19 to 18

Tranquility

• Invulnerability duration reduced from 3 seconds to 1

Force of Nature

• Treant base damage reduced from 15 to 14

Dev Comment: Keeper has become the pick following his buffs in earlier patches. We are dialing him back some to help promote other heroes - as diverse hero options is one of the best ways to mix up gameplay. The night vision reduction reverts an unintended change.

UNDEAD

Gargoyle
Base Stats

• Movement Speed increased from 350 to 375
• Gold Cost reduced from 185 to 175

Dev Comment: Raising the speed of Gargoyles above ground units allows them to better pick off retreating enemies or intercept reinforcements trickling into the main force. They are still slower than the anti-air units designed to counter them though. Reducing their cost makes them a bit more competitive choice with Crypt Fiends.

Necromancer
New Spell Order

• Cripple → Raise Dead → Unholy Frenzy

Cripple

• Now 85 mana
• Reduces movement speed by 75%, reduces attack speed by 10%, and reduces attack damage by 35%

Unholy Frenzy

• Renamed to Incite Unholy Frenzy
• Sacrifices a target friendly Undead unit
• All nearby non-mechanical units gain Unholy Frenzy - including neutral and enemy units
• Raised to 175 mana
• Added a 5 second cooldown
• Ability area of effect is 250
• Attack speed bonus reduced from 75% to 50%

Skeletal Mastery

• Now requires Necromancer Adept Training to unlock

Dev Comment: Currently Necromancers must be produced in large numbers right away in order to summon many skeletons, as their single target spells are locked behind the Necromancer training upgrades. This commitment to Necromancers can be problematic as the opposing player has a large window to scout and prepare. We want to address this by rearranging and revamping the skills of the Necromancer so that producing a few early on can provide value right away while massing them later still lets players summon a large skeleton army.

Ghoul Frenzy

• Increase attack speed bonus from 25% to 35%

Dev Comment: Currently, this upgrade makes Ghouls not quite strong enough to make up for how poorly they trade vs the other race’s similarly upgraded units. Increasing the attack bonus by 10% changes a number of unit relations to better favor Ghouls in direct combat. Additionally, the change to Necromancers having Cripple right away should also assist Ghoul effectiveness at Tier 2.

(New Item) Ritual Dagger
Shop Details

• Bought from Tomb of Relics
• Available at Tier 1
• 125 Gold, 2 Charges
• Stock 1
• 90 second restock time

Item Details

• Sacrifices a friendly Undead unit to heal 100 hit points to all friendly non-mechanical units
• Damage interrupts regeneration
• 5 second cooldown between charges
• 400 cast range
• 300 effect radius

Dev Comment: With this item the Undead race will have access to an early game healing effect outside of the Death Knight. Using in conjunction with Rod of Necromancy or Crypt Lord Beetles gives more viability to creep and fight early game. We added the interrupt from damage to match the intent of a recovery mechanism between fights.

NEUTRAL UNITS

Alchemist
Healing Spray

• Cooldown increased from 0 to 6 seconds

Acid Bomb

• Level 1: Primary damage reduced from 6 to 5, and secondary damage reduced from 4 to 3
• Level 2: Primary damage reduced from 11 to 10, and secondary damage reduced from 7 to 6

Transmute

• Bonus gold granted reduced from 125% to 100%

Dev Comment: The Alchemist continued to be too well rounded. Healing Spray’s cooldown is now in line with similar abilities - such as Blizzard - and we are reducing some of his early to mid game damage compared to other damage dealer heroes. Reducing Transmute is aimed at late game where it over-performed in teams and FFA.

Firelord
Soul Burn

• Mana cost reduced from 85 to 65
• Level 1: Damage reduced from 125 to 80
• Level 2: Damage reduced from 270 to 200
• Level 3: Damage reduced from 450 to 340

Dev Comment: We are trying out a new direction for Soul Burn. The Firelord had a lot of mana tension between his 3 active abilities. This aims to reduce some of the mana tension so Soul Burn’s attack damage reduction and single target silence are more impactful to play.

Pandaren Brewmaster
Breath of Fire

• Level 1: Increased damage from 5 to 7
• Level 2: Increased damage from 10 to 14
• Level 3: Increased damage from 15 to 21

Dev Comment: The Brewmaster’s role as an area of effect damage dealer was overshadowed by other heroes after his previous round of changes. As the main role of the Brewmaster, we wanted to bring the panda-monium back to his kit.

GENERAL ITEMS

Boots of Speed

• Removed from the default creep camp drop table
• Starts with 2 stock on Goblin Merchants after initial cooldown

Dev comment: The primary goal here was to prevent network connectivity wars for the first purchase. Moving Boots of Speed out of the default creep drop table is experimental. It’s one of the last items that can be bought at the Goblin Merchant and dropped by creeps, and by increasing the starting stock the item should naturally be more available to both players.

Cloak of Shadows

• Heroes carrying this item can now Shadowmeld during the day as well as at night
• Using this Hide ability also works with units that have Shadowmeld

Dev comment: Currently Cloak of Shadows has low desirability among many players. It also is one of the few items that deactivates for portions of the game without player input. Making it usable during the day should give it more flexibility.

Crystal Ball

• Item level decreased from 5 to 3
• Gold price reduced from 500 to 300

Dev comment: At level 5 the Crystal Ball is noticeably less powerful than the other item drop options. It does provide ‘free’ scouting which may be helpful, but perhaps more helpful in the early game than later on.

Lion Horn of Stormwind

• Devotion Aura effect increased from 1 bonus armor to 2

Periapt of Vitality

• Gold price reduced from 350 to 325

Dev comment: The Periapt was the only item in the tier that wasn’t 325 gold.

Rings of Protection

• All levels: Gold price adjusted to be the same as other permanent items of the same level
• Level 2: Damage reduction increased from +2 to +3
• Level 3: Damage reduction increased from +3 to +4
• Level 6: Damage reduction increased from +4 to +5
• Level 7: Removed from creep drop tables

Dev comment: We get quite a bit of feedback about the Rings of Protection being under-powered compared to other items in their tier. So we increased the bonus armor they provide by 1. We are removing the highest tier ring as it is often less impactful for heroes who obtain it compared with other options in that tier.

Scourge Bone Chimes

• Vampiric Aura effect increased from 15% to 20%

Dev comment: As a baseline, aura items should at least be the same as a level 1 hero ability. Since Devotion Aura and Vampiric Aura were buffed, we are increasing the effect of their respective aura items as well.

