93-532: 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
186-530: A boss in the Warcraft -themed battleground. Expansion pack An expansion pack , expansion set , supplement , or simply expansion , is an addition to an existing role-playing game , tabletop game , video game , collectible card game or miniature wargame . These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, adventures or an extended storyline to an already-released game. While board game expansions are typically designed by
279-639: A "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. German video gaming magazine GameStar called The Frozen Throne the best add-on in PC gaming history and as of July 2018 had not awarded another score as high as the expansion has. The editors of Computer Gaming World nominated The Frozen Throne for their 2003 "Expansion Pack of
372-607: A "yellow-fanged" guard Orc of Mordor curses Uglúk of Isengard (an Uruk-hai chief) with the words "Uglúk u bagronk sha pushdug Saruman-glob búbhosh skai!" In The Peoples of Middle-earth , Tolkien gives the translation: "Uglúk to the cesspool, sha! the dungfilth; the great Saruman-fool, skai!" However, in a note published in Vinyar Tengwar he gives an alternative translation: "Uglúk to the dung-pit with stinking Saruman-filth, pig-guts, gah!" Alexander Nemirovsky [ ru ] speculated that Tolkien might have drawn upon
465-470: A core set that is reprinted indefinitely, instead, they are retired and replaced with new expansions on a quarterly or bi-annual basis. Expansions usually introduce new rules, or game mechanics, expanding the game's library of cards and rules set. Orc An orc (sometimes spelt ork ; / ɔːr k / ), in J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth fantasy fiction , is a race of humanoid monsters, which he also calls " goblin ". In Tolkien's The Lord of
558-634: A kind called Boldog , like lesser Balrogs ; or corrupted Men. Shippey writes that the orcs in The Lord of the Rings were almost certainly created just to equip Middle-earth with a continual supply of enemies who one could kill without compunction, or in Tolkien's words from The Monsters and the Critics "the infantry of the old war" ready to be slaughtered. Shippey states that all the same, orcs share
651-588: A letdown" as it lacks some of the features of the campaign but admitted that the improvements made were significant and enhanced the experience. Like a number of other critics, Strategy Gaming Online bemoaned that the Naga were not added as a new playable race for multiplayer. The Frozen Throne was the most-sold PC game in the first three weeks of July 2003 and was also the best-selling PC game of June 2003 due to preorders. The expansion sold more than one million copies by August 15, 2003. The Frozen Throne received
744-455: A man's home should. I love its atmosphere, and know more of its histories and languages than I do of other parts; but it is not 'sacred', nor does it exhaust my affections. I do have, for instance, a particular fondness for the Latin language, and among its descendants for Spanish. That it is untrue for my story, a mere reading of the synopses should show. The North was the seat of the fortresses of
837-523: A need to do evil as to obtain fulfilment through the act of war. In the Warhammer 40,000 series of science-fiction games, they are a green-skinned alien species, called Orks . Orcs are an important race in Warcraft , a high fantasy franchise created by Blizzard Entertainment . Several orc characters from the Warcraft universe are playable heroes in their crossover multiplayer game Heroes of
930-517: 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
1023-521: A northern European's paranoid caricature of the races he has dimly heard about". Tally describes the orcs as a demonized enemy , despite (he writes) Tolkien's own objections to demonization of the enemy in the two World Wars. In a letter to his son, Christopher , who was serving in the RAF in the Second World War, Tolkien wrote of orcs as appearing on both sides of the conflict: Yes, I think
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#17327834980291116-545: 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
1209-590: A pidgin of many various languages. However, individual tribes developed dialects that differed so widely that Westron , often with a crude accent, was used as a common language. When Sauron returned to power in Mordor in the Third Age , Black Speech was used by the captains of his armies and by his servants in his tower of Barad-dûr . A sample of debased Black Speech can be found in The Two Towers , where
1302-488: A player-controlled shop, and one new hero, a kind of powerful unit which each can only be recruited once, per faction. To complement the new shop, normal units can be upgraded to carry items. Two new Factions, the Naga and Draenei, have also been added. The Naga feature in all four campaigns and have their own production and defense buildings as well as unique units with separate skills. While enemies in some single-player missions, players can control them in others. The Draenei on
