How can I contribute to melee scene in WC3?

[zeney]

Hello, lovely community!

I have some questions for you to ask & discuss:

I enjoy competitive melee (1v1, 2v2) and would like to contribute my time\money\efforts to it.
Aside from direct donations to w3champions\hive\streamers\tournaments, I see the next possibilities for improvement:

1. Better visual (SD+) for attracting new people to the community (it's important for streams and young gen).
General visual was already improved thanks to mapmakers, but why don't we have a solid overwhaul SD+ mod? Is it technically hard\no actual demand or what?

2. Mapmaking. Competitive scene is extremely conservative, but ATR mod gives a lot of fun and stays close to the original gameplay.
Is somebody interested in maps with new heroes or minor gameplay variations nowdays?

It's probably stupid questions, but I'd like to figure out where to focus. Please give feedback or share your ideas, everything is welcome.

 

[deepstrasz]

Hello. Admirable effort I say although we're mostly a custom mapping/modding site. However, that is not to say we don't for instance have a mutiplayer forum: Multiplayer LFG
There's also been some melee mapping (creation) contests here (Arena), some paid, some with the goal of those maps being introduced in semi-competitive and some competitive play.
Some examples:

Hive Cup 2023: Melee Mapping Contest #9

Create a brand new 1v1 melee map, or nominate an existing one of yours. Any entry must not have been used for any previous Hive contest. At least top 3 submissions will be featured in a professional Warcraft III tournament, as with last year, with prizepool of at least 300 EUR (thanks to Sergey...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Hive Cup #3 (2021-2022) - qualifiers announcement

Hi all, Hive Cup #3 is here! Pro players compete on community-made maps. Mappol: Top-7 maps of the 8th mapping contest (first phase) are selected: Rusty Creek, Snow Melt, Deja Vu, Springtime (aka Spring Melt), Northwestern River, Throne of Tides, Fairy Tale. Qualifier dates: There will be...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Hive Cup 2021: Melee Mapping Contest #8

Create a brand new 1v1 melee map, or nominate an existing one of yours. Any entry must not have been used for any previous Hive contest. At least top 5 submissions will be featured in the qualifier rounds and the final cup, as with last year. Let your creativity reign while ensuring the map is...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Hive Workshop Cup – Registration for Open Qualifiers begins!

Dear everyone, We now open the registration for qualifiers for the Hive Workshop Cup. Instructions. Follow these steps to participate in the Open qualifiers: Create an account on challonge.com: Sign Up - Challonge. This requires only to solve a Capcha, e-mail confirmation not needed. Follow...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Melee Mapping Contest #4 - 2v2

MELEE MAPPING CONTEST #4 Create a 2v2 melee map that excels in balance, terrain and creativity, while being suitable for Warcraft III Reforged. No submission may violate any of the site rules. If a submission does not follow the map submission rules the creator will be disqualified. All...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Melee Mapping Contest #2 - 1 vs 1

MELEE MAPPING CONTEST #2 Create a competitive 1v1 melee map that excels in terrain, dynamic, and creativity, but most importantly balance. No submission may violate any of the site rules. If a submission does not follow the map submission rules the creator will be disqualified. All...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Melee Mapping Contest #1 - 1v1[$100 Prize Pool]

SPECIAL MELEE MAPPING CONTEST - 1v1 PRIZES AND EXPOSURE SPONSORED BY BACK2WARCRAFT Create a competitive 1v1 melee map that excels in terrain, dynamic, and creativity, but most importantly balance, for a chance to win $100 among many prizes! No submission may violate any of the site rules...

www.hiveworkshop.com

There's also other sites/means to spur the melee scene: Hive Workshop Cup 3
As well as streamers (although more importantly those that also have a role in ladder like Grubby et al. Wtii is more on the lines of the streamer than the competitive type but he plays lots of melee; Back2Warcraft emphasizes extensively or fully on melee).

It's important to do a sort of study/inquiry. Ask the melee community what they want to see, what they wish for, what interest them. Question various aspects (like melee changes, graphics update etc.). Draw some statistics and work on the most results.

SD+ has a high chance of not happening officially as there's already Reforged and unofficially means a mod-separated from the game which would require everyone to get it and stuff which would make a lot reluctant to do.

The ladder scene could be sensitized to variations in melee gameplay by having known streamers and renowned ladder players delve into this aspect of gameplay by showcasing or even participating in such an Avantgardist movement through contests.

All in all, not sure how much info and help for your endeavour you'll find here since the site's priority or focus isn't melee/ladder, as mentioned in the beginning.

 

[zeney]

@deepstrasz​

Thanks for such a complex answer!

For sure I know Hive is about modding and creativity - that's the point why I'm asking here. Melee players don't bother answering forum questions - they are pushing buttons, clicking a mouse, and "expanding natural" just now. And they are interested mostly in game stability, bugfree, tournament prizes etc.

My global goal is to attract new people to play (not only melee) and invest in QoL for the lovely game.
Today's freshmen come from YouTube tournament videos and streams, but conversion is very low.
So I wonder, (if we don't expect a miracle), maybe it is possible to enhance classic visuals a little by sponsoring the next chain: doodads\custom models\title set -> Mapmakers -> HiveCup -> Profit! (beautiful map pool)

I'm not sure about technical aspects and limits of SD graphics and asking for your opinion, maybe I'm just a wet dreamer, but I absolutely like the maps you created here. They added them not long ago, so good moment to push it further.

 

[deepstrasz]

So I wonder, (if we don't expect a miracle), maybe it is possible to enhance classic visuals a little by sponsoring the next chain: doodads\custom models\title set -> Mapmakers -> HiveCup -> Profit! (beautiful map pool)

Terrain (+decoration) is definitely the first and easiest thing to digest for ladder players since it's just like getting adapted to a new map (as long as the proper melee terrain gameplay mechanics are in place; some divergence could work but what goes beyond that gets a leg or two in the altered melee realm) compared to having the unit readability changed as well. So, yeah, you could go for that anytime. It's been tried a few times but not very successful yet.

 

[A]mun]

Hivecup sounds interesting!

I was always fond of tampering with the idea of Warcraft III+ (it worked for WoW (classic+)).
Why rely on Blizzard to fix/balance/change things?