Day of the Dragon

[Anaxie]

I don't think I would have the time or the energy for a WotA campaign. RotH seems much more likely. There is probably not much of a difference, but I would base it on WC3 Reforged and not on WC3 Vanilla because going into the future Reforged is going to be the new standard. If I can use existing Hive assets I will use them and then replace them with more detailed versions later on.

The new tools and "game" would probably inspire it. Especially for new or returning people looking only for reforged things.

More exposure for sure

Still think you could do a lot woth the rexxar formula if you wanted to give it a whirl or consult @Warseeker on it

As it stands now your gameplay is quite varied across all your wc3 campaigns.

 

[OutsiderXE]

...
Still think you could do a lot woth the rexxar formula if you wanted to give it a whirl or consult @Warseeker on it

As it stands now your gameplay is quite varied across all your wc3 campaigns.

As DotD is getting more base building maps, I've been thinking about adding more Rexxar formular to LotC, to make those two campaigns more distinguishable. I would merge some maps and make them more open. Thrall would get additional abilities, e.g. calling permanent pet friends, craft items etc. It really depends on how much time I'm willing to put into it.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Wouldn't it be more valueable if I just created something new?

If you have a good enough story, you should give it a shot.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Teaser for the new Nozdormu map:

Bye bye Thrall

Gameplay is finished. 50% terrain finished. Cinematics and polishing remain.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Another update nobody asked for^^:

So, some of you are aware, Chapter 4 sucks... There are some interesting puzzles but for the most part it's meaningless fetch quests. For the coming update I've already removed around 30% of its content by merging the most interesting areas and puzzles. Furthermore I have added enemies to kill, so Rhonin can use his abilities. That's all nice... but yesterday I replayed it and I still think it sucks... The problem is that the quests that are there still feel meaningless. You help some goblins, you get books, boatcards or gems. You never really learn what they are for. The story (from the perspective of the book) doesn't really progress until you finally meet Deathwing.

How to fix this? Currently I am investigating the idea of having Rhonin meet Deathwing at map start, and over the course of the map Rhonin would talk more with Deathwing and also help the goblins repair a zeppelin, which takes Rhonin to Grim Batol. I am still early in the idea phase, so I need to figure out how to change the story for this map without having to break all possible gameplay elements.

Other than that the update is progressing well. Chapters 1-3 feel solid. Rest is WIP.

 

[Anaxie]

Day of the dragon v3.0 indeed

 

[OutsiderXE]

Chapter 4 is OK now:
- Added enemies to fight
- Rhonin can now use his abilities
- Merged Islands 3 and 4 and removed a lot of mundane tasks
- No longer disables user control when playing transmissions, instead they are now played in a queue (this is done for all chapters)
- Decreased amount of dialogue
- Rhonin now meets Deathwing at the end of the first island; changed quest descriptions/requirements for later quests

I am now polishing Chapter 5:
- Dalaran and all sub-maps: For better usability all special items (Black Vial, Calderia's Wand, Eon Rose) are now abilities, so they no longer use space in the inventory. Same goes for the Medallions and the Demon Soul in the other chapters.
- Dalaran: Remade the Arcane Vault quest
- Caverns of Time: Completely remade
- Northrend: More triggered events
- Northrend: Will look into improving/removing the runes and water puzzles
- Emerald Dream: Not yet started

 

[OutsiderXE]

I have been toying around with this idea for a while, and I have finally created a new class for Rhonin!

The new class is called Dark Summoner. Rhonin can create additional units to help him out with some cool interactive spells:
- Summon Voidwalker: Creates a Voidwalker that attacks enemies.
- Void Explosion: Destroys the Voidwalker and damages enemies around it.
- Void Pact: Destroy the Voidwalker and returns life and mana to Rhonin.
- Nether Dragon: Summons a Nether Dragon that attacks enemies in a target location.

 

[Venombite]

Love all your three campaigns. Especially love the fact that they are 100% WoW cannon. Lord of Clans could easily fit into the standard RoC campaign. The Last Guardian is something different and really interesting. I love Day of the Dragon the most and think it's awesome with different optional quests and stuff. It's amazing how much work you've put into this new update. When do you think it will be released?

 

[OutsiderXE]

I estimate in 2-3 months. But it could be that I hold it back until Reforged is released. In that case it is likely I will release a public beta in 2-3 months.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Changes continue with Chapter 5c - The Emerald Dream:
- Split the 2 enemy bases into 4
- Rescuable night elves are now closer to enemy bases
- Replaced demon and undead enemies (except heroes and gargoyles) with corrupted ancients, treants and satyrs
- Renamed enemy to Emerald Nightmare

I think the gameplay was pretty stale in that in the beginning of the base building phase you had your units run around the map and rescue allies. These allied units are now spread around the enemy bases. Also the enemy bases and buildings are now more spread out. These changes give the player more variety between attacking enemies and rescuing allies.

I also changed the overall theme from "The Burning Legion is invading the Emerald Dream" to "The Emerald Nightmare is corrupting the Emerald Dream" as this makes more sense. Liberty is taken with enemy flying units and heroes to have more variety for enemy attack waves.

Still WIP, 50% done.

Old:

Spoiler

New:

Spoiler

 

[Sieben]

Looking good, mate, well done. Can't wait to give it a try.
Since there has been a huge amount of changes since your first uploads, do you have any plan to release several versions of your three campaigns? For example, a vanilla version (the first you uploaded), a modified version 1 and a modified version 2 (the one you're currently working on)? So we can enjoy all of them and appreciate the changes. As far as I'm concerned, I'd like that.
Anyway, keep on the good work

 

[OutsiderXE]

Well,I have collected all versions (I could find) in my Google Drive and I will link them in the hiveworkshop description of each campaign. Uploading them officially as separate projects would just confuse people, I think.

 

[Sieben]

Fair enough.
I didn't know older versions were already available, thanks!

 

[Venombite]

Not sure if you like people giving comments, but here I go anyway. I love the idea of fighting the emerald nightmare. It's also a good idea to keep the gargoyles, but give them a different skin or model to set them apart from the scourge ones. Perhaps DarkwingBat_by67chrome.blp or Gargoyle. It also doesn't make sense for dreadlords and liches to lead the emerald nightmare. Give them satyr models or make a new satyr hero if you like. There are few good satyr hero models on hive. And please do not remove WoW models of the aspects, they give special flavor to the campaign.
I would also love to see more dragons throughout the campaign, not just the red. Bronze, green and blue in their respective aspect map, maybe whelps and drakes as recruitable units and dragons as quest givers or something. Black whelps, drakes and dragons (they are not yet extinct in DotD time) in other chapters as mini bosses or optional quest objectives.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Not sure if you like people giving comments, but here I go anyway. I love the idea of fighting the emerald nightmare. It's also a good idea to keep the gargoyles, but give them a different skin or model to set them apart from the scourge ones. Perhaps DarkwingBat_by67chrome.blp or Gargoyle. It also doesn't make sense for dreadlords and liches to lead the emerald nightmare. Give them satyr models or make a new satyr hero if you like. There are few good satyr hero models on hive. And please do not remove WoW models of the aspects, they give special flavor to the campaign.
I would also love to see more dragons throughout the campaign, not just the red. Bronze, green and blue in their respective aspect map, maybe whelps and drakes as recruitable units and dragons as quest givers or something. Black whelps, drakes and dragons (they are not yet extinct in DotD time) in other chapters as mini bosses or optional quest objectives.

