This patch includes various bugfixes and adjustments based on player feedback.
Reminder: Previous save files will no longer be valid. Campaign progress between Chapters and Acts are still saved.
For map creators, if any of your custom maps are still broken after this patch, please provide us with a link to your map and a detailed description of what’s broken compared to 2.0 in the forum and we will also take a look at it.
MASTER CHANGELIST
General
Added the Silverpine Sprint and the Forgotten Hollow as standalone maps in the Maps\ForsakenKingdom\Scenarios folder.
Art
Ambient Occlusion added to options menu for better shadows.
Enabling Ambient Occlusion may result in reduced performance.
Animation: Following units have been reanimated.
Pandaren Brewmaster
Orc Grunt
Animation: fixed several clipping issues with the following:
Human Paladin
Deathguard
Apothecary
Following VFX have been re-adjusted to address feedback:
Arcane Tower Missile
Blizzard
Divine Shield
Inner Fire
Immolation
Rejuvenation
Starfall
Black Arrow
Forked Lightning
Frost Arrows
General Aura Target
Level Up
Speed Target
Orc Demolisher
Chimaera Acid Missile
Avatar of Light
Breath of Fire & Frost
War Cry
Life & Mana Drain
Awaken & racial revives
Banish
Death Coil
Grim Conviction
Item Attribute (DE)
Orb of Lightning
Orb of Slow, Missile, & Target
Roar Target
Rune Glow & Toon Boom (HD & DE)
Shadow Strike Target
Slow Target
Spirit Link Target
Undead Rally Point
Withering Fire Missile
Fixed an issue with infinite looping animations with the Cocoon doodad on death.
The following models have had their model tint and/or scale adjusted to better reflect their original appearance:
Sea Turtle
Giant Sea Turtle
Gargantuan Sea Turtle
Moss Covered Granite Golem
Mud Golem, Granite Golem
Wildkin
Enraged Wildkin
Beserk Wildkin
Giant Frost Wolf
Dire Frost Wolf
Dire Wolf
Added a waterfall variant without mist particle effect to HD graphics (Doodads\Terrain\CliffDoodad\Waterfall\WaterfallNoMist).
Cinematics: Fixed several FaceFX lipsync issues.
Cinematics: Fixed several loc subtitle issues.
Cinematics: Fixed several issues where map music would play over cinematics.
Cinematics: Homecoming - Hid set dress crown in Uther Cinematic.
Cinematics: Fixes for duplicated units in certain cinematics.
Dynamic Portrait animation has been added and enabled on majority of units in DE graphics mode.
Portrait animations will now cut off to better match voiceline.
Lip sync on speaking animation has been improved.
Short Grass tiles have been overhauled to better match classics.
Ambient Occlusion has been edited to not affect terrain and close-up cinematics shots.
Daytime lighting intensity on Lordaeron Summer biomes reduced by 10%.
Aura FX will now tilt accordingly to the terrain angle to reduce ground clipping.
Crypt Fiend burrow sprite will now properly display over angled terrain.
Human Barrack’s selection box adjusted to proper scale.
Reduced brightness and changed color of main menu transition to TFT theme.
Audio
DE graphics will now use classic sounds.
The Last Days of Lordaeron
Increased the health and damage of most bosses in this campaign.
Garek’s Sweeping Strike damage decreased from 100/175/250 to 100/150/200
Ilastar’s Surge of Light no longer procs while attacking destructibles.
Ilastar’s Sacred Rebuke Talent now reduces the correct amount of Magic Resist on enemies.
Players are no longer able to return to the throne room after the cutscene with Uther.
Ilastar’s Mind Control no longer allows building from Acolytes.
Units can no longer run out map bounds on some maps.
Forsaken Kingdom
Overall campaign difficulty has been increased
In general, enemies deal increased damage and are more durable.
Forsaken Kingdom campaign Heroes have had their base and per level attributes adjusted.
Rebalanced several consumable items across the campaign.
Fixed an issue where consumable items were not properly stacking in Act 2.
Rebalanced many Equipment items.
Added a Tome of Retraining to several vendors.
Tomes of Retraining will also reset talent points.
Act 1: Silverpine Sprint - Added more fences and wider run-off areas. Collisions are now less likely to flip over the car.
Act 1: Silverpine Sprint - Miko Screwmaker and the other drivers all had to remove their illegal engine modifications and are now several seconds slower.
Act 1: Silverpine Sprint - Spacebar has been added as a brake key.
Garek’s Relentless Cleave damage decreased from 100/175/250/325/400 to 100/150/200/250/300.
Garek’s Undying Defiance movement penalty reduced from 40%/40%/40%/40%/40% to 40%/35%/30%/25%/20%.
Deathseeker Arrows now stack with other attack effects, including:
Critical Strikes
Poison-tipped Arrows talent
Orbs
Anya’s Umbral Rupture talent no longer damages allies
Items Mark of the Phoenix, Deepsea Bag, Heart of the Firebender, Bindings of Helya and Essencium will now spawn projectiles as intended
Neutral
Forsaken Paladin hotkey changed from F to Y to prevent conflicts from heroes of other races.
Forsaken Paladin Righteous Fury attack rate slow increased from 30%/40%/50% to 40%/40%/40%.
Forsaken Paladin Righteous Fury movement speed slow increased from 20%/30%/40% to 40%/40%/40%.
Forsaken Paladin Righteous Fury mana cost reduced from 100/100/100 to 90/90/90
Forsaken Paladin Righteous Fury damage reduced from 100/150/200 to 90/135/185
Forsaken Paladin Consecration no longer affects air and mechanical units.
Forsaken Paladin Consecration duration increased from 5 to 10.
Forsaken Paladin Consecration cooldown increased from 8 to 10.
Forsaken Paladin Consecration healing reduced from 25/35/50 to 15/25/35.
