• 🏆 Texturing Contest #33 is OPEN! Contestants must re-texture a SD unit model found in-game (Warcraft 3 Classic), recreating the unit into a peaceful NPC version. 🔗Click here to enter!
  • It's time for the first HD Modeling Contest of 2024. Join the theme discussion for Hive's HD Modeling Contest #6! Click here to post your idea!

Wrath of a Spirit

Wrath of a Spirit:

A demo for a campaign that my brother and I were working on. The lore extends to multiple chapters featuring different factions and cool storytelling. The campaign was created in the 2010s. However, due to life-changing events, the old files of the campaign were lost forever. And thanks to growing up, I had to do something all adults do, which is work and employment. so I neither got the chance to remake the campaign files I lost nor refine the lore since they were written by 13-year-old me. For that, they had to get some rejuvenation. Months ago I left my job to self-reflect, and I thought I'd make this demo to bring back the good old memories, only this time I'm more capable. Lastly, since life is short I thought I'd let my creation see the light of the internet in case I die. So here's something to remember me by.

Seriously, your feedback is all welcomed, so let me know if you would like me to continue making the campaign. And I hope you enjoy the demo.

Sincerely,
Previews
Contents

Wrath of a Spirit (Map)

Reviews
Loved playing this. For a demo, this surely brings a lot of hope of an awesome custom campaign. You should really go for and continue it. Some minor bugs: the ranged phantoms make the crypt fiend sound when they are found by the hero; there is no...
Level 10
Joined
Aug 25, 2018
Messages
122
The enemy AI tends to just run around once they are brought low like when the bar turns red. They will just run around and maybe attack once more else they just run circles around their own units and mine.

Blight elemental attacks bounce need to say that in the tooltip
Recommend removing or changing the waygates only because the AI seems to go through them and then return to base for most waves

Overall was a good map did not see any major bugs and the tech tree is new will look forward to the full campaign
 
Level 4
Joined
Jul 5, 2016
Messages
5
The enemy AI tends to just run around once they are brought low like when the bar turns red. They will just run around and maybe attack once more else they just run circles around their own units and mine.

Blight elemental attacks bounce need to say that in the tooltip
Recommend removing or changing the waygates only because the AI seems to go through them and then return to base for most waves

Overall was a good map did not see any major bugs and the tech tree is new will look forward to the full campaign
First of all, thank you so much for trying out the demo. As for the notes, I'll go through them one by one.

1- The AI was intended to pull back injured units to trick the player's forces into targeting less injured foes. But if it seems like a bug I can fix it easily from the AI editor by unchecking the (remove injuries) feature. However, the foes will go all in while attacking, disregarding their injured units.

2- I'll add the Blight Elementals' bouncing attack feature to the tooltip.

3- The waygates situation is a bit complicated because the whole point of them being where they are is to have the brown faction attacking from the west front instead of rallying with the red faction's forces. Is there a trigger that compels the AI to attack from a certain path? if there is, would you give me a guide to help achieve that?

Thanks for reading,
 
Level 20
Joined
Apr 17, 2021
Messages
186
Played through the map. It was fun but way harder than I expected (took me a couple tries). The custom music is very cool. I like the fact that the main quest (destroy all satyrs) gets more precise as we encounter satyr factions. I also really like the use of Glyphs and the runes of the Watcher. It makes going out on the map feel really rewarding.

  • The hero's mechanics are definitely interesting. However 300 mana doesn't feel like enough. The higher levels of mana drain fill the mana in seconds and the autoattacks empty it just as fast. Overall that's a lot of attention that must be directed solely to the hero at the expense of other units. Also the Finger of Pain ultimate usually isn't worth the mana (you can get more damage by infusing autoattacks with mana). I think the hero should gain some maximum mana when he levels up and he shouldn't get that much attack speed (maybe make his main atribute another than agility). That should make him a bit less demanding in focus.
  • Despite the Mare and the hero both combining well with units that have mana, very few units in the techtree actually have mana.
  • The Mare doesn't have the caster level indication on his stats (like other casters have).
  • The Blight Elemental's heal is not really a reliable source of healing. Usually, they will all use it at the same time and using it manually is a lot of micro for very little return. Also, because they have few hp, little range and the unarmored type, they tend to die fast.
  • The Satyr Hounds expand to all available gold mines and multiply their bases. I don't think other satyrs do it. If that is intended, it should probably be advertised.
  • The waygate's destination for Brown is quite problematic, it denies two gold mines because of its emplacement (the mines in the swamp and the Trueval camp) and it bypasses all runes of the Watcher. Overall, it is almost impossible to expand before Brown and Red are dealt with.
  • Some ally phantoms are trapped behind a lot of trees. I don't think the faction has any way to destroy trees beside attacking them with Mutants or harvesting them with imps which takes a long time. Maybe there should be a bit less trees.
  • Fighting the Granite golem for just a consumable doesn't feel worth it.
  • The Trueval forces beside the ship having a tome of sacrifice feels weird. It sounds more like something satyrs or something corrupted would hold.
Overall the techtree and hero is really interesting. The map looks very nice with diverse groups of enemies and creeps. It feels quite overwhelming because of the mostly new techtree (only the banshee remains) and the multiple enemies attacking from various directions but that is to be expected for a display map.
Not that much context is given about the lore but the character is interesting and the map serves as a good mid-action introduction.
I hope that you continue the campaign if you are able to, if only to find out what this "ritual" the character mentions is.
(PS: Sorry for the wall of text :vw_unimpressed:)
 
