So, I've recently been doing a playthrough of every campaign on hard, but with the twist of not being able to go above no upkeep, or 20/25 supply, if it was one of those missions where you can't build stuff. I've already played through a lot of the more well-known custom campaigns in the Warcraft 3 community, but I haven't got around to doing the Arthas Campaigns up until this point, so I completed the human campaign, as that is the one that happens first in the story.
Unfortunately, it is also by far the worst campaign of the Arthas Campaign series, which makes sense, since this was the first campaign that the creator has made. It is
not a bad campaign by any stretch of the imagination, but it
really badly needs some updates. I do want to mention that I've played this campaign in 1.29, which is technically not the version that the campaign was intended for, so that might be responsible for some of the bugs I've encountered.
The story and the music were both pretty alright:
- The idea of a campaign where Arthas doesn't become evil is something that the Warcraft fans were always interested to see, and it's undoubtedly the reason why it ended up getting higher download numbers than a lot of other campaigns. But the fact that a campaign from 2016 got comparable numbers to some older projects is nothing short of a miracle, and it really goes to show just how interested our little community was in this idea.
- And did the story live up to what people were expecting? I suppose it mostly did. I wasn't really as immersed as I was in most other campaigns, but it works great as a setup for the future campaigns and for all the weird events that could be taking place in this alternate universe.
- My one problem with it is that a lot of important things just weren't really explained. Thrall being in Ashenvale instead of trying to find the Oracle in Stonetalon Peak, and Bloody's motivation for betraying Dalaran are two of the biggest offenders here. These are two extremely important story beats with enormous effects, and we didn't even get a hint as to why they are happening (and I don't think we got explanations in the future campaigns either, but I'm not 100% sure on that).
- Mal'Ganis' Crown of the Deathlord description from CH2 seems a little interesting. I'd assume that it's talking about Arthas when it says that "One of their order has turned from the light when he slaughtered his own family", but I guess that was actually a different Paladin (or the creator just forgot to change or remove the lore from the description
).
- As for the music, I liked a lot of the chosen tracks. Some chapters used the original human theme, but others like CH8 or CH7 had completely new ones that better fit the story and the general atmosphere of the mission. And I always like it when mapmakers do that.
- But for some reason, certain chapters (like CH5) are bugged, and the music sometimes just completely turns off when you load the map through a save. In a few others, the music sometimes stops and only starts up after the player reloads, and in some cases, the sound quality felt a little off, like in the intro and ending cinematic of CH2 (but maybe that was just me).
The gameplay was neat. It was really fun, but it also had a few problems:
- The biggest downside here is that it's not very well balanced. I was playing it on hard, and most of it felt pretty easy and relaxing, but sometimes, there are moments where things simply become excessive.
- I don't really know if this campaign was intended to appeal towards the hardcore fans that are looking for a challenge, or towards the casual players that just want to relax and enjoy the story. But right now, it kind of feels like the campaign is trying to go for both by having it filled with very easy and very hard moments that are randomly spread out. This is obviously not a good way to design a campaign, and the difficulty selection exists specifically to avoid this.
- The difficulty of the chapters is also completely random, instead of being completely static or slow build-up as the player progresses. You can easily have a chapter that has a 7/10 difficulty, only to get a 2/10 on the next one.
- So the chapters are not well balanced, but are they fun and interesting? Surprisingly, yes. The maps of this campaign are filled with creativity and interesting ideas, and the creator has managed to make a campaign with 9 maps feel like a short one (but maybe I just felt that way cus I've just played through all the Turnro campaigns xd). No chapter really felt like a slightly modified version of a different one, as they all had their own thing that made them unique, and fun.
- There's also the high elf tech tree, which is honestly pretty interesting. It has ideas that were also used by some other creators, but most of it is completely original, and their design is pretty fun. The towers are neat, the Lumber Mill having so many upgrades is neat, the elven militia are neat, the battle mages are
a bit too overpowered but still neat, and so on. The only things I dislike about them are the enchanters (not because they're a badly designed unit or anything, but because they're literally a carbon copy of the enchanters from Rise of the Lich King, and their Disenchant spell should absolutely be replaced since the elves already have a dispel option), and the fact that they only show up in CH4 (and I guess eventually in the orc campaign, which is nice).
