Coming of the Horde 23.9b

[Moderator]

12:58, 16th May 2015
StoPCampinGn00b: Despite its average looking terrain, it's balanced and innovative (at the time before others have mimicked this classic) nature helps earn this map four stars.

Sure, the geography is a little off and sure, the lore isn't on point, but the gameplay is adored by many in the battle.net community making this one of the most solid classic Warcraft 3 maps in the mid-battle.net era. That being said, this map isn't for everyone. Starcraft sized armies plus DotA styled Hero gameplay (with all the recipes and such) makes a combination that some will love or be very unfamiliar with. I'll give a tip though, strategic planning and teamwork beats brute strength on this map any day.

Disregard previous moderations and extremely old ratings.

01:36, 29th Jun 2008
Ash: I'm not really sure how it's like DotA, or WC3 melee for that matter. The map basically centres around you building units to either invade or repel forces in Azeroth.

In theory it works, it sounds fun, although invulnerable buildings, camps in strange places and unbalanced units certainly aren't.

The pull off, storywise, is okay. Things work, but that's about it. The horde seriously overpowers humans, in fact they really don't stand a chance. I was also wondering why Stormgrade was so far up? Speaking of which; the 'georgraphy' of the game has fault, and you're missing an island.

I can understand why that would be removed, for balance reasons; you don't want army's turning up in strange places.

Just balance the map out, and the rest will come.

2/5 - Approved.

 

[DrazharLn]

You didn't mention that the map was unprotected.
I only tested in single player, but the map looks very professional. I'll test this later online and revise this post.

Draz

EDIT: I've played this once now online, it was a great map, though it was a full house for the good guys and just me as horde, twas fun though
EDIT: second play, with 3 on the horde side we easily beat the good guys, enjoyable

 

[TheBronze]

Map is protected, every version has been, or at least should have been?

Thanks for the feedback. Map has been well recieved.

New version adds more features/bug fixes, soon there will be a hero choice for each side (meaning 9 new heros!)

 

[DrazharLn]

Yeah, woops, I meant that you didn't mention the map was protected. Thats in the submission guidelines somewhere...
I look forward to testing the new version.

 

[TheBronze]

Map is now updated.

 

[DrazharLn]

Changelog?

 

[TheBronze]

Meh, I don't create those, I know I should though.

Basically:

-9 new heros (one for each side so now you pick between two heros)
-Reduction of Alliance starting forces and gold
-Goblin Shredder Added
-Many small optimizations and balances

 

[DrazharLn]

As I said above, this is an enjoyable map, I also forgot to give you some rep, so take some now.

 

[TheBronze]

Thanks again.

Updated once again, minor fixes, how do I get the map off pending by the way?

 

[DrazharLn]

You have to wait for a map mod to turn up, and that could take a while. If you go to staff contact you can chat with them about it, but I don't think it would help. Septimus is quite active however, if you PM him and ask him to review your map it might get done quicker. No guarantees, sometimes the mods don't like being bothered, they do get through quite a few maps after all, I'm sure they have some kind of system.

 

[Ash]

I'm not really sure how it's like DotA, or WC3 melee for that matter. The map basically centres around you building units to either invade or repel forces in Azeroth.

In theory it works, it sounds fun, although invulnerable buildings, camps in strange places and unbalanced units certainly aren't.

The pull off, storywise, is okay. Things work, but that's about it. The horde seriously overpowers humans, in fact they really don't stand a chance. I was also wondering why Stormgrade was so far up? Speaking of which; the 'georgraphy' of the game has fault, and you're missing an island.

I can understand why that would be removed, for balance reasons; you don't want army's turning up in strange places.

Just balance the map out, and the rest will come.

2/5 - Approved.

 

[Cazeoj276]

I really dont like it too much. i Tried playing it and took over 2 cities with the starting units. I played with my friends on Lan. It was pretty grim. Overpowered horde units raping my armies no matter how many units i had. You need to make terrain and balance out units. This map looks like it was made in a few days, not a year.

 

[TheBronze]

Map can be very tough as Horde if the Alliance uses the scrolls to teleport their heros are given to help blue/orange early. They also need to upgrade and build units. Make sure you don't engage the Horde armies in the field, and level your hero and buy items. Fortify the multiple levels of each city, you only have to slow the Horde, not stop them entirely.

Map requires some knowledge of how to play before starting, and it is easier for noobies to play Horde than Alliance. This is so the map doesn't bog down and become boring quickly. Better for their be one-sided action that nothing at all.

3.5 will be out tommorow. I will be hosting quite a bit tomorrow, see you on then!

Edit By Firelord213, Reason: Dubble post

New version added. Balance has been adjusted.