Level 4
Joined
Jul 5, 2016
Messages
5
Played through the map. It was fun but way harder than I expected (took me a couple tries). The custom music is very cool. I like the fact that the main quest (destroy all satyrs) gets more precise as we encounter satyr factions. I also really like the use of Glyphs and the runes of the Watcher. It makes going out on the map feel really rewarding.

  • The hero's mechanics are definitely interesting. However 300 mana doesn't feel like enough. The higher levels of mana drain fill the mana in seconds and the autoattacks empty it just as fast. Overall that's a lot of attention that must be directed solely to the hero at the expense of other units. Also the Finger of Pain ultimate usually isn't worth the mana (you can get more damage by infusing autoattacks with mana). I think the hero should gain some maximum mana when he levels up and he shouldn't get that much attack speed (maybe make his main atribute another than agility). That should make him a bit less demanding in focus.
  • Despite the Mare and the hero both combining well with units that have mana, very few units in the techtree actually have mana.
  • The Mare doesn't have the caster level indication on his stats (like other casters have).
  • The Blight Elemental's heal is not really a reliable source of healing. Usually, they will all use it at the same time and using it manually is a lot of micro for very little return. Also, because they have few hp, little range and the unarmored type, they tend to die fast.
  • The Satyr Hounds expand to all available gold mines and multiply their bases. I don't think other satyrs do it. If that is intended, it should probably be advertised.
  • The waygate's destination for Brown is quite problematic, it denies two gold mines because of its emplacement (the mines in the swamp and the Trueval camp) and it bypasses all runes of the Watcher. Overall, it is almost impossible to expand before Brown and Red are dealt with.
  • Some ally phantoms are trapped behind a lot of trees. I don't think the faction has any way to destroy trees beside attacking them with Mutants or harvesting them with imps which takes a long time. Maybe there should be a bit less trees.
  • Fighting the Granite golem for just a consumable doesn't feel worth it.
  • The Trueval forces beside the ship having a tome of sacrifice feels weird. It sounds more like something satyrs or something corrupted would hold.
Overall the techtree and hero is really interesting. The map looks very nice with diverse groups of enemies and creeps. It feels quite overwhelming because of the mostly new techtree (only the banshee remains) and the multiple enemies attacking from various directions but that is to be expected for a display map.
Not that much context is given about the lore but the character is interesting and the map serves as a good mid-action introduction.
I hope that you continue the campaign if you are able to, if only to find out what this "ritual" the character mentions is.
(PS: Sorry for the wall of text :vw_unimpressed:)
I have to mention this in the beginning because it is crucial indeed. Walls of text are always appreciated. They are the fundamental factor of constructive feedback. So thank you for spending your precious time testing the demo and writing this encouraging full of helpful notes comment.

Like I always do, I'll go through them one by one.

• Yes, the difficulty of the campaigns I make is intended to be dire, putting a real challenge to the player.

• As for our friends, August Graham. You may feel that it is quite unfair for them not to have that much mana capacity, regeneration, and intelligence increase per level, but the aim is to have them rely on devour magic, absorb mana, siphon mana, and mana potions to cast abilities since they lack the ability to regenerate mana in the first place according to the lore. Nevertheless, if you feel like I took it too far, I may reduce the mana cost of Orb of Annihilation, or give them 200 additional mana capacity in addition to lowering the attack rate. The attribute has to stay agility though since they can't regenerate mana to have intelligence attribution or attack in melee fashion to be of a strength attribution. The Finger of Death situation is a very simple time = money equation. Let's say a Satyr Hellcaller is charging with a bunch of other units, and you know how important the role he plays in team fights is since he casts Bloodlust, Unholy Aura, and Animate Dead, so here's a good situation to administer a surgical strike to take him out before he knows what hit him, also remember that the ability can be used on buildings too and it does 1600 damage when leveled up. Lastly, we have to acknowledge that the August Graham are the hard carriers of the battle because Satyrs rely a lot on spells, so it's up to them to revoke the Satyrs' magic and turn it against them.

• You're absolutely right about the limited variety of mana-based units in the tech tree. Maybe I'll add one or two more in the next update.

