War3 Campaign: PvP Edition addon

Experience familiar battles in the War3 storyline made fresh by virtue of an unpredictable opponent!

Requires playing on the latest version of War3. Reforged is not required.

Adjustments are made to ensure all sides have a fair shake (assuming both sides are of roughly equal skill-level), such as creep and resource distributions, starting assets, etc.

Open slots will give control to players on their team. Feel free to take on an extra challenge if you like multi-tasking!

The game balance is set to 1.26, that is the gameplay before the new Blizzard Classic team started mucking about with it all.

'Survive X minutes' missions allow the players to vote on how long the game will be, except for Prologue05.

I felt it was important to otherwise not mess much with the "character" of the mission by adding new units or heroes that weren't originally available to either the players or the AI. Exceptions to this are Frozen Throne tech-tree things like shops and upgrades that I feel make for a more interesting game. For example, Humans can build Arcane Towers and upgrade Mortar Shards, but not train Blood Elf Spell Breakers as those aren't so lore-friendly to Reign of Chaos missions.

The following missions are available:

Prologue05 (1v2)

I was a bit disappointed to find the Murloc units in this Reforged mission did not have the characteristics that they did in the original War3 demo, but instead are how they are in the Custom Campaign that came with Frozen Throne.

So here I have adjusted them to be more authentic to the demo.

For example, Huntsmen have bouncing attacks, and the Murloc Seacultist caster exists instead of the Mur'Gul Shadowcaster.

Some differences from the actual demo are intentional, such as the murlocs doing more damage, and the Seacultists having typical 'caster' armor and attack type. These differences reflect balance changes that occurred since the time of the demo (1.01).

I added a couple Firelord abilities to the Murloc Sorcerer, which I'd normally be opposed to, but in this case it seemed unfair to the player when their Murloc ally's hero, the Sea Witch, has multiple abilities. The abilities added, Incinerate and Volcano, I felt wouldn't be 'too' out-of-place for the mission.

Human05 (1v2)

In this otherwise straightforward survival mission for the Humans, the Undead must protect the Grain Caravan not only from Arthas, but from creeps as well!

Human06 (1v1)

Arthas and Mal'Ganis compete for the zombies! Both players vote on what the goal amount will be.

Mal'Ganis must use his special "Soul Preservation" skill insteaed of killing the zombies to increase his score. Master Necromancers can ease the burden on Mal'Ganis by also casting this ability. While they couldn't do this originally, this is to even out how any human unit can kill zombies to raise Arthas' score.

Undead04 (1v1)

Arthas gets some items to get his base up quicker. Both sides have a Goblin lab from which to hire Zeppelins.

Sylvanas runs slightly slower than originally to be more in line with other "fast" heroes. Try as she might though, she cannot claim the Key of the Three Moons for herself.

Undead06 (2v4)

To help Arthas feel less outnumbered here, Kel'Thuzad now has his own base controlled by another player.

The Orcs have to be careful, as they cannot revive their heroes! Playing as the Orcs in this mission may conjure up some nostalgic feelings...

Undead08 (1v3)

A notable difference here is that Arthas starts with Goblin Mines, instead of having to go get them. Early testing revealed that sneaky Archmages were snatching them up and then blowing up the poor, unsuspecting Undead.

Orc03 (2v4)

This one was a bit tricky to figure out the best way to make it play well in a PvP context. Having to fight through the blue base to reach the Zeppelins like in the original would mean the Orcs get slaughtered by any well-coordinated Human team without nerfing the Humans so hard that it'd no longer be fun playing as them. So I settled on having the Lab be in the center of the map, and under control of the Orcs so that they 'train' the Zeppelins (if the Lab is neutral, Humans can just buy out the Zeppelins for themselves.) and bring them to their base.

Ultimately, it's a bit more awkward than I'd have hoped for, but I've had some fun rounds on it.

Orc04 (1v2)

I like the unique objective that the Orcs have in this mission, and so felt it could make for an interesting PvP scenario. The Night Elves have a challenge of playing without heroes.

NightElf07 (3v1)

Making the single Undead player feel threatening enough for the 3 players to just need to 'survive' was a bit tricky. I wanted to avoid just boosting the Undead's stats and calling it a day. The Undead build stuff fast, but not instantly like the AI did. They can train all three of their heroes at the start, but as they down each Alliance base, their first heroes to die become permanently dead, to help the remaining Alliance forces still have a fighting chance.

NightElfX05 (2v2)

Furion/Tyrande and Maiev are now separate forces. Once they link up, it becomes a more traditional 2v2, only with one side being Naga.

HumanX04 (2v2)

This kind of 'tug-of-war' map I felt would work very naturally in PvP. To make things more interesting, troops will not spawn automatically, they have to be trained and controlled like traditional armies.

The Pandaren Brewmaster has betrayed Kael and is now working for Maiev!

Both players on each team have their own hero, but share the base units of their side, so they must work together in 'Archon' style to succeed. Another adjustment I made is that Maiev cannot Blink until Illidan's Cage has been claimed.

UndeadX08 (1v1, 2v2, or FFA)

The Frozen Throne finale mission. Prepare to duke it out with your friends over control of Icecrown!

Some differences between the original campaign mission and this PvP Edition:

• It’s a 2v2, or 1v1 if only two players are in the game.
• I felt it would be good for both teams to be able to use the same number of heroes, so some heroes escape from their canon duties to help even things out:
  • 1v1: Arthas, Anub & Kel’Thuzad vs Illidan, Vashj, & Kael
  • 2v2:
    • Arthas & Anub / Kel’Thuzad & Jennalla Deemspring (Resurrected from the first Scourge mission as a Dark Ranger)
    • Illidan & Akama / Vashj & Kael
• The Naga and Blood Elves are a single combined faction. On their own, neither are really ‘complete’ races, and I wanted to avoid adding custom units. Since you spend much of Kael’s campaign controlling both races, this felt appropriate. Since Blood Elf Swordsman take the ‘Footman’ role, Mur’gul Reavers are now obtained by arming Mur’gul Slaves via the Call to Arms ability.
• Any hero can activate the obelisks.
• ‘Melee Mode’ can be selected at the start of the game. In this mode, every player can choose their race (including orc, night elf, etc.), and will start with the units that they would in a standard melee game. The goal to capture the obelisks remains. Free For All is also an option in Melee Mode.