Sentry Wards

• Duration decreased from 5 minutes to 3 minutes

Dev comment: High level feedback is that while this item’s duration is already lower than the Witch Doctor’s Sentry Ward already, it still provides too much scouting information overall.

Tome of Experience

• No longer a random drop from creep camps

Dev comment: Experience comes from the blood of your enemies! We believe one of the core fun parts of Warcraft III melee is the tension between players leveling up their heroes. Tome of Experience changes this by giving the player who finds it a big bump in power but in a way that an opponent cannot prepare for or predict. Since this tome already has reduced effectiveness in late game there was concern that simply reducing its experience amount would make it feel uninteresting late game, while still maintaining its issues early game. So we are going to remove it.

_Warsong Battle Drums _

• Now provides the same ‘War Drums’ Command Aura buff as Kodo Beasts

Dev comment: This is currently the only aura item that stacks with a similar aura from one of the playable races. This is a slight nerf to Orc, but it does make the aura items overall more unified and operate without exceptions.

MAP POOL CHANGES

• Plunder Isle LV has been removed from 1v1 ladder
• Tirisfal Glades LV has been removed from 1v1 ladder
• Nomad Isles has been added to 1v1 ladder
• Ancient Isles has been added to 1v1 ladder
• Battleground has been removed from 3v3 ladder
• Battleground LV has been added to 3v3 ladder
• Timbermaw Hold (RoC version) has been removed from 3v3 ladder
• Timbermaw Hold (TFT version) has been added to 3v3 ladder
• Blasted Lands has been removed from 4v4 ladder
• Nerubian Passage has been added to 4v4 ladder

(2)EchoIsles

• Changed terrain around the western green gnoll camp to make it less likely for player units to accidentally walk into it
• Added trees and rearranged doodads behind Mercenary Camps to make them more equal

(2)AncientIsles

• Several changes made from original author’s version to make it ladder ready

(3)NomadIsles

• New map from W3Arena
• Several changes made from original author’s version to make it ladder ready

(8)NerubianPassage

• New map from Hive Workshop
• Small changes made from original author’s version to make it ladder ready

(2)NorthernIsles

• Natural expansion creep camp changed from 2 Mud Golems, 2 Ogre Warriors and Rock Golem to Ice Troll, Ice Troll Priest, Tuskarr Trapper, and Ogre Magi. Item drop no longer includes a level 2 power up.
• Red creep camp changed from Blue Drake and 4 Ice Troll Berserkers to Magnataur Reaver, Ogre Magi, Polar Furbolg Shaman, and Ogre Warrior. Item drop now includes a level 2 power up.
• Goblin Laboratory creep camp changed from 2 Gnoll Wardens and 2 Gnoll Overseers to 2 Tuskarr Sorcerers and Polar Furbolg Tracker. Item drop changed from level 2 permanent and level 2 power up to level 3 permanent.
• Replaced 1 Gnoll Assassin with Gnoll Warden at Goblin Merchant creep camp
• Replaced 1 Ice Troll High Priest with Ice Troll Berserker at Marketplace creep camp
• Replaced 1 Warrior Arachnathid with a Barbed Arachnathid and a Crystal Arachnathid at the Arachnathid creep camp. Also moved the Nerubian Webspinner to the other side of the creep camp. Item drop changed from level 3 permanent and level 1 power up to level 2 permanent and level 2 charged.
• Added additional fence near Goblin Laboratory and moved expansion back a little into the tree line to improve pathing.
• Fixed gaps in tree line around the map.
• Removed 2 stray trees near the top expansion in the river.
• Removed random frogs around the map and added a frog critter at the orange ogre/tuskar creep camp for each player.
• Small visual terrain changes and improvements around the map.
• Shifted the northeast starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine
• Changed some terrain on islands in the northwest and southeast to be unbuildable
• Removed Rock Archway doodads near starting locations to improve visibility

(2)PlunderIsle_LV

• Adjusted the position of each starting location and added trees near each starting location to make them more equal

(2)SwampedTemple

• Compressed the map at the outer edges and reduced playable area size slightly
• Moved Mercenary Camps further in and removed the tree lines in front of them
• The Marketplace has been replaced with a Goblin Merchant and moved into the center of the map. Creeps also changed from Furbolg Shaman, Furbolg Tracker, and Furbolg to 2 Ogre Maulers and a Renegade Wizard.
• Replaced Skeletal Orc with Gnoll Brute for green creep camp adjacent to starting locations
• Mercenary Camp creeps changed from 2 Spitting Spiders and Giant Spider to Skeleton Warrior, Ogre Magi, and Kobold Geomancer. Item drop changed from level 2 charged to level 2 permanent and level 1 power up.
• Forest Troll High Priest replaced with Forest Troll Shadow Priest at the natural expansion creep camp
• Makura Tidecaller replaced with Makura Pooldweller at green creep camp near expansion location. Item drop changed from level 2 power up to Rune of the Watcher.
• Green Murloc creep camp changed from 2 Mur’gul Cliffruners, Mur’gul Blood-Gill, and Mur’gul Snarecaster to 3 Mur’gul Cliffruners, Murloc Huntsman, and Murloc Flesheater.
• Green Skeleton creep camp changed from Giant Skeleton Warrior, Skeletal Marksman, and Skeleton Archer to 2 Skeletal Marksman, Skeletal Archer, and Murloc Flesheater, . Item drop changed from level 1 permanent to level 2 charged.
• Enforcers replaced with Rogues and Brigands replaced with Assassins at the Goblin Laboratory creep camps.
• Removed Gnoll Brute from creep camp at center Gold Mine
• Changed the item drop for the Enforcer/Kobold creep camp from level 2 charged to level 1 power up and Rune of Lesser Healing.
• Creeps at northern Goblin Merchant changed from Renegade Wizard and Kobold Tunneler to Forest Troll Warlord and Forest Troll Shadow Priest.
• Skeletal Marksman replaced with Burning Archers at red creep camp in northeast
• Added a nearby tree for each Goblin Laboratory
• Slightly adjusted the position of the northern Goblin Laboratory and creeps to keep spacing consistent
• Removed a Barricade doodad from the southern Goblin Laboratory area to keep spacing consistent
• Reduced the amount of critters and moved critters so they don’t block creeping

(2)TerenasStand_LV

• Removed Column doodads in center of map to improve visibility

(4)BridgeTooNear_LV

• Shifted the northwest starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine
• Removed trees around 3 of the starting locations to make them more equal

