New Content Discussion [SPOILER]

[HappyMan]

My apology for this late joining in the party, I have some problem need to be dealt with and then here I am to open up your mind about new and masterpiece chapter: A Dish Best Server Cold!!

Gameplay:

- Amazing playing style from the very beginning, easily destroyed two base at the front line, nothing even buddies in golden shiny armor can stop wrath of the Darkmind, right?

- So sad for not seeing Darkmind Avenger, they have the best appearance I think.

- Why you shouldn't put defense at the front gate? Because those crazy Wolf Regiment waves will turn them into ash, nice touch with their surprising attack. It shocked me a bit.

- For the ending part, let Rath have his final moment of his dream before being erased completely. Having Zoia in the end is quite boring anyway.


Story:

- Here goes another van Durce's henchman lies down, so that means Golden Guard high commanders left are: Praxeus and the two horseriding guys who name unkhown we saw in "A Golden Welcome".

- The truth about Blen being a 'bad' father? Well, I have deeply thought about this intriguing new information and let me tell you something: don't judge something too fast!

What is Blen? A general of the Empire, which mean he has a lot of responsibilities of his owns. He have to fight the most dangerous enemy of mankind to prevent them from their destroying their home. Put yourself in Blen's position, will you let your child grow up in a world that the Demon dominate? What kind of future will your child have when everything is destroyed?

Spoiler: Spoiler

I see this very similar to Velina, Gardon's daughter. Growing up to become a beautiful lady but never see her father once in her entire childhood until it is told in "Tales of Arkain". If we think it in the same way for Blen, we will understand, really nice story development, that's why I love Arkain!!

As for Zoia, I cannot blame her, deep in that cold and scary attitude, you will see a caring woman for her family, a caring sister. Too bad that she couldn't think it about Blen far enough.

Another thing I would like to say is about Aedale's rescue. I have seen this many in my life, when you do something, there will always be different opinions about your action. Some calls it is heroic, some calls it is a lie. Zoia being the latter. She with all her hatred put on Blen will of course make she think it is just Blen playing hero role. About me, I think it depends on how the player really want to save Aedale or not that make Blen's true intention in our own way. :3


That would end well, once again, thank you for reading. Looking forward to seeing more and more amazing gameplay from you, Mr.Shar. Wish you and anyone contribute to Arkain luck and best things!

 

[Rennathrim]

The truth about Blen being a 'bad' father? Well, I have deeply thought about this intriguing new information and let me tell you something: don't judge something too fast!

What is Blen? A general of the Empire, which mean he has a lot of responsibilities of his owns. He have to fight the most dangerous enemy of mankind to prevent them from their destroying their home. Put yourself in Blen's position, will you let your child grow up in a world that the Demon dominate? What kind of future will your child have when everything is destroyed?

We're told that he never contacted them again and that the moment Zoia's sister got pregnant, he went to get milk. Even if he did choose to play the General, he could have at least provided some form of explanation, not only to his wife and child, but to the rest of the Blackwolf family too. Apparently he did not. So, I'll stick with Zoia's claims for now unless proved otherwise. But I do question some of Zoia's tendencies to be negative about literally everything Greymoore does, she is honestly justified.

 

[Navy45]

Overall, this whole thing seems kind of weird. Blen was ready to commit to a marriage into a powerful noble house, yet he was so scared by parenthood that he fled, risking the wrath of the entire house ? That's not just an evil thing to do, that's also a stupid one. Moreover, the ancient Blackwood noble family, house of the leaders of the Wolf regiment, haven't done anything to Blen in return beside voiding the marriage ? Blen is just a commoner turned general, the Blackwolves should have been able to publicly destroy him for making their daughter pregnant and running away.
I feel as if there are political interests in the matter we don't know about but I could be wrong (maybe we'll have to live with the fact that Blen was not the smartest).

On a (somewhat) happier note, it means Blen has an heir, albeit an unrecognized one. I wonder if his daughter will get her hands on Greyfang at some point. After all, it's hers by right.

 

[VastanX]

Overall, this whole thing seems kind of weird. Blen was ready to commit to a marriage into a powerful noble house, yet he was so scared by parenthood that he fled, risking the wrath of the entire house ? That's not just an evil thing to do, that's also a stupid one. Moreover, the ancient Blackwood noble family, house of the leaders of the Wolf regiment, haven't done anything to Blen in return beside voiding the marriage ? Blen is just a commoner turned general, the Blackwolves should have been able to publicly destroy him for making their daughter pregnant and running away.
I feel as if there are political interests in the matter we don't know about but I could be wrong (maybe we'll have to live with the fact that Blen was not the smartest).

On a (somewhat) happier note, it means Blen has an heir, albeit an unrecognized one. I wonder if his daughter will get her hands on Greyfang at some point. After all, it's hers by right.

Those who do that in their lives are very stupid, friend. Those idiots exist and they do it with less benefits than Blenny here. Shar's plot isn't weird, if anything, it's very realistic.

The twist here was knowing that Blenn was so stupid and that Selior's envy and resentment were justified.

 

[Navy45]

Shar's plot isn't weird, if anything, it's very realistic.

Sorry, I didn't mean weird as in bad or unrealistic, more like fishy, like something's hidden. But indeed, Blen could just really be good at making stupid decisions. (attacking preemptively the wolf regiment wasn't the smartest idea either )

 

[HappyMan]

We're told that he never contacted them again and that the moment Zoia's sister got pregnant, he went to get milk. Even if he did choose to play the General, he could have at least provided some form of explanation, not only to his wife and child, but to the rest of the Blackwolf family too. Apparently he did not. So, I'll stick with Zoia's claims for now unless proved otherwise. But I do question some of Zoia's tendencies to be negative about literally everything Greymoore does, she is honestly justified.

