Troll Campaign v2.02

[frostwhisper]

You're far from the only one. I've noticed this a lot in people's playthroughs. It could be better communicated to the player.

 

[Cheshire]

Hi mate, I had the same crash. I went to setting in your battle.net (with your wc3 game closed) and i searched for updates and repaired the Game. Afterwards the second Chapter worked.

thanks man this saved me. I was going to give up on the whole thing since I didn't feel like replaying the whole last map just to have this happen again.

 

[Draghan90]

Perfect work,will there be a second campaign to continue the story??

 

[Navy45]

I finished the first chapter, but I could find neither claws of attack +6, gauntlets of strength or a mantle of intelligence despite being required for comining items. Is that normal ? Because with all the better items that drop, it is hard to justify keeping the items that can be combined.

 

[Cheshire]

I finished the first chapter, but I could find neither claws of attack +6, gauntlets of strength or a mantle of intelligence despite being required for comining items. Is that normal ? Because with all the better items that drop, it is hard to justify keeping the items that can be combined.

yeah it would be nice if that system was a little more forgiving. like if shops along the way sold things you may have dropped in previous chapters (before you got the combo pieces or just bc you needed the inventory space)

 

[Darnish89]

yeah it would be nice if that system was a little more forgiving. like if shops along the way sold things you may have dropped in previous chapters (before you got the combo pieces or just bc you needed the inventory space)

I do agree with this. Maybe even a info list what You lose if You pick to be nice to Kobolt and kill some Saurus. Or let their shop show items (at later mission) but not buyable (if You killed them)

 

[frostwhisper]

Patch 2.02
This is mainly to address the overturned Walking Hive boss as well as the slow loading times of the Necropolis Chapter 3 submap.
Also added are a couple of QoL changes for better inventory management and less time spent backtracking.
Finally, some potential pathing issues and light balance changes have been addressed.

Spoiler

Chapter 1

• Fixed an oversight where treants summoned by Ancient Sasquach dropped gold (non-humanoid creeps don't drop gold in this campaign).
• Kruppe's Vinesolver item now grants an ability upon purchase instead of using an item slot for the duration of its use.
• Map of Treasure Vaults item now has 3 charges instead of permanent use (as it has no use after the quest anyway).
• Instead of being removed once the quest counter hits 50, the Blood Harvest ability now remains active for the remainder of the chapter.
• Addressed lighting issues on load while in the grotto area.
• Destructible trees and plants are now marked by fireflies to indicate their presence better.

Chapter 2

• Addressed an issue where a route pathing remained open when it should have closed in the last quest.
• Kruppe's Raggedy Scroll item now disappears after its use in the cinematic (whether it is bought from the shop or not).
• Added firefly marks to destructible trees and plants.

Chapter 3

• Reworked the Walking Hive's locust ability:
  • Before it would channel a single 180-second locust swarm from an untargetable source.
  • Now it spawns three locust eggs each of which launches a swarm. The eggs can be targeted and killed.
• Addressed multiple trigger leaks in the Necropolis submap (this could potentially prevent the slow load times/crashes when returning to the main map).
• Addressed an issue where some doodads in the earthen camp would play unintended animations.
• Corrected an oversight where Oriss' ultimate was visible in the Latent Forge submap.
• Any items remaining in the Zan'do fight area after the fight will now teleport to the beginning of the Necropolis submap (to avoid backtracking).

Chapter 4

• Resolved some points where pathing was available to ground units when it should not.
• Added firefly marks to destructible trees and plants.

Chapter 5

• Swarm timers have been slightly reduced. Happy hunting!
• Addressed an issue where Aqir Striders appearing from the western spawn points would not attack.

Chapter 6

• Addressed an issue where Rendar's passive ability would never proc.
• The barriers appearing during Behemoth miniboss fights now disappear when there are no player units around the boss.
• Removed pathing from certain areas where it shouldn't be available.

Misc

• Several tooltip and voice line typos fixed.

 

[Harry1]

One of the greatest campaign！

 

[krawg]

much respect

 

[Cheshire]

just finished this. gonna go on a detailed rant INCLUDING SPOILERS:

praise:

• holy cow holy cow holy cow. now that is a lot of elbow grease. the level of polish and effort and love clearly put into creating this campaign is amazing. really, hats off.
• First of all - the terraining and worldbuilding are breathtaking and immersive. you really brought ancient troll civilization to life.
• the different races seem cohesive and believable, choc full of custom created models.
• the story is fun, original and interesting, all believable as part of the past of the warcraft world.
• fleshed out characters, with nuance and their own mysteries (I still am holding out for Kruppe to turn out to be a loa masquerading as a mortal) and backstories.
• varied and creative boss fights.
• immersive and engaging dialogue.
• appropriate custom music that gets you in the right vibe
• multiple, beautiful custom UIs
• I like the improvement on a caravan level - being able to control the caravan makes it much less annoying.
• A FRICKING MUSICAL NUMBER FULLY ANIMATED!?
• I really liked the cutsene after Kruppe's introduction. the realization that he is more than he appears to be plus the music and just everything - gave me goosebumps.
• using the Dota2 WD voicepack for a main campaign character is always a plus in my book.
• straight cut linear gameplay. in many other custom campaigns you are often not sure where to go and what to do, and you might very well get to the end of the level before going through the middle. this campaign was clear cut.
• is that some Eragon inspired dwarf lore I smell?

