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First Human Book of Arkain (Patch 1.29.2 or newer!)

This bundle is marked as director's cut. It exceeds all expectations and excels in every regard.
arkain_2020_x200-png.369838


! No longer updated !
Check out the
True Story of Arkain for updates!


full


A Campaign Series made by Shar Dundred

! Requires Version 1.29.2 or newer !
You are not allowed to publish any edited version of any Arkain map! This includes but is not limited to Reforged edits!

Story

The Humans of the Empire, who fought the Demon invaders for years, after the end of the so called Voidwar, now face a new strong invasion force. New ships have arrived from the other side of the Great Sea and the Humans prepare to defend themselves against the incoming invasion.
Command General Blen Greymoore, one of the best generals of the Empire, and his allies and face the new Demon Invasion. Defend the kingdoms and defeat the ruthless and merciless Legions.


Campaign Series Info

The Legends of Arkain is a campaign series which takes place on the world Arkain.
The races of Arkain fight against the demon invaders, who try once again to enslave every being on Arkain. The Humans, the Orcs and the Undead will have to make a stand against them... or face complete annihilation or enslavement by the Demons.
This campaign series will consist of actually three different series. There will be a Human, an Orc and an Undead campaign series. They will all run in the same timeline but will present three different stories and outcomes. When they are all finished, it's completely up to you, who wins this conflict.
Those, who win the war, will write the history.

You like the campaign?
Click here to see the progress of the series!


Click here for the First Orc Book!
Click here for the First Undead Book!

Click here for the Second Human Book!
Click here for the Second Orc Book!
Click here for the Second Undead Book!

Let's Play made by @Jayborino!

Features

- Three different storylines/campaign series
Take control of one of the three factions, the proud Humans of the Empire, the plundering and strong Orc Clans or the mysterious Undead Nexus and their endless army of the dead, and face the demonic invasion as well as other struggles that await you.
- New units
Command units, you already know, as well as completely new units with new upgrades and abilities.
- Decide the fate of Arkain
At some points of the campaigns, you'll have the opportunity to decide things, that affect the storyline, characters and sometimes even the chapters you play or how you have to play them. By doing or, well, not doing certain side quests, you can also affect the campaign.
- Three difficulties
You can play the campaign in either easy, normal oder hard difficulty, just like in the original WC3 campaigns. It will impact on the AI difficulty and scripting as well as other minor changes.
In easy version, for example, the AI won't rebuilt lost buildings.

- Full Jass AI
In this campaign series, every single AI is written in Jass instead of being created with the AI editor. This makes the AI more intelligent.
- Universal Hero hotkeys
All hero abilities use the QWER hotkeys.

Factions

The Human Empire
There have always been Humans on Arkain. The Human kingdoms and their allies, the Elves and Dwarves, have fought the Demons for centuries while also being attacked by orc pillagers. They had no chance against the demons and were already close to annihilation, when the Empire showed up.
They came over the Great Sea in the west and saved the kingdoms, who immediately joined the Empire in return. The Humans still fight the Demons and more and more of them join the fight against their old suppressors.
The Humans already tried to get rid of the Demons for good, but they failed. However, they continue fighting and won't stop until there are no humans or enemies of humanity anymore.
The current Emperor is Theodor the Second.

The Orcish Clans

Legends say that the Orcs hail from another continent and then spread all over the kingdoms. But not even the oldest Orcs can tell, if that's the true or the Orcs have been here all the time, just like the other races.
But it is known that the united clans attacking absolutely everything and everyone they met and conquered a large territory. It did work for a while, but not long. The other races, especially the Demons, who were very angry about that insult, brought the fight to them and massacred half of the green skins.
The Orcs had to retreat and lost much of their territory. The only reason, why half of them are still there, is that their enemies fought among each other as well.
The Orc Clans allied with the Trolls, to increase their strengh, but still didn't manage to gather an army, that was comparable to their old numbers. Since they weren't able to begin their another huge conquest, the clans stopped working together and some old rivalries amongst the clans became important again.
Still, they managed to raid the other races and remain an annoyance for the other factions. There are still many Orcs left, which could prove to be a strong force, if they'd be united under a strong leader.