1395-466: A pug-nose ("flat-nosed" ) was attributable to Tolkien's written correspondence, the pig-headed (pig-faced ) look was imparted on the orc by the D&;D original edition (1974). It was later modified from bald-headed to hairy in subsequent editions. In the third version of the game the orc became gray-skinned, even though a complicated color-palleted description of a (non-gray) orc had been implemented in
1488-460: A race of 'rational incarnate' creatures, though horribly corrupted, if no more so than many Men to be met today." The scholar of English literature Robert Tally wrote in Mythlore that despite the uniform presentation of orcs as "loathsome, ugly, cruel, feared, and especially terminable", "Tolkien could not resist the urge to flesh out and 'humanize' these inhuman creatures from time to time", in
1581-489: A representation of the " Other ", and states "it is also the product of his background and era, like most of our inescapable prejudices. At the level of conscious intention, he was not a racist or an anti-Semite " and mentions Tolkien's letters to this effect. The literary critic Jenny Turner, writing in the London Review of Books , endorses Andrew O'Hehir's comment on Salon.com that orcs are "by design and intention
1674-412: A response to the type-casting of orcs as generic evil characters or antagonists, some novels portray events from the point of view of the orcs, or make them more sympathetic characters. Mary Gentle 's 1992 novel Grunts! presents orcs as generic infantry, used as metaphorical cannon-fodder. A series of books by Stan Nicholls , Orcs: First Blood , focuses on the conflicts between orcs and humans from
1767-468: A sort of "hell-devil" in Old English literature, and the orc-né (pl. orc-néas , "demon-corpses") was a race of corrupted beings and descendants of Cain , alongside the elf, according to the poem Beowulf . Tolkien adopted the term orc from these old attestations, which he professed was a choice made purely for "phonetic suitability" reasons. Tolkien's concept of orcs has been adapted into
1860-517: A way of writing epic fantasy about a battle against an evil spirit and his monstrous servants without its being subject to speculation of racist intent". The journalist David Ibata writes that the interpretations of orcs in Peter Jackson 's Lord of the Rings films look much like "the worst depictions of the Japanese drawn by American and British illustrators during World War II ". As
1953-455: Is something that Shippey describes as representing the Manichean position– that evil coexists with good, and is at least equally as powerful. The possibility of racism in Tolkien's descriptions of orcs has been debated. In a private letter, Tolkien describes orcs as: squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of
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#17327834980292046-618: 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,
2139-415: Is to be glossed as orcus 'corpse', then the compound word can be construed as "demon-corpses", or "corpse from Orcus (i.e. the underworld)". Hence orc-neas may have been some sort of walking dead monster, a product of ancient necromancy , or a zombie -like creature. The term "orc" is used only once in the first edition of Tolkien's 1937 The Hobbit , which preferred the term "goblins". "Orc"
2232-515: The J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , states that Middle-earth has a "fully expressed moral geography ". Any moral bias towards a north-western geography, however, was directly denied by Tolkien in a letter to Charlotte and Denis Plimmer, who had recently interviewed him in 1967: Auden has asserted that for me 'the North is a sacred direction'. That is not true. The North-west of Europe, where I (and most of my ancestors) have lived, has my affection, as
2325-675: The Monster Manual for the first edition (1977). Newer versions seem to have dropped references to skin-color. Early versions of the game introduced the "half-orc" as race. The orc was described in the first edition of Monster Manual ( op. cit. ), as a fiercely competitive bully, a tribal creature often dwelling and building underground; in newer editions, orcs (though still described as sometimes inhabiting cavern complexes) had been shifted to become more prone to non-subterranean habitation as well, adapting captured villages into communities, for instance. The mythology and attitudes of
