Dalaran v.2.5.2

----------wa666r----------

DALARAN v2.5.2
Created by wa666r

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Map Info:

First alternate melee in my series of maps involving lore races/factions from the Warcraft universe. This addition allows the players to explore and play as the knowledgeable people of Dalaran.

Dalaran, the most sapient of the seven human kingdoms, and the only few that maintain immense manipulation over magics and the arcane arts. The faction has long been the substratum for some of the most puissant mages; thus giving them reputation as a cesspool of erudition and study. From their cognizance, the mages bring forth spells of devastating magics; capable of eradicating whole armies. When rallying the casters may utilize their mana reserves to preserve countless lives and repel any enemy that threatens their precious libraries and magic holds. However, even with the most advanced skills in the arcane arts, the people of Dalaran failed to halt the onslaught from Arthas and the foul Undead Scourge; resulting in evoking the Burning Legion to force Dalaran's untimely demise. Now with their influence diminished, the refugees of Dalaran sought reclamation.

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Features:

Play as a new race, and behold the tactics and abilities to utilize their various strategies to bring the fight to the enemy.

- 4 Custom Heroes: Arcane Curator, Thaumaturge, Spell Officer, and High Wizard.

- a list of new items reflecting the Dalaran faction.


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Some else stuff about map:

TO PLAY AS THE DALARAN, CHOOSE HUMAN WHEN CHOOSING YOUR RACE.

BIG THANKS TO UJIMASA HOJO FOR HIS HELP IN TEACHING HOW TO MODEL/TEXTURE.

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BIG UPDATE:

- REVAMPED HERO!
- NEW UNIT: MAGICIAN!
- NEW UNIT: ARCANIST
- REVAMPED APPRENTICE
- REVAMPED GEOMANCER
- Changed tooltip layout
- QWER hotkey system
- Battlemage slightly revamped
- Charmer slightly revamped
- Power Blades removed
- Changed "Mana Shield" to "Unstable Portal"
- Added "Polymorph Staff"
- Revamped "Orb of Energy"
- Added "Book of Recall"
- MANY new icons
- Revamped "Dalaran's Rune"
- ALL Dalaran troops have a racial Mana Shield ability
- Dozens of extra icons
- SO MUCH MORE



Thaumaturge


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Affiliation: Dalaran
Role: Anti-Magic/Offense
Race: Elven
Gender: Male

Though a rare sight, the Thaumaturge can witnessed enforcing the laws of magic with devastating calculations. All the Thaumaturges were once poor and poverty stricken people. These poor sous had all been approached by a mysterious hooded man who gave them a choice to have power beyond their comprehension, or starve and die like filth. Those that chose the first then knew the difficulties that came with bearing such forces. The mages were trained in secret at various unknown and magically hidden locations of Dalaran and secluded mountainsides. Through multiple years of vigorous study, intense mental preparation, and managing with backlash of mana, the few that survived transformed from poor fools to the most elite spell enforcers that can match even the greatest Archmages. They may initially send a wave of Anti-Energy to sear the flesh and mind, causing those afflicted to harm their own entity with each attempt at retaliation. With such great magical forces surging through the Thaumaturge, they infuse their own body with the existing mana granting greater haste added from the mana surges; and transferring the negative energy towards their foes to force the mana reserves to backfire . Not only do they manage to diminish their enemies of any mana from their capabilities, but the sheer mind concentration from the Thaumaturge trumps the focus of their foes with ease. As the last resort when dealing with those that will not vanquish so easily, these enforces instantly destroy and mana reserves their enemies around them hold, all the while imbuing himself with aggressive backlash magic which wrecks those who ran dry of their mana.


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Ability Name: Anti-Energy
Ability description
Forces a projectile of negative energies at a target enemy unit, dealing damage and stunning the target for 1 second. Whenever the target attacks, it loses some health and mana.

Level 1 - 100 damage, each attack drains 6 health and mana.
Level 2 - 200 damage, each attack drains 9 health and mana.
Level 3 - 300 damage, each attack drains 12 health and mana.



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Ability Name: Overpowered
Ability description
Empowers the mind of the Thaumaturge with arcane energies, increasing attack rate, and grants variant levels of feedback damage, attacks that destroy mana per hit against any unit, causing bonus damage equal to the mana destroyed.
Lasts 15 seconds.

Level 1 - +15% attack rate, 8 feedback damage.
Level 2 - +25% attack rate, 16 feedback damage.
Level 3 - +35% attack rate, 24 feedback damage.



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Ability Name: Nullification Aura
Ability description
Negates mana regeneration to nearby enemy units.

Level 1 - Negates .5 mana regeneration.
Level 2 - Negates 1 mana regeneration.
Level 3 - Negates 1.5 mana regeneration.



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Ability Name: Epicenter
Ability description
Creates a vortex of magic which completely voids nearby enemies of their mana. Upon activation gains 100 bonus damage against enemies with less than 10% mana for 25 seconds.

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Unexpected tab 1

Arcane Curator

Unexpected tab 3

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Affiliation: Dalaran
Role: Damage/Anti-Mage
Race: Elven
Gender: Female

The Arcane Curator is a fascinating archer who has trained for ages to master her arts in the arcane. She had been a loyal member of the Dalaran's elites, and has a strict resolve to protect Dalaran and her people from their foes. Even though she wields mighty arcane spells that can eradicate any enemy, she is also proficient in her people's art of bow mastery; thus when combining her natural skill of archery along with the arcane magics, the Arcane Curator becomes a terrifying foe. She is able to imbue an arrow with arcane energies that not only severely wounds the enemy, but also destroying their magical essence in the process. The Arcane Curator has a certain love for keeping her Quiver magically honed; allowing the arrows inside to absorb their essence. hen her own magical powers seem to wane, she is able to regain it back from the magically fit enemies which she attacks with; a truly powerful capability. When all seems lost, the Arcane Curator can use her most masterful magic to send bolts of magic flying in all direction, while at the same time restoring the magics of her allies.


