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Reservoir of Cenarius 1.3

Long ago, this reservoir was created by the Night Elf Demigod Cenarius to serve as a water source for Ashenvale. He commanded the seas into the valley, and purified its waters. Soon trees and other wildlife began to grow, and animals entered the region. The reservoir is now home to furbolgs, murlocs, wolves, satyrs, trolls, and even a dragon. In the absence of Cenarius, all creatures of the reservoir must compete for survival.

This is an 4 player map with 1 line of symmetry. This makes it a natural map for 2v2s, but it can be played in any 4 player configuration. 1v1 and FFA are viable ways to play the map as well, but players will need to account for small variances caused by their spawn location. Players sharing a side of the river will have access to low level camps for themselves, but will need to compete for others. It may be advantageous to cross over to the enemy side of the river to take some of their creeps as well. There are at least 2 camps of every type except for one Dragon Roost in the middle.

A notable feature of this map is the integration of water and land. Players can purchase transport ships from Goblin Shipyards to help move their armies in new or streamlined paths. The map has a vast river network that players can use their boats on. Most of the river area is shallow, but there are some deep sections where land units need to walk around. Players can tactically use boats to speed up their army for attacks or retreats. Near the middle, two Red Camps guard gold mines that are sealed in by trees, so boats can be used to land in these areas to take the camps. But boats are not mandatory. The trees can be destroyed with siege or a Zeppelin can be used.

The creep locations and strengths offer advantages for all races. The lush ecosystem provides many critters for Undead to terminate for their corpses. Human players can use militia on the nearby gold mine for a fast expansion. Night Elves can Ancient of War creep the Murloc camps, green trolls, or experiment with others. Orc players can use their burrows to creep if desired.

Players will be able to enjoy this map with their typical competitive builds but also appreciate the new possibilities of boats. The map design will naturally force players to engage in combat by making them compete over the same creep camps. There are small advantages and disadvantages that arise with the random spawning, but for the most part everyone will have a fair path to victory.

New (Version 1.5) Creeps:

4 Level 6 Green Camps. Composed of 1 Level 2 Dark Troll Shadow Priest, and 2 Level 2 Dark Trolls. Drops 1 Level 1 Permanent

4 Level 9 Green Camps. Composed of 1 Level 4 Dark Troll Berserker, 1 Level 3 Dark Troll Trapper, and 1 Level 2 Dark Troll Shadow Priest. Drops 1 Level 2 Permanent

4 Level 13 Orange Camps, guarding a Goblin Shipyard. Composed of 2 Level 3 Murloc Nightcrawlers, 2 Level 2 Murloc Huntsman, and 3 Level 1 Murloc Tiderunners. Drops 1 Level 2 Power Up, and 1 Level 1 Power Up.

4 Level 15 Orange Camps, guarding a Gold Mine. Composed of 1 Level 7 Furbolg Champion, and 2 Level 4 Furbolgs. Drops 1 Level 3 Charged, and 1 Level 1 Power Up.

2 Level 15 Orange Camps, guarding a Mercenary Camp. Composed of 1 Level 6 Dire Wolf, 1 Level 3 Murloc Nightcrawler, 2 Level 2 Murloc Huntsman, and 2 Level 1 Murloc Tiderunners. Drops 1 Level 3 Permanent, and 1 Level 1 Power Up.

2 Level 17 Orange Camps, guarding a Goblin Merchant. Composed of 1 Level 6 Broodmother, 2 Level 4 Giant Spiders, and 3 Level 1 Spiders. Drops 1 Level 3 Permanent, and 1 Level 2 Charged.

2 Level 18 Orange Camps, guarding a Goblin Observatory. Composed of 1 Level 6 Dark Troll Warlord, 1 Level 4 Dark Troll High Priest, 2 Level 3 Dark Troll Trappers, and 1 Level 2 Dark Troll Shadow Priest. Drops 1 Level 4 Permanent, and 1 Level 2 Power Up.

2 Level 18 Orange Camps, guarding a Marketplace. Composed of 1 Level 9 Satyr Hellcaller, 1 Level 4 Dark Troll Berserker, 1 Level 2 Mud Golem, and 3 Level 1 Satyrs. Drops 1 Level 4 Charged, and 1 Level 1 Power Up.

4 Level 21 Red Camps, guarding the starting locations. Composed of 1 Level 9 Storm Wyrm, and 2 Level 6 Thunder Lizards. Drops 1 Level 4 Permanent, and 2 Level 1 Power Ups.

2 Level 23 Red Camps, guarding the center Gold Mines. Composed of 1 Level 7 Furbolg Elder Shaman, 2 Level 6 Furbolg Trackers, and 1 Level 4 Furbolg. Drops 1 Level 5 Permanent, and 2 Level 1 Power Ups.

