Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is the expansion pack for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, a real-time strategy video game by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released worldwide on July 1, 2003, for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The Frozen Throne builds upon the story of Reign of Chaos and depicts the events after the main game's conclusion. The single-player unfolds from the perspective of two new protagonists—the Night Elf warden Maiev Shadowsong and the Blood Elf prince Kael'Thas—as well as returning protagonist Arthas Menethil. Additionally, the expansion contains Act I of a separate Horde campaign that is independent from the main storyline with Blizzard releasing Acts II and III via patch in December 2003, taking in player feedback of Act I when developing these chapters.
The expansion adds new units, buildings and heroes for each faction, two new auxiliary races, five neutral heroes (with three more later added by patches) as well as a number of tweaks to the gameplay and balancing. Sea units were reintroduced which were absent in Reign of Chaos. Battle.net-powered multiplayer was expanded by the addition of clans, automated tournaments and new maps and custom scenarios.
Development began in October 2002, shortly after the release of the main game and the expansion was announced on January 22, 2003. Public beta tests allowed 20,000 players in two waves to try the new features. Support continues even after release, with Blizzard adding new content and balancing changes as well as support for newer hardware.
The Frozen Throne received generally favorable reviews from critics. Most reviewers praised the mission design of the single-player campaign for positively deviating from the standard real-time strategy game formula. The design and audio of the new units was generally considered fitting, though a few critics bemoaned the graphics and some of the voice-acting. By August 15, 2003, it had sold more than one million copies.
Gameplay
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is a real-time strategy video game that puts players in control of a group of units and buildings in order to achieve a variety of goals. The expansion fine-tunes the gameplay of the main game rather than changing it. The food limit and the upkeep requirements, which dealt a penalty on resource gain when too many units were active at the same time, have both been increased slightly, leading to the ability to mobilize somewhat larger and more powerful forces. The cost of buildings has been decreased as well, allowing for a quicker start of the game. The weapon and armor type system has been completely revamped and a lot of units have had their weapon or armor types changed, and the weapon types are effective and ineffective against different armor types compared to Reign of Chaos. In addition, The Frozen Throne re-introduces naval battles, which were previously featured in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and its expansion, but almost completely absent in Warcraft III. and one new hero, a kind of powerful unit which each can only be recruited once, per faction. The Naga feature in all four campaigns and have their own production and defense buildings as well as unique units with separate skills. The expansion also added five neutral hero units, some of which appear in the single player campaigns. Neutral heroes can be used in melee maps via the Tavern, a neutral building used to hire them. The tavern can also instantly revive any fallen hero, with an increased resource cost, and reduced health and mana of the revived hero.
The single player missions have been given more varied objectives, ranging from controlling multiple armies at the same time to forcing players to make do with only a limited number of units. Blizzard instead decided to create a more RPG-driven campaign that focuses on controlling one or multiple heroes on a network of interlinked maps. The Horde campaign was specifically made with the goal in mind of showcasing what the new World Editor was capable of. In the main game, the human paladin Arthas Menethil was corrupted by the Lich King Ner'zhul, an undead sorcerer entrapped in ice (the titular "Frozen Throne"), and became his lieutenant. Arthas invaded the High Elven kingdom and killed its general, Sylvanas Windrunner, whom he resurrected to serve him. He then paved the way for an invasion by the Burning Legion—a demonic force from another realm—who were ultimately defeated by an alliance of elves, humans, and orcs. In the events leading up to the victory against the Legion, Night Elf leader Tyrande Whisperwind freed the imprisoned Illidan Stormrage. However, Illidan consumed a demonic relic, becoming half-demon himself, and was cast out. After the Burning Legion's defeat, Illidan was contacted by Kil'jaeden, one of the remaining masters of the Legion, who tasks him with destroying the rebellious Lich King.
The expansion introduces new factions to the game's universe: The Blood Elves, former High Elves that now suffer from addiction to magic; the Naga, mutated former Night Elves; the Draenei, the original inhabitants of Draenor, the orc homeworld now known as Outland; and the Pandaren, a race of globetrotting, anthropomorphic pandas. The Frozen Throne follows the quest of the Night Elf warden Maiev Shadowsong to recapture the renegade Illidan Stormrage, Blood Elf prince Kael'thas' struggle with the Alliance and subsequent service to Illidan, Arthas' attempt to rescue the Lich King from Illidan's assault, and Sylvanas Windrunner's fight for independence.