Room for improvement IMO:

• I will start by saying everything here is just nitpicking. this campaign blew me away.
• inconsistencies between the dialogue and the accents. If (for whatever technical reasons) the trolls do not have jamaican accents - they shouldn't keep saying "mon" and things like that in an american accent. it's very jarring.
• inconsistent accents in general. this was the clearest with Oriss who switches off accents between american, british and something maybe european...
• flat voiceline delivery - I know, much of the voice acting was probably done with AI, but even throughout the campaign there is a large variance in the quality of the delivery. I think the later levels seem consistently better. It's still much better than no voice acting, but some of the voicelines are very flat, or just have intonation which is completely "off".
• the constant desync bug. I don't know if that is a blizzard custom campaign thing, or related to something you are using, but I got that like 8 times throughout the campaign (and needed to scan and fix etc from the client). don't know if that's even in your control.
• Item system - I'm not sure how to implement this better, but the item combination system is kind of a downer. you want to hold on to things just because you have no idea what they will combine into and dont want to miss out on something really cool. and some of them add up to not much. it's just a lot of being in the dark, and not really rewarded enough for holding on to the items in the end, or just dropping better things and not knowing what you will get back. maybe if there was a system that let each hero hold more items in a non-active inventory, or some storage like rexars crates (and more than the 6 you get with the shop)
• the items you create from combining 6! different items (like campaign gear) should be more impactful than a crown of kings+4. or at least you should be able to further upgrade it into something cool.
• I think the implication at the very end that kruppe reveals his mysteries to Rendar is a little annoying. both story wise, because it seems unlikely he would spill everything to rendar and lay out his plan - whatever that is, and because the big mystery of the game is being revealed and not to us. but it does make you want to play the next one so maybe mission accomplished...
• seems like there should be a cutscene showing the fruition of the big ceremony that we collected all the aqir blood for in the survival chapter. kind of anti climactic.
• We hear a lot about Rendar being a butcher and enforcer, but besides people talking about it, you don't see anything that goes with that. it would be cool if the first chapter with him started off with some mini quests that helped establish him as the anti-hero the dialogue makes him out to be, or maybe to see some people later who actually seem to fear/resent him. from the dialogue at the beginning I was getting "butcher of blaviken" vibes, but there was nothing to really "enforce" that.
• the survival level is kind of long. and it's not like in the blizzard ones where you at least know how much time you need. it's just - lets see how long it takes me to kill 700 bugs. gets kind of monotonous. also I think it might make that level more fun if you could buy a staff of TP. that way you could be more dynamic on the map with your heroes.
• the final boss also seemed a little long to me. got a little repetitive.
• Oriss's face is kind of lacking personality IMO. some tribal paint or more visible eyebrows might go a long way.

like I said, mostly just nitpicking. Really impressive campaign.

 

[deepstrasz]

Spoiler: meh comments

1. Oriss the Jarbreaker.
2. While exploring the village feels nice, it's so silent. No one seems to say anything to you or others there (aside optional quests). Also, static feel. No one moves around. Take that back. There's two outside the village/fort talking about the lost key.
3. Keys and perhaps other items (like Ashes of the Phoenix) could be variables not to fill the inventory senselessly.
4. Would be nice during the talk of some optional quests to have some nice angle cameras to showcase the village. Also, units not to be selected during cinematic mode.
5. Primal Raptors are red player coloured even though enemies, not yours.
6. For some reason no more minimap pings appeared after a while. Reached the bandits by the time it started happening. Maybe after the shell optional quest was finished. No idea. The last vault map piece pinger didn't work either. Eventually reappeared after the Devilsaur affair.
7. Trolls don't talk like Warcraft trolls at all.
8. Not fancying the linear vine have to dissolved thing.
9. For a T-Rex inspired creature, the Devilsaur sure is slow. Perhaps its belly was filled with magically heavyweight meat.
10. The custom doodad water waterfalls and rivers are exceptionally beautiful. However, there are parts where the fusing isn't done right and lines can be seen.
11. Not sure what to think of those low flying pteradons. A bit weird looking so close to the ground. Would have been fitting if they were more like flying chickens or something but it looks like they're soaring.
12. Crates! Crates everywhere! Apparently even thousands of years ago they had them in the same manner.
13. History repeats itself almost literally in the future with Arthas (revenant part).
14. Into the Unknown can be finished without setting up a camp.
15. Even kobolds are academia worthy.
16. Ring of Protection +2's DISBTN looks different than the actual ring. Looks like Ring of Preservation.
17. Some huts are pure doodads (grotto) while some are destructibles (outside).
18. Rendar was probably taken by surprise by Ten'jin's attitude as he said no word.
19. Would be nice to mention where the new units are trained since you don't get the message about them when you also get them on the terrain playable like in the original game.
20. Both trolls and Furbolgs have the same walls as furbolgs and saurok same huts.
21. Boots of Dazar'alor=Boots of Quel'Thalas.
22. Bad Juju=Soul Burn. Spiritual Journey=multi Banish. Healing Potion Wave=Healing Wave.
23. "Light it up" but Oriss and some other troll remained a bit in the fire before running again.
24. I don't get it. Did they jump in the huge hole beside the worm till they reach the bottom or was it another entrance?
25. And of course, everyone talks the same tongue, whether surface or underground dwellers, humanoids, insectoid or whatever.
26. Tad annoying the glyphs in the shop aren't runes and can't be used/bought with a full inventory.
27. The lava platforms are too fast to go down. If one of your heroes is slower it won't make it in time and they won't make it in time moved all at the same time.
28. Nice meme temple but pianos?
29. Not sure if intended but the Dormant Hand orb turns to the number in the riddle while the game is on F10.
30. Tunnel Visions is definitely Armies of Exigo but with no insect special flier surface-underground transition places.
31. Overall, not impressed by the troll techtree. Aqir are also pretty much undead.
32. Raptors can get up to the enemy occupied fort due to incomplete pathing blocking.
33. Unnatural Expansion is not marked as completed upon finishing even though the quest completion message is shown.
34. Ensnare shouldn't be cast on the striders since they're moved/teleported in different places from their over doodad/cliff positions.
35. By the way, Torvald looks just like the other dwarves.
36. In chapter six, the shop's items move all over the place after you buy each.
37. There's some mogu references in items and chat but none to be seen.
38. So many crates, barrels and jars in this campaign as if they populate Azeroth or something.
39. Force Wall came too late that the behemoth got time to get outside the zone following the heroes. It can essentially be done with all which means battling only the behemoth without the spell caster aid.
40. Annoying to waste time getting the void shards and getting your item back. Ah well, unless you use the flying shop.
41. Loading the game might render the last boss to face to the east covering a lot of the battlefield.
42. No credits map/ending? Alright then.