(4)CentaurGrove

• Shifted the east starting location and added trees around multiple starting locations to make them more equal

(4)Deathrose

• Replaced 2 Rubble doodads with trees near each of the Mercenary Camps

_(4)FountainOfManipulation

• Shifted the northwest starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine

(4)LostTemple (RoC version)

• Added some trees near the northern starting location to make wall off distance similar to the other starting locations

(4)TidewaterGlades_LV

• Added two trees behind the northern Goblin Laboratory

(6)GnollWood (TFT version)

• Slightly adjusted some starting locations, added trees, and modified terrain to make all starting locations more equal

(6)Monsoon_LV

• Added additional trees near the northeast Mercenary Camp
• Shifted the east starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine

(6)NeonCity

• Replaced one of the Bench Stone doodads near each of the Goblin Laboratories with a tree

(6)RollingHills

• Added trees near several of the starting locations to make them more equal
• Removed one rock and shrub doodad, lowered one grid of terrain, and added additional trees nearby the most northern Goblin Laboratory

(6)RuinsOfStratholme

• Shifted the bottom right starting location up so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine
• Added 4 trees behind each of the Mercenary Camps

(6)StranglethornVale

• Added trees near multiple starting locations to make them more equal

(6)ThunderLake_LV

• Added additional trees near the southwest Mercenary Camp

(6)TimbermawHold (TFT version)

• Added trees near multiple starting locations to make them more equal

(8)Battleground_LV

• Added trees near southwest and west starting locations
• Slightly adjusted position of west and south starting locations
• Changed target acquisition range of creeps guarding expansion locations to Normal

(8)Friends

• Slightly adjusted starting locations and added trees so that each starting location is more equal

(8)GoldRush

• Added trees and slightly modified cliff near the southern Mercenary Camp

(8)GolemsInTheMist_LV

• Slightly adjusted some starting locations, added trees, and modified terrain to make all starting locations more equal

(8)MarketSquare

• Slightly adjusted the position of each of the Mercenary Camps
• Added 3 trees behind each of the Mercenary Camps

(8)Mur’gulOasis_LV

• Shifted the south southeast starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine
• Added trees behind each of the Mercenary Camps

(8)Sanctuary_LV

• Added two trees behind each of the Mercenary Camps

Greetings Raiders, Tinkerers, Harbingers, and Wardens,

We’ve finally landed 1.31. Asian and European Public Test Realms now available - tell your friends:

https://us.battle.net/account/download/
(look for Warcraft® III Public Test Realm toward the bottom of the page)

SPECIFIC CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS

• Expanded supported window modes in Options
• Integrated Direct3D 11 graphics API
• Added 64 bit support for Windows
• Sounds are disabled when the client is not active in -nativefullscr
• See the World Editor section for more details on many additions and improvements including beta support for Lua
• Join the fray over in the Competitive section for balance and map pool changes

BUG FIXES

• 256 bones are available (Thank you, Retera)
• Custom movies play correctly (Thank you, Gustafsson)
• DBZ Tribute Elite 2.5.1g no longer causes desyncs
• Builders_and_Fighters_CFVers_1.08 no longer causes desyncs
• Char Def 4 3.0 Fix 5 English loads
• HM RPG v7.00 loads
• NCD6.9 ENG Dannebox loads
• Maps no longer download again with each patch
• Sound data no longer transferred between maps
• Commands issued while a unit is affected by Possession no longer trigger after control is restored
• Switching window focus with Open Broadcaster Software running no longer causes freezes
• Combat and death sounds are no longer played globally for observers

KNOWN ISSUES

• This PTR does not support Mac
• Setting texture quality to low may result in a crash
• The map preview window has been temporarily removed
• Lua errors report the wrong line number

COMMAND LINE CHANGES

• The ‘/’ command line argument flag is no longer supported (use ‘-’ instead)
• Removed: -nativefullscr (Replacement: -windowmode fullscreen)
• Removed: -fullscreen (Replacement: -windowmode windowedfullscreen)
• Removed: -window (Replacement: -windowmode windowed)
• Removed: -swtnl (Replacement: nothing, Warcraft uses hardware texture and lighting)
• Removed: -d3d (Replacement: -graphicsapi Direct3D9 [May be removed in the future])
• Remvoed: -opengl (Replacement: -graphicsapi OpenGL [May be removed in the future])

REGISTRY CHANGES

• Removed: “Gfx Fullscreen” (Replacement: the window mode is now stored in the preferences)
• Removed: “Gfx OpenGL” (Replacement: -graphicsapi OpenGL on the command line)
• Removed: “Gfx SwTNL” (Replacement: nothing, Warcraft uses hardware texture and lighting)

WORLD EDITOR
DISCLAIMER: MAPS CREATED WITH PTR BUILD WILL NOT WORK ON LIVE

(Beta) Added Lua as a supported scripting language. To create a Lua map:

1. Create a blank map
2. Open “Scenario -> Map Options”
3. Select “Lua” from the “Script Language” dropdown:

• Maps save in the selected language
• Maps that are written only in standard libraries can switch to Lua
• Maps that use custom script will have to disable all custom triggers before conversion

(Beta) Object modification system API allows new changes to many items, abilities, units and more at run-time.

• Maps can be saved and loaded as folders (as well as MPQs)
  • You can now manipulate the map structure very easily outside of the editor (such as adding files). In the editor go to File > Save As and then select to save the map as a directory or a MPQ. This feature coupled with auto-import allows maps to be manipulated and developed by multi-person teams more easily.
• Loose files in a map are now auto-imported in World Editor
  • Historically, an imported file would be noted in the .imp file. Loading the map only load/save files that were stored in the import file. Auto-import loads and save files that are stored in the map folder automatically. This also makes manipulation of map files outside the editor possible.
• Added support for many popular community created functions
• Added Custom User Interface functions to allow map makers to add, remove, and adjust UI frames
• When saving a map as an MPQ, the editor no longer saves file times to make maps deterministic
• The editor now creates a backup map file on save
• The data layout in CASC has changed, each directory with the “.w3mod” suffix acts as an overlay for the engine
• Maps are .w3mods with a different extension (.w3m or .w3x) which allows us to support maps that contain all locales in one map
• Folders can now be nested in the Trigger Editor
• Globals are now part of the trigger tree, and can be put in relevant categories
• Doodad height is now an adjustable property (Requires “Reset Fixed Object Heights” disabled)
• When creating new objects in the object editor you are now given the option to customize it
• Scripts can now detect when any unit is damaged
• Scripts can now detect and modify the damage done before armor
• Scripts can now detect and modify the attack type, damage type, and weapon type (Note, modifying these only works in the pre-armor event)
• GroupAddUnit/GroupRemoveUnit now returns true/false if a unit was added/removed
• More group manipulation natives (BlzGroupAddGroupFast, BlzGroupRemoveGroupFast, BlzGroupGetSize, BlzGroupUnitAt)
• Bitwise functions (BlzBitOr, BlzBitAnd, BlzBitXor)
• When JassHelper is enabled, it now only shows the JassHelper error dialog
• Removed deadzone when using the editor on widescreen displays
• Tooltip Previewer displays how text will appear in game
• BlzSetAbilityResearchExtendedTooltip now displays the correct string
• BlzGetLocalUnitZ now returns the correct height
• Setting Use Custom Color to True for the waterfall doodad no longer causes a crash
• Units given custom spellcaster icons do not crash the game client when selected
• Certain custom models are no longer lost due to textures being relocated in the game

