Customer Reviews

WarCraft III Expansion: The Frozen Throne

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This isn't merely an expansion. - This is practically a whole new game. The software team at Blizzard has outdone themselves once again, bringing us yet another great Role-play stategy masterpiece. Frozen Throne gives us more Warcraft 3, chock full of great new units, diverse new heroes, and 26 new levels in the campaign/story of Azeroth. Frozen Throne is full of new items, creeps, and multiplayer options and levels. I really can't think of anything worth complaining about concerning this release. I myself found Warcraft 3 to be a little difficult; even after playing for months and honing my skills. Fortuneatly, if you have a hard time with Frozen Throne and get tired of punching the monitor in aggravation, you can now adjust the difficulty of your opponent. Three settings: Easy, Normal, and Insane. There is also a nifty Handicap option in the setup screen that can make computer controlled players a bit weaker. So aside from the cool new units and heroes, this game brings more balance to the Warcraft experience. Blizzard has done a great job adjusting and modifying units, hit points, and build times from the previous game. For instance: Some buildings now build faster, certain units cost less food points, and the total food cap is now raised. - Adversely, some buildings now take longer to upgrade, heroes gain experience slower after a time, and particular items are now more expensive etc.. The list goes on. Though I am glad to report that just about all of the changes are good. The game is better balanced and a bit more fun now. The new units and maps (even has weather effects now -/snow/ rain) breathe new life into the Warcraft world. This is definitely a better offering than the original Warcraft 3. -Hardcore RTS/RPS gamers and newcomers alike would be foolish to pass up a seat on The Frozen Throne.

The Frozen Throne is a must for any Warcraft fan. It adds enough new units, upgrades, and heroes to make the game seem new once more. Furthermore, a new campaign is added that continues the story where Reign of Chaos left off.

The expansion adds a new hero to each side- the Shadow Hunter for the Orcs, Blood Mage for the Humans, Crypt Lord for the Undead, and Warden for the Night Elves. The Shadow Hunter is probably the most notable addition here, since previously Orcs had no good way to heal their units early in the game. The Warden is also a good Night Elf pick if you want to try assassinating someone else's hero. Additionally, you can hire mercenary heroes at a Tavern. These are just as good as the ones you get normally, save that they don't take any time to train. They include the Naga Sea Witch, Pandaren Brewmaster, Beastmaster, Dark Ranger, and Pit Lord.

New units and upgrades are also added for each side. Some of the old units, including the Ballista and Catapult, have been changed and renamed. The Orc units are the Batrider (anti-air flyer) and Spirit Walker (Tauren support caster). Upgrades include the Troll Berserker- a throwback to Warcraft 2 and Reinforced Defenses, which makes defensive buildings tougher. The Humans get the Spell Breaker (a caster-killer) and Dragonhawk Rider (another anti-air unit) as well the Arcane Tower- which could save you from a one-hero rush. Upgrades include Barrage and Flak Cannons, which make Siege Tanks and Flying Machines into very serious anti-air units.

The Undead receive the Obsidian Statue, which can either heal nearby enemies or restore their mana. It can also be turned into the Destroyer, a deadly magic-immune air unit. The Nerubian Tower is also added, which does less damage than Spirit Towers but slows enemies. Upgrades include Exhume Corpses, which lets Meat Wagons generate corpses on their own. The Night Elves gain the Mountain Giant, now the most powerful melee unit, and the Faerie Dragon, an anti-caster air unit. Upgrades include Mark of the Claw, which allows Druids in bear form to cast Roar.

In addition to these units, every side can now build a shop that sells items geared toward that side's strategy. For example, the Undead shop sells an item that can make a patch of blight anywhere it's deployed, which allows them to build defenses outside their home base. There's also a host of new creeps to find and fight, some of which are incredibly powerful.

The new units and upgrades do change the way the game is played. For one, it's now quite risky to make an all-caster army, since there's no less than three new units that are completely immune to magic. Needless to say, the new hero choices and the presence of Taverns also results in new potential strategies. Despite the changes, however, it's generally true that what worked in Reign of Chaos still works in Frozen Throne- you just might need to make some alterations to your army makeup.