A very visually pleasing Classic pre-Warcraft campaign with emphasis on boss fights and melee having a nice story on the background of trolls and around pre-ancient Warcraft events.

Approved.

---

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[Cheshire]

History repeats itself almost literally in the future with Arthas (revenant part).

while initially I found this kind of lazy, I ended up thinking It's kind of cool lore wise. this may not be the creator intended, but it could hint at the revenants being some kind of order of primordial guardians positioned by higher powers to save mortalkind from dark powers that lurk in azeroth.

 

[Darnish89]

while initially I found this kind of lazy, I ended up thinking It's kind of cool lore wise. this may not be the creator intended, but it could hint at the revenants being some kind of order of primordial guardians positioned by higher powers to save mortalkind from dark powers that lurk in azeroth.

I have to agree with this, yes I reacted and was like "this is exactly the same sentence" but then I thought about it. In that moment when the Raven claim that it is trying to protect Arthas from himself, why? There is NO explanation to it, the raven's seems "undead" to me and still of that kind we seen before, not undead influenced by The Lich King.

So like Cheshire said, why can it not just be that they, in their state sense something/know something and trying to defend the living from a fate.

But yea. I've might changed the sentence at least a bit tho.

 

[Cheshire]

I've might changed the sentence at least a bit tho.

but then you can't use the voicelines

 

[Darnish89]

but then you can't use the voicelines

 

[U.05]

I have completed the first two missions and really that was enough for me to say , this is one of the best campaigns i have ever played!

the terraining is just fantastic and really sets the environment as well as the cinematics.

i really liked the heroes and their skill sets as well as the pacing of the story.

my only tiny complaint till now is that i think you should give the player a hint about the bandit attacks on mission 1 as it caught me off guard.

if it was mentioned and i missed it then my bad!

thank you for making this amazing project!

 

[Rufus]

Really great campaign! It's been long since I played wc3 for hours non-stop! Marvellous work!

 

[bobprimex]

Had to make an account just to comment.

This is a phenomenal piece of work you've made, I can't remember the last time I was this immersed and invested. The story, the characters, the pacing, the gameplay, everything just felt perfect, even down to the UI grid. Kruppe is really well written, I can't wait to see what his deal is.



Thanks so much for sharing this with us, I'll be super keen for a part 2!

 

[Angzt]

Absolutely incredible work.
Coherent custom models & animations to make a solid new faction. A story that fits into the canon without retreading what we've seen a million times. And a nice little item fusion system to keep progression interesting.
This is the level of quality any custom campaign should strive for.

 

[nielsdejong]

Great work! You should be proud

EDIT: After playing this mod for a while, I also wanted to add that I love the way you made the portraits, and how clean everything worked! Not to mention, the cutscenes brought me back to 2003 when Warcraft 3 first came out, as your work feels just like what I would expect to be made by the old Blizzard, which is one of the biggest compliments I could give regarding a mod! Also, I love how you can combine items, great work on that too!

 

[nielsdejong]

Also, in addition to what I wrote before, I love the way you have balanced all the units! I have been playing it some more, and didn't want to go too far into details until I've done so, but I really like the way the units interact and how each has pretty much its unique role (to an extend), and feel like they have a place in the roster In fact, both the traditional building and unit style, as well as the hero questing you get, were both enough to keep me invested all throughout the missions. Not many mods can do that. Again, truly stellar work!

 

[gravechill]

Insane quality of the campaign!(heroes, models, terrain, dialogues (fully voiced with real voices!), the difficulty is how it should be, mechanic with combining items, cinematic cutscenes). You guys made really a LOT of work. Moreover it is based on the warcraft lore. A HUGEE thanks to you guys for such a masterpiece!

 

[Grumpy Raven]

Hey there!

Can anyone confirm if its stable on the latest patch (1.36)? I would love to try it, but i dont want to install separate versions of WC3

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Hey there!

Can anyone confirm if its stable on the latest patch (1.36)? I would love to try it, but i dont want to install separate versions of WC3

Hi, I have done my walkthrough fully on the latest patch. Yet I experienced one crash in the middle of chapter 4(?), transitions work flawlessly here.

 

[Leos de Peos]

I adored the first chapter but today I am getting stuck as the second chapter doesn't load...it does not crash but instead of the loading screen appearing as it should I get a dark screen. Might delete this reply if in the meantime I solve it on my own.
I'll review it entirely once I have finished it. Kudos to everything you all did.

 

[waredcraft]

I've got a few issues. I'm using version 1.31.1, in the middle of chapter 3 I've had to reload a save...but when I do the heroes do NOT respawn at all! If I have units they reform but not the heroes. I tried restarting the chapter but now I've got the optional items for the vault. Is my issue unique?

For the record I tried playing on Reforged, I couldn't get into the temple in chapter 3 without the game crashing multiple times PLUS the Character portraits are glitched out, but are fine when I play in non Reforged

 

[frostwhisper]

Sounds pretty unique. Were you in a submap when you reloaded the save?

 

[waredcraft]

Sounds pretty unique. Were you in a submap when you reloaded the save?