 

[200monkeys]

Not sure who thought this game was in any way rigged. If you've played more than once, you probably realize that it's incredibly balanced, with the Horde and Alliance winning equally in turn. While I agree there is little in it from DoTA, I would consider that a compliment. Oddly enough, it's usually the Horde complaining that it's impossible, not as the posters here are. Noob Horde don't realize the game is about backdooring. Noob Alliance don't realize you have to help each other or you'll lose.

While the terrain doesn't make too much sense...I gotta say it's incredibly fun, well balanced, good replay value, and nice work with hero skills/models. 4/5

 

[benx_x]

I played this on B.net as horde awhile back so it would of been a diffrent version, we did win but there was quite a bit of fighting amongst each other on the alliance side so that probably had something to do with it, either way it's a nice change that in a map like this that the smaller group has a slight advantage, rather than the larger group, this goes from anything like tags, to other invasion type maps ect. 4/5 though because it could use a few random events every now and then, Unless they have been added in another version.

 

[reatek]

Who much time did it take to think for such a smartass Idea?!?! F-ing damned... Why isn't my brain full of ideas like that... 5/5!

 

[Emperor_Jackal]

A fun map, depending on what side you're on.

Good

• Bounty to primarily pay for hero items is fairly original in what is a strategy game. Although the items aren't exactly battle deciders.
• Limits to certain units that are too bad-assed when massed. For example Gryphon Riders are limited, and air units are horrible to fight against when there are 20 of them.

Bad

• I can't help thinking that this game gives too much attention to heroes. This is a strategy game, where heroes have a right to be important, but this does not mean they deserve items to teleport them wherever an allied unit is (and even gate levers count as allied units).
• Throwing tons of units at an enemy fortress knowing that nearly all of them will be slaughtered is not fun. I know that people love the thought of defending their base with few against many, but you have to remember there are people that are the many. I don't find it particularly enjoyable when having to use the 'Overwhelm with sheer numbers' strategy with the Horde.

I'll give this map a 3/5.

 

[Piranha89]

I do not really see anything special on this map, sorry. Thats what most beginners start like, just because they do not own the knowlegde to build something useful. Starting with hordes of units and simply overrunning the whole map by "move/attack" orders, having unlimited resources to build completely overpowered units, the mass stucking and blocking made most players leave in less than 2 minutes. I hope those hints will help you to find a better way for realizing this map. 2/5

 

[TheBronze]

Thanks for the comments.

You certainly do not have to use the "overwhelm in sheer numbers" to win as the Horde. In fact that is a bad strategy because it feeds the Alliance item points. There is a replay here (GAME REPLAYS - Salazaria) that quite clearly shows a Horde hero with quality items decides the game. Try using Zepplins to land Horde melee heros on walls, and use catapults to break up heavily defended positions. Blindly rushing the enemy is as foolish as it sounds, and there is nothing I can do to make players use sound strategy. So I dispute two of your comments.

The game is focused heavily on heros, which you listed as bad, yet I see as good. To each their own.

Unforunately Piranha your hints have not helped me. I suggest you play the map more often, as it seems you don't have an accurate view of it. If the Horde is overrunning the map with move/attack orders than the Alliance is terrible.

If you played WC3 ladder against complete noobs who always played orcs, and you always played human, you would think that game is unbalanced too, in favor of the humans.

Your experience with any map varies greatly depending on the quality of the players.

Thanks again for the comments.

 

[deathreaven]

i'd like to say that it's still possible to dl protected maps. Protected only means world editor. If you right click, and select save as, it allows you to dl without editor.

 

[Ash]

i'd like to say that it's still possible to dl protected maps. Protected only means world editor. If you right click, and select save as, it allows you to dl without editor.

... Oh my god, he's whacked.

 

[TheBronze]

i'd like to say that it's still possible to dl protected maps. Protected only means world editor. If you right click, and select save as, it allows you to dl without editor.

Ok. I honestly don't know what else to say.

Enjoy my map.

 

[ProfessorZmurge]

It still lags like hell, well it lags less in this version but after 40 minutes I couldn't play anymore (or anyone else)

 

[TheBronze]

You are correct.

I think I am nearly at the bottom of the issue though, and 8.6 should be out soon, which should finally put to bed the memory leaking.

 

[ProfessorZmurge]

Victory is bugged, hordes owned alliance but I still could play, (game never ends) unless you leave.

 

[TheBronze]

Interesting that you tell me that.

This has happened to me once before in a game, and I couldn't repeat it (I assume you got the victory message, didn't forget to kill a Teal or Black's throne or something). So I never fixed it. I'm not sure why it doesn't work sometimes, but it seems to not work only a few times in literally hundreds.

Quite odd, I'll check it out again.

 

[ProfessorZmurge]

If you are redoing recipes, please don't add them to F9, it's really hard to read them there during the game, make it like dota or something.
And a lot of new players can't find the shops, make them more noticeable/visible.

