1.32.6 PTR PATCH NOTES

[Vinz]

1.32.6 PTR PATCH NOTES

Blizzard said: Warcraft III: Reforged PTR Patch Notes Version 1.32.6 21 May, 2020 Please note: These PTR Patch Notes are a work in progress and will be updated with further changes before the release of Patch 1.32.6. This balance patch has a few different goals in mind. For heroes in general, we’re looking at the costs and sometimes the functionality of hero ultimate abilities, to make them a bit more competitive with a hero’s base line abilities and mana pool. Items are another big area of this patch. Charged levels 5 and 6 are getting a shake-up to see if we can encourage more usage of these categories going forward. Additionally, we want to support map makers’ future endeavors by doing a balance pass on the units provided by Mercenary Camps. Finally, in 1v1 matchups, we want to address rifle pushes in Human vs. Night Elf and slightly alter the early game in Human vs. Undead. There will also be a map pool rotation in this patch. One map per game mode will be rotated out and a new one rotated in. This time around, all of the maps are made by our wonderful community map makers. ART Raccoons no longer fade away unnaturally during their death animation in Reforged mode. Fixed an issue with the Northrend Tree Wall Doodad where they appeared white on the minimap. CAMPAIGN Resolved an issue with walking animation speed in certain campaign maps. EDITOR Fixed a legacy issue where the Summoned Damage data field for Feedback abilities was capped at 10. This did not affect competitive multiplayer, but was inconvenient for custom map makers. Unit Balance HUMAN MOUNTAIN KING Thunderclap cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 7 seconds across all levels. Developers’ notes: Over the past year, the Mountain King’s Thunderclap has been slightly overperforming. While meta changes in 1v1 have seen its usage reduced, it remains a very strong ability in team games. We want to reduce its uptime, which should also allow players to better micro against the Mountain King by giving them more time to reposition between casts. RIFLEMAN Attack delay increased from 1.35 to 1.4. Developers’ notes: This change is focused around the Human vs. Night Elf rifleman push. We don’t inherently want the rifle push to completely disappear nor for riflemen to fall too far in power, but rather for the push to be slightly more equal between the attacker and defender. We’re adjusting the power on both sides, with this being the Human side of the change. PALADIN Resurrection mana cost reduced from 200 to 150. Developers’ notes: Resurrection already has the restriction of waiting for a player’s army to be dead before being cast. At the same time, Paladins often spend much of their mana casting Holy Light to keep units alive in the first place. Reducing the mana cost should help boost the desirability of this ultimate by reducing mana tension. ORC SHADOW HUNTER Big Bad Voodoo mana cost reduced from 200 to 150. Developers’ notes: We’re reducing the mana cost to help with mana tension. The ultimate itself was not altered at this time, as we want to keep the unique identity of how it works, and instead see if we can push it to be a bit higher of a pick through increasing availability of the spell. FAR SEER Earthquake duration reduced from 25 to 20 seconds. Building damage per second increased from 50 to 60. Mana cost reduced from 150 to 125. Earthquake no longer affects friendly units/structures. Developers’ notes: With Earthquake no longer affecting friendly units, Far Seer players should now have a new slowing option available to them for combat usage. Reducing the duration while keeping the overall damage roughly the same makes responding to a Far Seer casting Earthquake more important and gives a bit more consistency to how much damage it can inflict. TAUREN CHIEFTAIN War Stomp cooldown increased per level from 6/6/6 to 7/7/7. Developers’ notes: War Stomp has shown to be quite powerful in recent months. We believe this is more due to Tauren Chieftain’s ability to more consistently deliver stuns, rather than the damage increase to War Stomp. Simply reducing its damage would be less likely to lower the power of War Stomp. This change doubles the downtime of the ability at level 3, giving opponents more time to counter micro. Additionally, this weakens the Tauren Chieftain’s early game allowing opponents to better push for map control. WITCH DOCTOR Stasis Trap activation delay decreased from 10 to 9 seconds. Detection radius reduced from 250 to 175. Activation time reduced from 1.0 to 0.5. New data variable in map editor: Detonation Delay. Developers’ notes: Witch Doctors are still fairly rare in high-level play. We want to tune up its Stasis Trap ability, and to do that we looked into how it could trap more units. A smaller detonation ring combined with a shorter delay means that units will have less time to move through the area of effect before getting trapped and will have less time to attack the totem when it reveals itself. NIGHT ELF KEEPER OF THE GROVE Entangling Roots cast range on level 3 increased from 600 to 800. Developers’ notes: While we like where the Keeper of the Grove’s early game power is, we want to give this ability a little boost in the late game. Since armies grow in size, especially in team games, reinstating its old range should give the Keeper a little more ease of use in late game scenarios. Tranquility Invulnerability time removed. Duration reduced from 15 to 12. Healing increased from 40 to 48. Developers’ notes: In the past we tried an experiment with Tranquility where we would give invulnerability to heroes when casting channeled spells. After testing it, we’re moving away from this, as we feel it dampens the personality of channeled abilities. Ideally, a channeled ability is very powerful with the drawback of being interruptible. This weakness is also what gives the abilities their character, as finding the right time and place to maximize its power is the main gameplay of using them. Adding invulnerability clouds this, as it now acts more like a normal “cast and forget” spell, but with a little extra bonus on the end. It also acted as anti-debuff mechanic, which was undesirable. While it could be made to not remove debuffs, that would act as a new special case that’s different from regular invulnerability and it would add new complexity for players to memorize. Instead, we want to further reduce the duration of the spell but increase its power of the effect, giving greater benefit even when shut down by opponents, but also encouraging opponents to react quickly to the channeled ability. DRUID OF THE CLAW Base damage in bear from increased from 23 to 24. Developers’ notes: We think bears could use a bit more power in the mid-to-late game in general, especially against Undead. Additionally, with Human vs. Night Elf rifle pushes often occurring right when only a few bears are out, we felt that a slight bear buff would help defenders just that little bit more to keep them in the game. DRUID OF THE TALON Gold cost reduced from 145 to 135. Developers’ notes: Previously Druids of the Talon had their gold cost increased due to