Yeah, I have to agree with that. An explanation wouldn't harm anything but he didn't do it. Sometimes, a single small mistake can lead to big consequence. As for Blenny, it cost him his whole life. :3

 

[DD Mikasa]

I'D take what Zoia says with a huge grain of salt, after all she elected to slaughter a bunch of Goldenguards and her motives were nothing but petty revenge. She'd make a great ally to gardon, after all she seems well versed in art of deceit.

 

[nchp1903]

Don't know why I didn't get notification, so I'm a bit late to this interesting convo. But oh well.

Spoiler: Long post

Overall, this whole thing seems kind of weird. Blen was ready to commit to a marriage into a powerful noble house, yet he was so scared by parenthood that he fled, risking the wrath of the entire house ?

That's actually a very human thing to do. Blen got to where he is right now through warfare, through the trust of his soldiers and his peers, and through swordsmanship. But the familial bond was probably something that his mind just couldn't process, so he avoided it, and continued doing what he do best. He might feel guilty so he tried to compensate for it by doing the right things on the battlefield: rescuing Aedale, slaying the Orcs, aiding the Ironfist... But Zoia already had a bias against him, so of course, she would stick to the one bad thing that he did until the end.

Since the best lies are usually half-truths, Zoia said to Aedale the facts, mixed with her personal opinions to sway Aedale to her side.

Selior is an interesting and a tragic character. He was born in an esteemed family, and despite trying his best, his parents still compared him to Blen (very relatable bc I'm Asian), which made Selior started to compared himself to Blen as well, which made him extremely angry.
But the funny thing is, the nail that seals the coffin wasn't his wrath, his pride, or Tregakh's nightmare. It's kindness. All the hostility towards Blen, all the hatred, and how did Blen respond? He wanted Selior to be his best man. That moment, Selior felt disgusted with himself. Overwhelming inferiority washed over him as he desperately sealed his wrath in the deepest recess of his mind.
And so, against all odds, he made his last stand against the Orcish alliance to prove his worth, only to be felled by an Orc chieftain whose clan was bested by Blen.
A beautifully tragic ending.

(Maybe I'm fanboying over Shar's writing, but damn. Selior actually is more interesting that I thought.

So yeah. Basically, characters like Selior, Blen, Zoia are very flawed, but that's what makes them human, and I can see the types of person similar to them appearing in real life.

 

[MyPad]

Back on my thoughts regarding the recent chapter's gameplay (Act 7, Chapter 2: A Dish best served Cold) (This time, it's done legitimately):

• Amusingly enough, this is one of the few missions where you can technically subsist off of one gold mine at a time. Quite interesting to work with, granted that you can force the enemy attack waves to aggro towards your expansion instead of your main base (most of the time).
  
  
• Always push with your allies! That way, they can act as a sponge against the enemy forces while you whittle down their structures and defensive forces.
  
  
• While waiting for your allied forces to spawn, you can camp in the fountain of life to regenerate.
  
  
• Once you've near the main base, I recommend not destroying the Castle until the size of your allied unit's army is approximately 2.2 attack waves each.
  
  
• For the sake of canonicity, I decided to let the ogres stay behind, heavily spamming spiders.
  
  
• Third Act:
  • Battle
    • I'd focus on the opposing attack party instead of the main hero. For instance, if you're Rath, you tear the wolves apart and leave Zoia for last, and vice versa.
      
      
    • Disappointingly enough, unless you intentionally play poorly, you will always win the battle if you take advantage of the conveniently placed runes, since the other party will act as if it doesn't exist (in Normal mode, at least).
  • Rath
    • It would be a great time to use up your Avenge ability here, since it deals heavy damage + CC, heavily damaging the enemy party if not deleting them outright.
  • Zoia
    • Not much to say here. Outlast them; focus on anyone else but Rath first.

Now that the gameplay part is done, I've found some interesting bloopers right at the end:

Spoiler: Mobile Data Warning

Here, you can see Inara dealing with the incoming Wolf Regiment, despite being in a cinematic where she should have plot armor. As the cinematic plays, Inara does manage to kill one of the Wolfguards attacking her for no reason other than previous aggro before dying right at the end of the cinematic. A somewhat poetic, even if comedic, non-canon end to our formerly sinister friend.

 

[nchp1903]

Here, you can see Inara dealing with the incoming Wolf Regiment, despite being in a cinematic, where she should have plot armor.

Spoiler: Inara

So far, being angry has granted Inara:

• Demonic magic (Mark of Chaos)
• Chaos damage which only Demons can deal (Deadly Hate)
• The ability to tame even stronger spiders than the Dark Elves'.
• And now, she even learns how unpause herself mid-cinematic.

By Krom's bones, she's growing too powerful. I'm almost afraid to ask what will she do next.

 

[Deleted member 304046]

Spoiler: Inara

So far, being angry has granted Inara:

• Demonic magic (Mark of Chaos)
• Chaos damage which only Demons can deal (Deadly Hate)
• The ability to tame even stronger spiders than the Dark Elves'.
• And now, she even learns how unpause herself mid-cinematic.

By Krom's bones, she's growing too powerful. I'm almost afraid to ask what will she do next.

Do you expect anything less from the great Inara? She's da boss. She's the Grandmaster. She's the Dominatrix. She's the blade to your heart. She's the dagger to your soul. She can never be too powerful. If Duke Volarian Redfist the Tyrant can harness the power of rage to become the strongest human anyone has ever seen, then Inara can do the same, becoming the most extreme fighter in all of Orckind and the entire Tribal Dominion, even more dangerous than the grand Destroyer.

