Warcraft III: Reforged update finally adds ranked play with seasons and leaderboards

What you need to know

• Warcraft III: Reforged is a remastered version of the popular real-time strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment released in January 2020.
• A new introduces tweaks to the campaign and ranked play, a popular feature of the original game, and is now live on the public test realm (PTR.)
• The previous update for Warcraft III: Reforged was released in April 2021.

Blizzard Entertainment announced Warcraft III: Reforged back at Blizzcon in 2018 and released to an exceptionally mixed reception. Some fans expressed disappointment at missing features, including player profiles and ranked league play. Thankfully, Blizzard has released a new patch for the remaster, passing more than a year since its previous update.

Patch 1.33.0 is live on the public test realm (PTR). Upon completing the testing phase, it will release to the public. Blizzard community manager Kaivax took to the forums to share patch notes:

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.

Patch 1.33.0 seems to be the beginning of a newfound revival for the remaster, as Blizzard claims more updates will follow on the official Warcraft III: Reforged website. Considering the considerable time gap between release and this critical patch, some players may have already moved on from the game. Still, if the developers are as committed as they claim, Warcraft III may enjoy a resurgence.