I always love suggestions, but not everything can make it into the campaign. Some because i have a different vision, others because of technical problems.

1. Yesterday I was too lazy/thought it would be OK to have some undead models, but now I am going to add new models (satyrs) for the Dreadlord, Lich and a new skin for the Gargoyle
2. Unfortunately I have to remove the WoW models. Their selection boxes were extremely problematic, this is especially apparent now that the final fight is in real-time. You would click on one Aspect and all of a sudden you had two others selected. I tried everything I could to fix it; it improved to some degree but not enough. Very annoying.
3. I have added some Drakes to Nozdormu's cinematic (even though they don't appear in the book)... I might replace the Chimearas in the Emerald Dream with green dragons. You will see a new form of red dragon in the Dragonmaw Rider in some chapters, but for story reasons I can't add any to the other flights. Malygos is alone/doesn't know of any survivors, Deathwing is alone (or it is not known at this point where his children are).

 

[Venombite]

Don't replace the chimearas. They are the only effective siege unit in the map . I was thinking more of us being able to awake a few whelps and one or two drakes, like the druids, and when they die you loose them and can't get them back. As you probably noticed I haven't read the book I just know that in WoW both Malygos and Deathwing have consorts, children and send their subjects on missions and stuff. Didn't know they're alone in the book, sorry, my bad. Everything you think is ok, is ok. I'm just saying stuff for the hack of it. If you don't like any of my ideas it's ok, even if you don't read this it's ok. Your campaign is awesome anyway and the amount of work you put into it is incredible. Good luck with the update.

 

[OutsiderXE]

I read every comment and never dismiss critisism or suggestions. Having some drakes might be cool. I have written it down for now and may be able to get to it by tomorrow.

I plan to wrap up Chapter 5 (all maps) by Monday evening. Chapter 6 is the only map I haven't really changed until now. Historically it's one of the most stable maps, but we'll see. I might allow players to train workers and build structures; I'll see how that changes/breaks the map.

More info on the campaign update:

Spoiler

Chapter 7 will get some more events and maybe even some puzzles.

Chapter 8 is cool.

After that I will continuously play and fix the maps until they are ready for open beta. I estimate around 2-3 months until I have reached that point, which would mean I would be working on the update for about a year.

Some stats: Campaign has 11 playable maps + 4 cinematic maps.
For the coming update I have made a lot of changes:
Chapter 1: 60% completely new areas
Chapter 2: 80% completely new areas
Chapter 3: 100% completely new map
Chapter 4: 30% removed
Chapter 5a (Dalaran): new optional quest
Chapter 5b (Malygos): 20% new areas
Chapter 5c (Nozdormu): 100% completely new map
Chapter 5d (Ysera): 50% altered areas
Chapter 6: nothing yet
Chapter 7: 20% modified encounters
Chapter 8: 100% completely new map
All cinematics: decreased amount of dialogue, improved cameras
New hero class for Rhonin already implemented
Numerous other changes and improvements

So this is basically 50% new campaign with over 700 changes already!

-----
Update on 5d:
I've added rescuable green dragon whelps and drakes. I didn't want to repeat the sleep & rescue formula already happening with the druids so they come to aid you when you attack some of the groups of enemies.
Furthermore I've replaced the Ghost hero with Eranikus (consort of Ysera). He doesn't actually appear in the book but I think it's cooler to have a known character than an unknown. He will not be a hero unit (he can die, but you won't lose the map), but he will use some of the abilities of Ghost, except Tranquility because Krasus will have new healing powers.

 

[OutsiderXE]

I have reduced the map size of Chapter 6 to 60% of its original size. But it's not as dramatic as it sounds:
- I removed initial micro gameplay where the heroes are collecting their old items. I kinda liked that, I also liked that it gave the player the opportunity to get to know Rom's abilities, but overall I thought the campaign already has enough micro gameplay and Rom's abilities aren't that special that they require a tutorial.
- I've removed these big areas of water and trees that heroes have a hard time getting around. Everything is just a bit tighter, all important points on the map are better accessible.
- Also, players will now be able to train Miners and build structures. Resources and enemy attacks will be balanced so players should still need to rescue all dwarven bases.

Other than that no dramatic changes. Depending on my motivation this map should be finished within 2 weeks.

old

new - Terrain WIP

new - Terrain Update

 

[Anaxie]

@OutsiderXE

Looks like you deleted the artifact creep camp.

Good leave it like that

Since its the BATTLETHIRST helm and we have morality in this campaign

Id just say kill ogre AND gnolls = bad / artifact

Kill one spare other = good / the same reward you would always get in this quest.

 

[OutsiderXE]

The artifact is currently right atop the second base - but in any case the map design including unit and item placements isn't final. I will be working on that in thee coming weeks.

edit: I have updated my post above with the newest version of the terrain. I hav reintroducedd the small micro section in the beginning of the map, but a lot smaller than it used to be. Also, the ogres and gnolls are now a lot closer to each other and the artifact is to the far east.

I should be done by next week. After that I will have a another look at Chapter 7, but I don't expect many changes. And after that the only thing left to do is to replay and polish the entire campaign until it's flawless. End of June until open beta sounds realistic.

 

[OutsiderXE]

So, of course Chapter 7 is going to have more changes than expected.
- I've already redesigned the two boss fights for Vereesa and Falstad
- I've already added more scripted events
- Currently I'm in the process of redesigning about 70% of Rhonin's area, mostly removing and repositioning encounters.

I've removed a lot of things since I started working on the update (almost 10 months ago). But that's all in the name of fun. I prefer you guys have a 5 hour campaign with 4 hours of fun instead of a 7 hour campaign with 5 hours of fun. I'm confident my changes will lead to a vastly impoved experience.

Just a practical example: Previously you might have fought 10 groups of static enemies in a row. They would just be standing there, waiting for you to attack them, only casting their spells during the fight. Now you have only 4 groups, but each group is much more interesting. One group ambushes you, another group is fighting among each other, a third group is having a conversation while you ambush them, a fourth group is patrolling the area and then calling for reinforcements when they see you.