COMPETITIVE UPDATES

• Devour can now target Mountain Giants without Resistant Skin
• Paladins equipped with an orb item no longer have a slower attack speed when attacking air units
• Ultravision upgrade is now applied to Mountain Giants, Spirits of Vengeance, and Avatars of Vengeance

Hero Balance Changes

Blademaster
Windwalk

• Cooldown now occurs when Windwalk breaks
• Reduced the cooldown of Windwalk from 5 seconds to 2 seconds across all levels

Critical Strike

• Now benefits from all damage once again, not just base damage

Dev Comment: Reducing Critical Strike’s damage sources lowered overall burst, and had the downside of making his stats unclear. The Blademaster was also able to strike and fade away without recourse if Windwalk was activated 5 seconds prior to get attacking. These changes increase the Blademaster’s damage, but leaves him vulnerable to counterattack.

Dark Ranger
Life Drain

• Life Drain now applies the Dark Minion effect of the current rank of Black Arrow (Requires at least 1 point in Black Arrow)

Dev comment: Drain Life and Black Arrow didn’t synergize. Black Arrow’s short debuff meant Drain Life was unlikely to result in a Dark Minion. This change benefits Drain Life by letting it gain the intended effect - but not damage bonus - of Black Arrow.

Orc Balance Changes

Tauren
Pulverize

• Tauren now start with a reduced Pulverize that deals 20 damage
• The Pulverize upgrade has been changed to “Upgrade Pulverize,” which increases the damage of Pulverize to 60
• Upgrade Pulverize lumber cost reduced from 250 to 225 lumber

Dev Comment: Prior changes made the Tauren Totem easier to construct early, but it is still rare to see Tauren on the battlefield. This change is intended to make your first few Tauren more viable to takeover your front line. Reducing the upgrade’s lumber cost also helps with the transition. Overall, your upgrade cost is similar to a fully upgraded Knight or Abomination.

Spiked Barricades

• Reduced the number of upgrade levels from 3 to 2
• Tier 1 is 5 base damage + 20% of the attacker’s damage
• Tier 2 is 5 base damage + 50% of the attacker’s damage

Dev Comment: Spiked Barricades has not had much of a role in high level 1v1 games partly due to how long the upgrade takes to become effective and that it does not scale with high tech melee units. Giving the upgrade extra percentage based damage increases the effectiveness against late game units and reducing upgrade level count should help with it coming online faster. This does make the upgrade more complex, so we look forward to hearing feedback about this direction.

Human Balance Changes

Knight
New Upgrade: Sundering Blades

• Researched at the Barracks
• Requires Castle, Lumber Mill, and Blacksmith
• 100 gold / 100 lumber / 40 second research time
• Increases Knight’s damage against Medium armor by 15%

Dev comment: While the Knight is quite formidable in single combat with other units, we wanted to improve its role vs medium armor further than the default damage bonus of 150%. This allows Knights to be more threatening vs ranged units they chase down - such as Crypt Fiends - and increases their ability to fight against Mountain Giants.

Animal War Training

• Knight base Hit Points increased by 50
• Gryphon Rider base Hit Points increased by 50
• Dragonhawk Rider base Hit Points increased by 50
• Animal War Training provides 100 Hit Points, down from 150
• Animal War Training lumber cost reduced from 175 to 125

Dev comment: This change is intended to help Human players transition to their Tier 3 units. Increasing base hit points should help reduce the reliance on Animal War Training, and reducing the lumber cost should slightly help the overall transition to these units.

Orb of Fire

• Bonus Damage reduced from 10 to 5
• No longer gives area of effect damage
• New effect: On hit applies a debuff that decreases the effectiveness of healing abilities and hit point regeneration by 50%
• Debuff lasts 3 seconds

Dev comment: By shifting the Orb of Fire into an anti-healing role Human players will be better equipped to focus down enemy units in the late game against powerful healers like the Death Knight. This should directly benefit many of Human’s potential late game unit combinations such as Riflemen, spell casters and Gryphons. While this debuff is most easily applied by a ranged attack hero, it should also be very helpful on melee ones as well since its effectiveness is not determined by the raw stats of the unit holding it. As this is quite a large departure from the previous Orb of Fire changes to this item are likely.

Night Elf Balance Changes

Glaive Thrower
Vorpal Glaives Upgrade

• Now increases projectile speed from 1400 to 2400
• No longer guaranteed to hit its primary target
• No longer changes to do damage in a line, instead Glaive Throwers keep their pre-upgrade circular area of effect damage

Dev comment: We looked into solving the issue of Glaive Throwers with Vorpal Glaives upgrade always doing full damage to their target by making its projectile homing. After feedback and testing this solution is being shelved. Instead we will change the upgrade to increase the projectile speed of the Glaive while allowing it to still ‘miss’ the its target similar to other siege weapons. This leans into the Glaive Thrower’s personality of being a high velocity siege weapon while fixing the bug.

Hippogryph Rider
Base Stats

• Base hit points increasedfrom 780 to 785

Dev comment: The Hippogryph Rider is a merge of both the Hippogryph and Archer, this means they share hit points as well. This should have minimal balance impact beyond making it more consistent with their individual hit points.

Undead

Gargoyle
Base Stats

• Movement Speed increased from 350 to 400
• Gold Cost reduced from 185 to 175

Dev Comment: Increasing the speed of Gargoyles to match Flying Machines and Hippogryphs should allow them to better choose when and where they want to fight. Reducing their cost also helps in general with making them a more competitive choice against Crypt Fiends. Moving Stone Form to Tier 2 was also a piece of feedback we considered, but are not moving forward with right now as increasing the Gargoyles mobility and ability to regenerate hit points at the same time could push their harass ability into being too oppressive.