Yeah, I was loading the quicksaves that were made, but at least one time I loaded up a save from AFTER I exited one of the submaps back into the main map. There I would have my units running around but no heroes, nor would the glowing line to move to the submap be shown

 

[Ravager16829]

I'm using version 1.31.1, in the middle of chapter 3 I've had to reload a save...but when I do the heroes do NOT respawn at all! If I have units they reform but not the heroes. I tried restarting the chapter but now I've got the optional items for the vault. Is my issue unique?

Yeah, I was loading the quicksaves that were made, but at least one time I loaded up a save from AFTER I exited one of the submaps back into the main map. There I would have my units running around but no heroes, nor would the glowing line to move to the submap be shown

I really don't suggest playing this campaign on 1.31.1, especially if you're aiming at load-save thing. It was around this time where specific-based unit events would break, which can mess up the gameplay.

You can try playing this campaign on older 1.29 or even the latest patch from Battle.net app (1.36.2) to see if this bug persists.

 

[waredcraft]

I really don't suggest playing this campaign on 1.31.1, especially if you're aiming at load-save thing. It was around this time where specific-based unit events would break, which can mess up the gameplay.

You can try playing this campaign on older 1.29 or even the latest patch from Battle.net app (1.36.2) to see if this bug persists.

But like I said when I play on 1.36.2 on Reforged, it crashes when going into the temple in Chapter 3

 

[waredcraft]

Sounds pretty unique. Were you in a submap when you reloaded the save?

So should I just refresh it and drop the two armor parts and try it again? Cause that's what's leaving me conffused what to do

 

[frostwhisper]

My best guess is your bug happens because all maps share the same cache file which can lead to weirdness with submaps and save-loading. So when you're restarting chapter 3 after you've completed the submap once your heroes essentially start from that save state (xp, kaldra items etc). I've been warned of this potential issue but this is my first time actually coming across it.
One way to smooth things out would be to restart chapter 3 from the beginning, drop everything you've previously acquired in chapter 3 to avoid duplicates, and just enjoy the free xp (the chapter is designed to slowly bring your heroes to lvl6 either way). Not elegant, but should bring you back on the right track.

 

[waredcraft]

My best guess is your bug happens because all maps share the same cache file which can lead to weirdness with submaps and save-loading. So when you're restarting chapter 3 after you've completed the submap once your heroes essentially start from that save state (xp, kaldra items etc). I've been warned of this potential issue but this is my first time actually coming across it.
One way to smooth things out would be to restart chapter 3 from the beginning, drop everything you've previously acquired in chapter 3 to avoid duplicates, and just enjoy the free xp (the chapter is designed to slowly bring your heroes to lvl6 either way). Not elegant, but should bring you back on the right track.

LOL Funny enough I JUST finished doing EXACTLY that and completed Chapter 3 by the time you replied LOL

 

[nchp1903]

Just finished this campaign on 1.31, and I've gotta say that it was an enjoyable experience with minimal bugs, except for long submap load time. I'll give my review below.

Spoiler

Spoiler: Heroes/Units' Abilities

1. Oriss:

• Spirit Snake is terrible. Let's see: you can only have one at a time, it is also a melee unit with Medium armor, low HP even at Level 3, and its usefulness late game is chance-based (Evasion/Critical Strike).
• Hypnotic Gaze: Locks an enemy in place, but also lock Oriss herself as well. Good during early game where enemy has low HP and the Snake can deal small extra damage (his only saving grace!) during that time. Late game, it's a useful disruption tool during boss fights later on.
• Venom Spray is cool, because I like anything Cluster Rockets-based. But the damage progression on level up hurts me on a personal level, especially level 2. 25 damage to 30 damage, with no DoT increase means you waste a point to deal a maximum of 20 more damage per unit. Least it's better than Snake.
• Serpent's Guile is good. Any boss fight with auto-attacks will be completely handicapped. 50% miss chance + 50% attack rate reduction at level 3 means you reduce their attack damage to 25%. Although, I believe it's Drunken Haze-based, not Parasite/Slow Poison/Acid Bomb-based, so if you wanna use Orb of Lightning, you must be careful or this powerful debuff won't see the light of day.
• Soulkeeper's Boon: Summon a mini Zan'do with level 3 Soul Nova with AoE damage, level 3 Shadow Strike for burst damage, and Spell Immunity for so he can't be easily dealt with? He tied Oriss' kit together nicely, except for the fact that this make Spirit Snake even more obsolete.

2. Rendar:

• Mortal Wound: 5 damage per second for a few seconds isn't bad. Except for the fact that it's chance-based and that it serves as an enabler for other abilties. Which means...his entire kit needs Mortal Wound to go online, so they suck without it.
• Lacerate: Scales with Strength, which is good, since he's a Strength hero. Can blow up an Aqir Torrasque instantly at level 3, so very recommended for early game.
• Shockwave Slice: Here comes the real problem. Early game, its damage is minimal due to extremely low based Agility, and only serves as an enabler for Lacerate. Besides, if you don't get a lucky Mortal Wound proc, you need to do Lacerate - Shockwave Slice, for its spread effect and no double damage either. Now what? Nothing else to follow up. Meanwhile, if you do Shockwave Slice - Lacerate, you'll get an immediate reward in the term of massive bonus damage or even an instant skill. At least it can hit from afar, which is useful, if you REALLY need extra damage for boss fights.
• Forged in Battle: Let's see. Strength and Agility increases by 1 every time he attacks? On a Strength hero with low base attack speed? Stacks are counted individually? No attribute increase upon level up, only stack duration? This might as well be purely thematic, because it sucks early game, and provides a minor bonus late game. Every Hero can have this ability, and it will still be useless. And just for comparison, Attribute Bonus (vanilla) provides +3 stats, at all time, at level 1.
• Into the Fray: This basically fixes everything except Forged In Battle. A Blink, an AoE damage, and a Mortal Wound applier without 20% bullshit. From here, he can Lacerate and Shockwave Slice for further damage. It really feels like an ultimate.