I still wonder whether the fan theory that Inara is a spy/sleeper agent is true or not (her quick, almost uncharacteristic change of demeanor in regards to revenge and Zoia's knowledge of Orc workings might point to it being the case). I also wonder how will Inara react to Amari, Okri and especially Vanessa if she gets an opportunity to interact with them in Salria.

 

[nchp1903]

If Inara is acting sus haha amogus funni, then she can send a Shadow to spy on them, like she did with Ephrog/Gorthog/Destroyer.

Let's say she's a spy, then I think it would only be because of them placing a spell on her that allows them to see through her eyes, or stuffs like that, because I don't think she'll do that willingly. Darkfang literally murdered children (based) in front of her, so I don't think any amount of brainwashing is going to make her forget that scene and switch side, not to mention that Orcs are less prone to mental manipulation.

 

[Deleted member 304046]

If Inara is acting sus haha amogus funni, then she can send a Shadow to spy on them, like she did with Ephrog/Gorthog/Destroyer.

Let's say she's a spy, then I think it would only be because of them placing a spell on her that allows them to see through her eyes, or stuffs like that, because I don't think she'll do that willingly. Darkfang literally murdered children (based) in front of her, so I don't think any amount of brainwashing is going to make her forget that scene and switch side, not to mention that Orcs are less prone to mental manipulation.

That would probably be the most plausible explanation if she is somehow used by the Humans. Orcs' resistance/immunity to mental manipulation is the reason why I am not entirely certain whether Inara is a spy/sleeper agent or not. Not to mention that horrible sight of children being murdered right in front of her. Guess we'll have to wait and see for the Risen Resistance chapter in the True Story to see how it all plays out, though I also wonder if Inara will even encounter Zoia and the rest of Wolf Regiment since Pechan the Mechanic and his goblins were the ones to face them in the Second Orc Book.

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

Hopefully the next mission will be Undead but I don't know how the mission will be since the last mission was the last chapter of the second undead book

 

[Vindicator777]

I kinda miss Lerrig

 

[Kaftarepir]

Hopefully the next mission will be Undead but I don't know what mission will be since the last mission was last chapter of the second undead book

I guess we play as Ornasion to slay the demon slave elves.

 

[averagestudent.]

I guess we play as Ornasion to slay the demon slave elves.

if the next mission will be undead most likely will play Ornasion along with queen keera

 

[Apprentice Darkmoon]

Hopefully the next mission will be Undead but I don't know what mission will be since the last mission was last chapter of the second undead book

Most likely, the invasion of the Elven Kingdom by the Undead.
Ornasion was tasked by Aridon to wipe out the demon-worshipping elves.
During the mission I think we'ill have to kill all the elves that serve the Souleater first, then use them as the new Nexus against the demons and maybe a little interference from the Golden Guard, since they were tasked to protect the elves.

 

[Enki555]

Hopefully, it will be elven forest incursion. Ngl 6th mission of SUB is the most anticipated one for me now as how this mission was gonna proceed was left in shroud. Elven demon slaves+Souleater legion+Elves & Golden Guard would make a huge map I hope. Also, what kind of next undead map after this mission do u guys expect? Bonelords first skirmish in Salria?

 

[Apprentice Darkmoon]

Hopefully, it will be elven forest incursion. Ngl 6th mission of SUB is the most anticipated one for me now as how this mission was gonna proceed was left in shroud. Elven demon slaves+Souleater legion+Elves & Golden Guard would make a huge map I hope. Also, what kind of next undead map after this mission do u guys expect? Bonelords first skirmish in Salria?

Don't know if the undead incursion in Salria will be playable. Most likely their presence during cinematics and their attack during the "Risen resistance" mission. However, It could be interesting to see the cursed skeletons crushed some foes of their master.
I can expect moves from the Splecir Nexus and the new Lenira Nexus though. And we can't forget that the Kezzar Nexus will have more protagonist since we'll face the other scumbag of the Souleater legion: Hesthration or whatever his name is.
Also, Margazar and Urshan will be playable when we use the Kezzar? I hope so.

 

[nchp1903]

I very want to see the Daviliad Nexus, so that they and Queen Keera will finally have more than five seconds of screentime (also bc I want to abuse Spell Breakers), and the Bone Brothers (forgot the name) that attacked Rangul in Pride of the Empire, since they can be the first flying Heroes in LoA history.

If it's an Orc mission, then I want one with Pechan. Goblin units are fun af to use, but they fall off hard late game, so I hope that whatever Boni that Pechan has will fix that.

As for Human, maybe more screentime for Boar Regiment. But honestly, it's hard to see them being played in a mission that isn't no-build, because of their Permanent Invisibility gimmick.

 

[Nayala]

I've been playing the True Story in the last few weeks. I've left my reviews of each mission in acts 1 to 5 in the maps thread as it didn't seem fitting to discuss chapters that have been out for many months in the "New content" thread.

After playing through act 6 and finishing Lord of the Shadows tonight, I wanted to discuss some things I've read in this thread about the story and some missions.

You assume she knows this is Zoia who was keeping her captive. Going by precedent dialogues, I'd she was being manipulated into targetting Blen once she got 'escaped' after completing training. After all, while Zoia would be prime suspect in case of human assassin, nobody would expect a good Imperial general to use an Orc assassin, right? And it's not like the assassin would have had no reason to attack Blen. After he was there too for the Darkmind's fall.

That was my thought too. Inara was Zoia's "experiment", and this explanation is the one that makes the most sense.

It's possible to finish the mission very quickly if you dive straight for dragon regiment but everyone wants the stat boost for Grofzag and the items in the royal base. Not that I blame anyone for that I want the same thing.

