16th August 2004, 12:05 AM
Indeed, the difference between WC3 Frozen Throne's first release and now is rather incredible.
There are still a couple things I'd like to see though. I mentioned both to ABF in the past. First, change the scroll wheel's function to something useful, like an alternative way of switching subgroups. I've tried posting this in the suggestions area, but it got swept away very quickly (though before it disappeared altogether, all of the 3 who responded agreed it was a good idea).
The second thing I'd like to see would have a much bigger effect. WC3 Frozen Throne added shipyards. They are neutral buildings but they went the extra mile and made 4 unique kinds for each major race (and a few others as well, like Goblin), with unique ship types at that. It's only appearence and sounds, not behavior, but it's still a nice touch. Anyway, my idea is that instead of them being neutral buildings, each of these 4 unique race specific types should be constructable by the races they correspond to. As far as balance, since all the ships act the same no matter the paint job, that's not really a concern (though considering how they are used in combination with other units, there could be balance issues...). Is this a major change to the gameplay? I should think so, however it's only a major change when water is around. The ladder maps all have very little water, where building shipyards would be useless, if not impossible (like WC2, they would have to be built by water). I would suggest they add ladder maps with lakes and oceans all around with this change specifically in mind. At the very least, test it in the beta server for a while to see how it goes. The shipyards are already there, it's just a matter of drawing a "build" icon, setting up the build rules, and allowing every race's builders to make them when it's possible. I won't even suggest adding "oil" to the mix though, that's way too much.
Anyway, if they made these two changes (and hopefully I'm right about the balance being a non-issue), I'd call it perfect (and they would STILL be adding extra neutral heros :D, like maybe a dwarven captain (hey, MOST of the dwarves are missing, enough for them to be CONSIDERED totally gone, but one or two that aren't associated with Ironforge could still come along and help, right?).
There are still a couple things I'd like to see though. I mentioned both to ABF in the past. First, change the scroll wheel's function to something useful, like an alternative way of switching subgroups. I've tried posting this in the suggestions area, but it got swept away very quickly (though before it disappeared altogether, all of the 3 who responded agreed it was a good idea).
The second thing I'd like to see would have a much bigger effect. WC3 Frozen Throne added shipyards. They are neutral buildings but they went the extra mile and made 4 unique kinds for each major race (and a few others as well, like Goblin), with unique ship types at that. It's only appearence and sounds, not behavior, but it's still a nice touch. Anyway, my idea is that instead of them being neutral buildings, each of these 4 unique race specific types should be constructable by the races they correspond to. As far as balance, since all the ships act the same no matter the paint job, that's not really a concern (though considering how they are used in combination with other units, there could be balance issues...). Is this a major change to the gameplay? I should think so, however it's only a major change when water is around. The ladder maps all have very little water, where building shipyards would be useless, if not impossible (like WC2, they would have to be built by water). I would suggest they add ladder maps with lakes and oceans all around with this change specifically in mind. At the very least, test it in the beta server for a while to see how it goes. The shipyards are already there, it's just a matter of drawing a "build" icon, setting up the build rules, and allowing every race's builders to make them when it's possible. I won't even suggest adding "oil" to the mix though, that's way too much.
Anyway, if they made these two changes (and hopefully I'm right about the balance being a non-issue), I'd call it perfect (and they would STILL be adding extra neutral heros :D, like maybe a dwarven captain (hey, MOST of the dwarves are missing, enough for them to be CONSIDERED totally gone, but one or two that aren't associated with Ironforge could still come along and help, right?).
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)