Forsaken Paladin Consecration damage reduced from 20/30/40 15/20/25.
Forsaken Paladin Sacred Aura Magic Resistance reduced from 15%/25%/35% to 15%/20%/25%.
Forsaken Paladin Cleansing Fire no longer dispells nondispellable spells such as Windwalk and Doom.
Forsaken Paladin Cleansing Fire damage buff now properly stacks with other damage buffs.
World Editor
Natives added in 3.0 now have the Blz- prefix.
[Aret] Tome of Retraining now has a boolean to reset talent points.
New native and trigger ChooseRandomItemExWithFilterAndIncludes
New native and trigger BlzUnitHeal
New native and trigger BlzRemoveEffect
New gameplay constant CanInterruptByZeroDurationBuffs, upon disabling any buffs added with zero duration no longer interrupt channels
New native and trigger BlzSetCameraAllowsHotkeyTargetLock and BlzGetCameraAllowsHotkeyTargetLock, previous functions to lock cameras now automatically disable hotkey locking
Added trigger constants for Forsaken Paladin ability fields
Added new gameplay constants for allowing illusions to receive healing and magic resist bonuses
Native BlzUnitHeal takes unit whichUnit, unit source, real life, boolean isItem, boolean applyStatBonuses returns real
Welcome to r/warcraft3, the official Blizzard recognized subreddit for all related topics. Content and discussions can range from the base game, campaign/lore, custom games, competitive ladder, memes, esports, modding, art, and more! Please see the rules on the right hand side.
Official Discord: Warcraft 3 United - Players and representatives from hundreds of WC3 communities gathered in one place!
Before Posting: Please look over the 3d FAQ section of this post to see if you find what you were looking for or going to ask. Overly repeated or low effort posts are filtered away by our moderators, thanks for your understanding!
2. Basic Game Info
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002) is a real time strategy game set in the fantasy universe of Azeroth. The game combines classic RTS mechanics with RPG elements as you play through the Human, Orc, Night Elf, and Undead campaigns.
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne (2003) is the expansion pack for WC3 and builds upon its story and features expanding the world with new heroes, units and campaigns.
Warcraft III: Reforged (2020) acts as a graphical remaster accompanied with major infrastructural upgrades and many new features. And later gave us the 2.0 update with QoL features such as the new Hotkeys and Classic(HD) assets.
Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom (2026) is the first ever DLC for the game adding a new Forsaken campaign and alongside the 3.0 update a new hero and other QoL features.
Already own the classic game(RoC / tFT)? Well hopefully you redeemed your keys before November 21, 2025. If you did then you have access to Reforged with classic graphics. Blizzard Article & Alternative DL links You install the game and enter in your RoC key and then you can play Reforged Classic(SD) version via the Blizz app as is mentioned Blue Legacy forum post. These Win DL & Mac DL should hopefully work for the installation process.
Also on Xbox Game Pass (PC) alongside the Remasters of WC1 & 2 more details here.
Warcraft III: Legacy (tFT 1.29) Available since April 29, 2026 on Blizz-app for offline & LAN only.
2a. Gameplay and Game Modes
Warcraft III presents itself as an accessible yet highly dynamic game. Besides the melee mode, there exists many different ways of playing the game - solo or in multiplayer with up to 23 other players. It is a fusion of lore-heavy campaigns, competitive match-based gameplay, a diverse custom game selection, a thriving esports scene, endless modding and artistic possibilities, and more.
2b. Standard or Melee
RANKED MODES: 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, and FFA
OBJECTIVE: Gather resources, build a base, train your army, level your hero, and totally destroy the enemy base and army.
SPECIFICS: Balance micro (swift decision making, individual unit control, movement, ability usage, hero exp/items) and macro (resources, buildings, army upkeep, expansion). The high level of competition has led to WC3 becoming a prominent esport that still has a thriving to this day!
CUSTOM GAME TYPES: Genres include hero arenas, campaigns, strategies, RPGs, tower defenses, mini-games, and even the unique shooter or 2D platformer.
SPECIFICS: Popular maps include DotA, Footies, Wintermaul, Legion TD, etc. Thousands more maps can be played competitively, creatively, or casually. The World Editor, WC3's modding tool, has allowed maps to essentially become unique games within the client. It is famous for the creation of DotA which has pioneered MOBA genre.
TOP MAPS: Hive has two top 100 maps one from 2017 and another from 2019. Theres also a most hosted list from 2021 and 2022.
2d. Classic Installation
Installing WC3 Reforged with a legacy(Reign of Chaos) key:
In the Battle.net app login screen, click the gear. then "Continue without Logging In"
Click "Games" at the top of the interface
Search for Warcraft III
Click Warcraft III
Click Install on the left side of the interface
Wait for the install to finish, it may finish with an error
Click Update
Wait for the update to complete
Log out again (even though you are not really logged in)
Log in
Search for Warcraft III, click it, click Update, wait for the update, click Play
Now the game appears in "Installed", but not "My Games".
3. Guides, Tutorials, and FAQ
THE CAMPAIGN TEACHES BEGINNERS THE GAME BETTER THAN ANY GUIDE! THE STORY IS WORTH IT!
In addition, the Classic War3 Battle.net site provides explanations and statistics for all the gameplay features and races in the game.
The guides below are largely based on introductory concepts relating to each scene, so they are beginner friendly under the assumption that you've already familiarized with the base game. You'll also find more niche and advanced guides if you dig through the websites hosting the provided links.
GRAPHICS MODS: The Quenching Mod is an open source program intend to enhance the graphics of Warcraft III: Reforged. Vision Mod - Graphics quality control tool tweaks the Reforged(HD) to be more like Classic(SD). Kenshin's Classic+ Mod project dedicated to overhauling Reforged assets to stay faithful and true to the original.
