Warcraft III is a high fantasy real-time strategy video game which was created and published by Blizzard Entertainment. The game, which is the second sequel to Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, was released in July 2002. The game has four playable races, which means that in addition to the previously introduced Orcs and Humans, Warcraft III also features Night Elves and the Undead. The game's single player campaign consists of hugely engaging campaigns and quests which are told from the perspectives of each of the four races.
The mode that we are interested in here however, is the multiplayer mode. Players who participate in it, have the opportunity to face other Warcraft III players from around the globe. And while the campaign type of playing is filled with various goals and objectives which the player has to complete, the only goal of the multiplayer mode is to defeat the opponent by destroying all of his units. The multiplayer mode is also known as tournament mode and, unlike the campaign mode, it is a controlled environment. The only thing which varies is the number of players per team as teams can include 2, 3 or 5 players each. Each victory increases the team's rating and earns them valuable Arena Points.
Warcraft III was a huge success and it redefined online multiplayer gaming in the short time since it was released. The game was sold in many millions of copies and created almost a cult following and a hugely loyal fan base. When the game entered in the competitive realm of eSports it gave rise to many popular tournaments and star players.
The biggest success of the game was in countries such as China, South Korea, Germany, Sweden, and Japan. Tournaments such as the Electronic Sports World Cup, the World Cyber Games, the World eSports Games, the International eSports Festival and the World Series of Video Games were followed by millions of people worldwide. And the game wasn't just confined to the professional competitions as it frequently had hundreds of thousands of users on various amateur competitive arenas such as Battle.net.
The prize money for tournaments increased with each passing year and winning teams often were on the receiving end of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In addition to the tournaments becoming more lucrative, as the game became more famous, professional players became high earners as well. These money poured in from various sources which included salaries from their teams as well as sponsorship money. Meet Your Makers, the Danish gaming giant, claimed that their players received in excess of $300 thousand every year.
All of this was in the heyday of Warcraft III which was actually in the mid 2010s. However, with almost eight years as the most famous eSport in the world, Warcraft III dropped in popularity at the end of the decade, and games such as Starcraft 2, Dota 2, and League of Legends replaced it at the eSports throne. This doesn't mean that the game is not played competitively any longer, it just means that it is no longer the gaming beast that it once was, especially as a big chunk of its fan base moved to its younger brother, World of Warcraft. These days almost all Warcraft III tournaments are Chinese and the majority of professional players are either from China or from South Korea.
As we already mentioned, Warcraft III was probably the first computer game in the world which gave rise to the star eSports player. There were a lot of famous names which graced the Warcraft III competitive eSports scene, but here we are going to focus only on the most famous ones.
As the game increased in popularity and as the eSports betting scene evolved it was inevitable that bookmakers , sportsbooks, and eSports betting sites would start including Warcraft III in their betting offer. These days betting companies offer punters four different types of Warcraft III bets. These include bets from the match winners betting market, handicap market, futures or outright winners market, and from the specials market.
The easiest type of betting market to understand is the match winners market. In it, punters choose which of the two teams will triumph at the end of the match. We'll use an example from the Nostalgia Battlefield 2017 to better explain this market. In the final match of the Nostalgia Battlefield 2017 Team Grubby played against Team TH000. Both teams were evenly matched in terms of odds, but Team TH000 were considered as slight favourites. The odds for Team TH000 to triumph were around 1.70 and the odds for Team Grubby to do the same were 1.95. In this market in around 70% of the matches, the favourite is the one who goes away with the victory and it was the same in the final of the Nostalgia Battlefield. Team TH000 triumphed 3:0 emphatically and made everyone who backed them a nice profit.
The handicap market is similar to the match winner market. However, it has one small difference which makes it a little more interesting for betting enthusiasts. This difference is the starting advantage of +1.5 or +2.5 which is given to one of the teams. If we use the same example from above between Team TH000 and Team Grubby we will notice that when Team Grubby was given a starting advantage of +1.5, their odds dramatically dropped which reflected the fact that they were suddenly the favourites for the match. However, as it often is the case, this wasn't enough for them to triumph in the handicap market as the final result there read 3:1.5 to Team TH000.
In addition to these two markets, punters betting on Warcraft III also have the chance to place their wagers on the futures or outright winners market, where they can predict the winner of a specific tournament before it has started, and the specials markets. The specials markets are particularly interesting as they include bets such as Correct Score or Number of Kills (Over/Under) which only a true Warcraft III fan will be able to predict correctly.
To be able to bet successfully on Warcraft III you should always adhere to three things. The first one is to learn how to play the game as this can be crucial when trying to understand in-game situations. The second one is to always look at the form of players and teams because previous results often affect future ones. Finally, a punter should always be familiar with the rosters of different teams and look out for changes in personnel because even a slight change can have a big effect on the final outcome of a Warcraft III match.
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