New Content Discussion [SPOILER]

[Datage]

So, I didn't get a chance to play the Keep of Fates until now. The most important thing to say about it is, I think: "Ho, boy, I cannot wait for society to collapse so that my ideology can rise from the ashes!" On a more serious note, it is a little concerning how many of the factions are focused on "destroying all who oppose me", and less, you know, on leaving something behind to rule...? But then again, this is Arkain. It's not like anyone learned a thing from the Second Voidwar, did they?

It is frankly a little impressive how almost every single character is doing the exact same mistakes they did earlier, or even worse ones! Shout out to Aridon, for literally trying exactly the same thing: Acquire more undead, murder everything on your path, and then recluse yourself again. Or Gardon "I will murder everyone who slightly wronged me, this will surely have no negative consequences on my frail psyche" Bloodclaw.

The only ones who have seemed to get the memo are Rahandir and Ebira. Honestly, I'm kinda excited for their paths. Rahandir seems to have understood that dangerous individuals need to be stopped; not brutally murdered. And that they need to be stopped on the basis that they are hurting people, not on the basis of "they have wronged me". An eye for an eye... and it appears he intends to stop that violent cycle.

Ebira also surprised me. It is clear to me that whole Ornasion debacle has made her... reconsider her priorities, at the very least. It will be interesting to see the Demons try to build something that lasts; even if that thing is the literal rotting corpse of Zandrach. Honestly, I think the fact that she doesn't intend to get revenge on Nysara speaks that below all that desire for power and control she does have genuine intentions to make the world a better place, at least for the demons.

Another path that I also want to play is the Path of the Beauty. Please, it has Meya and Kazardius, it's literally a match made in Hell. Feat a Bloodclaw bastard. Honestly, this just smells of Meya asking "Is anyone going to indoctrinate this child?" and not waiting for an answer. Also, how the Hell did Kazardius and Meya end up working together? The only thing I can think of is Kazardius finding Zyanor Reborn unworthy or something like that...

Finally, shout out to Progaderas. "SHE WAS ALREADY INSANE. I'M SO PROUD." Iconic.

Hi everyone! What is Gardon's natural hair colour? Because Parlea and Velina are blonde (even though Larine has red hair), and Zurae has black hair. The only other clue I have is the fact that some of Gardon's relatives (Valerie and Fiona) are seemingly blonde, but we haven't seen Renald's hair, and young Gardon from Brian's flashback had brown hair. But if Gardon has brown hair and Larine has red hair, how can their daughters have blonde hair?

Going by the in-game model, he seems a blonde? Mainly from the eyebrows. Also, the entirety of the Van Durce's are also blonde (at least the ones we see the hair from), and they are of the same family, so it would make sense.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Or Gardon "I will murder everyone who slightly wronged me, this will surely have no negative consequences on my frail psyche" Bloodclaw.

Oh boy, you will love the intro cinematic!

The only ones who have seemed to get the memo are Rahandir and Ebira. Honestly, I'm kinda excited for their paths. Rahandir seems to have understood that dangerous individuals need to be stopped; not brutally murdered. And that they need to be stopped on the basis that they are hurting people, not on the basis of "they have wronged me". An eye for an eye... and it appears he intends to stop that violent cycle.

He spent much time thinking about things in the last years - and he came to a different conclusion than Aridon.
Quite different actually.

Another path that I also want to play is the Path of the Beauty. Please, it has Meya and Kazardius, it's literally a match made in Hell. Feat a Bloodclaw bastard. Honestly, this just smells of Meya asking "Is anyone going to indoctrinate this child?" and not waiting for an answer. Also, how the Hell did Kazardius and Meya end up working together? The only thing I can think of is Kazardius finding Zyanor Reborn unworthy or something like that...

 

[Datage]

Oh boy, you will love the intro cinematic!

Hehehe... now I am intrigued. Honestly, I don't know what's especifically is Gardon's issue, but I must say, at this point I don't even know if he can get better, and I'm even kinda curious at how worse can he get.

Spoiler: Rambling

Because let's be honest: No matter how much he says that he "tried to do right by him", Gardon has had a bottle of wine no less than half a meter away for the last 20 years of his life, and way before Garan was born. Even if he did his best (and I think he did), a workaholic and alcoholic father is not a good parent, for relatively obvious reasons. And that is igoring the cheating. I mean, my man needed 20 years of therapy, not 20 years of warmongering.

