Announcement: HoS Melee Mode incoming!

[Rommel]

First melee map is out:
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/lost-temple-heart-of-storms.351517/

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! As Act II is being worked on, we're announcing the long-awaited HoS melee mode which will serve as a base for all Act II tech, but will be released much sooner (as in "very very soon"). The first version will include races of Act I (Orcs, Ogres and Draenei), but with tweaks, fixes, some new models and additional improvements. It will also serve as a tutorial mode to practice and get used to these races' tech trees in less stressful conditions compared to HoS Act I missions. For that purpose, we're including an optional system that displays hints and unit/hero info.

Visuals

HoS Melee (and subsequent HoS campaigns) is currently made for Version 1.35 and is supposed to work with Reforged HD graphics mode.

However, we are NOT switching to Reforged styled models. HoS visuals will still be at the level which we've previously described as "semi-Reforged": a step or two ahead of vanilla Warcraft III, but still keeping true to classic unit proportions and general feel. We'll be using some of Reforged assets like spells and fire effects, large detailed doodads etc, and also keep water reflections and shadows, but otherwise the graphics will be exactly like what you've seen in Act I. No changes here and none are even considered.

Why are we using Reforged 1.35 instead of pre-1.29 then? The reason for it is we want the game to be stable and support the complexity we want, and be available to as many users as possible without complex manipulations or risk of crashing. While the 1.27-29 versions more or less worked with 3 factions, these will not support 6, let alone 10, as they struggle even with the current visuals. Using Legacy aka classic mode was considered and may be implemented but really depends on how it all goes. Most, if not all, HoS models are still compatible with non-Reforged Warcraft III, and making a reverse ported version to 1.27-1.29 is technically possible, but we're concentrating efforts on 1.35 now.

Using 1.35 actually required reworking some specific models such as Succubus that was revamped completely because it didn’t work with Reforged engine at all, or Death Knight whose innovative material that looked so cool in vanilla broke completely in Reforged.

We may also try to give some more detail or new skins (within certain limits) to older models, rule of thumb is that the higher tier unit is, the more detailed it can be. One example is Orc Raider whose wolf got new paws, head and tail that no longer look like bad papercraft.

Visuals are not final and will improve over time based on feedback.

Per popular request, heroes can have their glow effect enabled via a chat command (but that's not how they're supposed to look and this is purely optional).

Visuals for the game itself WILL be affected; for example, please disable the custom skins you may have for heroes (specifically Farseer Thrall) unless you enjoy the idea of the Netherlord hero being, well, Thrall.

It’s highly recommended to either remove the mod files to play the normal game, or make a separate game installation for the mod.

Map: Lost Temple

The map has been remade in Karabor visuals, as a way to try out the mechanics, porting, graphics and balance. This particular map will not feature naval battles.

It’s relatively small but allows sufficient variations in tactics and approach, so it’s very good for the first tryout.

Of course, everything gameplay-related and visuals-related will be revamped: new terrain, doodads, creeps and neutral structures.

Melee rules
Same as before, any number of players (up to 4 for the LT map), any of which can be AI, and any can be in a team.

Winning/losing conditions are the same: lose all buildings and it’s a defeat. Losing all main structures will reveal you to enemies until rebuilt.

Now, what exactly will be changed:

Factions

• Until Act II is released, three factions are available: Orcs, Ogres and Draenei.
• Upon map loading, each Horde player has 10 seconds to select Orcs, Ogres or a random one of the two.
• If none is selected, after 10 seconds a random faction will be assigned.
• In single player, the selection time is unlimited.
• Draenei will not choose their faction; any Alliance player automatically rolls Draenei.
• AI as Horde always picks a random option.
• Because Shadow Elves and Legion are not yet implemented, picking them results in an instant defeat.
• Picking a Random side in the map selection is not recommended because if it rolls Shadow Elves or Legion, this will be the end of the game for the given player. Because WC3 does not allow changing a player's race after the match begins, and there’s no way to exclude Random from the pool, it’s not advisable.
• Note that some unit abilities will be changed, for varying reasons, from the campaign equivalents, trying to keep the unit’s idea generally the same.
• Campaign-only subfactions (such as Blackrock orcs) are not playable in melee as separate factions, but units belonging to these clans can appear as creeps.
• Balance is not final and will be changed over time based on feedback.

AI

• AI players receive resources every 30 seconds if they are below a certain limit. Amount of resources received scales with AI difficulty and current tier.
  