That being said, I don't think I can release an open beta within the next 5-6 weeks. I will be able to say more in the near future.

 

[OutsiderXE]

I was almost finished withg Chapter 7 when I decided to rereremake Rhonin's area:

The version you will most likely never play:

Hidden

The version I am currently working on:

Hidden

Reason for the sudden change of heart is the large dead areas. I don't just want the gameplay to be polished, I want the technical aspects to also be as good as possible.

The map didn't really utilize its size to its full potential so I decided to cut it down by another 20% or so. Some encounters will need to be remade and the terrain on Rhonin's side needs a total makeover. After that, I promise to be done with major changes.


The good news is Rhonin's new class is now complete:
- Summon Wraith: Summons a melee unit to attack land units (tank)
- Summon Voidwalker: Summons a ranged unit to attack land and air units (damage dealer)
- Void Pact: Target unit has its armor reduced and when it dies Rhonin's life and mana are replenished
- Summon Nether Dragon (might be renamed): Summons a flying dragon that attacks nearby enemies (can't move and can be destroyed by enemies)

 

[OutsiderXE]

With Chapter 7 nearing completion I am starting to think about a new structure for the campaign.

Chapter 5 has always been a thorn in my side, for multiple reasons:
1. People have often been reporting crashes when trying to move from one map to another. Especially the latest patches have made map transitions highly unstable, as I have experienced myself.
2. The only reason to go back and forth between submaps is if you try out one submap, find it too difficult and then decide to do another one first to improve Krasus. There isn't a sense of travel in that you collect one quest in one area, complete it in another and then go back to collect your reward.
3. The main map in Dalaran just sucks. I tried improving it with more interesting side quests but they might as well be inside the other maps.
4. The sub maps are just too big to be considered sub maps.
5. Chapter 5 focuses on Krasus for too long, players start forgetting about the other characters. Spreading the sub maps across the campaign might be better.

I plan to add a new Interlude about Alexstrasza and Nekros, set some time before Rhonin enters the fortress, just to get an earlier glimpse of those characters.


With those things in mind here is an idea for a new structure:

Prologue: Remnants of War (renamed from Visions of War)
Chapter 1: Road to Hasic
Chapter 2: Torn Apart
Interlude: The King of Alterac (now one chapter earlier to give Krasus' chapters more breathing room)
Chapter 3: Malygos (Dalaran is gone, Krasus will go to Northrend immediately)
Chapter 4: Kill Kryll (is now the first base building map)
Chapter 5: Goblin Island
Chapter 6: Nozdormu (Krasus in the Caverns of Time)
Interlude: The Jailer (new interlude about Alex and Nekros)
Chapter 7: Ysera (Krasus in the Emerald Dream)
Chapter 8: Behind Enemy Lines (as before)
Chapter 9: Belly of the Beast (smaller intro cinematic, as some bits are shown in the second interlude)
Chapter 10: Battle of Grim Batol (as before)
Epilogue: Tranquility/The Purified Realm

There are still some open questions. E.g. How will Krasus gain his secondary abilities? What optional quests will the new chapters have?

 

[tulee]

If you want to change map 5's design, then by all means do so, but people experiencing "crashes" on the map transition part hopefully is not a main reason for this.

Map transition crashes are almost exclusively caused by people not using the latest patches of Warcraft (there is an exception for maps with long names in relation to transition crashes, but yours is short enough that it should not be the case). Sure, the newest 1.31 has some issues, but they will likely be fixed quickly. Because Wc3 has been so successfully pirated for all these years, many people will just not understand the concept of "updating" to the latest version. You will see many comments on hive workshop maps, especially in the campaign section, by people who clearly are using patch 1.18-1.24, who can be identified by having 1-5 post count and asking why their maps are crashing.

Hopefully the idea of buying the game will become more prevalent as time passes, but until then, you might need to accept that there will always be people complaining about crashes in your campaign (and there won't be anything you can do about it, since even if you remove transitions, it is likely there will be another part of the campaign that will cause them to crash since they are not using the latest version of Warcraft 3. I personally really liked the map transition part

Below are examples of such people haha.

Hey, so, I just downloaded this campaign (version 1.05, hosted here) a couple days ago, and I've been having a blast, but it seems like I'm running into a problem with chapter 5. Possibly the old problem with submap loading, possibly not. Hopefully someone can advise me.

So, I finish Nozdormu's task, and a cutscene plays. After the cutscene, I think the game tries to send me back to Dalaran, but the only thing I know for sure is that it CTDs. "The application encountered an unexpected error" is all the error message says (although it's a WC3 error message, not a Windows error message, if that matters). I have successfully completed the maps for both other aspects without encountering this problem.

Things I've tried, without success:
Loading the game and trying again
Restarting the mission and trying again
Visiting the aspects in a different order
Renaming the campaign files to something shorter (D.w3p)

This is a source of significant frustration in an otherwise excellent campaign. Anyone have any idea what else I could try? Thanks in advance for any and all help.

I was enjoying a lot your campaing until i finish the
Nozdormu quest and the game crashed

 

[Venombite]

Very surprised you're even considering to make changes this big, especially science patch 1.31 completely broke the WE. But if you are looking for suggestions I'll be happy to post some. If not I'm sorry and ignore this comment .

1. All the aspect chapters could start in Dalaran with a cutscene in which Krasus obtains the item and than is teleported to the aspect. Exe obtaining the vile and drinking it, falling a sleep and ending in the Emerald dream.
   
2. Recently saw your new Nozdormu map and think it's awesome. Not a big fan of the new abilities icons, but that's a minor thing. Science we're going to Lordaeron's past it would imo be cool to add an optional quest involving Chromie(some models/skins that perhaps could work Human Child (Female) or GnomePyromancer_by67chrome.blp), I know that she doesn't appear in the book and that she probably didn't even exist as character when the book came out, but neither does the time traveling. She could ask you to help with some time anomaly and for you to return an artifact to her. You choose if you're going to return it or not, if you do she gives you something or if you don't you keep the artifact. She could even join you as a semi-hero unit like the Ghost(or Eranikus) if you do something, and could have something like Khadgar's timestat spell. Might also be cool if you changed all elven units with the human ones(eg FootArcher), but again that doesn't really matter.
   
3. In Ysera's map you could add an optional quest to cleanse some furbolgs/wolves/lizards/wildkin of corruption or kill them and take their stuff. Don't know if there is an option in the editor to change the whole map tileset from Lordaeron Summer to Ashenvale, if yes that would be cool too.
   