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Ability Name: Arcane Arrow
Ability description
Fires a mystic arrow at a target enemy, dealing damage and destroying mana.

Level 1 - 115 damage, 60 mana destroyed.
Level 2 - 200 damage, 100 mana destroyed.
Level 3 - 265 damage, 145 mana destroyed.



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Ability Name: Enchanted Quiver
Ability description
Empowers the Arcane Curator's attacks with powerful magics, dealing extra damage and area effect.

Level 1 - 15 area damage.
Level 2 - 25 area damage.
Level 3 - 35 area damage.



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Ability Name: Spell Hunter
Ability description
Enemies with 50% or more mana will take extra damage and the Arcane Curator will steals mana from the enemy per attack.

Level 1 - 5 bonus damage, 10 mana stolen.
Level 2 - 8 bonus damage, 15 mana stolen.
Level 3 - 10 bonus damage, 20 mana stolen.



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Ability Name: Turmoil of Magic
Ability description
Evokes a cluster of magical missiles that seek and attack nearby enemies and structures, dealing 200 damage. Also restores all nearby friendly units' mana by 100 points.

[/table]
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Arcanist

Magician

Charmer

Aether Elemental

Unexpected tab 5


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Affiliation: Dalaran
Role: Offensive/Support/Summoning
Race: Human
Gender: Female

The Arcanist studied various fields of magic before deciding their calling in the Arcane arts. These mages were already magnificently experienced with magics as they studied the methods of utilizing the magic in the air and space to their advantage. With a single incantation, the Arcanist sends a wave of negated mana to ravage enemy's magical essence then transfer the burn to it's vitality. To further advance in their arcane course they may cast a spell to unlock the mind of the afflicted, allowing any incoming or outgoing spell to re-energize it. To show their demonstration of their arcane prowess, the Arcanist spawns a elemental from the aether; yet even with all their confidence, the aether places a burden upon the caster, scolding them with silence and pain.


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Ability Name: Inversion
Ability description
Sends a bolt of negative energy that burns 60 points of a target enemy unit's mana. The mana combusts, dealing damage equal to the amount of mana burned.


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Ability Name: Wisdom Embrace
Ability description
Heals a target friendly unit for 300 hit points over 60 seconds. Each spell the unit casts or has cast on them causes them to gain 150 hit points.


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Ability Name: Aether Manipulation
Ability description
Summons a Aether Elemental under the Arcanist's control. These creatures are agile flying siege units that may attack multiple structures at once. The Aether Elemental has True Sight, which reveals invisible enemy units.
Lasts 300 seconds.

Upon casting, the Arcanist deals 75% less damage, and can not cast spells for 30 seconds.

Attacks land and air units.




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Affiliation: Dalaran
Role: Damage/Debuffer
Race: High Elven
Gender: Male

Flying mage unit, adept at aerial combat and disrupting spellcasters. Has the Mana Decay ability, which cause the enemy to constantly lose mana and health. Has Enchanted Missiles, which causes increased damage and summons an orb that attacks nearby enemies from the killed. Can learn the Arcane Field ability.


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Ability Name: Mana Decay
Ability description
Absorbs the life and mana of a target enemy unit by taking 5 hit points and mana per second from it and giving it to this unit.
Lasts 30 seconds.


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Ability Name: Enchanted Missiles
Ability description
Adds 10 bonus damage to attacks. Units killed while under the effect of Enchanted Missiles will turn into an orb that deals damage to nearby enemies for 6 seconds.


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Ability Name: Arcane Field
Ability description
Causes a target area to have negative energies, causing all enemy units within that area to have reduced movement and attack rate by 25% and be unabe to cast spells.

Lasts 15 seconds.




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Affiliation: Dalaran
Role: Support/Range
Race: Elven
Gender: Male

The Charmer is a unique attacker wielding a powerful whip materialized out of arcane magics. For many years the Charmers have been practicing to hone their skill in order to better serve the nation of Dalaran; and when the time came, they were prepared. During the Undead Scourge invasion of Dalaran, the Charmers fought valiantly keeping the numerous undead ground troops and flyers at bay. Only once their mana reserves ran dry did the Charmers have to retreat. For without their mana, the powerful mana is highly ineffective. The Charmers are invaluable on the battlefield; providing aggressive support fire.


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Ability Name: Mana Whip
Ability description
As long as the Charmer's mana reserves are upheld at 25 points or more, all attacks deal double damage.


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Ability Name: Tri-Whip
Ability description
The Charmer charges up a single strike that strikes three nearby enemy units dealing 50 damage each.





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Affiliation: Dalaran
Role: Siege
Race: Elemental
Gender: Unknown

The Aether Elemental is a mysterious flying creature formed from the Elements held in the stars and space. These creatures serve the Dalaran focuses only because of the mighty magics that bind their will to the Dalaran. Though not much is known about the Aether Elementals, it is understood that they wield stellar magics that can ravage any strongholds in mass. The creature can almost always call upon the Moon's beams to lighten and reveal the most valuable information, all the while striping the plating; leaving the structures very vulnerable.


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Ability Name: Stellar Shower
Ability description
The Aether Elemental sends out a multitude of stellar bolts to many of nearby enemy structures, which deal simultaneous damage to all the structures.


