Patch 307 was released on April 10th, 2003.

 

This patch mostly fixed the Balista, which was moved to Tier one in patch 306.  Blizzard has given it an HP, Build Time, and Damage nerf in hopes of balancing it.

 

Runes are also much less common.  This item will probably be given a lot of changed before the retail.

 

Othe changes gave the Beast Master and Blood Mage a boost in movement speed, made one of the Beast Master's spells slighty cheaper, nerfed the Breath of Fire damage (Pandaren Brew Master spell), and increased the Crypt Lord's impale range.  This patch basically increased a lot of "BM" heroes.

 

Here is the current #1 players:

 

 

Solo:  GhostRidah-

Random Team:  BloodHarvest

2v2 Arranged Team:  Raz[Demo] and Reeces

 

 

Solo:  XP_Kalimdor

Random Team:  N/A

2v2 Arranged Team:  N/A

 

Patch 306 was released April 9th, 2003.

 

This patch has made much larger change than the previous patch 305 and 305a, 306 has added many new and controversial changes, the biggest being the Night Elf Balista now being a Tier 1.5 unit (it only requires a Hunter's Hall).

 

New gameplay features include the last two of the Neutral Heroes purchased at the Tavern.  The Beast Master is a Strength hero who is unique due ot the fact that all his non-ultimate spells are summons.  The Pit Lord is also a Strength hero who has an Ultimate that is kind of like an evil version of the old Phoenix (kills an enemy unit to make a demon).  Runes have also make an introduction.  These items are similar to tomes in that they are used autmoatically upon being picked up.  The difference is that these items have various effects, from healing your units to reviving recently slain units.

 

New features have been introduced to Battle.net.  Tournaments hosted by Blizzard will soon begin.  This feature has been demanded by players even in the early days of Vanilla Warcraft III.  Players can also filter and refresh the cutsom games, making it easier to use.  Players can now choose their icons, something that benefits players who have earned icons for more than one race.

 

Patch 305a was released March 31st, 2003.

 

This patch mainly fixed the tome bug that dominated patch 305.  With this patch, players can finally get back to searching for inbalances.

 

This patch also balanced the reworked Animate Dead spell (which now raises invulnerable units, which makes it a lot more playable) along with the revamped Spirit of Vengence.  We'll see if the changes to these ultimate spells is well balanced, too powerful, or too weak in the coming days.

 

Patch 305 was released on March 28th, 2003.

 

While the patch has made some fairly large changes, the most talked about being the raising of the food cap to 100 (from 90) and the change to upkeep (takes 10 more food to get to the upkeep levels) along with heroes no longer getting creep exp when at level 5 or higher.

 

Sadly, a recent bug has prevented ant sort of serious strategy or inbalances to be revealed.  This bug involves a hero being able to re-use tomes in order to get insanely high stats.

 

Just like the Sea Witch bug, players are urging Blizzard to fix this ASAP.

 

Patch 304 was released on March 21st, 2003.  It has changed the Warcraft game in too many ways to list.  Some big changes are:

 

-Lumber is now much more important as upgrades and buildings require more.

-Two new buildings for humans and undead (arcane and nerubian tower respectively)

-Damage and armor types mixed up.  Tier 3 now has medium, all air has heavy.  Hero damage was added.  Countering is more viable than ever.

-The Pandaren Brewmaster and Naga Sea Witch were added.

-Several upgrades were given to underused units.  Gyrocopters got the Flak Cannon, Mortar teams got Fragmentation Grenades, Catapults got Naptha, Abominations got cannabilize, Spell Breakers got feedback and Spell control.  A lot of underused units may come back into strength.

 

Patch 304a was released on March 24th, 2003.  Many players found 304 impossible to test due to a bug that didn't require a player to have their town halls upgraded if they bought a Sea Witch from the tavern.  With the powerful Forked Lightning attack, a very fast and tough-to-beat dual hero rush left many players unable to get into serious testing.

 

Patch 304a fixed the Sea Witch, as well as took away her ability to go into deep water (a first for heroes).