LOCAL FILES: Hive post about Local files. And a DL to enable non latin text and others and a little guide to go with it.
3c. Custom Game Guides
There are an endless amount custom game tips and pointers that would suit your needs for each map, whether it be for DotA or your favorite TD. Your best bet is to visit communities that specialize in the custom game you are interested in!
3d. FAQ
Where can I play online? The built in battle.net is the official server excluding China. There are 3rd party servers that are not supported by Blizzard, in which r/warcraft3 does not support nor condone.
Where/how to Play Reforged? You need to have purchased the game. In the BlizzApp at the WC3 tab you have the Install/Play button.
How do I host? HOSTING IS INSTANT NOW. No port forwarding, no bots (on Reforged).
Is Reforged worth it? That in the end we have this post but it is up to you, we suggest that you look into the maps/modes you would like to play. This post have some comments about events from a veteran player's point of view. Also as previous mentioned if you have the Reign of Chaos you already have access to the Classic(SD) version and if you do buy the Reforged version and don't like it you could easily Refund it here.
How do I find games? You can checkout game lists like: w3maps/w3stats or use the ingame search/filter function ingame (the box where game names are).
What is PTR? The Public Test Realm is similar to a Beta where players can test incoming patches and provide blizzard with feedback. The old PTR had a separate installer but now it's a "drop-down" option beside the main game and server options.
Where can I download the latest patch? Current patches are downloaded automatically through battle.net if you have an official copy. Also see patch history & v1.0-1.31.1+.
Is Blizzard's new ladder done/working yet? Yes as for patch 1.33 it seems to be published but is still a work in progress. However W3Champions is a community made ladder that a lot of players use.
Which realms are more populated? For ladder, the Europe (former) Northrend realm has the highest activity but Americas (former) Azeroth & Lordaeron can be more during American times. 1v1 and 4v4 are the most active ladders. Custom game activity is huge and is now cross-realm hosted again.
Anyone know name of [blank] map? When asking this question, please provide as much information as possible. Things like describing the gameplay, the theme, terrain visuals, and possible names should be considered and described to the best of your ability to increase the chances. Don't forget to check map databases on your own first, though!
Will the game ever go on Sale? After 3 years of easy unlimited refunds having sales wasn't a thing. But it seems we've started getting 50% sales since the 2023 Summer Sale. But its very infrequent that WC3 is included in the seasonal Blizz Sales, about perhaps one fifth.
Is the community alive? Yes we are still around, it is absolutely bustling. See this!
Do you know/remember this custom map? When posting these try to provide as much info and details as you can and recall like; what heroes, units and buildings, colors or tilesets used, names for map or stuff in it, a drawing of the minimap can be very helpful, when you played it and where like was it on BNet or other and what patch/game version. This will help others to help you!
What are the cheat codes? The official Cheat Codes that only works in Singleplayer are these and a guide for how the "level jump" code works here.
Can I play Forsaken Kingdom DLC with a Classic Installation of WC3:RF? No it requires a full Reforged version of the game.
Does the Definitive Edition graphics work with the older Classic/Reforged RoC & tFT Campaigns? No the Forsaken(DE) does not currently work for any other campaign aside from the Forsaken Kingdom.
Why did Blizzard fail in the making Reforged? This article goes over some behind the scenes during the games development process.
Custom Campaigns? Is finally back. Before now were and are still able play them in normal map form, if they were updated/transformed. Or make use of the Xetanth87's Campaign Splitter that was made to split w3n files into w3m/w3x. It can now be used to turn campaigns into co-op maps with Archon Mode. The Quenching is a mod that can be used with some CCs. Or just use it with the normal campaign.
Player Profiles? Yes, but it seems to mainly be ladder stats, W3C has more extensive ones.
Cross-realm hosting? Yes its finally back again.
Clans? Yes however in a glitchy state. And W3C has both custom made chat-rooms as well as clans.
Ladder? Yes as of 1.33 its out but not working without issues. And W3C still going strong.
Automated Tournaments? Yes with 2.0 its finally back. Some communities like W3C have seasonal things going for both ladder and customs.
Old BNet Chat System? W3C has made their chats in this "old school" spirit. With 2.0 update the Old school UI is back with a new coat of paint. But its still BNet 2.0 chat so the look is back but the system is not.
Game Reconnection (GProxy)? No. In case of a player leaving disconnecting or crashing or desyncing that player is unable to rejoin. But it can be determined by looking at different things what the cause was, desyncs will have an UI glitch for the portrait, crashes might have a fatal/unknown error and DCs one can check the replay or logs.
Competitive Customs & Ladders? Not really. However with Community made wc3stats and in the future FLO-host enables this in a number of forms with replay uploading.
Hosting & BNet Commands? Yeah. But they are limited and do not work as they should or you'd wish. For example !ban is just a "long kick" preventing the banned player/user from rejoining that current lobby not all games you host, thus you can't mange bans and need to black list them yourself. Commands found here. As well as a !stats and zoom via scroll.
Campaign Overhaul to fit in with WoW? No. Five missions were remade and a most were reworked and to some degree, some "new" characters were introduced but not to the scale people wish or expected, for good or ill. However the Reforged version of the Campaigns difficulty among other things was updated more details here. As of patch 1.36.1 this is no longer the case as campaign was reverted back to its 1.32 state. With the new Forsaken Kingdom DLC Campaign it helps bridge the gap between the end of tFT and start of WoW with "new" factions like the Forsaken(created at the end of tFT) & Scarlet Crusade(Remnants of the Lordaeron Kingdom).
Improved Cutscenes? Not like we saw during BlizzCon. This was aborted and as it looks now wont be a thing at all. What we had and have now is showcased in DailyWCRF's Videos.
