Exodus: The Violet Gate 3.05.2

[HoagTrain]

its 3:43am and i just finished the campaign! Had so much fun. Made me lose many hours of sleep this week but truly exceptional. The maps are all beautiful. Cinematics are wild and put the ones blizz had originally put in the game to shame. Thank you so much for making this!! Can't tell you had much fun I had playing.

Story was awesome too. Ultimate wc fan fiction. Can't wait to see what the new world looks like!!

 

[HoagTrain]

By the way my only thoughts on then next one (which imagine you all have already thought of or it's irrelevant since all the characters left right now are original ones you made:

Spoiler: Kind of a spoiler so beware

If you end up using characters from Warcraft lore in the next one. Like Kel'Thuzad or Arthas or something -- feel free to shock some people w/ the plot by killing them off!! Obviously you made a whole new world in the lore which is incredible. But i guess what I'm saying is feel free to completely go against the current lore with current characters alive in WoW. Like you killed off that forsaken lieutenant (l think he's dead for good?) which was awesome. That kind of stuff is so unexpected narratively and who cares if Kel'Thuzad or whatever real character in warcraft lore dies for good -- because we're in your story and it only makes your alt universe richer!!

Anyways you basically have already done this but would be so fun and unexpected if you guys leaned into that even more! Thanks again!

 

[Macielos]

By the way my only thoughts on then next one (which imagine you all have already thought of or it's irrelevant since all the characters left right now are original ones you made:

Spoiler: Kind of a spoiler so beware

If you end up using characters from Warcraft lore in the next one. Like Kel'Thuzad or Arthas or something -- feel free to shock some people w/ the plot by killing them off!! Obviously you made a whole new world in the lore which is incredible. But i guess what I'm saying is feel free to completely go against the current lore with current characters alive in WoW. Like you killed off that forsaken lieutenant (l think he's dead for good?) which was awesome. That kind of stuff is so unexpected narratively and who cares if Kel'Thuzad or whatever real character in warcraft lore dies for good -- because we're in your story and it only makes your alt universe richer!!

Anyways you basically have already done this but would be so fun and unexpected if you guys leaned into that even more! Thanks again!

Spoiler: Spoiler

I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you, but Nathanos is not dead. He said "You sent me straight to my lady", which Inaylia or Eldin commented by saying "Big words for a simple teleportation spell" .

In TVG we tried not to directly contradict Warcraft and WoW lore, rather create something that originates from it, is moreless consistent with it, but then expands and lives mostly on its own. We'll probably continue with this approach, but one thing I can promise...

No Shadowlands, no time travels, no alternate timelines and no demonic spaceships in our universe. Inaylia already confirmed the first one in chapter 8 . With the rest or Blizz lore we're going to be moreless consistent.

 

[Nyctaeus]

Can't wait to see what the new world looks like!!

Spoiler: ...

The missions around Lonely Ridge features patches of corrupted ground, with some chatters to support the hints. I wanted to feature that as a sneak-peak of the alien world beyond titular Violet Gate. Of course it's just a tip of the iceberg. I can reveal that Jiluun has it's own, unique ecosystem, mechanics shaping the biosphere and landscape and complex history, backed by tons of writing that already exist in our design docs. It's a living place. We're about to see how much of it we will share with players to explore.

 

[BossJohnnyDay]

Spoiler: ...

The missions around Lonely Ridge features patches of corrupted ground, with some chatters to support the hints. I wanted to feature that as a sneak-peak of the alien world beyond titular Violet Gate. Of course it's just a tip of the iceberg. I can reveal that Jiluun has it's own, unique ecosystem, mechanics shaping the biosphere and landscape and complex history, backed by tons of writing that already exist in our design docs. It's a living place. We're about to see how much of it we will share with players to explore.

how long will part 2 be is it the same as the first part or will it be longer since i feel it would be longer since there's an entire world to explore how manny continents exist the local flora and fauna the local races other than the long gone advanced race like gold wouldn't just exist in the new world like there has to be a new form of currency like mana infused crystals or something being mined to be used as currency but wood would still be available but who know there's a lot to explore in the world of jiluun

 

[Nyctaeus]

how long will part 2 be is it the same as the first part or will it be longer since i feel it would be longer since there's an entire world to explore how manny continents exist the local flora and fauna the local races other than the long gone advanced race like gold wouldn't just exist in the new world like there has to be a new form of currency like mana infused crystals or something being mined to be used as currency but wood would still be available but who know there's a lot to explore in the world of jiluun

When it's done, then it's done. It's hard to estimate, as the sequel is likely to be a bit longer longer, and feature some unique gameplay systems. We both have busy, professional careers and majority of our time is being occupied by them, so we work irregularly on WC3. Also at this point, Macielos is focusing on patch for TVG, so atm it's just me working on terraining.

Spoiler: Jiluun

...but tons of stuff is ready. I have terrain/doodad palettes ready for 4 of 5 planned biomes, and lots of extra stuff for several sub-biomes.

Gold is worthless in Jiluun and there is a new currency that replaces it, along with corresponding mine. This new resource will be also collectible from smaller, Starcraft-style deposits which will be renewable in some missions.|

I do not know how many continents are there. The area that's known to the Enclave is comparable to Denmark peninsula. Enclave inhabits only a portion of it that's moreless isolated from the rest by geological features. The rest is poorly explored, as the Enclave has limited resources and spends them on development of their own pocket civilisation, rather then massive expeditions they don't have need for. Even the areas controlled by Enclave are not fully explored, not everything was converted to habitable state and there are lots of dangerous places there. A map exists and will be revealed in time.

 

[Macielos]

Damn, I got totally carried out by ambition... I planned to introduce a small change in 03 - to make Inaylia playable for the final battle so that we can give her some of our units' items. It ended up as a major revamp of the finale, a new cutscene and a new map segment with extra music and models... guess I'll never learn. But at least I'll give you a good reason for a replay.

