Introduction
I feel like HOTS would probably be the most capable moba to support a campaign, as its already taken characters from other campaigns and mashed them together successfully furthermore, HOTS has had PvE events that have been quite fun and interesting to play. Ive already made the suggestion of making a campaign, I just think it would be fun to think of an optimal way to implement it.
Ways to Implement Progression
Theres only a few ways I could think to successfully implement a campaign in a moba:- This ones pretty obvious, but just do it similarly to warcrafts, you level up, you gain more talents throughout the rest of the campaign, this xp however would also probably apply to the party of people you may or may not be playing with, but maybe divided by the total amount of players.
- Now this one is a bit different, Starcraft 2’s “Wings of Liberty” campaign was probably the best campaign for an rts ever, moba is a pretty similar genre so just shoving in the choice of missions and the upgrade system might just make it work.
- This one likely wont work, however simply having no xp generation and instead getting talents for completing bonus objectives on missions
- Having no progression might also be a possibility and just slowly ramping up the difficulty for a level 20 character.
How to implement Levels
Personally I think the best way to implement levels would be to have a choice of a large array of levels most of which could probably just be mostly copied from other games, such as just simply adding some of diablo's dungeons with hots components instead, level design should not be difficult because it can simply be stolen from other blizzard games.
The three games that should probably have levels are Starcraft, Diablo and warcraft, the rest would be difficult to implement in large scales but could probably have bonus levels pertaining to them after completing certain levels.
Choosing Levels
There should probably be an order of levels in all 3 of the main titles, not all levels need to be implemented at once they could be slowly trickled out through every update. There should be a choice between picking the next in line starcraft mission, the next in line diablo mission and the next in line warcraft mission, with additional options for bonus levels you might've unlocked through completing bonus objectives.
Design of Each game
Starcraft should likely be objective focused as it is in its own campaign, Diablo should be dungeon crawler based levels cuz duh. And Warcraft probably a mix of both with some pick a path based levels. Overwatch should have a couple bonus missions mixed in after a certain number of missions have been beaten, overwatch probably having the most uniquely designed levels, and TLV maybe having a single level baked in somewhere.The SC1 Missions
Desperate Alliance
Game: Starcraft 1 Original
This mission would be a defense style mission where tons of zerg (probably braxis’s) get sent across the map at your base and you have to hold them all off, the entire map doesn’t need to be revealed only the defensive area and probably a small portion of the zerg base where a bonus objective will be.
The zerg should probably only be able to send hydralisks zerglings and maybe banelings, kerrigans torasque could be the bonus objective, the level of the enemy team could increase over time, and perhaps the torasque will attack later on in the mission, so killing it early could be very beneficial.
Jacobs Installation
Game: Starcraft 1 Original
This mission probably works fine as it is in the original game, it is mostly just a dungeon crawler where you go through teleporters and try and gain secret weapon files contained in the facility as the zerg are invading outside, however, In this iteration the zerg should probably play a part as to set a time limit on the mission, the zerg might send attacks throughout the facility attacking both the confederate forces and your own, the bonus objective for this mission is to aquire the weapon files, the main objective is attempting to escape.
New Gettysberg
Game: Starcraft 1 Original
This mission will introduce my idea of the main villain of the starcraft universe…Time traveling hydralisk…Since this is all in the nexus, others may have travelled with you, one of whome is the time travelling hydralisk, where the terrans would normally have only a small zerg hive on the planet sending units at your base, and getting contested by the protoss, the time travelling hydralisk decided to call in reinforcements, and overan the terran position immediately, only a small outpost of terrans remain aswell as the protoss base, to correct the timeline, your crew of heroes has to repair the psi emitter before the zerg leave.
The protoss and zerg are constantly duking it out, making the best idea to wait for the two to crash there armies into eachother before sneaking around the back, the protoss should probably be using mostly hero units, a few auto attack fenix's and artanis low level still though to ensure they dont just roll your dudes (who should be about level 3 or so probably)
The bonus objective for this map is to eliminate the protoss, this can be before or after repairing the psi emitter.
The Final SC1 Mission
A wound in the Timeline
Game: Nexus
This mission is going to be a more in depth introduction to the time travelling hydralisk, you find out in this mission he escaped from braxis holdout's containment.
