Warcraft 15-Year Warp-up: A Glimpse of These Past Years

Warcraft 15-Year Warp-up: A Glimpse of These Past Years By Allan Though a grizzled, old veteran donning war-torn robes and a gnarled staff in the MMOG scene, Allan is more like a level 5 squire in a simple tunic wielding a tin blade when it comes to the realm of writing articles. Nevertheless, he is here to train his typing fingers and bring you news and interesting perspectives on things you might not have known you even cared about.

Wow, what a long, strange trip it's been. The Warcraft universe has been around for fifteen years. It's hard to believe that we've been bashing in orc heads for so long. Whether you're a veteran or a novice of the Warcraft world, you know how big of an impact Warcraft has had on the gaming community. I'd like to take this time to reminisce on the early days of the journey for this adored world, right up until the present-day Warcraft that we have come to know and love.

Warcraft: Orcs and Humans

While not the first RTS to hit the market, it definitely had a few defining characteristics about it. The launch for this game was impeccably timed – being released during a lull in the RTS genre. The concept was rather simple: gather -> build -> kill. Who would've thought that such a basic scheme would prove to be so revolutionary? And that's what this game did; it proved to be quite groundbreaking. It received great reception by the gaming world, and many praised its originality and innovative concepts.

Not only that, but it had an immersive story along with it. This was back in the time where fantasy games were rather scarce (hard to believe now, right?), so it was fresh in that respect. But with the gaming manual and the campaign to plow through, you found yourself actually caring about the kingdom you sought to protect from the vile orcs (or maybe you just preferred brutal slaughtering and enjoyed the orcs more).

The most notable innovation (and I mean, Blizzard even put it on the front of the box in a big, yellow sticker – it must be notable!) with this game was the multiplayer component about it. Fighting the AI was fine and all for the campaign, since it was story-driven, but when it came to playing for fun, it was much more fulfilling stomping your closest friend instead. Besides, you also had the benefit of witnessing the reaction to their defeat and everything. Back then, you had to do this through a cable modem, so that probably pissed off your parents when they wanted to use the phone (unless they had easy access to the plug – mine sure did).

Overall this game served as a foundation for the subsequent Warcraft installments to come. The gaming world approved of this for the most part, but they had no idea the potential of Blizzard at the time, I'm sure.

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness/Beyond the Dark Portal

Next up comes Warcraft II, queuing in Blizzard's new trend of releasing expansion packs for their games. Actually, this isn't exactly a critical innovation, but I thought it was worth mentioning due to the purpose behind the expansions. It was never Blizzard's intention to add these expansions just for a few new units, heroes, or maps. Instead, it was intended to add an entire new chapter to the story. I believe this is why they became so successful, and initiated a whole new Blizzard…uh, -ism, I guess you could say.

The gameplay in this second installment became revamped, adding in more variety in races, styles of combat (naval battles were amazing) as well as a variety of units with spells. Things such as grouping units, right clicking, and many other RTS components that are now taken for granted were introduced in this game.

Once again, Blizzard proved to construct a rather gripping story, this time focusing on the orc's ties with the Burning Legion. As usual, the alliance is left driving them out of their homeland and back into the mysteriously portal from whence they came (now with the help of the High Elves and the Dwarves). Instead of good guy/bad guy dichotomy that was seen with the last game, we find a variety of forces at work with this one. Demon possession now comes into play (instead of just Medivh, now it's apparent with most of the Draenor orcs and later, Ner'zhul), while the alliance is now comprised of different races other than humans, each hinting at particular agendas.

I also would like to briefly add in a mention of the Custom Map Editor. This was huge for the avid Warcraft fan, for now they had the power to create their own stories and such, and put themselves into the seat of the developer.

Overall, I believe Warcraft II propelled Blizzard into popularity. The company as a whole began to see worldwide acclaim, and this game in particular demonstrated the quality we could expect Blizzard to implement into their craft for years to come. Personally, some of my fondest memories of Warcraft are within this game.