Warcraft
Encyclopedia : W : WA : WAR : Warcraft
- For the game world as a whole, see Warcraft Universe.
The game is set in the kingdom of Azeroth, part of the fictional Warcraft Universe. The events that take place in this game are known in Warcraft lore as The First Great War or The Great War.
Contents
Overview
Demonically-driven orcs — denizens of another dimension — discover a portal allowing them to enter the largely peaceful human kingdom of Azeroth. The player can play as either the Orcs or the Humans, the main differences being the spells of the spellcaster units. Besides the two campaigns there are many skirmish levels. There are also dungeon levels where the player has to escape to the exit while fighting monsters and hacking doors. Such levels were removed in Warcraft II, but returned in Warcraft III. The game's interface is similar to Dune II, as the "right-click to move/attack" cursor found in later games was not implemented, and buildings require the construction of adjacent roads.Units and Structures
As with real-time strategy computer games at the time, Warcraft featured two opposing factions, the noble Humans and the savage Orcs. Again, as in other games of this genre, each faction’s units and buildings have a counterpart within the other faction.Units
| Humans | Orcs | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Peasant | Peon | Basic units that construct and repair buildings, gather gold and harvest lumber. |
| Footman | Grunt | The most basic fighting units of either side. |
| Archer | Spearman | Ranged units capable of hitting their enemies at a distance. |
| Knight | Raider | Heavily-armored and powerful melee units. |
| Catapult | Catapult | Slow-moving, slow-firing siege machines that are capable of dealing devastating damage to stationary targets, such as buildings or unmoving units. |
| Cleric | Necrolyte | These are the basic, more defensive and support oriented spellcasting units of each side. |
| Conjurer | Warlock | Advanced spellcasting units capable of conjuring even more powerful spells than the Clerics and Necrolytes. |
| Summonable Units | ||
| Scorpions | Spiders | Weak melee summonable units. |
| Skeleton | Necrolytes have the ability to raise back the remains of dead units. There is, however, a time limit to how long the skeletons remain active. | |
| Water Elemental | Daemon | The most powerful summonable units. |
Buildings
| Humans | Orcs | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Town Hall | Great Hall | The basic main structure, without which any other building may not be built. |
| Farm | Farm | Basic structures necessary to provide food for each race. In order to train more units, more farms must be built. |
| Barracks | Barracks | The building necessary to create more Footmen, Archers, Knights and Catapults for Humans; Grunts, Spearmen, Raiders and Catapults for Orcs. |
| Lumber Mill | Lumber Mill | Building where each race may store the lumber harvested. Also allows upgrades for the Archers/Spearmen’s weapons. |
| Blacksmith | Blacksmith | This building allows the player to upgrade the armor and weapons of the Knights, Footmen, Grunts and Raiders. |
| Stable | Kennel | The buildings necessary for the ability to create the Knights (stable for Humans) and Raiders (kennel for Orcs, who ride wolves). |
| Church | Temple | The buildings to train Clerics and Necrolytes, as well as research the spells for them. |
| Tower | Tower | The buildings to train Conjurers and Warlocks, as well as research the spells for them. |
| Stormwind Castle | Blackrock Spire | These structures appear at the end of each race's campaign. The player is never able to make use of these buildings but is required to destroy them. |
Monsters
| Monster | Notes |
|---|---|
| Scorpion | Giant monster. Can be summoned. |
| Spider | Giant monster. Can be summoned. |
| Brigand | Fast human enemies, melee unit |
| Ogre | Strong melee unit. |
| Skeleton | In two variations, one can be summoned from resurrected corpses. |
| Slime | A green puddle that can devour its enemies. |
| Fire Elemental | A spirit that attacks with fire. |
| Water Elemental | A spirit that attacks with water. Can be summoned. |
| Daemon | Powerful melee unit that attacks with a sword. Can be summoned. |
Movie
Just before E3 2006, an official press release from Blizzard announced that a live action motion picture based on the Warcraft world was being planned. Legendary Pictures has acquired the movie rights for the game universe, and both companies are now focused on translating the Warcraft experience to the big screen. No further details have been released [link].Trivia
- Bill Roper provided all the voices for the game.
- Unlike future titles, every unit of each race had the exact same voice.
- Individual characters in the game give amusing responses when clicked repeatedly. Blizzard Entertainment has maintained this feature in all of its strategy games, and many other companies have copied it.
- Both factions (Orcs and Humans) are made up of only their respective races. In the sequel, both factions include units of other races as well. Humans with Elves, Dwarves and Gnomes, Orcs with Trolls, Ogres and Goblins.
Spin-offs
Besides the MMORPG World of Warcraft, there exist the following spin-offs:- A set of three books (simply titled Warcraft), related only by their placement in the Warcraft Universe
- * , Richard Knaak
- * , Christie Golden (This book was used for the story of '')
- * , Jeff Grubb
- A trilogy of novels, , Richard Knaak
- *1)The Well of Eternity
- *2)The Demon Soul
- *3)The Sundering
- A new upcoming trilogy of novels, , Richard Knaak (with illustrations by manhwa artist Jae Hwan Kim)
- Several lines of action figures
- A Warcraft tabletop role-playing game (Warcraft the Roleplaying Game)
- A Warcraft strategy board game
- Blizzard has also announced a Warcraft movie [link]
- Various other merchandise
External links
|
Lore
- [Official Lore: The Dark Portal and the Fall of Stormwind].
- [Human Campaign Missions of Warcraft]
- [Orc Campaign Missions of Warcraft]
- [Game Manual History on Warcraft's game box]
| Warcraft Universe |
|---|
| | | Races | Locations | Characters | Organizations | Items |
| Blizzard Entertainment games | |
|---|---|
| StarCraft games
| StarCraft > | '' |
| Warcraft games
| Warcraft > WC2: Tides of Darkness | Beyond the Dark Portal | ' | WC3: Reign of Chaos | ' | World of Warcraft | |
| games
| Diablo (computer game)>Diablo | ' | Diablo II | ' |
| Other games
| Blackthorne > The Lost Vikings | Rock N' Roll Racing | The Death and Return of Superman |
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