This campaign approaches heroes in a very weird, but kind of fun way. Let's talk about it:
- So the original concept behind heroes is that they would start off as basically a slightly stronger unit, and they would gradually grow in power by slowly collecting items and levels through hard work to become strong enough to have a great impact on the game, but not strong enough to win just by themselves.
- Arthas Campaign - Humans throws all of this completely out of the window. The heroes start off busted, and they stay busted until the end. And this was very much an intentional design choice, since all of the heroes start off at a very high level with a lot of really strong items. The problem with this is that not only does it make the campaign noticeably harder to balance, but it also makes it really hard to keep the units as an important part of the gameplay, and it's also hard to keep exploration rewarding and satisfying. And no campaign has really approached heroes this way, so I'm not sure if it's even possible to completely avoid all of these issues here. The campaign definitely does an ok job with it in some instances, but this really felt like a case of "something being fun is more important than something being reasonable", which ironically isn't that unreasonable in a single player campaign.
- The first thing you'll notice is that Arthas and Uther are both the exact same hero: the original Paladin with a heavily nerfed Divine Shield (let's be honest though, that ability really deserved the nerfs). I guess the idea is that similarly to Jaina, they're heroes that were present in the original campaigns, and the creator didn't want to change any of the original playable heroes, which he mostly kept as a rule for his other campaigns too. Thankfully, Arthas and Uther only share the first 3 chapters, but I still think they both should have had 2 spells replaced with a custom one that still has similar role as the old ability (Q would still be a heal/damage spell, W would still be self defense spell, etc). There's a reason why most campaigns don't give players duplicate heroes.
- Terenas is the only custom hero in this campaign, and I honestly kind of like him. His kit makes a lot of sense for a well respected king whom everyone looks up to, as he's a hero that is willing to run head first into combat, but has abilities that are very effective when both he, and his enemies have a lot of troops.
- The weird thing about heroes in this campaign is that they both gain and loose abilities on occasion. I'm guessing it's mostly for balance reasons, but it's weird to get a new spell in CH5, only to then have it removed in the next mission. Or to have Falric replaced with an armor buff in CH8. (Did that happen because he died? It wasn't really explained that well.) Or to have Divine Shield replaced with a buffed Thunder Clap in CH9. This is just a weird thing to do with your heroes, and I think it would make more sense if there would be some lore explanation, or if the kit changes would be more consistently mentioned in the logs (Jaina's ult being removed and Arthas' Starfall-ish spell being added were actually mentioned, but not the other changes).
- Lastly, I gotta acknowledge the Pandaren Brewmaster. It was just the normal old panda of course, but I didn't know that you could make a level 10 hero spawn from a Rune of Rebirth, let alone with items in its inventory. It's also interesting that he was actually allowed to die, despite the mission being a micro one. It's just a pretty neat addition, and it's surprising that this is the only campaign that has something like this (Fleshtearer from LoA First Undead Book comes close, but he wasn't a rune).
Here are some other things that I'll need to mention before heading to the chapters:
- The difficulty selection at the start of every chapter. A lot of mapmakers use this, mainly because Blizzard's custom campaign difficulty selection works in a very dumb and annoying way, and this is just simply more consistent and user friendly. I like that easy difficulty is actually an option, even though normal is already pretty light.
- The dialogue timers within cinematics need some adjustments. A lot of the longer messages scroll by really fast, so people that read slow or read out loud will struggle to keep up with it. And there were also a few instances where some messages stayed on screen for way longer than they should have.
- The quality of the terraining is a bit inconsistent. There were some maps that looked pretty alright, but there were others that just didn't feel as detailed or carefully put together. I'd definitely be down to seeing the general layout of the maps being updated, though I will admit that they do a pretty good job at capturing/portraying the places that the missions play out on, and there aren't many annoying tiny chokepoints.