In this mission the Time Travelling hydralisk has revealed to a cerebrete the location of the dominion flagship hyperion which is the flagship that raynor ends up flying which leads to the end result of un-infesting kerrigan
The objective is to save the Engines from being destroyed by a large boarding party sent by the cerebrete which entered through a hole in the ship created by scourge detonations. The time travelling hydralisk is leading the charge but escapes after you fend off the attacks to the engines, each engine likely has several entranceways and there probably is about 3 total engines, the attack waves likely will be ultra ling hydra. With Zagara’s hunter killers occasionally also helping out, the enemy team probably should be about level 16 as to have the hunter killers have decent hp and damage
More scourge holes will be blown into the ship throughout the missions allowing for more spread of the boarding party, after about 15 minutes the ship will get its jump drive online and jump away allowing you to win the mission, the time travelling hydralisk will jump into a rift and into another timeline.
Starcraft 2 Missions
Smash and grab
Game: Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty
In smash and grab the mission objective typically is to defeat the protoss before the zerg do and run away with the artifact, however, in this instance, the time travelling hydralisk has gotten the support of various pirate groups from deadmans port and has made a notable reputation as a smuggler, in this mission you are setup in a position near the artifact, the protoss attack you the entire mission with a few artanis and fenix level 1 heroes.
The only side the really does attack you however is the bottom, as the top is getting attacked by the pirate group, level 4 jim raynors tychus findly's and seargent hammers, the ai controlling the terran forces will group up for a final assault (which will certainly kill you if large enough) after killing the protoss base, the terrans will also defend by sieging up there sgt hammers in seemingly random locations, while escorting them with there jim raynors tychus findly's and other mercs
The protoss will mostly just all in you, randomly warping in fenix's and having a few respawning artanis's, the base itself is guarded by a large amount of non-timing-out probius structures including a few null gates
At the end of the mission, the protoss will send an assault with a couple of probius's that will push the power field up and try and cannon rush you, while the terran unsieges all of there sgt hammers and a-moves you.
Supernova
Game: Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty
The Time Travelling hydralisk and his now time travelling pirate gang, are trying to steal the artifact on xil before the star even starts going supernova, your squad of heroes starts on the underside of the protoss main base, and the pirate group drops on the top of it, the protoss base is defended by some tassadars in permanant archon form, some artanis's, some fenix's and a large amount of probius structures that don't time out, the pirate group has a few morales's a few raynor's and a few blaze's, the objective is to reach the artifact first, however occasionally the pirate side will try and attack your heroes aswell to slow your progress, you have complete vision of the pirates side of the map to see there progress
There should probably be one trigger that ups the pressure, above the first top base, there is a spot on the map notorious for cheesing the mission with siegetanks, the pirates should drop a graduating range hammer in that nook I cant find an image for it, but essentially its a giant crater the protoss cant reach, but is in range of the final objective with a siegetank. The total unit count for the pirates should be low as they are level 7
The AI of the pirate units should also improve, although it wouldn't be some crazy improvement, perhaps forcing the raynor to use W and E when off cooldown, morales to be able to use Q on heroes below full hp, and tychus being able to use his spread attack ability.
The bonus objective should be picking up protoss artifacts in the top (aka where the pirates attack), this would require someone to stealthily manuever through the pirates attack waves and not get harassed by any remaining protoss. This bonus objective would allow the use of fenix as after piecing apart all the broken protoss technology, you can replicate a dragoon.
The Outlaws
Game: Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty
In starcraft 2 this is the second mission in the game, you get very basic units and try and takeout a dominion outpost to haul the first peace of the xelnaga artifact away, however, the dominion outpost has been destroyed, surprisingly enough not by the time travelling hydralisk and his gang, but by the Scourge who have somehow travelled to this reality.
The scourge led by the lich king himself, have a base fortified by ghouls and beetles, the objective of this mission is to destroy the scourge stronghold and take the artifact for yourself, however the time travelling hydralisk, also searching for the artifacts will come after 15 minutes of game time to also try and clear out you and the scourge base.
The bonus objective for this mission is to save a small raiding party led by tychus findly that have been pinned down deep in the scourge's base. Doing so will add tychus findly to your roster.