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Gamespot recently posted an in-depth look at the beta of the upcoming Warcraft III expansion, The Frozen Throne. The article covers a few of the new units, (mainly the undead ones) along with talking about one of the new neutral heroes, the Dark Ranger. Along with a look at these new units, it also talks about some the general changes to the game.

Here’s a preview:

Currently, the beta features a whopping nine maps: Bridge Too Near, Hail Stone, Ice Flow, Islands, Tanaris, Turtle Rock, Whirlwind, Stranglethorn Vale, and Wheel of Chaos. These are all fairly large maps (the first seven are four-on-four maps, the last two are six-on-six maps) that, for the most part, provide players with ample starting space to develop their initial base of operations. The Frozen Throne's maps feature much of the same scenery seen in the original Warcraft III, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering the original game's colorful and detailed 3D scenery. However, the new maps do have notable new features, including the new tavern building, which lets you hire a neutral hero. We were able to commission the services of a few of these, including the dark ranger, a corrupted dark elf with the intriguing abilities of stealing life force from enemies, firing poisoned arrows that deal continuous damage over time, enhancing allied damage (an ability that actually causes any slain enemies to rise again as skeletons), and taking control of any non-hero enemy under level six with a powerful charm spell. These intriguing abilities obviously lend themselves well to undead players who are used to using skeletons as cannon fodder, but they work well with other sides too.

Gamespot's Warcraft III:Frozen Throne Beta Impressions

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