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Ability Name: Astral Beam
Ability description
Sens a beam of light upon an enemy building, causing a reduction of armor by 5, and grants vision of them for 60 seconds.


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Generators: The people of Dalaran are not known for their sturdy structures and mastership of the stone. So it makes no sense to have the structures be mighty and withholding. Instead, they should have some sort of magical empowerment to add some durability. And that is exactly what I had implemented with the Generators.

The Generators have the ability of Binding, which increases armor and hit point regeneration of nearby structures. This ability is essential for a functional defense of the Dalaran people. Binding starts out as only adding 2 armor, but is upgradable to increase armor added to 4 then 6, as well as increased hit point regeneration. If the Generator is not within range of nearby structures, those structures will not gain any bonuses. The Generator is the only structure with higher armor; cannot receive the bonuses from Binding.

This tactic is also essential for the fact that "Rectify" takes twice as long to repair as structure, and repairing the Arcane Tower is substantially more expensive; thus making the hit point regeneration bonus a great asset both economically and defensively.

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Mana, Mana, Mana: I case you did not know, Dalaran is faction that is completely fixated on the magical world and the properties that it wields. So it's only the smart thing to do with this faction. You will notice that most units have some sort of affinity for magic. And in order to actually to have an effective army, the player needs to sustain a sufficient mana cesspool. Most units are highly depended on mana, so I made a simple source of mana to regain what was lost.

The Generators that serve to empower the bases' structures also serve to regenerate nearby friendly units' mana; but their capability to restore mana is quite frail, making the need for a multitude of Generators.


Play as my other races:

Worgen Lost Ones Fel Horde Scarlet Crusaders Dark Iron Clan Forsaken High Elves


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Race Details:

Initial Defense

Strongest Units

Weaknesses

[Rainbow]
-The Magus Hall/ Arcane Hold/ Citadel deal quick magic damage.

-The Craftsperson can damage enemy summoned units and remove spells with Expel Magic.

-Binding restores the buildings hit points and provide armor.

-Generator provides mana for all units
[/Rainbow]
[Rainbow]
-Construct: Siege unit with the capability to transport mana.

-Water Elemental: Drowning Sensation ability can damage a whole army over a while.

-Operative: Wrecks havoc with so many abilities and high damage.[/rainbow]
[Rainbow]
- Lower hit points and armor on buildings. (e.g. Halls. Altar, Arcane Guild, etc.)

- Most units have lower hit points.

- 50% longer repair time.

- Most buildings have no armor without the Generator.
[/Rainbow]



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Screenshots/Info:


Image Description:
Dalaran's standing army, ready to use their magics to the fullest OUTDATED



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Image Description:
Dalaran's structures stand strong against the evil forces


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Image Description:
ready to utilize the items?


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Image Description:
Updated Version


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Image Description:
Updated Version


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Image Description:
Updated Version


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Change Log:




Added:
- Small Changes


Added:
- Unit Balance
- Triggers fixes


Added:
- Increased the train time and cost of Soldiers
- Gave the Craftsperson a new ability and change Abolish Magic to Expel Magic.
- Changed up Battlemage's Vitalize and Mana Block abilities.
- Water Elementals deal Piercing damage now.
- Pyromancers are now semi-spellcaster: they cast spells but act as ranged infantry.
- Changed up the Heal ability.
- Now a dialoge box gives a choice to play as the race or not.
- A lot of tooltip fixes.
- Small error Fixes.


Added:
- ALL buildings are using new models
- New names for some buildings
- Most units have been revamped
- "Battlemage" has been replaced with a "Charmer"
- "Battlemage" name is used for the old "Soldier" instead.
- Whole new tier 1 ranged unit: Charmer
- Battlemage (old Soldier) and Chaplains have a new icon
- Removed Craftsperson "Foresight"
- The main building now uses a far more potent "Foresight"
- "Spell General" now "Spell Officer"
- Craftperson, Battlemage, and Spell Officer have a new model.
- "Battlemage" "Mana Shield " changes.
- Chaplain's "Heal" is now slightly different in use.
- Chaplain's "Healing Wave" replaced with "Restoration Surge"
- Geomancer's "Roots" replaced with "Corrosion"
- Geomancer's "Nature's Fury" replaced with "Summon Wood Elemental"
- Pyromancer changed lighting on the model
- Pyromancer replaced "Immolation" with "Singe"
- Pyromancer replaced "Summon Fire Elemental" with "Fury of the Flame"
- War Wagon changed stats, new abilities (Absorb Mana, Fusion, and Destruction Magic), and revised tooltip.
- New flying unit: Aether Elemental
- Kirin Tor removed "Frost Bolt" and tooltip fixes.
- Removed the Magical Binding upgrades from the main buildings
- Generators have "Magical Binding" now that is essential for providing Armor for buildings.
- Tooltip fixes for Arcane Guild
- Research Center now has "Improved Mana Binding" upgrades
- Kirin Tor now use Iron Enchanted Swords upgrade; Improved Magic removed
- Mystic of Elements tooltip fixes
- Observatory "Health Empowerment" has been removed; tooltip fixes.
- Boutique tooltip fixes
- Spell Officer all abilities tooltip fixes
- Replaced "Concentration of Mana" with "Temporal Shield"
- "Magic block" now increases attack speed.
- Lowered "Feedback" stats
- Archmage "Crystal Elemental" replaced with "Hydrosphere"
- Wizard "Sky of Mana" replaced with "Disruption"
- Heamomancer ult replaced.
- Many new upgrade and abilities icons
- Etc.