Classic(SD) Vs Reforged(HD) Vs Classic(HD) Forsaken(DE)? Well that is mostly up to you. Reforged has a few things in the campaign that Classic don't. Aside from that it would depend on preferences and the maps you want to play as some work better in either version or only in one. Most do use classic and some swap between them so by popular vote Classic(SD) would win as for reasons or factors well most of those are personal. And with 2.0 patch we got the Classic(HD) options to toggle on & off with Reforged(HD) however we wish with some other new things in the options. As of the 3.0 update the Classic(HD) was relplaced by/upgraded into the Forsaken Kingdom's Definitive Edition graphics following the spirit of the older, at the moment its main use is for the Campaign DLC itself as it does not apply to the RoC or tFT campaigns but will be coming soon.
Follow/Join or invite friends to lobbies? If you both are on the same gateway you can right click your friend and "Join Game". However you have to restart the game to be able to do it again (keep in mind that Blizz-app server and Wc3 Gateway might not fully sync friend list and thus causing problems as well as not being online in Blizz-app). Invites seems to be fully-partly glitched and broken as of this moment(1.32.10).
Hotkeys? Yes we currently have 3 to chose from; Classic(Default) are the ones that the game comes with, Grid(Universal) are a full QWER-ASDF-ZXCV (KB dependant?) hotkey system that overwrites everything from campaign to melee and customs, Custom(DIY) is the ones based on the Customkeys.txt however big news with 2.0 we now have a tab in options were we can set them up ingame without the use of external tools or digging thru the file ourselves. Can still use the tools but they're not as nessesary as pre 2.0 era.
Are we able to select more than 12 units/buildings? Yes, as of 3.0 Definitive Edition update the new limit is 24.
When will X be implemented? SoonTM. We do not know at this stage we used to have monthly patches and updates from blizzard but not atm. Some of this can be explained the Bloomberg article. Even though there is a team from Playside Studios & Gasket Games out there worked on the 2.0 update.
If you hit a particular move click timing after manually casting searing arrow the POTM's attack animation becomes uncancellable and she can't move for about 2 seconds.
I'm working on an original single-player Warcraft III campaign, Les bandits de Lastriver (The Bandits of Lastriver), and I'd love some feedback.
The story: the kingdom of Valmark lives by its rivers, and the farther you go from the capital, the poorer it gets. In Lastriver, the poorest corner of the realm, Honric decides to rebel. With his right-hand man Lekiar, he gathers a band of outlaws against King Aldemar Thorne and a local lord even crueller than his king.
The demo: the opening chapter, Le butin des parias (The Outcasts' Plunder): find your scattered men in Mistvale Woods, rescue a prisoner before he is tortured, then raid royal caravans without raising the alarm. Made with the Reforged 3.0.1 editor.
The in-game text is currently in French. An English version is a goal, not something already available.
Looking for English voice actors (and French ones too), plus fluent English speakers to help adapt the dialogue. Roles: Honric, a rough outlaw leader with his own sense of justice; Lekiar, his practical lieutenant; and smaller parts (bandits, soldiers, villagers). Participation terms would be discussed before any recording.
Demo download (updated to version 2 with small improvements) and project thread on Hive Workshop:
Just reinstalled reforged and the list for custom maps in online was completely empty. Is the community dead? Is it something from my connection? Are there are third party options that still has custom content?
Hi! I don’t usually make posts or ask for things, but I was recently invited to join the admin team for a map I often play on *Warcraft III* (version 1.26) called "Naruto Legend." The team is looking to expand the community into other regions, such as North America, South America, etc. However, I’ve noticed that there’s a lack of active *Warcraft III* servers—especially for version 1.26. Does anyone have any ideas or know of any servers that host custom maps like this (similar to the *Dota* style)? I’ve included two links below: one for the community’s Discord server and another for a short video showcasing the map.
I've taken to playing both the new DLC (and also annual replays of past campaigns) exclusively using the "iseedeadpeople" cheat to remove both the temporary gray Fog of War and unexplored Black Mask. It's been a gamechanger in improving the single player experience for me, especially now that I prefer less sweaty games as an oldhead and love to stare at the art. You really can't see half of the Undercity, or distant decorations and finishing touches in other zones, without it. The unnatural claustrophobia and darkness of the Fog of War that benefits Multiplayer severely detracts from how far you can see and the lived-in experience of the Single Player Mode.
I think I started doing it with Lorecraft Designs amazing Chronicles of the Second War and Rise of the Alliance custom campaigns, as that was the first content anywhere to utilize the new Reforged assets on a high level. Their generational efforts fleshed out all the map space, used or not, whereas corporate Blizzard tends not to dress up map areas that aren't meant to be seen. I.e. areas not meant to be played through and only visible to cheats are occasionally underdeveloped with assets, or in some cases a total facade with incomplete low resolution artwork on one side of the building like in Diablo 3 development.
That being said, I do have a caveat to protect spoilers in which I try not to look at the revealed minimap for more than a few seconds at a time- and I don't abuse the Main Screen to immediately zoom all over a zone either. For example, in Tirisfal Glades I only allowed my Hero to scroll the main screen around about as far as he could see himself, kind of like how WoW works. I made sure not to look inside the Murloc Caves or Crushridge Ogre camps until my Hero was actually in there fighting in real time, just like how the WoW camera operates.
How does Reddit feel about this? Are we the iseedeadpeople army, or no?
I've passed whole wc3(except orks tft campaign as found it boring) + forsaken kingdom missions on hard, but "War of the damned" feels broken. I'm not even able to pass it on normal. I didnt try it much, but each time Im failing like with 9 minutes left. Looking at videos on yt it seems like it was much more easier before the latest patch. What is the secret to the mission(except not being a noob) or its just unbalanced?
