Editing Dawn of War III (section)

==Post-Release==
After the game was released, the reception was [[Skub|mixed]] to say the least. Those who like the game say that the traditional "build and conquer" RTS campaign is a refreshing change for those who didn't like Dawn of War II's [[Diablo]]-style campaign, and while Paul Dobson is sorely missed, the rest of the voice cast isn't too bad. The Elites system is a natural progression from Dawn of War II, and the Ork's [[WAAAGH]]! mechanic is one of the best things ever put into a Dawn of War game. Additionally, they point out that while the power core mode is too simple, it does give a good introduction to the RTS genre for those who are brand new rather than just throwing them to the wolves like other games.  

Those who don't like the game are of the opinion that Relic under Sega gutted what made Dawn of War popular in the first place and turned it into something uninspired and boring by comparison, as it simplified or stripped out many of the iconic elements of the series, such as sync-kills, the cover system and wargear. Many who liked the Dawn of War II campaign aren't fans of a more traditional RTS campaign, and some also feel that the races play too similarly aside from one or two gimmick mechanics. The game also has multiple lore inconsistencies, such as Eldar with shields and [[C.S. Goto|backflipping Terminators]], although to be fair, [[Dawn of War: Soulstorm|it isn't alone]] [[Azariah_Kyras|in this respect]]. Basically, [[Age of Sigmar|Relic significantly altered their popular product to attract a wider audience, and ended up alienating a large portion of their established fanbase.  Besides that, the changes they made aren't attractive to a wider audience anyway.]]  Heck, honestly, the game just looks boring.  If you watch gameplay footage of Dawn of War and Dawn of War II, you really get sucked into it and time flies.  If you watch gameplay footage of DoW III, you get bored in a minute or two, annoyed in five, and then leave and never want to see it again.

The decision to focus on simplification and balance in multiplayer was likely an intentional design choice considering the dev teams wanted Dawn of War to develop a competitive scene (seemingly ignoring the fact that people never really picked up Dawn of War for competitive multiplayer). However, unlike good competitive games like Starcraft, Counterstrike, and DOTA, Power Core mode did it in a very simplistic manner that made it feel like the "strategy" part of RTS had been all but sucked out.

Sales-wise, the game didn't do well in comparison to its predecessors. While the original [[Dawn of War]] has sold over 6 million copies since 2011 and the was heralded with critical acclaim upon release, and [[Dawn of War II]] took the #1 spot on western sales charts during its initial release; Dawn of War III didn't raise too much attention apart from standard fanfare, with a [[Skub|mixed response from the community]], and game critics saying it was good, but ultimately [[FAIL|flawed]]. According to [https://steamspy.com/app/285190 Steamspy's estimates], the game's digital sales barely broke a quarter million sales as of July 2017, which is not a good sign for a highly anticipated AAA game series.

[http://steamcharts.com/app/285190#All It didn't help that the playerbase declined sharply post-release], a clear sign that it just didn't make the impact people expected from the series. [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/1332350869595289198 While Relic seemed to be listening to the community's concerns,] the game was never able to recover from its downward spiral. This being said, they released mod tools, and a small but dedicated group of modders have been working on tweaking the game and adding new units. 

Overall, the game is [[skub]] incarnate, being nearly unrecognizable in comparison to its predecessors. [[Nurgle|One side hates it for being too overly simple for a strategy game and deviating too far from the things that defined DoW from the beginning,]] [[Tzeentch|while another side likes it for trying something new and attempting to breathe some much-needed fresh air into the franchise.]]

[[File:DoW3 Annihilation.jpg|300px|right|thumb]]
===The Annihilation Update===
On June 13th 2017, [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/1332350869595289198 Relic announced the addition of Annihilation mode to the game], along with turrets, a new map, and skins for the super-heavies as Free-LC. On June 20th, [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2663165213085204247 the Annihilation Update dropped] and, it was actually pretty good. The removal of railroady objectives and the addition of a wide open map added a significant amount of depth to the game that was previously lacking, allowing players to take advantage of several mechanics that were previously hamstrung by power core mode. By this point however, too much of the player base had been alienated by power core mode and they weren't willing to come back and give the game another go, so the player count kept declining.

[[File:DoW3 Endless War.jpg|300px|right|thumb]]
===The Endless War Update===
On October 19th 2017, Relic released the [http://steamcommunity.com/games/dawnofwar/announcements/detail/2973925069475244397 Endless War Update], which added a bunch of additional content to the game. For starters, each faction has been given an additional Elites choice; the [[Dreadnought#Castraferrum_Pattern|Ironclad Dreadnought]] for Space Marines, the [[Wraithseer]] for Eldar, and the Lifta-Droppa Battlewagon for the Orks, which is basically a [[Awesome|Battlewagon armed with a massive Traktor Kannon]]. We also got three new maps, one themed for each faction, and some more Elites skins, including [[Deathwing]] Terminators, a [[Primaris Chaplain]], and [[Salamanders|Bray'arth Ashmantle]].