Changes … they keep happening in Warcraft 3 and many hopefuls can’t help but to be swept away in the rumors of a remaster on the horizon. Blizzard themselves have played coy in the past, though nothing concrete has given us what we need to know. Minor updates here and there are to be expected, but there’s been a lot of reworking done in the past several months in Warcraft 3 and … we’re watching you, Blizzard … we’re watching.

The latest update brings widescreen support, game lobby expansion, and tons of fixes. Pair that with the hero balance changes, and we’ve got a pretty hefty new patch. To check out what’s new in the world of Warcraft (see what we did there?) check out the full patch notes below:

Specific Changes & Improvements

Widescreen support added. To prevent stretching there have been changes to the interfaces:

• Added bookends to the in-game interface
• Added black pillars in menus

Game lobbies expanded to support 24 players. We’ve added 12 new team colors. Thanks to Erkan and others for contributing to the new palette:

• Player 13 – Maroon
• Player 14 – Navy
• Player 15 – Turquoise
• Player 16 – Violet
• Player 17 – Wheat
• Player 18 – Peach
• Player 19 – Mint
• Player 20 – Lavender
• Player 21 – Coal
• Player 22 – Snow
• Player 23 – Emerald
• Player 24 – Peanut

Notes

• Ladder standings have been reset; good luck and have fun on the climb
• Replays are incompatible between major game versions
• This will be the last version to support Windows XP
• Automated tournaments will resume next week

Bug Fixes

• Clans can be created
• Mac launches
• Korean locale launches
• Various missing textures located (Thanks to TriggerHappy for the test map)
• Default resolution no longer resembles Felwood
• Ladder maps cleansed of sneaky tower locations near starting mines

Known Issues

• Temporarily disabled Fixed Aspect Ratio in Video Options
• Chaos Kodo Beasts are showing as idle workers in campaign missions
• Unable to input text while keyboard settings are under different languages in zhCN and koKR locales
• Certain elements in World Editor overlap
• Set/GetAbilityOnXXXX functions are renamed to Set/GetAbilityActivatedXXXX
• SetUnitNameAll is disabled for now
• PlaySpecialEffect is disabled for now
• PlaySpecialEffectWithTimeScale is disabled for now
• Crash: With an ability that has “Disabled”=false, attempting to set “Disabled” to false again will crash the World Editor
• UnitDisableAbility does not hide an ability with Hide=true and Disabled=false
• Default map directory is for from maps when creating custom games
• Resolution does not change properly when switching between windowed and full screen
• Tooltips for hero abilities may not be updated

Hero Balance Changes

Mountain King
Movement Speed

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

Stormbolt

• Level 2: Reduce damage from 225 to 210
• Level 3: Reduce damage from 350 to 325

Thunder Clap

• Level 1: Increased damage from 60 to 65; Increased area of effect from 25 to 30
• Level 2: Increased damage from 100 to 125; Increased area of effect from 30 to 35
• Level 3: Increased damage from 140 to 175; Increased area of effect from 35 to 40

Paladin
Attack Speed

• Reduced cooldown from 2.2 to 2.0 seconds

Movement Speed

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

Divine Shield

• Level 2: Reduced duration from 30 to 25
• Level 3: Reduced duration from 45 to 35

Blademaster
Mirror Image

• Reduced Mana cost from 115 to 100 for all levels

Critical Strike

• Removed + damage item interaction from multiplier calculation: (Avg Damage + Item Damage)*Critical Multiplier = Total Damage
• Prior calculation: (Avg Damage *Critical Multiplier) + Item Damage = Total Damage

Far Seer
Feral Spirit

• Level 1: Increased unit healths from 200 to 250
• Level 2: Increased unit healths from 300 to 350; Reduced unit level from 4 to 3 to reduce enemy experience reward
• Level 3: Reduced unit level from 5 to 4 to reduce enemy experience reward

Chain Lightning

• Reduced damage reduction from 15% to 10% per jump for all levels

Far Sight

• Level 1: Removed mana cost; Added a cooldown of 60 seconds
• Level 2: Removed mana cost; Added a cooldown of 45 seconds
• Level 3: Removed mana cost; Added a cooldown of 30 seconds