The stat boost for Grofzag is fairly easy to get, as you just need to go near the stones. You can just run in and out the blue base, and the red base too if they are fighting some demons. My strategy back when I completed this in the SOB in normal (I couldn't in hard) was to dive purple, then use this much more defensible base and goldmine to wipe out other enemies. I'd assume that the dragon regiment dive (leaving just a token building alive) followed by having Grofzag explore the one or two monoliths we couldn't get to earlier would not be particularly harder than just the dive itself, even if you don't get the resources to rebuild a new base.

• It would be nice to get access to caster Master training, at least for the Spider Caller, since, on adept, it is quite useless in combat. (4 food for a unit that doesn't last 2 seconds in melee is not really a worthwhile investment)

The spider caller in Act VI Chapter 4 was impressively bad. Frail melee units suck, and 4 food is a lot. It's the only unit we have with a targeted heal, but it's pretty weak, slow-acting and micro-intensive (a higher mana cost with a higher HP heal would be handier). I trained one out of curiosity, but I was disappointed.

Try fighting him in Woras' base for an extra challenge.

Of course I did, because Woras is the last noble I defeated, I didn't fully understand that the remaining building there would save me much more time than those in the other bases (and I hadn't left that much in the others too), and I also didn't want to be "boxed in". In the other bases, it becomes completely impossible to get out once the Grand Army is pouring in.

I got overwhelmed and defeated, but reloading a save from the beginning of the "last stand" and slipping out with Cora and Larine, I discovered I could just flee across the map. As long as I was constantly moving, Cora's aura and Larine's natural speed made it easy to outpace the enemy, plus Larine could heal Cora and use her mirrored selves for tanking from time to time. Recruiting some Ironforged helps to speed up things. It's a grind, but it's surprisingly reliable.

At first i thought as to why Shar would add similar units to our available recruitment pool but then i realized that towards the end we dont really get to be picky on what units we have to employ...

Indeed, I thought crossbowmen were useless when the all-around-better Ironforged are available, but it makes a lot of sense when you need to recruit warm bodies to send to the meatgrinder as quickly as possible.

Worst part of the mission for me was the goddamn hydromancers. Kill them.

The hydromancers are definitely overpowered.

- The army comp I used consisted of 10 Executors, 10 Priests and 12 Ironforged, with 4 food to spare. When the Mercenary Camp is far away from my army, I use Larine's Hawk to hire the units lost in battle.

Funny, I had almost the exact same army comp, except I went up to 12 priests. I thought for some reason a hero was needed to use a mercenary camp, I never thought of using the hawk to hire units from afar.

What I find the most strange with Salana's fate is the fact she was left to die bleeding, not even finished off. I mean, even if Gardon had a reason that forced him to kill her, I don't see why he would torture her (she's not really a traitor or anything) or be sloppy enough to let her live (Thanok would probably do it but giving her to Thannok is even more cruel than just torturing her).

Good point

Agreed. If I recall, the SHB did not have really durable flesh golems at their disposal (maybe I'm recalling it wrong?) to tank your army. I think it's because we have access to the superior ironfist healer, the Banisher, who can heal your entire army much more reliably than the ordinary Priest. After dealing with the flesh golems, you will have to deal with the Revenants. After that, you only have a few moments to besiege the traitor base before they can replenish their forces.

There was no flesh golem in the SHB.

Having said all this, I have to confess. I know i'm gonna eat my words and lord Shar's gonna punish me for saying this... But the mission got easier. Or maybe smoother. The original took me 5 painful hours of peeling off the defenders one by one until I won. Here I made it under 3 hour mark ( plus some saveloading). A big thanks to you Shar, the lord of shadows has got better.

I agree, Lord of Shadows has gotten easier. I didn't need a single save reload (I sometimes did a save reload when I did a test, like killing one of my starting elites to see if it's still food-free, but that doesn't really count) to complete the mission, which in my book makes it much easier than many others.

Part of that is also the Ironfist being intelligent and helping us against the Zirr Nexus at the start. It's not that much, but it helps getting rid of them early.

Anyway, the difficulty is up there with Between a Rock and a Hard Place imo.

I have 28000 gold and who knows how much lumber, yet I can't make an army that can kill that base, because I'm capped at 100 supply. I've tower spammed the entrance, so they will never be able to get out, and they keep replacing those flesh golems, they keep making those Death Revenants, and I can't defeat them, because by the time they are dead, I'm dead as well. By the time I trained enough elites to try again, they have replaced every lost unit as well. It's a stalemate, one that can't be broken, at least I can't break it

Well, since Elites were not fit for the job, I decided to try the golem, catapult strategy. It still doesn't work. The enemy simply has too much... Here is a video, where I relentlessly attack with workshop units, and fail miserably:

From the Changelog, the differences between the version I played and the first one are no more retraining of the flesh golems by the AI, and Zed/Claire being proper demi-heroes. The Flesh Golem certainly make a difference, but I'm surprised by these statements. Although the revenants were very annoying it didn't feel that difficult. I obviously had towers at the entrance, and a proper tower setup annihilates any counter-attack in seconds (this is not an exaggeration, they barely have the time to do any damage before being splashed by cannon towers and manaburned to death), so you can retreat, heal and replace losses, and charge back in just as their army got suicided.

I used mostly cavalry in front (I tried to mix in some golems, I ditched them after poor results) and banishers in the back (they are insanely good at healing, until mana runs out), and I managed to snipe the grey Traitors castle without sending my "free" elites to fight. The grey traitors rebuilt a town hall by the time of my next attack, where I went all in and never had my army kicked out, but I'm convinced that even without the free elites it's reasonably feasible to snipe peasants/castle and then to progressively destroy all grey's production buildings. The flesh golems made it harder, but to the point of feeling impossible? If someone has version 0.65, I'd like to try it out. To me, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, or the fight against Rahandir, or Rise of the Clans with the Deathbreeze, were much more difficult than A Lord of Shadows in version 0.69a, which would barely make it into my top 10.