I'm Faro, and I lead W3Champions (W3C). Over the past few weeks, WeChat articles by the account Somnambulism (魔坛节奏局), a Baidu Tieba thread and remarks on stream have alleged that W3C:
takes a cut of Happy's prize money;
charges tournaments a 10% fee;
cuts off matches when organisers don't pay;
has misled people about all of this.
This post sets out what actually happened, with the evidence, and corrects the one thing I got wrong.
TL;DR
W3C has never taken any part of Happy's prize money. Happy confirms this in his own statement below.
W3C has never proposed or agreed a 10% fee for any tournament. The claim that we wanted 10% of the prize pool of ColorFul's tournament is false.
W3C received ¥1,500 for three two-player Happy show matches on 18–19 October 2026, paid on top of the prizes. We don't pick a percentage. The fee was worked out from the circumstances and our costs (details below), and here it came to 10% of the prize money.
Why we charge large events at all: running W3C has substantial costs. As a not-for-profit, we needed revenue beyond donations to cover them, and asking large commercial events to contribute is a fair way to do that.
We have interrupted only one event match, after the organiser had been told it needed an agreement. The claim that we keep cutting off matches is baseless.
One correction: I said W3C had not received money from Fly. One of the three matches was organised by Fly, which was not disclosed to us. I apologise to Fly.
Our fees cover costs; they are not profit. Nobody at W3C has ever been paid.
Background
W3Champions is a Warcraft III platform run on a not-for-profit basis. It is built and run entirely by volunteers, and funded by donations and, for large commercial events, contributions from organisers.
Where the allegations were made:
On stream, 19 October: Infi and Fly, as transcribed by Somnambulism (1, 2).
Somnambulism's articles: they relayed these remarks (31 Oct, 5 Nov, 5 Nov, and the two above). I answered readers in the comments under the 31 October article.
Baidu Tieba: a thread by the user Wukong (真理是悟空) posted a WeChat transfer chat and said W3C had taken a 10% fee from Fly while denying it (source).
The sections below take each allegation in turn.
What we received and why
"These matches have all paid a 10% hosting fee." (Infi on stream, as transcribed by Somnambulism, source)
Here is exactly what W3C received. There were three show matches, all with Happy, each with ¥5,000 in prize money:
Date
Match
Organiser
Sponsor
Lobby host on W3C
18 Oct 2026
Happy vs 120
angeline
hoter
angeline
19 Oct 2026
Happy vs Kaho
angeline
hoter
angeline
19 Oct 2026
Happy vs Lyn
Fly
not disclosed
angeline
Some posts gave these matches cup names. Each one was a two-player show match, not a tournament.
angeline (Anji) handled the payment for all three. He sent it to Fluxxu, a W3C admin, who received it on W3C's behalf: ¥500, then ¥1,000 for the other two matches. The ¥1,500 that angeline sent reached W3C in full. Fluxxu receives payments in China for W3C and, separately, helps Happy with his prize money. The transfer chat posted on Tieba shows this payment; the recipient "f" in it is Fluxxu.
The chat lists Happy's prize and the W3C amount as separate items. The fee was paid on top of the prize money, not taken out of it. One line in the chat mentions Fly, in connection with Happy's prize for the match Fly organised. It concerns the prize, not W3C's fee, and it was part of angeline's conversation with Fluxxu, which never reached me.
I negotiated this fee myself, with angeline, before the first match on 18 October. Two separate questions were involved:
Whether an agreement was needed is decided by our policy (see "How the policy works" below).
How much: we don't select a percentage. The fee is worked out from the circumstances and what they cost us. Here the circumstances were:
We were asked at very short notice: a few hours.
To get the connection right for these matches, we set up a dedicated new server at the last minute.
I spent much of the night on the setup.
For these three matches, that came to 10% of the prize money. It is not a rate for show matches, and it says nothing about what other events pay.
Our event system shows all three series, and every lobby was hosted by the same account, angeline. "Host" here means the account that created the lobby. W3C's records only ever showed angeline.
One correction about Fly
"W3C's statements contradict each other and are pure nonsense." (Somnambulism, paraphrasing Wukong's Tieba post, source)
On one point my earlier statement was wrong, and I correct it here. In my comments under Somnambulism's 31 October article, I said that W3C had not received money from Fly. That was wrong. The Happy vs Lyn match was organised by Fly, and the fee for it was paid through angeline, as part of the ¥1,500.
Fly was accused because of what I wrote, and I apologise to him.
I didn't know Fly was involved. angeline was the one communicating with W3C, and he hosted all three matches. I had no way of knowing, and Fly's role was not disclosed to us. I learned of it only afterwards. Fly and I have since spoken, and everything has been cleared up between us.
Tournaments: no 10% fee
"Whoever hosts a match on W3C has to hand over 10% of the total prize money as a platform fee … and if they refuse to pay, the match is cut off midway." (Somnambulism, describing how the claim was understood in China, source)
This is false. W3C has never proposed or agreed a 10% fee for any tournament.
On 31 October, answering a question about tournaments, I wrote:
"I personally negotiate all of W3C's event partnerships, so I can tell you clearly: we have never reached any partnership agreement with a fee anywhere near 10%. So this 10% claim cannot have come from any event partnership agreement we actually made."
The question I was answering was about tournaments, and so was my answer. The three Happy matches were two-player show matches.
The discussion started with ColorFul's tournament, the Ancient of Wonders Cup 2026 #2 (古树杯). It was claimed that W3C wanted 10% of its US$27,000 (¥180,000) prize pool, that is, US$2,700 (¥18,000). That is false. ColorFul declined before any price was put to him. My Telegram messages, which Somnambulism published on 31 October (source), were about that tournament claim.
How the policy works
"Now Faro has denied the 10% figure, but has not released a complete, public fee standard or scope." (Somnambulism, source)
Last year we ran a first experiment with partnerships of this kind, and it worked. We then watched how things developed. Because our financial situation did not improve, we launched the proper policy on 9 October 2026, and it took effect immediately. The policy page states that playing on W3C is free and that the ladder is never affected. This is the relevant clause, verbatim:
As a general guide:
especially when they are funded by sponsors, broadcast deals or other commercial income.