 

[Falconeye]

Not sure if you remember me, I played a few games with you a while back and want to congradulate you on the success of the map. US East name: Alurisante.

 

[El_Suave]

The game is great but it could use some more show, meaning:

Every time I win or lose I expect some sort of cinematic. To me, a game is much more interesting when there are cinematics involved. Maybe you can introduce why the horde must defeat the alliance in an hour. Maybe the Alliance will have reinforcements at the end and show a cinematic of Alliance forces fending off the Horde, or maybe they're trying to protect something and need an hour to prepare? The same can be done with the Horde, if they win you can show burning buildings and human corpses everywhere while the Horde marches forward. A cinematic would definitely make the game look more interesting. Rather than.. "Alliance Wins!" End.

There can be other cinematics such as: when blue base dies the horde gains ogres. There can be a small cinematic showing the ogres arriving to aid the horde. There can even be cinematics when each kingdom falls. Again, none of this is necessary but it does show movement and more action as the game progresses.

I've seen the Horde do great things in this game but I have yet to see them go as far as defeat the purple base in my games. I've played this game when there was no teal or pink base. I'd have to play it a few more times before I can give feedback on balancing.

 

[Zaljinzoo]

I have a bug, dg is stormreaver now but used to be bleeding hollow, now bleeding hollow gets temple of the damned and stormreaver get nothing special

 

[TheBronze]

9.0 will have a much different setup when it comes to items. All the items are being redone, some new ones added, and there will be item recipes shops in the upper left and lower right hand corner of the map, rather than being placed in the Quest menu.

You can visit my forum here if you have any other comments, I don't read messages placed here nearly as often:
Coming of the Horde

Enjoy the map!

 

[ProfessorZmurge]

About when you will finish it?

 

[TheBronze]

I had planned to have it out Sunday, unforunately it seems that this might not work, because my computer is going crazy on me, I'm getting random BSOD.

I think I have to push forward my plans to buy a new computer, we also use this computer to run my wife's buisness...

Either way, as soon as I get a new computer or fix this issue, it will be finished...

 

[ProfessorZmurge]

Whoa, BSOD? I might help.
Is the PC old? When was the last time you cleaned it of dust?

 

[TheBronze]

It is a 2003 Dell Inspirion 5100. I'm getting many different BSOD's, mostly IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, but also MEMORY MANAGEMENT, and PAGE FAULT something or other.

I took out the memory sticks and cleaned and then tested them individually, both give BSOD's when running alone. I also ran memtest, it came up with no errors. So either both are bad and memtest isn't showing it, or it is something else.

I reinstalled all the drivers for every device I have. Still get BSOD's.

Unforunately, I did have a power surge across one of the USB ports not to long ago, but I think (not entirely sure) I got a few BSOD's (less than I'm getting now) before then. I'm guessing I fried some important stuff in there...

As for it being dusty, I'm not sure. I cleaned it about a year ago when I installed a faster hard drive and processor that I picked up really cheap. I also reinstalled XP then, and everything worked absolutely perfectly, until now. I have a program that monitors that CPU temp, and it isn't high. I also use a Bytec Cooling Plate, that keeps the system (especially the memory) cool.

I haven't installed any new drivers or major updates, except for normal windows updates for at least 6 months now...

I could try reinstalling XP again, unless you know any tricks. I had planned to use my tax return to buy a new PC this year though...


PS The bugged victory you mentioned in an earlier post. You're right, Pink (Gilneas) doesn't have victory or defeat triggers, so while everyone else sees them and gets kicked from game, when the game ends the Pink player has to quit on their own. This is fixed in 9.0.

 

[ProfessorZmurge]

Hm Oh Well, Every BSOD can be fixed, those you mentioned I don't know how to fix
But you can search in google ^^ always helps

Windows XP Stop messages
Rql_not_less_or_equal

 

[Marshmalo]

love this map played it loads of times though I think the terrain cud do with some work, my fav hero has to be kadgar

 

[TheBronze]

Hope you guys enjoy 9.0. You can post comments here, but a better to get in touch about the map is my forum at http://www.forums.gamerisle.org.

Enjoy!

 

[Erader]

Need AI.

 

[Viscer]

Tested out the Map on Single Player on both sides .

3.75 / 5

Overall
1. Could use an AI that defend itself . Doesn't have to roam around and attack
2. Terrain for Aerie Peak is really badly made
3. Kul'Tiras could use a better terraining
4. One of the Dwarf Shipyards is out of position near the Northwest Base
5. Lots of excess space that could be used , especially the water areas

Alliance
1. Ships in Kul'tiras take too long to have their ships available
2. Ironforge coud use a better terraining
3. Ironforge is a little cramped from the outside and the entrance

Horde
1. Sky Barges only take 4 unit slots , could use an increase in capacity or increase the number of Sky Barges you can have

This is a small review for Single Player Mode .
Hope this helps ; Thanks .

