Finally managed to finish this masterpiece campaign yesterday on 1.31.1.something, newest patch, newest version on normal difficulty. Let me just say that I had a blast. Just want to leave this final comment to summarize all the stuff I said, and tell my opinion on chapters and bugs, and other stuff. Just imos. Was hoping I would post this before you read the comments, but I was unable to.
First of all I encountered four bugs, probably due to the latest warcraft 3 patches:
- The murloc quest is broken. It works if you play the map from the start, but when you save/load (which you have to more often than not cause the map is quite challenging), it doesn't work. You only get the big murloc and nothing else happens.
- Some chapters/interludes (though mostly chapters) do not appear on the campaign loading screen.
- When I liberated the Brill in chapter 6 I got the abomination quest. I couldn't do it straight away cause a bunch of demons/forsaken were constantly attacking. I took the southern base(with the castle), lost the Brill, destroyed the upper demon base, than took the other forsaken base and destroyed the demon base next to it. Then I searched for the abomination, but it was nowhere to be found. I used "iseedeadpeople" and the abomination was nowhere. I did do save/load at some point.
- After using save/load in chapters 6 and 11 the buildings get strangely oriented.
Now my opinion about techtree, interludes and chapters:
TECHTREE:
First of all the techtree is really unique and amazing. There are only a few mostly cosmetic issues:
-Build buttons are in a little strange order. It would be cool if you changed farm and tower build buttons positions, so the farm would be next to the altar, as is with the humans. Maybe then change towers and graveyard, so the towers get in top right corner as is with the orcs and night elves.
-If I noticed correctly you are using these
Ujimasa Hojo's Resources Discussion building models for the forsaken. But why are you still using scourge slaughter house when there is a forsaken one in this pack? Also might be cool if you changed Temple of the Damned with the Plagueatorium,
Barracks (Human) and Derivatives, and Tomb of relics with this
Building (Sunken Ruins) and Derivatives , both have human birth animations, but that's just my point of view. The only building model that imo doesn't look logical is the val'kyr building. It doesn't really make sense that the val'kyrs are traind from the bones of a dead dragon. These two maps,
Forsaken and
Forsaken V1.11, have a perfect Val'kyr building model, with human birth animation and an icon, but I was unable to find it on the hive.
About the units:
-Ghoul is really useful and needs to stay. They harvest and move a lot faster than the workers and it's much better to have 4-5 ghouls on lumber than 10+ workers. Lorewise forsaken do have ghouls in WoW. Plus they are undead and a race without ghouls is imo not really undead.
-Archers(and spiders) are perfect as they are. The only thing is that the ghost could use food. If I remember correctly archers use 2 food, then the ghosts could use 1 food.
-Dreadgurads are perfect, nothing else to say.
-Apothecaries use very diverse abilities. I agree that all three abilities should stay, but they would be more useful if one of them was an autocast. Perhaps cleansing toxins could be an autocast like the dryad's cancellation or the stun ability could be an autocast somehow. I also think that the healing could be nerfed a little, healing some more hitpoints.
-Banshees are perfect as they are. The coolest thing about them is that you preserve mana with vengeance instead of spending it on curse. And then turning them ethereal and stealing enemy's knights, sorceresses, priests, mammoths, abominations, crypt fiends, necromancers etc...
-Meat wagons are good. It's just that they are not meat wagons anymore. Their role now is to spread plague and blight not dig and carry corpses, so them throwing corpses doesn't make a lot of sense. They could use a different name and a different model. Maybe
Forsaken Catapult, or the maps I mentiond earlier also have a few forsaken siege unit models that might work.
-Abominations are perfect as they are. Especially love their new abilities devour and maggots.
-Vampire Bats are perfect, nothing else to say.
-Val'kyrs are the only units in the techtree with problems:
-Revive doesn't work very well. In chapter 11 after Arthas attacked he killd 3-4 Dreadguards, an Abomination, a couple of archers and a few Apothecaries. After all that a val'kyr revived a maggot. I was like c'mon, really. I think that revive targets should be prioritized. Dreadguards, Abominations, Archers and Apothecaries being of first priority. Ghouls and Workers second, Spiders third and Maggots last.
