Secondly, for those of you who live outside the USA, don't fear, the demo will be available online. You can find it here after the 2nd of December. Kudos to Mstr_zerg for the news.

Does the Orcs need to be improved in the next Warcraft 3 Patch?
Yes, A Lot!	276	33%
Yes, a Little	338	40%
No	100	12%
Daboo?	129	15%
TOTAL	843	100 %	..

It looks like generally, players do believe that Orcs are rather pathetic right now. In fact only around 1 in 8 believes that Orcs are fine the way the are, and over a third think the race needs serious improvement.

Indeed, the Orc Air and Anti-Air are in serious need of a boost, Wyverns are simply too weak with their 500hp in comparisong to Gryphons and Hippogriff Riders. And against some strategies, such as dryads, there's very little the horde can do.

The fabled Dark Elven city of Menzoberranzan is an ancient city, one that existed even before the age of Netheril. During that era, Menzoberranzan paid homage to the Dark Goddess Cithara, and grew to ritualize customs that would hold true for many millenia.

Wage war against rival houses in the city by recruiting drow conscripts into your forces, summoning the viscious demons and handmaidens of Cithara, and by developing superior defenses. Defeat rival houses by destroying their Altar to Cithara, for when the link to the Goddess is broken, they will gain her disfavor, and all will be lost...

-Take on the role of a viscious House Matriarch!
- Create items at your Arcane Citadel and develop your house defenses at your Ebon Fortress and towers!
-Summon maniacal heroes at your Altar to Cithara, drow conscripts at your towers, and demonic creatures at your Summoning Gate!
-Everything down to the text on the Scroll of Teleportation has been customized to fit the Menzoberranzan motif!

If that sounds like what your looking for, download it here.

Got a cool scenario? We'd love to see it, so be sure upload it instantly. For a complete archive of maps, check out our Map Archive.

• Da Bears 
• Strategy Index
• Comment

A good Warcraft 3 Player yourself? Be sure to publish your strategy.

Well... a Translation is here, include a few bug fixes and instructions on how to use the Town Portal Scroll. Take a look:

• Diablo II: River of Flames

Remember, if you have a cool scenerio, be sure to upload it.

Not someone who hires Mercenaries often, or someone who believes that they just ain't worth it? This article will make you reconsider:

• Mercenary Guide
• Strategy Index
• Comment

A good Warcraft 3 Player yourself? Be sure to publish your strategy.

• Grunt Power
• Strategy Index
• Comment

A good Warcraft 3 Player yourself? Send in your strategy.

The bad words filter has been restored to the USEast Diablo II realm. The filter was not in place for several hours after a hardware failure. Any newly created characters with filtered names will be deleted.

Ladder data for the USEast Diablo II Realm is presently unavailable due to a recent hardware failure. It will be available again within the next 2 weeks. A temporary ladder is in place until then.

Any hardcore characters that die before the ladder data is restored will *not* be moved back to the original ladder. Tread carefully

Well there you go.

Due to a catastrophic hardware failure, the Diablo II USEast realm was unavailable for several hours. New hardware has been brought online to resolve this issue. No further outages are expected.

Ouch, well, hope it's fixed soon.

I just got back from seeing Friday After Next. During the commercial screen they slideshow before the movie, I saw the advertisement for the "WarCraft 3 Combo Meal". As much as I wanted the CD, I didn't have the cash to fork out on theatre food when I had just ate Chinese. T

o my luck, right before the previews, two theatre employees came out and did a little speech about buying these two dollar flower pins (that you stick to your shirt) for charity. I stood up and asked if I could actually buy the WarCraft III CD instead of the pin. After they saw I wasn't joking, they came back a few minutes later with the CD. Victory for me, though my girlfriend was embarrassed (and more-so when I gave the Metroid Prime commercial a standing ovation). Any way, here's some scans of it (and no, the CD doesn't have a chunk missing out of it, it's just a bad scan).

What's better is that he's taken the liberty to scan the CD for you. Check them out:

• Front Cover
• Back Cover
• Demo CD

Well, be sure to get a copy of your own.

In your opinion, which of the basic tier 1 melee units in Warcraft 3 is most useful? [Comment]
Footman	100	9%
Grunt	199	19%
Ghoul	394	37%
Huntress	361	34%
TOTAL	1054	100 %	..

Ghouls win the match today, though Huntresses come a close second. Despite their little health, Ghouls a really a force to be reckoned with. Thanks to Vampiric and Unholy Auras, Ghouls can take on other Tier 1 units with impunity. No wonder why they're now called the cracklings of Warcraft 3.

