[Arena] Warcraft 3 Battlegrounds: The Valley

[sniffitz]

The Valley

Warcraft Battlegrounds: The Valley is a new style of Warcraft 3 fighting map based on the World of Warcraft battleground, Alterac Valley. The Alliance represented by humans and the Horde represented by orcs are the primary forces battling in the region but reinforcements are expected to join both forces in the future.

The primary feature of this map is that everyone starts out as a recruit with nothing to show for themselves, and through fighting and perseverance, they acquire armor, weapons and learn new spells.

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Spells

Spells are one of the most important things in this war. Gather resources and buy spells but be careful what you buy because once learned, a spell cannot be forgotten. Delve into countless combinations that will make you the perfect warrior.


Features

Spells are taught by trainers who for a cost will teach you anything, meaning no class restrictions. Each spell gives the trainee a small boost to a stat (Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Health and Mana). Some spells rely on one or more stats in order to boost its damage so be careful what you learn. Other spells on the other hand, increase in power with your level, each time you gain a level, your spell does too.

Warrior

Mage

Priest

Warlock

Hunter

Rogue

Shaman

Druid

Aggressive Strike
Mortal Strike
Raging Blow
Cleave
Shockwave
Thunder Clap
Defensive Stance
Enrage
Taunt

Frostbolt
Fireball
Arcane Strike
Flamestrike
Blizzard
Polymorph
Arcane Brilliance
Frost Armor
Mana Shield
Deep Freeze

Healing Touch
Heal
Blessing of Hope
Prayer of Command
Prayer of Mending
Prayer of Penance

Affliction
Banish
Chaos Bolt
Curse of Plagues
Dark Frenzy
Death and Decay
Howl of Terror
Rain of Fire

Focused Shots
Ensnare
Flare
Aspect of the Cheetah
Aspect of the Hawk
Aspect of the Monkey
Aspect of the Snake

Dark Dagger
Shadow Step
Punch

Chain Lightning
Frostbolt
Fireball
Arcane Strike
Flamestrike
Call of the Earth
Hex
Arcane Brilliance
Lightning Shield
Lightning Strike
Mana Shield
Deep Freeze

Entangling Roots
Rejuvenation
Hybernate
Tranquility

*The number of spells in this list is different from the number of spells given - missing spells have not been added to trainers yet.

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Items

3 Tiers of armor:

• Tier 1 - Basic armor that reduces damage taken (mostly physical damage) by a small amount.
• Tier 2 - Better damage reduction and all armor reduces spell damage and some pieces of armor reduce the duration of crowd control spells. Tier 2 armor also provides different stat bonuses.
• Tier 3 - Superior armor that reduces physical and magic damage taken, reduces duration of CC spells, grants stat bonuses and some pieces may offer some on hit effects.

(Armors are already in sets so one item will mean one armor set - this is because of the limitation of the inventory and a strong desire to not complicate stuff too much with custom inventory systems)

8 Weapon types:

• Bows - Can be used to switch to a ranged attack - moderate damage with a moderately high attack speed.
• Crossbows - Can be used to switch to a ranged attack - high damage with a low attack speed.
• Wands - Can be used to switch to a ranged attack - moderate damage with a high attack speed.
• Staves - Melee attack weapon - moderate damage with a low attack speed.
• Swords - Melee attack weapon - high attack damage with a low attack speed.
• Axes - Melee attack weapon - high attack damage with a low attack speed.
• Daggers - Melee attack weapon - moderate attack damage with a high attack speed.
• Maces - Melee attack weapon - moderately high damage with a moderate attack speed.

(Weapons grant bonuses that benefit specific classes in their gameplay)

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Other features include:
- switching between ranged and melee attacks for some of the weapons that you use;
- armors provide reduced direct damage and reduced direct spell damage instead of percentage;
- graveyard revival system;
- pretty nice terrain;
- weapons and armor attachments;
- 10v10 combat (recommended);

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Testing features
- Currently testing objective based combat - capturing interest points and resource points. Objectives that can be captured: 2 gold mines, orc towers and burrows, human towers and 2 forward bases for each faction.

I would appreciate some feedback about this. Until now, this game was just fighting like crazy until you get bored and left.

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At the current rate of work, the map will probably be ready for beta testing at the end of summer (hopefully).

You may ask why I created this thread with so little info - well I just wanted to see some feedback about this idea.

I will update this thread soon with more info to peak people's interest.