I admit that Gardon is probably one of the most interesting characters I have seen in a long time. He's absolutly nuts in a way that is not obvious at first. Sure, he's a egotistical maniac, but so is everyone else, so he doesn't shine that much. But then you find about stuff like the brainwashing, power-hungryness and, uh... "removal" of population. And it's funny, because it always feels that he is justifying it to himself! Thanok and the Ironfist follow him unconditionally... and he brainwashes them regardless (well, not Thanok, as far as we know). Salana actually appreciates him for a brief moment and compliments his tactics... and he also brainwashes her! One of the first villages he makes disappear is the one that allied with him!

It's like he wants power, but at the same time, he is deeply insecure about it. You know, that moment of "I made myself king because my uncle forced my hand"? Please, not even Thanok buys that one. From the moment he allied the black dragons he already intended to achieve autonomy from the empire in some measure.

What I find even more fascinating is how it connects to what we know from his upbringing. Some nebulous form of abuse from his father (which I hope is expanded upon), and Brian's absolute lack of character judgement skills. Because yeah, just like Amari, he gets the "end justify the means" from Brian to a T. Unlike Brian, however, who mostly likes to help people and protects those he cares about, Gardon uses it to achieve power for the sake of power. Again, insecure about himself. Add in a highly judgamental uncle and cousins, and voilá! One traumatised war-machine coming right up!

And that's not even touching whatever's going between him, Praxeus, and Aveen.

He spent much time thinking about things in the last years - and he came to a different conclusion than Aridon.
Quite different actually.

Yeah, a different conclusion indeed! Honestly, feels pretty satisfying, considering he spent the last chapters of Arkain remembering how his job was to help and save people. And him realizing that those people were saved, and that they are not at fault for whatever betrayals he had suffered. Again, very reminiscent of stopping "bad guys" not because they are some esoteric measure of "bad", or because they personally hurt him; but because they are hurting innocents. Period. Not revenge, but justice. Yeah, really looking forward to that path.

 

[Apprentice Darkmoon]

While I've never been a fan of Bloodclaw and Zyainor, seeing him suffer over his son's death is refreshing simply because it makes him feel more "human". Hunted by the ghosts of people he somehow wronged or not... quite the pain huh.
Now that Kerrel is about to burn in dragon flames and other things Zyainor is sure to unleash in retaliation, will Rengar and the Order of the Flame come to its rescue? I can expect a brutal battle of fire, dark magic and even more.

 

[Mochi King]

In all honestly, as a Zyainor fan, I genuinely hated Garan's death, but it definitely felt like something that needed to happen in order for Zyainor to act. While his character makes him a lot less capable than his prime, I'm still hoping he becomes a threat strong enough to defeat not just Kerrel, but the Empire and Undead as well. Another thing I'm genuinely hoping is that as we command Zyainor's army, we will be able to control Gardon's outbursts and lead the army to victory. As an enemy, I'm hoping he just makes a lot of bad decisions for other factions to take advantage of. I'm hoping there won't be a True Story and Lord Shar just sticks to all of them being separate paths each with their own unique storyline given the circumstances and player's choice.

 

[Jorgonson]

Great opener to the new act! While this wasn't the path I voted for, Gardon has always been one of the most interesting characters and I'm excited to see where this story goes. My personal story beat prediction is that we're going to get at least one flashback scene with Garan during the middle of the story, probably right after Gardon does something really drastic and crosses a line in the eyes of the audience . In the last few acts of the True Story Gardon ends up losing basically everyone he cares about (Aveen is dead, Praxeus is in his eyes dead, Brian betrayed him, etc) so even as his political career is going perfectly he's suffering personally. When the war's over he has his kingdom and his political marriage and not much else.

With this in mind, it's easy to see how family would become incredibly important to Gardon in the years following the True Story despite his cold exterior making him seem unlikely to really value his children outside of the context of dynastic succession and legacy. Given how Garan has been characterized as very levelheaded and understanding I could see Gardon having a very close bond with his firstborn son, as Gardon would have to open up to his heir about the personal cost of ruling (if for other reason that properly preparing him to rule through an important lesson). I think we'll get some additional context on Gardon/Garan's dynamic and some additional fleshing out of Garan during an interlude after like mission five (this would also be nice as we would get better acquainted with the character whose death spurs on this whole story).

Another prediction is that we'll have at least one mission in which the main objective is to commit some war crimes. For instance, there will be a main objective targeting civilians like in King Arthas, or attacking food or water sources to deprive both the armies and people of Kerrel of the ability to go on. Disease also killed more people than actual combat in wars up through the Napoleonic era, and I think it would be perfectly in character for Gardon to recognize the utility of spreading a magical plague, and it would fit the setting of Zyainor if one of Gardon's people already had that prepared (lets be honest, there are probably like six Zyainor-aligned characters who could do this).

