Blizzard Says Warcraft 3: Reforged 2.0 Is a Fresh Start, but Fans Remain Unconvinced After Rocky Launch

Warcraft III: Reforged 2.0 was a pleasant surprise when it released as part of Blizzard's celebration of Warcraft's 30th anniversary. But a week after the patch's launch, fan sentiment around the update continues to be mixed.

Touted as an ambitious patch that would fix many of the lingering issues from the original release, Reforged 2.0 endured a bug-ridden launch that required multiple hot fixes. Blizzard moved quickly to address problems with graphical glitches, game results failing to register, and the MacOS client breaking entirely, but the issues have tempered enthusiasm for the patch, which Blizzard promoted as a fresh start for one of the most troubled releases in its history.

Among the major complaints have been claims of discrepancies between the gameplay stills used in the marketing and the actual release. Grubby, a former pro player who remains active in Reforged, was among those who criticized the marketing stills, saying "none of this is real" in a video released earlier this week.

"I hope at best this was an oversight and an overreaching by the marketing department that was not signed off by the Warcraft III RTS team. That's the best case scenario," he said.

As of publication, the stills remain online on Blizzard's press site, and Blizzard has declined to comment on the discrepancies. In the meantime, Grubby says he's less likely to play with Classic HD settings due to what he perceives to be mouse lag impacting his performance, even as he praised its greater implementation of custom skins.

New art style draws mixed reactions from fans

Apart from bugs and other issues, AI upscaling has been a hot topic among Warcraft fans. Following the surprise release of remastered versions of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness alongside the Reforged 2.0 updates, fans took to Reddit and other channels with claims that they were hastily upscaled. Blizzard, for its part, has said that the remasters feature "brand new hand-drawn graphics," though it did utilize machine learning to upscale Reforged 2.0's textures and icons in Classic HD mode before refining them by hand.

Fans have pointed out the discrepancies between Reforged 2.0's screenshots and actual gameplay. Image source: Blizzard.

That hasn't stopped fans from criticizing the new art style, though, with some comparing it to the uncanny cartooniness of mobile games. Thankfully, those who don't like the new look of the remasters can hit F5 to go back to the original look.

The mixed reactions are in line with Blizzard's recent history with remasters. The original Warcraft III: Reforged did considerable damage to its reputation with fans, failing to deliver on numerous key promises. That reputation lingers to this day, amplifying the overall negativity around Reforged 2.0 even as Blizzard rushes to release hot fixes and updates in a timely manner.

The updated art style from the remastered Warcraft releases have drawn mixed reactions from fans. Image source: Blizzard.

Blizzard, for its part, still has plans to update and optimize Warcraft III: Reforged going forward, and IGN understands that the publisher is also open to exploring ranked multiplayer for the Tides of Darkness remaster if there's enough demand from the community.

Grubby, meanwhile, remains fairly optimistic despite his criticism, pointing out that Warcraft III is ultimately a 22-year-old game and arguing for patience. "Despite low expectations, we got all this for free. We got new skins, a new client look, a new ladder with improvements and so on, and while many things still need to be improved, I'm happy with what we got."

You can read everything else announced during last week's Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct right here.

Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.