-Having two identical Val'kyr units with different skins is imo confusing, unnecessary and makes gameplay harder. I agree that both skins are awesome and should be in the campaign. Here is my suggestion how. Three factions in the campaign use the val'kyr: scourge, forsaken and vrykul. You can make them have different val'kyr, with same stats and abilities, but with different skins and visual effects:
-Scourge can have pale val'kyr, with their abilities having icy visuals like now.
-Forsaken can have dark val'kyr with their abilities having dark/void visuals.
-Vrykul can have golden val'kyr,
Golden Val'Kyr or
Golden Valkyr, with their abilities having light effects, revive looking like resurrection and Unholy Protection like Liadrin's mass heal.
INTERLUDES:
Interludes are amazing. I'm especially in love with "Wrath of the Lich King", "Wrathgate", "Deliverence", Prologue and Epilogue. Again saw some minor cosmetic issues:
-In "In Damnation" Sylvanas is behind a cliff, most likely caused by the newest patches.
-In the Prologue and "Memories", when high elf Sylvanas is battling the scourge, her army has dragonhawk knights and dragonhawk riders that use blood elven skins instead of RoC high elven skins.
-In "Wrathgate" I didn't see a single dwarf unit, you could add a couple of rifflemen or mortar teams.
-The only interlude that imo has problems is "The Invasion of Northrend".
-All armadas are almost invisible cause of the storm, could be just a little more visible.
-The Alliance armada has a huge Skybreaker with a lot of gyrocopters(imo the weakest, most ridiculous and useless unit of all), but no gryphons and no hippogryphs/hippogryph riders.
-The Horde armada on the other hand has all flying units, but no Orgrim's Hammer. It too should have a role in the campaign.
-The Forsaken and Blood Elven armada has no air units at all. It has no Vampire Bats and no Dragonhawk Riders.
edit: Forgot to say, but would be godtier awesome if you added WotLK trailer sounds, music and King Terenas monologue, in the interlude "Wrath of the Lich King".
CHAPTERS:
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Chapter 1: Perfect start as it is. Just Saidan might not be necessary in a small scarlet outpost, but that doesn't really matter.
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Chapter 2: Also a perfect second chapter. Love the fact that there is a basebuilding mission where Sylvanas is not playable. The only thing that you could change is to make the ogres and the grey orcs attack your base in turns, instead of just the grey orcs attacking. That would give more variety and more motivation to do the optional quest.
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Chapter 3 is also good. Saidan Dathrohan needs to appear in this chapter cause Balnazzar revelation is one of the highlights of the campaign. If you are going to add Brigitte Abbendis then it could only be in the southern scarlet base that attacks Varimathras and Putress. There could also be an optional quest to destroy that base. Murloc quest is a cool reference to TFT campaign. Rhonin could use a new model(
Rhonin).
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Chapter 4 is one of my three favorite chapters. Enjoyed every minute of it. Perfect as it is. Might also be cool if you added either Renault Mograine or Sally Whitemane. Simple reason is that when the demons and the crusade start fighting you have to attack Balnazzar right away or he will destroy the crusade and attack you and destroy you. Do not make the scarlet hero attack your base cause it would be too much(maybe only on hard). Maybe make the scarlet hero attack your base only after Balnazzar is destroyed.
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Chapter 5 is imo the weakest chapter of the campaign. First of all Sylvanas uses an outdated model. To be honest I couldn't complete this chapter on normal so had to change it to easy. There are too many frost wyrms, the lich spawns too often and your heroes and friendly AIs are too weak. You could make the fountain of health in the center of Orgrimmar replenish mana as well(the fountain of mana near the portals is completely too far and thus useless), crypt fiends and beatles that spawn not to use burrow(so annoying), reduce the number of frost wyrms, make enemy heroes spawn a little less. Maybe make the Lich and Deathknight(and maybe even add a Crypt Lord in the third base) attack in turns. And make Jaina and Thrall able to reach level 8(Sylvanas is already powerful at level 7, but not rally these two).
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Chapter 6 is perfect as it is and very interesting, nothing else to say. Thrall could be able to reach level 9 in this chapter, but nothing else.