 

[Shar Dundred]

SoonTM

 

[tottipeter]

Good chapter shar I like it
Shar do you use ai to help you in making this campaign? I believe it will help to finish this paths faster

 

[jitao]

Great content as ever. Gardon's walking animation is a bit off though i feel.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Shar do you use ai to help you in making this campaign? I believe it will help to finish this paths faster

No I don't.
And how would an AI speed things up to begin with? I sincerely doubt that there is a WC3 editor AI even if I wanted to use one.
If you recommend to have an AI write the story for me, that's a big no.

 

[Plantpaladin]

Feedback from last mission. Solid base attack mission with a nice twist for a side mission. Hard part was finding right time to attack side bases and not be caught by counter attacks. Medium difficulty. Undead base wasnt too hard but the timing had to be right or your new goldmine get attacked. Anyone tried skipping side mission?

Plot New girl felt a bit over the top. Is she really is that fanatic or just waiting to betray at right time?
Will the return of Praxeus change Gardons mind?

Both plot and story felt straightforward and good, a few twists to keep it from being stale.

Good decision not to write with AI, it cant create just copy and the errors can be quite large.

 

[Jorgonson]

Cool mission, felt pretty nostalgic laying siege to a castle with Gardon, not gonna lie. It's interesting, this mission could have been really hard but for the OP Zyainor custom faction while the opponent has pretty weak units by comparison. The main MVPs in my mind are the Banisher (obviously) and kind of a sleeper unit people don't talk about much: The Darksteel Golem. While the pink base is huge, you can attack it from one side with Gardon and a small army (ideally with the elves) and then attack through another entrance with 8-10 darksteel golems, which cleans it up pretty quickly. This is especially useful if you don't do the bonus objective as I didn't.

Speaking of which, in addition to wanting to challenge myself I thought it would be better to not do the sidequest for the future. It seems pretty likely the Kerrel invasion plotline will eventually be overtaken by Gardon having to confront Aridon, so I thought it might make the Ejara nexus more difficult for Mr. Balance to subdue if they had a powerful weapon. On the other hand, maybe that will just make them more difficult to fight when they are taken over, so who knows how that'll play out. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out!

 

[Nicolas Warchief]

I love the old map coming back with another perspective, "Wrath of Darkmind" when we were in bottom and now we attack from the top, and one of my thought of the path is correct, we will see pieces of lore being delivered each past with our choises changing the plot. Like, Thanok is attacking Kerrel as well Gardon, in the same time that Gardon defeat the Order of Air, Thanok finished his first battle that we will see only in Dragon Path. Interestly!

And see that Gardon will kill even citizen of Kerel, a dark path awaits Gardon.

A irony, in this same map, Rath kill every citizen that he can see but were attacked by Redfist because of that. Now is the time of Gardon to do the same, but nobody will stop him (Only the elemental lord that almos wiped my base!)

 

[Apprentice Darkmoon]

Mission completed, and there is so much to say:

Spoiler

• General Whitefield! You look... old. If he looks like this, I can imagine how Taray will look... if he's still alive of course. Hope his retirement will be willingly and not forced (Killed I mean)
• Gardon's new model looks so good! He moves like the Lich King xD
• A new character! Ira is... strange to said the least. A necromancer who was a lightning mage, probably part of the order of Isalmur? I wonder how much of the futher she can see, and if certain lady of death (Meya) had something to do with her support to Bloodclaw.
• Well, I expected to see a hero with the inquisition, but I'm glad there is none cuz the mission was quite the challenge.
• So the Ejara Nexus is aware of Bloodclaw. I want to spare them cuz I feel more empathetic with than Zyainor. However, the items and of course one of the side quest...
• The order of the air caught me by surprise with their hidden ace - How I could expect such creatures being summoned by the order? Thunder elementals? It seems their leader HATES Bloodclaw for a very good reason. It also calls him "defiler", probably a clue of what Bloodclaw did with Taray and his followers.
• Now with the Order of air almost wiped out, Kerrel's defendors are few. Are Rengar and the Order of the Flame going to fight alongside them? or another force will offer Kerrel a hand against its foes?

Gameplay:

• I used a small army to defend my base and another part to destroy the Royal army base in the left part of the map. However, do NOT build a base there unless you want to get attacked every single time.
• When the summoned beings attack, try to force their hero to use its ultimate far of your base. Once you killed all of the soldiers, deal with the hero. Try to force it to come to your base and use your towers to kill it.
• I recommed to attack the Ejara Nexus, but don't use air units.
• Once you attack or destroy one of the bases that protect the Order, activate the "special" surprise of Ira.