3. Kruppe:

• Summon Shop: Very useful for an item hoarder like me. Although, I probably should make better use of his consumables instead of just collecting forever-unused permanent items.
• Bad Juju: Vanilla Soul Burn. Nothing flashy, but a good disabler. Combine this with Serpent's Guile if you really hate one guy in particular.
• Spiritual Journey: Mass Banish. Extremely useful because it's an AoE disabler that doesn't draw aggro. Combine this with Awakened Hand of the Juggler, and you'll have access to a 600 damage AoE nuke on a short cooldown. Although, Into the Fray deals physical damage, so no synergy there. Found that out the hard way.
• Healing Potion Wave: Vanilla Healing Wave that might as well be an ultimate because of how useful it is.
• Kruppe's Voodoo: Like an extremely good Scroll of Protection that doesn't force him to stand still and channel. Good tool to initiate an attack, or to defend yourself from one.

Spoiler: Chapters

Chapter 1:

• I like looting so the village was a good start. Environment was nice. There's also this enter-building-interior thing, that I wish was used more in later chapter.
• A troll complained about losing his Gate Key to a Murloc, but he didn't seem to bat an eye when I used the same key to open the Gate next to him.
• I like how it was really rewarding to not waste consumables during the early part, because later on, you could sell them to Kruppe to buy Tomes for permanent stat bonus. For long-term gameplay, go for Agility. If you go full Venom Spray (or Spirit Snake, ew), go for Intelligence.
• Escort section is okay. But it would be nice if you can fight the Devilsaur before crossing the bridge instead of making it invulnerable
• Also, Zan'do's Curse can hit level 3 immediately, despite him being only level 4. Must be a bug where the ability's Required Level is not set to 1.
• Don't know what would happen if I fought the Ancient, but I helped him kill the Phoenix and I got the Branch of the Ancient, one of the best item in the campaign. The next good item that you can have early is the Sobi Mask, which I think is only sold if you spare the Kobolds? It's also worth waiting an entire hour for the restock to grab a second one (or even a third) for Rendar and Kruppe later.
• And Zan'do died. Having no ultimate ability was a dead (haha funny) giveaway. Didn't expect the other Trolls to be nuked as well, and cost me a ton of items.

Chapter 2:

• I like Rendar's section, which combined micro and macro, and using Healing Wards instead of Fountains of Health was a smart thematic move. The Taurens were tough, but the Furbolgs were pathetic. Two proxy Watchman Towers, and they couldn't do anything from within their walls. The Hearthkeeper was also nice QoL.
• Kruppe's section was short, but it serves well to showcase his abilities. Although, I kept his Alchemunition thingy for a rainy day.
• When Oriss rejoined the team, she could just...run all the way back to Unmei, slip past the guards, back to her starting point in Chapter One, and loot a Manual of Health from a crate, while no one speaks a word about it.
• And the escape part was supposed to serve as a "Oh no they're too strong, we've gotta run!" but in reality, you fight small groups of 320 HP bugs which are only annoying when they Burrow, and the few Tarrasques can be one-shot with Lacerate, so kind of a dissonance there.
• The last part, I'm pretty sure it's meant to be comedic, but I think the AI voice kinda failed to capture the "Nah I'm sure it will be fine" tone from Rendar.

Chapter 3:

• Instantly Rendar was taken out of his comfort again when the Hall exploded. Poor guy.
• The Forge was fun. Good map design, good enemy design, and also the first time we encountered a named Aqir Hero, who instantly nabbed our stuff and ran away, which left a first strong impression. Also, this is the first time I didn't feel immense hatred for an elevator section, so well done. Although, the Obelisks in the Mjolnir boss fight having Divine armor is annoying. Like, even when your Heroes have ranged attacks, it still feels like you deal barely any damage, and have to rely on Auxilliary all the time. At least the Mjolnir section was worth it, because that tank was beautiful.
• The Power Generator puzzle was genius. In the Throwing Stone's description, the "and destructibles" part really stood out. And when you right-clicked the Power Generators, you know that it will glow - a trait only available to destructibles, so your mind would put the clues together.
• The Temple was cool, and dancing Bwonsamdi caught me off-guard. He also casually said like "oh by the way Oriss helped summon the Aqir god" in front of Rendar, which pissed him off, but at least it ended the cold war and he started to respect her more.
• The Turanga boss fight was easy, but annoying. Least he was a good sport.
• The Juggler puzzle was cool too. I don't know how hard it is for others to figure out, but for me, when I make stuff, I usually pay attention to the DISBTN, so I noticed right away. Felt like a genius.
• The last boss fight was an actual hard one. Maybe because I have no unit alive except Ishmael, but constant healing and tons of eggs hurt a lot. Thankfully, I still won.

Chapter 4:

• Time to save the Gurubashi Chieftain, but first, let's take time to appreciate the beauty of the mirrored map, which also gave me ample opportunity to spawn-camp the filthy Aqirs.
• The thief from before returned, and this time, he got an entire Brood with him to guard the Helm, and we had to destroy- Oh, nevermind, Rendar used Into the Fray to nab the Helm from under their nose, then escaped. Karmic retribution at its finest.
• The enemies themselves are nothing substantial. Just the classic Heroes + Siegehorns + Witch Doctors + Headhunters for everything, with Ten'jin and Ishmael's help on top. Plus, Zan'do's Soul Nova is a huge help.