• Three levels of difficulty for AI as before: Easy, Normal and Insane (Hard); the only real difference is how high the resource boost is.
• AI has full access to their tech tree, and will be buying items from their faction shop in addition to whatever they can find.
• After 15 (Easy), 30 (Normal) or 45 (Hard) minutes, additional resources will stop and AI can potentially run out of gold and lumber.
• Each AI has a personality within their faction, chosen randomly; for example, Auchenai build more mechanisms and defensive towers, while Wyrmbreakers train more dragons.
• AI does not use the most complex spell combos; for some AI personalities, it will be proxied by AI getting similar effects as long as they have all the prerequisites (such as Daemonic Circles summoning Daemons if they have a chance).
• AI will have only a limited use of neutral structures.
• AI will be allowed to build expansions and change their home location.

Shipyard and Naval Battles

• Only maps with sufficient water area will allow naval battles.
• AI only builds shipyards in dedicated naval maps, and only uses ships to a degree (mostly transports).
• Lost Temple is not such a map, and will not get any.
• This means faction shops will not sell shipyard-building items.
• Shipyards do not count as structures for the purpose of victory and defeat; losing all other buildings will destroy shipyards as well.
• Ogre Mercenary Port, as well as any other “temporary” structure, will not count as the last structure either; losing everything else destroys all remaining Ports.

Creeps

• Creeps now scale levels 1 to 6, similar to player’s units, with 1-3 roughly matching the tier units, and 4-6 being more of minibosses.
• Some creeps that are equivalents of playable units (such as Blackrock orcs) are even affected by player upgrades if a player with the same faction obtains them (via Mercenary camp or mind control).
• Each creep pack with drops will drop random items of specified level and category.
• There are creeps with unorthodox abilities; they may have mind control, be invisible, summon minions or even be ethereal.
• Superbosses and items above level 6 are currently not considered, but may appear in future.
• Creeps will continue to give experience to heroes past level 5, although at a greatly reduced rate.

Items

• Instead of Scroll of Town Portal, each Hero gets a free potion of their faction when trained.
  
• Drops of booster items (Manual of Health, Tome of Strength etc.) will be much more rare.
• Categories of items that can drop are: Permanent (stat boosters) and Charged (potions, scrolls, tomes).
• Permanent items are each 3 levels of increasing given stats: such as rings increasing all stats, amulets providing protection against ranged attacks, or swords increasing attack damage.
• A unique Permanent item is Hearthstone that teleports the hero home and is not consumed upon use.
• All Charged items have one use only, their effects may vary: potions restore Life and Mana, while scrolls buff or heal all nearby allies.
• Three tomes are available as Charged drops: Oblivion (reset skill points), Ages (adds experience) and Power (increases all stats permanently).
• Purchasable items from faction shops do not obey the same limit; they can have more than 1 charge, cost less, or combine effects, and even give trade-offs (such as increasing armor at the cost of reducing speed).
• Purchasable and Campaign items do not drop from creeps in melee.
• There is a debate on whether we should enable the item stacking mechanic from the campaign: tell us what you think, should potions and scrolls stack in hero inventory, accumulating more charges in a single slot?

Hint Mode

• By default, hints are turned off for any player.
• Typing “hint” in chat will enable the hints for that particular player and that particular fight.
• Hints will be shown (once per fight) upon encountering a tricky thing: a neutral building, a pack of unusual creeps, acquiring a rare item, buying a shipyard item, training a unit with not-so-obvious abilities etc.
• The set of hints might be expanded later.

Random Hero Mode

• Because of the way Random Hero setting works, we had to change it.
• Now, if you turn it on for a HoS-themed map, it will not just spawn a random Hero at the start of the battle.
• Instead, it will give you all four (!) heroes of the selected faction from the start.
• AI will only actually use the Heroes that fit their selected personality, though.
• This mode is VERY highly experimental, but we hope it proves fun to play since it does give you something otherwise impossible.

Neutral Structures, old and new​

Old structures make their return, not all of them though; there will be more to replace the old ones in future. Some existing neutral structures had to be excluded due to their benefits being either moved to a specific faction as their unique feature or simply because playable factions can now build their own structures with similar utility. We will even try to make different models for most of them depending on the zone, such as Draenei-themed fountain in Karabor (see a screenshot above).