The Undead Nexus

The Undead are the most mysterious race of Arkain. Of course, necromancers and necrolytes are not unknown and have always summoned some undead servants to do their bidding, but the Undead as a complete race are a mystery to all creatures.
Once, a group of mighty necromancers, who became insane because of their immense power, believed they could rule the world with an army of the Living Dead. However, only days after they began attacking the Human kingdoms, they simply vanished. Their armies were gone and only the remains of the corpses were proof, that they ever existed.
What no mortal and no Demon knows, is, that a powerful Archlich, Aridon the Watcher, self-proclaimed guardian of Arkain, took care of them. He has the ability to take control of every Undead, he wants to control. He uses this power only, to make sure, that besides him is no one, who can form a real army of Undead. He always made the Undead kill their masters and reanimated them as his loyal servants.
The only mighty Undead, not currently living on the Dead Mountain, are guarding old temples and ruins, which contain artifacts, not meant to fall in the hands of neither mortals nor Demons. Still, they all call Aridon their master.
Aridon and his Undead live on the so called Dead Mountain, which lies within the Human kingdoms. Every sent expedition on this mountain never returned, so the Humans decided to simply ignore it and built a garrison to watch over the only entrance to the mountain.
Aridon claims to be as old as the world itself and has seen the rise and fall of races and nations. His goal is to maintain the balance of the world - or at least, what he sees as balance. He stayed out of every conflict and only watched for millenia.
But recent events force Aridon to end his idleness and take action himself instead of only manipulating others. He'll have to make the world know about the Undead - and give reason to fear them.

The Demon Legions

If there are any creatures besides the Undead Lord Aridon, who are as old as Arkain itself, than it must be the Demons. These creatures have been the bane of Arkain for a long, long time. If their history contains anything else than attacking and enslaving other races, than only the Demons know about it.
Every Demon Legion is lead by its most powerful Dreadlord. Who is the one, who commands all Legions, is unknown to every non-demon.
The Demons' realm lies in the East of the continent and is seperated by a bottomless rift, the so called Void. No one, except for Demons and their slaves, has ever been on the other side of the Void. The Void is so heavy fortified by the Demons, that they managed to block every attack there. The Void is also the place where the Imperial Army was defeated during their Great Attack.
Now, the Demons seem to begin another great offensive against the other races. And this time, they are determined to be victorious and won't show any mercy.



Characters

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General Blen Greymoore
General Greymoore embodies everything the Empire stands for. He is a honorable warrior who is proud to fight for the Empire and the Emperor. His tactical knowledge and physical strengh made him rise up the ranks very fast and he is eager to fight the Demons.
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Lord Harmos, Guardian of the Flame
Lord Harmos has spent half of his life in an academy to study the arcane arts. He is known for a rather fierce and impatient personality. Still, he knows more about fire magic than anyone else and is absolutely loyal towards the Empire and fights the Demons with full caution and uses his knowledge to gain every possible advantage.
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Aedale
Aedale is probably the most powerful spellcaster in the Empire. Not because of her current power or experience but because of the potential within herself. Aedale still has much to learn, which makes the fact that she was sent to the front look strange. She takes every opportunity to prove both herself and the veterans what she's capable of.
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Salana Woodhunter
Salana is the best ranger of the Elves and has some friends among the Humans and Dwarves. Therefore she often serves as diplomat for her people. Although she serves her queen without question, she had some problems with the politics of her people and begins to think, that the queen should take a more aggressive approach towards the Demons.
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General Gardon Bloodclaw
General Gardon is the most ruthless and merciless general in the Empire. He is known for using every available weapon against his enemies without showing any pardon. His background is a huge secret. He simply appeared out of nowhere and became general. He proved very fast, that he got that position out of good reason. He is the commander of the Ironfist, an elite commando of the Empire, which often carries out top secret missions for the Emperor.
Click here to learn more about the other characters!

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- Initial release


Epilogue:
- Fixed cache issue


General:
- Minor fixes
- Grammar fixes
- New skin for Elite unit
- New portrait for Destructor unit
- New abilities for Blen
- Set experience gain on all difficulties on 30%
- Various trigger fixes
- Terrain improvements
- Secret Chapter will no longer appear if you haven't followed the right way

Chapter One:
- Blen no longer sells his items when AI takes over

Chapter Two:
- Reduced the available gold
- Added a new gold mine
- Reduced the number of rescueable troops
- Reduced the movement speed of the Orc emissary
- Added guards for the emissary
- The Orcs gain a new base if the emissary escapes

Chapter Three:
- Destroying the Keep of the Unknown Soldiers solves the quest

Chapter Four:
- Fixed the outpost area
- Improved cinematics

Chapter Five:
- Decreased difficulty

Chapter Eleven:
- Decreased ally hit points on Hard

Epilogue:
- Fixed cache issue


General:
- Minor fixes

Chapter Seven:
- Fixed Main Quest update bug

Chapter Nine:
- Added reward for destroying Blue
- Reduced the significance of the item gained by killing the golems