I watched two minutes of the video showing the golem/catapult strategy, and when I see that the two enemy towers at the entrance of the base were left alone, I cringed. They were only destroyed after 5 minutes, and apparently because nearby units ended up attacking them without you meaning to. Destroying enemy towers (which do not get replaced, at least not in front) is crucial and intuitive. Especially with a full siege composition.

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

I am still waiting for the bonelords to appear

 

[Enki555]

There is gonna be Souleater vs Kezzar showdown in the future, maybe in 8th or 9th mission of SUB era, cuz Hesrathion has to die before Souleater attacks Purificator. Also, there is mention of Souleater warlocks preparing ritual to obliterate Dead Mountain in the 1st SUB mission, so one such mission could be one sabotaging another demon legions with Splecir, Rohir and Daviliad led by Rahandir would be cool. Let's not forget Undead will pretend to have splintered into Saphira and Rahandir's factions; based on SB this is how undead forces would pretend to be divided if it's still a case in True Story;
-Saphira's faction: Krom, Kazardius, Fleshtearer, mbe Mordin and Edoarus
-Rahanir's faction: Ornasion, Meya, mbe Keera
But at the same time, all undead forces will be in different places, so Saphira might just lie. Bonelords and mbe both Arnos & Dornos along with Scarec nexus would be in Salria along with Haran & Ejara, Tremalon & Zirr, Miraezyl and mbe Soryena with Lenira, and mbe Galareth & Ardoz. Galareth would likely approach his former brethren and his former leader Brockta, so he might be deployed to Salria. Ornasion along with Margazar and Urshan might become busy destroying Souleater and other legions, so he might not appear in Purificator mission at all and perhaps be called later to Gate of Hell showdown. Keera and her nexus might stay at Dead Forest and called to action when Gate of Hell mission starts. Mbe 7th mission of SUB would be initial invasion of Scarec nexus facing Salrians and Mogthar.

 

[DD Mikasa]

Also, there is mention of Souleater warlocks preparing ritual to obliterate Dead Mountain in the 1st SUB mission, so one such mission could be one sabotaging another demon legions with Splecir, Rohir and Daviliad led by Rahandir would be cool. Let's not forget Undead will pretend to have splintered into Saphira and Rahandir's factions;

If i am not mistaken...That chapter is supposed to be the one where we first gain control of Oranssion and we have to kill Urshan and the Soultearers supporting him.

I am still waiting for the bonelords to appear

In the second orc book bonelords appear when we invade Salria with the Orcs. Since that chapter is unique to the orcs Bonelords will mostlikely re-appear again when the time of that chapter comes during the True Story.

Indeed, I thought crossbowmen were useless when the all-around-better Ironforged are available, but it makes a lot of sense when you need to recruit warm bodies to send to the meatgrinder as quickly as possible.

Well crossbowmen when coupled with their frenzy bonni do become a menace.

If it's an Orc mission, then I want one with Pechan. Goblin units are fun af to use, but they fall off hard late game, so I hope that whatever Boni that Pechan has will fix that.

Goblin units are quirky as hell, i feel like in order to make use of a gobo army you'll need to pull of some pretty unorthodox methods that are different from the standard approach of spamming as much units as possible to hold the front lines and slowly grind the enemy bases to dust.

As for Human, maybe more screentime for Boar Regiment. But honestly, it's hard to see them being played in a mission that isn't no-build, because of their Permanent Invisibility gimmick.

I feel like Shar will either save them for some special occasion or they will simply be a side "regiment" being mentioned here and there but nothing else, even their leader is absent from the Character sheet, they might make an appearance along side Aveen though I have a hunch that the Boar and Falcon regiment could work well together.

I kinda miss Lerrig

You just wait till we have to take down Van Durce as Gardon, those auras and chain heal of his were a godsent.

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

In the second orc book bonelords appear when we invade Salria with the Orcs. Since that chapter is unique to the orcs Bonelords will mostlikely re-appear again when the time of that chapter comes during the True Story.

Oh yeah, I think we might be able to have choices like that chapter A Fresh Breeze where you will have to choose three different races Humans, Orcs and Undead.

 

[nchp1903]

If that's the case, then it can be a fun mission, but it's really hard to design, since in the end, the Dominion always win. I have an idea for the Undead one however:

Expend the map's playable area, and the heavily-defended Dominion (kinda canon since Sasrogarn loves turtling) is stuck in a stalemate with the Salrians.
Then, the players will control the flying bone brothers (still forgot their name) with a band of Vulture Riders and Scarec units to bust the humans bases from behind. With each base down, Acolytes from an allied Nexus will go in and summon their structures, sending attack wave that helps the Scarec destroy other bases more easily.
Then, the mission will shift back to the Orc's perspective, with most of their defenses ruined by the Undead.

And to make things more fun: players who goes with the Undead route will unlock more cool stuffs (items, units, etc...) for Undead in later missions, but strong demi-heroes like The Unyielding or The Bastion will join the crusade against the Dominion in later Orc missions.

That's a good way to implement fun choices without ruining the story imo.

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

Can

If that's the case, then it can be a fun mission, but it's really hard to design, since in the end, the Dominion always win. I have an idea for the Undead one however:

Expend the map's playable area, and the heavily-defended Dominion (kinda canon since Sasrogarn loves turtling) is stuck in a stalemate with the Salrians.
Then, the players will control the flying bone brothers (still forgot their name) with a band of Vulture Riders and Scarec units to bust the humans bases from behind. With each base down, Acolytes from an allied Nexus will go in and summon their structures, sending attack wave that helps the Scarec destroy other bases more easily.
Then, the mission will shift back to the Orc's perspective, with most of their defenses ruined by the Undead.