 

[xdxdxd]

beautiful campaign well done

 

[Macielos]

Alright, I finally reproduced the infamous convoy bug in chapter 8 and oh boy, that's some shitty coding by Blizz underneath... First funny thing - it only happens when you play a loaded game. I was using "specific unit event" to detect using a skill on a beacon and apparently after loading a save the game no longer recognizes this specific unit as the same unit as in trigger. A solution was to replace "specific unit event" with "player/generic unit event" with a condition "casting unit equals myunit".

 

[nchp1903]

Just finished the campaign, and while I don't have time for a detailed review right now, believe me when I say it's very good. While Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are only quite decent imo, the quality of gameplay and character writing drastically go up as I play the later chapters, with funny dialogue and well-timed music being the cherry on top.

Also, do you balance the campaign around the Heroes (specifically Reynart) having a ton of mana to spam AoE spell? I'm kind of a farming addict, so as soon as I discovered that the campaign has random book drops, I must have quicksave-reload for more than a few hundred times in Chapter 1 and 3 to get a ton of Tome of Intelligence +1 to him, making a lot of later levels trivial because of Shockwave spam.

 

[Macielos]

Just finished the campaign, and while I don't have time for a detailed review right now, believe me when I say it's very good. While Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are only quite decent imo, the quality of gameplay and character writing drastically go up as I play the later chapters, with funny dialogue and well-timed music being the cherry on top.

Well, chapters 1, 3 and 4 come from the first Exodus (after heavy modifications ofc.) and chapter 2 was created at the very beginning of TVG development (so e.g. it has Blizzard cliffs that were later covered with doodad ones ), so they may seem a bit rough. But there will be some major changes in them in the coming patch, especially in chapter 3, so stay tuned .

Also, do you balance the campaign around the Heroes (specifically Reynart) having a ton of mana to spam AoE spell? I'm kind of a farming addict, so as soon as I discovered that the campaign has random book drops, I must have quicksave-reload for more than a few hundred times in Chapter 1 and 3 to get a ton of Tome of Intelligence +1 to him, making a lot of later levels trivial because of Shockwave spam.

I sure knew that random drops create a possibility to buff the heroes in a variety of ways, but to be honest I didn't expect the drops to be different every time you load the game, I thought it's based on some seed that is generated when you start the mission and stays the same on load. So I don't think there's much I can do, apart from handling random drops with triggers... which could be a bit time-consuming to change it everythere. For now - enjoy your lifehack .

Maybe I'll increase a bit the cooldown for major spells of our heroes.

 

[nchp1903]

Now that I have time, I'll deliver my promised detailed review, mostly in the gameplay aspect. I hope you like reading, because I have a lot to write.

Spoiler: Review

- Chapter 1:

• The opening cinematic and the first defense section worked pretty well in setting up the mood of the chapter.
• The enemies were quite easy to deal with, since there were plenty of those Mana Regenerators around the maps to keep the rest of my troops healthy. The only real threats are Ghosts and Banshees to take over my Knights and Spearmen, but they can be bursted down quite easily.
• I took my time farming around 10 Rings of Regeneration and even more Tomes of Intelligence, took a detour to grab a Ring of Archmagi from the Dark Wizard to turn Reynart and Villenfall into monsters. After that, the rest of the chapter is easily cleared.
• Reynart's broken Command Aura also helped a lot, giving my army an ENTIRE 1 bonus damage, instead of 10% like I initially thought. It's not the worst ability I've seen, but laughable nonetheless.
• There were also two City Entrances on both sides of the bridge near Villenfall's base, but I couldn't use them as a shortcut after destroying them.

+ Bugs: The Energy Bridge quest is not marked as Discovered.

+ The line 'Attack ground and air units' in the Clerics' unit description is in Polish instead of English.

- Chapter 2:

• The new Rangers were pretty sick, and they also have a bugged Bladestorm ability. I totally did not try to use it against Balnazzar, and totally did not fail miserably at all. (Also Aequath's Stealth hotkey is wrong only in this mission.)
• Anyway, without proper planning, this mission was crazy. Garithos' base got constantly harassed by Undead air raids, and Garithos and Aequath's units don't have the answer to both those air attacks and Balnazzar's Rain of Chaos. Not to mention if the game went on for too long, the Undead would start sending big attack waves to Aequath's base as well.
• But then I saw a glimmer of hope. Lord Garithos, almost immediately after he finished rescuing the Dwarves, amassed a huge strike force to go on a crusade against the inhumans in the Green Undead base. I pulled every combat unit I have to aid him, leaving only a few Guard Towers behind to defend my own base against the first attack wave, and it was a huge success! The Green base was permanently crippled. Lord Garithos could focus all his efforts on dealing with Balnazzar, while I took my time dealing with the rest of the Undead bases in the East using the very tanky Gyrocopters (the Undead had pathetic anti-air smh).
• I stacked a ton of Tomes of Knowledge on Aequath, allowing her to spam Fan of Knives quite consistently.
• Sometime during all that, I decided to get rid of the Forsaken for their future treachery. I was surprised, and pleased, that you put in the trigger to fail the mission when I did that. Attention to details turned me on.
• Although, I had a backup plan...

+ After the absolute destruction of Sylvanas' base, Sylvanas herself was so devastated by loss, that she decided to run into Garithos' base to take out Aequath by herself. I greeted her with twenty Gyrocopters dropping bombs on her head, before making a retreat (A tactical one, mind you, and definitely not a Humiliating Retreat like the name of the main quest suggested).