Chapter Two:
- Fixed emissary spawn

Epilogue:
- Fixed epilogue

General:
- AI heroes now gain additional levels on Hard difficulty when they are supposed to
- High level Demon units can no longer be charmed
- Demon units don't take any damage from Holy Light anymore
- Demon units now take damage from Death Coil
- Activated latest melee patch for all maps that were still not up to date
- Blen's Neccessary Meassures spell was replaced with Imperial Edict
- Nerfed Giant Skeleton Warrior by removing Resistant Skin and Hardened Skin
- Increased damage of Destructors by 3
- Changed Armor Type of Eredar Warriors, Eredar Wrathguards and Eredar Grandmasters from Medium to Large
- Several model changes
- Added Hardened Skin and Resistant Skin to Clan Elite

Chapter One:
- Demon units now belong to the Souleater Legion
- Overlord replaced with Pitlord
- Added more Demon units
- When purple is defeated, an ally will now join the fight
- Slightly increased the defenses of the enemy bases
- Modified dialogue when encountering the Demons

Chapter Two:
- Increased size of enemy bases
- Increased the defenses of the enemy bases
- Minor terrain improvements

Chapter Three:
- Improved main base defenses
- Increased the number of Orcs attacking with the first wave

Interlude One:
- Added a few Pit Lords
- Added portals

Chapter Four:
- The Demons now send waves against the Ironfist
- The Captains are now still alive after the cutscene in the outpost
- Added Pit Lords

Chapter Five:
- Improved throne room
- Added more enemy units
- Added two Pit Lords

Chapter Seven:
- All Demon units now belong to the Blooddrinker Legion
- Added additional Pit Lord
- Added new dialogue
- The Deathbreeze Clan now supports its shipyards when attacked
- Added more ships to the fleet of the Deathbreeze Clan
- Added additional units to the base defense of the Deathbreeze Clan
- Increased difficulty of the attacking waves
- Replaced the Far Seer with Sasrogarn

Chapter Eight:
- Replaced Soul Burn of Progaderas with Mass Soul Burn
- Increased hit points of the bosses by 1000
- Added new ability for Margazar
- Added an additional Pit Lord
- Increased the number of Fire Golems

Chapter Eleven:
- Replaced Soul Burn of Progaderas with Mass Soul Burn
- Increased the number of Fire Golems
- Added Spell Immunity to Progaderas the Smoking
- The overall style of the map has been modified, the player no longer trains units, but instead supports the armies of his allies with his heroes, by capturing certain buildings and by upgrading the allied army

General:
- Decreased range of Dragon Lancers from 800 to 700
- Decreased Warlord damage by 3
- Fixed Mass Soul Burn
- Salana no longer drops her necklace when she dies

Chapter Four:
- Increased number of allied forces attacking the outpost

Chapter Eight:
- Removed Margazar's super AoE stun

Chapter Eleven:
- Fixed attacking routes

General:
- Various fixes

Chapter One:
- Small grammar fix

Chapter Eight:
- Name fix

Chapter One:
- Completing the side quest regarding the Black Dragon will now be saved as a choice

Chapter Nine:
- Completing the side quest regarding the Darkmind Clan will now be saved as a choice

Secret Chapter:
- The campaign button of Chapter Eleven will now appear properly after completing the secret chapter

Epilogue:
- The new choices will now be referenced

General:
- The campaign no longer uses the latest melee patch due to several balance changes messing up things, a few unit changes still apply to the campaign however

Prologue:
- Fixed an issue where the prologue would crash in version 1.30.1

Chapter Eleven:
- Reworked the AI to be less buggy
- Dramatically reduced the cost of upgrading your allies

General:
- Upkeep reworked: Low Upkeep now gives you 8 instead of 7 gold and High Upkeep now gives you 6 instead of 4 gold
- Furbolgs are now correctly named Bearmen

General:
- Fixed Batrider model

Chapter One:
- Replaced Ironthunder Clan cinematic with dialogue

Chapter Nine:
- Added a hint about the internal clan conflicts for the case of their heroes dying
- Clan Elites now spawn all over the base and no longer require a building to be spawned when the hero of said base dies

Secret Chapter:
- New model for Duke Redfist (courtesy of @Rhapsodie)

Chapter Eleven:
- Removed the dot of "Drake." because my lad @Drake no longer has that annoying dot.
- Destroyed Castles now drop Runes of Restoration
- Increased the size of the ramp to Genethas' castle

General:[/u]
- Fixed triggers that would not be working anymore after loading in newer versions of the game

Prologue:
- Changed the color of the Deathbreeze Clan to Emerald

Chapter One:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Renamed Blen's faction from Imperial Army to Kasrkin
- Changed the color of the Darkmind Clan to Navy

Chapter Two:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Renamed the Orc Wizards to Ravaging Fire Clan
- The prisoners are no longer "scouts" but instead part of a "vanguard", making their number and strength more plausible
- Changed the color of the Darkmind Clan to Navy