Added:
- HUGE revamp


Credits:

Credit:
Credits:
-armel
-BloodElf300 and Uncle Fester [Sin'dorei300]
-Kuhneghetz
-Kitabatake
-assasin_lord
JesusHipster
Haistrah
CreatorD3292
CeDiL
exfyre
CloudWolf
paulH



[/TD][TD] [/TD][/tr][/TABLE]

Keywords:
Alternate, Dalaran, Kirin Tor, Mages, Sexy
Contents

Dalaran v.2.5.2 (Map)

Reviews
23:50, 28th Apr 2013 Orcnet: another wondrous addition of altered melee map, I like it and nice theme good map then approved (:

Moderator

M

Moderator

23:50, 28th Apr 2013
Orcnet: another wondrous addition of altered melee map, I like it and nice theme good map then approved :)
 
Level 25
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
677
Please make the Fel Orc/Burning Legion/Highbourne/etc...
Please!!! Love those races!!
Oh yeah, review later.
Well, I hope that this map will get approved, but it seems like the map is stuck in the "pending" state for a long while.
I will make a new race, I've been meaning to make one, but it will be a surprise until I post it C:
 
Level 2
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
6
wonderful maps,i love these altered meel maps and thanks to the author.

i wonder what would it be to combine all your races,items and original races together.
 
Level 17
Joined
Aug 19, 2007
Messages
1,380
Ah nice race! The focus on mana is fun :). Again, I like the farm-like building, its ability matches well with race's focus on mana.

You kindy use Healing Wave and Rejuvenate alot in your maps (in this one and the Draenei one), maybe replace those abilities with more custom & unique ones. And maybe add some more passives instead of active abilities (or more auto-cast).

Rating: 5/5 & +rep
 
Level 25
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
677
[K40$]-Spectre;2400492 said:
Ah nice race! The focus on mana is fun :). Again, I like the farm-like building, its ability matches well with race's focus on mana.

You kindy use Healing Wave and Rejuvenate alot in your maps (in this one and the Draenei one), maybe replace those abilities with more custom & unique ones. And maybe add some more passives instead of active abilities (or more auto-cast).

Rating: 5/5 & +rep
Thanks again, man!

Hmm. Maybe so. I don't always have fresh ideas - so i try to make the best combination i can think of. But i still try to find better combinations over time.

Well, it is a caster race :p but it may be too much micromanaging for most players.
 
Level 17
Joined
Aug 19, 2007
Messages
1,380
Thanks again, man!

Hmm. Maybe so. I don't always have fresh ideas - so i try to make the best combination i can think of. But i still try to find better combinations over time.

Well, it is a caster race :p but it may be too much micromanaging for most players.
, how about some summoning spells, that would fit the race. Summoning legions of Water Elementals :ogre_love:. Anyway going to try your other races too.

On a side note, and I know how much work this is & about filesize problems, are you ever going to make a map with several custom races? I know some ways to do heavy optimisation of the custom models', textures', .wav sounds' filesize (even icons, though that is more tedious) and I would not mind showing you. So than it is actually possible to stay under 8mb with an absurd amount of imports. I did it with my map Starcraft Hybrids which is under 8mb now and would otherwise be 20mb or more xD (without using the map optimizer).
 
Level 25
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
677
[K40$]-Spectre;2400852 said:
, how about some summoning spells, that would fit the race. Summoning legions of Water Elementals :ogre_love:. Anyway going to try your other races too.

On a side note, and I know how much work this is & about filesize problems, are you ever going to make a map with several custom races? I know some ways to do heavy optimisation of the custom models', textures', .wav sounds' filesize (even icons, though that is more tedious) and I would not mind showing you. So than it is actually possible to stay under 8mb with an absurd amount of imports. I did it with my map Starcraft Hybrids which is under 8mb now and would otherwise be 20mb or more xD (without using the map optimizer).
Haha maybe, or some sort of other summons.

I would love to know how to do that. I have imported all the files i need and I'm already hitting 14 mb without the actual races being completed yet.
 
Level 3
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
50
Good enough but needs to fix

The Dalaran Race is pretty interesting, however there are some parts that needs improving:

*Replace the Mages Town Hall with another model. I recommend the Arcane Castle by Ujimasa Hojo.
I didn't like the models of craft persons and buildings with no birth animations although i haven't found a good replacement.

*You do not have initial ranged unit, which is more important in the early game than having chaplains - they are quite useless when healing a bunch of soldiers since they(soldiers) have mana shield.

*There are some typos in the tool-tip e.g.
"soilders" instead of soldier;
The Sky of Mana(ultimate) of Wizard refers to the caster "Battle Mage";
"essense" instead of essence;
in battle mage tooltip "burn a enemies" instead of burn the enemy's.
Sorry about that, reading typos bugs me.

*No initial upgrades in Training hall.

*Needs fix on some of the spells.
1. Why do a pyromancer needs immolation? it does not fit since it is a ranged unit. :goblin_jawdrop:
2. Too much healing magic. Change the vitalize ability into something offensive. :goblin_wtf:
3. Spell casters at Observery have no ATC spells. :vw_wtf:

*War Wagon and Kirin Tor are too powerful, tone them down slightly.

That would be all the faults that i have seen so far. Once fixed and it should be better.
Hope this will help to your race, i like altered melee maps but too many errors.

Good day to you :)
 
Level 25
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
677
The Dalaran Race is pretty interesting, however there are some parts that needs improving:

*Replace the Mages Town Hall with another model. I recommend the Arcane Castle by Ujimasa Hojo.
I didn't like the models of craft persons and buildings with no birth animations although i haven't found a good replacement.

*You do not have initial ranged unit, which is more important in the early game than having chaplains - they are quite useless when healing a bunch of soldiers since they(soldiers) have mana shield.