2418-693: The London media again in order to play. Sonic & Knuckles for the Mega Drive/Genesis was unusual in that it functioned as both a stand-alone cartridge and as an expansion pack for both Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 . Collectible card games, or CCGs for short, are typically released as expansion sets, composed of booster packs . CCGs may be referred to as "living" or "dead", and living CCGs are routinely published with supplementary expansions. CCGs generally do not have
2511-445: The "most skillfully designed single-player scenarios" of any real-time strategy game to that date and appreciated how the varied missions are still all plausible in the context of the game. Despite the praise, reviews also noted that the expansion's story is more buildup than resolution when it is supposed to be the culmination of the main game's storyline. PC Gamer also criticized the story as being too long to be interesting, dismissing
2604-478: The (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types. O'Hehir describes orcs as "a subhuman race bred by Morgoth and/or Sauron (although not created by them) that is morally irredeemable and deserves only death. They are dark-skinned and slant-eyed, and although they possess reason, speech, social organization and, as Shippey mentions, a sort of moral sensibility, they are inherently evil." He notes Tolkien's own description of them, saying it could scarcely be more revealing as
2697-537: The 10th century Old English Cleopatra Glossaries , about which Thomas Wright wrote, " Orcus was the name for Pluto , the god of the infernal regions, hence we can easily understand the explanation of hel - deofol . Orc , in Anglo-Saxon, like thyrs , means a spectre, or goblin." In the sense of a monstrous being, the term is used just once in Beowulf , as the plural compound orcneas , one of
2790-578: 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
2883-408: 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. The Horde campaign is separate from the other three, being a stand-alone story and using more role-playing game mechanics over real-time strategy game mechanics. The campaign chronicles the early days of the Horde's newly established kingdom from
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2976-616: 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
3069-614: 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
3162-744: The Devil [ie. Morgoth ]. Scholars of English literature William N. Rogers II and Michael R. Underwood note that a widespread element of late 19th century Western culture was fear of moral decline and degeneration; this led to eugenics . In The Two Towers , the Ent Treebeard says: It is a mark of evil things that came in the Great Darkness that they cannot abide the Sun; but Saruman 's orcs can endure it, even if they hate it. I wonder what he has done? Are they Men he has ruined, or has he blended
3255-528: The Elvish words. There is possibly no connection between them". Orcs are of human shape, and of varying size. They are depicted as ugly and filthy, with a taste for human flesh. They are fanged, bow-legged and long-armed. Most are small and avoid daylight. By the Third Age , a new breed of orc had emerged, the Uruk-hai, larger and more powerful, and no longer afraid of daylight. Orcs eat meat, including
3348-515: The Frozen Throne that, among other allusions to The Frozen Throne , contains an undead version of Rexxar the beastmaster. The majority of the playable heroes added in the expansion The Frozen Throne, including five neutral heroes, reprised their role in the crossover multiplayer online battle arena Heroes of the Storm . A Night Elf unit from the expansion, the Mountain Giant, appears as
3441-595: 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
3534-428: The Night Elf campaign as mostly unnecessary. Many reviewers also liked the choice to have a separate Orc campaign with its RPG elements, likening the gameplay to Blizzard's Diablo series . Conversely, many critics also found it annoying that enemies respawn in the Horde campaign, forcing players to replay the same fights. The improved multiplayer and skirmish options, especially the various new AI difficulty levels and
3627-612: The Ring looks "more than half like a goblin"; similar but more orc-like hybrids appear in The Two Towers "man-high, but with goblin-faces, sallow, leering, squint-eyed." In Peter Jackson 's Lord of the Rings films , the actors playing orcs are made up with masks designed to make them look evil. After a disagreement with the film producer Harvey Weinstein , Jackson had one of the masks made to resemble Weinstein, as an insult to him. The Orcs had no language of their own, merely
3720-467: The Rings , orcs appear as a brutish, aggressive, ugly, and malevolent race of monsters , contrasting with the benevolent Elves . He described their origins inconsistently, including as a corrupted race of elves, or bred by the Dark Lord Morgoth , or turned to evil in the wild. Tolkien's orcs serve as a conveniently wholly evil enemy that could be slaughtered without mercy. The orc was