Chapter 5:

• I hate defense missions, so I've gotta admit, I spent a lot of time trying to find the Aqir's base to try to clear them up. But when I realized they weren't even at The Fist, I knew they spawned from off-map. I tried to hold on, and failed a few times because apparently, an entire village couldn't deal with 5 scorpions. Torvald died, Farrak died, Ten'jin died, Ishmael died, but thank god we hit the 700 kill threshold before the next major attack. I didn't even have time to try the Pterradon Riders, because I was going for the trustworthy Siegehorns to minimize risk.
• Other than that, there was nothing of note in the chapter, except for the fact that Oriss decided to follow Rendar, which was heartwarming.

Chapter 6:

• It's showtime. The trio against the Aqir boss. Most of the groups without a Vizier can be easily disposed of by Spiritual Journey + Hand of Juggler. Kruppe's Shop was incredibly useful here, and it was as if the item merging mechanic was made for this moment. Although, I wish that those items could be more easily obtained by exploring and looting instead of having to wait until the final chapter. Or maybe I was blind af.
• All the while, I was still trying to save up the Alchemunition for the final boss for maximum humiliation, so when I saw Ki'thix killed him and took his place as the final boss fight, my heart was filled with joy. (Ki'thix counts as an air unit, so Spirit Snake was once again useless.)
• I used my best items, I played slowly, carefully, and only a bit reckless during the tunnel section since it was timed, but still, I managed to keep myself at full health and full mana when Ki'thix was down to 1000 HP.
• But then the cinematic came up, Rendar threw himself desperately at the boss for no reason, perhaps to troll me (pls laugh), and then Oriss had to use Zan'do power to teleport them away. Again, a dissonance, so I was dissapointed. But at least Rendar became a war hero and a future chieftain, so not all bad?

Overall, not enough trolls. 1/5.

 

[Darnish89]

Just finished this campaign on 1.31, and I've gotta say that it was an enjoyable experience with minimal bugs, except for long submap load time. I'll give my review below.

Spoiler

Spoiler: Heroes/Units' Abilities

1. Oriss:

• Spirit Snake is terrible. Let's see: you can only have one at a time, it is also a melee unit with Medium armor, low HP even at Level 3, and its usefulness late game is chance-based (Evasion/Critical Strike).
• Hypnotic Gaze: Locks an enemy in place, but also lock Oriss herself as well. Good during early game where enemy has low HP and the Snake can deal small extra damage (his only saving grace!) during that time. Late game, it's a useful disruption tool during boss fights later on.
• Venom Spray is cool, because I like anything Cluster Rockets-based. But the damage progression on level up hurts me on a personal level, especially level 2. 25 damage to 30 damage, with no DoT increase means you waste a point to deal a maximum of 20 more damage per unit. Least it's better than Snake.
• Serpent's Guile is good. Any boss fight with auto-attacks will be completely handicapped. 50% miss chance + 50% attack rate reduction at level 3 means you reduce their attack damage to 25%. Although, I believe it's Drunken Haze-based, not Parasite/Slow Poison/Acid Bomb-based, so if you wanna use Orb of Lightning, you must be careful or this powerful debuff won't see the light of day.
• Soulkeeper's Boon: Summon a mini Zan'do with level 3 Soul Nova with AoE damage, level 3 Shadow Strike for burst damage, and Spell Immunity for so he can't be easily dealt with? He tied Oriss' kit together nicely, except for the fact that this make Spirit Snake even more obsolete.

2. Rendar:

• Mortal Wound: 5 damage per second for a few seconds isn't bad. Except for the fact that it's chance-based and that it serves as an enabler for other abilties. Which means...his entire kit needs Mortal Wound to go online, so they suck without it.
• Lacerate: Scales with Strength, which is good, since he's a Strength hero. Can blow up an Aqir Torrasque instantly at level 3, so very recommended for early game.
• Shockwave Slice: Here comes the real problem. Early game, its damage is minimal due to extremely low based Agility, and only serves as an enabler for Lacerate. Besides, if you don't get a lucky Mortal Wound proc, you need to do Lacerate - Shockwave Slice, for its spread effect and no double damage either. Now what? Nothing else to follow up. Meanwhile, if you do Shockwave Slice - Lacerate, you'll get an immediate reward in the term of massive bonus damage or even an instant skill. At least it can hit from afar, which is useful, if you REALLY need extra damage for boss fights.
• Forged in Battle: Let's see. Strength and Agility increases by 1 every time he attacks? On a Strength hero with low base attack speed? Stacks are counted individually? No attribute increase upon level up, only stack duration? This might as well be purely thematic, because it sucks early game, and provides a minor bonus late game. Every Hero can have this ability, and it will still be useless. And just for comparison, Attribute Bonus (vanilla) provides +3 stats, at all time, at level 1.
• Into the Fray: This basically fixes everything except Forged In Battle. A Blink, an AoE damage, and a Mortal Wound applier without 20% bullshit. From here, he can Lacerate and Shockwave Slice for further damage. It really feels like an ultimate.

3. Kruppe:

• Summon Shop: Very useful for an item hoarder like me. Although, I probably should make better use of his consumables instead of just collecting forever-unused permanent items.
• Bad Juju: Vanilla Soul Burn. Nothing flashy, but a good disabler. Combine this with Serpent's Guile if you really hate one guy in particular.
• Spiritual Journey: Mass Banish. Extremely useful because it's an AoE disabler that doesn't draw aggro. Combine this with Awakened Hand of the Juggler, and you'll have access to a 600 damage AoE nuke on a short cooldown. Although, Into the Fray deals physical damage, so no synergy there. Found that out the hard way.
• Healing Potion Wave: Vanilla Healing Wave that might as well be an ultimate because of how useful it is.
• Kruppe's Voodoo: Like an extremely good Scroll of Protection that doesn't force him to stand still and channel. Good tool to initiate an attack, or to defend yourself from one.