*There are some typos in the tool-tip e.g.
"soilders" instead of soldier;
The Sky of Mana(ultimate) of Wizard refers to the caster "Battle Mage";
"essense" instead of essence;
in battle mage tooltip "burn a enemies" instead of burn the enemy's.
Sorry about that, reading typos bugs me.

*No initial upgrades in Training hall.

*Needs fix on some of the spells.
1. Why do a pyromancer needs immolation? it does not fit since it is a ranged unit. :goblin_jawdrop:
2. Too much healing magic. Change the vitalize ability into something offensive. :goblin_wtf:
3. Spell casters at Observery have no ATC spells. :vw_wtf:

*War Wagon and Kirin Tor are too powerful, tone them down slightly.

That would be all the faults that i have seen so far. Once fixed and it should be better.
Hope this will help to your race, i like altered melee maps but too many errors.

Good day to you :)

Thanks, man. Thank you for all the suggestions! I'll be sure to utilize them once decide to update my maps. :)

Try my other maps too. :D
 
Level 46
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
9,601
So this won't be a super-mega-ultra-thorough review, but I finally managed to find time (translation: wasting time instead of doing homework...) to open this up in the WE & then Test Map to tinker around, so I figured I owed it to ya. At least once. : )

So I guess I will say I'm overall "impressed", with a healthy helping of "can always be improved". I was not let down by your delightful formatting & presentation; this is a well-thought out, well-crafted & generally cohesive race. THAT'S A BIG DEAL to me. Too many race-makers simply throw things together; cool models, cool ideas, with no coherency. Well, the models you chose, their abilities, the icons, etc (generally) cohered. I'll list some exceptions below.

Pros
  • DALARAN. That is just such a cool faction. I had a fun time theorycrafting a Dalaran race over in Forsaken's topic for some of his projects. Fun to see someone actually do it.
  • The Charmer. What I didn't like about his name, I loved about him personally. By removing the glaive-thing & giving him an "arcane whip", you created something quite unique to the Wc3 setting (<- very important to me). Sure, the modded Lightning Attack was a little wonky (appearing in the middle of his chest, sort of "similar" to a whip but not quite (maybe a custom Lightning texture?)), and Tri-Whip was a neat-but-bad idea (see below), but the "double-damage for having >X mana"? Pretty nifty. I like a nice creative unit like that.
  • Second to that, the Aether Elemental. Also a really nifty unit, relatively creative. Struck me as a "Troll Batrider + Storm Crow Druid" mix; light aerial siege & anti-structure mini-caster. Loved the use of modded Barrage, and the custom model really fit it well (though it was incredibly bright; sticks out almost too much). The modded Faerie Fire was a good ability and a great example of the opposite of one of the major problems in the Dalaran race (detailed below); re-using abilities. See, FF is only targettable against Units, so making a modified version for Buildings is free game. Makes it a good unit in conjunction with War Wagons, which...
  • Finally, the War Wagon. While this unit suffered from some issues of presentation (i.e. cool model with the floating & glowing orbs... But no way to tell it was attacking, and it's attack was... green Illidan beams? Followed by flying Shockwaves (dust & everything)?? And the missile arc was a bit high on that one (even classic Siege units only have a max of .35). But basically, this was a Magical-version of the Meat Wagon; instead of carrying corpses (Undead-fuel), this thing "carried" Mana (mage-fuel)! Pretty nifty. And basically achieved through a simple system of "suck & blow" abilities (though making it single-target vs. AoE served to make things interesting). I might've wanted for a more... integrated system (like a modded "corpse-carry" system, so that it's actually carrying "mana itself" or something :p), but then again, that would've made it too similar to the Meat Wagon, perhaps.
    Suffice it to say, not bad. Siege Engine + Support; an oldie, but a goodie.
  • I actually rather liked the idea behind "Dagger of Power"; had something similar for my Troll Tiki Warriors. However, I removed it because I was worried about having a too-obvious "anti-Hero" unit; might be too hard to balance, since Heroes kinda rule the world in Wc3-gameplay. And what exactly about your Battlemage's upgrade made them good against Heroes; just a faster attack? I couldn't figure it out (since you didn't use a modded Demolish)
  • Nice buildings. I could submit you have kinda used "Mana", "Magic", and "Arcane" a bit much here, but... Yeah, I know it's hard. That being said, while I LOVED the cohesive model-design, the texture choice (unfortunately, not your fault) that Blizzard provided for Dalaran is just so... washed out. Next to the high-contrast, exciting & colorful textures of even the Undead (my enemy this go-around), it almost looked like another game (Battle for Middle Earth, anyone?). Too washed out. But what do ya do?
  • On the topic of buildings, I liked how you basically made a "Protoss Shield Generator + Mana Well"; recoup lost mana & provide regeneration+armor for nearby buildings. The "violet pulse", though, needed some explanation; it wasn't clear that that was the effect of the Aura (and thus a good thing). I hunted all over the command card for some sign of what that was. :<
  • THANK YOU for providing some interesting & decent Proper Names for your heroes. Yeah, you only did it for 2 of them, but at least half, rather than none. Few people take time to engage in that particular form of art. : )
  • The Haemomancer (spelling?) does a pretty good job of being a good Role-follower. With what amounts to modded Fan of Knives, Frenzy (nice), Drunken Brawler & then Locust Swarm, this guy combines potent melee-range abilities with self-enhancers.
  • I liked the Spell Officer's interesting twist of removing (nearly) half of his HP to bestow an UBER +armor aura on himself & allies. Mixed with modded Magic Defense & that modded Healing Wave... Yeah.
  • That Wizard definitely was... magical. :p Yeeeeeeah. Good Theme-following there; this guy was magic-magic-magic-MAGIC.
  • Overall, the units & heroes make some good sense; you got magic-enhanced warriors, lots of mages, enslaved elementals, and animate mechanics. Pretty much (almost) everything a good Dalaran race should contain, in my book.

