The remaster of Warcraft 3 was supposed to be a highlight for Activision Blizzard in 2020. After being one of the few highlights at the infamous "do you guys not have phones" BlizzCon of 2018, the hype for Warcraft 3: Reforged ramped up over the past months. The original Warcraft 3 was an industry-defining title, and the revamped version of the RTS drew the attention of tons of nostalgic fans.

However, when the game was finally re-released two days ago, many were disappointed. Whereas Blizzard's titles used to be known for their polish, Warcraft 3: Reforged is riddled with bugs. Moreover, some the teasers shown at BlizzCon 2018, like in-game cutscenes, didn't appear in the game at all, and instead were replaced by dialogue screens one would expect from a game released in 2002—not one re-released in 2020.

On the Warcraft 3 subreddit, most threads are complaints or memes about Blizzard's fumbling of the remaster. Aside from the disappointment in Warcraft 3: Reforged's graphics players are voicing their anger about server instability, and the fact that a ranked ladder is completely absent.

The original Warcraft 3 was also well-known for its map editor, where players could let their creativity go wild and create their own game modes, has seen a change in rules as well. Two new rules, outlining that inappropriate content can be removed at Blizzard's discretion, and that using copyrighted content is a no-go, sound sensible.

However, the game modes people create in Warcraft 3: Reforged now automatically belong to Activision Blizzard, not to the player who created them. It's quite likely a rule added to prevent another "Dota"—the first version of which was created in the original Warcraft 3 map maker—from becoming successful without Blizzard being able to collect from it. This rule raised the most questions, especially because it states that Blizzard is in no way required to compensate the inventor, and now could just walk away with someone else's invention.

Many feel betrayed by the promises of Blizzard, and calls for mass-refunds circle within the community. On Metacritic, Warcraft 3: Reforged has a User Score of just 1.5/10 at the moment—more than two points lower than Metacritic's Worst Game of 2019, Eternity: The Last Unicorn. Blizzard hasn't publicly addressed the backlash yet.

Images via Blizzard Entertainment.