It's been over a decade since Blizzard Entertainment rolled out the last iteration of Warcraft in its real-time strategy roots. Even still, the game has seen its share of support through the years both directly and indirectly. It was the basis for the original mod that would become Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) and eventually an esports phenomenon. Just as well the game had seen patches as late as August of 2017 and whispers had gone around the block about Blizzard placing even further interest in its classic catalogue with various job listings.
Now it seems to have come full circle for Warcraft 3 at least. The game is getting a new patch alongside the announcement of a new esports event: The Warcraft III Invitational.
Announcing the Warcraft III Invitational! See the latest PTR changes in action with @followgrubby, @Back2Warcraft and more!
— Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) February 22, 2018
Learn more: https://t.co/NWhZ6IjO9x pic.twitter.com/rdAxYVFSkf
Posted on Twitter and elaborated upon in the Blizzard forums, Blizzard is gearing up to host a slew of events on Tuesday, February 27 and Wednesday, February 28, featuring a wealth of Warcraft 3 pros from around the world. All of it will take place at the Blizzard HQ and be hosted live on the Back2Warcraft Twitch channel for the entirety of the two days. Jannes "Neo" Tjarks and Remo "remodemo" Rimmel will be hosting the action and the events will be a mix of free-for-all, 1vs1, 4vs4, and other various competitions. Alongside Neo and Remo, the following Warcraft 3 professionals have been confirmed:
• Dmitry "Happy" Kostin [Undead] Russia
• Andriy "Foggy" Koren [Night Elf] Ukraine
• Sergey "HawK" Sherbakov [Human] Russia
• Arild "EfFeCt" Bramler [Human] Sweden
• Kim "ReMinD" Sung Sik [Night Elf] South Korea
• Park "Lyn" Joon [Orc] China
• Hyo Sub "FoCuS" Eom [Orc] South Korea
• Jo "LawLiet" Ju Yeon [Night Elf] South Korea
• Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen [Orc] Netherlands
• Fredrik "MaDFroG" Johansson [Undead] Sweden
• Zdravko "Insomnia" Georgiev [Human] Bulgaria
• Christopher "Tak3r" Heil [Orc] Germany
With such a host of talent from the history of the game, the Warcraft 3 Invitational is shaping up to be a showcase of talent that no classic fan of the series can miss, and though honestly the goal is most certainly to give players and pros the chance to see the new changes to the game in action, it certainly can't be counted out that Blizzard might be gauging the interest for delivery of a full-on Warcraft 3 arena to go alongside its other lofty esports ventures in 2018.
Want to catch further esports action from Blizzard's other arenas? Check out what expect as Stage 2 of Overwatch League comes underway!