3813-451: The Storm . The orc features in numerous Magic: The Gathering collectible cards, in the 1993 game series published by Wizards of the Coast . In The Elder Scrolls series, many orcs or Orsimer are skilled blacksmiths. In Hasbro 's Heroscape products, orcs come from the pre-historic planet Grut. They are blue-skinned, with prominent tusks or horns. The Skylander Voodood from
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3906-500: The Year" award, but it lost to Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII . It was also a runner-up for Computer Games Magazine ' s "Expansion of the Year" award, which ultimately went to EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath . The Age called The Frozen Throne the best expansion pack for PC of 2003, while GameSpot named it the best computer game of July 2003. At the first Spike Video Game Awards in 2003, The Frozen Throne
3999-477: The air. When designing the campaigns, the levels were created with the new heroes' abilities in mind. Blizzard's Bill Roper first offered a preview of the new expansion in February 2003 before Blizzard debuted the single player campaign at E3 2003 . Roper also teased that the Naga would be introduced as a new race, which ultimately was not included in the final expansion. On February 14, 2003, Blizzard announced
4092-441: The computer on a custom map, players can now select a difficulty level for the computer opponent. The multiplayer aspect was expanded upon with the implementation of clans and automated tournaments that include a strict 30-minute time limit. It also added the ability to chat with others while waiting for a game. The expansion includes 62 new multiplayer maps and custom scenarios based on popular mods and allows up to twelve players at
4185-453: The concept are module and, in certain games' marketing, adventure . The price of an expansion pack is usually much less than that of the original game. As expansion packs consist solely of additional content, most require the original game in order to play. Games with many expansions often begin selling the original game with prior expansions, such as The Sims Deluxe Edition ( The Sims with The Sims: Livin' Large ). These bundles make
4278-442: 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
4371-740: The expansion went on to become the focus in World of Warcraft expansions, such the Draenei and Blood Elves as well as the world of Outland in The Burning Crusade , the fall and death of Arthas as the Lich King in Wrath of the Lich King and the Pandaren race in Mists of Pandaria . In 2017, Blizzard released an expansion to their Hearthstone digital collectible card game entitled Knights of
4464-490: The fantasy fiction of other authors, and into games of many different genres such as Dungeons & Dragons , Magic: The Gathering , and Warcraft . The Anglo-Saxon word orc, which Tolkien used, is generally thought to be derived from the Latin word/name Orcus , though Tolkien himself expressed doubt about this. The term orcus is glossed as " orc, þyrs, oððe hel-deofol " ("Goblin, spectre, or hell-devil") in
4557-425: The fantasy tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ), orcs are creatures in the game, and somewhat based upon those described by Tolkien. These D&D orcs are implemented in the game rules as a multi- tribed race of hostile and bestial humanoids . The D&D orcs are endowed with muscular frames, large canine teeth like boar's tusks, and snouts rather than human-like noses. While
4650-771: The fictional high fantasy world of Azeroth. 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
4743-850: 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
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#17327834980294836-488: The first beta test for the game, which offered 10,000 players a chance to sample the game. 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,
4929-432: The first chapter of the Horde campaign upon release with Acts II and III released as part of a patch in December 2003. This allowed Blizzard to take fan feedback into account when creating the next two chapters of the campaign. There have been many patches released for the game, including patch 1.21b, which allowed the game to be started without the official CD. In April 2018, Blizzard integrated proper widescreen support for
5022-423: The first time, more than 15 years after the game's original release. The Frozen Throne received a rating of 88/100 from review aggregator Metacritic indicating generally positive reviews from critics, with only a single review below 80. Critics liked that the new units and heroes fit well visually in the existing game world and compared the quality of the cinematics favorably to the highly praised cinematics of
