Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is an add-on for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, a real-time strategy video game created by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released worldwide on July 1, 2003, for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The Frozen Throne continues the story of Reign of Chaos and shows events that happen after the main game ends. The single-player campaign follows two new characters—the Night Elf warden Maiev Shadowsong and the Blood Elf prince Kael'Thas—as well as the returning character Arthas Menethil. The expansion also includes Act I of a separate Horde campaign that is not connected to the main story. Blizzard later released Acts II and III through updates in December 2003, using player feedback from Act I to improve the later chapters.
The expansion introduces new units, buildings, and heroes for each faction, two additional races, five neutral heroes (with three more added later through updates), and changes to gameplay and balance. Sea units, which were not included in Reign of Chaos, were added back. Multiplayer features on Battle.net were expanded with clans, automated tournaments, and new maps and custom scenarios.
Development of the expansion began in October 2002, shortly after the release of the main game. The expansion was announced on January 22, 2003. Public beta tests allowed 20,000 players to test new features in two separate sessions. After its release, Blizzard continued to support the game by adding new content, balancing changes, and ensuring compatibility with newer hardware.
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne received mostly positive reviews from critics. Many praised the creative mission design of the single-player campaign, which offered a different approach from typical real-time strategy games. The design and sounds of new units were generally well-received, though some critics noted issues with the graphics and certain voice acting. By August 15, 2003, the expansion had sold more than one million copies.
Gameplay
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is a real-time strategy video game where players control groups of units and buildings to complete different goals. The expansion improves the gameplay of the main game without changing it completely. The food limit and upkeep requirements, which limited how many units could be active at once, were slightly increased. This allows players to use more and stronger forces. Building costs were also lowered, making it easier to start the game quickly. The weapon and armor system was completely changed, and many units now have different weapon or armor types. These changes affect how weapons work against different armor types compared to the previous game. Adjustments to building costs and new early-game defensive structures help stop strategies that rely on rushing the enemy with hero units. Enemies now leave "runes" when defeated, which can be used to restore health or mana. The expansion also brings back naval battles, which were part of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness but not included in Warcraft III.
Each faction in The Frozen Throne adds new units, buildings, and one new hero. Heroes are powerful units that can only be recruited once per faction. A new shop allows players to buy items for normal units. Two new factions, the Naga and Draenei, were added. The Naga appear in all four campaigns and have their own buildings, units, and skills. Players can control them in some missions. The Draenei are only in one campaign and are classified as creeps, meaning they attack all players equally. Five new neutral hero units were also added, some of which appear in single-player campaigns. Neutral heroes can be hired through the Tavern, a neutral building. The Tavern can revive fallen heroes, but with higher resource costs and reduced health and mana.
Single-player missions now have more varied objectives, such as controlling multiple armies or using limited units. Unlike previous games, the main campaign does not include orcs. Blizzard chose to focus on an RPG-style campaign where players control one or more heroes across connected maps. Base building, resource gathering, and unit training are mostly absent, and heroes can level up beyond the usual 10-level limit. The Horde campaign includes 40 new items, and both campaigns combined add about 40 hours of new gameplay.
In custom maps, players can choose the computer's difficulty level. Multiplayer features were expanded with clans, automated tournaments with a 30-minute time limit, and chat while waiting for a game. The expansion includes 62 new multiplayer maps and scenarios based on popular mods, supporting up to 12 players. If an ally leaves, their resources are shown in a separate window and can be transferred.
The Frozen Throne includes an improved version of the World Editor, a tool for creating custom maps and scenarios. The updated World Editor allows more customization, such as editing skills, adding new units, and using three new tile sets. Creators can link multiple maps and make events on one map affect another. The Horde campaign was designed to show the new World Editor's features. While Blizzard does not officially support the tool, the Frozen Throne version offers more options and documentation.
Synopsis
The Frozen Throne takes place on the fictional high fantasy world of Azeroth. In the main game, the human paladin Arthas Menethil was turned evil by the Lich King Ner'zhul, an undead wizard trapped in ice (the "Frozen Throne"), and became his helper. Arthas attacked the High Elven kingdom and killed its general, Sylvanas Windrunner, whom he brought back to life to serve him. He then helped the Burning Legion—a group of demons from another world—invade. The Legion was later defeated by a group of elves, humans, and orcs. Before this victory, the Night Elf leader Tyrande Whisperwind freed the imprisoned Illidan Stormrage. However, Illidan used a demonic object, which made him part demon, and was banished. After the Legion's defeat, Illidan was contacted by Kil'jaeden, one of the Legion's remaining leaders, who asked him to destroy the rebellious Lich King.