Chapter Three:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Changed the color of the Veterans of the Voidwar to Grey
- Changed the color of the Imperial Army to Light Blue
- Changed the color of the Unknown Soldiers to Yellow
- Changed the color of the Darkmind Clan factions to Navy

Chapter Four:
- Decreased the number of Demons attacking the outpost during the cutscene to decrease lags
- Changed the color of the Imperial Army to Light Blue

Chapter Five:
- Changed the color of Larantos' Elite Guard to Peanut
- Replaced Larantos' Phoenix ability with Doom

Chapter Six:
- Renamed the Slaves to Demon Slaves
- Changed the color of the Demon Slaves to Peanut

Chapter Seven:
- Changed the color of the Deathbreeze Clan to Emerald

Interlude Three:
- Adjusted the colors of several units and heroes

Chapter Eight:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Changed the color of the Veterans of the Voidwar to Grey
- Fixed the name of the Rohir Nexus

Chapter Nine:
- Changed the color of the Darkmind Clan to Navy
- Changed the color of the Deathbreeze Clan to Emerald
- Renamed the Renegade Orcs to Orc Dissidents
- Changed the color of the Orc Dissidents to Coal
- Minor adjustments to Rath's taunts
- Improved the quality and quantity of the Orc attacks & defenses
- Improved the attacks of the Elven Army
- Allowed Salana to use more Judicators

Chapter Eleven:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Changed the color of the Imperial Army to Light Blue
- Renamed the neutral Imperial Army to Imperial Army Bystanders
- Changed the color of the Imperial Army Bystanders to Wheat
- Changed the color of the Knights of Kome to Peach
- Increased the amount of units defending Progaderas
- Brought back the old RTS version of Chapter Eleven
- Removed all taunts

Epilogue:
- Changed the color of the Elves to Teal





Models & Skins:
Blizzard Entertainment
67chrome
epsilon
Wandering Soul
infrenus
Tauer
AndrewOverload519
Mephestrial
Dojo
PrMosquito
Hawkwing
Em!
dickxunder
acagnip
Uncle Fester
Frankster
Mc !
IamMclovin
AhhFreshWeeD
Sin'dorei300
Elenai
Kuhneghetz
CloudWolf
alreadyused
Dark Hunter1357
Dmitry Rommel
Kitabatake
Shar Dundred
RazorClawX
Uljimasa Hojo
eXciTe
Sellenisko
frostwolf
-Grendel
Skipper
Deolrin
gookywooky
Callahan
BlinkBoy
Hueter
Coinblin
13LUR
Pins
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Direfury
PROXY
Mechanical Man
DarkEvil
Infrisios


Icons:
Blizzard Entertainment
Uncle Fester
CloudWolf
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SkriK
CRAZYRUSSIAN
Darkfang
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67chrome
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INSEKT
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Frankster
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Elenai
Heinvers
Shar Dundred
Uljimasa Hojo
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Hemske
Palaslayer
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Justicebringer
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sigelang
Mr.Goblin
Mythic
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Pins
Eagle XI


Campaign Preview Screen:
Heinvers

Campaign Logo:
Mythic

Campaign Chief Development Tester and Grammar Genius:
Kasrkin

Everything else made by:
Shar Dundred

First Supporters:
Theoden of KoMe
Chen
youness
Kasrkin
kakuzu
BandolXD
Heinvers
Imperator
Veritas 117
PlankingWolf



Please contact me via PM if I forgot to give you credit for your resource!



To Blizzard Entertainment for this great game.
To Turnro whose great campaigns inspired me to revive this old project.
To Jayborino for his enjoyable let's play projects of the Arkain series!
To all who supported this project.
And very many special thanks to Kasrkin, who supported the creation of this project in many ways!



Feel free to post your suggestions, opinions and questions!
Please report any bugs!


Here you can find the old 1.27 version of the campaign.
Keep in mind that it is no longer being maintained!



Keywords:
Arkain, Legends, Legends of Arkain, LoA, campaign, series
Contents

Legends of Arkain First Human Book (Campaign)

Reviews
Moderator: StoPCampinGn00b Legends of Arkain First Human Book by Shar Dundred RATINGS Scores[/COLOR]] Gameplay: 27/30 Terrain & Aesthetics: 13/20 Total Score: 40/50 Explanation[/COLOR]]5 Stars: 47+ 4 Stars: 40-47 3 Stars: 25-39 2 Stars...

Pick your favorite character


  • Total voters
    321
Level 3
Joined
Nov 13, 2019
Messages
25
Please help me! I can't play the green wave chapter.. It's just my laptop screen is black and i have wait for long time but it doesn't happen..
 
Level 27
Joined
Jun 20, 2013
Messages
752
Playing Mission 5, with patch 1.31 when i use the emissary. What is supposed to happen?