5115-681: The flesh of Men , and may indulge in cannibalism : in The Two Towers , Grishnákh, an orc from Mordor , claims that the Isengard orcs eat orc-flesh. Whether that is true or spoken in malice is uncertain: an orc flings Peregrin Took stale bread and a "strip of raw dried flesh ... the flesh of he dared not guess what creature". Half-orcs appear in The Lord of the Rings , created by interbreeding of orcs and Men; they were able to go in sunlight. The "sly Southerner" in The Fellowship of
5208-540: The game more accessible to new players. When games reach the end of their lifespan, the publisher often releases a 'complete' or 'gold' collection, which includes the game and all its subsequent expansions. Some expansion packs do not require the original game in order to use the new content, as is the case with Half-Life: Blue Shift , Uncharted: The Lost Legacy , Dishonored: Death of the Outsider or Sonic & Knuckles . Some art, sound, and code are reused from
5301-463: 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
5394-485: The game, Beatmania Append Yebisu Mix, was bundled with the PlayStation version as the game's 2nd disc, with subsequent append discs being released as standalone retail releases. Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 was marketed as the first expansion pack released for the PlayStation. The game required the player to insert the London disc, remove it, insert the original Grand Theft Auto disc, remove it, then insert
5487-455: The gloss orc : þyrs ('ogre'), heldeofol ('hell-devil')). This is supposed not to be connected with modern English orc , ork , a name applied to various sea-beasts of the dolphin order". Tolkien also observed a similarity with the Latin word orcus , noting that "the word used in translation of Q[uenya] urko , S[indarin] orch is Orc. But that is because of the similarity of the ancient English word orc , 'evil spirit or bogey', to
5580-486: 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. 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
5673-412: The human concept of good and evil, with a familiar sense of morality , though he notes that, like many people, orcs are quite unable to apply their morals to themselves. Shippey opined that Tolkien, as a Catholic, took it as a given that "evil cannot make, only mock", so orcs could not have an equal and opposite morality to that of men or elves. In a 1954 letter, Tolkien wrote that orcs were "fundamentally
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#17327834980295766-543: The language of Rohan and in the Common Speech , orka . Tolkien stated in a letter to the novelist Naomi Mitchison that his orcs had been influenced by George MacDonald 's The Princess and the Goblin . He explained that his word "orc" was "derived from Old English orc 'demon', but only because of its phonetic suitability", and I originally took the word from Old English orc ( Beowulf 112 orc-neas and
5859-524: The language of the ancient Hittites and Hurrians for Black Speech. The origin(s) of orcs were explained in multiple inconsistent ways by Tolkien. Early works depict them as creations of Morgoth, mimicking the forms of the Children of Ilúvatar. Alternatively, they may have been East Elves (Avari) enslaved, tortured, and bred by Morgoth (as Melkor became known), or, "perhaps ... Avari [(a race of elves)] ... [turned] evil and savage in
5952-441: The main game. Both the voice acting and the new music were noted positively by reviewers, although Strategy Gaming Online noted that the music repeats itself too often. Conversely, PC Gamer considered the cutscenes using the in-game graphics dated and called the voice-acting "a tad amateurish". 4Players and Game Informer also criticized the low resolution graphics. GameSpy found most unit voices excellent but criticized that
6045-494: The main story line. Blizzard instead decided to create a more RPG -driven campaign that focuses on controlling one or multiple heroes on a network of interlinked maps. As such, base building, resource gathering and unit training are absent from most of the campaign while heroes can be leveled up past the normal 10-level limit. The Horde campaign contains almost 40 items specifically created for it. Both campaigns combined add approximately 40 hours of new gameplay. When playing against
6138-410: The multiplayer improvements with clans, tournaments, and ranked game searches, were praised by critics. GameSpot also emphasized in its review that many new unit types were designed to counter particular strategies in multiplayer, while GameSpy found that the new units focusing on countering magic leads to a more involved multiplayer game. Strategy Gaming Online opined that the multiplayer "felt like
6231-408: 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