4. Even in the current version (with Thrall) Malygos map was imo the dullest of all three aspect maps. You needed Krasus to be at least level 5 to beat it with all those powerful creeps with good abilities coming to you one after another. Imo it would be cool if Krasus teleported to Northrend and found himself unable to breach the Eye of Eternity(I know Malygos is in the cave in the book, but by now the book was obviously retconed like 10 times) and he finds some humans, dwarves or even better high elves and makes a deal with them to help them defeat their enemies in exchange for them helping him to gain more power to enter the eye. Basebuilding, you fight some enemy bases(undead or even better naga) and collect stuff to empower Krasus and make him enter the Eye and speak to Malygos. An optional quest with the Tuskarrs to either rescue or kill them. As I already said that it would be imo cool to have some blue dragons(the book was retconed) like Malygos's consort not letting Krasus enter the Eye and you save the dragons that persuade her to do so, instead of taking items to empower himself, but it's your choice.

 

[OutsiderXE]

@tulee The crashes (I've been experiencing myself for a while now - and I haven't even updated to 1.31) are the first reason I want to do this, but ultimately it should lead to a better experience having some variety between Krasus' missions.

@Venombite All suggestions are welcome.
1. It might not even be necessary to show that Krasus obtains the items. I'll think about it.
2. Yes, I am all in favour of adding Chromie to the map for an optional quest.
3. There are many chapters in the campaign with an Ashenvale tileset, which is why I want the Emerald Dream to be a bit brighter. But mixing some textures and doodads might be fine.
4. I've thought about adding base-building but it was a bit too much work for my taste (lol). Instead I've added some triggered events to make the map cooler and you can now buy Tuskarr to help you out. /// Adding blue dragons doesn't make much sense for the story here - The ultimate reason why Malygos is secluded is because he (thinks he) is alone. Not even Krasus should know about other blue dragons - otherwise, why wouldn't he tell Malygos?


Two more things:
- I've already added a new interlude that shows Alexstrasza and Nekros between chapters 5 and 6.
- I am trying out some changes to Rhonin's classes to make each one more interesting... E.g. Make Frost Sphere a smaller standard spell.

edit: Changes to the Elemental Mage have been so big that its concept is now completely different: Instead of an Elemental Mage he has now become a Timewalker who can cast Time Vortex to slow enemy movement in a target area and speed himself up to deal more damage. Still early WIP.

I still have a lot of time. The goal is to be ready for Reforged.

 

[Venombite]

It's totally not necessary for Krasus to obtain the items the way he does now. I meant something like in the book. The cutscene beginning with Krasus in his room digging through his stuff and finds eg. the rose and says something like it's beauty is untimely and then is surrounded by the sand or finding the vial and explaining how it killed the behemoth and how it will serve his purpose.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Fun fact: Would you believe me if I said I'm pretty fuzzy on these story details?^^ I've spent so much time with the campaign that it has become the "real" story for me.


The Elemental Mage class for Rhonin has some fundamental problems:
- His only abilities that can target air are Electricity Shield and Frost Sphere.
- Electricity Shield only deals damage when enemies are close to one another. Not really useful when the AI doesn't react to its damage. Also, many players don't seem to realize that it doesn't damage your own units.
- Frost Shield doesn't deal any damage, but is a powerful defensise mechanism. It doesn't help Rhonin in micro sections with only a few enemies at a time.
- Blaze Wake and Blinding Sand look too similar.

I tried to make the Elemental Mage more interesting by making Frost Sphere his first active ability that slows and damages enemies over time. Then I found myself searching for a new ultimate ability when realized how similar Frost Sphere is to Chromie's Temporal Loop (Heroes of the Storm). I realize that with Blinding Sand in the Elemental Mage's toolkit I had an excellent basis for a new time-based class.

In one of the earlier versions of DotD, one of the coolest things were Vereesa's Cold Arrows in combination with Falstad's Power Bash. Falstad would knock away enemies while Vereesa would slowly pick them apart from afar. I wanted to bring this combination of spells back to DotD: The Timewalker is ideally used when slowing down enemies with Time Vortex and using Timewalk to deal lots of damage from afar. Enemies who get too close can be debuffed with Blinding Sand. The coolest thing about the Timewalker is his ultimate: He can summon a Future-Self to get a second Rhonin with the same non-ultimate hero abilities.

 

[Venombite]

Another thing Imo might be cool. I noticed that in Ysera map we can train furbolgs. What if we were unable to train furbolgs, but instead some treants(permanent) from the ancient of war. Maybe in different sizes smaller, weaker and cheaper and larger, stronger, more expensive with some ability. But when you acquire your base along with the satyrs a small band of corrupted furbolgs starts to attack you from time to time as well. You get the optional quest of either killing their leader taking an artifact and stopping the attacks or have Eranikus purify the fountain that's corrupting them and take the cure to them. If you purify them you get some furbolg units and a camp in witch you can hire all furbolg creeps, maybe even buy them upgrades. Just think it would be cool to have some large shamans and furbolg ursas wreaking havoc in the satyr bases.
Chromie's quest could for you to kill some vrykul's from the past (bandits with different models Vrykul Race Pack) and some undead from the future and in the end kill some warlocks that are causing time problems and get an artifact from them.
// On the side note didn't mean to post this science you obviously aren't a fan of blue dragons, but anyway. Imo it actually would make sense for them to appear. It would serve two purposes. First it would show how mad Malygos actually is not having a grip with reality, what has Deathwing done with him. Malygos feels guilty for what he has done (as far as I know he was almost as responsible for creating the demon soul as was Deathwing, being it's strongest supporter, witch ultimately led to deaths of Sindragosa and most of blue dragons) and was thus driven to insanity. Second it would show how the dragonflight is still loyal to his master despite his clear insanity and thus inability to lead, witch is a nice parallel why the red dragonflight(witch is at least 4-5 times as numerous) is still so loyal to Alexstrasza despite her obvious captivity and forced to act against her will. Krasus actually does know of other blue dragons(in the sunwell trilogy(haven't read it just know about it form youtube)it's implied that he knew both Kalec and Tyrygosa for quit some time, also in WoA it's Krasus who hides many blue dragon eggs and makes them hatch) but he is clearly affraid of Malygos(he knows his condition) and is careful not to upset him with sudden information and is affraid of malygos's reaction.

 

[Anaxie]

Personally id rather we not start throwing random WoW shit into a what 15 year old campaign?

 

[OutsiderXE]

I have restructured the campaign to the following:

Spoiler

Prologue: Remnants of War
Chapter 1: Road to Hasic
Chapter 2: Torn Apart
Interlude: The King of Alterac
Chapter 3: Kill Kryll
Chapter 4: The Spellweaver
Chapter 5: Goblin Island
Chapter 6: The Timeless One
Interlude: The Jailer
Chapter 7: Lady of Dreams
Chapter 8: Behind Enemy Lines
Chapter 9: Belly of the Beast
Chapter 10: The Battle of Grim Batol
Epilogues: Tranquility/The Purified Realm

Have played through half of the campaign so far. Really good feeling!