Such a good start! Now to wait to the next chapter.

 

[Mochi King]

Personally just watched Nation of Amelia's gameplay. But I do love the fact that there are new elements. First off, Whitefield looks pretty damn old now, but at least he's still alive and well. Next is the strange woman, Ira. There were two things that I thought while looking at her. One is that she is a character that was sent by Lady Meya to assist Gardon. Another is that she is a special character solely for Path of Bloodclaw, meaning she won't appear in other Paths except this one. That would be a pretty nice concept. Regardless, having another necromancer hero since Undead Book 1 was pretty refreshing. Another thing that I took note of was Gardon's new model. I noticed it during the cinematics, but he moves like the Lich King. Which made me recall one of my suggestions that Gardon would merge with Bhaarizel in an Arthas-Nerzhul-like fashion. Though that's still vague, it does make me happy that my wish was somehow achieved (though Lord Shar likely already had it in mind to make new models for the characters).

As for the story, crippling one of the major elemental orders that serves the kingdoms is a pretty nice touch ngl. I'm just hoping the Ira doesn't betray Gardon last minute like Saphira did (and something makes me suspect she had something to do with the unrest in the Elven Kingdom). A new faction in action like the Royal Inquisition have finally emerged. They're pretty strong than your average foot soldier, that's for sure. Then there's another elemental lord to torture like our poor firelord.

Overall, hoping for more content. Wherever it leads, I trust Lord Shar's judgement.

 

[Karmondia]

A very good chapter.

• I don't trust Ira one bit.
• Finally we can fight Kerrel! The fact that we can slaughter the civilians is the cherry on top!
• I destroyed the Ejara base, because I don't want to see extra frost wyrms on later chapters.
• I intentionally didn't do the Tower side quest, because I don't trust Ira, and giving her these artifacts seemed like a bad idea. I have no idea if it will have any effect on the story, but I don't regret my choice.
• This is a fun mission, but I was hoping we could train halberdiers instead of cavalry. Also, there are no leadership bonuses, which makes me sad. We had bloodfangs by default, but Zed is not his "upgraded" version, so it's not like we have Pack of the Bloodclaw. Maybe Ira could have a bonus that buffs necromancers, and then the player would have to choose between that and the bloodfangs?
• I hope Gardon gets out of his depression and alcoholism by the end of this path.

Overall, a solid 9/10, would be better with leadership bonuses in my opinion, but still, it was awesome to control Gardon again! Looking forward to more in the future, Shar!

 

[Shar Dundred]

Leadership Boni have been removed in Legacy due to the character focused paths.
The paths dictate your units more than the heroes due to the heroes being dictated by the path - you will have access to Gardon in every mission of the Bloodclaw path.
Thanok will utilize different units in the Path of the Dragon despite also belonging to Zyainor.
Ira interacts primarily only with Gardon, not his soldiers. She isn't a "leader" character even though she is definitely qualified to teach other Necromancers.
It is possible but unlikely that Leadership Boni are making a comeback in Legacy in the future.

 

[Mochi King]

Leadership Boni have been removed in Legacy due to the character focused paths.
The paths dictate your units more than the heroes due to the heroes being dictated by the path - you will have access to Gardon in every mission of the Bloodclaw path.
Thanok will utilize different units in the Path of the Dragon despite also belonging to Zyainor.
Ira interacts primarily only with Gardon, not his soldiers. She isn't a "leader" character even though she is definitely qualified to teach other Necromancers.
It is possible but unlikely that Leadership Boni are making a comeback in Legacy in the future.

By any chance, is Ira a canonical character? Like, will she be seen in other paths or is she just in Gardon's path? If not seen, will she interact with the Zyaise faction if they become our enemies in future paths?

 

[Shar Dundred]

Ira is a canonical character and is by no means limited to one path.
As is the case with all other characters, her actions and appearances might differ depending on the path.

 

[ILIDAN STORMRAGE]

Another work of art Arkain lives up to the name it built once again.

story wise : i like the new demoness(thats my assumption) she is so rohir like I would say Meya agent but I call demon because while the over respect and flirt are common for both ,the hatred for the undead and that name give demon (ira wouldnt sound bad if all our demonic succubuses werent called Nysara,Lisara and Ebira,and maybe inara too we will see that mark of chaos is strange, at this point I think the RA at the end of the name means sucubus in zyanese
that being said she is not the ussual demon ,Bloodclaw can feel those but he seems to trust her,she might even be Orie as she was a lighting mage but I dont think so. Still another misterious character and another fishy creature to corupt Gardon trully magnificent this guy can have a full blown personality crisis ,progress, have an analitical thinking about the past,dream praxeus and still learn nothing. also what does she want with the staff of the guardian ?
anyway she is a powerful necromancer ..and what is with that anti magic ring could she has slain the archmagus or something or maybe she wants to enslave the mages who knows....but one thing is certain a necromancer earning the trust of a grieving father might result in a desecration of the dead.

