[Altered Melee] Warfare

[KoricaRiftaxe]

Warfare (Updated 9/4, Map Redesign, Balance Changes)

WARFARE (name change pending for later)
Created by KoricaRiftaxe

UPDATED 9/4 - If anybody wants to test with me personally, I am KoricaRiftaxe on US West. Send me a private message and we can get something worked out!

Warfare is an altered melee map with custom races. You have a base but you do not build any other structures, the gameplay is entirely focused around fast-paced production of units and fighting over control points on the map. Control points give better income, income leads to victory either by crushing the enemy base or by sinking money into Victory Points.

In this early version I have two fully functioning races, Blood Elves and Orcs, and a basic map layout. The map is currently designed as a 1v1 match.

All I'm looking for right now is for people to try it out and give feedback on the basic game mechanics, how balanced or unbalanced the races feel, if they had fun, etc. Try it out with a friend and let me know, please!

(I tried finding people on the WC3 Reddit but it was rather bare. The only guy I found decided to quit because he got in-game, saw some obvious joke text in an upgrade tooltip, and said he couldn't take it seriously.)

 

[KoricaRiftaxe]

Two players start on opposite sides of the map. They have a central base with a main building, three production buildings, and an invulernable tower. They also have an outside tower. If the outside tower is destroyed, the central base tower becomes vulnerable. Players can achieve victory by either destroying the enemy main building or by accumulating 10 Victory Points, which are purchased with large amounts of gold and displayed on a leaderboard.

Gold is used for all unit production. Lumber is only used for research, and is limited. The players receive ONE lumber every few minutes, to a total of SIX lumber. Each research costs ONE lumber. Every unit has TWO upgrades, but only one may be chosen. Players have base gold generation which is taxed by Upkeep, and Control Point gold generation which is NOT taxed by Upkeep. There are FOUR control points on the map, in symmetrically distant locations from the bases. To capture a Control Point you must clear out any units nearby which belong to the owner and then stand a unit on the point. You receive instant bonus gold for capturing.

The two larger control points are guarded by armies of undead and night elves. Every few minutes, a check is performed to see if they still control the point. If they do not, a new army will be dispatched to reclaim it. This is in place to make sure a player cannot hold onto the best points indefinitely without resistance.

UPDATED 9/4
THE BLOOD ELF ARMY
T1 ---------------------------------------------------
VANGUARD
Range: Short / Health: High / Defense: High
Unique Traits: Comes with Empower, an autocast single-target damage buff.
Upgrades: Can focus on being a Warrior OR Support. WARRIOR increases combat stats and grants Block ability. SUPPORT increases mana pool and attack range.

RANGER
Range: Long / Health: Low / Defense: Low
Unique Traits: Comes with Frost Arrows, an autocast attack modifier that adds bonus damage and slowing effects.
Upgrades: Can be upgraded to have better overall combat stats OR a bigger mana pool for Frost Arrows.

PRIEST
Range: Medium / Health: Low / Defense: Low
Unique Traits: Comes with Mend, a single target HoT.
Upgrades: Can also learn Conjure Mana Orb OR Resurrect. Mana Orb is an immobile summoned unit that restores mana to nearby allies and attack enemies. Ressurect brings a dead unit back to life.

T2 ---------------------------------------------------
BLADEDANCER
Range: Melee / Health: Medium / Defense: Low
Unique Traits: Comes with Haste, an autocast self-buff that increases attack speed.
Upgrades: Can also learn Fade OR Ravage Magic. Fade gives movement and the ability to go Invisbile. Ravage Magic gives manaburn on hit and increased attack speed.

LANCER
Range: Medium / Health: Medium / Defense: Medium
Unique Traits: Flying unit with high vision radius.
Upgrades: Can also learn Scrying Orb OR Manabolt. Scrying Orb creates an orb that gives vision over an area. Manabolt is a single target damage-over-time spell.

