- Joined
- Jan 6, 2010
- Messages
- 115
The newest and final beta edition is found here:
http://war3.incgamers.com/?p=mod&m=11334
and a presentation thread here
http://www.wc3c.net/showthread.php?t=104929
Take a look at this map. It's an Aeon of Strife style map, but with massive armies and changing computer controlled wartactics. It is completely different from other maps in the following ways:
The terrain in Battledawn is not symmetrical and based on corridors. Likewise, it's not the same units attacking the same places over and over. Here the alliance and horde relentlessly attack each other with all sorts of units and different attack paths. For once it feels a little like being an individual in an epic, raging war, and not in an arcade computer game like many other maps of the genre.
The battles are epic and pulsing, with archers rows forming up, fliers coming in and siege artillery on the hilltops. Among the many challenges on the map is to recognize when to defend and attack. For example, if you see a group of allied soldiers on the minimap come running down the mountainside, you might want to rush to help them attack before you town portal to defend.
You follow the flow of the war and act thereafter. Battledawn can actually be fun to watch without playing at all, just to see how the battle goes.
Battledawn is about more than one hero. You can buy all units from the original game, plus more, to let you utilize your full repertoire of good ol' war3 micro skills.
Use all thinkable units from zappers to dragons to throw at your enemy. All the best elements of Warcraft 3 is included in this map at some point.
The towns of the Alliance and the Horde is logically built into the terrain, and their layout is completely different with each their advantages and disadvantages. There's clear concepts infused into the town design, which makes it interesting. Towers stand atop hills, så utilizing the new powerful catapults is a good strategy.
Units have more distinct roles compared to the standard game, as they have more difference; archers and ranged units in general have longer range, all units have about half the original HP value. That way, the importance of taking position on strategic hills and such are enhanced.
Battledawn also features a lot of surprises. Apart from the new fun abilities like Summon Spirit of Death and Call of the Wild or Owl Form, there are lots of things to discover and explore on the map. Neutral creeps with random drops exist throughout the land, and even a quest for the ultimate weapon may be persued. Both factions have so-called Legendary Artifacts at their disposal, unique to each faction. These are powerful items acquired for large sums of gold, powerful enough to turn the tides of battle, often in flashy ways. For instance take a look on the Dominie, and item that sacrifices a heroes life to completely erradicate everything on the screen in a huge nuclear-like explosion. Nothing survives this, not even buildings.
There are different kinds of heroes in this map, and all is equally good in their own way. And to the support-heroes advantage, you don't need to kill a lot of enemies to get income; in other words, your troops are more than walking money pouches for the enemy. They are there to help you! Gold, apart from neutral loot, comes from your farms and town halls. They produce a set amount of gold every minute, so all you have to do is to manage defending these; while destroying those of your opponent.
Strategical features like the control points profiles this map; There are three such points,and whoever controls these receives extra income. In addition, heroes can town portal to these, which proves to be a decisive form of logistics. Heroes will normally teleport back to the altar to heal, then pop back out on the map again. Then holding these is of great importance. Both ground units and heroes may seize these points. The enemy will not get control before all your units in the vicinity is destroyed, so placing a garrison to guard it is important. Even if they cannot withstand an angry hero, they may keep it until your own hero can teleport in.
You don't need your hero to stand next to a building to buy units from it. Buy units wherever it is need at any time. If your oppoent attacks on the far side of the map and your hero is busy, pay for defense immiediately. And remember to build peasants to repair buildings normally. Buildings can not be rebuilt during a game, so taking down even a guard tower is a huge gain for the enemy.
Battledawn does not set focus on the skills for the sake of having new skills, but we have changed those necessary for concept and balance. Instead, this map focus on epic warfare with few limits, alive-feeling battles, and a demand for the players to react and stay on top of their wits while devicing strategies.
We've been playtesting this map more than 300 times, and have concluded that, despite the vast differences between the horde and alliance in all ways, they have won about 50% of the time each. But you can never have enough, right. Feedback is ever valuable in the continuation of developing this in the future.
Please playtest this and tell us what you think. We've had a lot of good times with all the action this map tends to serve, and hope you'll have the same.
PS! Battledawn is not a beginner-friendly map. It's hard to know what to do the first times, before you understand the layout and going-ons, but the pop-up hints will help you out. Also very few of the maps hidden features will be seen the first time(s). Thus we Hope you'll get to play through it at least a few times.
Enjoy!
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