The hero enters in the gate and appears in the upper part of the map, but the screen become black, with the menu visible, and nothing happens. The map keeps running like always.
 
Level 27
Joined
Jun 20, 2013
Messages
752
Let's remember.

The First map in the campaign the cinematic intro crash the game in 1.31.
The Chapter 5: If you run direct from the begining without saving, the emissary will buy a second hero to use the second base. Only tested with the Cleric hero. Still if you walk trough the door without saving the Throne room will be darkened and can only be changed by saving and reloading.
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,862
And this is why I "love" the Blizzard patches before & after 1.29.2. So much screw ups.
I feel that the only way to "really" fix most of these issues is by me updating to 1.3whatever
which I am definitely not going to do, meaning that I have to suggest using 1.29.2 for Arkain.
I am well aware that this is not a great solution, but I see no alternative.
 
Level 1
Joined
Nov 29, 2019
Messages
2
sooo...when i cheat
it will give a bug for me?





i always cheat for every singel chapter and..
i got bugs,i cant play chapter nine
and the chapter eight are gone wrong
 
Level 2
Joined
Jan 1, 2020
Messages
5
Can anyone help?I'm on mission 9 the green wave and when i try to play the mission its just all black.

same here man im stuck on mission 9
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Level 2
Joined
Jan 1, 2020
Messages
5
i decided to just update to 1.31 and its now fixed im on the second book now im stuck on mission 13 the red night after i kill volarian the mission is supposed to be finished but instead nothing happens.Which is annoying cause ive already come so far
 
Level 27
Joined
Jun 20, 2013
Messages
752
Mission 5: As a player.

It isn't dificult as the infamous Mission 3 in Malfurion Campaign, it's just a moral grind. The maps have a natural chokepoint in the middle of the map. Once both gold mines are producing and properly defended "10+ towers" , you can fortify the ramp and build a barracks, altar and sanctuary to keep pressure.

Ballistas are the only thing doing decent damage to demons, even for someone with bad micro like me.
Eagle riders... They are only worth of investment when it's time to attack the last base, build a dozen and do hit and run tactics.


Mission 8 with Gardon.

Once the main mission of discovering the corrupted water fountain, the cinematic presenting the enemy of the mission, sometimes the teleport to the main base bugs.

A: Only the normal soldiers are teleported to the clean water fountain.
B: Only the heroes are teleported.
C: A or B happens but they left the other group in the lake in the middle of the map.

The Boss fight cinematic bugs too, if you cancel it after going dark, the angle will stay bugged and the Boss will stay invulnerable forever. It's better to left the cinematic run a little of dialogue then press escape.

Not bug related, but that guy is always one shooting the High Wizard hero, the map doesn't end in defeat when a hero dies on this battle.

Edit-

Mission 9: One flying Orc unit doesn't have model or shadow. I only found about them thanks to the units auto attacking the waves.

I downloaded every campaign on December 6.

-Another edit-

I completed the campaign, in Hero crawling missions with one hero and this dies, the game ends. But with several heroes the mission fail doesn't trigger when one hero of the group dies.

This happened on Mission 8 - Gardon, and the Mission 10.
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 237964

D

Deleted member 237964

Still waiting for improved terrain for mission with Aron and for Queen throne room.
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,862
Version 2.31 released!
General:
- Fixed Batrider model

Chapter One:
- Replaced Ironthunder Clan cinematic with dialogue

Chapter Nine:
- Added a hint about the internal clan conflicts for the case of their heroes dying
- Clan Elites now spawn all over the base and no longer require a building to be spawned when the hero of said base dies

Secret Chapter:
- New model for Duke Redfist (courtesy of @Rhapsodie)

Chapter Eleven:
- Removed the dot of "Drake." because my lad @Drake no longer has that annoying dot.
- Destroyed Castles now drop Runes of Restoration
- Increased the size of the ramp to Genethas' castle
 
Level 12
Joined
Mar 25, 2019
Messages
129
Well I replayed this campaign now that i'm older and wiser(yeah... sure) and because now i learned english i will give my opinion(i played this before the changed of the last mission)

In general, i like it and recommend to anyone play this campaign, in the past took me off guard, because usually the first levels are easy, but here the chapters are advance/hard difficult and a casual player that plays really casual will fail(and ragequit just like me the first time)
After that the only mission that activate my cheat mode was the dwarf mission(the old last level was manageable but long)

Story: A campaign without warcraft's lore and with reasonable plot? Good! This is new and i like see this kind of stuff. Also is a dark fantasy, so always expect the worst. The power of friendship has no power here :(

Gameplay: The new units are good, my favorite was the iron/siege golem :D. Also if i can completed the missions (and I'm average player dude, so anyone can!) Acceptable difficulty with only a few excepcion that will mention later.
The rework of the upkeep was really good, you can have a bigger army now and you don't waste food in peasant(usually 20?)
The choice are ok, sometimes change a lot of the plot, sometimes not, but mostly in the next book.