- This campaign is absolutely loaded with bugs and weird inconsistencies. I'm not sure if I've actually managed to find all of them, but they're all specific to their own chapters, so I'll report everything there. Except for the following one:
- Terenas doesn't keep the items that you put on him in previous levels. I specifically remember giving him a Mantle of Intelligence in CH3, only to find it gone in CH4, and I also gave him an Orb of Frost in CH4, which disappeared in CH8. I don't think this bug happens with the other heroes, but it might be possible that I just didn't notice it with them.
And now, let's get onto the chapters themselves:
CHAPTER 1 - Starting the campaign with an oppressive defense mission is a pretty interesting idea. It makes sense for the undead to have a ton of pressure, since you aren't killing any of the zombies. But the main problem with this mission, is that it is way harder than most of the other maps from the campaign, which results in players getting expectations that are simply wrong. Legacy of the Damned, Resurrection of the Scourge and To the Bitter End all have relatively difficult first missions, but that's completely fine, because the maps that follow are also fairly tough, and they all have at least one mission that is more difficult than the first, and they also do a pretty awesome job at setting up expectations for their respective campaigns. If I'd have to tone down the map, I would do so by lowering the amount of Dreadlords that the player has to deal with
(by the end, I've had 24 hero kills, which means that I've basically killed a Dreadlord every 50 seconds), probably by changing the orange undead to have a Dreadlord once per 2 or 3 waves, rather than once every wave. But despite its flaws, I still think this is a really fun mission, and the idea of having a sidequest just to give the player a challenge is pretty unique, even if it's pretty much impossible on hard
(though I guess that's why there isn't an extra reward, or at least I assume there isn't).
CHAPTER 2 - I really like how the creator has managed to put 2 defense missions right next to each other, while still making them feel completely unique and distinct from one another. Even the best creators sometimes end up making a map that basically feels like a 2.0 version of the previous one, so this is quite impressive. The layout of the city is also great, and I like how the enemy waves become more powerful as time goes on, rather than having the same strength during the entirety of the map. Unfortunately, this map also has a few flaws. During the cinematic where Arthas is talking to Terenas, Arthas will just randomly turn around and leave the room during the middle of their conversation (I assume that wasn't intentional). Also, the cinematic has to be skipped by the player in order for the map to continue. Not skipping it will cause the screen to go back while the timer is counting down, and I guess it stays that way until the timer reaches 00:00, after which the map may or may not end. The ally AI is also kind of dumb, as they constantly send their units at the inactive undead bases for basically no reason. And the first section should probably have a time limit, because not having it means that the mapmaker has to keep the map balanced for those that build 50 towers, as well as those that complete the main quest pretty quickly (it can be a pretty long one, it should just be enough to stop people from abusing the first section).
CHAPTER 3 - This feels like the map where the creator really got creative with his ideas, which is why it's my favorite. It's definitely more on the easy side, due to the sheer insanity of the sustain that the player has access to, but that doesn't stop the map from being a pretty competently designed one. The usage of space was actually quite efficient here, and it's great how there are Way Gates that help the player backtrack without having to sit there and wait until his units slowly walk all the way back. The gold quest is nice, but I do wonder what it was for (it was obvious in Legacy of the Damned, but here, it could be for a multitude of future missions). The bandit cinematic is bugged, and it plays out in a later point of the map, after which, the heroes get teleported back into the position where the cinematic was
supposed to get triggered. There's also a weird bug, where if you finish the map while the Brewmaster is in Primal Split, then there will be a pop up during the end cinematic that says "You Have Lost your Pandaren Hero", even though he didn't actually die.