- Chapter 3:

• Villenfall's items were dropped for me to use. Nice. And...oh my God...was that... a button that allowed me to stop the Caravan whenever I want? So that I could do this mission at my own pace, instead of watching out for my allies doing stupid shit? This was, perhaps, the best thing I'd ever seen in an escort mission!
• Anyway, the voice in my head told me to farm for more Tomes, so I did. Spending time clearing creep camps and looking for hidden crates was, honestly, quite a relaxing experience.

- Chapter 4:

• The Town Elder is chairbound, and yet war still haunted him. One could say that he couldn't stand it anymore, right? Pls laugh.
• Trading resources by training Horses from the Storehouse was another creative idea that I really like.
• Hydromancers were another great addition to the army, but frankly, I was too lazy to micro, so I didn't train any at all.
• More Tomes. And this time, there was even a Goblin Merchant who provided Reynart with more Circlets of Nobility, which meant more Intelligence.
• I explored the map some more and found a Keg of Ale and a Scepter of Healing. Insanely broken items this early into the game?
• With my newfound artifacts, Poor Margoth and not-so-poor whoever-that-bald-guy-is were wrecked. Reynart, a few Mortar Teams, alongside Spearmen and Knights shredded through anything in their way.
• The Greenwood creatures would have been a threat, if it weren't for the fact that half of the wolves got stuck behind trees, and the Revenant itself couldn't even outdamage Reynart's healing. It wasn't even a fair fight, and more like a massacre.

- Chapter 5:

• There wasn't much to talk about in this chapter, except for the fact that I like the terraining.
• The Battlemages, with their Feedback and Transfer Mana, made them quite useful. Although, the helmet in their portrait is quite low-res, and the fact that they're wearing capes make it hard to distinguish them from Rangers, Riflemen, and Clerics, all of whom are also wearing capes.
• The last defense section was just Fan of Knives/Shockwave. Also pretty relaxing.
• Also, the damage of Crippling Blow is shown incorrectly, and Assassination is called Sinister Strike after learning.

- Chapter 6:

• Bald guy went boom-boom, and now badass Margoth rallied the entire Syndicate to join my side. Nice.
• I also noticed that in an Undead base, when all Necropolises are destroyed with no Acolyte around to rebuild it, the factories will stop pumping out troops altogether. With that in mind, everytime I attacked a base, I built a decent army to bait the defenders, and then Reynart just...walked in. Aequath already dealt with the Acolytes with her Stealth, while Reynart just spam Shockwave and Healing Spray to do everything else.
• Valena was also no problem. Aequath could just stealth in, Attack+Q+W+R and Velena went down. Easy.

- Chapter 7:

• Mountain climbing is fun. The first thing I noticed was that I had control of Eldin, a mage that can play multiple roles in the team, from disabler to healer to nuker. Although, his Spiritual Healing was a bit...odd, so I booted up the Editor and checked it for myself to see that it was based off of Aura of Blight. I'd run a few tests to see how this ability works, and let's just say that it's niche af. The buff doesn't show up on the user, and it doesn't heal non-Undead units at all. When it does work however, it actually increases their life regen rate by a flat 0.5, and not 50% of their base regen. As someone who enjoys making custom abilities, I suggest using a much better ability as a base: my beloved Unholy Aura (Neutral Hostile).
• Also, Eldin's Word of Glory's learn description says that it gives 100/200/300/400 armor instead of 1/2/3/4. Quite a weak ability, but I guess it makes sense because most of his power budget goes into Holy Wrath and Flash of Light.
• The Blue Dragon had inconsistent pronoun. The Quest log called it "him", while Eldin called it "her". I, personally, called it "dead af". Their fault for carrying valuable treasures.

+ I could also climb the mountain from this side, which allowed me to use Shockwave to soften up the Undead's defense before getting to the Enclave's base. I also noticed the camera zoom-out mechanic, which was a nice touch.

- The Enclave had some fun units to play with, mainly Cleansers and Discordants. I, however, didn't use them, because the Undead was too pathetic, so I saved my troops for the last showdown with Valena instead. She was slippery, sure, but my overbuffed army with Lion Horn+Legion Doom-Horn+Fortitude+Scepter of Healing,etc... made short work of her.

• In the end, Eldin seemed to not be so happy about that one time Valena imprisoned him, so to make her understand his frustration, he gave her an out-of-body experience. What a nice guy.
• Also, my favorite dialogue:

- Chapter 8:

• With Gryphon Riders and Gyrocopters, my force was extremely solid. So, first step was to secure Mug'thol's trust, using Aequath and my air units to take out the guards, clearing the way for Eldin to go in.
• And Mug'thol wanted to bang Sylvanas. This man has taste. Not good taste, but a taste nonetheless.

+ And a Gryphon Rider somehow got stuck here with no way out. I had to use a Staff of Sanctuary to bring him home.

+ I knew about the mission's convoy bug, but for the sake of honor, I full-cleared the entire map first, grabbed the two unique items (Garithos' Axe and Alteraci Lament), before using allyourbasearebelongtous.

- Chapter 9:
+ Immediately, I was hit with another piece of dialogue that reminded me of good ol' Edmund Duke. I can see why Solymus and Margoth like her.

• Nathanos was an ass, turning my own allies against me. Well, at least I got the power of friendship (and Mind Control). Margoth was persuaded back to the winning team, and since he was using Tychus' voice set (one of my favorite SC2 characters), I was genuinely pleased.
• The Forsaken was much weaker than the Scourge, so I broke through only using my Heroes, Sylvanas tried to lock me inside for a showdown, but little did she know, I had rescued the entire Syndicate to use against her. Took a long time, but it was worth every second.

+ Kel'Thuzad, the Arch Party-Pooper arrived, and ruined my victorious moment, forcing Aequath to flee.