Necromancer
New Spell Order

• Cripple → Raise Dead → Unholy Frenzy

Cripple

• Now 85 mana
• Reduces movement speed by 75%, reduces attack speed by 10%, and reduces attack damage by 35%

Unholy Frenzy

• Renamed to Incite Unholy Frenzy
• Now 125 mana
• Still 500 cast range
• Ability area of effect is 250
• Sacrifices a target friendly Undead unit. All nearby non-mechanical units gain Unholy Frenzy.
• The Unholy Frenzy buff is unchanged

Skeletal Mastery

• Now requires Necromancer Adept Training to unlock

Dev Comment: Currently, Necromancers must be produced in large numbers right away in order to summon many skeletons, as their single target spells are locked behind the Necromancer training upgrades. This commitment to Necromancers can be problematic as the opposing player has a large window to scout and prepare. We want to address this by rearranging and revamping the skills of the Necromancer so that producing a few early on can provide value right away while massing them later still lets players summon a large skeleton army. A weakened but cheaper version of Cripple at level 1 gives Undead a new way to single out and chase down enemy units at Tier 2. The new version of Unholy Frenzy is intended to combo with the Raise Dead - by sacrificing a few of your Skeletons a couple Necromancers can power up a whole army. It can also be used to sacrifice low hit point units to deny experience for the opponent. Since this is a very large change to the Necromancer it’s likely that adjustments will be required.

Ghoul Frenzy

• Increase attack speed bonus from 25% to 35%

Dev Comment: The prior upgrade didn’t make Ghouls strong enough to make up for how poorly they trade vs the other race’s similarly upgraded units. Increasing the attack bonus by 10% changes a number of unit relations to better favor Ghouls in direct combat. Additionally, the change to Necromancers having Cripple right away should also assist Ghoul effectiveness at Tier 2.

(New Item) Ritual Dagger

• Bought from Tomb of Relics
• 125 Gold, 2 Charges
• 20 second cooldown between charges
• Stock 1
• 90 second restock time
• 400 cast range
• 300 ability effect radius
• Available at Tier 1
• Effect: Sacrifices a friendly Undead unit to heal 100 hit points to all friendly non-mechanical units around it.

Dev Comment: With this item the Undead race will have access to an early game healing effect outside of the Death Knight. By using it in conjunction with Rod of Necromancy or Crypt Lord beetles Undead players should have more options as to how they want to creep and fight early game. The current stats of Ritual Dagger are likely on the strong side, which is to help promote testing. Adding a new item like this is a large change so we are going to be watching closely for feedback.

Items

Boots of Speed

• Removed from the default creep camp drop table
• Starts with 2 stock on Goblin Merchants after initial cooldown

Dev comment: The primary goal here was to prevent network connectivity wars for the first purchase. Moving Boots of Speed out of the default creep drop table is experimental. It’s one of the last items that can be bought at the Goblin Merchant and dropped by creeps, and by increasing the starting stock the item should naturally be more available to both players.

Rings of Protection

• Ring +2 - level 2

• Change to Ring +3

• Ring +3 - level 3

• Change to Ring +4

• Ring +4 - level 6

• Change to Ring +5

• Ring +5 - level 7

• Removed from default creep drop tables

• Across all levels - the Ring of Protection gold price has been adjusted to be the same as other permanent items of the same level.

Dev comment: We get quite a bit of feedback about the Rings of Protection being under-powered compared to other items in their tier. So we are increasing the bonus armor they provide by 1. We are removing the highest tier ring as it is often less impactful for heroes who obtain it compared other options in that tier due to how armor has diminishing returns as more is added.

Cloak of Shadows

• Heroes carrying this item can now Shadowmeld during the day as well as at night
• Using this Hide ability also works with units that have Shadowmeld

Dev comment: Currently, Cloak of Shadows has low desirability among many players. It also is one of the few items that deactivates for portions of the game without player input. Making it usable during the day should give it more flexibility.

Tome of Experience

• No longer a random drop from creep camps

Dev comment: Experience comes with the blood of your enemies! We believe one of the core fun parts of WarCraft 3 melee is the tension between players in how they level up their heroes. Tome of Experience changes this by giving the player who finds it a big bump in power but in a way that an opponent cannot prepare for or predict. Since this tome already has reduced effectiveness in late game there was concern that simply reducing its experience amount would make it feel uninteresting late game, while still maintaining its issues early game. So we are going to remove it.

_Warsong Battle Drums _

• Now provides the same ‘War Drums’ Command Aura buff as Kodo Beasts

Dev comment: This is currently the only aura item that stacks with a similar aura from one of the playable races. This is a slight nerf to Orc, but it does make the aura items overall more unified and operate without exceptions.

_Lion Horn of Stormwind _

• Devotion Aura effect increased from 1 bonus armor to 2 bonus armor

Scourge Bone Chimes

• Vampiric Aura effect increased from 15% to 20%

Dev comment: As a baseline, aura items should at least be the same as a level 1 hero ability. Since Devotion Aura and Vampiric Aura were buffed, we are increasing the effect of their respective aura items as well.

Periapt of Vitality

• Gold price reduced from 350 to 325

Dev comment: Currently, this is the only item in its tier that is more expensive than others. We want to reduce its price slightly to make it more desirable to purchase it from the Goblin Merchant.

Crystal Ball

• Item level decreased from 5 to 3
• Gold price reduced from 500 to 300

Dev comment: At level 5 the Crystal Ball is noticeably less powerful than the other item drop options. It does provide ‘free’ scouting which may be helpful, but perhaps more helpful in the early game than later on.

Sentry Wards

• Duration decreased from 5 minutes to 3 minutes

Dev comment: High level feedback is that while this item’s duration is already lower than the Witch Doctor’s Sentry Ward already, it still provides too much scouting information overall.