balance concerns with them in the Orc vs. Night Elf matchup. The meta has changed quite a bit since then, and so we would like to reduce their cost back to its old value to better encourage their usage. UNDEAD CRYPT LORD Impale can no longer be interrupted. Units knocked airborne can now take damage and be attacked. Two new data variables in map editor: Airborne Units Vulnerable, Uninterruptible. Carrion Beetles mana cost increased from 30 to 45. Now spawns 2 beetles at a time, up from 1. Maximum beetles increased from 5 to 6. Developers’ notes: The being whose might cannot be matched is getting a tune-up in this patch. Previously the Impale ability was hardcoded to be interruptible and make units hit by it invulnerable while airborne. Unlike other channeled abilities, giving a move order to a command group containing a Crypt Lord casting Impale would cause it to move and cancel the ability. This change removes this annoyance. Additionally, making airborne units vulnerable no longer causes units to lose auto attack focus on Impaled units. Airborne units are still untargetable by spells though. This was left in place out of an abundance of caution for introducing unintended bugs. More developers’ notes: Speaking of bugs, our buff to Carrion Beetles should greatly encourage some new experimentation with this rather rarely picked ability. Now the Crypt Lord can bring about a swarm of summons much earlier and with less mana invested to either scout opponents or make early game pushes. We will be monitoring if this proves to be too much of an issue in the early game, but we feel these changes overall give the ability a much stronger personality. DEATH KNIGHT Animate Dead mana cost reduced from 175 to 125. Developers’ notes: We hear rather frequent feedback that this ability is one of the lower tier ones. Directly buffing it too much at this time seemed unwise, as the Death Knight itself is quite core to Undead’s best strategies, and buffing it further would reinforce this. However, we do think its mana cost could be reduced to at least be more appropriate with its perceived power level. SKELETON WARRIOR Base hit points decreased from 190 to 180. Developers’ notes: This is aimed primarily at the Human vs. Undead extreme early game. In this case, at the highest levels, every peasant killed during a fast expansion is extremely valuable, and battles around this are often won by inches rather than miles. Returning Skeleton Warriors to their previous health state should help Humans (and other races to a degree) to stabilize better in the early game. RITUAL DAGGER Total hit points regenerated per charge increased from 125 to 175. Developers’ notes: The Ritual Dagger has yet to really find a place in high level Undead build orders. Increasing its health regenerated should help it better compete with items like Scroll of Regeneration, especially since at 175 hit points and two charges per item, it would restore 350 hit points total. From a higher-level view, this change in addition to the buff to Carrion Beetles could make this item an interesting pick for Crypt Lord first players. NEUTRAL BEASTMASTER Summon Bear mana cost reduced from 125 to 100. Developers’ notes: At the highest level of play, the Beastmaster has fallen off in usage over time. While we believe this is primarily due to changes in the meta, we want to give a boost to an ability that was underutilized even when Beastmasters roamed freely. In particular, a level 2 Beastmaster starting at full mana that constantly uses their summon abilities when off cooldown would now be able to summon an additional Quilbeast when paired with Summon Quilbeast or an additional bear when paired with Summon Hawk. PIT LORD A unit afflicted by Doom now has its movement speed slowed by 50%. Added two new data variables in map editor: Movement Speed Factor, Maximum Creep Level. Developers’ notes: The Pitlord has come quite far in recent times, becoming something more than just a super niche pick for styling on opponents. With looking over ultimate abilities we want to give this one a little more of a boost to reduce the ability of an opponent to run away an afflicted unit to somewhere more secluded or even favorable. We also surfaced a long-hidden variable that controls the maximum creep level that can be afflicted with Doom. While this doesn’t impact competitive multiplayer, it should be helpful for custom game creators. FIRELORD Volcano eruption waves decreased from 8 to 5. Wave interval reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds. Increased building damage factor from 2 to 3. No longer affects friendly units/structures. Developers’ notes: We believe the main issue with Volcano is that it is too unreliable and too balanced around its maximum damage output, which is unrealistic for a channeled ultimate. These changes reduce the overall damage potential of the Volcano in exchange for being much more reliable and hitting much faster. Removing the ability for it to affect friendly units should also make Volcano more viable in combat. No more praying to Ragnaros for the flaming boulders to miss one’s own units! NAGA SEA WITCH Tornado Random wander behavior removed. Mana cost reduced from 200 to 125. Duration reduced from 40 seconds to 20 seconds. Close building damage per second increased from 50 to 100. Far building damage per second increased from 7 to 14. Developers’ notes: Much like the other channeled ultimates in this update, we believe a main issue with this ability was that getting value from the spell took too long compared to its opportunity cost. So, the damage has been increased and duration decreased overall. The mana cost was also reduced as the Sea Witch can be one of the more intensive mana users, which could greatly crowd out the opportunity to cast this ultimate spell. In general, players should always feel in charge of their units and that their units will follow orders to the letter. The random wander, while visually rather cool, goes against this principle and generally made the spell require too much micromanagement when compared to the payoff it provided. BLUE DRAGON WHELP, BLUE DRAKE, & BLUE DRAGON Added a passive icon indicating that the unit has an attack that slows targets. Unit tooltip updated to mention that these units have a frost attack. Developers’ notes: This is a quality of life change. We want to clarify that these units indeed have a frost attack. Items Potion of Greater Mana mana restored reduced from 300 to 250. Potion of Mana mana restored reduced from 150 to 125. Gold cost reduced from 200 to 150. Developers’ notes: We want to reign in the power of the Potion of Greater Mana and, at the same time, experiment a bit with the regular Potion of Mana. Currently seen as an emergency item, this change makes it slightly more gold-efficient and aligns its gold price with that of Potion of Healing, making them more of a direct comparison. Red Drake Egg Removed from default level 5 charged item drop list. Blue Drake Egg is a new level 5 charged Item that summons a Blue Drake for 180 seconds, with 1 Charge. Talisman of the Wild removed from default level 5 charged item drop list. Idol of the Wild is a new level 