Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne |
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Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne cover
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| Developer(s) | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Blizzard Entertainment |
| Director(s) | Frank Pearce Jr. |
| Producer(s) | Chris Sigaty |
| Designer(s) | Rob Pardo |
| Writer(s) | Chris Metzen |
| Composer(s) |
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| Series | Warcraft |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is an expansion pack for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. An expansion pack adds new content and features to an existing game. This game is a real-time strategy (RTS) game, where players control armies and build bases in real time.
Blizzard Entertainment released The Frozen Throne on July 1, 2003, for computers running Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It continues the exciting story from Reign of Chaos, showing what happened after the first game ended.
In the single-player story, you follow new heroes like the Night Elf warden Maiev Shadowsong and the Blood Elf prince Kael'Thas. You also play as the returning hero Arthas Menethil. The game also includes a special story for the Horde, which was added in parts after the game first came out.
This expansion brought many new things to the game. It added new units, buildings, and powerful heroes for each group of characters. There were also new types of creatures and neutral heroes that could join your side. The game also brought back sea units, which were missing from Reign of Chaos. For online play, it added features like player groups called clans and special tournaments.
Contents
Playing the Game: What's New?
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is a real-time strategy game where you lead units and build structures to complete different missions. This expansion made the game even better without changing its core rules.
Building Your Army
The game made small changes to how many units you could have and how much they cost. This allowed players to build slightly larger and stronger armies. Buildings also cost less, helping you start your game faster. The way weapons and armor worked was completely updated. This meant some units were better or worse against certain enemy types than before.
New defensive buildings were added early in the game. This helped stop players from rushing enemies too quickly with just their heroes. When you defeated enemies, they sometimes dropped "runes." These special items could help your heroes get back health or mana (magic energy).
One exciting return was naval battles! These were a big part of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness but were mostly gone in Warcraft III. Now, you could command ships and fight on the water again.
New Units and Heroes
Each main group in The Frozen Throne got new units and buildings. This included a special shop where players could buy items. Each group also got one new hero, a very strong unit that you could only recruit once. Regular units could now carry items too, which was a new feature.
Two new groups of creatures were added: the Naga and the Draenei. The Naga are like snake-people and appear in all four story campaigns. They have their own buildings and unique units. Sometimes you fight them, and sometimes you get to control them! The Draenei are found in one campaign and are neutral creatures, meaning they attack everyone.
The game also added five neutral heroes. These heroes could be hired from a special building called a Tavern. The Tavern could also bring back fallen heroes, though it cost more resources.
Varied Missions and Story
The single-player missions in The Frozen Throne had many different goals. Sometimes you controlled multiple armies, and other times you had only a few units to work with. Unlike previous Warcraft games, the Orcs were not in the main story. Instead, Blizzard created a special Orc campaign that felt more like a role-playing game (RPG). In this campaign, you mostly controlled heroes and explored maps, rather than building bases. This special Orc story had almost 40 unique items just for it. Both campaigns together offered about 40 hours of new gameplay.
Playing with Friends
For multiplayer games, you could now choose how difficult the computer opponent would be. The online multiplayer was improved with "clans," which are like groups of players. There were also automated tournaments with a strict time limit. You could chat with other players while waiting for a game to start. The expansion included 62 new multiplayer maps and special custom scenarios. If a friend left a game, their resources would now show up in a separate window, and you could use them.
Create Your Own Worlds
The Frozen Throne came with an improved "World Editor" program. This tool allowed players to create their own custom maps and scenarios. The new editor let creators do more, like making custom skills, adding new units, and linking multiple maps together. This meant events on one map could affect another! The Orc campaign was even designed to show off what the new World Editor could do.
The Story Continues
The Frozen Throne takes place in the fantasy world of Azeroth. In the first game, the human paladin Arthas Menethil became evil and joined the Lich King, a powerful undead sorcerer. Arthas then helped the Burning Legion, a group of demons, invade Azeroth. But an alliance of elves, humans, and orcs defeated the demons. During these events, the Night Elf leader Tyrande Whisperwind freed Illidan Stormrage, who then became half-demon and was cast out. After the demons were defeated, another demon lord, Kil'jaeden, told Illidan to destroy the Lich King.
New Characters and Groups
The expansion introduced new groups to the game's world:
- The Blood Elves: These were once High Elves who now needed magic to survive.
- The Naga: Mutated former Night Elves who live in the water.
- The Draenei: The original inhabitants of a world called Draenor (now known as Outland).
- The Pandaren: A race of traveling, human-like pandas.
The Frozen Throne follows several main stories:
- The Night Elf warden Maiev Shadowsong tries to catch Illidan Stormrage.
- Blood Elf prince Kael'thas struggles with the human Alliance and later joins Illidan.
- Arthas tries to save the Lich King from Illidan's attacks.
- Sylvanas Windrunner fights for her freedom from the Lich King.
