Warcraft 3: Reforged garners a record-low 0.5 Metacritic user rating

After a number of questionable decisions by Blizzard, tens of thousands of users took to Metacritic to lambast the remaster of Warcraft 3 into the dirt.

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Warcraft 3 had a lot riding on it for its community in 2020. Many had hoped that the game would be an incredible step forward for the franchise, giving a spotlight back to the real-time strategy that made the franchise a hotly competitive and creative scene in its early going, and the promise of a remaster that brought about everything everyone loved about the game with modernized graphics and tweaks had a lot of fans stoked. Unfortunately, Warcraft 3: Reforged is getting anything but the red carpet treatment after some questionable decisions by Blizzard garnered ire from its community. It's now the worst reviewed user-rated game on Metacritic.

Warcraft 3: Reforged had a release date of January 28, 2020, and users have been blasting it in record numbers on Metacritic since its launch, giving it an abysmal current user rating score of 0.5. Over 20,000 users chimed in to make the dreary score possible. Largely, the complaints with the game are over unsatisfying updates to the UI, cinematic graphics, and further technical features like frames-per-second. However, one of the more concerning elements is tied into Blizzard’s new license agreement for the game.

Created content for Warcraft 3: Reforged now falls under similar rules to other Blizzard products, but the new restraints are a definite point of contention for fans who enjoyed making and sharing their own creations with Warcraft 3 in the past.
Created content for Warcraft 3: Reforged now falls under similar rules to other Blizzard products, but the new restraints are a definite point of contention for fans who enjoyed making and sharing their own creations with Warcraft 3 in the past.

It was on launch day that players noticed a troubling addition to the end-user license agreement (EULA) for Reforged, stating that all custom content for Warcraft 3: Reforged would be legally owned by Blizzard, as reported by PC Gamer. Likely, this was with the intention of capitalizing on any sort of breakout mods which have been the beginnings of the likes of DOTA and Auto Chess, but it was an enormously upsetting fact to many that their unique efforts poured into the game would be the property of Blizzard. It was a fact made more bitter by the realization that the original client for Warcraft 3 is wiped and replaced by Reforged when the game is installed.

Review bombing is a definite thing in this day and age. Warcraft 3: Reforged technically isn’t probably a 0.5 game. It’s not sounding like what Blizzard promised at all, but it’s still Warcraft 3. Even so, the real-time strategy fans of Blizzard both competitive and non-competitive expected something great and Blizzard’s decisions regarding custom content and other facets of the game have definitely turned the loudest in its community against the remaster. It will remain to be seen if the game recovers, but for now, the users have spoken: Warcraft 3: Reforged is the worst user-rated game on Metacritic, ever.

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 3, 2020 9:05 AM

    TJ Denzer posted a new article, Warcraft 3: Reforged garners a record-low 0.5 Metacritic user rating

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      February 3, 2020 9:07 AM

      [deleted]

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        February 3, 2020 11:36 AM

        I would be too if I mange single player mods that now don’t work even if you only own the original version. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

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      February 3, 2020 9:21 AM

      [deleted]

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      February 3, 2020 9:40 AM

      I think the user score for it is more indicative of the quality of the "fanbase" then it is of the game

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        February 3, 2020 11:11 AM

        Meh, I'm not a War3 player, but I'd be PO'd by this boondoggle if I was.

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          February 3, 2020 11:49 AM

          Sure, but I think there's a distinct difference between a lackluster remaster and "worse than Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing"

          0.5/10 indicates a game that most likely didn't even start and possibly only runs an installer splash screen. Having a large swath of the fanbase overreact to that level really speaks to their maturity.

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            February 3, 2020 1:55 PM

            From what I gather, the game breaks all sorts of functions, even for the people who don't get the new one. That's nuts!

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        February 3, 2020 11:57 AM

        Activision-Blizzard not only legitimately did not deliver on what they promised, they diminished the playability of the original product.

        Even if you weren't interested in buying the remaster, you were nonetheless impacted by losing the game you once had through no action of your own.

        To me, the user score is indicative of the size and passion of a user base Activision-Blizzard severely mischaracterized and/or took for granted.

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        February 3, 2020 2:44 PM

        no, not even slightly. try spending a bit of time with google before casting this judgement.

        there were BlizzCon promises made about this title, even showcased. they sold preorders on the basis of these items, they did not openly publish that these would not make it into the final product.

        the user score is indicative of what someone deserves when they get caught in a lie, especially one that makes them lots of money.

        my personal favorite is a letterboxed UI that was promised to be changed yet still exists in a game that now supports widescreen aspect ratio.

        but yes. definitely the users are the problem.

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          February 3, 2020 4:23 PM

          Well, you sold me on it. It's definitely the worst, most broken game ever released

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            February 3, 2020 4:57 PM

            It actually broke another game. That might be a first a game that breaks another game.