 

The patch also tweaked the maps a bit, and added a new map called Rice Fields.  This is a 2 vs. 2 ladder map, that would be nothing much if not for its new feature:  randomly generated creep camps.  No doubt players will test to see how this new feature will play out.

 

Patch 304 has been getting much acclaim from all players.  The people at Blizzard even stickied the praise from IN clan member Tillerman, who had been voicing his discontent with Warcraft III up until now.

 

Looks like Blizzard is on the right track so far.

 

The past weekend has consisted of people complaining about the very basics of Warcraft III, including creeping, economics, teching, and items.

 

People all over Battle.net and fan sites are voicing their opinion about the game.  This might have been started by the well-known player Tillerman from the IN clan, who has been very vocal about suggesting changes to Warcraft III and The Frozen Throne.

 

Rob Pardo and others have tried to calm the masses by assuring them the next patch will have large changes to the way rushing, teching, and other strategies work.  Mr. Pardo has said that 90% of the expansion's features have been implemented, and that the changes that will be included in the patch are complicated and will take some time.

 

The Warcraft III community is eagerly awaiting the next patch.

 

Patch 303 was released on March 14th, 2003.

 

This patch fixed a bug that occured with the Spirit Walkers.  It basically made a Walker impossible to kill if they died while ethereal.

 

Sleep was also fixed to it's pre-302 stats.

 

With the Spirit Walkers no longer a problem, people can now focus on the balance issues of patch 302.  Patch 304 may very well be delayed due to the disruption of the SW bug.

 

As of writing this, PoGie was #1 on the Sunken Ruins ladder at level 17.  ForOne is #1 on the Icecrown Glacier ladder at level 17.  Both players had Orc icons.

 

301 was released on March 4, 2003 and patch 302 was released on March 12th, 2003

 

302 had a much larger impact than 301, taking care of things like air units (even after Dragon Hawks' nerf in 301, Faeire Dragons and batriders were dominating many games).  Batriders proved to be the biggest inbalance for most players, and was balanced in 302.  Early Orc rushes lost a little bite when items that had an effect similar to the Druid of the Claw "rejuvination" spell will stop healing if the target attacks.  Item shops for all races got an increase in item costs.

 

Ethereal is starting to be rework, and this new feature will undoubtedly see many changes and tweaks as the beta goes on.  No units can no longer cast spells while ethereal.  This makes spells like banish more useful on offense, while making casters like Spirit Walkers a bit weaker.  Faerie Dragons don't even go ethereal anymore, leaving the game with only two of this new game feature (Blood Mage and Spirit Walker).

 

Humans seem to be suffering as the Blood Mage faces an identity crisis.  The once neat Flame Strike is starting to lose its luster.  With the constant nerfings of the spell, people are no longer choosing this hero.  Going with the Archmage again, many have preferred Blizzard to Flamestrike, and the Archmage's other two spells are strictly superior to the Blood Elf hero.  It has already been confirmed that the Ultimate for the Blood Mage (Mark of Fire) will be getting a boost in a future patch.

 

Bird's the word as air units dominate the ladder.  Apparently this is largely due to the Dragon Hawk being incomplete upon the beta's arrival.  As a result, he is really good right now and he is a favorite unit to mass with a Blood Mage.

 

Tonight it seems that something big is going down in the seedy world of illegal beta partcipation.  Apparently Warforge, an illegal server for the War3 beta, may be returning for the Frozen Throne Beta.  Apparently Blizzard doesn't care too much if some people get in illegally.  We'll have to wait and see.

 

Clan support was also released today.  This offers a clan their own private channel, a custom tag at the end of their names, and four ranks (chieftan, shaman, grunt, and peon).  Clan support is in the beta now, but things like upkeep and the clan ladder are not quite ready yet.

 

Right now Toldie is the only beta tester within Donut.  Going under the name Krellen, he was ranked 93 last I checked.  His highest rank has been in the 50s I believe.  You can check up on his stats here.

 

-BigBoston

 

Today the beta went live.  Already people are playing the game extensively, trying to find any inbalances that exist.

 

So far only Toldie has gotten in the beta, but other members still have a chance.  Cross your fingers for us!

 

-BigBoston