The Horde campaign is a separate story. It focuses more on role-playing and less on building bases. It tells the story of the half-ogre hero Rexxar as he helps the Horde build their new kingdom.
What Happens in the Story
Maiev Shadowsong chases Illidan to some islands. There, she finds Illidan has teamed up with the Naga and has a powerful artifact. Maiev calls on Illidan's brother Malfurion Stormrage and his wife Tyrande Whisperwind for help. Illidan escapes to the kingdom of Lordaeron. While helping a group of Blood Elves, Tyrande is swept away by a river. Maiev tricks Malfurion into thinking Tyrande died so they keep chasing Illidan. They catch Illidan and destroy the artifact. Illidan reveals he was using it to destroy the Lich King. When Kael'thas tells Malfurion that Tyrande might still be alive, Illidan helps Malfurion rescue her. Malfurion then forgives Illidan. Maiev still chases Illidan, who flees to Outland.
In Lordaeron, the Blood Elves are uneasy allies with Garithos, a human commander. When Prince Kael'thas can only complete tasks with the Naga's help, Garithos arrests him and his forces. A Naga leader rescues them and takes them to Outland. There, they join Illidan, who promises to help them with their magic addiction. Together, they take over Outland. Kil'jaeden, Illidan's master, finds Illidan. He plans to punish Illidan for not destroying the Lich King. But Illidan says he went to Outland to gather forces for a new attack.
Arthas returns to Lordaeron, which is controlled by undead forces. He finds three demon lords ruling there. Arthas tells them the Burning Legion was defeated and declares himself king. While clearing out the last human forces with Sylvanas Windrunner and Kel'Thuzad, Arthas notices his powers are weaker. The Lich King contacts Arthas in his mind. He explains Illidan's attacks caused Arthas's power loss and tells him to defend the Frozen Throne. Arthas goes to Northrend. There, with the Lich King's helpers, he defeats Illidan in a fight. Arthas breaks the ice of the throne and puts on the Lich King's helmet. This joins their souls, and Arthas becomes the new Lich King. Meanwhile, in Lordaeron, Sylvanas is freed from the Lich King's control. With help, she defeats the remaining demon lords and Garithos. She declares Lordaeron the home of the free undead, now called the "Forsaken."
Far away from these events, the Horde leader Thrall builds a new kingdom called Durotar. Rexxar, a half-ogre adventurer, helps Thrall and others build the kingdom. He is helped by Rokhan, a troll. Rexxar learns that humans from an island plan to invade Durotar. Their leader, Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, does not accept the truce between humans and the Horde. With help from the admiral's daughter, Jaina Proudmoore, Rexxar attacks the human city. He defeats the admiral and leaves Jaina in charge of the city.
How the Game Was Made
Blizzard started thinking about content for an expansion right after the main game came out. Development for The Frozen Throne began in October 2002. The game was officially announced on January 22, 2003.
A big part of making the expansion was studying how players used different groups and units. This helped Blizzard figure out what each group needed to be stronger. For example, Orcs got a new way to heal units, and humans got a unit that could disable enemy towers from the air. When designing the story missions, the creators kept the new heroes' abilities in mind.
Blizzard offered a first look at the expansion in February 2003. They showed off the single-player campaign at a big gaming event called E3 in 2003. Blizzard also let 20,000 players try out the game in two beta tests before it was released.
On April 1, 2003, Blizzard joked that the Pandaren would be a new playable group. This was an April Fools' Day prank! However, the final game did include the Pandaren Brewmaster as one of the neutral heroes. You could even unlock him in a secret mission in the single-player game.
On May 29, 2003, Blizzard announced the game was finished and ready to be copied. It was released in North America on July 1, Australia on July 3, and Europe on July 4, 2003.
Blizzard continued to support The Frozen Throne even after it came out. They released new updates (called patches) that fixed problems and added new content. For example, they added more neutral heroes in 2004. The Orc campaign was released in parts. Only the first chapter was available at launch. The other two chapters were added in a patch in December 2003. This allowed Blizzard to use player feedback when creating the later parts of the story. Many patches have been released over the years. In April 2018, more than 15 years after the game's release, Blizzard added proper support for widescreen monitors.
What Came Next
The Frozen Throne's Orc campaign helped set the stage for World of Warcraft, a very popular online role-playing game. Many things players did in the campaign were explored more deeply in World of Warcraft.
Other ideas introduced or expanded in The Frozen Throne became important in later World of Warcraft expansions. For example, the Draenei and Blood Elves, and the world of Outland, were central to World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. The story of Arthas becoming the Lich King was a big part of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. The Pandaren race became a focus in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria.
In 2017, Blizzard released an expansion for their card game Hearthstone called Knights of the Frozen Throne. This expansion had many references to The Frozen Throne, including an undead version of Rexxar. Many of the heroes added in The Frozen Throne also appeared in Heroes of the Storm, a game where characters from different Blizzard games fight each other.
See also
In Spanish: Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne para niños