5 charged Item that summons a Furbolg Tracker for 180 seconds, with 1 Charge. Developers’ note: Among the level 5 charged items, there are clearly two less desired items among them, the Talisman and the Red Drake Egg. In both cases, the summoned units provide only a bit of damage and some tanking ability while still providing the opponent experience for their destruction. We want to keep the coolness of having items that call forth creatures but change what was brought in. With the Blue Drake providing a frost breath attack and the Furbolg Tracker bringing Faerie Fire, these two units now align with the Rock Golem and Fel Stalker by providing utility in addition to damage and tanking. Scroll of Restoration hit points restored reduced from 300 to 150. Developers’ note: While the Talisman and Red Drake Egg may have been seen as the weakest of level 5 charged items, the Scroll of Restoration is undoubtedly the strongest. This is especially true for team games. Reducing the healing it provides down to be equal to a Scroll of Healing should help bring it down more to the level of other items in this tier. Scroll of Animate Dead removed from default level 6 charged drop list. Scepter of Mastery is a charged level 6 item that takes permanent control of an enemy unit, with a Range of 600 and 1 Charge. Cannot be used on Heroes or creeps above level 5. Scroll of Resurrection removed from default level 6 charged drop list. Scepter of Avarice is a new Charged level 6 item that instantly kill an enemy unit, with a Range of 600 and 1 Charge. Gain gold equal to 75% of its cost. Cannot be used on Heroes or creeps above level 5. Developers’ notes: As with level 5 charged items, there were two that seemed to be weaker than the others for level 6 charged items. These scrolls only really worked when a battle was well underway with losses mounting. That means that their worth was hard to gauge while the summon items have far more flexibility. Keeping with the theme of charged items on this tier being ultimate abilities, we decided to bring in an analog for Transmute and Charm, which should be more directly comparable to bringing in a summoned unit by instantly denying one of your opponent’s units. Inferno Stone drop level increased from Level 6 Charged to Level 7 Artifact. Engraved Scale is a new Charged level 6 item, that summons a Blue Dragonspawn Overseer for 180 seconds, with 1 Charge. Developers’ notes: Often cited as one of the most powerful items in the game and often the focal reason of level 6 charged items being too imbalanced for 1v1 is the Inferno Stone. We want to try moving it up a tier while replacing it with a new summon item to see if we can encourage higher usage of this category of items in map making while balancing out current team and free for all maps that utilize it. The Blue Dragonspawn Overseer acts a kind of defensive parallel to the Furbolg Ursa Warrior by providing a Devotion Aura and having the passive Evasion ability built in. Breath of Frost also gives it a good area of effect option similar to other summons in this tier. Non-Ladder Transportation Ship No longer unloads instantly. Now has a 0.5 second delay, same as Zeppelins. Level reduced from 2 to 1. Hit points reduced from 1500 to 900. Armor type changed from Heavy to Light. Maximum charges at a shipyard reduced from 3 to 2. Initial stock delay increased from 0 to 120. Stock replenish interval decreased from 110 to 30, same as Zeppelins. Repair time increased to 30 from 25, same as Zeppelins. Developers’ note: While it is not used in any current ladder maps, we want to update this unit for nautically inclined map makers. In a number of community tournaments there have been some promising usage of Ships as a map feature, but they could use some tuning. The current stats for the transportation ship are geared towards usage in single player modes, which makes it a bit too overturned as an option for competitive multiplayer. The primary change here, however, is that units will unload one at a time rather than all at once, which gave the ship users too much advantage in pulling off aggressive maneuvers, especially for landing near an opponent’s base with siege damage units. Mercenary Camp Updates 　　Another area we want to address within this balance patch is opening up a bit more map design options for our map making community. Mercenary Camps provide a way to both adjust how matchups play out as well as provide extra map variety. However, only the Lordaeron Summer camp has seen widespread use in the competitive scene. We have looked at all of the Mercenary Camps and adjusted their unit offerings to bring them more in line with the Lordaeron Summer mercenary camp, while also offering differing options of units/abilities provided. Additionally, many units had their costs and availability time adjusted. We’re trying out having two availability times to unify the Mercenary Camps a bit, by reducing the amount of numbers players have to memorize: short (120 seconds), medium (220 seconds), and long (440 seconds). It’s likely that further adjustments to unit offerings or the unit costs/availability will be needed, so we are interested in player and map maker thoughts on these changes. Mercenary Camp Composition Lordaeron Summer Unchanged Cityscape / Dalaran Unchanged Underground / Dungeon Old: Kobold Geomancer, Burning Archer, Wildkin New: Kobold Geomancer, Burning Archer, Wildkin, Frost Revenant Ashenvale Old: Satyr Shadowdancer, Furbolg Shaman, Thunder Lizard New: Satyr Shadowdancer, Dark Troll Berserker, Dark Troll Shadow Priest, Giant Wolf Barrens Old: Centaur Outrider, Harpy Rogue, Razormane Medicine Man, Harpy Windwitch New: Centaur Outrider, Quillboar Hunter, Centaur Archer, Harpy Windwitch Black Citadel / Outland Old: Fel Beast, Draenei Disciple, Voidwalker, Draenei Darkslayer New: Bloodfiend, Draenei Disciple, Voidwalker, Skeletal Orc Grunt Felwood Old: Murloc Flesheater, Sludge Flinger, Satyr Soulstealer New: Murloc Flesheater, Sludge Monstrosity, Satyr Shadowdancer, Spitting Spider Icecrown Glacier Old: Barbed Arachnathid, Blue Dragonspawn Meddler, Magnataur Warrior, Polar Furbolg Shaman New: Ice Troll Berserker, Blue Dragonspawn Warrior, Tuskarr Healer, Unbroken Darkweaver Lordaeron Fall Unchanged Lordaeron Winter Old: Gnoll Overseer, Ice Troll Berseker, Ice Troll Trapper, Mud Golem New: Ogre Mauler, Ice Troll Berserker, Ice Troll Priest, Mud Golem Northrend Old: Nerubian Warrior, Ice Troll Berserker, Frost Revenant, Nerubian Webspinner New: Nerubian Warrior, Ice Troll Berserker, Frost Revenant, Nerubian Seer Sunken Ruins Old: Mur’gul Snarecaster, Makrura Snapper, Makrura Deepseer, Giant Sea Turtle New: Mur’gul Snarecaster, Mur’gul Blood-Gill, Stormreaver Hermit, Skeletal Orc Grunt Village / Village Fall Old: Kobold, Murcloc Huntsman, Assassin, Kobold Geomancer New: Kobold Tunneler, Kobold Taskmaster, Assassin, Kobold Geomancer Mercenary Camp Units Assassin Initial stock delay increased from 110 seconds to 220 seconds Gold cost increased from 250 to 260 Bloodfiend Initial stock delay increased from 0 seconds to 220 seconds Max stock decreased from 3 to 1 Gold cost increased from 170 to 240 Blue Dragonspawn