And to make things more fun: players who goes with the Undead route will unlock more cool stuffs (items, units, etc...) for Undead in later missions, but strong demi-heroes like The Unyielding or The Bastion will join the crusade against the Dominion in later Orc missions.

That's a good way to implement fun choices without ruining the story imo.

Can't wait for that to happen

 

[Zergy]

I have been playing the True Story lately and I want to make some requests for Shar to add to this Amazing masterpiece. So far as you guys know Shar really loves to give unique flavors to his 4 Factions (Humans, Orcs, Undead, and Demons). As if what Blizzard used to make back in the day.

So here are a few requests I would like to be added to the main True story:

For the Undead:
1.) A Unique Item for Galareth the great Mad Ogre Scientist (Something that increases Strength, Intelligence, Armor, or Mana regen)
2.) A Unique Item/s for Mordin and I noticed Shar is severely underusing the Brother of the high king that including the Fleshterer.

For the Orcs:
1.) A unique Item for Borean, the Bearman chieftain, and a Unique sound set just for him cause I really don't like the Furbog sound set.
I found some Dota 2 files that might suit his voice set: Ursa/Responses
2.) Some Unique Items for both Gorthog and Dogran (That GoldAxe fellow)
3.) Also if yer making the Pigmen an official group to the Dominion? May I suggest adding their representative a unique item and this sound set from Dota 2 as well: Bristleback/Responses

For Humans - No issues in making Itemsets for the Human heroes (Except Brain which leads to my general request for all 3 playable factions)

The General request for all 3 Factions:
1) Easy access to Orb Items.

If you are reading this Shar? I am looking forward to further see Act 7' chapter later down the road.

 

[nchp1903]

1.) A unique Item for Borean, the Bearman chieftain, and a Unique sound set just for him cause I really don't like the Furbog sound set.
I found some Dota 2 files that might suit his voice set: Ursa/Responses

He has Hardened Skin and Thorn Aura, so an item that increases health would synergize well.
As for voice set, I think we can still use vanilla voice, specifically Druid of the Claw's or Malfurion's.

2.) Some Unique Items for both Gorthog and Dogran (That GoldAxe fellow)

Dogran is not going to be playable in many mission though. I'm thinking somewhere along the line of: In a later mission, if you donate enough gold to the Goldaxe + Goblin Federation, they will make Amari a mechanical axe that gives the user Pillage and a huge damage bonus, or sth similar.

The General request for all 3 Factions:
1) Easy access to Orb Items.

I think I'm partly responsible for Shar removing every Tomb of Relics and Arcane Vaults. Oops.
But there's still hope, because in SOB, we'll have access to an unrebuildable Goblin Merchant, that can stack Orbs of Lightning and Scrolls of Speed on new Heroes like Grella and Pechan.

 

[Kasrkin]

Ladies and gentlemen please have your tickets ready because the hype train is approaching the station.

 

[Zergy]

Ladies and gentlemen please have your tickets ready because the hype train is approaching the station.

View attachment 414460

Ooo. A queen will soon rise again I see??

 

[Elempash]

Oh my god! It's happening!
Everybody stay calm!

 

[LISBOAH]

Oh my god! It's happening!
Everybody stay calm!

Stay... calm? Stay calm? Stay calm, you say?
HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO STAY CALM?!!

 

[Zergy]

Stay... calm? Stay calm? Stay calm, you say?
HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO STAY CALM?!!

We know this is an eloborate set up by Kasrkin. All we need to do is to follow the procedure.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Yeah, that's right. The first unreleased chapter of the Second Undead Book is on its way.

 

[Mvicio]

Ladies and gentlemen please have your tickets ready because the hype train is approaching the station.

Holy shit, Ornassion and Keera butchering golden dudes, demon slaves and elves. Awesome

Yeah, that's right. The first unreleased chapter of the Second Undead Book is on its way.

Could we have undead terrors please?

 

[HuanJuan]

Ladies and gentlemen please have your tickets ready because the hype train is approaching the station.

View attachment 414460

Spoiler: How dare you!

You know that, that we are addicted to this campaign, the story, the univers... Arkain... and you dare to show us some picture from the campaign selection menu...but... HOW DARE YOU NOT RELEASING THE CAMPAIGN?! YOU ARE TORTURING US! THATS PURE SADISM!

Made with irony and sarcasm by me

 

[nchp1903]

Yeah, that's right. The first unreleased chapter of the Second Undead Book is on its way.

Hell, it's about damn time. I'm running low on hopium and this is just what I need rn. And from the looks of things, we'll have playable Keera and Daviliad Nexus too.

Although, is there any chance for two chapters to be released consecutively? Pwease?

 

[Shar Dundred]

YOU ARE TORTURING US! THATS PURE SADISM!

I taught him well. I'm so proud.

 

[DD Mikasa]

Bruh, this gon' be a good one I can tell. Does this chapter also include the usual suffering we get to have when we play with elven rosters? Cuz if thats the case sign me up, i got plenty of keyboards and mouse's to sacrifice.

 

[Kasrkin]

I hope you like cluster rockets.

 

[Navy45]

Played through the new level (haven't finished the Golden guard, but otherwhise I cleared the map)

The main issue I've run into is that, after I cleared the souleater base and the golden guard regiment in the south, both the demons and the goldies have completely stopped attacking each others. They still fight when they encounter each other (usually when tearing through my base) but they no longer send attack waves against each others (I covered the map in shades but all I saw was heading towards me). Even the golden guard in the northwest, despite having two closer demon bases, sent all aerial and terrestrial attack waves after me.
It's a shame because I really like the idea of the level. Attacking the souleater just as they were busy with the golden guard regiment was quite fun. But afterwards, it just turned into a standard macro map with particularly unfair enemies.