- Chapter 10:

• Today random loot drops include... Mask of Death and Ancient Janggo of Endurance? Holy cow, this is orgasmic. Literally some of the best items in WC3, so yeah, thank you very much.
• Thamdan Hrell is a god. At level 4 Bash, he has a 50% chance to stun his target on an attack, which made any enemy Lich unfortunate enough to walk near him suffer a slow death.
• I realized how powerful the Advanced Machinery + Imbued Masonry combo is when a few Guard Towers hold off the Undead's air attacks trivially, turning this level into yet another relaxed experience.
• I took my time killing each Forsaken and Scourge base, listening to Flight of the Valkyrie (nice choice of music btw, definitely a 10/10) while I dropped napalm upon helpless Undead.
• However, fuck Crypt Fiends. They kept pulling my own Gunships into the bombing zone.

- Chapter 11:

• Hrell was gone, but he didn't return my item like Villenfall did. I was sad because I lost a Mask of Death, a Janggo, and multiple Crowns of Kings. At least I still have Claws of Attack +20.
• I didn't let my loss deter me, however. Immediately, I mobilized my Heroes to deal with the Molochs, while building Gunships and Gyrocopters to defend my base and my allies' bases.
• One Moloch down, then two, then three, then...oh god. They popped up faster than I could destroy them, and countless Undead had decimated the Alteraci Syndicate. I splitted my army into two to hold off the tides of Undead. On my side, I had Guard Towers, Rangers, Gunships, Gryphon Riders,..., while on Solymus' side, I had Reynart spamming Shockwave, with Aequath to assassinate key targets, and Eldin to help with healing.
• The Molochs ended up destroying most of my buildings, but it didn't matter. All civilian safely escaped to Jiluun, and it was time for the final showdown.

- Finale:

• I thought it would be a boring defense mission, but I'm glad I was wrong. Turns out, the chapter was split into multiple sections, which spiced up things by a lot.
• Although the Crypt Broodmother isn't a detector, which made Stealth->Assassination very effective, it was still overall quite fun to fight. To top it off, Kel'Thuzad nuked the portal and killed Vespira, which forced our heroes' hands. They cleaved through legions of Undead, giving time for Eldin, then Solymus, to destroy the Archlich and his minions (especially Valena) once and for all. He might come back eventually, but by that time, he wouldn't be Reynart and Solymus' problem anymore.
• Solymus and Eldin wanted the Alliance to keep the Enclave within their best interest, and even took a liking to Aequath. Wonder how well Margoth would fit in though, but I guess that, along with other questions, have to wait until the sequel.

- Conclusion:
+ I would normally put the Pros and Cons here, but I admit, I have a really strong bias towards this campaign that I can't really think of anything that irks me. In simpler terms, y'all deserve the 5/5 rating. I hope you keep updating this campaign or release newer ones on the same (or higher) level of quality.

 

[Macielos]

A very detailed and insightful review, thank you. I'm glad you picked up lots of easter eggs . That motivates me to speed things up with the patch. It's almost ready, most issues you mentioned are already addressed there, like OP items available in early missions and the 08 bug.

I'm still thinking how to make random drops indepedent from game reloading without rewriting everything to some script/trigger based system... In the worst case I'll write such a system for the sequel and one day update TVG to use it. If only I could inject a seed number into the game's random function...

Unfortunately last week, after I finished a full playthrough and fixes to the last missions, the editor just went "go fuck yourself" during save and corrupted the campaign file, turning all strings in object editor to somthing like TRIGSTR1234. I probably didn't lose that much since the last backup and it seems I can export and import missions with only fixing the imports, but it's still pain in the ass.

EDIT: Done that, everything seems to work apart from loading screens in 2 missions, no idea why yet...

 

[nchp1903]

I'm still thinking how to make random drops indepedent from game reloading without rewriting everything to some script/trigger based system...

Since I'm also thinking about implementing random drops into my single-player maps, this'll also be my future problem, so I took some time off to write this system. The code is quite scuffed when compared to Uncle's or Pyrogasm's or any other coder in the World Editor Help Zone, because it was written assuming that none of the destructibles can drop two or more items plus the fact I've never even used Hashtable before, but I'll post it here in case you find it useful.

Spoiler: Code

- First off, this one is to handle different loot pools and the drop rate of each item in said pool.

function RandomDrop takes integer LootPool returns integer
    
    local integer DropRate = GetRandomInt(1,100)
    local integer ItemType

    if LootPool == 1 then
        
    if DropRate <= 20 then 
    set ItemType = 'tst2' // Tome of Strength +2
    else
    if DropRate <= 40 then 
    set ItemType = 'tdx2' // Tome of Agility +2
    else    
    if DropRate <= 80 then 
    set ItemType = 'tin2' // Tome of Intelligence +2
        else    
    if DropRate <= 100 then 
    set ItemType = 'tpow' // Tome of Knowledge
    endif
    endif
    endif
    endif

    else
    
    if LootPool == 2 then
    if DropRate <= 20 then 
    set ItemType = 'rat6' // Claws of Attack +6
    else
    if DropRate <= 40 then 
    set ItemType = 'gcel' // Gloves of Haste
    else    
    if DropRate <= 80 then 
    set ItemType = 'rlif' // Ring of Regeneration
        else    
    if DropRate <= 100 then 
    set ItemType = 'rwiz' // Sobi Mask
    endif
    endif
    endif
    endif

    endif
    endif

    return ItemType

endfunction

- The next one will be run in the Map Initialization trigger:

• Events
• Conditions
• Actions
  • Hashtable - Create a hashtable
  • Set DestHashtable = (Last created hashtable)
  • Destructible - Pick every destructible in (Playable map area) and do (Actions)
    • Loop - Actions
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Picked destructible) Equal to Crates 0073 <gen>
        • Then - Actions
          • Set TempNum = (TempNum + 1)
          • Custom script: set udg_RandomDrop = RandomDrop(1)
          • Hashtable - Save Handle Of(Picked destructible) as DestNum of TempNum in DestHashtable
          • Hashtable - Save RandomDrop as DestItemNum of TempNum in DestHashtable
        • Else - Actions
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Picked destructible) Equal to Crates 1834 <gen>
        • Then - Actions
          • Set TempNum = (TempNum + 1)
          • Custom script: set udg_RandomDrop = RandomDrop(2)
          • Hashtable - Save Handle Of(Picked destructible) as DestNum of TempNum in DestHashtable
          • Hashtable - Save RandomDrop as DestItemNum of TempNum in DestHashtable
        • Else - Actions

- Each If-Then-Loop can handle one Destructible, so you have to do the Ifs manually and copy-paste the rest. The Custom script is to determine the loot dropped by said destructible.