Map Changes

• Plunder Isle LV has been removed from 1v1 ladder
• Tirisfal Glades LV has been removed from 1v1 ladder
• Nomad Isles has been added to 1v1 ladder
• Ancient Isles has been added to 1v1 ladder
• Battleground has been removed from 3v3 ladder
• Battleground LV has been added to 3v3 ladder
• Timbermaw Hold (RoC version) has been removed from 3v3 ladder
• Timbermaw Hold (TFT version) has been added to 3v3 ladder
• Blasted Lands has been removed from 4v4 ladder
• Nerubian Passage has been added to 4v4 ladder

(2)AncientIsles

• Several changes made from original author’s version to make it ladder ready

(3)NomadIsles

• New map from W3Arena
• Several changes made from original author’s version to make it ladder ready

(8)NerubianPassage

• New map from Hive Workshop
• Small changes made from original author’s version to make it ladder ready

(2)NorthernIsles

• Natural expansion creep camp changed from 2 Mud Golems, 2 Ogre Warriors and Rock Golem to Ice Troll, Ice Troll Priest, Tuskarr Trapper, and Ogre Magi. Item drop no longer includes a level 2 power up.
• Red creep camp changed from Blue Drake and 4 Ice Troll Berserkers to Magnataur Reaver, Ogre Magi, Polar Furbolg Shaman, and Ogre Warrior. Item drop now includes a level 2 power up.
• Goblin Laboratory creep camp changed from 2 Gnoll Wardens and 2 Gnoll Overseers to 2 Tuskarr Sorcerers and Polar Furbolg Tracker. Item drop changed from level 2 permanent and level 2 power up to level 3 permanent.
• Replaced 1 Gnoll Assassin with Gnoll Warden at Goblin Merchant creep camp
• Replaced 1 Ice Troll High Priest with Ice Troll Berserker at Marketplace creep camp
• Replaced 1 Warrior Arachnathid with a Barbed Arachnathid and a Crystal Arachnathid at the Arachnathid creep camp. Also moved the Nerubian Webspinner to the other side of the creep camp. Item drop changed from level 3 permanent and level 1 power up to level 2 permanent and level 2 charged.
• Added additional fence near Goblin Laboratory and moved expansion back a little into the tree line to improve pathing.
• Fixed gaps in tree line around the map.
• Removed 2 stray trees near the top expansion in the river.
• Removed random frogs around the map and added a frog critter at the orange ogre/tuskar creep camp for each player.
• Small visual terrain changes and improvements around the map.
• Shifted the northeast starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine
• Changed some terrain on islands in the northwest and southeast to be unbuildable
• Removed Rock Archway doodads near starting locations to improve visibility

(2)PlunderIsle_LV

• Adjusted the position of each starting location and added trees near each starting location to make them more equal

(2)SwampedTemple

• Compressed the map at the outer edges and reduced playable area size slightly
• Moved Mercenary Camps further in and removed the tree lines in front of them
• The Marketplace has been replaced with a Goblin Merchant and moved into the center of the map. Creeps also changed from Furbolg Shaman, Furbolg Tracker, and Furbolg to 2 Ogre Maulers and a Renegade Wizard.
• Replaced Skeletal Orc with Gnoll Brute for green creep camp adjacent to starting locations
• Mercenary Camp creeps changed from 2 Spitting Spiders and Giant Spider to Skeleton Warrior, Ogre Magi, and Kobold Geomancer. Item drop changed from level 2 charged to level 2 permanent and level 1 power up.
• Forest Troll High Priest replaced with Forest Troll Shadow Priest at the natural expansion creep camp
• Makura Tidecaller replaced with Makura Pooldweller at green creep camp near expansion location. Item drop changed from level 2 power up to Rune of the Watcher.
• Green Murloc creep camp changed from 2 Mur’gul Cliffruners, Mur’gul Blood-Gill, and Mur’gul Snarecaster to 3 Mur’gul Cliffruners, Murloc Huntsman, and Murloc Flesheater.
• Green Skeleton creep camp changed from Giant Skeleton Warrior, Skeletal Marksman, and Skeleton Archer to 2 Skeletal Marksman, Skeletal Archer, and Murloc Flesheater, . Item drop changed from level 1 permanent to level 2 charged.
• Enforcers replaced with Rogues and Brigands replaced with Assassins at the Goblin Laboratory creep camps.
• Removed Gnoll Brute from creep camp at center Gold Mine
• Changed the item drop for the Enforcer/Kobold creep camp from level 2 charged to level 1 power up and Rune of Lesser Healing.
• Creeps at northern Goblin Merchant changed from Renegade Wizard and Kobold Tunneler to Forest Troll Warlord and Forest Troll Shadow Priest.
• Skeletal Marksman replaced with Burning Archers at red creep camp in northeast
• Added a nearby tree for each Goblin Laboratory
• Slightly adjusted the position of the northern Goblin Laboratory and creeps to keep spacing consistent
• Removed a Barricade doodad from the southern Goblin Laboratory area to keep spacing consistent
• Reduced the amount of critters and moved critters so they don’t block creeping

(2)TerenasStand_LV

• Removed Column doodads in center of map to improve visibility

(4)BridgeTooNear_LV

• Shifted the northwest starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine
• Removed trees around 3 of the starting locations to make them more equal

(4)CentaurGrove

• Shifted the east starting location and added trees around multiple starting locations to make them more equal

(4)Deathrose

• Replaced 2 Rubble doodads with trees near each of the Mercenary Camps

_(4)FountainOfManipulation

• Shifted the northwest starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine

(4)LostTemple (RoC version)

• Added some trees near the northern starting location to make wall off distance similar to the other starting locations

(4)TidewaterGlades_LV

• Added two trees behind the northern Goblin Laboratory

(6)GnollWood (TFT version)

• Slightly adjusted some starting locations, added trees, and modified terrain to make all starting locations more equal

(6)Monsoon_LV

• Added additional trees near the northeast Mercenary Camp
• Shifted the east starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine

(6)NeonCity

• Replaced one of the Bench Stone doodads near each of the Goblin Laboratories with a tree

(6)RollingHills

• Added trees near several of the starting locations to make them more equal
• Removed one rock and shrub doodad, lowered one grid of terrain, and added additional trees nearby the most northern Goblin Laboratory

(6)RuinsOfStratholme

• Shifted the bottom right starting location up so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine
• Added 4 trees behind each of the Mercenary Camps

(6)StranglethornVale

• Added trees near multiple starting locations to make them more equal

(6)ThunderLake_LV

• Added additional trees near the southwest Mercenary Camp

(6)TimbermawHold (TFT version)

• Added trees near multiple starting locations to make them more equal

(8)Battleground_LV

• Added trees near southwest and west starting locations
• Slightly adjusted position of west and south starting locations
• Changed target acquisition range of creeps guarding expansion locations to Normal

(8)Friends

• Slightly adjusted starting locations and added trees so that each starting location is more equal

(8)GoldRush

• Added trees and slightly modified cliff near the southern Mercenary Camp

(8)GolemsInTheMist_LV

• Slightly adjusted some starting locations, added trees, and modified terrain to make all starting locations more equal

(8)MarketSquare

• Slightly adjusted the position of each of the Mercenary Camps
• Added 3 trees behind each of the Mercenary Camps

(8)Mur’gulOasis_LV

• Shifted the south southeast starting location so that it is an optimal distance away from the Gold Mine
• Added trees behind each of the Mercenary Camps

(8)Sanctuary_LV

• Added two trees behind each of the Mercenary Camps

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Welcome to the Warcraft III: Reforged discussion forums! This forum is here to provide you with a friendly environment where you can discuss all aspects of Warcraft III with your fellow players. Community forums work best when participants treat their fellow posters with respect and courtesy. Therefore, we ask that you take the time to read through the forum Code of Conduct before posting.

