Warcraft 2: Remastered art pops up online ahead of WOW Direct

Artwork and logos for Warcraft 2: Remastered have been spotted online, just a week away from Blizzard's upcoming World of Warcraft Direct livestream.

Next week's event, set to celebrate 30 years of the Warcraft franchise, will be streamed online next Wednesday 13th November at 6pm UK time.

The timing of this leak, spotted by Wowhead after art turned up on Blizztracker, certainly suggests we'll hear more then. For now, the artwork shows characters aboard a piratical-looking sea vessel, under attack from fireballs.

A remastered version of Warcraft 2 is a nice surprise, though perhaps not entirely unexpected following the launch of Warcraft 3 Reforged.

Image credit: Blizzard

Blizzard's revamp of the seminal Warcraft 3 improved the game's visuals, added missions from an original demo and made balance changes. Overall, though, it was largely panned on release.

Criticisms included its reliance on the original Warcraft 3's archaic user interface and main menu, and lack of polish for most cut-scenes. Its launch also saw the original Warcraft 3 client scrubbed from Battle.net - a particular bugbear for fans. Blizzard apologised and changed its refund policy as a result, though the damage was done.

It'll be interesting to see how Blizzard plans to remaster Warcraft 2 in response to all of that.

While we wait, it's worth looking back at this fan attempt to remake Warcraft 2 within Warcraft 3 Reforged, thanks to the power of mods.