Spoiler: Chapters

Chapter 1:

• I like looting so the village was a good start. Environment was nice. There's also this enter-building-interior thing, that I wish was used more in later chapter.
• A troll complained about losing his Gate Key to a Murloc, but he didn't seem to bat an eye when I used the same key to open the Gate next to him.
• I like how it was really rewarding to not waste consumables during the early part, because later on, you could sell them to Kruppe to buy Tomes for permanent stat bonus. For long-term gameplay, go for Agility. If you go full Venom Spray (or Spirit Snake, ew), go for Intelligence.
• Escort section is okay. But it would be nice if you can fight the Devilsaur before crossing the bridge instead of making it invulnerable
• Also, Zan'do's Curse can hit level 3 immediately, despite him being only level 4. Must be a bug where the ability's Required Level is not set to 1.
• Don't know what would happen if I fought the Ancient, but I helped him kill the Phoenix and I got the Branch of the Ancient, one of the best item in the campaign. The next good item that you can have early is the Sobi Mask, which I think is only sold if you spare the Kobolds? It's also worth waiting an entire hour for the restock to grab a second one (or even a third) for Rendar and Kruppe later.
• And Zan'do died. Having no ultimate ability was a dead (haha funny) giveaway. Didn't expect the other Trolls to be nuked as well, and cost me a ton of items.

Chapter 2:

• I like Rendar's section, which combined micro and macro, and using Healing Wards instead of Fountains of Health was a smart thematic move. The Taurens were tough, but the Furbolgs were pathetic. Two proxy Watchman Towers, and they couldn't do anything from within their walls. The Hearthkeeper was also nice QoL.
• Kruppe's section was short, but it serves well to showcase his abilities. Although, I kept his Alchemunition thingy for a rainy day.
• When Oriss rejoined the team, she could just...run all the way back to Unmei, slip past the guards, back to her starting point in Chapter One, and loot a Manual of Health from a crate, while no one speaks a word about it.
• And the escape part was supposed to serve as a "Oh no they're too strong, we've gotta run!" but in reality, you fight small groups of 320 HP bugs which are only annoying when they Burrow, and the few Tarrasques can be one-shot with Lacerate, so kind of a dissonance there.
• The last part, I'm pretty sure it's meant to be comedic, but I think the AI voice kinda failed to capture the "Nah I'm sure it will be fine" tone from Rendar.

Chapter 3:

• Instantly Rendar was taken out of his comfort again when the Hall exploded. Poor guy.
• The Forge was fun. Good map design, good enemy design, and also the first time we encountered a named Aqir Hero, who instantly nabbed our stuff and ran away, which left a first strong impression. Also, this is the first time I didn't feel immense hatred for an elevator section, so well done. Although, the Obelisks in the Mjolnir boss fight having Divine armor is annoying. Like, even when your Heroes have ranged attacks, it still feels like you deal barely any damage, and have to rely on Auxilliary all the time. At least the Mjolnir section was worth it, because that tank was beautiful.
• The Power Generator puzzle was genius. In the Throwing Stone's description, the "and destructibles" part really stood out. And when you right-clicked the Power Generators, you know that it will glow - a trait only available to destructibles, so your mind would put the clues together.
• The Temple was cool, and dancing Bwonsamdi caught me off-guard. He also casually said like "oh by the way Oriss helped summon the Aqir god" in front of Rendar, which pissed him off, but at least it ended the cold war and he started to respect her more.
• The Turanga boss fight was easy, but annoying. Least he was a good sport.
• The Juggler puzzle was cool too. I don't know how hard it is for others to figure out, but for me, when I make stuff, I usually pay attention to the DISBTN, so I noticed right away. Felt like a genius.
• The last boss fight was an actual hard one. Maybe because I have no unit alive except Ishmael, but constant healing and tons of eggs hurt a lot. Thankfully, I still won.

Chapter 4:

• Time to save the Gurubashi Chieftain, but first, let's take time to appreciate the beauty of the mirrored map, which also gave me ample opportunity to spawn-camp the filthy Aqirs.
• The thief from before returned, and this time, he got an entire Brood with him to guard the Helm, and we had to destroy- Oh, nevermind, Rendar used Into the Fray to nab the Helm from under their nose, then escaped. Karmic retribution at its finest.
• The enemies themselves are nothing substantial. Just the classic Heroes + Siegehorns + Witch Doctors + Headhunters for everything, with Ten'jin and Ishmael's help on top. Plus, Zan'do's Soul Nova is a huge help.

Chapter 5:

• I hate defense missions, so I've gotta admit, I spent a lot of time trying to find the Aqir's base to try to clear them up. But when I realized they weren't even at The Fist, I knew they spawned from off-map. I tried to hold on, and failed a few times because apparently, an entire village couldn't deal with 5 scorpions. Torvald died, Farrak died, Ten'jin died, Ishmael died, but thank god we hit the 700 kill threshold before the next major attack. I didn't even have time to try the Pterradon Riders, because I was going for the trustworthy Siegehorns to minimize risk.
• Other than that, there was nothing of note in the chapter, except for the fact that Oriss decided to follow Rendar, which was heartwarming.

Chapter 6:

• It's showtime. The trio against the Aqir boss. Most of the groups without a Vizier can be easily disposed of by Spiritual Journey + Hand of Juggler. Kruppe's Shop was incredibly useful here, and it was as if the item merging mechanic was made for this moment. Although, I wish that those items could be more easily obtained by exploring and looting instead of having to wait until the final chapter. Or maybe I was blind af.
• All the while, I was still trying to save up the Alchemunition for the final boss for maximum humiliation, so when I saw Ki'thix killed him and took his place as the final boss fight, my heart was filled with joy. (Ki'thix counts as an air unit, so Spirit Snake was once again useless.)
• I used my best items, I played slowly, carefully, and only a bit reckless during the tunnel section since it was timed, but still, I managed to keep myself at full health and full mana when Ki'thix was down to 1000 HP.
• But then the cinematic came up, Rendar threw himself desperately at the boss for no reason, perhaps to troll me (pls laugh), and then Oriss had to use Zan'do power to teleport them away. Again, a dissonance, so I was dissapointed. But at least Rendar became a war hero and a future chieftain, so not all bad?