- The last one is to actually make it drop when the destructible dies:

• Events
  • Destructible - Crates 0073 <gen> dies
  • Destructible - Crates 1834 <gen> dies
• Conditions
• Actions
  • For each (Integer A) from 1 to 10, do (Actions)
    • Loop - Actions
      • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
        • If - Conditions
          • (Dying destructible) Equal to (Load DestNum of (Integer A) in (Last created hashtable))
        • Then - Actions
          • Set TempItem = (Load DestItemNum of (Integer A) from DestHashtable)
          • Custom script: call CreateItem(udg_TempItem, GetDestructableX(GetTriggerDestructable()), GetDestructableY(GetTriggerDestructable()))
        • Else - Actions

- Again, you have to do the Events manually, and the maximum of Integer A should be the total number of Destructible in the Events. I don't use "A destructible within (Playable map area) dies" because it only monitors 64 destructible within the region, and splitting the map up into multiple smaller regions seems even more suboptimal than inputting manually.

 

[Macielos]

Looks good. You may go even further and have a variable with structure similar to Blizz's item tables (it's not a JASS syntax, just a plain json, but you get the idea):
{
"Weaponry": {"item1": 5, "item2": 10},
"Potions": {"item3": 10, "item4": 2},
}
So first, you get better readability with strings instead of numbers and call a function like RandomDrop("Weaponry"). Second, when adding a new item to a set, you don't have to scale all previous weights, instead RandomDrop function just sums them all to get range for random number generation.

These ifs for each destructible seem not very pleasant to work with, but as you said, there's no dynamic way to detect any destructible's death.

I also have one crazy idea to save a generated drop table in a game cache so the drops stay the same even when you restart the mission. But this may be a step too far... Anyway, I'll have a lot to think about before the sequel.

 

[nchp1903]

I can only offer a cleaner version of my trigger in the attached Test Map (1.31 ofc), because quite frankly, I ran out of brain juice to think of anything better. If some good samaritan is willing to make the Destructible equivalent of the Unit Indexer, things may go a bit smoother. Emphasis on 'may'.

These ifs for each destructible seem not very pleasant to work with, but as you said, there's no dynamic way to detect any destructible's death.

And I don't know why Blizzard make Destructible-related functions so painful to work with, but it is what it is.

I also have one crazy idea to save a generated drop table in a game cache so the drops stay the same even when you restart the mission. But this may be a step too far... Anyway, I'll have a lot to think about before the sequel.

With the help of cache, this is certainly possible, but I will also be against that decision. The thing is, one of the appeal of Farming/Looting is to figure out the Loot Pools, the items in each pools, and then mapping a farming route. While doing so, the farmer can continuous finding ways to make said route more efficient. If you do this, farming will become too hard and time-consuming to be worth it, and you'll also hurt my feelings.

Jokes aside, in the end, the decision is up to you. If item drops prove to be to hard to balance and no longer fits your vision for the campaign, you can ditch it altogether to go for fixed drops instead. It's not as interesting, but it has its appeal and most importantly, it works in many other campaigns, both vanilla and custom ones.

 

[Macielos]

I can only offer a cleaner version of my trigger in the attached Test Map (1.31 ofc), because quite frankly, I ran out of brain juice to think of anything better. If some good samaritan is willing to make the Destructible equivalent of the Unit Indexer, things may go a bit smoother. Emphasis on 'may'.

No problem. I'm definitely the coding/scripting guy and I'm also lazy as fuck in terms of repetivive work, so I'll be surely working on my system for the sequel anyway to minimize manual work I need to add just another loot drop in another mission.

And I don't know why Blizzard make Destructible-related functions so painful to work with, but it is what it is.

Simple enough - they were coding the editor together with the game and they didn't have a use case for that in the campaign. I doubt Blizz ever expected what types of mechanics will be created based on WC3 editor. They created SC2 editor with greater possibilities in mind, I even tried making a campaign for it, but adding custom units and skills in it turned out to require so many not very intuitive steps that I gave it up and returned to WE.

Jokes aside, in the end, the decision is up to you. If item drops prove to be to hard to balance and no longer fits your vision for the campaign, you can ditch it altogether to go for fixed drops instead. It's not as interesting, but it has its appeal and most importantly, it works in many other campaigns, both vanilla and custom ones.

Easy, I'm definitely not going to drop (heh) random drops as they are great for replayability and they create possibilities to get various builds for the heroes with another playthroughs. Balancing them is a challenge, sure, but the results are definitely worth it . For the nearest patch I created better item tables so that a Ring of Regeneration won't have the chance to drop instead of +1 strength sword. I also moved some early OP items to the late game item pools or even to fixed locations.

One day I may indeed go for partially or completely fixed drops for the books, but only for the books, maybe even just for the book of intelligence. Together with making drops independent from reloading/restarting mission that should get the "best of two worlds".

 

[Macielos]

Patch 2.01 is here. I'm always getting paranoid that some tiny change will break something else on the last lap, but hopefully not this time. Enjoy!