I was just recently hired to work at an AMC theatre, one of the biggest in the state actually, and walking out of my first time on the job, there was a simply huge stack of boxes.  The boxes said in big bold Arial Font: WARCRAFT3. There will be a Warcraft 3 combo meal. Yeah, the concessions are expensive, I'd suggest bringing an extra $15 US if you plan to get something to last the whole movie.  I havn't yet gotten a Warcraft 3 CD, but I'm working on it. All I know, they have them at my AMC, and they've been giving them out.

Well, good news for those that live in the region. Remember, before your visit your nearest theatre for a Demo CD, give them a call first, as to not risk wasting your trip.

Aeon of Nanites follows the basic formula on an Aeon map, that is, two teams of up to 5 players select their heroes and use them to support vast armies of computer cannon fodder. However, this one contains a number of new features, including naval warfare, as well as the ability to customize your army by purchasing trainers. An excellent scenario for a Lan Party, or Battle.net.

Download it here.

Got a cool scenario? We'd love to see it, so be sure upload it instantly. For a complete archive of maps, check out our Map Archive.

I went to the local AMC Theater today and none of the Warcraft stuff was available.  I talked to the theater manager and learned that they would be getting the Warcraft cups and CDs to be available to theater patrons next week due to distributer problems.  None of the AMC theater in my city got in any Warcraft stuff, I'm in New Orleans, Louisiana.  The theater manager advised me to call the theater next Friday to see if they have them in. 

The not getting in CDs and cups the manager said that this starting the Warcraft deal a week late was not confined to this area alone. So if your going to the movies to get your Warcraft Cups and CDs make sure they have them in by calling the theater on the phone. To get a cup I was told to be prepared to spend around $6.00 for a it also.

There you go. Yes, a lot of us are going to the movies just to get a Demo CD, so make sure that when you go, you do get it. Oh watch 'Die Another Day', it's almost as good as the Warrcaft 3 Demo.

In the first installment, we talk about the issues of Reconnaissance and Manipulation, two aspects that an essential for a successful FFA Player. Get a head start on this hardcore game type by reading the guide:

• FFA Guide: Part 1
• Strategy Index
• Comment

A talented Warcraft 3 player? We want your strategy! Send it in.

ALong with their movie promotion, Warcraft 3 Demo CD's will be available as you go watch your latest fanatasy movies. So, you all got the full version, so why care about the demo? Well:

The demo is coming many months after the game's retail release, but it will include three new single-player missions and three new multiplayer maps that can be used with the full version of the game. The new missions follow the events of the orcs' journey from Lordaeron to Kalimdor, which is only touched on in the game's original campaigns. The multiplayer maps can be played on Battle.net, and they allow for custom -Gamespot

So, even if you have the full release, you might want to play the mini-campaign. Kudos to Chib for the news.

The Battle.net forums will no longer have specific forum accounts that only work on the forums but instead will use the same Battle.net gaming service account that you use to play games. To post in the forums, simply log in using your normal Battle.net account and select your gateway. If you do not have a Battle.net account, create one with any existing Blizzard Battle.net capable game. You will then be able to use that Battle.net account on the forums. Your old Battle.net forum accounts will not work with this new system. The Battle.net forums require a valid Blizzard CD Key from a Blizzard game. For example, to post in the Warcraft III forums you will need a Warcraft III CD Key. General forums require ANY Blizzard CD Key. You will be prompted for a CD key if you attempt to post in a game specific forum and have not yet entered your CD Key. The Test Forum requires ANY Blizzard CD Key.

Be sure to head over to Battle.net to see the list of changes and to the the Test forum to see everything in action.

• Orc Sky Power
• Strategy Index
• Comment

A talented Warcraft 3 player? We want your strategy! Send it in.

Everyone gets priests with human right? What everyone also does is leaves heal on autocast when not in battle mode. This is a very easy to correct mistake that has incredible benefits. While out of battle and using heal, with it on autocast the priest does not heal at maximum speed. Heal has a cooldown of one second, however if left on autocast the priest only heals every two seconds roughly. Which means that turning it off autocast and healing manually will yield a roughly 200% faster healing time. Provided you have around 4 priests, this makes priests healing even faster than healing wards on average. At 25 HP per second healing, you are healing at the same rate as healing wards only if the unit has 625 HP. Most human units don't have that much HP, so healing, a level 1 spell, is comparable to healing ward, a level 3 spell.

