Warcraft 3: Reforged, Blizzard’s revamp of the classic real-time strategy game, is currently the target of a very angry player base. Certain decisions by Blizzard for the new game have limited or removed aspects ofWarcraft 3that were previously available in the classic version of the game. The result is a very frustrated and disappointed fanbase willing to act out against Blizzard, leading to the game getting the worst Metacritic user rating in the website’s history.
0.6 is currentlyWarcraft 3: Reforged’s user score rating onMetacritic. That’s 0.6 out of 10, as in less than a single point. The score is no fluke, either. As of the most recent count, over 12,500 reviews have been submitted. All reviews require the user to log in with a Metacritic account or a Facebook account. This system can be gamed with fake reviews, since accounts can be made with fake emails, but nevertheless a clear message of disappointment has been made.
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The wave of negative reviews should, without question, be considered a review bomb. And review bombs in the past have at times been coordinated, exaggerated, and without merit. Given the number of negative reviews on Metacritc, there’s certainly some suspicious behavior going on. Metacritic doesn’t evaluate user scores for fake accounts or abnormal trends like Steam does. But there’s no argument that there are good arguments being made thatBlizzard has made many mistakes withWarcraft 3: Reforged.
The biggest issue for players is that the old client forWarcraft 3has been completely removed. All players have to use the new client, which has removed or limited a significant amount of features. For example, custom campaigns, which the old client supported, are longer available. A new Terms of Service also givesownership of custom games to Blizzard, likely due to the loss of brands likeDota 2andAuto Chess. Perhaps most significant is just an overall buggy release.
Blizzard hasn’t issued a statement regarding frustrations from fans, let alone acknowledged their criticisms at this point. At this point, any comment would likely result in further blowback. If it’s able, Blizzard will hopefully acknowledge what issues are salvageable and provide a timeframe in which they can be fixed. The damage is likely done, however. Games with such frustrating releases rarely rebuild that trust with their fanbases, thoughNo Man’s Skyhas shown it can be done. The legacy of the worst user score rating on Metacritic will last for a very long time, though.