As for the rest (excluding the end since I haven't seen it yet) :

• Ornasion as moral support is really nice to see, especially since he seems partially responsible for the daviliad nexus' birth (they probably would've raised the elves either way but maybe they wouldn't have become their own nexus). The rasi in character knowledge mentioning that Keera was far from the worst elven queen was also funny.
• I really like this demon count. Being ready to fight to protect others, even if out of spite, is always nice to see. I hope he gets out of this alive (if not, I ask that Morganur be retroactively killed in "slaves of the demons" (no reason dreadlord plot armor only helps the boring ones). On the other hand, wasn't Vermon supposed to be unique for calling himself a Count while other demons use Lord ?
• 3 Deathlords ! Almost makes me regret choosing Keera's leadership (though her forces are quite nice as far as ranged support goes)
• I like how our not quite golden trio has been conscripted into the golden guard yet keep their ironfist armors. I don't know what Van Durce expected but he's gonna realise you don't sway captains of the Ironfist with some promotion.
• I wonder what this diplomatic travel is... It could be the dwarves but seems kind of early considering the invasion of the elven forest hasn't even begun (Gardon's that is). I'd say it's linked to the green dragons but I don't see the golden guard initiating the dialogue with dragons.
• Will the secondary objective have further consequences in future levels ? Bonus attributes are nice but all these corpses going to waste. At least enough for 5 more deathlords I'd say
• I didn't expect Keera to be this good but damn... Lifesteal, mana burn (goodbye paladin mana), blink and finger of death ? That's quite something. Though I feel obliged to say that the finger of death might be a little overpowered. (it's better than Ornasion's one : costs 1/3 of the mana, has about a 10 seconds cooldown and does 300 damage to anything you want)

 

[Elempash]

Found the first demonlord.
Decided to harvest lumber elsewhere, found another...
Bruh...
I got Jayborinoed big time.

Spoiler: Prediction

So in SHB during the siege of elven capital cpt. Ironside (or Ironhide? Not that it matters) switched sides and joined Gardon. If I had to guess, the Ironfist golden trio being separated from Gardon leads them to taking Ironside's role.

 

[nchp1903]

Woke up in the middle of the night to play the new chapter because I'm excited af, only to suffered through hours of poor micro and macro without achieving anything of worth.

Months without playing WC3 has caused me a severe illness called skill issue. Need to try again later.

 

[LISBOAH]

My review of Act Seven, Chapter Three:

Grammar mistakes in the opening cinematic
"...euqally admirable..." --> "...equally admirable...
"... have been very trying..." --> "... have been VERY tiring..."

Lore:
-"the rightseous". Sure. The guys that act all arrogant, that are planning to flee to another continent and let an entire continent be slaughtered, that instigated a rebellion that engulfed three kingdoms...
There goe Sir Praxeus trying to recruit the Dwarves. Remember to say that you were planning to flee to the other side of the ocean!
-Love how the Golden Guards are like "you are here to obey, not question", but they only do this when they aren't the ones being screwed. The moment they see themselves on the sinking ship... Not to mention them instigating a rebellion that engulfed three kingdoms.
-Is the Dark One behind the Demons' invasion? He seems to be the only powerful enough to do this.
-I wonder why that demoness seems different.
-Nice to see Ornassion giving a comforting shoulder to Keera.
-Has anyone noticed the irony of this mission? Demons and elves (though they are now undead) are fighting against living elves and demons. And the leaders of the undead are the former elven queen and the former leader of the invasion.

Gameplay
-The Deathlords we get in this mission are amazing and totally worth the effort.
-I just let the Golden Guard reinforcements and Demons destroy each other, and I swept in and took the spoils for myself. That was such a demon thing for me to do XD

 

[Apprentice Darkmoon]

Finished the new mission (But was not easy)
-The interaction between Ornasion and Queen Keera is... something new. I mean, the two have to kill their former kind and raise them in the name of the watcher. I think Mordin could join them in the "killing my living people" club.
-So the Ironfist is close to the elven palace... bad news.
-The demoness in the starting interlude... I think I know who is she... (Also, her model 100/10)
-Is kind of sad how Keera still regrets for her choices. I'm not sure how an undead elven kingdom could better than a living one... but well, believe in your ideas, Keera.
Now gameplay:
-For one moment I was thinking to have full access to all Kezzar units, but was good to have those undead elven units. Precious stalkers -3-
-Lumbering in a zone full of demons... I KNEW they will appear.
-The banshees and necromancers help me a lot when I push foward against the golden guard base.
-Sweet finger of death. Never saw airships falling so fast.
-I recommend to eliminate the elven demon slaves first, so you can earn their gold mine, but need to be carefull when the golden guard attack. Also, explore the map, you will find interesting items.

I'll play the map again later. Nice job, Arkain team.

 

[DD Mikasa]

Woke up in the middle of the night to play the new chapter because I'm excited af, only to suffered through hours of poor micro and macro without achieving anything of worth.

Months without playing WC3 has caused me a severe illness called skill issue. Need to try again later.

Massive spam of trash infantry and ranged units did it for me, ofc Shar had the wonderful idea not to give us a proper AoE dispel when we have to fight elven slaves who love to spam mages which permaslow/polymorph but what can you do. Support your trash tier one infantry/archers with Necromancers obsidan statues and frost wyrms stay the fuck away from seekers/hippogryphs and the ranged perma invi unit (cant remember the name rn). Buff wyrms with unholy frenzy tank with your trash tier one infantry and keep forcing enemies into chokeholds where your flame strike/aoe damage of the wyrms will shred them. Demon lords are a god sent on this one...DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO KEEP THEM ALIVE.