I have made some changes to Krasus:
- Each map he will have a different standard spell (Calderia's Wand, Eon Rose, Black Vial, Summon Alexstrasza) to have some gameplay variety on to not overburden players with too many spells.
- Dragon Form is no longer an ultimate ability. Krasus will automatically change to dragon form at start of chapter 10, unable to revert to his humanoid form.
- New ultimate Rain of Fire (with large area of effect). Sounds mundane but it's actually very practical in all those base building maps
- Increased level cap for Krasus (Chapter 4: Level 5, Chapter 6: Level: 7, Chapter 7: Level 9, Chapter 10: Level 10)

I have added an optional quest to the Northrend map: Use/Destroy 3 Gemstones to summon/banish Aluneth. Aluneth is an entity from the WoW lore, but he is not as obvious as Chromie for example.

There is still a bit to do:
- Arcane Master needs a rework. In the very least his main spell should be able to target air.
- Chapters 6 and 7 need optional quests. I want to use lesser known lore from WoW, so I will refrain from using Chromie, Vrykuls or anything that is very prominent in WoW lore. Chapter 6 will have some sort of time travel aspect. For chapter 7 helping furbolgs or another race to get them for your tech-tree is cool, but the map currently lacks the space for large creep camps... We'll see.
- Actually not that much anymore! The maps I have played are already in a good state. Not many bugs and gameplay feels solid. Open beta within 1-2 months sounds reasonable.

 

[Venombite]

Forgot to say two things that would imo make campaign better:

1. Not really a fan of dwarven footman model. Think this one Dwarven warrior would be much better, it even has its own icon.
2. Rhonin desperately needs a new model. Have no clue witch one

Edit: Two things I just noticed. Last comment I promise:

• Not a fan of a whole summon Alexstrasza thing. Imo she's too important of character to be summoned and killed than resummoned like a water elemental. I personally think she should not be playable before the aspect battle. Or if she is playable there should be a quest that she must survive, cause she is the most powerful character in the story(apart from Deathwing). Krasus's normal spell could be human/dragon form instead, it was a very cool thing in the map.
• If the other aspects are using normal dragon models, then Deathwing should too(he shouldn't have his wowish model).

P.S. just realized what if the aspect battle is fought in human forms(all the aspects have their human models on the hive, with respective icons, and Deathwing could be lord Prestor). That way you could keep WoW models in cutscenes and interludes and parts of the maps when the aspects aren't playable. Don't know if it's possible with recent patches crushing the editor, but just saying.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Suggestions ar always welcome. It' the reason why I post updates frequently.

Not really a fan of dwarven footman model. Think this one Dwarven warrior would be much better, it even has its own icon.

I changed the model. Thanks for your suggestion. I don't know how Reforged is going to handle old modelss but for know I am treating the model part of the campaign as if Reforged didn't exist.

Rhonin desperately needs a new model. Have no clue witch one

People hve suggested using this one Rhonin but it doesn't fit his lower status in the campaign in my opinion, and he would look nothing like on the book cover. Instead I have added this model to be used for the Future-Self spell.

Not a fan of a whole summon Alexstrasza thing. Imo she's too important of character to be summoned and killed than resummoned like a water elemental. I personally think she should not be playable before the aspect battle. Or if she is playable there should be a quest that she must survive, cause she is the most powerful character in the story(apart from Deathwing).

I don't like overstuffing a single map with heroes. In the final map you will be able to control Krasus, Rhonin, and optionally rescue Falstad, Vereesa and Rom. That's already 5 heroes plus a base. Alexstrasza may be neutral but I would have to change gameplay a lot for that to work. I will think about it.

Krasus's normal spell could be human/dragon form instead, it was a very cool thing in the map.

There was a technical/logical problem with his dragon form ability: What if players hadn't reached level 6 until that Chapter? I have also made some changes to Krasus' spells so there aren't many reasons to switch between humanoid and dragon forms. Rain of Fire may be more mundane but it works very well in the base-building missions. ... If I remove Summon Alexstrasza from Krasus I will consider re-adding Dragon Form as a non-hero spell.

If the other aspects are using normal dragon models, then Deathwing should too(he shouldn't have his wowish model).

Deathwing's WoW model was custom made and in my opinion doesn't look that out of place. I have also significantly increased his scale to make him look more menacing.

P.S. just realized what if the aspect battle is fought in human forms(all the aspects have their human models on the hive, with respective icons, and Deathwing could be lord Prestor). That way you could keep WoW models in cutscenes and interludes and parts of the maps when the aspects aren't playable.

I have considered that but I don't want the final battle to be done in humanoid forms. It's too epic for that. Deathwing and Krasus have story reasons for why they are appearing in humanoid forms.

 

[Venombite]

There was a technical/logical problem with his dragon form ability: What if players hadn't reached level 6 until that Chapter? I have also made some changes to Krasus' spells so there aren't many reasons to switch between humanoid and dragon forms. Rain of Fire may be more mundane but it works very well in the base-building missions. ... If I remove Summon Alexstrasza from Krasus I will consider re-adding Dragon Form as a non-hero spell.

I did mean like a non-hero spell. Instead of summon Alex.

I don't like overstuffing a single map with heroes. In the final map you will be able to control Krasus, Rhonin, and optionally rescue Falstad, Vereesa and Rom. That's already 5 heroes plus a base. Alexstrasza may be neutral but I would have to change gameplay a lot for that to work. I will think about it.

Imo she doesn't even have to appear after you've freed her. She could just fly off and say something like I'm going now to confront Deathwing with the other aspects, you deal with Nekros and the orcs.

 

[OutsiderXE]

I did mean like a non-hero spell. Instead of summon Alex.

Imo she doesn't even have to appear after you've freed her. She could just fly off and say something like I'm going now to confront Deathwing with the other aspects, you deal with Nekros and the orcs.

For the time being I have changed the storyline so Alexstrasza wants to take revenge on Nekros, which makes sense in my opinion because of what he did to her. The basic idea of having Alex is to have a super-powered dragon who messes up the entire enemy army. Although it's not really reflected at the moment... Her spells are worse than Krasus'...

What about the following?
- Alexstrasza is a neutral hero unit who can be controlled indirectly.
- Krasus has an ability called "Dragonqueen Charge" (or something like that) that is used on a target point. Alexstrasza attack moves to that location.
- If Alexstrasza is about to die she flies back to your base and heals herself for XX seconds.