(sorry for multi-posting)

 

[Nyctaeus]

Patch 2.01 is here. I'm always getting paranoid that some tiny change will break something else on the last lap, but hopefully not this time. Enjoy!

(sorry for multi-posting)

Trust the Omnissiah, bro!

 

[DjSSPECTRE]

Really loving the reworked Chapter 3. So far the campaign feels much easier when played on hard (i. e. all undead bases in Chapter 2 crack much easier). I don't know if anyone else mentioned this, but there is this.. thing when heroes hold Lordaeron Banner. They go into continuous channeling animation until they are given orders or you remove it from the inventory. I believe this was in the original version as well. I got some pics just to give you a better idea of what I mean

 

[Macielos]

That's the spirit of true commanders. Never stop rallying their troops for just one more effort before being overwhelmed by the Scourge. A bit like Imperial Guard commissars.

 

[DjSSPECTRE]

That's the spirit of true commanders. Never stop rallying their troops for just one more effort before being overwhelmed by the Scourge. A bit like Imperial Guard commissars.

That's why i never back down from fights! Don't wanna be shot by a Commissar lol

 

[Macielos]

Doesn't work well if you don't have unlimited human resources. Ask the Wagner Group.

 

[SAM_PorL]

I played the old campain just a year ago and jumped on this one as soon as I saw it.
Didnt think too much would change but this campain is now im my top 3 of all warcraft created content.
11/10 dont know how you guys made this piece of art but it should be playable in the louvre.

 

[Nyctaeus]

I played the old campain just a year ago and jumped on this one as soon as I saw it.
Didnt think too much would change but this campain is now im my top 3 of all warcraft created content.
11/10 dont know how you guys made this piece of art but it should be playable in the louvre.

Countless nights of intense brainstorm about how to make things good :]. Then development process with hopes that we screwed up as few things as possible .

 

[Macielos]

I was also surprised how smoothly it went.

Spoiler: don't click unless you finished TVG ;)

It began with Nyc experimenting with assets and terrain in some tiny-messy-side-project-just-for-fun-he-will-never-complete - the protoplast of Jiluun. We were both tired with our another project (an RTS game) that turned out a bit too ambitious, so we needed a break. That encouraged me to return to Exodus to refresh it a bit, mostly in terms of gameplay, balance and story which, let's be honest, was rather simple and a little cringy at some points (yup, the love story). I added chapter two about Inaylia's origin very early to better attach the story to TFT (although its initial look and gameplay differed a lot), but the rest was supposed to happen similarly. And then there was this sudden spark of an idea - let's combine these two. Why the Alliance has to escape to Kalimdor when it can escape to Jiluun? Let's just have Reynart get a hint of Solymus and his project somewhere... well, the very first mission is in the goddamn Dalaran. Why escort a caravan of supplies back to Dalaran if we can escort it from Dalaran to Alterac to search for Solymus? Reversed direction was just a slight inconvenience, as the loading screen map shows. Then there was the villages mission... okay, why are there so many undead just between inhabited villages and why are there no other enemies in this campaign? Let's put there some Alteraci bandits. Quick look at WoW-pedia... hmm, the Syndicate? We're home. What else do we have in the Exodus? Capture and defence of a strategic stronghold, an evacuation of civilians, some undead bitch as an antagonist and Inaylia trying to survive between the Scourge and Forsaken. Right, the Forsaken and Sylvanas... let's give them their own techtree, some backstory and relate it to Inaylia if they fight each other so often. Something was still missing... [Fortunate Son and Flight of the Valkyries begin playing in the background] okay, I know what it is. So all the pieces came together and we just went with the flow. Everything lasted a bit more than a year, I think, and the only major slowdown was when we were looking for beta-testers.

 

[Macielos]

I've just added Chinese translation provided by @NovaLan. I don't know a word in Chinese and don't have a Chinese WC3 version, but I launched the campaign, played for a while and everything seems to work fine (except for the translation not being displayed due to lack of Chinese alphabet support on my localization of WC3). So enjoy and let me know if you find any problems.

(sorry for multi-posting)

PS. Can someone who'd already completed the campaign with patch 2.01 confirm that there are no new major bugs? I plan to write to some more youtubers so that they play the campaign and I don't want them to bump into something that's still broken, especially if they decide to do a live stream .

 

[DjSSPECTRE]

I've just added Chinese translation provided by @NovaLan. I don't know a word in Chinese and don't have a Chinese WC3 version, but I launched the campaign, played for a while and everything seems to work fine (except for the translation not being displayed due to lack of Chinese alphabet support on my localization of WC3). So enjoy and let me know if you find any problems.

(sorry for multi-posting)

PS. Can someone who'd already completed the campaign with patch 2.01 confirm that there are no new major bugs? I plan to write to some more youtubers so that they play the campaign and I don't want them to bump into something that's still broken, especially if they decide to do a live stream .

I finished it on the new patch when it was released and i believe there are no new major bugs. Maybe rework the green AI in penultimate mission since it doesn't do anything (not attacking, building etc.) but other than that, i think everything else is okay

 

[krawg]

noice looking forward to next story

 

[Macielos]

I finished it on the new patch when it was released and i believe there are no new major bugs. Maybe rework the green AI in penultimate mission since it doesn't do anything (not attacking, building etc.) but other than that, i think everything else is okay

You mean chapter 11 or 10? In other words, penultimate including epilog or not? They both have green AIs .

 

[NovaLan]

You mean chapter 11 or 10? In other words, penultimate including epilog or not? They both have green AIs .

I guess he means chapter 11 (Holding back the Tides), the green AI at the south-east. If you use iseedeadpeople you can see the green AI is trying to attack but they get stuck by the cliff. This base is totally isolated and ground units can't pass through the terrain. Maybe can let them have barges like in chapter 10. However, even if the green AI doesn't work properly this level still give players oppressing sensation.