Deltas (Greek for "change"; meaning "things to improve on")
  • There are some minor spelling/grammatical issues. Nothing major, but if you're looking for polish, that's the place to go (Arcane Wave, etc; others upon request)
  • I think the biggest issue I noticed was with the abilities, and it was three things (so I'll split it up): The Buff-Conflicts, the Spell Reuse, and the Direct-Damage.
  • Buff-Conflicts: One thing I have learned (much to my dismay) is that buffs don't stack* (**except Auras). That means, if one's race is meant to be compatible with the existing 4, no 2 spells can have the same buff; even a custom ability with a custom buff, it recognizes it as the same. This may not sound like a big deal, but I'll give you an example from my own experience: I created a "Shrink" spell for my Jungle Troll Headshrinker, where he reduces the size & attack speed of all enemies in a target AoE; this uses a modded mass-dummy-casted Bloodlust (duh, since I can shrink the units instead of enlarging them). Fast-forward to a test-play with Trolls vs. Orcs; Orcish Shamans mass-casting Bloodlust on themselves, and I go all Shrink on them... To no effect. Or a "replacing the Bloodlust" effect. In order to be compatible, my Shrink must mesh with their Bloodlust, and it can't.
    So my point: You have tons of awexome & interesting spells... But aside from a few examples, you will have buff-conflicts everywhere that's applicable. (ex: Burn, Corrosion, Drowning Sensation, FIRE, Heal (see below), Replenish Mana, Singe, etc).
    You've done well in a few exemplary cases; see the above about the Aether Elemental's modded Faerie Fire (identical effect, but only for Buildings so it's safe (in terms of Buffs, at least)), and the Geomancer's Mist (Cloud, but modded to affect Units instead of Buildings, so again, safe from Buffs & useful for the game)
    This is a big problem to work through, & I feel your pain, believe me. But I wouldn't be a friend if I didn't point it out. :< Good luck.
    You can get help.
    :D
  • Spell Re-Use: This one is a little less of a mistake and more of a design issue... I don't mind the fact that they have tons of spells, but you unfortunately re-used spells all over the place. It's ok when they are modded (hopefully significantly), but take the Chaplain & Spell Officer; both essentially have (modded) Healing Wave. Archmage & War Wagon both have (modded) Orb of Destruction. Wizard & Archmage both have AoE mana-regen spells (though one's a Ward (??) and one's an Aura, so that helps... a bit). Haemomancer & Wizard both have ultimates that are essentially (see below) modded Locust Swarm. (notice I'm not complaining about Battlemage & Wizard having Mana Shield. Well... that's a little different, almost like a "racial ability" (aka Hide, Pillage, etc), in my mind. Same with the slightly-different versions of "Feedback" on the Spell Breaker & Arcane Tower).
    This is one side of the issue; the other side has to do with outright copy/pasta-ing spells from other parts of the game, with little-to-no modification. What is Forked Lightning, Locust Swarm, Mana Shield, Absorb Magic, Summon Treant Wood Elemental, the *whole* Rock Elemental (aka mini-Mountain Giant; has Taunt, modded Hardened Skin, and ~Resistant Skin), the whole Chaplain (aka alternate Priest; has Heal & Dispel Magic & then "super-chain-Heal"), Tidal Wave, Wind Walk, Drunken Brawler & unfortunately many others, doing all over this faction? If you take a look at the existing 4 races, there is almost no single ability that units, heroes, or buildings have in common (with some few exceptions or modifications: Repair (HU & Orc), Dispel Magic & Disenchant (but many minor differences), True Sight (but different icons), Envemoned Spears & Slow Poison (but different enough), Spell Immunity/Resistant Skin (but different icons), etc). There are plenty of "similar" abilities, but they generally have something to make them "unique enough" to pass. ((NOTE: I haven't played enough melee to know about how Creep abilities interact with regular abilities (i.e. Troll High Priest Inner Fire vs. Elven Priest's? Gnoll Purge vs. Orc Shaman's? Bandit Poison vs. Dryad's Slow Poison vs. Orc's Wind Rider Envenomed Spears? Furbolg Roar vs. DotC's?), but even then, they are mercenary Creeps, not one of the other races.))
    Some of your spells are pretty reasonable edits of existing spells, and unfortunately without lots of triggering you kind of have to copy a few things. But by "few" I mean a "few"; definitely mess around with those Neutral Hostile & Item abilities; there are literally tons of little-to-not used resources there for custom, interesting spells (although I already noticed that you found some of them)!
  • Direct-Damage: This is pretty straightforward. If you take a look at the existing 4 races, you'll notice something about every single unit's abilities: They don't deal damage. At least, not "Direct Damage", like Storm Bolt or Shockwave or Fan of Knives or Starfall. Many have passives (poisons & such) that deal DoT (upon attack)... Aerial Shackles is one of the few that even deals "direct DoT" but even then it's only on Aerial targets & it's a Channeling spell (caster = immobile & defenseless). Similar issues with Devour, & even Mana Flare (DD... But only in the form of Mana Burn & only from a Channeling ability).
