[Campaign] Interesting Campign Missions

[Bangsgaard]

I am making a map for Warcraft 3 Reforged which is heavily inspired by the co-op commander concept in Starcraft 2. Essentially it is a map where you get to choose your "commander" which each has a special set of units with a unique playstyle. You then get to party up with another player to defeat a campaign-like quest to win the game. All of my commanders are slowly getting into place, but the current quest lacks of dynamics and is overall very boring to play.
I would love to get some great campaign ideas and quests that could make the map(s) more interesting to play.

Here are some tools/guidelines i have tried to use myself in order to improve my own map ideas:

If the players is not presented with an urgent objective that forces/rewards the players to interact with the map, the players will stay in base until its army is maxed - then they will attack. This is very repetitive and boring.

If the players is presented to the same enemy - either by repetitive waves or just the same attacking race, the map may not be boring the first time it gets played, though players will lose interest after a couple of game sessions.

If the game is too easy or too hard the players will get bored or frustrated. Therefore i have 4 difficulties: Easy (Total beginner) Normal (People who know the basics but are not competitive) Hard (People who usually played Normal but wants a bigger challenge) Insane (People who otherwie enjoy playing competitive, great mulitaskers and knows melee strats and combat really well)

Starcraft 2 categorize their maps into 3 themes:
Assault - Focuses on assaulting multiple enemy bases.
Control - Mulitasking and control of specific areas
Siege - Defend specific points from large attacks

An idea i had myself:
Evacuation of Lordaeron - After the Purging of Stratholm Jaina evacuates the people of Lordaeron in order to survive. Objective: Escort 50 villagers around the map to the ship. The ship must survive. This must be done before the large wave of zombies strikes the city (25 minute timer). The players will be attacked by smaller waves of zombies and undead minions at night. The players will soon realise that the villagers they are to rescue have been imprisoned by a rebel group. The rebel group faction will be randomized. Either it will be regular humans, bandits, orcs etc.

 

[cleavinghammer]

Caravan raid: An enemy caravan enters the map and heads for the enemy base, adding more units to their forces or giving them additional upgrades or items once it arrives. Killing the caravan wagons gives resources and items. Caravan grows stronger over successive iterations.

Caravan protection: As above, except that the caravan is heading for the player's base and attacked by the enemy (gaining resources and items for every wagon killed). Caravan and raiders grow stronger over successive iterations. Player can research upgrades to make the caravan harder to kill (more guards, more life, etc.)

Protect the messenger: Sends out a messenger towards a map point that must be protected. If the messenger makes it to the target point, the players receive resources and experience.

 

[Bangsgaard]

Good ideas. I ended up w copying a couple of SC2 co-op maps, changing them into a Burning Legion invasion theme. I might consider these ideas later though