Terrain: Well... my terrain skills are bad, so i believe that the terrain is ok. Maybe one or two rpg/adventure mission are too closed and difficult to move(both Adele and Salomar mission for example)

Well, and now i need to say the bad things(actually, neutral and a few question gameplay wise)

First
Why at the chapter 5 you can't train judicators and dragonhawk? Especially the former, you can train knights since the chapter 1 and captains(heavy footmen since chapter 3) There only 2 reasons why this; 1) Shar you are a monster, or 2) lorewise salana lack of authority to command advance troops. If you dont pick gardon(so choice help gardon in the last mission) or pick the elf military leader, you lack of heavy unit and lack of damage.

Second
Chapter 6 is boring!I mean, the chapter 1 feels more difficult that this level. If you build your base first and build your battleships later, when Adele and Salomar arrive, this map become a total joke, you dont need destroy the main orc base, just the orc base in the swamp (optional) with your heroes and the golems can push one side and win. The orc and undead versions of this map are better. (This is not bad, just something that picked my attention.)

Third
The dwarf level is the ultimate test, but once you destroy 2 orcs bases, is a walk, the only problem here is that, your "allies" are really bad, once you destroy the red base, they never suffer another attack so the bastards only bother in defender YOUR BASE when you pull the orcs nearby their buildings or the orcs destroy you so hard that enter in their range. In the chapter 7(?) of night elves FT, the blood elf can defend both their base and your for example. Damn, probably is better destroy their HQ, build you base there and maybe they will build a new one near the attack waves.

The last mission
I remember the RTS version, was hard, slow but fair, but good, because you can use all the new units in a big scale battle(i dont remember if you can train pegasus here) And because my choice i lost 3 heroes. But was enjoyable

But in this AoS version... is bad, sorry shar, but is bad!
IF you choice wrong(or good because canon) you can lose no only 1 but 2 heroes! Adele that can teleport your heroes for mobility and salomar is the only that can heal! Both for free!
Your enemies start with 3/3 , all upgrade and troops and their heroes are OP(lol lerrig is a nightmare despite the lore)
The gain of experience is really slow
You dont have estable income, only gain gold for last hit and really small amount of gold (the enemy heroes have the same value of basic enemy), and you need the gold badly for the upgrade, buy items(if you lack of the 2 heroes)
AND reviving your heroes! That also waste your much time to revive. You can actually lose because all your heroes die and dont have gold for revive.

This AoS is disappointed and is anti climatic for the last level i dare to say that have a bad design

Without the last level this campaign deserve 4,5/5 because i can't critic the terrain too much(because i can't do that better), but because that horrible last level, i need to put 4/5

Edit: By the way, the troll bat rider have the model problem(can't target it/invisible)
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Edit: By the way, the troll bat rider have the model problem(can't target it/invisible)
What game version are you running?
The problem is that Blizzard changed a path for a texture that model is using in 1.30+. And fixing it for one of the versions renders it broken for the other.
I will fix it once and for all, hopefully by basically having the author need to import the model AND its textures in the editor so that the model won't take the textures from the game files but from the import manager.
I'm sorry I didn't think of this before.
Bat Troll (fixedFinal) | HIVE
 
Level 7
Joined
Aug 5, 2018
Messages
62
Second
Chapter 6 is boring!I mean, the chapter 1 feels more difficult that this level. If you build your base first and build your battleships later, when Adele and Salomar arrive, this map become a total joke, you dont need destroy the main orc base, just the orc base in the swamp (optional) with your heroes and the golems can push one side and win. The orc and undead versions of this map are better. (This is not bad, just something that picked my attention.)

I agree this can be gamed when you know what's going on and choose the proper build order. Or simply choosing a conservative approach, as things getting worse when hitting a target isn't uncommon.

I think there is one way to improve this a lot, though it would require work to rearrange triggers and make sure it works well in all situations:
Have a hidden timer that determines a time at which the eastern orc base will attack you. But have Aedale and Salomar arrive only when you complete the battleships. So if you purposefully delay completing the battleships, you may have to deal with the eastern orc base for a while without the help of two powerful heroes.

