How to download & Install Classic Warcraft 3? (Without Reforged)
How to download and install the old classic Warcraft 3 client:
Steps to follow:
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Step 1: Download the official Warcraft 3 PTR Client (PTR = Public Test Realm).
You can get the download here. As you can guess this is the public beta version. The servers are still active and are working fine. Check the image below.
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Step 2: Install the game
Download and install the public test realm client, and let it install the game as shown below.
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Step 3: Start the game from the PTR client
You will see the old interface as you love it. See we can get our old version back at least for now. After all the old WC3 is love. We get our custom campaigns and custom maps.
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Step 4: You can play Online like before
You can play online in the Battle.net, with other people using the same PTR version. I know it’s not ideal but everything is working fine from the PTR side. You just have to create a new account and start playing.
Is the WC3 PTR Battle.net method still working?
Yes, it is working at the time I am writing this post. However, in the future, it may get closed depending on the blizzard’s decision. Sorry guys can really help with that. I am not sure how long this method will keep working, but at the time of writing this (February 2020) this method is working fine and I played plenty of games. So here to hoping they don’t change this.
There are a few other issues as well:
- Very few players.
- Team games are not possible since the lack of players
- Ping is high (150-200) (crying in the corner)
Why is the classic version of warcraft 3 better than Warcraft 3 Reforged?
You can read my Warcraft 3 reforged review to know how blizzard messed up. But the short version is:
- You can’t play Reforged offline:
There is no way to do that. Even to open the game menu you need to log in. I know for those people like me coming from the old offline days its a drag. So the old version is better.
- Warcraft 3 Reforged is too expensive.
Shelling out 30-40$ for a game with so many issues is just wrong. Also, the cinematics shown in BlizzCon vs the actual reforged cinematics are very very different. It feels like we got scammed there.
- The Blizzard team has changed the copyright model and the EULA agreement.
Now everything you create in Reforged belongs to Blizzard and you cannot earn anything from them. WC3 had no such rules. The custom map and campaign building community need the dough to make a living.
- Warcraft 3 Reforged has no LAN functionality.
Yes, you read that right you cannot play on LAN. No more LAN parties. (Crying).
I stand corrected there is indeed a method to play on LAN in warcraft 3 reforged. However, it’s tricky and needs some work. And yes even then there are glitches.
- Missing content:
A lot of content has been removed like voice-overs and other features in-game.
- Too many bugs
Reforged has many bugs and the way blizzard is forcing us by updating the old client is just sad. Also reforged is still full of bugs, while the classic client is quite stable and works great. Frequent crashes and server disconnects are a common occurrence in WW3.
- More reasons to use the classic Warcraft 3 server:
- We can play custom games together.
- We can play custom campaigns.
- Single-player matches and watching replays is possible
- No bugs
- If we manage to add more players to the test we can play the online matches.
So what are you guys waiting for? Download the Public test realm client so that you can download and install the classic warcraft 3 and join us in-game. Share this guide in the gaming community. We need more players.
See you in-game.
12 Comments
can you still play on battle.net this way. I downloaded it and offline it works but I cant play battle.net I cant download the update to let me play it
Yes, you can but with people having the same version(public beta). If they are using some other version then no. Unfortunately, the servers are bad so expect High ping.
As of yesterday, this method no longer works 🙁 .
Blizzard sucks.
Sad bro. We Will check for other methods thanks for the update.
I CANNOT INSTALL IT I AM TRYING TO CLICK THE “CONTINUE” BUTTON BUT NOT WORKING
Unfortunately, blizzard has discontinued it. They are forcing everyone to get the reforged version. Nothing more I can do to help at the moment. If I find another method that I will let you know.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I CAN DO TO INSTALL THE GAME?
Blizzard < politicians
i am palyign the rpg gameiwth heroes with mass aoeambuwsh dmg etc idont paly the strategy still icant learnit the fukll game
Kindly correct the spellings and rewrite your comment. Our team cannot understand it
I have no much of a knowledge about computer but how ’bout compressing the whole file for those who have downloaded that ptr and uploading the link online, will it somehow work?
Its illegal and counts as piracy. Thats why we cannot do it