The single play campaign is great. It includes two new cinematics (as is the norm for Blizzard productions, quite eye-popping) and introduces quite a few new characters as well as some old. The story focuses on rivals Illidan and Arthas, but supporting cast is also involved, including a rather interesting bit from Sylvanus Windrunner. There's even a new semi-playable side added- the Naga. I wish there were a way to play them in custom games or multiplayer, even though they aren't fully fleshed-out as a race. In all there's a Night Elf, Alliance (humans and blood elves), and Undead campaign. The Orcs don't figure heavily into this part of the plot, but there's a bonus Orc campaign that continues the story where it left off and includes guest appearances by Thrall, Jaina, and Cairne (download it by connecting to Battle.net). One of the best things about playing these campaigns is you get quite familiar with some of the new available heroes, which will help when it comes time to make your choices in multiplay. In some missions you'll also see something notably missing from the game- naval units. These can be built by way of a goblin shipyard, though as yet they aren't available in custom games or multiplay. There's also a lot of new magic items to be seen, some of which are downright godly.

For mapmakers, there are also new doodads and tilesets for the editor, including sunken ruins and Dalaran ruins. Some of the new placeable objects are quite impressive. The editor has also been revamped, allowing more control over characters and spells. If you know what you're doing, it can now change pretty much every aspect of the game.

Frozen Throne is about as good as an expansion can get, and is especially excellent for an RTS expansion. If you like Warcraft III, you shouldn't hesitate to get it. The bonus campaign in particular shows that Warcraft really can be a combination RTS/RPG, and I don't doubt that there will soon be many player-generated scenarios like it.

Warcraft 3 hit over a year ago with a cliffhanger ending that left fans drooling for more. Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne continues the saga of Warcraft, with interesting new changes.

Each race gets a new hero added to the ranks, as well as several new units. These new units enhance the races with great new abilities. Aside from these new units, there are also new items to be found in the game, as well as a few joke items that refer to other Blizzard classics, like Diablo II. New Creeps are also roaming around the game, waiting to be killed by your heroes!

The story continues, and this time it is explained from different perspectives. In fact, the Alliance campaign and the Dark Elf campaigns are like playing 2 more completely new races, which you will understand once you start playing. There are also a few hidden features, such as secret levels and other easter eggs that you will have to look hard to find. Blizzard definitely put alot of time into making a quality product. There is even a bonus downloadable Orc campaign. There are only 2 new cinematics, but most of the story is explained through good in-game cutscenes, with some excellent voice acting.

Orc fans will be sorely disappointed, as they are flat-out ignored in this expansion. The Orcs have absolutely no influence or bearing on the story at all, nor are they ever mentioned once in any campaign. The bonus campaign 'The Founding of Durotar', which details their settling and adjustment into their new lands in Kalimdor, is only one chapter with many, many sub-missions. Blizzard promises that they will release more chapters to the campaign for download in coming weeks, though it is not clear how many chapters there will be, or how long the wait will be between chapters. Although the downloadable campaign is a nice feature, it is still very disappointing that the Orcs are blatantly left out of this game's primary story. The orcs have always been the most popular and more interesting of the races. To leave them out of the expansion is foolish, and was a bad move on the part of the development team. The tradition of Warcraft is truly done away with...the war of Orcs and Humans is now over and done with.

As is usual with most Blizzard expansions, the difficulty in this game is substantially greater than that of its predecessor. While not hopelessly difficult, there are some missions that are so frustrating and difficult that even long-standing Warcraft Veterans may find some of the missions too infuriating and outrageously hard to complete. I personally despised the Undead campaign...to say it was infuriating is a severe understatement. But persistence and patience will prevail in the end. As for custom games, they remain unthinkably difficult and should only be played by hardcore and expert Warcraft veterans.