 

[Navy45]

Just played the new chapter.

• Damn, I knew Zyainor was more powerful than Kerrel, but if I didn't want to deal with the Ejara, I might have punched through the order base on my initial push ! (though finding the opportunity to go after the Ejara was a challenge... and the lightning legion probably would have torn through my base if I tried just charging in)
• I went for the tower steal and the Ejara murder (sorry Haran, I like you but I like my dragons more). The ritual is definitely a challenge because of the size of the map and the layout meaning all the main bases attack in the center (I lost half my base a couple times). However, I like to be able to trigger the steal whenever I want and not just when the quest is completed. Also, these towers are awesome. I thought they would distract the enemy a few minutes but I unknowingly triggered it when all 3 bases had sent attack waves at me, meaning they were close to defenceless. The order of Air took well over 10 minutes clearing out the direct outskirts of their base. The Royal army had to cower under their castle to survive and the inquisition simply fell over and never managed to get more than a couple soldiers out. The quest is complex to achieve but it's definitely satisfying.
• I also like not having access to dragons for now, that's the first time I actually make use of black drakes. They're decent but I hope our dragon riders will be better at anti-air because Kerrel pegasi and archers were playing duck hunt due to their light armor.
• Surprisingly, the elven army was a better asset than Whitefield's forces in this mission. They assisted my main push and consistantly harassed the royal army, while Whitefield would never wipe out the western base even after I desroyed half of it because every time an enemy would attack my base, Whitefield would recall his forces to defend... and leave them around his castle doing nothing.

On the story :

• I quite like Ira and her "the undead should serve" attitude though I'm not sure what to think of her. Of course I immediately went to the idea she was a Rohir spy, but she did advice to destroy all undead they encounter. (maybe the Rohir are just confident Gardon won't encounter their forces) Whether she's a spy or not, she's clearly not just a random Rohir agent. The Elemental lord of Air and the Ejara leader both had surprising reactions. The lord was furious at the "defiler" and the nerubian was fearful. Gardon might not be anyone, but I doubt he makes even elementals and undead quiver except in the songs of the bards. Except they never explicitly mention Gardon. If they were reacting at Ira, that makes her a big shot powerful enough to be hated by an elemental lord not seen for who knows how long.
• The choices are interesting. Depriving the Ejara of their frost wyrms will obviously make them weaker, but it might also decide how Guardon will treat other undead in the future. Not doing it might make the black dragons angry enough to refuse to support him. Meanwhile, the tower quest might convince Guardon to trust Ira, or it might make no difference in the long run.

 

[tottipeter]

Shar how many chapters you will make for each path

 

[ILIDAN STORMRAGE]

Shar how many chapters you will make for each path

He mentioned before that some paths will be longer than others but that none will be like 5-6 misions because that would be too short. You should ask about the path of the bloodclaw because he might answer you with how many he has in mind now but he can decide to split missions diferently later so it isnt set in stone . Its better not to worry about that and enjoy arkain,plus we have enough paths for years to come considering how many there are .

 

[Shar Dundred]

He mentioned before that some paths will be longer than others but that none will be like 5-6 misions because that would be too short.

I don't recall ever saying that.

 

[ILIDAN STORMRAGE]

Strange I might be a litle schizofrenic then ,my bad and sorry for the missinformation then

 

[Shar Dundred]

No worries.

While I have written the scripts, some things are still possibly subject to change.
Therefore, and to keep you on edge, I am keeping the numbers to myself for now.

One thing I can say is that if each path had like ten missions, Legacy would be THREE TIMES the size of the True Story. Which would be rather insane.
Do with that information what you will.

 

[Rennathrim]

Finally, I was spamming your profile every week waiting to see the new update. Ira is DEFINITELY suspicious, I can say that much. The mission itself was very straight-forward, but it did give me the opportunity to get my thinking cap on, as I had to restart the mission once. I wanted to rush the side base for the extra gold mine, although I hadn't noticed that the Ejara Nexus had TWO gold mines, and well...I got attacked by the yellow faction and the grey faction at the exact same time and due to their size I couldn't possibly make it back in time without losing 80% of my base, perhaps, and considering that Whitefield doesn't help out unless his stuff is attacked. Other than that, there is a severe power difference between Ironfist units and Royal Army, where after I dealt with the side missions AND dealt with the elemental lord (who wiped out 90% of my army), storming through their bases with Ira's steal was quite easy. Plus, Whitefield's forces and Elven attacks were sizeable enough to give out a large helping hand. Very solid first mission for the path, and looking forward to see how Gardon's declining mental health...further declines?