Overall, not enough trolls. 1/5.

Wait what

 

[Rao Dao Zao]

Well since you gave me a shout-out, I guess I had to give it a go... (Actually I was always going to play this, I just wanted to let everyone else report any last lingering bugs before I jumped in. )

I don't have much to add to what anyone else has said, though. This is a pretty spectacular piece of work -- well done!

I wheeled out 1.29 for it and had no problems (except for the difficulty in the altered melee sections, but I suspect that's a 'me' problem). Tell you what though, playing WC3 at 16:9 is deeply cursed. It'll never catch on.

 

[Jayborino]

Easiest 5 stars I've given in awhile. Great work with this one, it covers a lot of ground in 6 missions and does it all quite well. Great RPG, great macro, great holdout, great boss fights, great cinematics, great item combo system.

While I think we are due for a much larger conversation about AI voicing, we're in a reality where it's being used right now and this campaign implements it better than any other project that I've played.

One bug I did find is it's possible to accidentally get Oriss to level 6 too early in mission 3, which results in the Zando ultimate never appearing in the command card. I think this happened because I separated her from my other heroes for a portion of the Builder submap and she accrued some XP that didn't split to Rendar and Kruppe. Probably just needs a failsafe to give her the ability no matter what.

 

[natkinjo]

excellent, good graphics, gameplay

 

[TerrakionSmash]

Our master dropping items kinda spoils he's gonna either die or turn evil .

I've known he'd do that first time I met him since I've been able to max a skill of his at level 4 unlike Oriss

I don't know how to review while quote replying but I agree with the others that this is really polished although I whosyourdaddyd Chapter 5 prolly because I'm bad at RTS and might be because I lost my chapter 1 Endurance Aura in the previous chapter. How'd y'all beat Chapter 5? Some of the voices seem to cut off really close to the start or stop of when they speak and the guys have weird inflection. Just for curiosity's sake, are the voices AI-generated, no offense.

Also is there a part 2 campaign continuation or extra chapters? The ending seemed unsatisfying.

 

[Shatterfury]

Can anyone help me with the riddle from the orb inside the necropolis?

 

[Lefroit]

Can anyone help me with the riddle from the orb inside the necropolis?

Spoiler

Select hero with the orb, and pause the game. Look at orb in inventory.

 

[Shatterfury]

Spoiler

Select hero with the orb, and pause the game. Look at orb in inventory.

Thank you!

 

[Scias]

Enjoyed this campaign a lot, very well done. Didn't come across any issue in my play through. Highly recommended.

 

[Shatterfury]

I enjoyed the campaign a lot. Trolls are a very fascinating race, I enjoyed playing with them.

I hope more troll centric campaigns will follow in the future.

 

[OrkVasya]

Hello.
Looks like reforge 2.0 update broke the campaign.
For example, there's a graphical glitch on second level and it's impossible to build any unit now 'cause buildings are empty.

 

[Banished1]

man.... this one was wild !!

I haven't been playing regular wc3 custom campaigns for years (aside from a few of the most popular ones) and to see something like this with fresh, modern ideas was so awesome

I'm gonna shortly mention what I thought was absolutely amazing: RPG elements, level design, music, ambience & sound effects, jar/tree/plant destructibles, structure entering, locations, quests, hero/unit abilities, some of the items - the way they work, especially that secret one , the "dance party", returning units from previous chapters (if they had been kept alive), the ability to access both a surface area and an underground area at the same time (reminded me so much of Armies of Exigo, but sadly not with the same mechanics), some of the bosses

story is fine, characters are alright

there are a couple of things which could be fixed like pathing blockers in some instances, and pathing in general: level design of maps is both really cool and great, but also kinda weird - for some sections, mostly in chapter 1, you have to squeeze your units through narrow spaces; also, I'm not sure if Ungoliath or one of its creeps spawn a locust swarm which lingers for a very long time, made the fight a bit impossible as my heroes' health bars were depleting fast (managed to wait it out or avoid it somehow; maybe I just really suck at that part)

however, a big con is AI-voice acting... I'm not a fan of it, I know it gives a different vibe to the whole thing but at the moment it's not exactly smooth, the way characters talk is a bit glitchy... it's far from being as immersive as it's intended to be

all in all, wonderful campaign, keep up the good work, cheers !

 

[dark.darksorrow]

brilliant campaign, the story is original and interesting, just like gameplay, terrain and characters. keep up the good work

 

[TemaOn]

Hello There

• Any items remaining in the Zan'do fight area after the fight will now teleport to the beginning of the Necropolis submap (to avoid backtracking).
• Guys Please explane it to me!!!!
• After finished 1 map all items that dropped after fight will teleport in the map 3 in the begining7777
• because a cant collect all pieces of items they are gone in chapter 3

 

[Ravager16829]

Hello.
Looks like reforge 2.0 update broke the campaign.
For example, there's a graphical glitch on second level and it's impossible to build any unit now 'cause buildings are empty.

Everyone has this problem since Reforged 2.0. update.
It is highly recommend you play this campaign on pre-Reforged clients (1.29-1.31) until the original author fixed those problems, which might not be soon.

 

[Jahjahbinks]

Incredible gfx. I especially love troll affects. I dont care much for custom campaigns but I cant pass this up...nor can I not post a worthless comment!