    Part of the issue (or perhaps the whole issue) is that only Heroes can have DD (or powerful, non-immobilizing DoT's) because they cannot be massed. Hence the power of the Undead "tri-nuke". If any unit had a DD ability, regardless of "balancing" (higher cost, longer build-time, etc) there's nothing that could really stop someone from massing them & utterly annihilating the enemy.
    Case in point, much of your units had some form of DoT or DD... I took merely 3 Kirin Tor (not even upgraded) and just tore through an Undead expansion with Frost Wyrm & Abomination & everything... And from halfway across the map (Teleport in, triple-Frost-Nova, Cold Arrows til FN was back up). Crazy. : )
    It will be difficult to find ideas to replace the DD abilities, but I know it's possible.
  • I'm pretty sure the Spell Officer attacked faster without Magic Defense on, contrary to what the tooltip would have me believe. Not sure why. Perhaps reverse the Attack Speed Factor (since that would normally slow him down?)
  • I was really confused by the spells on the Geomancer... Corrosion, Summon Wood Elemental, Mist??? There really doesn't seem to be a singular theme there. Necromancy, Druidism, and Water/Air magic. With "geo-" in the name, I guess I was expecting rocks, earth or mud or something. :<
  • (This perhaps relates to the 2nd major point, "Spell Reuse", as well as our PM conversation): I'm a little curious/concerned about the method of "race addition" as shown here. The biggest thing I noticed is that there are characters that are nearly identical to their regular ladder counterparts. This is only an issue with a "5th race addition" that must be considered 'compatible' with the existing 4 races, because no race has any units/heroes/buildings/abilities (except for as noted above)/upgrades (except for things like Backpack)/items (except for a few basics, like Scroll of TP & potions) in common with any other race. The only exception I can think of is the Human & Orc both have a "Barracks"... But there are reasons for that (silly reasons, like "that's what we called it in Wc2!!", but reasons nonetheless :p). Good example is the Archmage... What is he doing, playing both sides of the conflict? :p What if a Human army chose an Archmage as their champion, and so did Dalaran? Worse, you changed a few of his spells but not all; if I were some other race facing him down, I wouldn't know whether I was fighting Human or Dalaran (essential information in Wc3 scouting & such), nor what kind of spells to expect (aside from Blizzard & Brilliance Aura).
    This is an issue that I faced quite directly for much of my early modding career, and I realized I needed to come up with "alternatives" to the existing units/heroes/buildings/etc (since I didn't have the capability to download alternative models at the time). So I made an alternate Shadow Hunter, Headhunter, Witch Doctor, and Batrider (Medicine Mon, Hunter, Hedge Witch, and Bom-bat-ier), though I have since gained the ability to download (or have created for me) resources.
    Alternatively, if you choose to, making the Dalaran a replacement race (say, for Humans since that makes sense) allows you to freely use their assets & spells & such without fear of this issue (Archmage, Priest, Sorceress, Spell Breaker, Arcane Towers, Arcane Vault, etc). This is another way around the issue.
    Either way, though, you have to consider that in race-making; player confusion & re-use of assets are just not ideal. :<
  • I'm a little off-put by the Hero choice, though this is more of a personal matter. See, "Archmage" and "Wizard" feel identical to me (not in spells, just, like, the idea; both are, well, Wizards), with "Wizard" almost sounding a little too... weak? to be a Hero (sounds more like a unit-name). "Spell Officer" was, IMO better as "Spell General" but perhaps even better as "Warmage" or something... But at least it's a solid concept (warrior-mage, leader of Dalaran's highly-trained mini-army). The "Haemomancer"... Ah dannae, I'm just really not a fan. I see the reference to 'blood' in the name; but he has almost no truly "blood"-type abilities, his "orbs" are shadows instead of 'blood balls' or something (same thing with his Ultimate)... Really his icons are the closest thing to 'blood' on him (aside from the corpse-explosion thing). I see that you were attempting to make an alternate Blood Mage, and that (as stated above) is an important & valiant effort. But... Maybe consider just replacing him entirely. If you want/have to use that model, consider a true Warlock or 'Baron' or something; doesn't have to be all about 'blood' or 'fire' or whatevs. Or could. But something.
  • Didn't check for bad DISBTNs or bad hotkeys, but they might be lurking... The only big thing I noticed was generally, some of the icons fit less in-game than others. Hero icons were a good example (Wizard & Spell Officer were especially weird, compared to "normal" Archmage & slightly-modded-but-still-good Haemomancer), as well as "Engraved Runes" (needs a PAS version)
  • About your Tier 3 Ownage Device ("Kirin Tor"): Weren't the actual Kirin Tor, like, a ruling council or body? Basically a group of mages? I was confused to see it used as a singular & particular appelation ("train some... 'kirin tor's?...") The "Kirin Tor" is like The "Round Table"; certain people, discussing certain things, in a certain way.