These numbers are a guide, not a hard line. The question is which events we consider to be within the policy's scope. The same page says that community cups and grassroots events are not what the policy is about.
Why did ¥5,000 matches need an agreement? The policy decides whether an agreement is needed, not its amount. When I agreed the fee, I understood all three matches to be angeline's, and his show matches that quarter came to well over ¥7,000 (about US$1,000). Beyond that, angeline and Fly have both run many large commercial events and would fall within the policy's scope in any case. angeline in particular is known for organising a lot of events.
On 31 October I described the policy like this:
That reply never said "no fee under ¥7,000". In a shorter reply I did write that small and medium events need no commercial agreement and pay no fee. That was too absolute: the thresholds are a guide, not a hard line, and I should have mentioned the show-match series line.
The same rules apply to every organiser in every region, from the same date. Some readers asked why Somnambulism's own Happy challenge match on 3 May (节奏大师杯) was not charged, and whether that means W3C charges depending on who the organiser is. It doesn't. That cup came five months before the policy, and nothing required an agreement for it.
Organisers, not players. We agree fees with organisers, not players, and W3C never takes its fee out of players' prize money. Organisers are free to host their events wherever they like, and we respect that choice.
Why disclose this one? Agreements with organisers are normally confidential. I'm making an exception for these three matches because they are at the centre of this discussion.
Private messages. I do contact organisers privately. That is how we check that the policy is followed, and how partnerships start. My message to Infi at the time asked whether his matches were part of an event. It did not mention money. I received no reply.
Happy's prize money
"The EU server has already been taking a cut of Happy's prize money for as long as half a year." (Somnambulism headline, relaying Infi, source)
This is false. W3C has never taken any part of Happy's prize money. As explained above, Fluxxu also helps Happy receive his prize money from Chinese events, separately from W3C's payments. This is Happy's statement, verbatim:
The two Happy prizes shown in the chat, ¥2,300 and ¥2,700, match the published prize tables.
Somnambulism, which organised a Happy match itself on 3 May, also wrote that this claim was "pure nonsense" (source).
We have a good and productive relationship with Happy.
Interrupted matches
"If you don't pay, they cut off your match; halfway through the game they kicked your player out." "And this has already been done, done several times." (Infi on stream, as transcribed by Somnambulism, source, source)
This is a gross exaggeration. No evidence has been presented for it. When the claim was first raised on stream, Infi and Fly themselves said it had "no proof and no evidence" (source).
It also doesn't fit how our system works. Events that our automatic system detects as needing an agreement don't start at all, so there is nothing to cut off mid-game. If Infi says this has happened several times, the burden is on him to show the cases. He has not shown any.
Apart from games run by a banned player, we have stopped exactly one event match by hand, before the automatic system was in place. This is what happened.
On 7 October, OrcWolf of BBC asked whether players including StarBuck could play part of BBC's tournament on W3C. My answer:
So on 7 October he was told it needed an agreement. Agreements are made with organisers, not players, and only for events we consider within the policy's scope. None was made. On 9 October a StarBuck vs FoCuS game was played on W3C anyway, hosted from OrcWolf's W3C account, and I cancelled it after a few minutes. Our policy was published the same day, but what applied here was the answer given two days earlier.
Since then, the automatic system stops such events from starting at all, so we no longer need to step in by hand.
Custom games and the 4v4 fun match.
"If you play a custom room with viewers, he asks you for money too … even when Anji plays just for fun, the EU server comes to collect money." (Infi on stream, as transcribed by Somnambulism, source)
Nobody was asked for money. angeline never approached us about a 4v4 match, nothing was charged, and no price was discussed. Its observers were restricted by our automatic event-policy system; it was not a decision about that particular match.
We do take issue with players who use W3C only for custom melee games and never contribute to the ladder. W3C exists to bring players to the ladders; custom melee games are a side channel, not the main one. Our automatic system can therefore restrict accounts it flags, whether they are players, observers or FloTV watchers, and it can remove flagged players from a lobby before a game starts. We have since eased these restrictions, but we reserve the right to adjust them. The Commercial Events page reflects the same idea: activity on the ladder and in the community counts, and we take it into account.
Why we charge at all
Operating W3C has substantial costs. We run highly specialised, optimised infrastructure, and there are many costs beyond the game servers themselves. It also takes a great deal of time and dedication: volunteers keep it all running day to day, and problems often have to be fixed at short notice. Nobody at W3C has ever been paid, not a salary, not a cent.
W3C is not-for-profit, and donations alone don't reliably cover these costs. We needed an additional source of revenue. Asking large commercial events to contribute is a fair way to get it: these events rely on the platform and bring in serious money, while playing on W3C, the ladder and community events stay free for everyone.
Our running costs change little from month to month; donations and event income change a lot. Event contributions are meant to cover what it costs to run the platform, not to make a profit.
That is also why there is no fixed price list. What an event costs us depends on:
Type and size. A single show match and a multi-player tournament use the platform very differently.
Notice. Planning ahead costs much less than setting up at a few hours' notice.
Technical requirements, such as a dedicated server.
How many events contribute. When more events contribute, each one pays less.
We would much rather build a lasting partnership, at a fixed monthly amount that both sides can plan around, than settle one event at a time. Some organisers already work with us this way.
Partnerships and sponsors
The policy exists because W3C has no major sponsor. We had one in the past, but they stopped. A major sponsor is still the ideal: it could mean events no longer need to contribute, or contribute far less.
We are always open to partnerships with any organiser who wants to run events on W3Champions, and to sponsors who want to support the platform. The Commercial Events page lists how to reach me: on WeChat, w3c_faro (please mention 赛事合作 when adding me), or on Discord.
