With Blizzard noting that this surprise update to the game is "the first of multiple updates coming this year for Warcraft III: Reforged". As a remaster of one of the most celebrated RTS games of all-time, Reforged launched to a lukewarm response from critics and some sizable backlash from fans due to it failing to live up to the promise of a worthy remaster.

Our review was a little kinder, in that playing through the campaign was still a blast - but it was hard not to overlook the lack of promised features, broken multiplayer, and some questionable visual upgrades. The last Patch proper for Warcraft III: Reforged was released in April of 2021, which beings us to today: and Patch 1.33.0.

Which brings Ranked Play, Leaderboards, and other stuff that was a part of Warcraft III prior to the Reforged launch. "It’s been some time since we’ve provided an update on Warcraft III: Reforged," writes Blizzard. "Many of you have asked for us to support some of the features which were a part of the original Warcraft III experience. We’re pleased to announce that our upcoming patch 1.33.0 will include Ranked Play, Player Profiles, Leaderboards, and a few additional updates."

What's even more interesting is that the post is signed "The Warcraft III Team" which implies that Blizzard has a team working on Warcraft III: Reforged again. The Classics team, which originally worked on this and the well received StarCraft remaster was disbanded after the launch of Reforged.

Here are the full Patch Notes - which are now live on the PTR.

Warcraft III: Reforged Patch Notes
Version 1.33.0

Ranked Play

• Players may now choose between Ranked and Unranked Play.
  
• Seasons are now available. When a Season ends, the ladder will reset, and players will be able to see their history via their Profile and the Leaderboards.
  
• Your matchmaking rating (MMR) is unique for race, including Random.
  
• To be placed, players must play 5 placement matches per race.
  
• After playing a Ranked Match, you’ll be taken to a post-game screen which will display your MMR change and rankings.
  
• The available Ranks are: Unranked, Combatant, Challenger, Rival, Duelist, Elite, Gladiator, Champion

Leaderboards

• Players can now view their rank in the Leaderboard section, which can be accessed from the Versus screen.
  
• In the Leaderboard, you can filter by user-names, and sort between race and mode.

Player Profiles

• You can now access your profile by right-clicking on the player icon at the bottom-right corner of the screen.
  
• Access other players’ profiles by right-clicking on their name and selecting “View Profile”.

Reforged Campaign

• Numerous tuning and balance adjustments have been made to multiple campaign maps.

Stay tuned as we'll bringing you more news on Warcraft III as more updates arrive.

It’s been over a year since Warcraft 3: Reforged got a new patch, the somewhat disappointing remaster of the classic Blizzard RTS that was widely panned upon its release back in 2020. Our review was a little kinder, in that playing through the campaign was still a blast - but it was hard not to overlook the lack of promised features, broken multiplayer, and some questionable visual upgrades.

There’s a Bloomberg piece that covered some of the behind the scenes drama, which ultimately led to Blizzard disbanding the Classics team responsible for the remaster - and the more well received StarCraft: Remastered. With Blizzard forcing a client upgrade for legacy Warcraft III players, the Reforged release caused some players to abandon a game that they’ve been playing for years.

What made the whole ordeal all the more disappointing was that traditionally Blizzard is known for supporting and updating games for quite some time. Speaking of long stretches of time, the last Patch proper for Warcraft III: Reforged was released in April of 2021. Which brings us to now, with Blizzard president Mike Ybarra Tweeting that new Warcraft 3: Reforged information is on its way.

You'll hear from them soon (in June).

— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) May 28, 2022

Who knows what the update will entail, but here’s hoping it's big enough to win back classic Warcraft RTS fans.