Blizzard Launches Public Test Realm for Warcraft 3

Now you can check out the public test realm for another Blizzard game – and it’s Warcraft 3.

We’re used to seeing announcements for the Overwatch PTR, but how about a public test realm for another, slightly older game? Say, Warcraft 3, for example. That’s what Blizzard revealed this week.

Pete Stillwell of the Blizzard Classic Games team announced in a forum post that the “first official PTR” for Warcraft 3 is now available. You can download the PTR client to test out new map pools for 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 matches, as well as free-for-alls. Even better, there are a number of balance changes available to test right now. Here’s a list:

• Balanced creep camp difficulty progression from early to late game
• Balanced creep drop tables for better item progression from early game to late game
• Item diversity: Varied Level 1 though 6 charged items and Level 1 through 6 permanent items
• Balanced all start locations: total amount and starting distance from lumber, equal amount of spacing, equal size choke points, et cetera
• Balanced expansion distance from start locations
• Decluttered points of interest to reduce visual competition during gameplay
• Retextured map surfaces for better visual clarity – both on screen and mini-map
• Minimized the size of trees and doodads that obstructed player view of points of interest
• Added cliff lines or deep water to edges of the map – removing hard edges (aesthetic choice for immersion)
• Properly placed trees and doodads on the pathing grid: full-cell Medium Grid to half-cell Medium Grid alternate
• Removed the rolling shoreline waves from rolling hills to remove the noise the waves created – remains for cliff shores

Also of interest is the news that more updates are in the works. Stilwell writes that, “We are aware Warcraft III matchmaking is a bit long in the tusk; we will be improving matchmaker logic for a future patch.” He also points out that automated tournaments and ladder boards are currently “not functional for PTR,” and that while latency has improved with this new patch, it is “still needs work to meet modern standards.”

While it might be surprising to see a new PTR for a 15-year-old game, the more optimistic among us are likely hoping that this is the first step in a remaster plan similar to the one Blizzard is using for StarCraft.