 

[TheBronze]

Hey thanks for the review.

The map was designed for multiplayer, and thus there is no AI, nor will there be one.

The Dwarf shipyard isn't out of place. If you play as the Dwarves, once Blue falls, you'll note a message telling you why the shipyard is up there. There really isn't a better spot for it.

You'll realize how incredibly powerful Zepplins and Sky Barges are if you played the map in multiplayer, increasing the transport limit would make them unbalanced.

Finally, no side can build warships until Azeroth falls. This is for balance purposes, so while the Horde is taking Azeroth, the Alliance isn't completely blockading the coast. Once Azeroth falls, all ships can be built, and the Horde recieves a few free shipyards.

There is no limit on shipbuilding (all Alliance ships take 6 seconds to build), once Azeroth does indeed fall.

I will take the other comments to heart, the terrain is a work in progress, but I currently have no plans for the excess space in the map, I do not like cluttered maps such as Dark Ages of Warcraft. Open terrain is both realistic an enjoyable retreat from the clutter.

To truly experience the map, you really have to try out it with a full house of humans players. I've edited the main page to reflect the fact this is a multiplayer only map.
Enjoy.

 

[Viscer]

Thanks for the reply ,

I like the fact you actually...
1. Made a limit on each units production
2. Made it such that a defeated player can still play
3. Elements of Air , Land , Sea is present and can be made used of to obtain victory
4. Used Combinations to get better items
5. You disabled building damaging for air units ; which prevents unbalance
6. Daedin Proudmoore makes use of Male Civilians to get more units ; good interaction with the unarmed units

Infact theres alot of things that make this a good map .
But theres still much to make it perfect .

Good Luck !

 

[Beronin]

great i love CotH
thats worth a 4.5

 

[TheBronze]

Thanks.

 

[Zefon]

Very nice models, maps. Very, very nice. But, I would recomend some entities--Warcraft II icons perhaps. Also, some of the abilitys are under powered, and some heros (mannoroth), would fix.
I can see you've messed with the Danath model alot, but I think a good model for it would be a simple footman with no helm (from warcraft II)

Thats what I could think of on that, and could you please allow us to get your epic custom modelz/!?!? We want zem ;*(
4/5 map. not because of the models, but just a little uneven.

EDIT: In the description you said "changed deathwing's abilitys" but there isnt a deathwing ingame, or am I just seeing nothing? meh, if there isnt one, you should give yellow deathwing and or sargeras heros.

 

[TheBronze]

Thats what I could think of on that, and could you please allow us to get your epic custom modelz/!?!? We want zem ;*(
4/5 map. not because of the models, but just a little uneven.

EDIT: In the description you said "changed deathwing's abilitys" but there isnt a deathwing ingame, or am I just seeing nothing? meh, if there isnt one, you should give yellow deathwing and or sargeras heros.

What models would you like? Everyone of them is on the Hive, and I've made no models (Just edited a few slightly. I've only made some custom skins, for the Dreadnought, Cho'gall, and edited some others, Khadgar and Uther, but they wouldn't meet the requirements of this site to be posted up here.)

Deathwing is summoned by Ner'zhul's ultimate ability.

 

[Marshmalo]

Hi just played this map as elves, as you know I'm a great fan of this map and join when ever i see it being hosted (I cant Host). I'd just like to suggest you make improvements to the Hero: Aleria, to bring her up to par with Anasterian, at current she lacks the AoE damage spells that Anasterian can deal.
Her directed arrow attack is too mana intensive and just isnt worth spending the mana on compared to the increased attack rate spell (i forget the name now).
Aleria was one of the pivotal heros during the second war so deserves more love imo. Maybe add another ability like blink or wind walk to reflect how good she is at hit and run attacks.

 

[TheBronze]

You know about items right? Anasterian is an early game hero, and a great unit killer. Alleria gets really good late game with good ideas, and is far more effective than Sunstrider against heros, and becomes more effective against units during the late game.

Aimed Arrow is an attack that you use against powerful enemy heros, it isn't designed to be spammed. I suggest playing more, you'll find that Alleria is an incredible hero, if not I can put up a replay, with the right items she is an incredible killer.

 

[Nightbane1]

I do not really see anything special on this map, sorry. Thats what most beginners start like, just because they do not own the knowlegde to build something useful. Starting with hordes of units and simply overrunning the whole map by "move/attack" orders, having unlimited resources to build completely overpowered units, the mass stucking and blocking made most players leave in less than 2 minutes. I hope those hints will help you to find a better way for realizing this map. 2/5

Wow......really........
2/5?
I give it a 5/5 I LOVE this map, and if the players leave its because there stupid people who should have left before the game started....and are impatient
This map also has a nice amount of triggers, and, horde units are not overpowered......if alliance or horde die within minutes of the game then they must be really noob.....