Historically, patches like 1.24b became the standard for a long time. When 1.26 dropped, it quickly replaced 1.24 as the stable standard for competitive DotA leagues. Many older custom maps (RPGs, Tower Defenses, and footman wars) were hardcoded to run on specific patch versions. An English 1.26 patch ensures that the user can play the vast majority of the "Golden Age" custom maps without encountering fatal errors or text-encoding bugs that often occur when running English maps on non-English localized patches.
Mod creators prefer 1.26 because the file structure is simple. The war3patch.mpq file is not encrypted. You can easily swap skins, edit unit strings, or create total conversions without needing advanced hex-editing tools. For English language modders, this is the last version where the War3Patch.mpq can be opened with standard extractors. Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne English Language Patch 1.26
Patch 1.26 focuses on refining existing mechanics rather than introducing major balance overhauls, which occurred in earlier versions like 1.25b. Historically, patches like 1