Edit: Gardon and Praxeus reunion and rekindling when?

 

[Nicolas Warchief]

One thing I can say is that if each path had like ten missions, Legacy would be THREE TIMES the size of the True Story. Which would be rather insane.
Do with that information what you will.

For me is impossible to tell the story of each path with only ten missions. Gardon Path for example, let pick 3-4 missions against Kerrel, 3 against Aridon forces, 3-7 against Tregakh and the empire, if he will go in war with Rengar and Salria add more 10 and this is the most rushed scenario! And i not include Demon returning...

We will enjoy Arkain for long more years!!

 

[Rennathrim]

Knowing Shar, I think he'll pick the insane option.

 

[Plantpaladin]

Will we have similar missions for different paths?
Will we have a mission similar to A Fresh Breeze where you can pick the faction and it goes from there?
Will we have one version where Dominion reach a target before Gardon like the Coats of Gold/Last stand of the golden guard?

 

[DD Mikasa]

Oh boy we are so back!


While Praxus path got me itchin like a crackhead looking for his next fix insert here that one famous crackhead meme i am content that we are back to a familiar faction, feels good to play the Ironfist again and on a macro mission nevertheless, easier from the slugfests that were the wars of the True Story but still a decent scrap to get the blood going and get ready for even more marco missions.

Yay Whitefield is back and sporting a new look, something tells me that he aint long for this world though, everyone who has the Selior Model meets a quick end on this seriers, call it cleavehand's curse if you will.

So Gardon is schizophrenic, he sees things others don't and needs obscene amout of alchool to drown them. Jokes asside i guess the years of war are catching up to him, Maybe the "ghosts" repersent parts of his characters, Prax his regret, Son his pride. This is certainly a new spin on a old character that always radiated an aura of invincibility and utmost belife on himself to see him struggling not with any physical foe but his own mind makes you wonder.

Also is Gardon trauma bonding with a random chick that just got introduced? Or is he thinking to add to his list of illegitimate offsprings, he got two, whats one more afterall.

This Ira character, why do i have a gut feeling she might be part of the sister's kabal. She talks like Izog as well.



NOT THE SHADE THROWN AT THE ONE AND ONLY FIRELORD, even on Legacy of arkain he keeps catching strays

 

[Kasrkin]

A storm is coming.

 

[Kuras2003]

Holy Moly

 

[Navy45]

A storm is coming.

Main Quest of Chapter 1 : "The end of the storm"
Main Quest of Chapter 2 : "The coming of the storm"
Main Quest of Chapter 3 : "The return of the storm"
Main Quest of Chapter 4 : "The hero of the storm"
Main Quest of Chapter 5 : "The storm 2, tempestuous boogaloo"
Main Quest of Chapter 6 : "Somehow the storm returned..."

The poor people of Arkain can't ever get nice weather...

 

[Kuras2003]

Prodegeras had his turn, now we will bully this stormy dude into oblivion

 

[Apprentice Darkmoon]

The poor thing can blame the Order of the Air for summoning him in the first place. Now we'll farm artifacts by killing him.

 

[Nicolas Warchief]

A storm is coming.

A Crown of the Kings +5 too? Please not a Cyclone permanent item.. please!

 

[Navy45]

You can clearly see this guy was just summoned. Progaderas had the sense of waiting for like half a campaign to try to take his revenge (usually when the people who killed him split up). If this lord of Storms wants to keep trying, Zyainor might just look for a permanent solution. (I wonder if Ira can sort of absorb him, or drain him of his power with the staff of the guardian...)

 

[Shar Dundred]

A Crown of the Kings +5 too? Please not a Cyclone permanent item.. please!

Crown of Kings +20 but the wearer is permanently stuck on a cyclone.
Jokes aside, I owe yall a Lightning Orb.
But yes, get used to seeing our awakened lightning friend.

 

[MyPad]

Got around to playing the newest Bloodclaw legacy chapter: Burning Skies.

Edit: Misspelled peace in the characters section, my bad.