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            February 3, 2020 10:20 PM

            be sarcastic all you wish. the score is reminiscent of a deserved punishment for a bait and switch, and still probably not enough.

            this was effectively stealing. a product was promised on the agreed exchange of currency. that product was not delivered, knowingly, and such information was not published ahead of time.

            this shit certainly would not pass in day-to-day business transactions.

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        February 3, 2020 5:18 PM

        Sounds like a non fan, weighing in on the fans, without reading up on the shittyness of this 'update'. Sorry Roushi.

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          February 3, 2020 5:31 PM

          Again, "0.5"

          That's just dumbass herd mentality voting, underscoring the uselessness of having a user review option at all. It's the same idiocy that feeds the "8/10 is good, 7/10 is garbage" school of thought.

          It's literally saying that it's the worst game ever according to users. That's laughably stupid and it's funny that people defend it.

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            February 3, 2020 5:55 PM

            What do you recommend the people who are unhappy do?

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            February 3, 2020 5:59 PM

            To be fair, game that disables an existing product that other players are still using on launch goes beyond it's own merits.

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            February 3, 2020 6:01 PM

            Again, the game literally doesn't do what was sold in a huge trailer at BLIZZCON by the people who make the game............ It also breaks your existing game.

            Blizzard are denying many refunds.


            If you're a "War 3 casual" then it's probably an ok update, maybe but anyone with an inkling of interest in the series or nostalgia, now has their old game damaged and hundreds (thousands?) of custom maps rendered useless, due to shit work on their behalf.

            Gamers have little way of getting repsonses from game companies. Post on the forums? Banned / spam protected. Ask for refund? Denied or banned. Tweet about it? Blocked. Nah - this is a tried and true method of getting a response.

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            February 3, 2020 6:09 PM

            I think if it was just that Warcraft 3 Reforged was a lackluster repackaging that would be one thing.

            But they went in and replaced the original, road tested version of the game with the glitchy, problematic one, for everyone, even if you didn’t buy Reforged, and made it impossible to play the old one short of owning the disc.

            In this case I’m ok with gamers voicing their dissatisfaction in a place more likely to be noticed.

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              February 3, 2020 6:19 PM

              I still cannot believe that, and I don't know why the review average is as high as a 0.5 if that's true (or is that as low as it goes?).

              wtf blizz.

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                February 3, 2020 6:28 PM

                That is serious pull the new game and refund everyone, restore the original completely, and do the Reforged thing properly without touching the original before releasing it again type shit. Wow.

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            February 3, 2020 6:23 PM

            The ratings aren't grading on a curve, ya know.

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            February 4, 2020 2:10 AM

            You're plainly wrong here.

            My brother paid full price, twice, 18 and 17 years ago.

            Last week they force updated that game and now it no longer works as it did for 17 years.

            0/10

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            February 4, 2020 2:47 AM

            People should vote with their wallet
            They found a different way, nothing changes for the better if you're lukewarm about it

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        February 4, 2020 2:43 AM

        Ruining the existing version is just beyond the pale. It's fully justified.

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      February 3, 2020 11:53 AM

      The new UI makes even DICE seem competent
      https://i.imgur.com/T7HUJcS.jpg

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      February 3, 2020 2:20 PM

      Who even liked Warcraft 3? Warcraft 2 was where it was at.

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      February 3, 2020 3:49 PM

      Blizzard finally broke their silence: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/warcraft3/t/warcraft-iii-reforged-developer-update/18425

      Doesn't sound like they have a plan to address some of the deeper concerns, like the art style that misses the mark. Also disappointing that the automated tournaments aren't coming back ever.

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        February 3, 2020 4:43 PM

        Talk about another terrible apology wow. The hits just keep on coming from Blizzard so bad. "First off, we want to say we’re sorry to those of you who didn’t have the experience you wanted" completely comes off as "We made a great thing, you're just being unreasonable"

        I also like how they still show the custscene screenshot as a selling point then say people don't want it.. Ok man. This company.

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        February 3, 2020 6:00 PM

        The excuse for keeping the cutscenes the same is dumb as fuck. Anyone else would have animated the shit out of them — did people complain when Halo did it? Helllll no.

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        February 3, 2020 6:24 PM

        That's some real dogshit excusing.

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        February 4, 2020 2:25 AM

        "First off, we want to say we’re sorry to those of you who didn’t have the experience you wanted" regardless of fault, from a PR perspective this is some gutsy blame-shifting

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      February 3, 2020 3:53 PM

      [deleted]

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      February 3, 2020 6:01 PM

      that does it, shacknews is gonna send CRADDOCK back in to figure out what the fuck this company is doing

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      February 3, 2020 6:22 PM

      Is there a comparison of the new classic mode vs the new high res mode? All I seem to be finding are 2019 vs 2002.

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      February 3, 2020 6:25 PM

      This isn't news. User reviews are utter trash. Poorly written shit from people who might not have bought or even played the game in question. It's like saying "these YouTube comments have a 0.5 rating!" Who cares. It's filth thrown against a wall by morons

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      February 3, 2020 7:41 PM

      Is this a New Coke situation for Blizzard?

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