Gallery

Humans

3 Alliance Players: Warrior, Hunter, Mage

Orcs

3 Horde Players: Warrior, Hunter, Mage

Mountain Pass

A small Horde force taking the eastern mountain path to ambush Alliance forces

02.04.2019 - Added alpha 0.02 version of the map for testing:

• Level cap raised to 40;
• Balanced most spells;
• Most abilities added;
• Separated abilities into Magical, Physical, Healing and Utility spellbooks because there are more spells than letters on a keyboard and this way each can have a hotkey. (hotkeys are a mess for now);
• Spells now increase in level when you level up;
• Newly learned spells remain at level 1 until you gain a level (this will be changed to level up when instantly learned);
• Tweaked the things in the back to remove some small lag spikes when making certain actions;
• Added creeps that advance to fight different areas;
• Added commanders - boss type units with a large health pool and big damage;
• Added temporary objective to defeat the enemy commander in order to win;
• Added quest guidelines to help people get started;
• Added bounty to the creep waves so you can get gold and buy spells;
• Tweaked stat gains on Orcs and Humans to make them more differentiated;
• Various environment changes made;
• Basic armor is now called resilience but still behaves like normal armor in Warcraft 3;
• Removed stats icon;

What will come next:

• More spells will be added;
• Hunters will gain damage dealing spells with various weapons;
• Hunters will have to toggle between aspects;
• Wand wielders will be able to switch to magic type attacks instead of ranged physical attacks;
• Factions will be more differentiated with the addition of Paladin only spells to the Alliance and Shaman only spells for the horde;
• More items will be added;
• Objectives involving points of interest and reinforcements;
• Item restrictions per item type;
• More to be added - depends on what ideas I get to make the game more fun;

 

[sniffitz]

Updated the description and added 2 screenshots in the gallery at the bottom of the post. Also added a short list of the spells that are 90% done.

 

[sniffitz]

Updated with more spells, some item information and an image of an orcish raiding party prepared to ambush the alliance forces from the mountain pass.

 

[WarcraftLiterature]

Okay. The orc models look like their armour is not fitting them right. Things look interesting for now, but will this be balanced like the old Alterac Valley, like the new one or your own balance?

 

[sniffitz]

Okay. The orc models look like their armour is not fitting them right. Things look interesting for now, but will this be balanced like the old Alterac Valley, like the new one or your own balance?

Regarding the orc models, i've seen that and if you see them from above for gameplay, its not an issue but i will move the attachment points a bit to make the armor fit.

Regarding balancing, its based on AV but its not an exact copy. Remember that this is classless so theoretically, you can have Priest and Warrior spells and call yourself a Paladin or whatever. Objectives are not like AV either, they are at the moment based on objectives capture and objective killing so its a combination.

I will try to get an alpha version up and working and upload it here to see how people will react to it. ETA: 1-2 weeks.

 

[Napoqe]

I think interesting some parts, did not like any class can learn any skill. But I like have trainers at BG.

Suggestion: Make trees of talent similar to the time of the Lich King.

If you can with some things you posted here, talent tree, have boss system similar to WoW BG, I think your map will have enough player base.

 

[sniffitz]

I think interesting some parts, did not like any class can learn any skill. But I like have trainers at BG.

Suggestion: Make trees of talent similar to the time of the Lich King.

If you can with some things you posted here, talent tree, have boss system similar to WoW BG, I think your map will have enough player base.

Skill learning is at this time just an experiment. But not all spells are feasible. You can get mage and hunter abilities but they will not aid your combat potential. You can get warrior spells and mage spells and fight at close range with weapons and spells and call yourself a battle mage. This is mostly because I love number crunching and mathcraft so this is why I made it like this (want to see how creative people get).

Talents are to be implemented at a later date.

Boss systems are in the works as we speak. Also quests.

Regarding player base, I had another idea with TriggerHappy's persistent gameplay system which would be nice but that's just a distant idea (or who knows).

EDIT: also working on another animation system for all weapons, hoping to avoid triggering for this.

 

[Napoqe]

I wish had a similar BG experience on your map.

 

[sniffitz]

I wish had a similar BG experience on your map.

Similar to?

I really appreciate your input and feedback, thanks!

 

[Napoqe]

Gameplay. I think cool conquer, cave quests, battles in boss and point of conquist (examples towers, advanced cemetery)...

 

[sniffitz]

Gameplay. I think cool conquer, cave quests, battles in boss and point of conquist (examples towers, advanced cemetery)...