Spoiler: Playthrough

Early Game:

• I immediately gathered my heroes, halberdiers, Darksteel golems, captains, and Banishers and tried to take the northwest base.
• After noticing that my forces couldn't break through their defenses without losing momentum, I decided to kite the defenders
  to Whitefield's base. They made quick work of the defenders with my support.
• I managed to take the northwest base and build two rows of towers to defend.
• For some reason, I noticed that the attacking Royal Army forces are marching towards my northwest town hall, probably because of GetEnemyBase() or GetEnemyExpansion() returning the northwest town hall.
  • To address that, I went for the sacrificial town hall gambit, which should fool those two AI native functions— and by extension, the Royal Army forces.

Mid Game:

• Having stabilized my sources of income from the two gold mines (and unlocking War Aura), I began my siege towards the center of the map.
• Taking out the defenders was not going to be easy, especially if I lost all of my Banishers in the process, so I made sure not to lose more than 1.
  • By constantly making Ira and the Banishers (I mapped them to control group 2) reposition themselves, I avoided most of the death blows as a result of critical strikes from catapults.
  • I also had 4 black dragonlings to snipe catapults, Inquisitors, and units with Heavy Armor in general.
• After taking out the center base, I picked up the artifact that spawned from the destroyed castle. At that point, I had already picked up another artifact from the northwest base, so I might as well commit towards the completion of the tower side quest.
• Then, the Avatar of the Storm was summoned into the battlefield. I was frankly expecting him to besiege the site of my original base, but he ended up going to the northwest base too.
  • For what it is worth, the Avatar of the Storm channeled his ultimate spell, raining the fury of the skies on the Ironfist. With that, he managed to destroy a grand total of 1 guard tower.
  • At that point, his underlings were more threatening to my base than he is, since they actually managed to break through my lightly defended base at the starting base location.
• I went to the outskirts of the Ejara base and checked their combat capabilities. After checking their defense type, I realized that they were black dragonling fodder and decided to engage.
  • Their Crypt Lord was annoying because of Carrion Swarm, which caused me to lose a couple of Banishers and a dragonling because of their unexpected DPS.
  • Even with their high health pool, they were no match against the might of the black dragonlings.
  • At the end of it, I managed to secure two free goldmines. Since I destroyed almost all Ejara structures except the red spirit towers, I decided to pick up the artifact and leave.

Late Game:

• By this point, I had the option of turning the tides of battle against the Royal army and the Order of the Wind. I rejoined just as Whitefield's forces are laying siege on the outer bases.
• It didn't take much time at all to decimate much of their defending forces and destroy their production structures, but I wondered how I could turn the remaining towers against the enemy.
• It took me a while to notice, but I found the option to convert the enemy Mage tower structures to my side through Ira the Mysterious. After activating the ability, I was free to wreak havoc on the enemy forces.
• A couple of minutes later, my first gold mine is destroyed. After that, a few more minutes pass before I could destroy the entirety of their base.
• The poor grandmaster of the Order of the Wind never stood a chance against Bloodclaw's grief-stricken fury, having to deal with their esteemed mage towers turning against them, disabling and destroying the mage towers, only to end up biting the dust to some random Lightning Bolt.
• After destroying a majority of the enemy base, I decided to let Whitefield (or Larine's forces, I don't exactly recall) clean up the remaining structures.

Spoiler: Characters

Gardon

• 20 years since the end of the Second Void War, Gardon strikes me as a shadow of his former self, having lost much of himself to drinking. Mourning the loss of many whom he had once held dear, Gardon must have gone through the motions over those 20 years, rebuilding a hated nation and restoring its might, but for what?
  
  
• Gardon and Vail had a son, Garan, their firstborn. After having been killed in a remote location by an archer of Kerrel (who only intended to shoot an arrow meant to paralyze him) while in a secret meeting with the Dominion (rest in peace as well, Vanessa), the sparks of the general that had lied dormant within Gardon sprung up again. No longer would Kerrel deal with ca'laer Gardon, the one who had brought an end to the Second Void War and rebuilt Zyainor. No, they would deal with THE General that would stop at NOTHING to achieve his goals, THE General Gardon Bloodclaw.
  
  
• The death of their firstborn, the former crown prince Garan Bloodclaw, had brought Gardon back and with it, painful memories that he wanted to forget, had forgotten, and remembered once more. These memories will haunt him for the rest of his days, and Gardon can only choose to run away from it by drinking, or distracting himself with conquest. Seriously, he needs therapy at least 20 years ago.

Ira the Mysterious

• A lady with the gift of magical sight that allows her to see as regular folks do, with an intriguing and colorful past to boot. Her connection with the Order of the Wind / Air could be explored a bit further in the coming chapters and I would like to see how it develops.
  