Search
The new search function at the top of the Warcraft III community site is extremely robust. Please be sure to use it to look for similar topics, blog posts, or web pages that may contain the answer before creating your forum topic. Making a new thread on an existing subject will likely result in your thread being deleted. If you continue to repost it you’re likely to have your posting privileges suspended for spamming. Worst of all, you’ll be making the other forum goers upset that you didn’t take a minute to search before posting.

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The new rating system can be used to promote positive discussion, and demote unhelpful posts, or even report posts that violate the forum code of conduct. By hovering over a post you’ll be presented with a thumbs up, and a thumbs down icon. Clicking the ‘thumbs down’ icon you can choose from a few options. Dislike will rate the comment down. If enough people dislike a post it will be darkened, or with a lot of dislikes it will be hidden. You can also quickly report a post as trolling or spam, or use the report function to fill out a more comprehensive description of the violation. You can only rate each post once. Use it wisely to help foster a positive and helpful forum community.

Guidelines
In addition to the forum Code of Conduct, here are some common courtesy guidelines to follow. While these do technically fall within the bounds of the Code of Conduct, these cover more specific examples of common errors that will lead to thread deletions or posting privileges being revoked.

The Warcraft III forums are for discussion of topics directly related to Warcraft III
The forums here are specifically to discuss the game and related topics. Any topics not related to Warcraft III, Battle.net, or Blizzard are subject to deletion.

Don’t post in all capital letters, use a misleading title, excessive punctuation, non-standard symbols, etc.
While everyone wants their posts read, we ask you to refrain from using these types of tactics in order to bring more people to your thread. Let your post stand on its own merit. Threads violating this guideline are subject to deletion.

Using the words Blizzard, Blue, or any community team members name in a thread topic is frowned upon
Everyone would like Blizzard to read and acknowledge his or her post, and we understand that. However, use of such words in the topic does not help that come to pass. Please make your thread title relevant to the post subject. Threads violating this guideline are subject to deletion.

Posting “First” or IBTL constitutes as spamming
You will be suspended if you create a post that is intended to call out that you achieved a specific reply number in a thread. This is considered spamming. Posting IBTL (in before the lock) is not helpful and if you feel a thread should be moderated please use the rating button to do so.

Do not bump posts
The act of posting simply to bump a thread is considered spamming. This also includes bumping very old threads for no reason (called ‘necro bumping’ or ‘necroing’).

Petition posts are frowned upon
These are discussion forums, and as such we ask that you hold discussions. Creating a thread to ask for replies as votes is not a discussion. Threads violating this guideline are subject to deletion.

Do not post about locked or deleted threads
Posts that are moderated have a reason behind the moderation. It’s up to you to read the forum code of conduct and these guidelines to determine what you did wrong, learn from your mistake, and attempt to post again without breaking any rules.

Welcome to the Warcraft III: Reforged discussion forums! This forum is here to provide you with a friendly environment where you can discuss all aspects of Warcraft III with your fellow players. Community forums work best when participants treat their fellow posters with respect and courtesy. Therefore, we ask that you take the time to read through the forum Code of Conduct before posting.

Search
The new search function at the top of the Warcraft III community site is extremely robust. Please be sure to use it to look for similar topics, blog posts, or web pages that may contain the answer before creating your forum topic. Making a new thread on an existing subject will likely result in your thread being deleted. If you continue to repost it you’re likely to have your posting privileges suspended for spamming. Worst of all, you’ll be making the other forum goers upset that you didn’t take a minute to search before posting.

Rating
The new rating system can be used to promote positive discussion, and demote unhelpful posts, or even report posts that violate the forum code of conduct. By hovering over a post you’ll be presented with a thumbs up, and a thumbs down icon. Clicking the ‘thumbs down’ icon you can choose from a few options. Dislike will rate the comment down. If enough people dislike a post it will be darkened, or with a lot of dislikes it will be hidden. You can also quickly report a post as trolling or spam, or use the report function to fill out a more comprehensive description of the violation. You can only rate each post once. Use it wisely to help foster a positive and helpful forum community.

Guidelines
In addition to the forum Code of Conduct, here are some common courtesy guidelines to follow. While these do technically fall within the bounds of the Code of Conduct, these cover more specific examples of common errors that will lead to thread deletions or posting privileges being revoked.

The Warcraft III forums are for discussion of topics directly related to Warcraft III
The forums here are specifically to discuss the game and related topics. Any topics not related to Warcraft III, Battle.net, or Blizzard are subject to deletion.

Don’t post in all capital letters, use a misleading title, excessive punctuation, non-standard symbols, etc.
While everyone wants their posts read, we ask you to refrain from using these types of tactics in order to bring more people to your thread. Let your post stand on its own merit. Threads violating this guideline are subject to deletion.

Using the words Blizzard, Blue, or any community team members name in a thread topic is frowned upon
Everyone would like Blizzard to read and acknowledge his or her post, and we understand that. However, use of such words in the topic does not help that come to pass. Please make your thread title relevant to the post subject. Threads violating this guideline are subject to deletion.

Posting “First” or IBTL constitutes as spamming
You will be suspended if you create a post that is intended to call out that you achieved a specific reply number in a thread. This is considered spamming. Posting IBTL (in before the lock) is not helpful and if you feel a thread should be moderated please use the rating button to do so.

Do not bump posts
The act of posting simply to bump a thread is considered spamming. This also includes bumping very old threads for no reason (called ‘necro bumping’ or ‘necroing’).

Petition posts are frowned upon
These are discussion forums, and as such we ask that you hold discussions. Creating a thread to ask for replies as votes is not a discussion. Threads violating this guideline are subject to deletion.