In battle mode the gain is significantly better. While in battle, if autocast heal is left on, the priest will heal once, fire a shot, then heal again. This means that instead of healing every second, they are healing roughly once every four to five seconds. Incredible increase in healing rate eh? And it doesn't even take all that long to micro it. Just keep your whole army including your priests in a seperate control group, and the rest of your army not including priests in your primary. Then switch over and start your healing.

One word of advice: the priests WILL NOT stop the healing of the unit unless expressly told to. You cannot tell the priest to heal another unit while it is healing one already, without telling it to stop first, or attack something, or do some non-heal action.

So, there's your trick to abusing a tier 2 spell.

Comment

• Effective Human Hero Control
• Strategy Index
• Comment

A talented Warcraft 3 player? We want your strategy! Send it in.

• Frost Lich -By Sin Tez
• Fire Sorceress -By Tikiti

Got art? Be sure to sent it over. More eye candy are available in our Fan Art Gallery.

Comment

If you're a human player looking for a way to fight any non Night Elf race, give it a read:

• Gryphon Tech
• Strategy Index
• Comment

Are you a good Warcraft 3 Player? Be sure to send in your strat!

Warcraft 3 V1.04 has released, so which race is most powerful now?
Human	125	14%
Orcs	50	6%
Undead	236	27%
Night Elves	221	25%
It's Balanced	248	28%
TOTAL	880	100 %

Now, the results get really interesting when we compare it to the same one for V1.03:

Which of the races in Warcraft 3 is most powerful, now that V1.03 is released?
Human	58	5%
Orc	145	13%
Night Elf	262	23%
Undead	435	38%
It's Balanced	232	21%
TOTAL	1131	100 %	..

It looks like Blizzard generally did a good job with the latest patch, and many more people are left satisfied. The proportion of people that believe the game's balanced has now rose by 7%, and with the nurf on Anti-Magic Shell, Undead has lost some of their dominating edge.

Of concern though, is the Horde. It seems the latest changes has made this race even less appealing.

Looking to take advantage of the flurry of fantasy-based movies premiering this holiday season, Blizzard Entertainment will launch a $1 million in-cinema ad campaign and promotion for its top selling PC game, "Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos," beginning with the Nov. 22 release of "Die Another Day."

A 30-second trailer, via Cimarron, Hollywood, Calif., featuring "Warcraft III" footage will run through Jan. 15 before the Bond film in addition to such movies as "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," "Solaris" and "Star Trek: Nemesis." A voiceover says: "Enter a world where chaos reigns, heroes rise and only the ruthless survive."

Sounds fun, remember, a hardcore Warcraft 3 Fan would by a ticket to the movie just to see the trailer. Read the full article here. Kudos to Chib for the news.

Comment

Base Assault is kind of like a mixture Tower Defense and Zone Control, with a much more competitive flavor, where two teams of four attempt to get a tank into the enemy base. On the one hand, you'll need defend against the constant stream of enemy tanks, on the other, you much control zones so that you can send a stream of tanks into the enemy base.... It gets quite intense.

Interested? Download it here.

Got a cool map? We'd love to see it. So be sure to send it in. For more cool scenarios, check out the Map Archive.

We have isolated the recent repeated "Player not found" error issue that some players are experiencing on the USWest and USEast Diablo II realms, which is occurring as the result of a previously unknown issue with the Diablo II servers. This server issue could, in theory, cause similar symptoms on any of the Diablo II realms.

The Battle.net team is working to address the problem in two different ways:

Monitoring tools are being modified to check for this problem and provide warnings to the team. Once notified, the team can then reset the realm to temporarily fix the issue for several hours. A reset will cause all games on the realm to be stopped, the characters saved, and the servers restarted.

The team is also working to identify the problem in the server. Once the problematic code is found, the problem will be permanently fixed. Thanks in advance for your patience in this matter.

-The Battle.net Team

Let's hope that Blizzard fixes this problem soon.

*UPDATE*: Blizzard has fixed this problem.  Both the USWest and USEast Diablo II realms are online and stable again.

Dealing damage second only two the expensive and slow Grunt in tier 1 melee, and armed with two devastating auras, the simple Ghoul can prove to be one of the most difficult adversaries. A good read for the casual player:

• Ghoul Swarm
• Strategy Index
• Comment

An experienced player with a good ladder record? We'd love to hear your advice, be sure to send them in.