I want to avoid situations where it becomes an escort mission because babysitting can be really annoying. I can also see your point that a simple summon spell is too simple for the Dragonqueen. I also don't want to just ignore her part.

 

[Venombite]

For the time being I have changed the storyline so Alexstrasza wants to take revenge on Nekros, which makes sense in my opinion because of what he did to her. The basic idea of having Alex is to have a super-powered dragon who messes up the entire enemy army. Although it's not really reflected at the moment... Her spells are worse than Krasus'...

What about the following?
- Alexstrasza is a neutral hero unit who can be controlled indirectly.
- Krasus has an ability called "Dragonqueen Charge" (or something like that) that is used on a target point. Alexstrasza attack moves to that location.
- If Alexstrasza is about to die she flies back to your base and heals herself for XX seconds.

I want to avoid situations where it becomes an escort mission because babysitting can be really annoying. I can also see your point that a simple summon spell is too simple for the Dragonqueen. I also don't want to just ignore her part.

Alexstrasza wanting her revenge definitely makes a lot of sense. Having a super powerful dragon is sooo cool, but in the current version by the end of the map you would have about 10 red dragon killing maschines anyway.
Alexstrasza being neutral, Krasus commanding her is definitely a lot cooler than summon Alexstrasza, if you find it worth it, it's awesome.
Edit: What if she ate Nekros after being freed and thus getting her revenge. And have some other hero (eg. Blademaster, Warlock, tauren Cheftain(orc model), Beastmater(orc model)) doing the altar part.

 

[OutsiderXE]

A few things that have always bugged me about the campaign:
1. How quickly the campaign skips through about 1/3 of the book. In the book Rhonin and Vereesa spent a lot moe time with Duncan.
2. Rhonin, despite being the protagonist, has less playtime than Vereesa; possibly even less than Krasus or Falstad.
3. Chapters 2/3 spents too much time away from the plot (too much walking around with only the objective in mind)

So the idea is now to rewrite the story and some gameplay aspects for the first 3 chapters:
Chapter 1: Same up to the point where the heroes arrive in Hasic. They would no longer arrive in Hasic, instead they get attacked by a dragon and orcs in an unnamed village (or some other area). In the outro cinematic gryphons come to kill the dragon, but they don't land. Duncan and his knights come to check out hte situation and escort the heroes to a different place.
Chapter 2: Duncan and the knights escort the heroes to their base. At the base you get a warning that Hasic is under attack so you need to build forces and protect its ships. Ultimately this fails, but gryphons come again to kill the last dragons and they decide to bring your heroes to Khaz Modan.
Chapter 3: The heroes land in Khaz Modan. Some gryphon riders step away to feed the gryphons while the heroes explore the area. After some time they get attacked by dragons and Deathwing comes. Deathwing takes Rhonin. Vereesa and Falstad are alone. They walk for a bit until they meet Kryll. They escort Kryll until he betrays them. From here on it's the same as before.

What would we gain from this?
- Rhonins number of missions increased from 4 to 5,5
- More time with Duncan and the events prior to flying to Khaz Modan
- A lot of retconning to make room for gameplay elements
- More storytelling in Chapter 3
- Earlier basebuilding mission with humans vs orcs

What would we lose from this?
- Falstad's number of missions decreased from 4 to 3 (not including the final chapter)
- A bit less storytelling in Chapter 2
- Basebuilding mission with dwarves vs goblins
- Possibly no/less ships/island hopping
- Time to release

I will think about this in more detail. I don't want to have to recreate Chapters 2 and 3 yet again. Instead I want to have a good look at what i have already created and see if I can make changes easily.

 

[Venombite]

A few things that have always bugged me about the campaign:
1. How quickly the campaign skips through about 1/3 of the book. In the book Rhonin and Vereesa spent a lot moe time with Duncan.
2. Rhonin, despite being the protagonist, has less playtime than Vereesa; possibly even less than Krasus or Falstad.
3. Chapters 2/3 spents too much time away from the plot (too much walking around with only the objective in mind)

So the idea is now to rewrite the story and some gameplay aspects for the first 3 chapters:
Chapter 1: Same up to the point where the heroes arrive in Hasic. They would no longer arrive in Hasic, instead they get attacked by a dragon and orcs in an unnamed village (or some other area). In the outro cinematic gryphons come to kill the dragon, but they don't land. Duncan and his knights come to check out hte situation and escort the heroes to a different place.
Chapter 2: Duncan and the knights escort the heroes to their base. At the base you get a warning that Hasic is under attack so you need to build forces and protect its ships. Ultimately this fails, but gryphons come again to kill the last dragons and they decide to bring your heroes to Khaz Modan.
Chapter 3: The heroes land in Khaz Modan. Some gryphon riders step away to feed the gryphons while the heroes explore the area. After some time they get attacked by dragons and Deathwing comes. Deathwing takes Rhonin. Vereesa and Falstad are alone. They walk for a bit until they meet Kryll. They escort Kryll until he betrays them. From here on it's the same as before.

What would we gain from this?
- Rhonins number of missions increased from 4 to 5,5
- More time with Duncan and the events prior to flying to Khaz Modan
- A lot of retconning to make room for gameplay elements
- More storytelling in Chapter 3
- Earlier basebuilding mission with humans vs orcs

What would we lose from this?
- Falstad's number of missions decreased from 4 to 3 (not including the final chapter)
- A bit less storytelling in Chapter 2
- Basebuilding mission with dwarves vs goblins
- Possibly no/less ships/island hopping
- Time to release

I will think about this in more detail. I don't want to have to recreate Chapters 2 and 3 yet again. Instead I want to have a good look at what i have already created and see if I can make changes easily.

Well I don't know.....
Imo dwarves vs goblins and shipbuilding is the coolest thing you added in this update. Humans vs Orcs is kinda boring, plus we already have it(in new Nozdormu map). Imo you should definitely keep that part. I agree that mission 2 doesn't have a lot of point. Maybe you could expand mission 3 and have the heroes land in Khaz Modan, Deathwing abducting Rhonin and Vereesa and Falstad kill some creeps before meeting Kryll and entering Dwarven base...But I don't know, even I can see those are really big changes, and a lot of work.(If you are already making big changes, I personally would prefer basebuilding in Northrend, lol)

 

[OutsiderXE]

Well I don't know.....
Imo dwarves vs goblins and shipbuilding is the coolest thing you added in this update. Humans vs Orcs is kinda boring, plus we already have it(in new Nozdormu map). Imo you should definitely keep that part. I agree that mission 2 doesn't have a lot of point. Maybe you could expand mission 3 and have the heroes land in Khaz Modan, Deathwing abducting Rhonin and Vereesa and Falstad kill some creeps before meeting Kryll and entering Dwarven base...But I don't know, even I can see those are really big changes, and a lot of work.(If you are already making big changes, I personally would prefer basebuilding in Northrend, lol)

Honestly, I am not sure I have the energy to make big changes like I mentioned again. Just keeping Rhonin for a while longer in Chapter 2 is already causing a headache: What happens to the other gryphon riders in the meantime? What about Duncan? I don't want him to be playable but I also don't want to have another escort quest.

edit: Now I have this really cool idea of Deathwing killing Duncan in the beginning and then chasing your heroes for a while and you have to hurry to get away... But it might be very complicated to trigger. I'll look into it over the weekend and focus on polishing the rest of the campaign until then.

