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The folks over at ActionTrip were getting a little antsy about the dry spell of information regarding Blizzard's highly anticipated RTS game Warcraft III, so they decided to grab Rob Pardo, current Project Lead, and ask him a few questions about the current status of the project.

Obviously much on the minds of gamers everywhere, the first question asked concerns a release date of some sort. Pardo responds that they are hoping to start sending out beta CDs sometime in early January, with an estimated three to four months of tweaking time after that. Currently his team is working on finishing up the beta, including various bug fixes and the adding of the Night Elves race to the multiplayer game.

Pardo also notes various gameplay tweaks, including in how Heroes will gain experience. A Hero doesn't necessarily need to do all the work himself - if a regular unit kills an enemy, then all nearby Heroes will share in the experience for the kill. Units will also be grouped into several groups, including organic, mechanical, and summoned, mainly for spellcasting purposes.

Pardo also comments on early comments about Warcraft III being primarily an offensive game:

When I say "offensive" I don't mean it to be any more offensive then Starcraft. The 'Craft games have also been faster paced then most other RTS games (for good or bad) and that is a feel we wish to maintain.

Those interested in the full interview can check it out at ActionTrip. Release dates have yet to be set in stone, but the promise of a simultaneous Mac/PC release still seems to be in place.

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