• Demon Hunter Painting By Ogre Crossing
• Apprentice Far Seer: By Hiroprotagonist

Want more eye candy? Check out our huge Fan Art Gallery. Got a piece of art that's as good as those being posted? Be sure to send it in.

Comment

It supports both skins and 3d Models, giving you the ability to convert Warcraft 3 Graphics into those that can be read by common Graphics Editors and 3d Modeling Programs with ease. Take a look:

• Warcraft 3 Graphics Manager

For more information, as well as complementary programs, check out our Warcraft 3 Files section.

• Hydralisk Fossil By Mya Thevandra
• Wind Dragon: By Hiroprotagonist

Want more eye candy? Check out our huge Fan Art Gallery. Got a piece of art that's as good as those being posted? Be sure to send it in.

Comment

Now that Warcraft 3 has been released for Months, do you still play Starcraft?
Not at all	134	43%
Occasionally	97	31%
Frequently	44	14%
I Only Play SC	39	12%
TOTAL	314	100 %

Due to a server crash during the middle of the week, we lost some of the votes. Sorry about that. Still from those that we could salvage, it appears that most people prefer Warcraft 3 over Starcraft. That's natural, considering how much newer Warcraft 3 is. However, there's still a good number who still play Starcraft, including 1 in 10 who won't even touch Warcraft 3.

Diablo 2: River of Flames is a complete Warcraft 3 simulation for Act IV of Diablo II, featuring all your favorite monsters such as The Armourer, Infector of Souls and Grand Vizier of chaos. Other features include

• Choose any 7 of the Character Classes in Diablo 2.
• All the monsters of Diablo II make a return
• Buy items off Halbu and Jamella.
• Two In Game Cinematics, simulating the Act IV and Ending cinematics of Diablo II.

Very cool, a great single player maps. Download it here.

• 1. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
• 2. The Sims: Vacation
• 3. The Sims
• 4. Madden NFL 2003
• 5. Neverwinter Nights
• 6. Backyard Baseball 2003
• 7. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
• 8. The Sims: Hot Date
• 9. Grand Theft Auto III
• 10. Medieval: Total War

Also in this issue, World of Warcraft is one of the Lucky 13.  The Lucky 13 being Computer Games magazine's recommendations of games to get in 2003.  We already knew that though.

Specifically designed for Night Elves against Undead, Hippogriff Harrassment provides a super fast method of getting air units. Tested to work against a Level 22 Undead Player, it's worth a read:

• Hippogriff Harrassment
• Comment
• Strategy Index

A High level player, with a nice strategy? Be sure to submit it.

The ISP responsible for Lordaeron / USWest connectivity will be performing maintenance on Thursday November 7th from 0801-1400 UTC (12:01 A.M. - 6:00 A.M. PST). Some disruption of service may occur during this maintenance window.

-The Battle.net Team

The USEast ISP maintenance will be done on November 13th with the same times.

- Ancient Protector cost reduced to 160/80 from 240/100.
- Ancient Protector hit points increased to 600 from 550.
- Ancient Protector armor decreased to 1 from 2.
- Ancient Protector minimum range reduced to 0 from 200.
- Ancient Protector ranged attack damage reduced to 1d10+44 from
1d13+51.
- Ancient Protector damage type changed to pierce from siege.
- Ancient Protector splash damage reduced.

Night Elf defence has now got new meaning, Ancient Protectors can now massacre large units, and without minimum range, are much more powerful on the move. Unfortunately, they're no longer great siege weapons. Check out the rest of the changes here. Kudos to Baron-Sprite for the news.

Don't be so sure... Tillerman, a top Warcraft 3 player, has begun the process of selling 'seats' for his games, at $50 a piece and apparently people are dishing out the money to watch him play Warcraft 3. Oh he's selling his account for $1400 too.

Comment

• Arcane Sanctum

For other great eye candy, check out our Fan Art Gallery. Got an attractive piece of work yourself? Be sure to send it in.

Which Blizzard game in the making are you anticipating the most?
War3 Expansion	374	44%
Starcraft: Ghost	212	25%
World of Warcraft	198	24%
What Projects?	57	7%
TOTAL	841	100 %	..

Even remember playing Evolve Madness maps in Starcraft? Well 'Duna Evolves Madness' is one them, optimised with a range of new features from Warcraft 3. Each player is in control of tower, where endless waves of their army spawns. Upgrade your towers, evolve your units, kill enemy troops and build tower sappers. Awesome for fast computers.

Download it here.

Got a map? Why not include it in the archive that comes up #1 on Google.