On the other hand my first tests with the Dragonqueen Charge ability in Chapter 10 work well. Alex seems even more imposing now that you don't get to control her directly - free will...

 

[Venombite]

Honestly, I am not sure I have the energy to make big changes like I mentioned again. Just keeping Rhonin for a while longer in Chapter 2 is already causing a headache: What happens to the other gryphon riders in the meantime? What about Duncan? I don't want him to be playable but I also don't want to have another escort quest.

edit: Now I have this really cool idea of Deathwing killing Duncan in the beginning and then chasing your heroes for a while and you have to hurry to get away... But it might be very complicated to trigger. I'll look into it over the weekend and focus on polishing the rest of the campaign until then.

On the other hand my first tests with the Dragonqueen Charge ability in Chapter 10 work well. Alex seems even more imposing now that you don't get to control her directly - free will...

Perhaps:
Chapter one stays the same. At the beginning of chapter 2 heroes land and stop to feed the gryphons. The trio explores the area and do the quests(main and optional labs), while Duncan(level 10 Garithos) defends the camp(few tents and towers) the way Uther does in RoC campaign. Few orcs/ogres attack the camp from time to time, and while doing the quests the trio must also take care that gryphons and riders do not die. Gryphons and riders must not die but if they get attacked, they can defend themselves, heros can find/buy scrolls and wards to heal them. If Duncan dies, which he most likely won't from few orc/ogres, he is resurrected. You can't repair the towers but you can find new mini towers. After you complete the main quests dragons and Deathwing come and Falstad and Vereesa are alone for the second part of the mission witch is more or less the same(though I'm not a fan of Falstad reading books). Chapter 3 and onwards stay the same. That way Duncan gets more screentime and more dialoge with Rhonin and Vereesa.
Deathwing chasing is also cool, though don't know if you've removed it, the trio already gets a race with time in chapter 7.
You know best what is easiest and best.

 

[Venombite]

Might be cool if you changed dwarven building models with these Ujimasa Hojo's Resources Discussion.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Might be cool if you changed dwarven building models with these Ujimasa Hojo's Resources Discussion.

Thank you. I've already changed the models for the Barracks and Towers based on Tamplier777's WotR models, but I've been looking for some more.

Progress has been going well. Not many new things as I've been spending time polishing what is there now. I think I could present an open beta before the end of the month.

Vereesa got a new skill: Rapid Fire will replace Searing Arrows. Rapid Fire increases her attack speed significantly for 5 seconds. Makes her play a bit more active.


edit: I accidentally posted this on a previous post weeks ago so here're some "news" on the Arcane Master:


news:
Arcane Master is very boring to play compared to the other Rhonin classes so I made some changes:
- Arcane Orb can now also damage air units
- Replaced Star Burn with Astral Confusion: Star Burn was just a renamed version of Soul Burn (Firelord). Astral Conversion damages a target enemy unit over time and forces it to attack its allies for some time.
- Replaced Mana Fusion with Spectral Aura which returns mana to Rhonin for every nearby corpse.
- Replaced Astral Cloud with Arcane Power. Astral Cloud was a channeling ability, which only works well in base building missions when Rhonin ia backed up by an army. Arcane Power improves Rhonin's other abilities in various ways:
- It reduces the cooldown of Arcane Orb to 2 sec.
- Enemies who are under the effect of Astral Conversion will spread its effect to nearby units, so this will essentially create a mass-chaos situation like Astral Cloud did in the past, but allows Rhonin to do other things.
- Increases mana gained by Spectral Aura

 

[Anaxie]

Thank you. I've already changed the models for the Barracks and Towers based on Tamplier777's WotR models, but I've been looking for some more.

Progress has been going well. Not many new things as I've been spending time polishing what is there now. I think I could present an open beta before the end of the month.

Vereesa got a new skill: Rapid Fire will replace Searing Arrows. Rapid Fire increases her attack speed significantly for 5 seconds. Makes her play a bit more active.


edit: I accidentally posted this on a previous post weeks ago so here're some "news" on the Arcane Master:


news:
Arcane Master is very boring to play compared to the other Rhonin classes so I made some changes:
- Arcane Orb can now also damage air units
- Replaced Star Burn with Astral Confusion: Star Burn was just a renamed version of Soul Burn (Firelord). Astral Conversion damages a target enemy unit over time and forces it to attack its allies for some time.
- Replaced Mana Fusion with Spectral Aura which returns mana to Rhonin for every nearby corpse.
- Replaced Astral Cloud with Arcane Power. Astral Cloud was a channeling ability, which only works well in base building missions when Rhonin ia backed up by an army. Arcane Power improves Rhonin's other abilities in various ways:
- It reduces the cooldown of Arcane Orb to 2 sec.
- Enemies who are under the effect of Astral Conversion will spread its effect to nearby units, so this will essentially create a mass-chaos situation like Astral Cloud did in the past, but allows Rhonin to do other things.
- Increases mana gained by Spectral Aura

What arcane wasnt boring i loved lining up the arcane blasts. The dot is great for those damn aoe lightning warlocks.

Veressa i felt was active enough with her multishot bringing her face to face with tagets u want to burst and lining up units behind it. Rhonin and veressa gameplay on the few times together has a lot going on in a good way

 

[OutsiderXE]

The changes I made to Arcane Master and Vereesa don't take away from already established gameplay elements. They just add more variety.

Arcane Orb still performs as before, only that now it can also damage air units and non-organics.
Mana Fusion and Spectral Aura work very similar. I just moved Mana Fusion to the Spirit Priest and modified it a bit.
Rhonin's ultimate Astral Confusion was really problematic as it only worked in the final base-building map well. By making it a standard spell you can now always gain a temporary ally to fight for you.
Using Overpower is... overpowered, but in a good way. As long as you have a lot of mana you can spam Arcane Orbs and units hit by Astral Confusion will spread the effect like in the current version.

Vereesa's Multishot works as before (like a Shotgun). But in case you wanted to kill a single unit quickly, without getting Vereesa too close to enemies you can now use Rapid Fire. Basically like a fast version of Searing Arrows.