Warrior Gold cost increased from 255 to 300 Lumber cost decreased from 30 to 0 Burning Archer Initial stock delay increased from 60 seconds to 220 seconds Centaur Archer Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 120 seconds Centaur Outrunner Initial stock delay increased from 60 seconds to 220 seconds Dark Troll Berserker Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 220 seconds Gold cost decreased from 255 to 245 Dark Troll Shadow Priest Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 120 seconds Gold cost decreased from 195 to 175 Draenei Disciple Initial stock delay decreased from 135 seconds to 120 seconds Stock replenishment delay increased from 90 seconds to 110 Gold cost increased from 155 to 195 Lumber cost decreased from 15 to 10 Giant Wolf Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 220 seconds Gold cost reduced from 255 to 215 Lumber cost reduced from 30 to 0 Gnoll Brute Initial stock delay increased from 60 seconds to 120 seconds Gold cost decreased from 215 to 140 Lumber cost decreased from 20 to 0 Gnoll Warden Initial stock delay increased from 180 seconds to 220 seconds Gold cost decreased from 215 to 180 Harpy Windwitch Initial stock delay decreased from 640 seconds to 440 seconds Ice Troll Priest Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 120 seconds Gold cost decreased from 195 to 175 Kobold Geomancer Gold cost decreased from 255 to 215 Kobold Tunneler Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 120 seconds Gold cost decreased from 215 to 150 Lumber cost decreased from 20 to 0 Mur’gul Blood-Gill Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 120 seconds Gold cost increased from 105 to 195 Lumber cost increased from 0 to 10 Mur’gul Snarecaster Gold cost increased from 215 to 265 Lumber cost increased from 20 to 30 Murloc Flesheater Initial stock delay increased from 60 seconds to 120 seconds Nerubian Warrior Initial stock delay increased from 60 seconds to 120 seconds Gold cost decreased from 215 to 205 Quillboar Hunter Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 220 seconds Rogue Initial stock delay increased from 60 seconds to 120 seconds Satyr Shadowdancer Initial stock delay increased from 330 seconds to 440 seconds Gold cost decreased from 255 to 200 Lumber cost decreased from 30 to 20 Spitting Spider Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 220 seconds Gold cost increased from 215 to 235 Lumber cost increased from 20 to 30 Stormreaver Hermit Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 220 seconds Gold cost increased from 180 to 190 Tuskarr Healer Initial stock delay decreased from 440 seconds to 120 seconds Lumber cost decreased from 20 to 10 Unbroken Darkweaver Gold cost increased from 255 to 320 Lumber cost increased from 30 to 50 Voidwalker Gold cost increased from 155 to 245 Lumber cost increased from 15 to 30 Balance Related Bugfixes Makrura Deepseer creeps will no longer sometimes cease to react to enemy units when being attacked by a single unit or hero. Developers’ note: As an interesting aside, this bug originates from the Summon Prawns ability. Like many abilities, Summon Prawns adjusts the behavior of the unit it is assigned to. Typically, this is for deciding when to cast an ability or who to target with it. While this bug only affects the Murkura Deepseer in multiplayer, this fix should also clear up some AI strangeness for units using it in custom games. Items can no longer be destroyed by projectiles while in a hero’s inventory. Developers’ note: While we do want to keep the counterplay option of killing items as a means of denial, we want to address this specific strange behavior. Currently if a projectile is in mid-flight it will always do damage to an item, regardless of whether or not it was picked up. This felt especially strange when a high-speed hero would pick up an item, move away, and then suddenly lose the item because of slow moving projectiles landing at the item’s previous location. Additionally, this behavior now matches how units picked up by a Zeppelin functions. Maps Map Pool Rotation 1v1 Removed: Dalaran Added: Brightwater Oasis Developers’ note: Brightwater Oasis contains a new interesting map feature. Each side of this map will have 1 Goblin Merchant and 1 Goblin Laboratory, but each will spawn in one of two locations. This adds an interesting wrinkle to adjusting one’s creeping and attack routes based on map conditions. These locations are linked and symmetric so there shouldn’t be balance concerns around one player having a shorter distance to a shop than the opposing player. 2v2 Removed: Phantom Grove LV Added: Circle of Fallen Heroes 3v3 Removed: Rolling Hills Added: Guardians 4v4 Removed: Banewood Bog LV Added: Northern Felwood Free For All Removed: Mur’gul Oasis LV Added: Greenville Woods Map Updates Terenas Stand LV Critters added to the map Twisted Meadows Green Gnoll camps near player start locations now has an additional level 1 Gnoll and the Gnoll Brute drops a level 1 power-up item. Developers’ note: We want to make taking the Gnoll camp feel a little more rewarding. It also hits a breakpoint where a single hero can reach level 3 by creeping the Gnoll camp and two yellow camps outside the ‘front’ of each starting location. Previously, two start locations could do this, but the other two would result in a hero just slightly short of level 3. Echo Isles Added extra trees and doodads behind the south west expansion to address instances of player units getting stuck in unpathable locations after using a Scroll of Town Portal. Filled in various pathing holes around the outer edges of the map. Developers’ note: While it was uncommon for players to get their units stuck behind the southwest expansion location, and stuck units could be freed through destroying trees, we want to solve the issue more directly. Sanctuary LV Critters added to the map Removed 2 Apprentice Wizards from the north and south red camps. Reduced the item drop from the Ogre Magi from level 6 Charged to level 5 Charged. Developers’ note: There was feedback that the Ogre Magi at the map’s north and south middle red camps were a bit too easy to pull away and kill in the early game. This would result in a powerful level 6 Charged item being dropped early on which could make rush strategies overly strong. To address this, we reduced the level of the item while making the camp slightly easier overall to reflect the lower level of item dropped. Twilight Ruins LV Removed a Skeletal Grunt and replaced it with two Burning Archers at each of the middle red creep camps. Developers’ note: Previously these creep camps lacked any anti-air elements other than Death Coil. This gave players who rushed to air units, Undead especially, a bit too much of an advantage when creeping. This change should make these camps require more time and investment to take down. System Installations of different builds of Warcraft III: Reforged now use shared container technology. User Interface Team-colored healthbars are no longer “On” by default for new users. Please note: These PTR Patch Notes are a work in progress and will be updated with further changes before the release of Patch 1.32.6.