• Mares not having the caster level indication has been noted. I'll fix it in the next update.

• Blight Elementals are made to be the basic starting units. However, if you feel like the cooldown and healing power that their Essence of Blight ability possesses is not sufficient, I can lower the cooldown. It's just that I was afraid of players spamming it in large numbers to exploit their ability but now you mentioned that it is indeed broken when casting it at the same time, I have to look for a balancing alternative.

• Satyr Hounds Clan expansion is intended indeed and only they are authorized to do such a thing, but I didn't understand how would you advertise their expansions.

• The waygates as you read in the previous comment are somewhat problematic, so I think they have to go and a new way for the Satyr Masons Legion rallying is yet to be made.

• As for the secret phantoms + creep camp tree line, I'll make sure to reduce the number of trees.

• The reward of the Granite Golem quest is going to be changed since it's not worth it. Mention the replacement item you'd like the reward to be and I'll make it happen since you're helping me, it's the least I could do. ;)

• Tome of Sacrifice indeed, it's an easter egg. If I live to complete the entire storyline campaign I'm sure you won't find it weird. Trust me even those innocent humans didn't know their crates contained such a thing. XD

Finally, I was gladdened beyond measurement to see how much you've had an eye for details. You seriously went through the map with great details and read through the dialogs and quests to even mention the so-called rituals here in your review. It meant a lot to me, so from the bottom of my heart,

Thank You,
 

Maxlaid

Banned
Level 4
Joined
Mar 17, 2021
Messages
21
I played the card and what can I say: I liked it))
To be honest, there were a few things that bothered me:
1. Banshees, do rangers normally upgrade attacks for loved ones?
2. Blight Elemental with a lot of heals is too strong, and if you have thick tanks at the same time, then this is generally an imba and you go through the map very easily.
 
Level 4
Joined
Jul 5, 2016
Messages
5
I played the card and what can I say: I liked it))
To be honest, there were a few things that bothered me:
1. Banshees, do rangers normally upgrade attacks for loved ones?
2. Blight Elemental with a lot of heals is too strong, and if you have thick tanks at the same time, then this is generally an imba and you go through the map very easily.
Hi, thanks for playing & testing the demo.

• I didn't quite understand the first point about Banshees. Would you care to further explain what you mean by "upgrading attacks for loved ones"?

• The Blight Elemental is going to be broken down into two separate units. One is the standard Blight Elemental that's already in the game minus the Essence of Blight Ability, and the other one comes after upgrading to tier two and Essence of Blight's yet-to-be-created equivalent upgrade. This upgraded Elemental will lose his combat capability, combat upgrades, and bouncing attack feature. It will also cost 3 food instead of 2. However, it will gain mana, the use of Essence of Blight ability, and extra hit points. To access the second Blight Elemental's metamorphosis form, you must click on the transformation ability just like the Obsidian Statues and Obsidian Destroyers function.

Thank you for your feedback, you've been quite helpful,

Much obliged,
 
Level 4
Joined
Jul 5, 2016
Messages
5
Wrath of a Spirit demo mission update notes:

• The AI units flee and remove injuries functions have been disabled.

Blight Elemental Nerf - The Essence of Blight ability has been taken away from Blight Elementals.

Blight Elemental Buff - A new upgrade that allows Blight Elementals to extend their bouncing attack to one more target has been added.

• Waygates have been abolished from the map and a new route to the brown enemy base has been created to avoid AI bugs.

Void Fiend Balance - The Void Fiend gained 100 more mana points, a reduction in the mana cost of Orb of Annihilation by 5 mana points, and a reduction in the Fiend's attack rate.

New Unit - Since Essence of Blight ability has been taken away from Blight Elementals, a more balanced healing unit is required. Introducing the Greater Blight Elemental, a support spellcaster that heals friendly combatants with its Essence of Blight and dispels positive buffs from enemy units, and negative buffs from friendly units.
Note: Greater Blight Elementals were supposed to be upgraded from normal Blight Elementals in a Zerg Hydralisk/Lurker fashion, but that required trigger editor mixup, and I wanted to keep it as simple as possible to avoid any possible future import mayhem. So I ended up adding them as a separate unit.

Map Design Tweaking - Some things didn't make sense in the map design so I edited them out in a cinematic fashion. I also added a few cool things to check out.

Trigger Bugs - Some broken triggers weren't noticed but through trial and error I was able to debunk and fix them.
 

Deleted member 247165

D

Deleted member 247165

Loved playing this. For a demo, this surely brings a lot of hope of an awesome custom campaign. You should really go for and continue it.
Some minor bugs: the ranged phantoms make the crypt fiend sound when they are found by the hero; there is no voice set for the hero used ? Might be a Reforged bug idk, I played it on Reforged.
Nonetheless, approved !
 
Top