Do not post about locked or deleted threads
Posts that are moderated have a reason behind the moderation. It’s up to you to read the forum code of conduct and these guidelines to determine what you did wrong, learn from your mistake, and attempt to post again without breaking any rules.

Locking thread with links as last post:

• PC: https://www.battle.net/download/getInstallerForGame?os=win&locale=enUS&version=LIVE&gameProgram=WARCRAFT_3
• Mac: https://www.battle.net/download/getInstallerForGame?os=mac&locale=enUS&version=LIVE&gameProgram=WARCRAFT_3

RT @UgriWC3: Announcing Ugri's 2v2 Challenge - $ 1550 prize pool! For our 3rd Team Challenge in less than a year, we focused on the 2v2 fo…

Thony, Mochi, and else, Please let us know which maps are desyncing (or other relevant facts for reproduction like what maps you played in what order). Cheers, Pete

RT @Blizzard_Ent: Looks like @Warcraft3 is aging like fine wine!#HowHardDidAgingHitYouChallenge Learn more about Warcraft III: Reforged…

Hail Warchiefs, Lichs, Commanders, and Keepers,

2018 was a great year. We addressed a significant amount of complicated tech debt from the legacy game and server infrastructure, announced Reforged, and have started the road to sweeping improvements no matter how you play the game.

It wasn’t without its bumps and missteps; as we began the process of turning a very large ship. Thanks to everyone that understands how difficult this process is, and for the rest: we are listening, and we are working diligently to get things into order. Looking forward to '19.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed more cached data desynchronizations

RT @hiveworkshop: We're excited to share that @Warcraft3 is helping students engage in learning! Read the story from one of our community m…

Howdy,

Latest PTR has a round of significant fixed to disconnects. We’d greatly appreciate it if you grab some friends and play some matches on your favorite maps:
PTR 1.30.3.11256 Patch Notes

Cheers,
Pete

Greetings Raiders, Tinkerers, Harbingers, and Wardens,

We believe we’ve found the last few root causes of the disconnects caused by conflicting game caches. We appreciate your patience with this one, and I can tell you the team here put in a lot of extra time to uncover and understand these legacy bugs.

PTR Game Installers

• https://www.battle.net/download/getInstallerForGame?os=win&locale=enUS&version=PTR&gameProgram=WARCRAFT_3
• https://www.battle.net/download/getInstallerForGame?os=mac&locale=enUS&version=PTR&gameProgram=WARCRAFT_3

BUG FIXES

• Fixed more desynchronization causes from cached data

Hail Warchiefs, Lichs, Commanders, and Keepers,

Happy holidays! We’re thrilled to be back; it’s going to be an exciting year.

BUG FIXES

• Damage mitigated by Hardened Skin will now correctly be reduced to 3 at a minimum, up from 1
• The second pulse from the Taunt ability will no longer fire if the Mountain Giant is dead or affected by ability disabling effects

Known Issues

• Potentially fixed Arranged Teams to work with port forwarding (due to technology constraints this can only be tested on Live)
• We are still homing in on the root cause for desyncs. Cached data results in mismatches when switching between game types - like playing a custom game and then playing ladder. Restart the game when switching between game types to lower your risk of disconnects (we’ve also seen the caching issues between some custom maps).

BALANCE UPDATES

Hero Balance Changes

Keeper of the Grove
Entangling Roots

• Cast range decreased from 800 to 600

Developer Notes
Entangling Roots is of high utility to the Keeper’s kit. This change is intended to add a bit more risk to its use without reducing its effectiveness. The spell now has the same range as the Keepers auto attack, which should increase the opportunity for counterplay.

Alchemist
Acid Bomb

• Level 1: Decrease primary damage from 8 to 6 per second (Total damage 120 to 90; Secondary damage 5 to 4 per second)
• Level 2: Decrease primary damage from 13 to 11 per second (Total damage 195 to 165; Secondary damage 8.5 to 7 per second)
• Level 3: Decrease primary damage from 18 to 17 per second (Total damage 270 to 255; Secondary damage 12 to 11 per second)

Developer Notes
Alchemist provides awesome AoE healing, has high hit points, is powerful enough to pick off units, and debuffs opponents effectively. Heroes generally shouldn’t check every box for potential roles… Reducing Acid Bomb’s single target damage better focuses him in a support role - recent tweaks to Healing Spray cemented him as a great alternative healer for any race, and those effects have been positive to gameplay.

Human Balance Changes

Defend

• Piercing damage reduction increased from 50% to 65%. The in game tooltip will show this as 50% damage taken to 35%.

Developer Notes
There has been a drop off in the use of Defend after changes with the 1.30 balance update. This change is intended to restore usage. Its original behavior relied on RNG rather than a flat damage modifier. We anticipate there may need to be adjustments to the percentage, so we will be keeping an active eye on how the new Defend performs.

Night Elf Balance Changes

Mountain Giant
Base Stats

• Food cost increased from 6 to 7
• Cargo size increased from 2 to 4

Developer Notes
Mountain Giants are imposing, disruptive, heavy tanks with great siege potential. That potential becomes absolute in large packs. They were never intended to be a massed unit. Increasing food cost will make adding additional giants past the first few cut more heavily into a player’s army makeup as well as push them into higher upkeep faster. Additionally by increasing cargo size they will match the Siege Engine, a fellow high durability siege damage unit.

Glaive Thrower
Vorpal Glaive

Developer Notes

The Vorpal Glaive upgrade has been bugged for some time:

• The main target of the Glaive Thrower always takes full damage
• The area of effect from the Glaives changes from a circle into a line
• Glaives can kill trees

The main target takes full damage, as if the projectile were a homing shot, but the Glaive doesn’t follow said target. Instead it hits the ground like it missed, and does line damage where it impacts. If we fix Vorpal Glaive to adhere to reduced damage of siege weapons to units, then researching the upgrade feels like a nerf when it exchanges radial damage for line damage.

We want to address these issues by having the projectile correctly track and impact the main target of the Glaive Thrower. This embraces a distinctive behavior from other siege weapons, helping with our goal of pushing each race to have their own identity. We hope to have Glaives tracking their targets and ready for the next balance patch – though the updates are not included in this PTR.

GAME INSTALLATION

• https://us.battle.net/account/download/
• Ensure you are logged in, and browse to Classic Games
• Download and run the Reign of Chaos or The Frozen Throne installers
• Enter your legacy keys or login to Battle.net if you own Reforged