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Chapter 7 is one of the three of my favorite chapters, it is very long, but I enjoyed every moment of it. Especially loved controlling Blood Elves and Forsaken simultaneously, my favorite part is when you charge the last base with both armies. You should imo enable Lor'themar to reach level 10. Also enable the blood elves to build cannon and arcane towers, and give them an additional building that would research lumbermill and blacksmith upgrades, cause Farstraider Lauge is overstuffed with training units and workers, plus all the upgrades. And having improved masonry and all three towers would make Blood Elves lives a lot easier in chapters 10 and 11. The vrykul are led by a blood prince. That imo doesn't make sense. I know that he appears with them in wow, but he is a messenger for the Lich King. He doesn't lead them in battle, Ingvar the Plunderer (a vrykul) does. Replace the blood prince with Angerboda, or Ymiron, or a new hero Ingvar. The vrykul spear thrower doesn't really look that it's made for throwing spears, this one could be a lot better ranged unit(
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/vrykul- huntress.313243/#resource-82829), you can give the spear carrier the role of a wolf and repurpose the wolf as a siege unit. Also noticed that in chapters 7 and 10 the vrykuls do not do any upgrades, why not?
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Chapter 8 I personally am not a fan of tourch chapters, but nevertheless it's really good. You could make heroes able to find a gem of true sight at the first part of the map. And make heroes able to reach level 10. Varian could use a different model(
King Varian Wrynn).
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Chapter 9 you start with two blood elven sorceresses. That imo makes no sense, cause both Jaina and Vereesa are team alliance and Vereesa doesn't like the blood elves. Give them high elven skin. Vereesa uses an outdated model, I think. Also the Skybreaker appears at the start of the mission and is sooo annoying. He doesn't need to appear before the end. Krasus could use a new model(
Krasus or
High Elf & Creeps Pack(Eldin)). The san'layn prince that appears with the vrykul could instead appear here in front of the fountain where you temper Quel'Delar. Make Jaina and Vereesa able to reach level 10.
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Chapter 10 is one of my three favorite chapters, enjoyed every moment with it. The stuff about the Vrykul and Blood Elves I said already. Love that you fight Kel'thuzad and Sapphiron. The reward for killing Sapphiron is great, but the reward for killing Svalna could be better, some val'kyr related object. Val'kyr attacking your base aren't really a problem if you have two vampire bats at your and blood elven bases. Here I'll talk about the Alliance and Horde AI's. The Horde imo looks a lot cooler than the Alliance. The horde has all orc units plus the warlock, plus the blood elves in chapter 11. The Alliance feels like it's missing it's two important parts. There is not enough dwarves, no comment on the gyrocopter, the mortar teams aren't that visible, that leaves only gryphins. Readding rifflemen would solve this. It also seems there is no silver covenant, besides Vereesa herself and some priests. Maybe change night elven archer with a high elven one, or include them both, but give the high elf different abilities(cold arrow or arcane arrow), and/or give the Alliance a new high elven unit. Give the Horde Orgrim's Hammer. Also make red dragonflight able to have red whelps/drakes/dragons beside the custom units.
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Chapter 11, man that was hard. First thing I noticed is that Alexstrasza is smaller than Sindragosa, while storywise she should be larger. Would be cooler, more fun if Skybreaker and Orgrim's Hammer destroyed each other, instead of Sindragosa destroying the Skybreaker. I love the idea of having Arthas, an ultra powered hero who can destroy your entire army and annihilate your allies on his own. Arthas should have chaos attack instead of hero. But racing with him for the obelisks would be imo a suicide and a mission imposible. Again there are just a little too many frost wyrms. Imo Anub'arak could be more fitting to this mission than Kel'thuzad since he and Arthas were in the obelisk mission in TFT campaign. The Alliance here uses Ancient Protectors, the weakest tower of all, why? The humans have the best towers.
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Chapter 12 is also awesome. Love all the boss fights. But again Anub'arak deserves a boss fight. King Terenas could use a new model(
King). It would also be cool if we were able to train red dragonflight units. Both custom and not custom. And make workers disappear once they've build the structures, they just take space.
At the end if you're reading this I need to thank you and congratulate you on this awesome campaign. Wish you all the best.