I got the Frozen Throne expansion for Warcraft III (Amazon) for Christmas, and I’m finding myself happily addicted to it all over again.
Not that I ever really stopped playing it. I did beat the campaign mode a few months back, but I’ve been slowly working my way through all the multiplayer maps, trying to beat them on the “normal” setting (I said I liked Warcraft … not that I was any good at it). Still, things were starting to get a bit, well, not boring, but certainly familiar.
The Frozen Throne expansion was just the thing to get my interest rekindled (and to get my ass stuck to the sofa for an entire day out of my Christmas vacation — nothing quite like hacking your way through Warcraft while The Two Towers Extended Edition plays in the background).
The expansion offers a new campaign for players to play, and unlike other Warcraft fans, I’m enjoying it — particularly the appearance of the corrupted “naga” as new enemies/allies. I just wish they’d made them a fifth playable race.
I’m also liking the new “heroes” for each race — particularly the human faction’s Blood Mage and the orc’s Shadow Hunter, a voodoo-wielding troll capable of casting much-needed healing spells (sure, Troll Shaman can cast Healing Wards, but that’s a high-level function. This way orcs can get healing power with their first or second hero).
There are a bunch of new units too, of which I’ve used maybe a quarter, new powers and even a new building that lets you buy magic items in your own town (no more goblin merchant monopolies!) Of course, all of this means that I end up losing in even more spectacular ways than before, and have been forced to revert to the “easy” setting until I figure things out, but it is a hell of a lot of fun.