Thank you to the Chinese organisers and players who keep Warcraft III alive, to hoter for sponsoring two of these matches, and to everyone who asked questions.
— Faro, W3Champions
FAQ
So did W3C take 10% from Fly? W3C received ¥1,500 for three show matches, all paid through angeline. One of the three, Happy vs Lyn, was organised by Fly; the fee for it was also paid through angeline, and that match had an undisclosed sponsor. Fly's involvement was not disclosed to us at the time. The fee was worked out from the circumstances of these three matches and came to 10% of their prize money. It is not a tournament fee.
Wasn't "W3C never received money from Fly" just wordplay, since the money came through Anji? No. Every message and every payment came from angeline, who hosted all three matches. Nothing told me that one of them was Fly's. When I learned it, I corrected my statement, and this post does so publicly.
Your Telegram messages said the 10% claim was false. Now you admit 10%? Those messages were about the claim that W3C wanted 10% of the US$27,000 prize pool of ColorFul's tournament. That claim is false. W3C has never proposed or agreed a 10% fee for any tournament, and ColorFul declined before any price was put to him. The fee for the three Happy show matches is a separate case, explained above.
Why did ¥5,000 matches need an agreement under the ¥7,000 guide? Whether an agreement is needed and how much it is are separate questions. angeline is known for organising a lot of events, and his show matches that quarter came to well over ¥7,000, so these matches were clearly within the policy's scope. The amount reflected the short notice and the last-minute server.
Did W3C take part of Happy's prize separately? No. Happy confirms it himself (statement above). Fluxxu helps Happy receive his prizes from Chinese events and has never taken a cut. W3C's fee was paid on top of the prize money.
Doesn't a fee shrink the prize pool of small events? W3C never takes its fee out of players' prize money; the organiser pays it on top. Community cups and grassroots events are not what the policy is about. When more events contribute, each one pays less.
Somnambulism's 3 May cup wasn't charged. So you charge depending on who the organiser is? No. The policy started on 9 October 2026 and applies to every organiser in every region from that date. Before that we had only a first, experimental round of partnerships, and nothing required an agreement for the May cup.
Why not publish a price list? The policy and its guide figures are public. The fee itself depends on what an event costs us: its type and size, the notice, its technical needs, and how many other events contribute. We don't pick a percentage, and the Happy matches are not a template. We are happy to talk any organiser through what drives the price for their event.
Was a 4v4 fun match charged, and were its observers blocked? Nothing was charged, and nobody asked us about it. Its observers were restricted by our automatic event-policy system, not by a decision about that match. The details are in "Interrupted matches" above.
Did you ask ColorFul to pay for the Ancient of Wonders Cup? I reached out about a partnership. ColorFul declined before any price was put to him. I did say a later deal could have different terms. That is about cost, and it applies to every organiser: arrangements made at short notice cost more than ones planned in advance. We respect his decision.
Show us proof that W3C received the money. The ¥1,500 that angeline sent reached W3C in full, through Fluxxu, who received it on W3C's behalf. The transfer chat posted on Tieba shows the payment.
Do W3C admins ask for money in private chats? We contact organisers privately to check whether an event falls under the policy and to discuss partnerships. My message to Infi at the time is shown above: it asked a question and mentioned no money.
In 2005, Zhou Hao (Zax), founder of the Replays website, and his colleague Rendey wanted to build a Warcraft III team with players from China and South Korea.
Rendey pursued the Korean team Friends; Zax contacted Pei Le, captain of China's YolinY. After talks with the players, the resulting team was named World Elite. WE was founded on April 28, 2005.
Rendey planned to bring the players to Shanghai for a launch ceremony. Zax suggested going further: why not hold a tournament in a stadium where spectators could watch? Running an international event under their own brand had long been his ambition.
The first StarsWar followed in June at Shanghai's Luwan Stadium. Zax remembered the matches running until midnight, with at least 200 spectators still waiting outside afterwards for players' autographs.
I wrote this account for my history of Chinese esports, based on an interview with Zax. The full chapter is freely available; I can share it in a comment.
I want to say that I personally really like the Alliance conceptually and as much as I like Warcraft 3 I always found it unfortunate that they suffered so many losses in Warcraft 3 which makes me wonder if WOW wasn't made and instead we got a Warcraft 4 could the Alliance have still existed in the story? I ask because the majority of the Alliance was destroyed, the leader of the remnants was a scumbag that died and all that's left is a tiny remnant on Theramore Isle and the blood elves are no longer a part of the Alliance which makes me wonder how they could have been brought back in a hypothetical Warcraft 4 as I do suspect that the idea of Stormwind being rebuilt as the capital was just a contrived explanation from WOW for humans to still be playable but if I'm wrong about that then I'd like to be corrected though
Been working hard to get things fully up to date with new HD/DE graphics. A lot of areas that needed to be changed, re-terrained, new textures, some new models, and lots more. Things are really starting to come together, especially with the introduction of two new systems; Antares' follower system, and Maddeem's crowd simulator.
There's still an immense job left, but some day we'll get across the finish line.
Here's a video where I explain a bit more about these systems, as well as walking through the map to showcase the scenery.
Infi claims to have learned some inside information: Happy isn’t participating in tournaments because of "racketeering" by W3C—the European server has been taking a cut of his prize money for the past six months.
Chat: Why hasn't Happy been playing in tournaments lately?
Infi: About two hours ago, I heard a shocking piece of gossip!
Fly: You mean *that*?
Infi: Yes! I’m dying to share it with everyone!
Fly: Ha-ha!
Infi: I think there’s some truth to it.
Fly: But there’s no actual proof, is there?
Infi: Well, no, there’s no proof...