I tested it a bit after finishing translation and I think everything is fine except that. (One thing is if you use whosyourdaddy cheat you will get stuck at many points though)

 

[HuanJuan]

Spoiler: Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I experienced game crashes during fights with the undead, and only happened when I'm on the battlefield and controlling units. Reloaded, and avoided to go there with the camera and check things and control: no crashes somehow. No matter which faction of the undead I battled with on this map only - so far.

Fiends spawning on the northern part of the map, in a very wrong place - scripted event -.

In the map, there are Ogres too, as some other maps in the campaign. They are there, because of the story, or the player have some ability, to make them fight against the undead?

I tested it a bit after finishing translation and I think everything is fine except that. (One thing is if you use whosyourdaddy cheat you will get stuck at many points though)

That's a fail save! It helps to complete the map without cheating.

 

[DjSSPECTRE]

Spoiler: Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I experienced game crashes during fights with the undead, and only happened when I'm on the battlefield and controlling units. Reloaded, and avoided to go there with the camera and check things and control: no crashes somehow. No matter which faction of the undead I battled with on this map only - so far.

Fiends spawning on the northern part of the map, in a very wrong place - scripted event -.
View attachment 429728

In the map, there are Ogres too, as some other maps in the campaign. They are there, because of the story, or the player have some ability, to make them fight against the undead?

That's a fail save! It helps to complete the map without cheating.

Man i forgot about that. Had to reload like 5 times cuz of those crashes lol. And yeah, as NovaLan pointed out, it's the one mission before the epilogue where you have to hold Lonely Ridge against the onslaught of Undead

 

[Macielos]

Spoiler: Slight spoilers

Chapter 6

I experienced game crashes during fights with the undead, and only happened when I'm on the battlefield and controlling units. Reloaded, and avoided to go there with the camera and check things and control: no crashes somehow. No matter which faction of the undead I battled with on this map only - so far.

Did they only happen in chapter 6? I don't think there's anything special about this mission, except for huge undead meat grinder... I'll play it again anyway.

In the map, there are Ogres too, as some other maps in the campaign. They are there, because of the story, or the player have some ability, to make them fight against the undead?

Nope, they're just slightly stronger creeps to farm for items.

And yeah, as NovaLan pointed out, it's the one mission before the epilogue where you have to hold Lonely Ridge against the onslaught of Undead

Okay, I'll check this out. But it's strange that they block like this, I remember giving them only air attacks.

 

[DjSSPECTRE]

That might be why it crashes in chapter 6? Due to the amount of units? I know most of my crashes occurred when I looked at fights between the Syndicate and the Undead. To be fair, the green AI in the holdout mission did attack couple of times, but it eventually just stopped. Not only did they stop attacking, they also stopped producing anything. Their base had barely any units, and the units they had were pilled up on a cliff near the bridge leading to the Alliance base.

 

[HuanJuan]

@Macielos

Since I can't quote your post, I added you in this way for now.

Chapter 6 crashes only. The log is even empty after crash, there is no window pop-up to send a log to Blizzard. I don't know the reason, and only happens, when I wanted to see how the fights going & controlling the units. I was completed this campaign before, and on my last run there was no crashes. It happens a lot actually, and maked very hard to complete the map. This is a major issue now with this chapter - for me, but I know there is somebody lurking in these comments, and saying: "Those crashes making harder to complete the map, so basically more fun can happen."

Also I noticed, if I give any items to Margoth (alteraci hero, I mean anything): he does not have them in the next map. His character appears next time in Chapter 8, and he has a clear inventory sadly.

Spoiler: Chapter 8

Starting the chapter, after the first cinematic, the map is very laggy. I was the quality and the resolution, helped a bit, but not so much. After clearing the map a bit, the lag is no more.

Crushridge Ogres are not very active.

Fist of Humanity description is weird, when you not picked up yet. After you picked, is normal.

The Ogre's Shop also sells very few item

 

[Macielos]

Okay, I took up some testing for 2.02 today, here's the result:

• Fixed the Ogres on chapter 08
• Inspected green AI in chapter 11, changed one thing that could be the reason why they sent ground units (AI target priorities, I'm never certain of these)
• Got a crash in a middle of big battle... in chapter 11. So far not sure what causes them, possible suspect is Valena and her skills as she's present in both 06 and 11

EDIT: I played 06 too. Also got a crash once - it was definitely the moment Valena's Revenant of Death cast Animate Death, so I thought some unit's model is bugged and causes crash when undead "skin" is applied to it on reanimation. But I reloaded a save several times, continued playing to the (moreless) same moment, but the crash didn't occur. Maybe Animated Dead just didn't affect the "right" units or it happens only after some time from starting or loading a mission. No idea.

Fist of Humanity description is weird, when you not picked up yet. After you picked, is normal.

What's weird about it? Besides not fitting the window, about which I can't do anything. And it's too epic to be shortened .

 

[HuanJuan]

Okay, I took up some testing for 2.02 today, here's the result:

• Fixed the Ogres on chapter 08
• Inspected green AI in chapter 11, changed one thing that could be the reason why they sent ground units (AI target priorities, I'm never certain of these)
• Got a crash in a middle of big battle... in chapter 11. So far not sure what causes them, possible suspect is Valena and her skills as she's present in both 06 and 11

EDIT: I played 06 too. Also got a crash once - it was definitely the moment Valena's Revenant of Death cast Animate Death, so I thought some unit's model is bugged and causes crash when undead "skin" is applied to it on reanimation. But I reloaded a save several times, continued playing to the (moreless) same moment, but the crash didn't occur. Maybe Animated Dead just didn't affect the "right" units or it happens only after some time from starting or loading a mission. No idea.