The interaction between Ornasion and Queen Keera is... something new. I mean, the two have to kill their former kind and raise them in the name of the watcher. I think Mordin could join them in the "killing my living people" club.

Ornasion has no qualms about murdering his demon kin though, in fact it seems he takes pleasure in it, must be due to the different political structure and mindset demons have, loyalty to oneself first, legion second.

So the Ironfist is close to the elven palace... bad news.

This was pretty much established way way back when Gardon sent his three henchmen to accompany Salana back home, i am pretty sure they will play a determinal role on Ironsides desertion and Salana's eventual end.

There goe Sir Praxeus trying to recruit the Dwarves. Remember to say that you were planning to flee to the other side of the ocean!

I mean technically Dwarves are doomed either way, GG wants to leave Ironfist wants to turn them into nothing more than slaves, and if memory serves right in the non-cannon B side of the story the Paladins stood behind when GG left to rule and protect the Human kingdoms alongside the dwarfs.

Is the Dark One behind the Demons' invasion? He seems to be the only powerful enough to do this.

It is pretty heavily implied by Aridon that someone is pulling the strings on the Demons. Also take note what the Orange Dreadlord said. Demons never liked outright total conflict/war (their political structure hinders them way to much as we have all seen it by now) they simply like to plunder/pillage and then leave back to their land. My working theory is that the succubi on way or another might have been corrupted/created by the Dark One as a way to control the demons and nudge them towards his viewpoint. Remember Largoth has taken a Dreadlord form in the past, knows the Demons still are waiting for the return of their Dead god...So maybe he might be planning to take charge and unify them into one single political entity and have his revenge on Aridon. I mean Largoth did pretty much the same to the empire...Empire lies to the west of Arkain, Demonlands to the east and Aridon is caught in the middle.

 

[Enki555]

So... this is what scrapped mission of SUB was gonna look like:
-Praxeus (another husbando: kinda forgot to rank him to character top tier xD) appears. Perhaps he is up to green dragon mission. Seems GG were prepared in case smth like that happens (perhaps elven demon slaves were not so subtle when it came to idolatry) and one of Hesrathion's lackeys dying at the hand of GG was somehow fitting.
-I smell Mina becoming a new hero miles away. She now has different model and golden trio still have their massive involvement in elven kingdom... Renald made a heavy mistake. A pity that Salana has to switch her allegiance, such a great potential had she remained in Ironfist... but it can't be helped.
-More legion politics, more suspense. Darkblade legion being the most realistic legion rlly saved their hides. And that succubus could be... Nysara. In that form, perhaps she could easily take the visage of angelic as her form is more humane than demonic. Or could she be actually former human/elf who transformed/possessed to succubus? Hence it explains her way more humane look than her succubi sisters. Not sure if this concept is possible among demon worshippers.
-The parallel between Ornasion and Keera was uncanny, and quite an interesting dynamic. Joining with em would be Mordin and Haran, and we would have "killing my own kin" squad.
-Well, I expected half-Kezzar and half-Daviliad roster, but, well, managed to make smth out of given roster. Didn't use dark archers and stalkers as they r super fragile. Slaying and converting those 3 demonlords... that was horrifying. The casualties were intense and got taken from inside. Taking out elven slaves base was horribly hard (I overestimated myself by playing in hard) thanks to that cursed starfall, hexing and slows. Having destroyers will help very much thanks to dispel, semi-passive self-regen, and nuking. My usual roster at the start was: 5/6 frost wyrms, 2 obsidian statues, 2 destroyers, some seekers and deathguards, 3 deathlords and 3/4 meat wagons. Enough to def base but not enough to take down base. It will take about 4/5 tries to fully destroy elven slaves while also defending urself. Striking out souleater base after it attacked by both battalion and GG will spell a good victory, but will take twin tries to fully destroy them, attention: base defense. Yes, it was pretty demon thing to do xD. Imo, there should be GG base in the middle of map to keep darkblade legion occupied as their attack was salt to the wound. Or there could be demon reinforcements opening portals to battalion bases to cause havoc. Also, completing this huge side quest should have good rewards other than just +1 attributes: what about adding new trianable units hence the new corpses harvested? We can have frost infernals, fallen eredar, fallen sorceress, even fallen spellbreakers to further diversify our rosters. And the last base... this took almost 10 tries; step by step, managing to destroy each building. At the 5th try, managing to destroy their castle and peasants= no more new buildings but hero still revived and units spawned from all buildings. So, took more armies. And yeah... those darned pride of humanity... oh, hubris, it gave great satisfaction to see em fall by murder of gargoyles (double pun-intended) and two fingers of death. They just obliterated my grounds forces and even dealt heavy damage to air units. Perhaps there should be limit of 5 or 6 pride of humanity being trained. At this pace, make sure to spam necromancers and... rlly hated those paladins and that hero with avatar (basically nuked Keera and Ornasion 1st). And yeah, seems Aridon will be there in insurrection and... he and Brian will have teatime much earlier it seems.
-At first, I found Keera's skillset odd but now seems fitting. Lifesteal, mana burn, escape, nuke, spawner ult, and shield... she became a proper hero and would soon become a fitting queen. Two nukes rlly helped at all stages of mission and Ornasion's aura meshed quite well.
-It is possible succubi were cursed by Dark One to cause havoc among their own kind before his death at hands of his brother.
-Next mission beckons... could be Dominion mission of scaling Salria or Ironfist's skirmish in elven kingdom.
-Also: Due to the new chapter and Keera's entrance, "Where the Shadows Weep- Part 1" also went thro' polishing. Hope u guys enjoy fan fictions

 

[Shar Dundred]

Might make some adjustments to the difficulty of the chapter and maybe spice it up a bit in the future.
Got some ideas how but not decided yet.