The expansion introduces new groups to the game's world: The Blood Elves, former High Elves who now need magic to survive; the Naga, mutated former Night Elves; the Draenei, the original people of Draenor, now called Outland; and the Pandaren, a race of pandas that travel around the world and look like humans. The Frozen Throne follows the journey of the Night Elf warden Maiev Shadowsong to capture the escaped Illidan Stormrage, the Blood Elf prince Kael'thas' conflict with the Alliance and his later help to Illidan, Arthas' attempt to save the Lich King from Illidan's attack, and Sylvanas Windrunner's fight for freedom. The Horde's story is separate from the others, focusing more on role-playing game elements than real-time strategy. It follows the early days of the Horde's new kingdom from the perspective of the beastmaster hero Rexxar.
Maiev Shadowsong hunts the runaway Illidan to a group of islands. There, she finds Illidan has joined forces with the Naga and obtained an artifact called the Eye of Sargeras, forcing Maiev to ask Illidan's brother Malfurion Stormrage and Malfurion's wife Tyrande Whisperwind for help. Illidan escapes with the eye to the kingdom of Lordaeron. When Tyrande is carried away by a river while helping a group of Blood Elves led by prince Kael'thas, Maiev convinces Malfurion that Tyrande died to keep their search for Illidan going. They capture Illidan and destroy the Eye, which Illidan admits he used to defeat the Lich King. When Kael'thas tells him Tyrande might still be alive, he uses the Naga to help Malfurion find and save her. In thanks, Malfurion forgives him for his past wrongs. With Maiev still chasing him, Illidan flees to Outland.
In Lordaeron, the Blood Elves are in a weak partnership with Garithos, a human commander of the remaining Alliance forces who dislikes other races. When their prince Kael'thas can only complete difficult tasks with the help of Illidan's Naga, Garithos imprisons Kael'thas and his forces for breaking the rules. The Naga leader rescues them and leads them to Outland, where they join Illidan, who promises to help them get more magic. Together, they take control of Outland. Illidan's master Kil'jaeden finds him and plans to punish him for failing to destroy the Lich King, but decides not to when Illidan says he went to Outland to gather forces for a new attack.
Arthas returns to the areas of Lordaeron controlled by the undead, where three powerful demons loyal to the Burning Legion—Balnazzar, Detheroc, and Varimathras—rule. Arthas tells them about the Legion's defeat and retreat, then declares himself king. While clearing Lordaeron of the last Alliance forces with help from Sylvanas Windrunner and the Lich Kel'Thuzad, Arthas notices his power has weakened. The Lich King telepathically contacts Arthas and explains that his loss of power is due to Illidan's attacks, then calls him to defend the Frozen Throne. Arthas goes to Northrend, where with the help of the Lich King's followers, he defeats Illidan in a battle. Arthas breaks the ice of the throne and puts on the Lich King's helmet, joining their souls and becoming the new Lich King. Meanwhile, Sylvanas is freed from the Lich King's control. With help from Varimathras, she kills the remaining two demons and Garithos, then declares Lordaeron the home of the free undead, now called the "Forsaken."
Unrelated to events in Lordaeron and Northrend, Horde Warchief Thrall builds a new kingdom called Durotar on the continent of Kalimdor. Rexxar, a half-ogre adventurer and animal trainer, is asked by Thrall and others to help build the kingdom. He is aided by Rokhan, a troll hunter who uses shadows. Rexxar learns that humans from the island of Theramore plan to attack Durotar, led by Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, who refuses to accept peace between humans and the Horde. With help from the admiral's guilty daughter, Jaina Proudmoore, he attacks Theramore, kills the admiral, and leaves Jaina in charge of the city.
Development
After the game was released, Blizzard started planning content for an expansion. Development began in October 2002. The Frozen Throne was officially announced on January 22, 2003. Because StarCraft: Brood War had been successful, many people expected Blizzard to create an expansion that would be as long and full of new content as the original game. During development, Blizzard studied how players used the different races and units to find areas where each race needed improvements. This led to the creation of new units and spells. For example, Orcs received a low-level ability to heal their units, and Humans gained a unit that could disable enemy towers from the air. When designing the campaigns, the levels were created with the new heroes’ abilities in mind.
