Warcraft 3’s Director Says Its New Campaign Is ‘The Best Storytelling Medium Warcraft Has Had’

Warcraft 3’s new campaign, The Forsaken Kingdom, is more RPG than RTS. There is no base-building. That is a deliberate choice, and Blizzard’s director says it is the best storytelling medium the franchise has ever had.

Ion Hazzikostas, game director on Warcraft 3, told Kotaku that the campaign’s focus on character-driven storytelling is the reason the format changed. “It is the best storytelling medium that Warcraft has had,” he said. The problem is that the format change leaves longtime RTS fans with nothing new to chew on since Reforged first launched.

Why The Forsaken Kingdom Abandoned Base-Building

Brad Chan, Warcraft senior manager, explained the reasoning during an interview at BlizzCon. “This more RPG-focused campaign was made just to serve the story essentially, because we were doing a more character-driven, more don’t want to say the lesser characters, but the street-level characters,” Chan said. “You’re a city guard, you’re not a prince, you’re not a king, you’re not like a super power.”

He noted that Warcraft 3 has always had RPG elements. The original game included added bonus content starring Rexxar that was similarly focused on character-driven missions. That content was well-received.

“We leaned into it because of the story and sky’s the limit,” Chan said. “If there is a story that we want to service, like, big-scale battles, being that overarching commander again, we’ll definitely lean into all that.”

The campaign is designed to serve a specific kind of story. It follows a street-level character rather than a prince or king. The RPG format allows players to walk in a character’s shoes, which is something the MMO format struggles with.

What Happens If Fans Miss Base-Building

Traditional RTS fans may be disappointed. There is nothing new for them since Reforged first launched, and the campaign is clearly moving away from the genre’s core mechanics.

But Blizzard is listening. Hazzikostas, the more senior of the two directors, said the next steps depend heavily on what the community wants.

“We’re so excited to have a new story to tell and a new experience to offer in Warcraft 3, but so many of the next steps are going to be informed by what we hear from the community, what they want more of, what they want less of,” he said. “If people are jumping in and what we’re hearing far and wide is, ‘This is awesome, but man, I miss the base-building parts of it, I wish you guys could tell a story that was more about building up a base and forming an army and engaging at that scale of battle as opposed to heroes,’ we’re all for it and we’re here for it.”

Chan also name-dropped several successful and current RTS games, including Total War, Company of Heroes, Dawn of War, Age of Empires, and Tempest Rising. His confidence in the genre suggests Blizzard is not abandoning it entirely.

Arthas’s Dominance Across All Of Blizzard’s Games

The campaign is also tied to a much larger narrative. It fills the gaps between Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft, and it connects directly to whatever is coming next in WoW: Forever.

Hazzikostas confirmed that there is franchise-level cohesion behind the release. “There’s definitely some franchise-level cohesion and timing to it all,” he said.

The next WoW expansion, The Last Titan, takes place in Northrend, which was once the seat of Arthas’s power. The upcoming limited-time “remix” game mode focuses on the climax of Arthas’s story, Wrath of the Lich King. Undead paladins are coming to both WoW and WoW: Forever.

Blizzard has consistently found its biggest audiences when it tells stories about Arthas and the places, people, and events associated with him. Whether it was in Warcraft 3 or World of Warcraft, the Lich King remains a central figure for the franchise.

Hazzikostas explained why from the MMO perspective. “An MMO can be challenging in terms of building up and conveying a connection to characters because you’re experiencing the narrative from the outside, you’re watching their deeds and not getting in their head,” he said. “At the same time, you’re trying to have your own adventure as, at times, we’re trying to lead you through someone else’s journey.”

He argued that the RPG format lets players get inside a character’s head in a way the MMO cannot. “And that’s the kind of thing you can only do in this medium,” he said.

The Bottom Line On Warcraft 3’s New Direction

Blizzard is betting that storytelling trumps genre purity. The Forsaken Kingdom is a deliberate pivot toward character-driven drama, and Hazzikostas believes it is the best way to tell Warcraft’s stories.

But the RTS fans have been waiting for something new since Reforged. The campaign delivers a different kind of game, and the studio knows it. If the community asks for base-building back, Blizzard says it will listen.

The key facts:

• The Forsaken Kingdom is the new campaign for Warcraft 3
• It is more RPG than RTS, with no base-building
• The campaign ties to World of Warcraft, WoW: Forever, and The Last Titan
• Blizzard says it will listen to fan feedback on future content

Whether that bet pays off depends on what the community says next.

Arthas · Blizzard · MMO · RPG · RTS · Warcraft 3