 

[Vinz]

Impale can no longer be interrupted. Units knocked airborne can now take damage and be attacked.

Fuck yes.

 

[DracoL1ch]

b a l a n c e

 

[GetLocalPlayer]

Let crying begin.

 

[Lord_Earthfire]

From what i read in the melee community, the balance changes are welcommed. And well communicated. I'm still a bit bummed by the fact that multiple dependancies of abilities still get ignored when more than 2 are added, this wasn't a patch that adressed bugs really.

 

[deepstrasz]

Two new data variables in map editor: Airborne Units Vulnerable, Uninterruptible.

Added two new data variables in map editor: Movement Speed Factor, Maximum Creep Level.

Added a passive icon indicating that the unit has an attack that slows targets.

Noice.

Scepter of Mastery is a charged level 6 item that takes permanent control of an enemy unit, with a Range of 600 and 1 Charge. Cannot be used on Heroes or creeps above level 5.

Uhm, I don't see this too well for the one fighting against it and a Dark Ranger.

Transportation Ship

We're going somewhere, however currently non-ladder make the changes unwarranted? I hope it does not affect campaigns, custom games.

• Makrura Deepseer creeps will no longer sometimes cease to react to enemy units when being attacked by a single unit or hero.

• Developers’ note: As an interesting aside, this bug originates from the Summon Prawns ability. Like many abilities, Summon Prawns adjusts the behavior of the unit it is assigned to. Typically, this is for deciding when to cast an ability or who to target with it. While this bug only affects the Murkura Deepseer in multiplayer, this fix should also clear up some AI strangeness for units using it in custom games.

Great. All we need next is some abilities not pausing their casters after casting. For instance Holy Light. If you quickly click for another action, the pause will not appear though but in terms of an auto action afterwards, the unit will wait for the pause to end first.

 

[Venombite]

OK, let the rambling begin!

I don't get it honestly. Why all the balance changes now? What's the point in it? Now, when the game is littered with bugs, stability and performance issues, on pretty much every step, to a point that it feels unplayable at times, and as a cherry on top, it's missing many beloved (even key to some) features, you do what? Balance! Nice move Blizzard!

At this point I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we get idk Vulpera the next patch, but Custom Campaigns, bug fixing, stability......nope, not gonna happen.

Honestly imo Blizz needs to get their priorities straiten up!

 

[deepstrasz]

At this point I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we get idk Vulpera the next patch

Hell no. Keep the furries out of this game!