Plot
Maiev Shadowsong pursues the fugitive Illidan to a set of islands. There, she finds Illidan has allied himself with the Naga and obtained an artifact called the Eye of Sargeras, forcing Maiev to call on Illidan's brother Malfurion Stormrage and Malfurion's wife Tyrande Whisperwind for aid. Illidan flees with the eye to the kingdom of Lordaeron. When Tyrande is swept away by a river while helping a group of Blood Elves led by the prince Kael'thas, Maiev convinces Malfurion that she died to maintain their pursuit of Illidan. They capture Illidan and destroy the Eye, which Illidan reveals he was using to destroy the Lich King. When Kael'thas informs him that Tyrande may still be alive, he uses the Naga to help Malfurion find and rescue her. In thanks, Malfurion pardons him for his past crimes. With Maiev still in pursuit, Illidan flees to Outland.
In Lordaeron, the Blood Elves are in an uneasy alliance with Garithos, the racist human commander of the remaining Alliance forces. When their prince Kael'thas is only able to complete a number of demeaning tasks with the help of Illidan's Naga, Garithos imprisons Kael'thas and his forces for treason. The Naga leader rescues them and leads them to Outland, where they join forces with Illidan, who promises to satisfy their addiction to magic. Together, they take over Outland. Illidan's master Kil'jaeden finds Illidan and plans to punish him for failing to destroy the Lich King, but decides not to when Illidan claims that he traveled to Outland to recruit forces for a new assault.
Arthas returns to the Undead-controlled regions of Lordaeron where three dreadlords loyal to the Burning Legion - Balnazzar, Detheroc, and Varimathras - rule. Arthas informs them of the Legion's defeat and retreat before declaring himself king. While purging the kingdom of the remnants of the Alliance aided by Sylvanas Windrunner and the Lich Kel'Thuzad, Arthas notices that his powers have diminished. The Lich King telepathically contacts Arthas and explains his loss of power is a result of Illidan's attacks, and summons him to defend the Frozen Throne. Arthas leaves for Northrend where he, with the help of the Lich King's minions, defeats Illidan in a duel. Arthas shatters the ice of the throne and dons the Lich King's helmet, thereby joining their souls and becoming the new Lich King. Meanwhile, in Lordaeron, Sylvanas is freed from the Lich King's control. With the help of Varimathras, she kills the remaining two dreadlords and Garithos and declares Lordaeron the home of the free undead, rechristened the "Forsaken".
Untouched by the events in Lordaeron and Northrend, Horde Warchief Thrall builds a new kingdom called Durotar on the continent of Kalimdor. Rexxar, a half-ogre beastmaster and adventurer, is tasked by Thrall and other inhabitants to help build the kingdom. He is aided by Rokhan, a troll shadow hunter. Rexxar learns that humans from the island of Theramore plan to invade Durotar, led by Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, who is unwilling to accept the truce between humans and the Horde. With the help of the admiral's guilt-ridden daughter, Jaina Proudmoore, he leads an assault on Theramore, slays the admiral, and leaves Jaina in command of the city.
Development
Immediately after the release, Blizzard began brainstorming content for an expansion and development began in October 2002. The Frozen Throne was officially announced on January 22, 2003. With the previous success of StarCraft: Brood War, expectations were high for Blizzard to create another expansion that rivaled the original in both length and new content. On March 10, 2003, 10,000 more players were selected to participate in the beta test. On April 1, 2003, Blizzard teased that the Pandaren would become a fifth faction in the upcoming expansion and even created an entry on the official homepage detailing heroes, history and units. While this was only an elaborate April Fools' Day prank, the final expansion did include the Pandaren Brewmaster as one of the neutral heroes which could also be unlocked in single-player in a secret mission. On May 29, 2003, Blizzard announced that the expansion set had "gone gold". It was released in 2003 in North America on July 1, Australia on July 3, and in Europe on July 4, 2003.
Blizzard continued to support The Frozen Throne with new patches that fixes problems and added new content, such as adding an additional neutral hero in May 2004 and two more in August 2004. The expansion also only included the first chapter of the Horde campaign upon release with Acts II and III released as part of a patch in December 2003. In April 2018, Blizzard integrated proper widescreen support for the first time, more than 15 years after the game's original release.