ARCANIST
Range: Long / Health: Low / Defense: Low
Unique Traits: Comes with Summon Elemental, which summons a ranged minion. Also has Fireball, an attack modifier that deals AOE damage.
Upgrades: Can also learn Null Magic OR Decelerate. Null Magic removes enemy buffs, burns their mana, and damages summons. Decelerate slows the attack and movement of enemies in a small area.

T3 ---------------------------------------------------
BLOOD KNIGHT
Range: Melee / Health: High / Defense: Medium
Unique Traits: Comes with Hallowed Ground, which damages the Blood Knight to create a zone that buffs allies.
Upgrades: Can also learn Seal of Protection OR Retribution. Seal of Protection is an autocast self buff that increases armor. Retribution is an autocast single-target nuke that also grants a self buff which reflects damage to ranged attackers.


ARCANE GUARDIAN
Range: Melee / Health: High / Defense: High
Unique Traits: Comes with Imbued Armor, which reduces magic damage taken.
Upgrades: Can also learn Overcharge OR Core Explosion. Overcharge is a toggled active that damages nearby enemies and the Guardian. Core Explosion is a passive that does an AOE damage/stun when the unit dies.

SPELLFIRE CONSTRUCT
Range: Short / Health: High / Defense: Medium
Unique Traits: Slow machine that breaks down mechanicals and buildings. Unable to attack organic units. Detects invisible units.
Upgrades: Can also learn Spellfire Cannon OR Energy Prison. Spellfire Cannon allows the Construct to enter an immobile siege mode where it can unleash slow but devastating artillery blasts. Energy Prison increases the Construct’s defensive stats and allows it to channel imprisonment on enemy units, rendering them completely helpless.



THE ORCISH HORDE
T1 ---------------------------------------------------
GRUNT
Range: Melee / Health: High / Defense: Medium
Unique Traits: None.
Upgrades: Can be upgraded to Warsong OR Blackrock. Warsong deal more damage and gain attack speed on kill. Blackrock are tougher and deal more damage to buildings.

SKIRMISHER
Range: Medium / Health: Medium / Defense: Medium
Unique Traits: Can enter Battle Bunkers created by Warwagons.
Upgrades: Can be upgraded with Impale or Melee Stance. Impale grants attacks a stacking bleed. Melee Stance allows Skirmishers to switch between melee and ranged stance, giving them better defense in melee.

WOLFBROTHER
Range: Medium / Health: Low / Defense: Low
Unique Traits: Comes with Wolf’s Courage, a single target heal that grants an Armor bonus.
Upgrades: Can also learn Frenzy or Call Bloodwolf. Frenzy is an auto-cast single target buff that increases attack speed. Call Bloodwolf summons a wolf that grants lifesteal to melee units.

T2 ---------------------------------------------------
OUTRIDER
Range: Melee / Health: Medium / Defense: Low
Unique Traits: Comes with Charge which grants a burst of movement speed.
Upgrades: Can be upgraded with Cleave or Ensnare. Cleave grants splash damage on attacks. Ensnare is a single target root that can be used on ground and air units.

DRAGONMAW
Range: Medium / Health: Low / Defense: Medium
Unique Traits: Flying unit.
Upgrades: Can be upgraded Drakefire or Dragonhide. Drakefire allows the dragon to cover an area in burning fire. Dragonhide dramatically increases armor and regeneration.

WARWAGON
Range: Medium / Health: High / Defense: High
Unique Traits: Comes with Barricades, which returns damage against melee attackers. Can transport units.
Upgrades: Can be upgraded with an aura that increases melee damage or the ability to build Bunkers for Skirmishers.

T3 ---------------------------------------------------
WARLOCK
Range: Long / Health: Low / Defense: Low
Unique Traits: Comes with Raise Dead and Soul Drain. Raise Dead turns the body of an allied unit into a skeletal minion. Soul Drain gives the Warlock mana whenever a nearby friendly unit dies. Detects invisbile units.
Upgrades: Can also learn Bloodrage or Curse. Bloodrage grants an allied unit a massive damage bonus but lower defenses. Curse silences an enemy unit and reduces their attack damage.