 

[Razorclaw_X]

Because despite what you think it's still an RTS game, and if you read even every other line there was a note here and there about things being added to the Editor (especially things about changing the Invincibility for air time on Impale). Heck, one of the things listed fixed a hard-coded Damage cap against Summoned units on Feedback.

Arguably the most interesting thing about the patch notes is making the boat transports more Melee-friendly because one of the biggest things missing between Warcraft 2 and 3 was any sort of naval warfare.

 

[tulee]

What they have done with the mercenary camps' unit data is setting up the melee scene to become more than just Lordaeron Summer-dominated tilesets.

Their choice to bring Brightwater Oasis (barrens tileset) and Northern Felwood (partial felwood tileset) means that they are serious about bringing variety to the melee community, which will enhance/invigorate normal ladder gameplay/viewing.

 

[Knecht]

@GetLocalPlayer Crying? These changes have been very welcomed by the melee community and the melee mapping community so far. There's just the usual "imba" ramble about some changes but that comes with every balance patch.

The boat stuff is huge since it shows that the community can bring some "unused" stuff to light to make blizz notice it and do something about it. We've seen several tournaments where boats have been used already and this only shows, that they might even get into ladder some day. Merc camps have been a big issue in the melee map making community, most of them were imba and practically the only really safe one was loarderon summer so you'd see many different tilesets on maps but they'd still use loarderon summer mercs.
The addition of Brightwater Oasis is another huge thing. It's an experimental map with random shop/lab positions but still it's very well balanced. Even the tileset is a non-standard mix of tilesets. Getting a map like this on ladder is big for the map making community. And getting all these community maps in the game is pretty swell.
From what I heard they cooperate with Pad on his ladder as well.

Idk if it's just a PTR thing, but there's also LAN games now.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Arguably the most interesting thing about the patch notes is making the boat transports more Melee-friendly because one of the biggest things missing between Warcraft 2 and 3 was any sort of naval warfare.

Now if they allow me to have AI use transport ships properly without triggers...

 

[deepstrasz]

What they have done with the mercenary camps' unit data is setting up the melee scene to become more than just Lordaeron Summer-dominated tilesets.

Hope this doesn't kill custom maps saved with default melee/latest melee patch instead of RoC, TfT 1.07 or whatever.

 

[Ardenaso]

I don't really care about melee but those Crypt Lord changes are so good.

Also, Scepter of Mastery? Didn't that exist already since like release?

Anyway, looking forward to see the Classic vs. Reforged icons of Scepter of Avarice and the Dragonspawn Egg

 

[deepstrasz]

Also, Scepter of Mastery? Didn't that exist already since like release?

Campaign.

 

[Daffa]

At least something now starts to get somewhere. I'm still waiting for the campaign feature, so don't mind me yet.

 

[maddeem]

REeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

 

[deepstrasz]

Warcraft III: Reforged Developer Update

 

[Map Designer]

I was looking for this thread for days in WC3 forum and reforged forum lol


anyway,
the real problem with channeling spells which everyone failed to see is ensnare ability being able to interrupt them.

the only other 2 units which can interrupt channeling are stasis trap and cyclone. all other stuns are heroes.

I might accept NE units canceling it because they only have 1 hero ability to cancel channeling spells. and they also have the most important chanelling ultimates.

I also accept WD because its not too difficult to counter just be careful not to channel to much in the front.

ensnare should be castable on heroes but not interrupt them. or in worst case should interrupt non-ultimates (blizzard flame strike and alch heal or such)

Spoiler: List:

Humans: Sorceress - Polymorph (uncastable on heroes)
Humans: Dragonhawk Rider - Aerial Shackles (uncastable on ground units)
Humans: Mountain King - Storm Bolt
Humans: Mountain King - Bash (uncastable on air units)
Orcs: Raider - Ensnare
Orcs: Tauren Chieftain - War Stomp (uncastable on air units)
Orcs: Witch Doctor - Stasis Trap (uncastable on air units)
Orcs: Shadow Hunter - Hex
Night Elves: Druid of the Talon - Cyclone (uncastable on air units)
Night Elves: Keeper of the Grove - Entangling Roots (uncastable on air units)
Undead: Crypt Fiend - Web (uncastable on ground units)
Undead: Dread Lord - Sleep
Undead: Dread Lord - Inferno (uncastable on air units)
Undead: Crypt Lord - Impale (uncastable on air units)
Neutral: Dark Ranger - Silence
Neutral: Dark Ranger - Charm (uncastable on heroes)
Neutral: Goblin Tinker - Cluster Rockets
Neutral: Pit Lord - Doom (uncastable on heroes)
Neutral: Fire Lord - Soul Burn
Neutral: Fire Lord - Volcano

 

[Scytharius]

Logged into WC3 Classic, went to custom games, very few people playing.

Dead fking game, unfortunately. I wish we had the old WC3 back.

Edit: Did I mention I hate the new UI? lol

 

[AlvinXCW]

hello i'm playing warcraft 3 public test but recently it become like this Capture.PNG
and when i click it. it will show this Capture1.PNG
any idea how to fix it??
thank you

 

[ALADEEN]

Garithos still doesn't have Spell animation.

 

[Ardenaso]

Garithos still doesn't have proper Avatar form

 

[deepstrasz]

anyway,
the real problem with channeling spells which everyone failed to see is ensnare ability being able to interrupt them.

the only other 2 units which can interrupt channeling are stasis trap and cyclone. all other stuns are heroes.

ensnare should be castable on heroes but not interrupt them. or in worst case should interrupt non-ultimates (blizzard flame strike and alch heal or such)

That's a good point. It means Orcs have two units which can do that. While you have Ensnare on, you can cast channeling spells but they get interrupted by new Ensnare casts.