I would like to see it. I think it would make for better gameplay, but Shar has to tell us what he thinks of it.
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,862
Well I replayed this campaign now that i'm older and wiser(yeah... sure) and because now i learned english i will give my opinion(i played this before the changed of the last mission)

In general, i like it and recommend to anyone play this campaign, in the past took me off guard, because usually the first levels are easy, but here the chapters are advance/hard difficult and a casual player that plays really casual will fail(and ragequit just like me the first time)
After that the only mission that activate my cheat mode was the dwarf mission(the old last level was manageable but long)

Story: A campaign without warcraft's lore and with reasonable plot? Good! This is new and i like see this kind of stuff. Also is a dark fantasy, so always expect the worst. The power of friendship has no power here :(

Gameplay: The new units are good, my favorite was the iron/siege golem :D. Also if i can completed the missions (and I'm average player dude, so anyone can!) Acceptable difficulty with only a few excepcion that will mention later.
The rework of the upkeep was really good, you can have a bigger army now and you don't waste food in peasant(usually 20?)
The choice are ok, sometimes change a lot of the plot, sometimes not, but mostly in the next book.

Terrain: Well... my terrain skills are bad, so i believe that the terrain is ok. Maybe one or two rpg/adventure mission are too closed and difficult to move(both Adele and Salomar mission for example)

Well, and now i need to say the bad things(actually, neutral and a few question gameplay wise)

First
Why at the chapter 5 you can't train judicators and dragonhawk? Especially the former, you can train knights since the chapter 1 and captains(heavy footmen since chapter 3) There only 2 reasons why this; 1) Shar you are a monster, or 2) lorewise salana lack of authority to command advance troops. If you dont pick gardon(so choice help gardon in the last mission) or pick the elf military leader, you lack of heavy unit and lack of damage.

Second
Chapter 6 is boring!I mean, the chapter 1 feels more difficult that this level. If you build your base first and build your battleships later, when Adele and Salomar arrive, this map become a total joke, you dont need destroy the main orc base, just the orc base in the swamp (optional) with your heroes and the golems can push one side and win. The orc and undead versions of this map are better. (This is not bad, just something that picked my attention.)

Third
The dwarf level is the ultimate test, but once you destroy 2 orcs bases, is a walk, the only problem here is that, your "allies" are really bad, once you destroy the red base, they never suffer another attack so the bastards only bother in defender YOUR BASE when you pull the orcs nearby their buildings or the orcs destroy you so hard that enter in their range. In the chapter 7(?) of night elves FT, the blood elf can defend both their base and your for example. Damn, probably is better destroy their HQ, build you base there and maybe they will build a new one near the attack waves.

The last mission
I remember the RTS version, was hard, slow but fair, but good, because you can use all the new units in a big scale battle(i dont remember if you can train pegasus here) And because my choice i lost 3 heroes. But was enjoyable

But in this AoS version... is bad, sorry shar, but is bad!
IF you choice wrong(or good because canon) you can lose no only 1 but 2 heroes! Adele that can teleport your heroes for mobility and salomar is the only that can heal! Both for free!
Your enemies start with 3/3 , all upgrade and troops and their heroes are OP(lol lerrig is a nightmare despite the lore)
The gain of experience is really slow
You dont have estable income, only gain gold for last hit and really small amount of gold (the enemy heroes have the same value of basic enemy), and you need the gold badly for the upgrade, buy items(if you lack of the 2 heroes)
AND reviving your heroes! That also waste your much time to revive. You can actually lose because all your heroes die and dont have gold for revive.

This AoS is disappointed and is anti climatic for the last level i dare to say that have a bad design

Without the last level this campaign deserve 4,5/5 because i can't critic the terrain too much(because i can't do that better), but because that horrible last level, i need to put 4/5

Edit: By the way, the troll bat rider have the model problem(can't target it/invisible)
While I have read this earlier, it appears that I have forgotten to reply. I'm doing that now. :)
I agree this can be gamed when you know what's going on and choose the proper build order. Or simply choosing a conservative approach, as things getting worse when hitting a target isn't uncommon.

I think there is one way to improve this a lot, though it would require work to rearrange triggers and make sure it works well in all situations:
Have a hidden timer that determines a time at which the eastern orc base will attack you. But have Aedale and Salomar arrive only when you complete the battleships. So if you purposefully delay completing the battleships, you may have to deal with the eastern orc base for a while without the help of two powerful heroes.

I would like to see it. I think it would make for better gameplay, but Shar has to tell us what he thinks of it.
I am aware of the issue(s) that you mentioned here & they are going to be looked into.
Once the Second Undead Book (which is currently in development) has been completed, there will
be a big overhaul for all existing campaigns of Arkain. More about this can be read here.
 
Level 1
Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
4
Shar they should have hired you to direct the last season of GOT your storytelling is amazing, I am not active on the Hive community just a simple player that enjoys custom campaigns and I must say yours are the best. I am really looking forward to the Second Undead Book as I know it must fill some question marks left in the story and I am really looking forward to it.
 
