[Update]: Blizzard has now started offering full refunds for Warcraft 3: Reforged, though it's unclear how long this offer will last.

After a lengthy beta test, Warcraft 3: Reforged released a short while ago. Unfortunately, instead of getting a whole new generation of players hooked onto Warcraft 3, Reforged launched with quite a few problems and missing features.

While the model quality for the newly updated units is fairly solid, the art style isn't exactly consistent so certain characters just look a bit... off. There are also problems with the performance with multiplayer matches occasionally stuttering for no reason, and there is also a noticeable lack of community-focused features like profiles, tournaments and leaderboards. So as you might imagine, the Warcraft 3 community isn't exactly happy with Blizzard right now.

In order to address some of these concerns, as well as announce their plans for the future, Warcraft 3: Reforged devs have now posted a lengthy developer update. You can read the whole thing over at the official forums, but for now I'll highlight some of the more relevant quotes:

• One of the concerns with Reforged that we’ve seen are the visuals when selecting Classic Mode. We’ve identified the bug causing the colors and shading to look different from the original Warcraft III, and we’re testing a fix that will be incorporated in a larger patch addressing this issue and others. We expect to release that late this week.

• Another area of concern we’re seeing is regarding online features such as leaderboards and clans, which applies to all Warcraft III players, including those who haven’t purchased Reforged. We’ll share release plans as work progresses in the coming weeks—please be assured that the team is hard at work on standing these features up.

• As of Version 1.30 of the original game, we saw very low usage of tournaments and of the Reign of Chaos ruleset, so we removed both in mid-2019 (in Version 1.31). Eliminating the maintenance for underused elements has helped us streamline our overall support of the game and focus on areas impacting the most players.

• We went a little deeper into the thought process behind that at the show, but the main takeaway is that the campaigns tell one of the classic stories in Warcraft history, and we want to preserve the true spirit of Warcraft III and allow players to relive these unforgettable moments as they were (albeit rebuilt with new animations and the higher fidelity art)

• We know this update doesn’t address all questions, but we’re committed to the development and support of this game. We hope you’ll keep an eye out for this week’s patch and future updates and let us know what you think as we continue fine-tuning things.

Warcraft 3 is one of my favorite games of all time, and the one that first sparked the competitive spirit in me, so I do hope Blizzard will do good on their promise and get Warcraft 3: Reforged back into shape. As it stands, it just feels like a "one step forward, two steps back" kind of situation, and that's not exactly ideal for a $30 remaster.

Once the patch goes live I'll make sure to let you know, but until then you should go and read the full developer update.