Arena An Arena yet to be Named

[Hatebreeder]

Played the old map (without the new hero) and I have some feedback. Here it is in point form:

Note: I played solo, meaning I only fought against creeps. You should take that into account when reading my statements.

1) The hero tooltips (in the tavern) need to be fixed. Seriously, I didn't know the abilities of the hero I was picking. For example, the tavern said: Train Blade Mistress: Learns Blink, Fan of Knives.....Veangence.

2) The hero starting zone with the tavern seems a little odd with no south and east walls. Try and block those off with trees / doodads / cliffs / walls. Whatever seems appropriate.

3) I noticed a large empty mid region that is unused. Any idea what's that for?

4) I played the collosus...and here's my feedback for him. In the beginning he seems too weak and in the end too strong (against creeps anyway). Also, his abilities all have downsides. Why? They're supposed to be abilities, hence they make him stronger. They're not supposed to offset extra damage with extra damage taken....:S Or do all your heroes have offsetted abilities? If this is the case, then I guess it's ok, because it's balanced anywho.

5) The terrain needs a little work. It works for now, but it isn't very fancy or good looking.

6) I found the lack of items understandable but dissapointing. Items allow a huge range of customization, that unfortunately you don't have because of your attribute system. Might I suggest altering that slightly? Maybe use the up and down arrow keys or something to change attributes?

7) The beginning text message " This is Moridin's attribute profile" or something like that. I think it would be better if it said, "On the top right, you can see your attribute profile." Right now, I didn't know what it was talking about until I saw the multiboard on the top right...

-------------------
Anyway, criticism aside, I think that this could definitely become a really nice arena. The hero abilities that I've seen are pretty original and quite interesting, which is the major thing you need to get right in this kind of map, so GJ.

1) Yeah, I know. Can't think of something appropriet, so I left it as standard. I thought of adding a small guide of strengths, weaknesses and a brief "how to play" and also a list of their abilities. Will change this in the next update.

2) Will change that too.

3) Thats for duels. "duels" are initiated by typing in "-duel". That feature only works if you're more than 1 player.

4) Well since his passive reduces almost all the damage taken for 7 seconds and insanly empowers him for a short duration, I thought it might be appropriet to force him to achieve this state. Also balances him a bit more towards late game.

5) Yeah I guess so. But as for now, I am satisfied with it as it is, since the terrain shouldn't be too flashy. The players shouldn't be distracted by terrain, hence I should keep the loading time / amount of destructables efficient.

6) I will add more tomes that will give you various bonuses (such as life steal, Spell life steal, maim and other effects such as slow).

7) Thats also just to know who's profile you are viewing. If you select an enemy hero, you are able to view their profile / stats on your multiboard.

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Thanks alot =) Though, I'm hoping to get assistance from the players/users and also comments. Since this game should appeal to others too, not just myself.

EDIT: Did alot of cosmetics today. Added the use of Gold, redid some describtions and made a few code improvements. Updated first Post

 

[Hatebreeder]

OK, I've uploaded a new version with the following changes:

- Better tooltips
- Better UI ( ex. whose profile you are viewing by taking a look that the header)
- added the use of Gold and "Instructions"
- redid a few spells and made them more efficient

The "Instructions" may be a bit overpowered, but this issue will resolve within the next update. Also, if someone knows how to unveil deleted code that somehow is still active (Whenevr you buy something, there is this toon boom effect... And it's leaking), please tell me. It's really annoying.

Some things that will be included in the next update:

- Arcane Elemental
- Life steal Instructions
- In-Game text messages such as Who kill who and who won the duel and some commands to display your movespeed and who is leading (kill/death ratio)

EDIT: Next Version will also be playable in Battle.net (Well, didn't make any mana costs for the spells yet since I was testing and coding and modeling and well, you get my point)

 

[Mr.Tutorial]

Looks pretty cool, I've always wanted more arena's like this...

You don't have a name yet?

I got some suggestions...