6324-436: The new mechanics of defeated enemies leaving health and mana runes in missions with limited units helps avoid previously necessary regenerating phases, improving the game's flow. Most reviewers praised the variety of missions in the single player campaign as a feat of storytelling and innovation, especially that the standard "build base, recruit units, kill enemy" formula was only used in a few missions. GameSpot even called it
6417-512: The orcs are described in detail in Dragon #62 (June 1982), in Roger E. Moore 's article, "The Half-Orc Point of View". The orc for the D&D offshoot Pathfinder RPG are detailed in the 2008 book Classic Monsters Revisited issued by the game's publisher Paizo . Games Workshop 's Warhammer universe features cunning and brutal orcs in a fantasy setting, who are driven not so much by
6510-466: The orcs as real a creation as anything in 'realistic' fiction ... only in real life they are on both sides, of course. For 'romance' has grown out of 'allegory', and its wars are still derived from the 'inner war' of allegory in which good is on one side and various modes of badness on the other. In real (exterior) life men are on both sides: which means a motley alliance of orcs, beasts, demons, plain naturally honest men, and angels. John Magoun, writing in
6603-540: The orcs' point of view. In Terry Pratchett 's Discworld series, orcs are close to extinction; in his Unseen Academicals , it is said that "When the Evil Emperor wanted fighters he got some of the Igors to turn goblins into orcs" to be used as weapons in a Great War, "encouraged" by whips and beatings. Orcs based on The Lord of the Rings have become a fixture of fantasy fiction and role-playing games . In
6696-517: The original creator, video game developers sometimes contract out development of the expansion pack to a third-party company, it may choose to develop the expansion itself, or it may do both. Board games and tabletop RPGs may have been marketing expansions since the 1970s, and video games have been releasing expansion packs since the 1980s, early examples being the Dragon Slayer games Xanadu Scenario II and Sorcerian . Other terms for
6789-442: The original game. In some cases, a stand-alone expansion such as Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death , or Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna includes the original game. Expansion packs are most commonly released for PC games , but are becoming increasingly prevalent for video game consoles , particularly due to the popularity of downloadable content . The increasing number of multi-platform games has also led to
6882-415: The original in both length and new content. A main focus when developing the expansion was studying the way players used the different races and units in order to identify in which area each race needed to be strengthened, leading to the development of new units and spells to meet these demands. Examples include giving Orcs a low level way to heal units and adding a human unit that can disable enemy towers from
6975-516: The other hand are found only in one of the campaigns and are classified by Blizzard as creeps, i.e. neutral units that attack all parties equally. 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
7068-409: The perspective of the beastmaster hero Rexxar. 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
7161-698: The plural form orqui in his early texts. He stated that the Elvish words for orc were derived from a root ruku , "fear, horror"; in Quenya , orco , plural orkor ; in Sindarin orch , plurals yrch and Orchoth (as a class). They had similar names in other Middle-earth languages: uruk in Black Speech; in the language of the Drúedain gorgûn , "ork-folk"; in Khuzdul rukhs , plural rakhâs ; and in
7254-498: The process giving them their own morality. Shippey notes that in The Two Towers , the orc Gorbag disapproves of the "regular elvish trick" (an immoral act) of abandoning a comrade, as he wrongly supposes Sam Gamgee has done to Frodo Baggins . Shippey describes the implied concept of evil as Boethian – that evil is the absence of good. He notes, however, that Tolkien did not agree with that concept of evil; Tolkien believed that evil had to be actively fought, with war if necessary. That
7347-481: The races of orcs and Men ? That would be a black evil! The Germanic studies scholar Sandra Ballif Straubhaar however argues against the "recurring accusations" of racism, stating that "a polycultured, polylingual world is absolutely central" to Middle-earth, and that readers and filmgoers will easily see that. The historian and Tolkien scholar Jared Lobdell likewise disagreed with any notions of racism inherent or latent in Tolkien's works, and wondered "if there were
7440-430: The release of more expansion packs on consoles, especially stand-alone expansion packs (as described above). Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath , for example, requires the original Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars to play on the PC, but Xbox 360 versions of both the original Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath are available, neither of which require one another. The Japanese version of Konami 's Beatmania