Level 2
Joined
Jun 6, 2020
Messages
13
Hi, I'm new to this forum and would try to play this campaign on my Warcraft TFT 1.27b. It works on it or there is any version i can get to try this?
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,862
Version 3.00 released!
This update is hopefully the last major update for this campaign for the time being.
It also includes some hints at some future changes in the "True Story of Arkain" which I will work on after the Second Books are all done.
More information on this can be found here.

General:
- Fixed triggers that would not be working anymore after loading in newer versions of the game

Prologue:
- Changed the color of the Deathbreeze Clan to Emerald

Chapter One:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Renamed Blen's faction from Imperial Army to Kasrkin
- Changed the color of the Darkmind Clan to Navy

Chapter Two:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Renamed the Orc Wizards to Ravaging Fire Clan
- The prisoners are no longer "scouts" but instead part of a "vanguard", making their number and strength more plausible
- Changed the color of the Darkmind Clan to Navy

Chapter Three:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Changed the color of the Veterans of the Voidwar to Grey
- Changed the color of the Imperial Army to Light Blue
- Changed the color of the Unknown Soldiers to Yellow
- Changed the color of the Darkmind Clan factions to Navy

Chapter Four:
- Decreased the number of Demons attacking the outpost during the cutscene to decrease lags
- Changed the color of the Imperial Army to Light Blue

Chapter Five:
- Changed the color of Larantos' Elite Guard to Peanut
- Replaced Larantos' Phoenix ability with Doom

Chapter Six:
- Renamed the Slaves to Demon Slaves
- Changed the color of the Demon Slaves to Peanut

Chapter Seven:
- Changed the color of the Deathbreeze Clan to Emerald

Interlude Three:
- Adjusted the colors of several units and heroes

Chapter Eight:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Changed the color of the Veterans of the Voidwar to Grey
- Fixed the name of the Rohir Nexus

Chapter Nine:
- Changed the color of the Darkmind Clan to Navy
- Changed the color of the Deathbreeze Clan to Emerald
- Renamed the Renegade Orcs to Orc Dissidents
- Changed the color of the Orc Dissidents to Coal
- Minor adjustments to Rath's taunts
- Improved the quality and quantity of the Orc attacks & defenses
- Improved the attacks of the Elven Army
- Allowed Salana to use more Judicators

Chapter Eleven:
- Changed player color from Light Blue to Dark Green
- Changed the color of the Imperial Army to Light Blue
- Renamed the neutral Imperial Army to Imperial Army Bystanders
- Changed the color of the Imperial Army Bystanders to Wheat
- Changed the color of the Knights of Kome to Peach
- Increased the amount of units defending Progaderas
- Brought back the old RTS version of Chapter Eleven
- Removed all taunts

Epilogue:
- Changed the color of the Elves to Teal
 
Level 1
Joined
Jun 2, 2018
Messages
3
just played it for the 3d time
the best custom campaign series of all time.. just wish chapter 11 was harder,, comparing to other chapters its the eziest
its a 5 v 3 and u have 6 heroes.. i think give the traitor some demons perhaps?
ofc its too late to change anything
ty for keeping war3 worth playing
will u make any similar bundles?
 
Level 7
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
92
replayed it again for like the thousand time i like what you did with the last mission tho it was a bit easy i really enjoyed it 10/10
 
Level 7
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
92
a yeah the orcs bug in chapter 9 i saw that and i forgot to report it sorry looks like you already fixed it :D anyways i love your campagains keep going they are the best i mean the war efforts showing the imperials at their strength how powerful they are then their struggles in the second books as they fell from grace from their own greed and corruption the betrayls the secrets i must say im looking forward to the second undead book but really its the true stroy of arkain that is intriguing me sorry for my horrible english keep your great work if you need any testing then i am obliged and free
 
Level 4
Joined
Apr 4, 2020
Messages
19
I just finished the First Human Book on Hard and must admit, it's amazing! Congratulations to Shar Dundred for creating such a incredible campaign/universe. I just would like to highlight two things. First, I realize that the last mission has undergone some changes over time, and the current version looks great. The only problem is that depending on your actions throughout the campaign, you may be able to use 6 Heroes on this mission, which makes it very easy. It would be good to think of a way to compensate for that. Second, about the difficulty selection. Every time I select Hard in the menu and enter a mission, after it's finished the difficulty resets to Normal every time. Wouldn't it be possible to let the player choose the difficulty as soon as he enters the mission? I see several Custom Campaigns using this method to avoid this problem of the difficulty resetting.

Once again congratulations on the incredible campaign/universe. I will start the First Orc Book now. Wish me luck. :thumbs_up:
 
Level 4
Joined
Apr 4, 2020
Messages
19
It is always good to have maps with different ideas and mechanics from the others, a pity that did not work well with this one. Never stop trying new ideas for your maps, Shar. Good luck. :peasant-thumbs-up-cheers:
 
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