SHAMAN
Range: Melee / Health: High / Defense: Low
Unique Traits: Comes with Storm Call and Cleansing Waters. Storm Call is chain lightning and Cleansing Waters is a friendly chain dispel
Upgrades: Can also learn Earth Blast or Fire Bulwark. Earth Blast reduces armor in an area. Fire Bulwark provides a magic-absorbing shield that damages enemies who attack it.

DESTROYER
Range: Medium / Health: Medium / Defense: Low
Unique Traits: Ranged siege unit that can only attack buildings.
Upgrades: Can be upgraded with longer range or the ability to also attack units.

 

[Eat_Bacon_Daily]

Try posting screenshots, people love that eye candy + more people will be inclined to support your project my commenting, testing and giving advice if they can see how far along you are and what the gameplay looks like.
Also if you want to play your maps online, use https://entgaming.net/link/host.php or makemehost.com . Those sites attract hundreds of active warcraft users and host on all realms.


Good luck man

 

[KoricaRiftaxe]

Thanks for the info, advice and encouragement!

 

[kakuzu]

Good luck , did you decide the others races ?

 

[KoricaRiftaxe]

Good luck , did you decide the others races ?

The second race currently in the works is an alternative version of Orcs. No trolls or taurens or ogres, just Orcs.

I'm having trouble coming up with as many ideas to flesh them out. It was easier with the Blood Elves because I could give all the units spells, since it seemed fitting for a magical race to have spells. Having a harder time giving the Orc units satisfying unique roles, aside from the caster units.

Also having trouble finding satisfactory models to finish up the final units. I've got like 30 models I've imported that haven't worked out. Honestly why would you make an awesome custom Kodo model and then remove half of it's animations? Urg!

 

[KoricaRiftaxe]

Orc Army is nearly completion, should be uploading a newer version of the map with both Blood Elves (with some small changes) and the new Orcs before the week is done.

 

[KoricaRiftaxe]

Newest version with playable Orcs has been added to the original post, along with a couple screenshots.

Main Changes 8/14

-Orc Race Added.

-All unit build times reduced, gold costs adjusted, and food adjusted.

-Vanguard Block ability now requires Warrior Training rather than being standard.

-Bladedancer Fade reworked. No longer improves Health or provides Evasion. Instead, grants a self-Invisibility spell.

-Blood Knight Hallowed Ground reworked. No longer debuffs enemies. Provides allies with Attack Speed and Armor.

 

[KoricaRiftaxe]

8/20 - UPDATE - V1.3

Major overhaul of the terrain is likely in the future, I am finding that the terrain and control point locations simply aren't set up in a way that encourages early fighting like there should be.

PATCH NOTES

General
Many spells that did not effect Mechanical units now do.

Unit Changes
BLOOD KNIGHT
Hallowed Ground
-Now costs 50% of the current health instead of a flat amount
-Increased attack speed bonus
-Slightly increased radius
-Reduced minimum duration to 5 seconds, in order to penalize casting at low health
-Now receives bonuses from Blood Knight upgrades. Avenger's Wrath will add a flat damage bonus, while Defender's Faith will add a flat health regen bonus
Hallowed Ground, being the Blood Knight's base spell, felt rather weak. It didn't cover enough units and didn't provide them with enough benefits to really impact a fight. These changes should fix that.

Seal of Protection
-Increased Armor gained
-Reduced health regen gained
-Mana cost reduced
The purpose of Seal of Protection is meant to be heavily mitigating incoming damage, rather than healing through it. Thus the focus was shifted from Regen to Armor.

Retribution
-Fixed bug that caused the reflection buff to not be applied. It actually works now.
-Improved art of damage reflection
-Reflect damage increased and changed to physical
-Removed stun from initial cast
-Mana cost reduced
Overall quality of life improvements for Retribution.