Shadow Hunter
Serpent Wards

• Level 1: Increased damage from 11-13 to 14-16; Increased health from 75 to 90
• Level 2: Increased damage from 23-26 to 27-30; Increased health from 135 to 165
• Level 3: Increased damage from 41-45 to 48-52; Increased health from 135 to 200

Tauren Chieftain
Movement Speed

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

War Stomp

• Level 1: Increased damage from 25 to 30
• Level 2: Increased damage from 50 to 60
• Level 3: Increased damage from 75 to 90

Reincarnation

• Reduced spellcast from 7 seconds to 5 seconds

Crypt Lord
Movement Speed

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

Carrion Beetles

• Level 1: Increased health from 140 to 170; Increase movement speed from 270 to 290
• Level 2: Increased health from 275 to 330; Increase movement speed from 270 to 290
• Level 3: Increased health from 410 to 490; Increase movement speed from 270 to 290

Impale

• Level 1: Increased damage from 50 to 75
• Level 2: Increased damage from 80 to 120
• Level 3: Increased damage from 110 to 165

Dread Lord
Movement Speed 

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

Carrion Swarm

• Level 1: Increased maximum damage from 300 to 400
• Level 2: Increased maximum damage from 600 to 700
• Level 3: Increased maximum damage from 1000 to 1200
• Mana Cost reduced from 110 to 100 for all levels
• Now damages mechanical units

Sleep

• Cooldown reduced from 6 seconds to 4 seconds for all levels
• Level 1: Reduced duration from 20 (5) sec to 15 (4) sec; Reduced mana cost from 100 to 80
• Level 2: Reduced duration from 40 (10) sec to 35 (8) sec; Reduced mana cost from 75 to 65
• Level 3: Reduced duration from 60 (15) sec to 55 (12) sec

Vampiric Aura

• Level 1: Increased life steal from 15% to 20%
• Level 2: Increased life steal from 30% to 35%
• Level 3: Increased life steal from 45% to 50%

Lich
Movement Speed

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

Demon Hunter
Mana Burn

• Increased mana cost from 50 to 60 for all levels

Keeper of the Grove
Intelligence 

• Increased default value from 18 to 19

Tranquility

• Added 3 seconds of invulnerability on spellcast
• Reduced duration from 30 seconds to 15 seconds
• Increased healing per second from 20 to 40

Entangling Roots

• Level 2: Reduced duration on units from 24 seconds to 18 seconds; Increased duration on heroes from 3 seconds to 5 seconds; Increased damage per second from 15 damage to 20 damage
• Level 3: Reduced duration on units from 36 seconds to 30 seconds; Increased duration on heroes from 5 seconds to 7 seconds; Increased damage per second from 25 Damage to 30 Damage

Force of Nature

• Increased Treant attack damage from 14 to 16

Priestess of the Moon
Attack Speed

• Reduced cooldown from 2.46 to 2.33 seconds

Scout

• Increased speed from 270 to 300
• Level 1: Reduced mana cost from 100 to 50
• Level 2: Reduced mana cost from 75 to 50

Warden
Blink

• Level 2: Reduced cooldown from 10 seconds to 7 seconds
• Level 3: Increased cooldown from 1 second to 4 seconds

Dark Ranger
Life Drain

• Increase damage done per second and lower mana cost
• Level 1: Increase damage per second from 25 to 30; Reduce Mana cost from 75 to 50
• Level 2: Increase damage per second from 40 to 45, Reduce Mana cost from 75 to 50
• Level 3: Increase damage per second from 55 to 60, Reduce Mana cost from 75 to 50

Firelord
Incinerate

• Level 1: Increased bonus damage multiplier per stack from 1 to 2; Increased death by incineration damage full area from 90 to 120; Increased death by incineration damage half area from 180 to 240; Increased duration from 2 to 4
• Level 2: Increased bonus damage multiplier per stack from 2 to 3; Increased death by incineration damage full area from 90 to 120; Increased death by incineration damage half area from 180 to 240; Increased duration from 2 to 4
• Level 3: Increased bonus damage multiplier per stack from 3 to 4; Increased death by incineration damage full area from 100 to 120; Increased death by incineration damage half area from 180 to 240; Increased duration from 2 to 4