CHAPTER 4 - Okay, before I say anything, I just want to let you all know that I really appreciate the fact that Sagi has spent a ton of time and effort to give us fun campaigns that we could play for free, and I genuinely think that he is a really good mapmaker. And I'm sorry to say this, but this map is absolutely terrible. The storytelling is fine, there are some decent ideas, and the high elf race is great, but the balance is really off, the design of the gameplay doesn't make sense, there are a few bugs/inconsistencies, and more than half of the map is completely empty. This map is supposed to be the one where the player gets to have a lot of fun with all the cool unique tools that the high elves have, but there's just so little to do on the map, that there really isn't a point to trying out all their stuff. And it's also weird to have a few weak camps and an extra gold mine right after destroying the enemy base, the biggest challenge of the map. The bugs are not very impactful, they're just... weird. For some reason, the player race in this map is Orc (meaning that you get their cursor, announcer, border, end screen, etc), none of the enemy teams are visible on the end screen, and for some reason, there's an upgrade for a unit that isn't available.
CHAPTER 5 - This map is a pretty neat one. It's a pretty good idea to make the player run around and explore while doing quests, which leads him to the giant allied city that he has to then defend from a giant orc army. It's also nice how the player's army improves a bit as he moves on, since you'll eventually gain access to resources, the Tavern, extra supplies, and some upgrades will even be automatically unlocked for you. But there were a few decisions that I found a bit questionable. For instance, the priest only has the adept rank, even though the unit could access master in all of the previous chapters. Mortar teams don't gain the Fragmentation Shards upgrade after reaching the city, which doesn't seem intentional, cus it has its icon greyed out, rather than removed (just like Defend, which
did get unlocked). When you reach the city, every ally on the map becomes visible, including Arthas, Jaina and the horse from the flashback in the cutscene. (You can even Mass Teleport there if you want to. Who would have thought that she can choose memories as a location for her teleport too?) Arthas' new spell has an overlapping hotkey with the attack command, and the two Blademasters on the map are
waaaaaay more powerful than any other encounter, so they should either be nerfed, or everything else should be buffed. (Especially the Mask of Death should be removed from the one in the final section, or his damage should be toned down. Killing him is a literal nightmare when the single razormane's Hurl Boulder is the only CC you have access to.)
CHAPTER 6 - A fairly normal macro map. I think it was a smart decision to make all the enemy bases accessible 1 by 1. Though this level is a huge difficulty spike compared to most missions of the campaign, except for when you have to deal with the red base, which was surprisingly weak. Shandris' ambush also does basically nothing, and the normal attack from her base is a whole lot more terrifying. The side quests are nice, but I think it's unnecessary to have 2 quests that heavily boost the player's lumber economy upon completion (I get that it's supposed to be a callback to chapter 4 from the Invasion of Kalimdor, but it made sense on that map, because the objective was to acquire a huge amount of lumber, whereas here, there's not really a point to stockpiling it). The Thrall boss fight was definitely a challenge, with the huge amount of aoe and survivability that the enemy possesses, but I honestly think that's a good thing, because if one of the
main characters of Warcraft lore is getting killed
this early, then he better put up one hell of a fight. Oh, and there's a bit of an error with the description of one of the main quests. (Also, elf in plural is "elves" not "elfs". Thought I'd just clear that up, cus a
lot of people get it wrong.)
CHAPTER 7 - This is a map that is extremely unique and fun in theory, but even in hard, it can basically be completed just by A-clicking the two heroes and the starting units around the map (and A-clicking the boats or the dragon towards the enemy ships for the goblin quest). Macro maps that are focused around exploration and quests are awesome (there's a reason why I like the second chapter of Terror of the Tides, or the entirety of Dwarf Campaign), but you have to make either the pre placed creeps (like in Dwarf Campaign), or the enemy base (like in Terror of the Tides) a serious threat, to have an actual sense of danger as you're exploring. The lair sidequest is also bugged
(or at least I assume it is), as the creeps don't even attack when you get near them. They kind of just sit in place and just calmly wait for you to take out their HP. I also don't remember seeing a reward for that quest, which is kind of counter-intuitive to what side quests are supposed to be. Though I do have to say that the Timmy Easter egg made me quite happy, but I think it's actually a disguised goblin (like in King Arthas), since he had a lot of money, and wasn't really trying to run back into the safety of my base. The third level of Improved Masonry isn't available for some reason. And guess what, there's another error with a main quest description.
