Warcraft 3: Reforged got a hefty 3.0 patch alongside its new Forsaken Kingdom expansion, but not all of the changes are for the better. Amid bugfixes and new features, Reforged now requires an internet connection to play, even in singleplayer, and it also removed the game's local area network (LAN) functionality. Blizzard did not provide a reason for these changes in the patch notes.

Blizzard does mention that LAN support and offline play are still offered by the legacy Warcraft 3 client included with purchase of Reforged. The company has a Battle.net support page with instructions on how to install this legacy client.

But it's still a frustrating, confounding change: Reforged was an embattled remaster that had to claw back support from the fanbase. The Forsaken Kingdom expansion and 3.0 patch were the perfect opportunity to complete a redemption arc and lock in Reforged as the definitive version of the 2002 RTS. But as much as things have improved, it's taken a stumble in its victory lap.

Always-online requirements have been a sore spot in gaming since they first started cropping up in the 2010s, and depending on where you live, reliable high-speed internet isn't always a guarantee. Even in the big city, outages aren't unheard of, and always-online requirements for singleplayer games remain an odious imposition on players.

The LAN removal makes even less sense to me: LAN party and tournament play have always struck me as an essential part of Warcraft 3's legacy. Why concede this ground to the original game when the remaster's reputation has been so contested since its release? You can check out the full Warcraft 3: Reforged patch notes over on the Blizzard forums. More positive changes include a new graphics mode and a doubling of the unit selection cap from 12 to 24.

World of Warcraft Forever might be stuck in the first year of the MMO for the foreseeable future, but it's going to draw from future iterations of it to freshen up the experience.

Blizzard held a panel at BlizzCon today where WoW Forever developers dug into the crucial design changes that will differentiate it from the WoW Classic we already have. This version of the MMO doesn't sound like it'll be as much of a grind as the OG with its revised classes, talent trees, and all-new mechanics for pulling strangers together in the open world.

Many of the changes seem to fill in the gaps of the original WoW experience so that there's several things to chase as you explore Azeroth. Developers broke down how the MMO will bring players together, how the new "Legacy" progression system works, and how new and old items will influence combat.

Here are the big takeaways from the WoW Forever panel:

• You pick a ruleset (e.g. normal, PvP, hardcore)—not a realm—to play on, which means you'll run into a lot more players on your journey than the other versions of WoW
• Changing the appearance of your gear to look like other gear (transmog) is now a global setting you can turn on or off for you and other players
• Looting most gear will grant you the transmog appearance automatically
• Everyone can set up a campfire where other players can craft or rest for exclusive buffs via their professions
• Each profession has over 600 new recipes across all level ranges
• New race/class combinations include: Gnome priests, Human hunters, Dwarf shamans, Orc mages, Troll warlocks, and Undead paladins—and more are coming in the future
• As you progress, you'll earn Legacy points to unlock various perks that alter how certain mechanics work, like removing the materials you need to cast major buffs, and obtain cosmetics
• Most items in the game have been reworked (or new ones have been added) so that they're useful to all classes and roles
• All bosses have better loot overall
• The unique racial abilities for every playable race have been improved, and new ones have been added as well

There are a lot more details, especially for how popular abilities will work, explained in the panel. Part of the goal, Blizzard said, was to "unsolve" the game and give players a reason to experiment again.

It won't be a long wait to see how it all comes together. WoW Forever will launch on November 4 and will be playable under the same subscription as regular WoW. A beta will go live on Thursday, September 17, which you can access by purchasing the game early.