[Altered Melee] Faction Ideas For Map (Map is WIP)

[Zoldam]

I have been working on and off on a map for quite awhile now, and the map itself is almost done (Just need to make it more ascetically pleasing, but the gameplay aspects of it are done). But now I am working on faction balance/ideas/etc.

I am changing up the four classic factions first (Humans/Orcs/Undead/Night Elves) But plan on adding at least (And probably) four more of them. Here is a list of a few things I have done or am doing, faction ideas are below it.

General Changes

~Each faction can choose from one of three masteries which will give bonuses to certain units, allow training of new unit types, access new researches, among other things.

~Map is command point based (Similar to maps like Azeroth Wars). I need some input on how to balance this. I like "X amount of gold per 10 seconds" depending on how many nodes are captured, but I am not sure what exact amount, at the moment it's 25.

~Named Heroes (Illidan/Arthas/etc.) can be recruited, however they cost more and require a tier three Town Hall/Great Hall/etc. your three heroes can consist of named heroes, but you would need to go early game without a hero and it would also cost considerably more. My goal was to make your first two be generic melee ones, while your third would be named. But the option is open for other combinations.

~Ultimate Heroes can be summoned, they require a difficult to obtain item that must be taken back to your main base (Scroll of Town Portal is not available on this map), your enemies gain vision of the hero carrying it and the item drops on death (Thus your opponents can kill your hero and steal it and summon their own ultimate hero). If your ultimate hero dies, the item is dropped and your enemies can pick it up, you can not summon your ultimate hero again even if get the item back (Although normal heroes can carry it for stats).

~Each mastery in a faction will unlock a pseudo-hero (Think Naga Royal Guard) which will have different effects and abilities.

Humans

This has a lot of work done, I would say probably 75% of it is complete. The ultimate hero is Medivh and the masteries are Human, Dwarven, and Elven.

The Human mastery upgrades all human units and thus is mostly for melee combat/survival. A new Hydromancer (Offensive Caster) unit is available from the Arcane Sanctum and the human mastery allows that unit to unlock a tier 3 research. The human mastery also unlocks the "Champion" pseudo-hero which is an extremely powerful melee unit and is limited to three.

The Dwarven mastery upgrades all dwarf units and thus is good for ranged and siege combat. This probably needs the most work out of the masteries as dwarf units are kind of limited. The mastery unlocks the "Siege Golem" pseudo-hero which is good at decimating buildings and is extremely durable, but is average at killing units, like the champion, it's limited to three.

The Elven mastery upgrades all elf units and thus is good for casters. With this your Sorceresses can learn a third tier of training unlocking banish (Not 100%) and Priests learn resurrection with their tier three (Much weaker then paladin, only rezzes' one unit and takes about half their mana). Their pseudo-hero is "Arcane Monstrosity" which isn't the best fighter and isn't that durable, but makes short work of enemy mana possessing Mana Burn, Siphon Mana, Feedback, and for protection, Mana Shield. Again, only three are allowed.

Humans (Regardless of Mastery) can research "Black Dragonflight Pact" which recruits Onyxia and allows (Limited) training of black dragon units. This is a *very* late game research with a very high price tag.

There is a lot more, but I'll post it later if anyone is curious.

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Below is a list of ideas that I have (Some NYI, others done, others WIP)

Alliance

Masteries: Human, Dwarf, Elf
Ultimate Hero: Medivh
Named Heroes: Arthas, Kael, Jaina, Sylvanas, Muradin, Garathos

Horde

Masteries: Orc, Troll, Brute (Tauren + Ogres)
Ultimate Hero: Gul'dan
Named Heroes: Grom, Thrall, Rexxar, Cairne, Drek'thar, Vol'Jin/Rokhan

Scourge

Masteries: Undeath, Creature, ??? (Thinking some sort of caster one, caultist?)
Ultimate Hero: The Lich King (I know Arthas is a hero, it's fine as Arthas is also Alliance to)
Named Heroes: Kel'Thuzad, Anub'arak, Sylvanas (Undead), Arthas (Undead), Sapphiron, ???

Night Elves

Masteries: Sentinel, Druid, Wild
Ultimate Hero: Cenarius
Named Heroes: Maiev, Tyrande, Illidan, Malfurion, Shandris, ???

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Below are faction ideas, but I have not done anything with yet...

Legion

Masteries: ???, ???, ???
Ultimate Hero: Kil'Jaeden
Named Heroes: None as of now... (Although likely a Dread Lord, Pit Lord, etc.)

Illidari? (Was Naga, but I think Illidari would work better)

Masteries: Blood Elf, Naga, Fel Blood (Demons/Fel Orcs/etc.)
Ultimate Hero: ??? (Maybe Azshara?)
Named Heroes: Vashj, Illidan (Demon), Kael, some SSC/TK/BT bosses from WoW

Corrupted Wild/Creeps

Masteries: Humanoid (Gnolls, Kobolds, etc.), Beast, ???
Ultimate Hero: Not Hogger
Named Heroes: None as of now...

Fel Horde

Masteries: Fel Orc, Demonic, ???
Ultimate Hero: Magtheridon?
Named Heroes: None as of now...

 

[Footman16]

Sounds good.

As for the races well you could add trolls, naga, burning legion, fel horde, blood elves. A few of those would be interesting to see.

Maybe for the undead their uber hero could be good ol' lich king. What type of map would this be made on 12 player blizzard map or an entirely custom map.

 

[Zoldam]

Sounds good.

As for the races well you could add trolls, naga, burning legion, fel horde, blood elves. A few of those would be interesting to see.

Maybe for the undead their uber hero could be good ol' lich king. What type of map would this be made on 12 player blizzard map or an entirely custom map.

The Lich King is the Scourge ultimate hero, the map is based off something, but is custom made, It's currently 8 players.

 

[Footman16]

Well for trolls you could have masteries: Amani, Drakkari Farraki etc and their ultimate could be Hakkar the Soulflayer or some other Loa.

 

[Zoldam]

A troll faction would be interesting, I could remake the trolls in the Horde be "Darkspear Headhunter", "Darkspear Witchdoctor", etc. to make them different from the "Wild" Troll faction.