Btw. thanks to these models the dragon aspects might still get a unique look: Dragons


edit: Allow me to elaborate in a bit more detail:

The update to the campaign has the goal of making the campaign more fun. This is done by establishing some pillars (well-defigned design decisions), like giving the player always something to do with enough options to overcome difficult situations.

There were many situations in the game when players coud only do very few things at a time. For example when you controlled only 1-2 heroes, like Falstad and Vereesa. Falstad could use his Hammer to taunt enemies and use Power Bash to slow them down. Vereesa could use Multishot to deal damage to many enemies or get close for a shotgun-blast. Other than that she had to do some mana management between Searing Arrows and Refill Quiver. Both heroes can buy some items to replenish their vitals so they can do these things more often.

I will not say I made big changes to these heroes, because I always have to be careful to not overburden players, but I gave players more things to do and more options. Aside from the changes to the heroes, I have added more base-building, so you can produce a variety of units, and I added mercenaries you can hire on each map. Usually the amount of gold in a map is limited so you have to think what type of merc or item you want to buy.


Current progress of the campaign is going well. Just polishing and bugfixing now. I aim for an open beta on August 2nd. I am looking forward to anyone's live feedback.

 

[Venombite]

Just found a really good human archer(Archer Lordaeron). Thought you might find it useful if you're making a human base-building map, or in a new Nozdormu map, or as a mercenary or something.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Just found a really good human archer(Archer Lordaeron). Thought you might find it useful if you're making a human base-building map, or in a new Nozdormu map, or as a mercenary or something.

Thank you, but the map is about Alliance with WC2-like tech, so there will be elven archers and ballistae and arcane sanctum units, but no workshop units (for balancing reasons mostly).

 

[Venombite]

Thank you, but the map is about Alliance with WC2-like tech, so there will be elven archers and ballistae and arcane sanctum units, but no workshop units (for balancing reasons mostly).

Ahhhh...don't know if you've implemented it already, but then you should definitely make upgrades that enable the knights to cast a healing spell (eg holly light) and a light damage spell, and us able to train powerful mages(with much stronger attack than warcraft 3 spellcasters and abilities like blizzard, firebolt, fire shield, polymorph) instead of warcraft 3 spellcasters, and enemies having ogres/ogre magis (instead of wolf riders), forest trolls and death knights(with attack similar to the mage and abilities like death coil, rise dead, death and decay). That would be so cool.

 

[OutsiderXE]

Ahhhh...don't know if you've implemented it already, but then you should definitely make upgrades that enable the knights to cast a healing spell (eg holly light) and a light damage spell, and us able to train powerful mages(with much stronger attack than warcraft 3 spellcasters and abilities like blizzard, firebolt, fire shield, polymorph) instead of warcraft 3 spellcasters, and enemies having ogres/ogre magis (instead of wolf riders), forest trolls and death knights(with attack similar to the mage and abilities like death coil, rise dead, death and decay). That would be so cool.

I am afraid I have passed the point where I would make such big changes to the tech-tree. The map flows really well as it is. I might add ogres as enemies though.

That being said, I have entered the phase where I spend more time playing the campaign than polishing it. Only Chapters 3, 9 and 10 demand a little more attention. An open beta release between August 4th and 11th sounds realistic (would have been earlier but I spent the entire week playing Starcraft 1^^).

 

[Anaxie]

Yeah i never

The changes I made to Arcane Master and Vereesa don't take away from already established gameplay elements. They just add more variety.

Arcane Orb still performs as before, only that now it can also damage air units and non-organics.
Mana Fusion and Spectral Aura work very similar. I just moved Mana Fusion to the Spirit Priest and modified it a bit.
Rhonin's ultimate Astral Confusion was really problematic as it only worked in the final base-building map well. By making it a standard spell you can now always gain a temporary ally to fight for you.
Using Overpower is... overpowered, but in a good way. As long as you have a lot of mana you can spam Arcane Orbs and units hit by Astral Confusion will spread the effect like in the current version.

Vereesa's Multishot works as before (like a Shotgun). But in case you wanted to kill a single unit quickly, without getting Vereesa too close to enemies you can now use Rapid Fire. Basically like a fast version of Searing Arrows.

Btw. thanks to these models the dragon aspects might still get a unique look: Dragons


edit: Allow me to elaborate in a bit more detail:

The update to the campaign has the goal of making the campaign more fun. This is done by establishing some pillars (well-defigned design decisions), like giving the player always something to do with enough options to overcome difficult situations.

There were many situations in the game when players coud only do very few things at a time. For example when you controlled only 1-2 heroes, like Falstad and Vereesa. Falstad could use his Hammer to taunt enemies and use Power Bash to slow them down. Vereesa could use Multishot to deal damage to many enemies or get close for a shotgun-blast. Other than that she had to do some mana management between Searing Arrows and Refill Quiver. Both heroes can buy some items to replenish their vitals so they can do these things more often.

I will not say I made big changes to these heroes, because I always have to be careful to not overburden players, but I gave players more things to do and more options. Aside from the changes to the heroes, I have added more base-building, so you can produce a variety of units, and I added mercenaries you can hire on each map. Usually the amount of gold in a map is limited so you have to think what type of merc or item you want to buy.


Current progress of the campaign is going well. Just polishing and bugfixing now. I aim for an open beta on August 2nd. I am looking forward to anyone's live feedback.

Never used rhonins ultimate felt pointless and underwhelming. Gryphs and dragons melted buildings. Too busy arcane orbing and Doting lightning casters. And microing krasus' flame Pet

Glad to see arcane orb is even more destructive. Me likey!

I know the aim is to make it more fun but for the battle of grim batol. Both the dungeon crawl and the final base mission.. Bigger is definetly always going to be better than smaller maps. Imo.

Ive watched the last mission shrink in a previous build and now the dungeon crawl is also being downsized.

The trio together is when the campaign really shines qhen you get to fight massive amounts of enemies with your heroes well defined and extremely fun spells.

Id say out of vanilla and ALL custom campaigns. Playing with rhonin 'arcane'and veressa are still the most fun and well developed heroes ive used even if i never and i mean never. Used rhonin nor veressas ultimate. Like. Ever

Arcane orb and multishot are just really amazingly fun spells that reward skilled usage

Veressas legendary bows use effect is a mana burn i believe?

since shes losing her searing arrow now add an orb effect to it imo. Agility 10 + slowing orb effect proc instead of mana burn

Alternatively. Replace krasus searing blade and retool the searing blade 10 fire damage and crit effect into the legendary bow.

An agi hero let alone ranger . Fits the theme anyway with the criticals.