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- Aug 7, 2013
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Hi,
I play WC3 custom games habitually but lately I've gotten very bored. The games I usually play are either too short/meaningless, and the longer ones with more meaning take too long to fill up or are easily ruined if one person leaves early.
When I say "meaningfulness", I am trying to say that completing the game or winning gives some sense of satisfaction that you actually worked for the win.
I don't find games like Footmen Frenzy (or Lotr Footies) terribly meaningful--it's kind of meh even if you win them, because usually the winners are generally too far ahead. Rarely they pack meaning if the games are very close (at least 2 teams are tied in money/hero lvls) because then it's not a runaway victory. But you can't make every game like that unfortunately.
More meaningful games (to me) include those like Broken Alliances. There's a lot of luck, but if you're skilled enough you can overcome any initial disadvantages and win consistently. These games tend to last for at least an hour, but take 1-2 hours to fill (10-12 people) if you host it at a bad time. The satisfaction comes from rising up against difficult odds or setbacks--the game has a way for you to make comebacks (much like a warcraft 3 FFA). Obviously short games or those where you get too far ahead have less meaning, because then you can just attack move to victory which is super boring. But most of the time the games aren't like that.
I should mention too that none of these games has a super high learning curve, and the player base is generally around the same level. In theory I think of maps like Warlock and Soulchess to be quite fun, but there's some issues. In both of those maps, the learning curve is incredibly high (for me). Secondly, the player base is far above average--the majority of people are "pros" and so you end up getting stomped every game. Anyone can quickly get a grasp of Broken Alliances or Footies since it uses basic wc3 mechanics (hero/army management, a bit of micro). Warlock? You need to learn all the timings of the projectiles, how fast each hero moves, recognize what's a good shot, and so on. Those things can only come with lots of playing.
Another example of a game with some meaning is Sunken City. I feel some satisfaction from playing it, especially as your character gets built up, you get awesome items, and so on. The downside is finding a good team--people generally leave in the middle of the game, and then you've basically wasted all your time. But Sunken City's other issue is the time commitment. So it's not perfect at all, and dungeon crawling is only fun to a point.
Other maps that I play semi-regularly are: Parasite 2, Phase Killer, and War of Lost Kingdoms. Anything else either has too high of a learning curve/ratio of skilled players. Or I don't identify with the theme/mechanics (e.g. War of 12 Kingdoms is a quick paced map that is basically about whoever is the best politician / ganker).
I'm a bit at a loss for what maps are out there for my tastes.
I'm the guy too who never understood why DOTA got so popular, or other popular maps like MAFIA.
I play WC3 custom games habitually but lately I've gotten very bored. The games I usually play are either too short/meaningless, and the longer ones with more meaning take too long to fill up or are easily ruined if one person leaves early.
When I say "meaningfulness", I am trying to say that completing the game or winning gives some sense of satisfaction that you actually worked for the win.
I don't find games like Footmen Frenzy (or Lotr Footies) terribly meaningful--it's kind of meh even if you win them, because usually the winners are generally too far ahead. Rarely they pack meaning if the games are very close (at least 2 teams are tied in money/hero lvls) because then it's not a runaway victory. But you can't make every game like that unfortunately.
More meaningful games (to me) include those like Broken Alliances. There's a lot of luck, but if you're skilled enough you can overcome any initial disadvantages and win consistently. These games tend to last for at least an hour, but take 1-2 hours to fill (10-12 people) if you host it at a bad time. The satisfaction comes from rising up against difficult odds or setbacks--the game has a way for you to make comebacks (much like a warcraft 3 FFA). Obviously short games or those where you get too far ahead have less meaning, because then you can just attack move to victory which is super boring. But most of the time the games aren't like that.
I should mention too that none of these games has a super high learning curve, and the player base is generally around the same level. In theory I think of maps like Warlock and Soulchess to be quite fun, but there's some issues. In both of those maps, the learning curve is incredibly high (for me). Secondly, the player base is far above average--the majority of people are "pros" and so you end up getting stomped every game. Anyone can quickly get a grasp of Broken Alliances or Footies since it uses basic wc3 mechanics (hero/army management, a bit of micro). Warlock? You need to learn all the timings of the projectiles, how fast each hero moves, recognize what's a good shot, and so on. Those things can only come with lots of playing.
Another example of a game with some meaning is Sunken City. I feel some satisfaction from playing it, especially as your character gets built up, you get awesome items, and so on. The downside is finding a good team--people generally leave in the middle of the game, and then you've basically wasted all your time. But Sunken City's other issue is the time commitment. So it's not perfect at all, and dungeon crawling is only fun to a point.
Other maps that I play semi-regularly are: Parasite 2, Phase Killer, and War of Lost Kingdoms. Anything else either has too high of a learning curve/ratio of skilled players. Or I don't identify with the theme/mechanics (e.g. War of 12 Kingdoms is a quick paced map that is basically about whoever is the best politician / ganker).
I'm a bit at a loss for what maps are out there for my tastes.
I'm the guy too who never understood why DOTA got so popular, or other popular maps like MAFIA.