 

[LISBOAH]

hello i'm playing warcraft 3 public test but recently it become like this Capture.PNG
and when i click it. it will show this Capture1.PNG
any idea how to fix it??
thank you

Got the same problem.

Once again, Blizzard is forcing us to download Reforged. I already tried to download Warcraft 3 PTR 3 times and they always start downloading the Reforged version.

Why don't they let us have the Classic version? Is that too much to ask?!!

 

[knight26]

Literally everything the player base asked for was ignored and done the opposite. Melee players begged for RT and AT NOT to mix. Begged for it. They call it a 'new feature' bullshit I say.

I'm not a negative guy overall in life, but this shit triggers me such much it's unimaginable. Maybe I need to finally let go of this anger and forget war3, lmao.
Before snowflakes tell me there's more important things in life: I work 12h a day making sure the more important things are handled, this is one of my passions which I need to obviously change. Playing war3 was one of my hobbies, where my homies were at. It's like a freaking bulldozer demolishing a playground where you played basketball for the past 20 years.

 

[DracoL1ch]

I'm not a negative guy overall in life, but this shit triggers me such much it's unimaginable. Maybe I need to finally let go of this anger and forget war3, lmao.
Before snowflakes tell me there's more important things in life: I work 12h a day making sure the more important things are handled, this is one of my passions which I need to obviously change. Playing war3 was one of my hobbies, where my homies were at. It's like a freaking bulldozer demolishing a playground where you played basketball for the past 20 years.

lol get a phone

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'm not a negative guy overall in life, but this shit triggers me such much it's unimaginable.

Balance changes are a step in a right direction, though - I mean, I don't play melee, so I don't know if this particular set of changes is good or not, but the very fact that they're trying to improve balance is a good thing and I, for one, am not going to hate them for that.

If there's one real problem that the Reforged team has it's that the original game was so terrible that anything they do now, even if it's a good thing, feels like it's too little and especially too late. And it's going to continue to feel that way until they start dropping the big stuff. For all our sake, I hope they start doing it soon.

 

[deepstrasz]

And it's going to continue to feel that way until they start dropping the big stuff.

I'd rather they push it instead

 

[Razorclaw_X]

Got the same problem.

Once again, Blizzard is forcing us to download Reforged. I already tried to download Warcraft 3 PTR 3 times and they always start downloading the Reforged version.

Why don't they let us have the Classic version? Is that too much to ask?!!

What in the world do you want to play the PTR for if you don't want to use the unified client?

Starting from this PTR the plan is to set up the PTR files just like how Overwatch and WoW have separate folders for Live and PTR (while utilizing the same asset files so you don't have to copy them all over again) so if you think they're going to go back to Classic anytime soon you have a better chance of catching a bandersnatch.

 

[knight26]

Cry people. Cry and behold, cos when you think things can't get worse, they will. Pandora's Box has been opened a long time now. Here's a pro players opinion on just one critical bit of the new changes, but the whole video is worth the watch. Go to minute 11:37

 

[Chaosy]

OK, let the rambling begin!

I don't get it honestly. Why all the balance changes now? What's the point in it? Now, when the game is littered with bugs, stability and performance issues, on pretty much every step, to a point that it feels unplayable at times, and as a cherry on top, it's missing many beloved (even key to some) features, you do what? Balance! Nice move Blizzard!

At this point I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we get idk Vulpera the next patch, but Custom Campaigns, bug fixing, stability......nope, not gonna happen.

Honestly imo Blizz needs to get their priorities straiten up!

You act like it is the same people that do melee balance changes that code bug fixes. Doing balance changes do not take away from whatever resources allocated to bug fixes (probably 1 person lol)

You could of course fire all the balance guys and hire more coders though.

 

[Asuna Tichondrius]

that not bad , and yes impale during aired unit invulnerablity kinda annoying.

 

[maduroman]

Dead fking game, unfortunately. I wish we had the old WC3 back.

isn't it just wonderful? the original version, being 18 years old, still had more players than this travesty released at the start of this year, if there was a thropy for biggest gaming fuckup of the year, blizzard would definetly earn it, shame they had to kill their classic and beloved franchise to do so, not like they give a shit anyways, i bet they are happy for all the free publicity they got even if most if not all of it was just people shitting on the game, having one of their games be the worst rated game in metacritic history HAS to be worth something right? right...

 

[Nowow]

Cry people. Cry and behold, cos when you think things can't get worse, they will. Pandora's Box has been opened a long time now. Here's a pro players opinion on just one critical bit of the new changes, but the whole video is worth the watch. Go to minute 11:37

They're not wrong

I don't own regorfed, but I'm not sure I understand the problem with this piece. It seems to me that this change goes in order to counter a real problem in the matchmaking system. It's done on purpose trying to address a lack of players (which, sure it's they're fault and bla), and not as breaking things without though. Isn't it taking a bad situation and doing as much as possible with it, instead of what seems to be leaving arranged teams a ghost town?

 

[Homor]

Balance changes on a broken game based on a 20ish year old framework feels like applying a fresh coat of paint to a rotten plank of wood.

 

[knight26]

Isn't it taking a bad situation and doing as much as possible with it, instead of what seems to be leaving arranged teams a ghost town?