7533-440: 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. Unlike in previous Warcraft games, Blizzard did not include the orcs in the main campaign. According to level designer Tim Campbell, the company failed to come up with a plausible story-based reason why orcs should appear in
7626-487: The same time. If an ally leaves the game, their resources are now shown in a separate window and can be transferred. The Frozen Throne also includes an improved version of the World Editor program that can be used to create custom maps and scenarios to play against the computer or other players. The improved World Editor allows the user to do more custom work with regards to editing skills, providing more functions in
7719-481: 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
7812-466: The tribes belonging to the descendants of Cain , alongside the elves and ettins (giants) condemned by God: The meaning of Orcneas is uncertain. Frederick Klaeber suggested it consisted of orc < L. orcus "the underworld" + neas "corpses", to which the translation "evil spirits" failed to do justice. It is generally supposed to contain an element -né , cognate to Gothic naus and Old Norse nár , both meaning 'corpse'. If *orcné
7905-526: The triggers, new units, more global map settings, and three new tile-sets to work with. Creators can now link multiple maps together and make events on one map affect another map. The Horde campaign was specifically made with the goal in mind of showcasing what the new World Editor was capable of. While Blizzard does not officially support the World Editor, the Frozen Throne version offers more options and documentation. The Frozen Throne takes place on
7998-448: 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
8091-837: The weapon types are effective and ineffective against different armor types compared to Reign of Chaos . Changes to building costs and the addition of new early-game defensive structures serve to deter early-game tactics that relied on rushing the enemy with hero units. In addition to treasure items found in the main game, enemies now will also leave "runes" upon defeat that can be used to replenish health or mana. 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 . For each faction, The Frozen Throne adds several new units and buildings, including
8184-477: The whole troll race sounds like "Rastafarian outcasts". The new heroes and units were widely considered a good fit and helpful for improving balance by negating some problematic areas, such as the Night Elves' lack of tank units . IGN particularly liked the Naga in both design and concept, especially the fact that they have their own advantages and magical abilities. GameStar and PC Games lauded that
8277-593: The wild", both according to The Silmarillion . The orcs "multiplied" like Elves and Men, meaning that they reproduced sexually . Tolkien stated in a letter dated 21 October 1963 to a Mrs. Munsby that "there must have been orc-women". In The Fall of Gondolin Morgoth made them of slime by sorcery, "bred from the heats and slimes of the earth". Or, they were " beasts of humanized shape", possibly, Tolkien wrote, Elves mated with beasts, and later Men. Or again, Tolkien noted, they could have been fallen Maiar , perhaps
8370-448: 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. 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
8463-507: Was later used ubiquitously in The Lord of the Rings . The "orc-" element occurs in the sword name Orcrist , which is given as its Elvish language name, and glossed as "Goblin-cleaver". Tolkien began the more modern use of the English term "orc" to denote a race of evil humanoid beings. His earliest Elvish dictionaries include the entry Ork (orq-) "monster", "ogre", "demon", together with orqindi and "ogresse". He sometimes used
8556-454: Was nominated for the "Best PC Game" and "Best Animation" category, but lost to Halo: Combat Evolved and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball respectively. The Frozen Throne's Horde campaign lays the groundwork for World of Warcraft with many of the player's actions in the campaign being later explored in the MMORPG . Similarly, other elements that were introduced or fleshed out in
8649-608: Was the first game on the PlayStation to support expansion packs, which were branded as append discs. These discs included additional tracks and required the original Beatmania disc (and later playable Beatmania game discs) to play. The discs required the player to access the Disc Change menu on the Beatmania disc, remove the Beatmania disc, insert an append disc, then press the start button to play. The first append disc for
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