Progression is measured by conquering and reconquering points of interest (towers, burrows, mines, lumber mills). Quests to summon bosses or get epic level armor or weapons (possibly quests to upgrade some weapons or armor but that may not come to be).

Cemeteries are fixed points that cannot be conquered. When you die, a "spirit" will spawn at the point of the corpse. You take the spirit into one of the 6 graveyards so you can respawn. Capturing cemeteries has a serious effect on the balance and speed of the game. (previously you had to wait herolvl*2.5seconds to respawn + the time it took to get to the cemetery and that caused more speed issues and made it feel pretty uninteresting and slow so it was removed).

 

[Napoqe]

I respect. If I can I will test the map (to give better feedback). But your system of resuscitate is the opposite out of pvp, dungeon, raids, etc. I like the bg system that revives. When your character dies, your spirit goes to cemetery, and after X time it is revived at on local of cemetery.
That is why conquering the cemetery is important. To get reinforcements faster, you need to move less (boss, quest, etc), etc.

 

[sniffitz]

I respect. If I can I will test the map (to give better feedback). But your system of resuscitate is the opposite out of pvp, dungeon, raids, etc. I like the bg system that revives. When your character dies, your spirit goes to cemetery, and after X time it is revived at on local of cemetery.
That is why conquering the cemetery is important. To get reinforcements faster, you need to move less (boss, quest, etc), etc.

Well the only restriction on graveyards is that after your spirit goes to it, there is no wait timer for revival. That would just add to much time out of the game. I tested it with some friends and at level 20+ its a bit boring to wait 10 seconds to get to the graveyard and then wait 1 minute+ for revival. Capturing graveyards is on the table but not implemented yet.

Reinforcements will take some time to make them work. Too many paths and a bit difficult to have them walk the right way.

Working on having the spells up for a quick alpha release ATM.

 

[sniffitz]

Added a very basic alpha version of the map so people can check it out and give some more feedback.

 

[Napoqe]

I wish to test, but some obstacles and amount for me to play:

• I think Warcraft 3, requires to have public lobby working, some changes in modem settings.
• Others players

 

[Atik]

Assuming this map works on current patch, I'd be willing to join in a test game. Sounds interesting.

 

[sniffitz]

I wish to test, but some obstacles and amount for me to play:

• I think Warcraft 3, requires to have public lobby working, some changes in modem settings.
• Others players

Well its still in alpha so its just for people to go in with some 2-3 friends and run around to get a feel for the map. Its not really balanced to be played online with a full lobby. (imagine someone one shotting you just because the equation of that spell is something like 10x strength * 2x agility).

Assuming this map works on current patch, I'd be willing to join in a test game. Sounds interesting.

Based on my tests, it works on the latest patch. We can try and set up a test game with another alpha release so that more features can be tried on a larget scale than 1v1.

 

[sniffitz]

Long time no see! I just wanted to let you know (well, the people who are interested in this map) that I started working on it again after some much needed thinking on how to undertake such a big project. I will update the main post with a newer version of the map soon, which will be playable, albeit not entirely done.

 

[Napoqe]

Do it calmly, going from part to part, so you do not fatigue. By making your project each time better, it begins as small and with time it becomes great.
As I read your posts, your project is really laborious, but it's interresting. Depending on how you do maintenance, disclosures, etc can be a success (that I wish for your project).

 

[sniffitz]

Thank you for your kind words! It became so labor intensive at one point (around July last year) that I completely abandoned it. After some motivational overhaul I thought I should become a completionist and finish this.

What I can say is that:
- Victory conditions are done 60% (want to make it fun and not too long of a map);
- Spells listed in the OP are done, usable and scalable - not balanced in live play I assume;
- Creep waves so you can get some resources, are done - maybe some pathing improvements so it looks good;
- You can buy any spell you want as long as its viable for your play style and your team mates don't scream at you for being a total noob for picking arcane missiles on a tank warrior )

What needs to be done:
- Items;
- A way to increase mana pool for spell caster mainly characters and not to melee based characters (don't want "warrior" type characters to delete you with spamming 'Raging Blow');
- Maybe change how hunter style aspects work so you don't have all of them up at all times for insane bonuses;
And thats about it for it to be playable from start to finish.

 

[sniffitz]

Updated the OP with a new alpha version and added a short changelog. Hope you guys enjoy the changes and as always any feedback will be highly appreciated.

 

[Napoqe]

• Factions will be more differentiated with the addition of Paladin only spells to the Alliance and Shaman only spells for the horde;

Burning Crusade is still a great expansion of WoW, this was one of the setbacks.