Box Arena
The Great Arena
Arena Battle
Blood Bath Arena
Blood Battle
Armor and Weapons
Contested Arena
Interior Arena
The battlegrounds

just some ideas... if you don't like hopefully it will keep ya thinkin because you always need a good name for a good map :thup:

 

[Hatebreeder]

Looks pretty cool, I've always wanted more arena's like this...

You don't have a name yet?

I got some suggestions...

Box Arena
The Great Arena
Arena Battle
Blood Bath Arena
Blood Battle
Armor and Weapons
Contested Arena
Interior Arena
The battlegrounds

just some ideas... if you don't like hopefully it will keep ya thinkin because you always need a good name for a good map :thup:

The Problem is, I've been thinking about a short title/name, that pretty much sums everything up what this Arena has to offer. However, calling it "Custom Arena" or "Foresty Arena" is kinda lame and too generic.

However, thanks alot for your contribution ^^ I definatly like the word "Bloodbath" ;D However, yet again, it doesn't sum up everything =/
Keep it coming, however

EDIT; How about Suicide Garden
or... Fields of Bloodshed
or... something ;D

 

[Hatebreeder]

Update Time:

Added Life-Steal Instructions.
Add a New Hero, Arcane Elemental.
Added a New Command, "-stats".
Made spells cost mana. Some heroes are able to unfold now.
Overall playable on Battle.net; No more lag and understandable Tooltips.

What to expect in the next Update:

Creep/Neutral Unit AI and abilities.
Balancing/skill overhaul.
Terrain/Environment improvements.

After the next update, I'll be working on each of the hero's 4th ability. Though they won't be ultimates, just a standard-type ability that synergizes with the corresponding hero.

Just on a Side Note: What do you think about Cloth, Leather and Plated armor for creeps? Cloth reduces Magic Damage heavily. Leather reduces magic and physical damage slightly and greatly reduces damage from crits and Plate reduces physical damage heavily.

EDIT: Updated first Post

 

[Mr.Tutorial]

The Problem is, I've been thinking about a short title/name, that pretty much sums everything up what this Arena has to offer. However, calling it "Custom Arena" or "Foresty Arena" is kinda lame and too generic.

However, thanks alot for your contribution ^^ I definatly like the word "Bloodbath" ;D However, yet again, it doesn't sum up everything =/
Keep it coming, however

EDIT; How about Suicide Garden
or... Fields of Bloodshed
or... something ;D

Uhhm those last suggestions sound pretty cool, of course I don't really know exactly how your map is going to be, but I got some more suggestions...

Untold War
Legendaries/Legendary
Retaliation
Blood & Gore
Number One Hero
Star Player
Star Hero
Plains of Despair
Alone in the Dark (Only if no interactive gameplay)
Stay Protected

Just some more...

 

[Hatebreeder]

Uhhm those last suggestions sound pretty cool, of course I don't really know exactly how your map is going to be, but I got some more suggestions...

Untold War
Legendaries/Legendary
Retaliation
Blood & Gore
Number One Hero
Star Player
Star Hero
Plains of Despair
Alone in the Dark (Only if no interactive gameplay)
Stay Protected

Just some more...

Do you listen to Metalcore? ;D
Ive heard a majourity of these in Lyrics... Anyhow, Retailiation sounds awesome ;D Blood and Gore is also cool, however a bit too generic =S

EDIT: Quick Update on Progress:

- Reduced the types of creeps from totally random into Golem/Troll/Wolf monsters. Why? Because I'm making a complete AI for all those and giving them appropriet skills. In addition, I will have to buff the Hero stats a bit, so that one won't die like flies.

- Working on Terrain variety. I changed the concept of the terrain from symetry into something a bit more random. Will be updating the first post with snapshots of it when It's playable.

One thing is still left to debate:
Should I implement "Creep Armor"?