Other
  • So wait, what were all those cool models doing (Arcane Cathedral!? :p) unused?
  • And same with all those abilities & units that weren't used but still there in the WE... Just not a fan of cleaning up after yourself? :p Meh, not a big deal, as long as it doesn't slow the map noticeably.
  • The Wizard's ultimate... Instead of bothering with all the nasty triggering to make these "magically following orbs"... Why not just make a modded Locust Swarm, where the Locusts are fewer & don't return health, but have that ranged shot? That ability alone takes care of all the "following" & "invincible" for you. Granted, that makes the Haemomancer's ultimate a little pointless... But as I stated above, that should perhaps be considered for replacement.
  • Why does "Heal" make a second, dummy Healer?


Overall, like I said, pretty good stuff! I look forward to seeing further improvements.
 
Level 46
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
9,601
Hey, now a new update. And you even took some of my suggestions? I'm flattered. : )

Wa666r said:
- NEW HERO!
- Removed the Archmage

- Magic Defense now increases attack damage
- Magic Defense grants spell immunity at all level
- Magic Defense debuffs more movement speed
- Feedback tooltip fixes
- "Wizard is now "High Wizard"
- "Imploding Magic" is now just "Implode"
- "Mana Ward" is now lowered to 5 seconds.
- "Mana Ward" tooltip fixes
- "Disruption" has been modified
- "Heamomancer" is now "Thaumaturge"
- All of his abilities are now more fire-based, instead of blood/darkness
- Removed "Blood Flurry" replaced with "Pyroblast"
- Replaced ult. with "Pyromaniac"
- New model for the Craftsperson
- "Repair" is now "Rectify," now less effective
- "Mana Shield" now has a new model
- Removed Stone Elemental's abilities: Aggrevate and Stone Skin
- Stone Elemental now deals short-range siege damage
- New upgrade "Metamorphic"
- PAS icon for Engraved Runes
- Tri-Whip deals more damage but costs 50 mana.
- Tooltip fixes for Aqua Elemental
- Configured "Drowning Sensation"
- Added "Deluge" ability
- Replaced "Heal" with "Entice"
- Replaced "Dispel Magic" with "Eliminate"
- Configured "Restoration Surge"
- "Corrosion" is now "Earth Crush"
- "Summon Wood Elemental" now summons two, but costs more
- Wood Elementals have True Sight
- Geomancer's tooltip fixes
- Pyromancers new texture
- "Fury of the Fire' now also attacks and has True Sight.
- "Gust of Wind" replaced with "Aeroblast"
- Added "Speed of the Wind"
- "War Wagon" is now "Construct"
- "Kirin Tor" is now "Operative"

- Nerf'd Operative's abilities; now more focused on slowing.
- "Binding" affects now work properly.
- Dozens of extra icons
- more
Really dig the sound of a lot of those changes. Much of the "simple" name-changes to tooltips, units & heroes really goes a long way towards making a Faction that much more polished & lore-bound, IMO. "High Wizard" is better, glad you stole :D borrowed my excellent "Thaumaturge" (look forward to seeing that somewhere soon... :p), "Operative" is at least more interesting, and the Geomancer makes more sense. I must admit, though, I liked "War Wagon" better. :p

In particular I like the Hero; I think a ranged "arcane ranger"-type hero is a great addition. However, have you seen this model? I think the High Elf version would really suit your needs much more pleasantly.
That being said, I really like the style & how well your icons mesh; not too much blue, not too little, all generally fit in-game, and while I feel the "dealing damage / stealing/regaining mana" thing is might just be a bit too heavy-handed (i.e. every one of his abilities does it/affects it), I'll admit it's cohesive. And again, now you've got a really nice spectrum of "mage-heroes" for your "mage-race"; warrior-mage, archer-mage, and two different kinds of "mage-mages". Pretty much perfect in my eyes.
(though I will offer a note of pedantry; technically the mages of Dalaran would never have consorted with fire magicks in the way your "Thaumaturge" seems to have done; that was actually a big sticking point with the Blood Elves & kinda the theme behind his whole persona (even the tooltip; didn't the site/manual say "Blood Mages... ignore the water & frost magicks of their brethren in favor of the more demonic fire... magicks", or something?).

Anyway. Really sounding better.

Wa666r said:
- "Repair" is now "Rectify," now less effective
This line made me lawl. : )
 
Level 25
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
677
Hey, now a new update. And you even took some of my suggestions? I'm flattered. : )


Really dig the sound of a lot of those changes. Much of the "simple" name-changes to tooltips, units & heroes really goes a long way towards making a Faction that much more polished & lore-bound, IMO. "High Wizard" is better, glad you stole :D borrowed my excellent "Thaumaturge" (look forward to seeing that somewhere soon... :p), "Operative" is at least more interesting, and the Geomancer makes more sense. I must admit, though, I liked "War Wagon" better. :p

In particular I like the Hero; I think a ranged "arcane ranger"-type hero is a great addition. However, have you seen this model? I think the High Elf version would really suit your needs much more pleasantly.
That being said, I really like the style & how well your icons mesh; not too much blue, not too little, all generally fit in-game, and while I feel the "dealing damage / stealing/regaining mana" thing is might just be a bit too heavy-handed (i.e. every one of his abilities does it/affects it), I'll admit it's cohesive. And again, now you've got a really nice spectrum of "mage-heroes" for your "mage-race"; warrior-mage, archer-mage, and two different kinds of "mage-mages". Pretty much perfect in my eyes.
(though I will offer a note of pedantry; technically the mages of Dalaran would never have consorted with fire magicks in the way your "Thaumaturge" seems to have done; that was actually a big sticking point with the Blood Elves & kinda the theme behind his whole persona (even the tooltip; didn't the site/manual say "Blood Mages... ignore the water & frost magicks of their brethren in favor of the more demonic fire... magicks", or something?).

Anyway. Really sounding better.


This line made me lawl. : )


Eh, I felt like "War Wagon" just did not have the Dalaran feeling to it.

There is no pleasing you with the "Thaumaturge" is there? -.-
Well you know what? He is just a badass like that; say, an enforcer of fire magic. He learned it so he could stop others from learning it, and to know for what to search for if it is suspected that a mage is using fire magic.
 
Level 46
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
9,601
There is no pleasing you with the "Thaumaturge" is there? -.-
Well you know what? He is just a badass like that; say, an enforcer of fire magic. He learned it so he could stop others from learning it, and to know for what to search for if it is suspected that a mage is using fire magic.
Lol, don't worry about 'pleasing me'. Just had to point it out; I wouldn't be me if I left it alone. : )
 
Level 4
Joined
May 21, 2018
Messages
36
i know! i love all your maps!!!! good job! and... do you make map for Burning Legion? because i love so much the burning legion!
 
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