I see many who are disappointed in this expansion, and though the exclusion of the Orcs was very disappointing, I see no other reason why. People seem to expect an entirely new game, but this is an EXPANSION to an existing game...if it were to add 20 new units and a new race and new this and new that, it would be too much. The purpose of an expansion is to provide more of an existing gameplay experience, while adding a few new things that enhance it overall. Frozen Throne does that quite well, and i'm very satisfied with it. Another great game from Blizzard.

this expansion pack is going to comletely change WC3 for the better... WC3+expansion will definatly be one of the best RTS games for quite some time. I'm currently beta testing the game, so i should be able to give a rough idea of how it should turn out for the final release. Lot's of new features (i'm not going to get into details that are already avialable at the expansion pack website, for you can read there yourself)....

- my favorite new hero is the orc hero.... its like a powerfull voodoo witchdoctor..... most notable is his healing spell (which finally gives orcs a healing option for early game) which acts like chain lightning, but has a healing effect.
- spellcasters have been changed.... their attack type is now "magic attack"..... their armor type is now "unarmed". I won't get into the details of how the attack and armor works, because they are likely to be modified for final release.
- spellcasters now have inventory! a 2 slot inventory.
- ancients now have heavy armor when uprooted (makes ancient rushing a little harder i guess)
- all races can now build item shops with items unique to each civ. Most notible is that each civ's item shop gets a unique orb... orcs get orb of lightning ;D.... orbs arnt available until tier3 though and cost about 400gold on current beta.
- cyclone is now dispelable
- crypt fiends (and other undead units) can learn the burrow ability which lets them dig into the ground and act as a spy/regen health
- you can now buy transport BOATS (at goblin shipyards)... this should make for some interesting water maps hopefully.
- orc burrows can be upgraded to heavy burrows which have fortified armor instead of medium.
- when units are following a hero, they mimic the heros actions.. i.e. if hero attacks, following units will also attack instead of just sitting there watching :p
- for people with slower computers, you can now adjust the spell detail level, which was a source of lag at times on older machines.
- minimap now has a creep mode. it highlights creep camps on the map via a grey circle; the bigger the circle the bigger the creeps.

BNET will be much improved too.... here are some features i've tried out on the current wc3x beta servers...

- built-in clan support! you can now create clans. there are now 2 friends lists basicly: the original friends list, and a new clan member list. The creator of the clan gets a cheiften icon, assistant's to the leader get shaman icons, normal members get grunt icons, and new members (initiates) get peon icons until they are officially accepted into the clan. There are also clan ladders and clan stats!
- Now you can stay in the chat room while searching for a game. After you choose game criteria (1v1, 2v2, maps, civ) and click search... the search screen minimizes to a small box in the topright and takes u back to the chat room. The small box tells you how long you have been waiting, and what the average wait time is for that game type.

Anyways, i can't wait for this to go final! it will make a great rts game even better!

-duck

My, Oh My! I cannot express the hatred I had for this game when it was originally released in the Summer of 2003. In November 2003, I decided to jump the bandwagon and see for myself what Blizzard has done with this expansion pack. There is no turning back now...I am in love all over again. To sum it up, Frozen Throne adds 4 heroes (1 to each race), a host of new units with new abilities, 5 new neutral heroes, player built shops, host of new maps and enhanced battle.net features. This is not your ordinary "Let's add 6 maps, a new game mode and call it an expansion pack" kinda gig. The game is much deeper than it originally seems at first glance. Players of Reign of Chaos will feel right at home with the controls. Be warned and get ready for some frustration as adjusting to the economy system of Frozen Throne will take a little getting used to. Many will tell you that cost is down in Frozen Throne, and this is true to some extent...but they neglect to tell you that nearly everything costs more lumber now. Old strategies often fail, so don't expect to win with that old Reign of Chaos strategy. Frozen Throne affords some variety on a level not seen in Reign of Chaos, that is you no longer see people getting the same units in every game. In the old days, you'd know what your opponent was getting if say, he was an orc player. Frozen Throne also exhibits a slower style of gameplay than featured in Reign of Chaos. This is not a bad thing at all. People no longer tech (upgrade) as quickly as they did in Reign of Chaos as there is more emphasis on tier 1 units (particularly melee) to survive early game. The game is balanced as can be and updates are a plenty. As the case with all Blizzard games, online play is a blast. For the hardcore strategist, Frozen Throne aims to please and boasts a surprisingly long campaign considering it is just an expansion pack. If games of this genre are your bag of tricks, don't miss out...pick this title up today!