I have not played it yet. But this map will copy BG sounds as victory for the Horde and Alliance, Quests, Capturing Points. Sounds of World of Warcraft to Lich King, the Alterac Valley are good and cool.

 

[sniffitz]

Thats kind of the idea behind this map. I want to keep faction differentiation to make people want to try both of them. Started removing some other 'bugs' i missed before this second alpha release such as spellbooks remaining open when spells are on cooldown but that could change if people like 'combos' (Q-Q = Fireball, R-Z = Polymorph etc). Items are next

 

[Napoqe]

What I do not like the spellbook, is that it forces you to close, if you want to use the hotkeys of commands of the units like Stop, Attack, Patrol, etc.

 

[sniffitz]

Noted, I'll revert it back to exiting the spellbook after each spell. Thanks for the feedback

 

[Napoqe]

@sniffitz

I tried to play your map on Battle.net and when I create the lobby, go back to the Battle.net home screen.
Is your map supported in the latest version of the game?

 

[sniffitz]

@Napoqe

I haven't tested it with the latest changes, but they weren't major. I'll check it and make the changes. Thanks for letting me know
And sorry for the delay in response


EDIT: Identified the issue. I'll re-upload the map later today.

 

[Napoqe]

Forgot your reupload? I did not find any link to download the new version.

 

[sniffitz]

Forgot your reupload? I did not find any link to download the new version.

I didn't upload it. Something was interfering with playing on b.net and after cleaning, protecting didn't work anymore. Released it without protection (hope people won't comment on my shitty 2/10 triggering skills )

 

[Napoqe]

Somes Feedbacks (Suggestions, etc):

I tested your map on the single player, and realized that much work to be done. The map is Dota style with 3 lanes. I preferred instead those advancing units, whether human players and / or AI players walking randomly and going goals. To be similiar like BG.
NPCs in mines, towers, near faction flags, etc.
Boss who killed wins the match, have his guards granting buffs between them. When the reinforcement decreases, they will come off one by one, minus the boss.

It would also be cool and nostalgic, if the map had soundtracks from BG and when is dead.

 

[sniffitz]

Hello!

After almost half a year since I've last updated this thread, I come with some news about the state of this project:

- After patch 1.30 (?) screwed the map, I managed to repair everything and bring it to a state before corruption;

- The current state of the map is pre-beta or even beta. It's playable but not very balanced;

- Made some visual changes to improve readability and info (still needs more work);

- Changed some of the formulas for damage calculations on some spells and streamlined the calculations because they were all over the place;

- Removed most hunter/tracker spells since they were either overpowered or they didn't bring anything of value to the gameplay.

- Experimenting with different type of creeps - for now, I've added ranged creeps;

- Added item types and item restrictions to make it realistic (no dagger off-hand and a shield at the same time or a crossbow and a one handed sword);

- Added an animation trigger to give the appropriate animation when wielding a certain weapon type;

- Finished armors and weapons to make the map playable - they will change for the sake of balance;

- Melee type units who do not exceed 120 max mana pool have increased mana regeneration to enable rapid strikes with melee abilities;

- Experimenting with creep dropping resources used to improve current creeps and to enable other types;

- Experimenting with point capture for resources/income;

- Removed armor visuals until proper beta release because it looked like sheit;

- Experimenting with different custom effects (Ex: Compound Bow - has a chance to wound the target, slowing it for a short duration);

- Experimenting with item-restricted abilities (Ex: you can't stab with a wand, dummy, lol...)

- Experimenting with improving certain spell damage with armor bonuses (Ex: A warlock mantle improves the damage of only warlock type spells or fire type spells);

- Added a win condition: killing the opposition's commander;

- Made each faction's commander be multiple try AKA. removed the ridiculous health regen;

- Added Shaman and Paladin trainers - currently, only the Shaman trainer has some basic abilities - these trainers are faction restricted;


TODO:

- Update the OP to reflect all these changes;


- Start developing hunter/tracker and some paladin abilities but they could come way later in the beta;



All in all, the map is nearing release slowly but steadily. When I feel that its good to go into beta, I'll start hosting some public beta tests on Northrend if anyone wants to join (I'll announce it here).

I haven't added the map to the OP for now because there's no use to add it just before an updated version is finished and ready.

 

[sniffitz]

Uploaded a first playable beta map if you want to play it.

Not everything from the previous post was added. A lot of work needs to be done further. For now, its playable, you can try it on b.net with your friends. 20 players recommended for maximum fun (tried and tested).