For example: Golems will have Heavy Creep-Armor, reducing physical damage by approx. 25% and Magic only by 7%
Wolves will have Medium Creep-Armor, reducing physical and magical damage by 14%, and crits by 21%
Trolls will have Light Creep-Armor, reducing magic damage by 25% and physical damage only by 7%

I'll have to experiment with the numbers, but I think once everything is balanced out, it will bring great variety and one WILL have to adapt to certain strategies to kill that type of monster instead of relying on either pure physical or magical damage output.
However, it might also kill the fun in playing with other players, since you'd not only have to find a counter build for their hero, but also adapt into a more all-round type to effectivly be able to level.

Your thoughts ?

 

[Hatebreeder]

Small announcement,
Since school will start about tomarrow, I will cease the work on the map a bit.

So, there will be more time to resolve this issue about the Creep Armor =)
Though, Terrain and AI have made progress. Now, Trolls and Wolves need abilities =P

 

[esb]

Bloodstained Field. =]

Awesome map btw.

 

[Hatebreeder]

Bloodstained Field. =]

Awesome map btw.

If you don't mind, I'll use that name then =)

Now now, I have 1 Ability for Golems and also their AI.
Basically, that Golem throws a rock towards you and stuns for 2 seconds and deals damage on impact.

I've thought about giving wolves a passive that lets them deal 3% of the attacked unit Max. Life in Bonus damage.

And for the trolls, a passive that actives every time they get attacked. Increases their attack and movement speed for a short duration.

Sounds good?

EDIT: Added a few in-game screen shots of the new terrain featuring a few abilities =)
I've been doing some Bug/Glitch fixes today and I have, afaik, eliminated all the flaws. Expect a new Version featuring a new terrain and some more balance along with various fixes tomarrow :3

 

[Hatebreeder]

Update:

I haven't been able to finish the Troll/wolf skills yet, however, they are still in progress and will be done by the next update.

Features in this Version:
- An actual Map Name xD "Bloodstained Fields"
- Remade terrain into something more interesting and difficult to maneuver ( Sight restrictions etc. )
- Buffed initial hero stats slightly. No more dying too early because of creep overpower
- Balanced a few skills ( in mana cost, damage and cooldown )
- slightly altered creep armor reduction rate ( creep reduce now 1 - 7% approx. and can reduce up to 10% of incoming damage )

In the next version, I will be working on the 4th skill of each existing hero. However, I'm not very sure, if it should be an ultimate, or not, since the balancing will be kinda difficult ( I want to avoid 1 hit kills as much as possible ).

I'll update the thread when I've made up my mind ( regarding the ultimate issue ). First post has been updated.


Cheers !

 

[Hatebreeder]

Dropping by for a short update on Progress.

- Lightning Mage's 4th Ability, "Electromagnetic Fence" is completed.
- Collossus 4th Ability, "Run Wild" is in making

- reduced the amount of creeps spawning per player playing and removed creeps above level 6
- Added a small functionality to "-duel". Reduces the remaining time for each player who typed in "-duel" by 10 seconds and instead of having the duel time increase linear to the number of players playing, it is set to a static 85 seconds

- A small functionality that hinders creeps from spawning in your field of vision is in development
- Reduced stun duration of the Golems "Throw Rock" ability from 2 seconds to 0.75 seconds

//======================================

"Electromagnetic Fence", creates a wall of electricity that damages any unit that passes through it. A unit that passes through the fence recieves a debuff that stuns that unit for 2.75 seconds after 5 seconds. That unit can be effected by the fence as long as it doesn't have that debuff ( So, even if there are multiple Lightning Mages, only one debuff can be in effect, which nullifies the effect of other fences )

"Run Wild", causes the Collossus to run faster as long as he is moving and deals damage and stuns depending on how fast he was moving on collision with an enemy unit. He is more difficult to controll the longer he moves.

//=======================================

Any Ability Ideas for existing Heroes are greatly appriciated as well as Bug reports or comments =)

Cheers !

EDIT: Run Wild is coded and works =)
next will be working on "Demortalize"

EDIT: Creeps no longer spawn in your field of vision and creep "groups" no longer can be made. They are more or less equally spread throughout the map. Fixed a bug that doesn't tally your Item scores. Sounds should be working as well.