Well yes. But they are overshadowing that fact, and masking it as an addition for betterment of the game. That's problem numero uno. Numero duo, they're to be blamed for the lack of players. I swear to god, just before Reforged the server was flooding like never before in 10 years. After Reforged it's back to it being a desolate playground. I for one stopped playing since they introduced the 32GB Malware as an upgrade.

Me personally, all I want if for them to revert the changes they made to the base game, return classic, and make Reforged an optional download. It's not only logical, it would satisfy everyone. Even those who like Reforged for its' graphics. Not that any popular Streamer is using Reforged graphics, and I follow them all.

 

[deepstrasz]

Me personally, all I want if for them to revert the changes they made to the base game, return classic, and make Reforged an optional download. It's not only logical, it would satisfy everyone. Even those who like Reforged for its' graphics. Not that any popular Streamer is using Reforged graphics, and I follow them all.

Yeah but they wanted to keep the community together by crosscompatibility, hence why you need to download the 32gb stuff you're not using which is a bit weird though, since if you don't use Reforged, you wouldn't actually need the stuff on your HDD but only something to make the connection between the two graphic options.

 

[knight26]

Yeah but they wanted to keep the community together by crosscompatibility, hence why you need to download the 32gb stuff you're not using which is a bit weird though, since if you don't use Reforged, you wouldn't actually need the stuff on your HDD but only something to make the connection between the two graphic options.

I can see a way how they could keep the community together without Reforged being a heavy requirement, make it so any map that uses Reforged content require Reforged to be purchased, similar to how Frozen Throne content was only available to Expansion purchasers. There was a way, make a button in the WE if you're making a Reforged exclusive map. For everything else, it's the same as is now. For example Reforged and non-Reforged players aren't playing together, anyway.

Let's be honest, they thought it's a smart move to get everyone to prepurchase and then purchase the game. I know it's futile, as my friend told me yesterday, he purchased Reforged, didn't Refund cos he simply doesn't care that much, but he doesn't play the game cos his words it sucks how they made it. So there we are, we who care get the shaft.

 

[Map Designer]

Why human towers still have heavy Armor type? its pathetic. the only race with useless defenses. I know everyone hates tower rush, but this is not the only way to fix tower rushes.
For Example:
Make Guard towers Fortified, with 200 HP. Each Masonry Upgrade gives +100 HP + 1 Armor. Now, tower rush can be stopped easily, and towers are also good late game.

I guess I will add this to my wish list. This solution isnt complicated, just give HP ability for towers (similar to tome of health or periapt of vitality, and masonry will increase level of that ability)

also, why orc burrows have heavy and not medium armor? only reason I can think of is siege not being able to destroy them. we just need 5 more attack types and problem is solved.

 

[deepstrasz]

make it so any map that uses Reforged content require Reforged to be purchased, similar to how Frozen Throne content was only available to Expansion purchasers

That's how it is now. You can't play Reforged maps without Reforged. Otherwise, you'd be able to hack the Reforged natives in the classic editor or something.

So there we are, we who care get the shaft.

Blizz gets the dough

also, why orc burrows have heavy and not medium armor? only reason I can think of is siege not being able to destroy them. we just need 5 more attack types and problem is solved.

Because most 1st tier units have normal attack type and would easily eliminate towers with medium armour...

Make Guard towers Fortified, with 200 HP. Each Masonry Upgrade gives +100 HP + 1 Armor. Now, tower rush can be stopped easily, and towers are also good late game.

No. Fortified armour is hard to damage without siege attack type. Also, Masonry gives boni to all buildings.

 

[Map Designer]

No. Fortified armour is hard to damage without siege attack type. Also, Masonry gives boni to all buildings.

yes but with 200 HP its effectively same similar as heavy with 500 HP ( in the beginning). and yes late game it should be harder to destroy towers w/o siege im fine with that. im almst sure most ppl are.

 

[deepstrasz]

yes but with 200 HP its effectively same similar as heavy with 500 HP ( in the beginning). and yes late game it should be harder to destroy towers w/o siege im fine with that. im almst sure most ppl are.

Needs testing, with various strategies as well as them being built en masse.

 

[Map Designer]

Needs testing, with various strategies as well as them being built en masse.

EHP only needs calculation.

for normal attacks
200 HP is like 285 heavy
300 is like 428
400 is like 571
500 is like 714
600 is like 857

for pierce: its double that amount
200 HP = 571 EHP
300 HP = 857 EHP

etc

 

[deepstrasz]

EHP only needs calculation.

Here
Warcraft III - Basics -> Armor and Weapon Types

 

[Homor]

It would be really cool if someone remade the better Reforged campaign maps for Warcraft 3, if someone hasn't already.

 

[deepstrasz]

It would be really cool if someone remade the better Reforged campaign maps for Warcraft 3, if someone hasn't already.

You mean like downgrading from Reforged to Classic?

 

[Homor]

You mean like downgrading from Reforged to Classic?

Yeah, "downgrading" those maps for 1.3.1. It'd be really cool. Plus, you could probably make them much better too.

 

[Daffa]

1.32 break maps from loading in 1.31 or lower. So yeah, nope. One can remade the map from scratch, tho.

 

[Wrda]

Yeah but they wanted to keep the community together by crosscompatibility, hence why you need to download the 32gb stuff you're not using which is a bit weird though, since if you don't use Reforged, you wouldn't actually need the stuff on your HDD but only something to make the connection between the two graphic options.

I'm pretty sure there are ways to make cross-compatibility without making dumb moves such as 32gb of garbage. Just like before when you wanted to uninstall the frozen throne and install again, if you successfully uninstalled it, you would also uninstall reign of chaos...pretty dumb.