Chapter 280: Official Release (6th Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Chapter 280: Official Release (6th Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Chen Xu and the rest of Nebula Games' team paid little attention to online comments such as 'Death to Cliffhanger-Dog' and other discussions.

This had become something of a habit for Nebula Games by now.

They focused solely on game development.

They didn't concern themselves with player opinions online. Only after the game's release would they start to listen.

During the development phase, the sole priority was developing the game.

Currently, aside from the Map Editor, the follow-up community features for the Map Editor had not yet been added to Warcraft.

All other game settings were essentially complete.

Servers for multiplayer mode had already been set up.

The corresponding RANK points matchmaking system had also been perfected.

Maps were divided into two modes: matchmaking and ranked.

The matchmaking map pool was relatively large—Chen Xu had created around 15 maps so far.

For ranked matches, considering team composition balance, Chen Xu had selected only a few classic competitive maps from his previous life: Twisted Meadows (TM), Turtle Rock (TR), Lost Temple (LT), King's Realm (TS), Echo Isles (EI), and Gnoll Wood (GW).

Even so, these maps weren't perfectly balanced.

For example, TR was essentially the Elf's home ground. The map featured many neutral monsters—mainly Sea Turtles—that had a passive skill causing melee attackers to take splash damage. Since the Orcs' main combat strength came from melee units, they were severely disadvantaged when expanding, engaging in online multiplayer, or farming for items. In contrast, the Elves relied heavily on ranged attacks supported by Raptor Druids' 'Elf Fire' (armor reduction), giving them a natural advantage.

On LT, however, the advantage shifted to the Orcs. The map featured a structure called the Fountain of Life, which continuously restored health to nearby units. The Orc Grunt had the highest health among all races' basic units, making them superior in fights near the fountain. They could also level it early, gaining substantial experience and valuable items.

Additionally, the map lacked a Tavern, preventing Human players from using certain tactics against Orcs and allowing the Orcs to better capitalize on their power spike.

Each map had its own unique characteristics. This led players in Chen Xu's previous life to form a distinctive view of Warcraft: there were no unbalanced races, only unbalanced maps.

This was an inevitable situation, considering the four races each had their own distinct traits.

Therefore, for ranked matches, Chen Xu added a Ban-Pick function.

Before the game began, both sides selected their races, then performed a map Ban-Pick—banning maps they didn't want to play—before randomly selecting from the remaining map pool.

After finalizing these plans, Chen Xu stretched and walked out of his office.

In the rest area, because the current phase of game development was temporarily complete, the team was fairly relaxed.

They had also fallen into the classic 'out with the old, in with the new' pattern—no longer grinding Monster Hunter: World, they had started playing Warcraft instead.

"Hey, pull peasants!"

"Don't block the entrance!"

"Use Dust of Appearance!"

"How am I supposed to help you now?!"

Yang Xin, Ruan Ningxue, Qin Yi, and Lin Tao sat in rows.

Each controlled one of the four races—Human, Orc, Night Elf, and Undead—leaving none behind.

Their opponent was a single Orc player.

Right now, he was using a level 6 Blademaster to unleash Bladestorm and massacre them.

After finishing Bladestorm, before the Mountain King could land his Hammer, the Blademaster activated Wind Walk and vanished.

"Ugh, Sister Xin, your timing is way off—the Blademaster's already fled far away, and only now are you throwing the Dust of Appearance?"

"Yeah, seriously! After playing this long, Sister Xin, how do you only have one Mountain King, eight Riflemen, and two Knights?"

"Right! Sister Xin, you're already Tier 3—why aren't you building more heroes?"

Hearing her colleagues' remarks, Yang Xin, seated at her computer, turned bright red.

"Be fair—there's no way I can manage more heroes! I can't control them all, and splitting experience during leveling just makes it worse!"

"As for why my army is so small, have you even looked at my base? So many Defense Towers—anyone who comes dies!"

Ruan Ningxue glanced at Yang Xin's screen and was a bit speechless.

"Sister Xin, heroes have high damage and powerful skills! I'm telling you, don't overcomplicate it. Just select all your units and A-move them forward—don't worry about them. Then just focus on controlling the hero you want to play. The common soldiers will automatically attack enemies."

As a seasoned Warcraft player, Ruan Ningxue was passing on her A-move mastery.

"Mr. Chen, what do you think?" Ruan Ningxue noticed Chen Xu approaching and turned to ask.

"Hmm... For beginners, it's better to start by mastering a single hero, then move on to Heroes and Units, then Multiple Units, and finally Macro," Chen Xu replied thoughtfully—offering advice that sounded useful yet somehow entirely unhelpful.

After all, while he could play the game himself, teaching others left him completely at a loss.

Moreover, the fact that these four were taking so long fighting a maddening AI opponent—and judging from the session, might not even win—was somewhat surprising to him.

"By the way, Mr. Chen, how are the pre-order sales for Warcraft looking?" Qin Yi asked, suddenly remembering.

At Qin Yi's question, the others turned to Chen Xu with keen interest.

They were all very concerned about this.

Warcraft was, after all, the most ambitious project Nebula Games had undertaken so far.

The main reason was the extremely high cost of the CGI.

Even the modeling was done to the standard of a typical RPG.

How could that not burn through money?

"You all know the game's quality. Why worry about sales?" Chen Xu smiled.

Still, he decided to share some numbers.

"We didn't do pre-orders overseas due to ongoing censorship issues—launch there will likely be about a week after the domestic release. But domestic pre-orders have already surpassed 3 million. Recovering costs on the first day might be a stretch, but being profitable in the first week of sales isn't an issue—even without counting overseas sales," Chen Xu said with a smile.

Hearing these figures, the team was exhilarated.

This number wasn't Nebula Games' highest—Minecraft still held that record, followed by Monster Hunter: World.

But clearly, this was already a massive success.

The game's quality, content, and now sales figures served as a powerful morale boost.

Everyone on the team was brimming with confidence, believing Warcraft would undoubtedly become a game that was both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, redefining the very concept of RTS games!

………

November 15—Warcraft officially launched!

After the previous demo version, Warcraft's popularity had reached unprecedented heights.

On the official Weibo account, 'The Fall of Lordaeron' and 'Arthas' became trending search terms.

On video websites, many UP hosts created video mashups of Warcraft's CGI scenes, which also received massive view counts.

For players, whether drawn in by the story or by the game's unique gameplay, one thing was certain:

They were eagerly awaiting the chance to experience this true RTS masterpiece.

(End of Chapter) <>