CHAPTER 8 - Another micro mission with a lot of different areas that were pretty cleverly set up. I think the creator has a really good sense of how micro maps should be made, as all 3 of them felt really fun and competently designed. I'm not sure if these ghosts existed in WoW, but it's a really awesome concept, and it's quite chilling to think about what it must be like for a leader to walk by the souls of his dead people, that are stuck in a time loop forever (it's not
exactly a time loop because it seems like some of them can notice things that are happening in the real world, but I'd still say it's close enough). When it comes to problems, there are a few that I've noticed. Terenas' new ability has an overlapping hotkey with the hold position command, and Uther's Divine Shield is just gone, which might be a bug because I don't remember it being mentioned in the log like how Mass Teleport in CH3 was. I really like choices in campaigns, but this one just felt lacking. Usually, the player gets a bit of an indication about what to expect from each choice, with all of them having downsides and upsides (CH6 in Terror of the Tides and CH5 in Jeopardy for the Horde do this perfectly). But all you really get here is "We have two cities. One is to the north and one is to the west. Choose. Now.". Unfortunately, the choice has basically no impact, so I think it should either be removed, or changed to actually feel like it matters, at least in this one map. I ended up being north (towards Ironforge), and I noticed that there's an Inferno Stone drop right before the end, which is a bit weird. There's also a Slaughterhouse that units can walk through.
CHAPTER 9 - This is actually a really cool and really interesting map, with a ton great ideas. The altar upgrade system, the giant city, the modified abilities and units, the goblins that came in to repay the favor from CH7... simply put, there's a lot to like about this map. But I think it's kind of ruined by the fact that after the initial 5-10 minutes, everything becomes extremely easy, the stakes are completely gone, and you're going to spend the entire time just cleaning up stuff that your allies ignore (because they ignore a few buildings for some reason), and looking for the tomes they leave behind. The reinforcement spawns feel
very unnecessary and should be removed, the power of the heroes could get nerfed a little (I'd make the crowns less powerful and I'd reduce the number of tomes on the map while increasing their cost in the shop), I'd improve the enemy defenses in the second section, and I'd buff up the enemy skeletons while making them actually benefit from the troll upgrades. I've also found a few weird inconsistences. Alextrasza's Gift is removed from Arthas' inventory at the start, and is placed on the ground within a base, and its effects are visible on him even while he isn't carrying the item. The mask sidequest stays permanently undiscovered no matter what (maybe there
is a way to discover it, I just haven't found it). The goblins have Mur'gul Huts within their base. Wave of Light's description is straight up lying about the value of the healing (I've checked multiple times, and I'm about 95% sure that it doesn't heal for 550 on the main target). Troll abominations are considered to be tauren for some reason. And Jaina's Arcane Crown upgrade description says that it will drop into Arthas' inventory.
And that's it for my review of Arthas Campaign - Humans. Even compared to my other reviews, this was a very long write up. It was just such a weird campaign to review, mainly because it's fun, interesting and has a ton of potential, but isn't very well polished, and fails to live up to the standards of its sequels in terms of balance and quality. I think this campaign is an alright 6/10, which some of you might think of as harsh, but I'll stand by it. (I consider 5 or 6/10s to be the decent/good campaigns with some flaws/problems. 7 or 8/10s to be the great campaigns with a few problems, but nothing that ruins the experience. And the 9 or 10/10s are the perfect ones that were made with absolutely insane dedication and care, and are the ones you 100% must play if you like Warcraft 3 campaigns. 4/10 or anything below that is what I personally consider to be bad.) But I will promise that if the campaign gets even a single extremely minor update, I'll bump my rating up to 4 stars, and if it gets a huge one that greatly improves it, then I might even give it a 5. Y'all have my word.
And do I recommend it? Interestingly enough, I do. The gameplay felt very unique, and there's some kind of weird charm to it. I can't really think of another campaign or another creator whose work felt even slightly similar. It's definitely an interesting experience.
Anyhow, I'm sorry for writing even more than I usually do xd. There were just simply a lot of things I felt like mentioning, and I wanted to make sure that I was extremely thorough. Let's pray for an eventual update, and until then, I wish you all a good day and night!
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