• First is, of course, Gold Mines; no changes other than appearance. Remember that Ogres have a unique Smelter structure that can deliver gold without building a main structure next to a Gold Mine.
• Fountain of Life is not changed; it replenishes 1% of maximum Life to all nearby units except those who naturally have negative Life regeneration.
• Fountain of Magic is not changed; it replenishes 1% of maximum Mana to all nearby units that have any Mana to begin with.
• Artifact Merchant replaces the old Goblin Merchant, selling 11 items of tiers 1 and 2: 7 passive stat-boosting items and 4 consumables. These are neither the best nor the worst items one can obtain.
• Black Market replaces the old Marketplace and sells random items of the same category and level as the ones already dropped at least once (except faction-specific ones). However, because now there’s fewer item types, there’s a much higher chance to score a specific item.
• Mercenary Camps / Inns work as before, allowing to hire zone-specific and map-specific creeps for a high price. Each zone and map will have their own selection. Unlike the vanilla game, up to 10 different mercenaries are available per map.
• Way Gates are not changed; interacting with it teleports units to the designated zone, usually to a linked Way Gate.

More types are considered and may or may not appear in Act 2 onwards based on feedback:

• Sanctuary makes all player’s units within its area of effect invulnerable for as long as they remain nearby. Structures are not affected and cannot be placed within its radius.
• Bastion constantly produces creeps, replacing them as the previous ones die, each next wave being more powerful and giving better rewards.
• Portal allows paying gold to summon faction-specific reinforcements anywhere on the map; cost is always the same, but unit composition changes based on the player’s faction.
• Trade House constantly produces gold for the army that controls it uncontested (minus stealth units).
• Shredmill constantly produces lumber for the army that controls it uncontested (minus stealth units).
• Librarium allows paying a high resource cost to instantly complete a random research for the player’s faction that they don’t have yet, but have prerequisites for. If everything available is researched, will instead grant a random Tome or Scroll.
• Observatory reveals nearby terrain and detects stealth for the army that controls it uncontested, and allows paying gold to reveal a portion of the map.
• Forgotten Temple allows sacrificing units and items, rewarding the contributing army with experience (if available), resources, random item of the same type and level, or a random mercenary unit.

Lost Temple map, specifically, will get Fountain of Life (as before), Artifact Merchants (as before) and Mercenary Camps (replacing the Goblin Laboratories).

Known Bugs (and we’ll be glad for the help with fixing them!)

• Reforged’s AI lag can be quite serious. This is the problem of the game itself, not the mod; if AI can’t find something, it starts lagging severely. From experience, this happens more often when there’s 3 AI players and they have ambiguity about what to do next. We are looking into ways to fix this, such as setting priorities. On the bright side, this lag does not affect the campaign because there all AI actions are scripted.
• Hero Glow, once enabled, may end up impossible to turn off.
• Some models are glitchy with normals. In many cases it cannot be repaired in any way other than manually redrawing the polygons in question.
• Some summonable units, such as Daemon and Risen Dead, cannot use custom expiration timers and use a default one instead.
• Some summoning spells don't play the Birth animations even if the model has them.
• Trees, when chopped down on non-even ground, may glitch.
• Using custom skins for Farseer can cause Netherlord to show up incorrectly; does not affect the gameplay stats.
• Some models shimmer when in stealth or ethereal.
• Skin data may override the ability list for a unit, but it is all fixable when found.
• Because of higher unit count, it IS possible to overload the game’s memory at the highest settings. From our experience, all 3 AI players + cheat for unlimited resources + cheat for speed build + cheat to remove fog of war + high graphics quality = game FPS may drop.
• Some spells, usually reverse ones, are not very AI-friendly; an example of this is Exarch’s Emergency Power. Although it functions as intended, AI may sometimes try to use that spell on units that have no mana.
• If you open and re-save the map, minimap will be replaced, with all buildable space shown in white. This is a Reforged issue with all custom textures and is only solvable by manually replacing the map image. We will do that, don't worry.
• We could use more data on stability, and thus feedback on how well it went / bugs during gameplay will be welcome.
• For reasons unknown, Blizzard made the decision to cut the nice victory artwork and racial icons from the score screen. We regret that since our artists put a lot of work into making these. Currently looking into ways to bring them back (or reuse at least).
• There are UI elements in game that are hard-coded and cannot be replaced neither by imports nor by local files. Notable example is disabled slot fillers in inventory.

See you soon!

 

[MogulKahn]

Sounds amazing. Looking forward to it.

 

[lichao001486]

I can't wait to play melee-mode.

 

[wowcraft]

This project is back!? Nice and Good Luck!!