  
• Could she be someone possessing the body of a promising sorceress who incidentally had a fascination towards necromancy?
  
  
• I am looking forward to what will happen if Gardon and Ira are to remain close in the coming chapters. Will their partnership develop, causing a political scandal with ramifications towards Zyainor's alliances?

 

[Shar Dundred]

According to rumors, you might meet a member of a rather famous family soon...

 

[Mochi King]

Who are the famous families again? There's Bloodclaw, van Durce, Redfist, which are probably the most influencial in the stories. I'm guessing Redfist?

Additional question: Will we have updates on Struggles of Arkain as the Legacy missions go on or is the main focus just the legacy missions for now?

 

[Mvicio]

Who are the famous families again? There's Bloodclaw, van Durce, Redfist, which are probably the most influencial in the stories. I'm guessing Redfist?

Hammerfall with Zarin, Ferina from Kerrel, most of the imperials have family name like Greymoore or Zoia too. But is probably bloodclaw.

 

[Mochi King]

Hammerfall with Zarin, Ferina from Kerrel, most of the imperials have family name like Greymoore or Zoia too. But is probably bloodclaw.

I did think of the dwarves as well. But something just didn't feel right when it came to them. They feel more faction-like than actual family. Like when you hear the name 'Hammerfall Dwarves', you think of the faction itself similar to how you think of 'Royal Army' as a faction of the Kingdoms. It's probably just a me thing cuz it's similar to Redfist, its basically the army/faction you think rather than just Volarian and his family. When Shar said 'family', i just thought of something like the family itself rather than a faction. Like the 'Greymoores' or 'van Durces' or 'Bloodclaws'. Another would be the elves, but i don't even know their last names.

*just a yap session. my bad for that.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Additional question: Will we have updates on Struggles of Arkain as the Legacy missions go on or is the main focus just the legacy missions for now?

I am not working on updates for Struggles of Arkain at the moment.
I doubt that will change anytime soon as I wish to focus on Legacy of Arkain for the time being.

 

[Mochi King]

I am not working on updates for Struggles of Arkain at the moment.
I doubt that will change anytime soon as I wish to focus on Legacy of Arkain for the time being.

Was kinda hoping to play Garan since we didn't have a chance to do so. But if lord Shar says so, then his will shall be done.

I'm pretty excited to where Path of Bloodclaw is headed though. Hoping Gardon defeats all of his enemies.

 

[ILIDAN STORMRAGE]

Dude I am from Europe and curently on vacation in Japan, when I come back I will surely play the new mission thats how hooked arkain got me. I am in Japan and still make time in the morning before leaving the hotel to check on the Arkain forum when news get posted. That is due to how marvelous your work is guys, keep it up and see you when I get back home !

 

[Plantpaladin]

Ok

Gameplay
Felt a bit short and easy but didnt bother with side objectives.
Only hard part was when Imperials arrived and I had to help Whitefield and then my new base. Still amde it through without a reload. Felt like a refresher from all the hard missions.

Story. Big Bam that feels like end of first act in a traditional story structure. Imperial Army is back and Gardon has to make an assult on the Empire itself.
Predictions

Act 2 ends with Tregakhs Death, Brian has to help since Gardon isnt one of the four.
Act 3 Ends with another showdown with Undead, Redfist sisters return to help get revenge on Aridon.
Maybe more rebel Undead show up.
Thanok arc could see him join up with Gardon in some way but my favorite idea is that he has to stay behind while Gardon does his thing.

 

[MyPad]

Just played the second mission of Path of the Bloodclaw:

Spoiler: Gameplay

Ally Forces

• Holy moly! The Ironfist don't play around with the support of the Elven Army.
• With their capability to overwhelm the defenses of the enemy—including the Imperial Army, it was actually more difficult to complete the side quests before they destroyed everything and completed the Main Quest for you. I never got to complete the side quest during my playthrough.
  • Their offensive might essentially makes them behave as an indirect timer counting down to the automatic completion of the mission.

Kingdom's Forces

• Their defenses were as solid as a sheet of paper being torn to shreds.
• While they would occasionally field a formidable wave to halt the progress of the Ironfist, they wouldn't be too troublesome with Gardon's support every now and then.
• Their main castle was destroyed by the Ironfist and Elven Army without Gardon. What a terrifying way to display the power of the kingdom of Zyainor.

Imperial Army

• They felt like the Kingdom's Forces V2, so the same points will carry over here.

 

[Shar Dundred]

I see that I have nerfed the enemy AI (which used to overrun Whitefield) too harshly.
I will look into that for the next update.