Expect the first Beta version coming out sometime around net week

EDIT: Yet again a minor update on Progress; The 4th Ability for the Lightning Mage, The Collossus, Death's Advocate and the Arcane Elemental are finished. However, I'm lacking Ideas for the 4th ability of the other heroes, but Void Mage.

She'll have "Concentrate" =)
Basically, as long as she remains out of combat, she builds up magic power that make her spells stronger. Maximum of 100% bonus Spell Power. Gains 2%/second.

Plus, I've deceided not to give the trolls and the wolves any abilities. Golems are powerfull enough. Also raised the minimum creep level to 4, and maximum to 6. This way, grinding your levels in early game and mid game will be a breeze, but you'd have to focus on enemy players in late game (because you don't gain EXP by one hitting creeps ). Made the creep limit have a higher initial count, but lower increase per player.

Also have done quite a bit of balancing. If progress keeps up, I'll be soon be able to announce the BETA =)

 

[Zack1996]

Hey Hatebreeder! Here's a replay for you

Its only a 2-player game though, but it stretched for a good 40 minutes.
Some things I noted:
Evasion. This has got to be tweaked. Its annoying as hell when someone dodges your 1.5k damage spell. The guy playing Lightning Mage (my brother) got pissed off when I dodged his spells 2-3 times in a row.

Intelligence stacking. This is ridiculously strong on some heroes, and buying more spell power via tomes makes the damage outright epic.

Tomes aren't cleaned up properly. You still have those tiny little SFX on the ground that causes some lag after it builds up.
Vexorian has this little system that cleans it up: http://www.wc3c.net/showthread.php?p=1110651

I really like the gameplay, rather fast and high-skilled. One thing I would like to see changed is the revive time. It is rather long and makes it extremely difficult to keep the game in constant action, may be different in 5+ player games, though.

Really enjoyed the map, and so did my brother

 

[Hatebreeder]

Hey Hatebreeder! Here's a replay for you

Its only a 2-player game though, but it stretched for a good 40 minutes.
Some things I noted:
Evasion. This has got to be tweaked. Its annoying as hell when someone dodges your 1.5k damage spell. The guy playing Lightning Mage (my brother) got pissed off when I dodged his spells 2-3 times in a row.

Intelligence stacking. This is ridiculously strong on some heroes, and buying more spell power via tomes makes the damage outright epic.

Tomes aren't cleaned up properly. You still have those tiny little SFX on the ground that causes some lag after it builds up.
Vexorian has this little system that cleans it up: http://www.wc3c.net/showthread.php?p=1110651

I really like the gameplay, rather fast and high-skilled. One thing I would like to see changed is the revive time. It is rather long and makes it extremely difficult to keep the game in constant action, may be different in 5+ player games, though.

Really enjoyed the map, and so did my brother

Yeah, It's not easy to tweak things on my own.
I'm glad you liked it though =) Gives me the motivation to work harder on it =)

Thanks for the Tomes leaks =)
Really saved my life there

Also, I will change the revive time. Is a static revive time OK? Or should it be higher, the higher Level you are?

EDIT: Changed revive Factors to flatter amounts.
Finished "concentrate";

Only 5 more abilities to go.
I need an Idea for Blade Master, Stone Guardian, Vampyre, Blade Mistress, Warlord.

I thought about making a passive for Stone Guardian, that builds up a stone skin every 8 seconds which block any incoming damage. The Skin cannot rebuild unless you remain out of combat for 18 seconds. Skin would regenerate as long as it's still there. (ex. You can shield off the next 150 damage, but only recieve 100. Your shield would still have 50 HP. You remain out of combat for 2 seconds, which would roughly heal the shield for 15 or such so the shield can block the next 65 damage).

The Shields "life" would be based off of MaxHP of the Stone Guardian (Ex. 2000 HP, 10% of it would be 200 which is weaker than all the other damage shields, but it would block any type of damage and has a "healing" aspect to it.