1 Level 24 Red Camp, guarding the center Fountain. Composed of 1 Level 6 Green Drake, 1 Level 6 Dire Wolf, and 3 Level 4 Giant Spiders. Drops 1 Level 5 Charged, and 1 Glyph of Omniscience.
Contents

Reservoir of Cenarius 1.51 (Map)

Reviews
mafe
So, let's see: 1. Some improvements, yes. Still room for more though. 3. Expansions seem better now, but shop creeps are still potentially very annoying. 4. is fixed. 5. is fixed. 6. AoW-creeping is now possibly with acceptable rewards, good. 7. Green...

mafe

Map Reviewer
Level 24
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
Messages
869
Apologies for the long delay until this review.

So what to say? I like the general layout and it is quite a sensible way to include boats. But the map gives the impression that it is only 80% done. More spcifically:
1. The terrain in terms of tiles and smoothness is not polished. In many locations there are squares of different tiles which looks both lazy and unntural.
2. On the other hand the terrace on the sides are a nice touch, it's just that they won't be seen ingame...
3. While creeps and items are balanced, there are too many creeps that will attack player units unintenationally (at the shops and expansion).
4. Some murlocs at the merc camps are facing in "weird" directions.
5. The markets can ba accessed without killing/aggroin the creeps.
6. AoW-creepign seems pointless, the 2-2-2 trolls are barely worth it and anything else is hard to reach.
7. There could be maybe another green spot per player, but that can be debated.
8. There are very few creepcamps that can be contested early on.

So overall: I'd really like you to improve on 3, and possibly also some other improvements with respect to the other stuff I mentioned. Therefore mpa set to Awaiting Update.
 
Level 6
Joined
Sep 26, 2019
Messages
21
Apologies for the long delay until this review.

So what to say? I like the general layout and it is quite a sensible way to include boats. But the map gives the impression that it is only 80% done. More spcifically:
1. The terrain in terms of tiles and smoothness is not polished. In many locations there are squares of different tiles which looks both lazy and unntural.
2. On the other hand the terrace on the sides are a nice touch, it's just that they won't be seen ingame...
3. While creeps and items are balanced, there are too many creeps that will attack player units unintenationally (at the shops and expansion).
4. Some murlocs at the merc camps are facing in "weird" directions.
5. The markets can ba accessed without killing/aggroin the creeps.
6. AoW-creepign seems pointless, the 2-2-2 trolls are barely worth it and anything else is hard to reach.
7. There could be maybe another green spot per player, but that can be debated.
8. There are very few creepcamps that can be contested early on.

So overall: I'd really like you to improve on 3, and possibly also some other improvements with respect to the other stuff I mentioned. Therefore mpa set to Awaiting Update.

Dear Mafe,

Thank you for the review. I have made some changes that I think will improve the map as a whole, specifically based on your feedback as well as the feedback of people I have played it with.

1. I spent some time trying to make all of the textures look more natural. There are much less square shaped patches of each texture now, and those patches of grass and such have been made into different looking shapes to be more natural.
3. I have moved the creeps near these camps closer to the building they are guarding. For the Gold Mines, I have moved back the furbolgs so that hopefully they will be less aggressive. As for the spiders at the merchant, the ensnare will be difficult to avoid. I might change this in the future if the problem persists.
4. The murlocs are now facing natural directions along with the rest of the creeps at the camp.
5. I replaced a level 2 creep at the old Marketplace with a level 2 Mud Golem. The Mud Golem doesn't sleep, so hopefully this golem will wake up the other creeps at the camp if someone tries to shop at the Marketplace without clearing the camp first.
6. I added another green creep camp with Level 6, and upgraded the previous trolls to Level 9. Additionally, I upgraded the Murlocs from Level 10 to Level 13. Now Night Elf players can use AoW to creep the level 9 camp and get a Level 2 Permanent, where in the past they could only creep a Level 6 camp and get a Level 1 Permanent.
7. The people I played with also suggested that another green camp would be a good idea. With the addition of a new green camp and the upgrade on some of the existing camps, there are more total creeps for players to capture.
8. Unfortunately this problem is mostly untouched. I suppose with the new camp an aggressive hero like Death Knight or Blademaster could try to harass the opponent while they are on their 2nd green camp. The camps with the most potential for fighting are probably the Mercenary Camps in the center.

As for the future, I think the map is much better now, but I'll do some testing about if the spider problem needs to be fixed.

Thanks,
SlushyJones
 

mafe

Map Reviewer
Level 24
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
Messages
869
So, let's see:
1. Some improvements, yes. Still room for more though.
3. Expansions seem better now, but shop creeps are still potentially very annoying.
4. is fixed.
5. is fixed.
6. AoW-creeping is now possibly with acceptable rewards, good.
7. Green camp has been added. While they also can attack player units by accident, it's not big deal since they deal little damage.
8. still exists, but it is no must-have. There are other maps which work despite having few or even no "contested" creecamps.

Regarding the new creeps and items, they are mostly fine. Only the rewards at the harbours are underwhelming, with only powerups and no "real" item. The glyph actually I dont mind it here. I imagine in most games it wont be a factor anyway.

Given the general improvements, the map is no good enough to be approved. However this doesnt mean that you should stop making further updates, even though I will probably not look at them, unless you explicitly ask me to ;)
 
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