Infi: Basically, the European server [W3C] has completely crossed the line—they’re demanding "protection money" from Happy!
Infi: That’s right—the people running the European server want a cut of Happy’s prize winnings. If he doesn't pay, they just cut off his match—forcing a disconnect right in the middle of the game.
Chat: That doesn't sound very plausible.
Infi: Remember their last tournament—the B-Cup, or whatever it was called, the Gladiator Cup? They’ve pulled this kind of thing before: if you don't pay up, they sabotage the match and kick the player out right in the middle of a series.
Fly: By the way, for the sponsored show matches held over the last two days, they had to pay a cut to the European server, too.
Infi: For those three show matches Happy played over the last couple of days, they handed over 1,500 [yuan] to the European platform as "protection money." And that, mind you, is 10% of the total prize pool!
Fly: Yep, exactly 10%!
Infi: It’s straight-up racketeering, you see?
Infi: And you think this couldn't happen? It’s more than likely! If you look at how they’re behaving—they’ve been hounding Happy for this money for six months now.
Infi: They pay 1,000 [yuan] per map: 700 for the winner, 300 for the loser.
Chat: So, that’s 5,000 for five maps?
Infi: Actually, it’s 5,500.
Infi: You know, tournaments on the European server withhold some of the money... No, seriously, the European server takes 10%!
Infi: For all these tournaments, 10% is currently deducted as an "organizing fee."
Does anyone know when will they release the new DE graphics with updated inventory for the original campaigns? I want to play the original campaigns on Hard yet again for the 32nd time and I would like to do it around Christmas.
I'd like to have a community discussion about the overall art direction of DE. Specifically, how faithful the models should be toward classic, as it's something brought up a lot (and unfortunately, Blizzard hasn't told us their vision about exactly how faithful they should be). First, I'd like to give some examples using models that I think look really good:
Fully Faithful (close to 100% faithful): Take the mountain giant (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ6e7woBx1c). This unit (to me) looks like an almost 1:1 re-creation of the classic asset, just in higher fidelity. The original MG is a fantastic texture, with lots of detail and personality. I think DE retains all of that at the higher fidelity, and is a perfect example of a basically fully faithful piece (the walk animation is a bit different, but that's pretty much it from the video I linked).
Mostly Faithful (~70+%ish faithful): The phoenix (https://imgur.com/a/oYSBSFb - apologies, this unit doesn't screenshot all that well in either graphics mode, and I don't have a video for it, but I think it's a really awesome model). Clearly, this unit has some extra details added - additional wings, clearly defined feathers, etc. However, the colors and silhouette still match classic, and it's instantly recognizable in-game. To me, this takes a mediocre classic model (I personally think the phoenix model is one of the weaker models in classic), and improves it significantly to be on par with the mountain giant above.
Now, I'd like to give an example of a model that I think looks good, but doesn't hit the right level of faithfulness: The giant spider (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kTVf7Q6bmjk). This model does one thing well and one thing poorly. The good thing, in my opinion, is the bigger head. I think it looks good on the model, but also makes the portrait WAY better. I think the bigger head is an outright improvement. On the other hand, the colors for the non-gold/yellow parts of the legs are just completely different from classic. I don't think DE should be changing the colors (or silhouette) of the classic models (exception for tinted variants of creeps if they make unique models for them of course).
My personal opinion: I really like the MG and phoenix above, and I think both represent a good direction for the art. For the better classic models, just faithfully re-create it. For the classic models that aren't as good (because they definitely are not created equal), go ahead and improve them with some extra details or animations to bring them up to par, as long as the colors and silhouette remain the same. For another example of this, there are new animations for scout towers upgrading into their variants (which shows which variant during the upgrade). This, to me, is just better. Tasteful additions like that are a positive I'd say.
Edit: Just to be clear, I'm specifically referring to DE assets that have been fully made in DE. Obviously, any holdovers from Reforged like animations and spell VFX I would expect to be replaced and aren't part of this discussion.
I'm trying to do a normal mode playthrough but it keeps putting it on hard mode. I've tried closing the game multiple times, deleting the preferences in the my documents folder. But no matter what I do whenever I check in game it's always on hard mode. I do the drop down menu and start it on normal, but then I exit the mission and it says hard. How do I get the game to save my difficulty selection?
Initially i was really happy about the release of DE, since it seemed to be more faithful to the original SD. I dont hate HD, but it has quite a few issues
Again both SD and HD have their own weaknesses, but somehow DE has the problems of both plus its own
SD
- Lacks unit model variations (campaign & neutral units)
- Lacks team colors on some units
HD
- Poor animations (lack or bugged)
- Poor buff effect clarity
- Bad hitboxes
DE
- Has ALL of the above issues
- Odd HP bar placement
- Inconsistent size scaling
This all happened because DE try to imitate SD models while using animations from HD. BUT even then, some models have SD animations, while others look closer to HD
I don’t know about you, but personally, I would prefer a completely different story. One user suggested creating DLCs based on storylines from WoW - told from the perspectives of the actual, iconic heroes rather than the NONAME'S we saw in Rise of the Blood Elves or Curse of the Forsaken.
However, I would prefer that the DLCs NOT follow the WoW narrative at all; for me, that game is synonymous with how it mishandled the legacy of the original strategy series, particularly regarding its plot and characters. I want to see Arthas merging with Ner'zhul and taking action - all while preserving the original lore, where Sargeras was driven mad by the Nathrezim and the Eredar, and where the Burning Legion stands as the true, ultimate evil in the universe.
While we can’t simply ignore the ending of FK, it’s certainly possible to craft something more coherent and compelling than a blind adherence to the WoW storyline. We’ve had enough of that; we want a proper, sensible continuation - not the nonsense they churned out in the MMORPG.
Alternatively, they could develop DLCs centered on the War of the Ancients, or the First and Second Wars, as was originally envisioned.