What's weird about it? Besides not fitting the window, about which I can't do anything. And it's too epic to be shortened .

Thank you for your reply, than it's not a bug.

I also discovered that you gave new voicelines to Margoth and for the Dwaren units too. It's awesome. ( Or, maybe I forgot they had this voicelines before the 2.0.1 upgrade)

 

[Macielos]

Thank you for your reply, than it's not a bug.

I also discovered that you gave new voicelines to Margoth and for the Dwaren units too. It's awesome. ( Or, maybe I forgot they had this voicelines before the 2.0.1 upgrade)

Thanks, but nope, they had them from the beginning.

Ehhh, some more testing of 06 crash... it's definitely connected with Animate Dead. I replayed the same fight over and over from a save and it sometimes happens, sometimes not, even with the very same units being revived. After removing this ability from the revenant I got no crash so far, so maybe I'll just leave it like that or give it something else... but it's still a pity. The same skill works like a charm for High Necromancer, although they are never used in the AI attacks and they're not summoned units, so maybe one of these is the reason.

 

[HuanJuan]

Thanks, but nope, they had them from the beginning.

Ehhh, some more testing of 06 crash... it's definitely connected with Animate Dead. I replayed the same fight over and over from a save and it sometimes happens, sometimes not, even with the very same units being revived. After removing this ability from the revenant I got no crash so far, so maybe I'll just leave it like that or give it something else... but it's still a pity. The same skill works like a charm for High Necromancer, although they are never used in the AI attacks and they're not summoned units, so maybe one of these is the reason.

So that's why crashed a lot chapter 6 maybe... Thank you... I never thinked that an "animate dead" can cause such an issues. I only encountered problems with models or lack of memory, but Animate Dead?

Spoiler: Chapter 10

Somehow I get this info when I want to upgrade a scout tower to a guard tower.

I can't buy an Orb of Fire for my Dwaren hero, because I don't have enough money somehow, and I can't buy to my dwaren unit either, because I lack the funds for it.

 

[nchp1903]

Somehow I get this info when I want to upgrade a scout tower to a guard tower.

That's a known issue, not just this campaign. The Upkeep message is actually longer than it looks and it goes all the way to the 2,0 button position. Just wiggle the mouse a bit, and you'll be able to click the tower.

I can't buy an Orb of Fire for my Dwaren hero, because I don't have enough money somehow, and I can't buy to my dwaren unit either, because I lack the funds for it.

Buying an Orb uses Aequath's gold, not the Dwarves'.

 

[HuanJuan]

That's a known issue, not just this campaign. The Upkeep message is actually longer than it looks and it goes all the way to the 2,0 button position. Just wiggle the mouse a bit, and you'll be able to click the tower.

Buying an Orb uses Aequath's gold, not the Dwarves'.

Thanks, I can upgrade the towers, and I don't know how it's possible to buy something from the dwaren shop, when I selected a dwaren unit/hero, and I tried it a lot, not just once like in the picture as I posted previously.

I can't even purchase a Goblin Shredder from the Goblin laboratory for the dwaren allies. But it's not necessary: the two faction can send each other lumber & gold. If I want to give our dwaren hero an Orb of Fire, I can simply buy it by the human hero/unit and drop to the ground.

 

[Macielos]

Okay, patch 2.02 is here, hopefully it's the last one. Not as massive as 2.01, but should address all the remaining issues.

And now I really need a break from mapmaking. Debugging these AIs really took a toll on me... Maybe I'll finally play someone else's campaign instead of just making ones .

 

[HuanJuan]

Okay, patch 2.02 is here, hopefully it's the last one. Not as massive as 2.01, but should address all the remaining issues.

And now I really need a break from mapmaking. Debugging these AIs really took a toll on me... Maybe I'll finally play someone else's campaign instead of just making ones .

Thank you very much & Have fun!

(In your absence, I'm gonna post a few minor not game breaking bugs, but please, have some quality rest)

Be aware everyone: If you download the new version and replace it with the previous one, then you must start the whole campaign from the beginning.

 

[DjSSPECTRE]

Thank you very much & Have fun!

(In your absence, I'm gonna post a few minor not game breaking bugs, but please, have some quality rest)

Be aware everyone: If you download the new version and replace it with the previous one, then you must start the whole campaign from the beginning.

Nothing like beating a quality campaign for the 3rd time lol

 

[Morris]

I loved every minute of playing this campaign, and liked it even more than the original!
Though I won't leave a detailed review because nchp1903 said everything I had in mind and more!
The terraining, the gameplay, the characters, the story, everything is truly spectacular
I only encountered one minor issue. The "A" hotkey in the Blacksmith building didn't work for some reason, other than that, I didn't encounter any minor or major issues.
Hope to check out Part 2 when it comes out
I'll replay the campaign on Hard difficulty and hope I don't get smashed
Great work!

 

[abbsomes]

Is this RTS or RPG?

 

[Morris]

Is this RTS or RPG?

Mainly RTS but also has RPG elements

 

[Macielos]

Be aware everyone: If you download the new version and replace it with the previous one, then you must start the whole campaign from the beginning.

You can also open a campaign file and enable button for the mission you were in .

EDIT: Uploaded a small fix - I forgot to remove a debug in Chapter Ten. I also updated Chinese translation @NovaLan provided before I even had a chance to ask him .

 

[HuanJuan]

You can also open a campaign file and enable button for the mission you were in .

EDIT: Uploaded a small fix - I forgot to remove a debug in Chapter Ten. I also updated Chinese translation @NovaLan provided before I even had a chance to ask him .

Thanks the option, but no. Here have some bugs:

• Chapter 10: Drop ship has no portrait whatso ever.
• The whole chapter 10 is laggy a bit for me - probably because weak PC -