Soul Burn

• Level 1: Increased duration on units from 14 seconds to 16 seconds; Increased duration on heroes from 6 seconds to 7 seconds; Increased damage from 100 to 125
• Level 2: Increased duration on units from 16 seconds to 18 seconds; Increased duration on heroes from 7 seconds to 8 seconds; Increased damage from 225 to 270
• Level 3: Increased duration on units from 18 seconds to 20 seconds; Increased duration on heroes from 8 seconds to 9 seconds; Increased damage from 375 to 450

Goblin Alchemist
Movement Speed

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

Healing Spray

• No longer heals enemy units
• Heals Alchemist

Acid Bomb

• Level 1: Increased Damage from 5 to 8 (total damage 75 to 120; Secondary damage 3 to 5)
• Level 2: Increased Damage from 10 to 13 (total damage 150 to 195; Secondary damage 6.5 to 8.5)
• Level 3: Increased Damage from 15 to 18 (total damage 225 to 270; Secondary damage 10 to 12)

Goblin Tinker
Movement Speed

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

Cluster Rockets

• Now targets air units
• Level 1: Increased damage from 35 to 45 damage per second
• Level 2: Increased damage from 65 to 75 damage per second
• Level 3: Increased damage from 100 to 110 damage per second

Naga Sea Witch
Movement Speed

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

Pandaren Brewmaster
Movement Speed

• Increased base speed from 270 to 290

Map Pool

1v1

• (2)TerenasStand_LV
• (2)Plunderisle_LV
• (2)TheTwoRivers_LV
• (2)RoadToStratholme_LV
• (2)EchoIsle
• (2)TirisfalGlades_LV
• (2)Amazonia(COMMUNITY)
• (2)LastRefuge-1.3(COMMUNITY)
• (4)Floodplains1v1_LV
• (4)TwistedMeadows
• (4)TurtleRock

2v2

• (4)PhantomGrove_LV
• (4)Avalanche_LV
• (4)TurtleRock
• (4)Duskwood_LV
• (4)BridgeTooNear_LV
• (4)FrozenClover_LV
• (4)TidewaterGlades_LV
• (4)LostTemple
• (4)TwistedMeadows
• (6)Duststorm_LV
• (6)GnollWood

3v3

• (6)ThunderLake_LV
• (6)GnollWood
• (6)Monsoon_LV
• (6)DarkForest
• (6)UpperKingdom
• (6)RuinsOfStratholme
• (8)Mur’gulOasis_LV
• (6)RollingHills
• (6)TimbermawHold
• (6)StranglethornVale
• (8)Battleground_LV

4v4

• (8)Feralas_LV
• (8)Northshire_LV
• (8)Sanctuary_LV
• (8)TwilightRuins_LV
• (8)Battleground_LV
• (8)Deadlock_LV
• (8)GolemsInTheMist_LV
• (8)Mur’gulOasis_LV
• (8)MarketSquare
• (8)GoldRush
• (8)Friends
• (8)BlastedLands

FFA

• (4)Deathrose
• (6)Duststorm_LV
• (6)EmeraldShores
• (6)StranglethornVale
• (6)Monsoon_LV
• (6)ThunderLake_LV
• (8)Deadlock_LV
• (8)Mur’gulOasis_LV
• (8)TwilightRuins_LV
• (8)Battleground_LV

World Editor Upgrades

• Object Limit: 30,000
• Neutral Units: 2,048
• Neutral Buildings: 384
• Player Units: 4,320
• Player Buildings: 2,400
• Items: 1,024
• Map Size Limit: 480 x 480
• Tile Slot Limit: 16
• Max Execution Limit: 3,000,000
• Max Food Limit: 999
• Max Resource Limit: 9,999,999
• Array Size Limit: 32,768
• “Always show Health Bars” now shows Mana Bars as well