Blizzard’s Bill Roper gave the first preview of the expansion in February 2003. Later, Blizzard showed the single-player campaign at E3 2003. Roper also mentioned that the Naga would be introduced as a new race, but this was not included in the final version. On February 14, 2003, Blizzard announced the first beta test, giving 10,000 players a chance to try the game. On March 10, 2003, another 10,000 players were chosen for the beta test. On April 1, 2003, Blizzard shared a joke for April Fools’ Day by claiming the Pandaren would become a fifth faction. This included a fake entry on the official website about Pandaren heroes, history, and units. However, the final expansion only included the Pandaren Brewmaster as a neutral hero, which could be unlocked in a secret mission. On May 29, 2003, Blizzard announced that the expansion had “gone gold,” meaning it was ready for release. The expansion was released in North America on July 1, 2003, in Australia on July 3, and in Europe on July 4, 2003.
Blizzard continued to support The Frozen Throne with updates that fixed problems and added new content. For example, additional neutral heroes were added in May and August 2004. At first, only the first chapter of the Horde campaign was included in the expansion. The second and third chapters were later released as part of a patch in December 2003. This allowed Blizzard to use player feedback when creating the next parts of the campaign. Many updates were released for the game, including patch 1.21b, which let players start the game without the official CD. In April 2018, Blizzard added proper widescreen support for the first time, more than 15 years after the game’s original release.
Reception
The Frozen Throne received a score of 88 out of 100 from Metacritic, a website that collects game reviews. This score shows that most critics gave the game positive feedback, with only one review scoring below 80.
Reviewers said the new units and heroes looked good in the game world. They also said the cinematics, or movie-like scenes, were as high quality as those in the main game. Many praised the voice acting and new music, though one website noted that the music repeated too often. Another site said the cutscenes, or short videos, used older-looking graphics and called the voice acting "a little amateurish." Some critics also said the graphics had low resolution, and one review joked that the troll race's voices sounded like "Rastafarian outcasts."
Most reviewers believed the new heroes and units helped make the game more balanced. For example, they fixed a problem where the Night Elves had no strong defense units. IGN especially liked the Naga, a new race, for their design and special abilities. Other sites said the new game features, like leaving health and mana runes after defeating enemies, made the game easier to play.
Reviewers praised the variety of missions in the single-player campaign, saying they showed creativity and told a good story. Most missions did not follow the usual "build base, recruit units, kill enemies" pattern. However, some critics said the story was not finished well and that the Night Elf campaign felt unnecessary. Many liked the separate Orc campaign, which had role-playing game elements similar to Blizzard's Diablo series. However, some said it was annoying that enemies in the Horde campaign kept appearing again.
The new multiplayer and skirmish options, such as different AI difficulty levels and clan features, were praised. Some reviewers said new units helped balance multiplayer matches, while others said the game felt less complete than the single-player campaign. A few critics wished the Naga were playable in multiplayer.
The Frozen Throne was the top-selling PC game during the first three weeks of July 2003 and the best-selling PC game in June 2003 because of preorders. It sold over one million copies by August 15, 2003. It received a "Silver" sales award from ELSPA, showing it sold at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.
A German gaming magazine called The Frozen Throne the best add-on in PC gaming history and had not given a higher score to any expansion as of 2018. It was nominated for "Expansion Pack of the Year" in 2003 but lost to Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII. It also won a runner-up spot for "Expansion of the Year" but lost to EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath. The Age called it the best PC expansion of 2003, and GameSpot named it the best computer game of July 2003. At the first Spike Video Game Awards, it was nominated for "Best PC Game" and "Best Animation" but lost to Halo: Combat Evolved and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, respectively.
Legacy
The Frozen Throne's Horde campaign introduces important ideas for World of Warcraft, as many of the player's choices in the campaign are later explored in the MMORPG. Other elements from the expansion, such as the Draenei and Blood Elves, the world of Outland in The Burning Crusade, the story of Arthas's fall and death as the Lich King in Wrath of the Lich King, and the Pandaren race in Mists of Pandaria, were developed further in later expansions. In 2017, Blizzard released an expansion for their Hearthstone digital card game called Knights of the Frozen Throne. This expansion includes references to The Frozen Throne and features an undead version of Rexxar, a character from the game. Most of the playable heroes added in The Frozen Throne expansion, including five neutral heroes, returned in the crossover multiplayer online battle arena game Heroes of the Storm. A Night Elf unit from the expansion, the Mountain Giant, appears as a boss in a Warcraft-themed battleground.