ARCANE GUARDIAN
-Lowered overall attack damage
-Damage type changed to Siege
-Rescaled health to 900
-Increased base armor
-Imbued Armor no longer reduces damage from attacks. Instead reduces damage taken from Magic.
-Changed the upgrade bonuses to fit ability changes
--Overcharge no longer uses mana. Overcharge damages both enemies and the Arcane Guardian itself. Upgrade now provides health.
--Core Explosion upgrade changed to provide attack damage and speed.
Arcane Guardians weren't quite filling the role I intended them to. It's meant to be first and foremost a tank to soak up damage. The new Overcharge should encourage people to risk trading all that potential health in order to deal damage to masses of units.
On the other hand, the damage bonuses from Manastone Core will actually give opponents a reason to want to attack the Guardian despite the fact that it will explode on death.

SKIRMISHER
-Heavy Spears upgrade now also increases Attack Range
-Versatility upgrade now increases Armor
-Melee Stance Skirmishers are now overall stronger
Versatility just felt like a weak upgrade compared to Heavy Spears, so I gave it some love.

DRAGONMAW
Drakefire
-Deals the initial burst damage much faster
-Rescaled damage over a shorter duration
-Reduced cooldown slightly
Drakefire just wasn't doing enough damage to really warrant giving up ground. If you really wanted to you could just stand in the fire and heal through it. It should now be more dangerous.

 

[KoricaRiftaxe]

Major terrain overhaul is more or less complete. Should be uploaded later this week.

 

[Uklabokalala]

Sounds cool, ill try It when I got time.

 

[MogulKahn]

Just commenting so I can try this tonight!

 

[KoricaRiftaxe]

Sounds cool, ill try It when I got time.

Just commenting so I can try this tonight!

I would highly advise giving it a try AFTER tonight. I'll be testing and then updating with the major map overhaul. It's much, much better.

 

[KoricaRiftaxe]

9/4 - UPDATE - V1.4

Big patch featuring the map layout and terrain overhaul has arrived!

PATCH NOTES

General
Layout of the entire map has been changed. Not only does it look better but it offers more objectives and has a better flow of combat from one area to the next. To see side-by-side comparison, check this picture.

NEW LAYOUT

OLD LAYOUT

Ancient Circle has been removed.

Each Player now has a Stone of Power near their base. If a Stone of Power is killed that player will not gain periodic gold from Control Points until their Stone respawns after 3 minutes. This provides a high-risk high-reward way to invade enemy territory and cripple their gold generation even if they control the map.

Each Player's Main Base now has the Recall ability, allowing them to summon back troops in the field to defend the base. This has a long cooldown.

Waygates are now ALWAYS online, but are not linked to each other. You can use them to jump across the map but once there, you have to walk.

Healing fountains have been added, in the corners of the map near each player's new back entrance.

Unit Changes
PRIEST
Mend
-Healing over time buffed slightly

LANCER
Manabolt
-Damage dealt increased and dealt over a shorter duration
-Manacost increased

BLOOD KNIGHT
Attack Damage reduced
Armor reduced

Seal of Protection
-Reduced health regen gained
-Mana cost reduced

Retribution
-Reflect damage increased
-Mana cost reduced

ARCANE GUARDIAN
Overcharge
-Damage increased from

SPELLFIRE CONSTRUCT
Energy Prison
-Duration increased

SKIRMISHER
Stance Change
-Reduced attack damage in Melee mode
-Increased chance of Blocking in Melee mode

Skirmishers in melee were actually out-performing some other melee units. This should shift the ability toward being more defensive.

WARWAGON
Now has an attack
Movement speed increased
Barricades is now a base ability
Banner of the Horde is now passive instead of channel, but requires an Upgrade

DRAGONMAW
Movement speed reduced

SHAMAN
Storm Call
-Manacost and cooldown slightly nerfed

Fire Bulwark
-Deals damage to all enemies that attack, but still does more damage to Summoned attackers

Earth Blast
-Reworked. Now targets an area instead of a single unit

There is probably other smaller changes I just neglected to write down.