The best thing about this expansion pack is that it has retooled the economy of WC3: Reign of Chaos, and has placed the four races on a much more balanced playing field. On top of which, the recently released Frozen Throne 1.12 patch makes a multitude of changes to the 1.07 version, furthering the equitability of this fine game.

Building costs have been drastically reduced for starters. This leaves you with more money to spend on troops. The upkeep levels have been increased to 50/80/100 for no, low and high upkeep respectively. Larger armies hence play a larger role in the game. New heroes have been added, all of which are quite good, and modifications have been made to the attack and defence systems. For example, heroes now do 'hero' damage, which deals 100% damage to everything, except fortified buildings. Gryphon Riders, Frost Wyrms and Chimearas all do 'magic' damage, which is best against heavy armour (Orcs, Knights etc). These are just a couple of the many changes made to Reign of Chaos. Most, especially after you install the patch, you won't even notice. But combined they make the game much more exciting.

The single player game is good, if not a little easy on normal, but that's okay. Play it on hard instead! But, the multiplayer, and I know every other person who has played Warcraft 3 says this... the multiplayer is gold! Pure gold baby! I never get sick of it. Even games against the computer are very good as well. The computer is a solid, thinking competitor and often gets the better of me, so it's always a race against the clock to get all aspects of your army up and running smoothly.

If you've got Warcraft III, you must get this expansion. It improves what I already considered to be one of the best games I've ever played.

This is an entrancing game. Once you start, you cannot stop. Valuable enhancement to Warcraft III.

This game is a sweet game. If you like magic and roleplaying this is a must buy for you. Going on BNET and playing custom game is so much fun, my favorite game right now would be StayOffTheGrass. If you dont wanna play custom games go and do a BNET game and try to level up. If you like to talk to your friends a lotand you have a lot of friends on WC3 you can make a clan, clan are for people who like to Arranged Team a lot. So if you don't have this game I would recommend it. This game is for everyone, and if you by this before Reign Of Chaos your gonna need to get Reign Of Chaos before you can start playing because The Frozen Throne is an expansion set.

The storyline of WC3:RoC continues with FT, and it continues well. Illidan, who had been MIA at the end of RoC, returns, with the hope of crushing the Lich King for one of the last demon lords still around after the defeat of Archimonde. Other returning characters are Tyrande Whisperwind, Furion Stormrage, Prince (Now king) Arthas, Slyvanis Windrunner, and more. The story is great, and its more intriguing than the one in RoC, and we also get some backstory relating to the original two Warcraft games, which is great. Its amazing how Blizzard managed to integrate the stories of the three games. I haven't delved into multiplayer much, because one drawback of this game is that everyone is now a Level 1 player to start off, so, as a former Level 5 guy, I'm now playing Level 10 RoC players who have become the same level as me, which is intimidating. A couple of drawbacks are the lack of cinematics (Only two), and the sad absence of an Orc campaign, replaced by a bonus campaign designed to showcase the new advances in the map editor. While the new advances are neat, nothing can replace good old fashioned orcs. Also, some of the new multiplayer maps are terrible. They brought back boats in this game, but the only real benefits to the boats are troop transport. While there are battleships and frigates, they are really only there to protect the transports. The addition of boats was actually a more annoying thing, as now there are missions and maps that split everything into islands, and you need to get boats just to get them. Overall, this game is great, and a worthy addition to any PC game collection.

If you love playing Warcraft, you'll love this.
This is expansion set of Warcraft III, you'll need to buy Reign of Chaos to play this game.