Warcraft 3: Reforged's 2GB update tackles animations, hitching and more

(Image credit: Blizzard)

It's been a "a hard week" for Blizzard following the launch of Warcraft 3: Reforged, and a frustrating one for its very vocal community. A 2GB patch dropped last night, however, which stamps out bugs and tackles some of the animation and performance issues that have lingered after the switch from beta to release versions.

It won't appease everyone, but that's going to take a lot more than one update.

Notably, animations, triggers and cameras have been tweaked in some of the campaign's cutscenes, along with animations for various units and buildings during games.

There have been a lot of reports of micro-stuttering, which I've noticed myself, and while it's not clear if it's been completely dealt with, Blizzard says it's "resolved an issue with hitching when constructing buildings or training units for the first time."

In custom games, multiboards should no longer cause crashes, while joining lobbies for the same map won't create duplicate versions of it now. During the beta, I had a lot of trouble making custom games, an issue that seemed to be resolved at launch, but since has returned. Sometimes, I'm simply unable to create one, but it's inconsistent. Unfortunately there's no mention of it in the patch notes.

Earlier in the week, Blizzard said that it was working on reintroducing leaderboards and clans in a major patch. Expect more details on its progress and release date in the coming weeks.

Check out the full patch notes below:

Campaign

Players should no longer be met with a "defeat" screen after loading into a mission.
Audio levels for some dialogue have been adjusted.
The animations, triggers, and cameras for some cutscenes have been tweaked.
Disconnecting or logging out will no longer change the save file folder.
Fixed a number of issues that would block progression or not give credit for completing missions.
Developer's note: Updating a map for these types of fixes invalidates prior saves. This is similar to how replays from prior game client versions no longer work. Campaign progress will not be lost.

Custom games

Multiboards should no longer crash custom games.
Joining lobbies for the same map no longer creates duplicate versions of the map.
Developer’s note: This also resolves disconnects from improper map names.

Gameplay

The rendering of Classic mode has been updated.
Resolved an issue with hitching when constructing buildings or training units for the first time.
Fixed Ziggurat upgrade animation in Reforged mode.
Adjusted animations and portraits for multiple units and buildings.
Units completing training while off-screen again have voices.
Starting locations are again obscured by the fog of war.

Interface

Whispers now include the name of the sender.
Locale settings for audio and subtitles can now be adjusted independently in Battle.net prior to launching the game.
Non-Latin glyphs no longer overlap.
A tooltip now displays when hovering over truncated text.
Chat keeps up with the latest messages.
Heroes on the match results screen are now contained by boundaries.
All menus are now distinct between Classic and Reforged graphic settings.
Developer's note: We've implemented a temporary solution to better inform whether you are playing in Reforged or Classic mode, by applying a sepia tone to the background images for Classic.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.