However, considering he's a spell caster, he might turn out a bit weak, since his primary damage spells are somewhat weak ( depending on how acurate and how lucky you are ) and he already has a protective aspect to him (Knockback passive).

So, I'll leave this out for a while. Until I (or someone else) has a better Idea.

I've thought about giving the vampire a sort of "rush" spell (running through units, dealing damage and healing for a % of the total damage dealt). however, that would make him slightly overpowered, since he is almost invincible once he can corner his target and/or stay in range.

For the Blade Master, I've thought about giving him a ranged projectile attack that deals damage and destroys a portion of the damaged unit's mana pool. Yet again, he already has an ability to reduce the range to a target unit and once a caster is hit by him, there is almost no chance for him to get by without having to cast. And Casting = Stun and Mana usage = More damage via Vortex.

As for the Blase Mistress, she is really, really effective against any overpowered physical dps hero. So, I've thought about giving her something like a buzz saw (A projectile that sways around herself on a chain that cuts any enemy unit that comes in contact with the saw. Range of the Saw would be adjustable). However, it doesn't offer any synergy with her other abilities and also similar to her Cross Edge ability.

The Warlord does pretty decent in anything. I've thought about giving him a line "smash" ability which knocks units into the air, but then again, it's similar to "violent awakening". Don't have any other ideas for him.

As for Progress:
- Changed the revive time to a flatter factor ( ~ 100 total spent points result in 10 seconds revive time )
- tweaked creeps

 

[BlackRose]

Nice abilities and everything. But most of the people got bored and didn't feel anything was happening (or so it seemed, or maybe that was me).

Personally - while everything was nicely triggered, I didn't find much fun. I got bored, I was even going to say "Bored" and leave the game. It's in a early stage of development, but that's just how I feel towards the map at the moment.

A few AIDS errors appeared in-game, I think with that Cest Shield (the one that reduces damage and then nova's outwards)

Here is a replay:
Filepath: Maps\Temp\BloodstainedField

 

[Hatebreeder]

Nice abilities and everything. But most of the people got bored and didn't feel anything was happening (or so it seemed, or maybe that was me).

Personally - while everything was nicely triggered, I didn't find much fun. I got bored, I was even going to say "Bored" and leave the game. It's in a early stage of development, but that's just how I feel towards the map at the moment.

A few AIDS errors appeared in-game, I think with that Cest Shield (the one that reduces damage and then nova's outwards)

Here is a replay:
Filepath: Maps\Temp\BloodstainedField

Yeah, I fixed all those errors. But I didn't upload the latest version (due to imcomplete content).
I guess I know what you mean.
However, there will be much more content coming up and a few handy functions along with a few fun games modes (like, Sudden Death, Boss Battle, etc. ).

But for now, I want to keep the Arena aspects and complete all the heroes, as well as publish a stable version.

 

[Hatebreeder]

Alright, in 2 weeks my Autmn Vacations begins - and guess what ? I'll be having a great amount of time on my hands to use for this map.

So, a few skill Ideas for the heroes mentioned in my last update would be great =) Helps me reduce the time thinking about synergy and abilities and what not.

Thats all,
Cheers !

 

[Hatebreeder]

Yet again, a minor update:
- I've completed Warlord's 4th Ability: Blunt Punishment
- Added a few edited units to the neutral units composition

 

[Hatebreeder]

Well...
I havn't released anything for a while now.
So I've deceided to release the recent version, though it's still unfinished.

I've also had a change of Names; The Map is now called Suicide Garden.

Updated first post.

EDIT: Next, I'll be making the Vamypre's 4th Skill, "Carnophobiate" ( A made-up word ). Basically, the Vampyre will rush towards a target units, dealing damage on impact. Casting this will consume a great amount of HP (to avoid spam casting) and deals 75% of the health consumed in damage. This way, all the life-draining abilities will have to be in constant balance with regular attacks. Expect some pretty cool effect for this =)

 

[Hatebreeder]

Coded and balanced as far as I could.

Here, some results of the effect;

Spoiler

Now, any Ideas for the other Heroes?