Best campaign and why? [Spoilers]

Campaign Discussion
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A-You will never get involved strongly one way or the other when it comes to LotV for obvious reasons.
B-WoL is fun and diverse. It doesn’t have the best customization, but the gameplay delivers. Yeah Maw of the Void exists, but in terms of gameplay there are my personal gems - Trains (I play without Tanks, I can do that mission on Brutal with all achievements without too much practise), Welcome to the Jungle, Supernova (my personal, not too popular in general I think), Safe Haven (FOR GAMEPLAY).
C-WoL has high highs and low lows and some prefer this over HotS with next to no good stuff and LotV has that big freaking brown stain at the end. Even the gameplay of the last mission is arguably the worst in the whole freaking saga. That guy from deathless run said it best. You kill some rocks and the mission doesn’t even have a score screen.

Forum Mod Edit: This post has been edited by a moderator due to language. Forum Code of Conduct - Blizzard Support

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I will admit that I found the gameplay of WoL fun. Especially the replayability. However, in my opinion, that’s not enough to make up for how pointless most of the campaign felt from a storytelling standpoint.

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And that’s where differences in priorities come in. I understand why you’d prefer other campaigns and I suppose you know why I prefer WoL (and NCO, because NCO’s only fault is small size).

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Warning: Wall of text coming.

I’ve ranked all four Campaigns in several categories and gave 4 to 1 points each. The Campaign with most points wins. So here goes:

Gameplay/Levels:

Wings of Liberty - 4 points:
For me Wings of Liberty is a clear winner in this category. Every chapter is unique and original. You always have a lot of fun with all the main objectives that are vastly different in every chapter, as well as with the optionals that make you explore the whole map. For me, the Terrans are also the most fun faction to play. So the Wings of Liberty wins here.

Heart of the Swarm - 3 points:
This was a close one. Ultimately Heart of the Swarm is the second best, sure some chapters are reused mechanics from WoL, but the thing that made it better that LotV is Warcraft 3’s gameplay style of a hero centric gameplay. I find it really fun destroying the whole enemy base with a 55+ level Kerrigan. And also I find the Zerg more fun to play than the Protoss.

Legacy of the Void - 2 points:
As with the HotS, many chapters are reused mechanics from WoL and even HotS. While really interesting, I guess that Spear of Adun system is a bit less fun than Kerrigan. Also I find the Protoss the least fun to play, with all of their expensive stuff, and slow moving units. The thing that Prologue, main Campaign and the Epilogue are different from one another is kinda stupid. You already played the full Protoss tech tree in the Prologue, and then you have tutorial missions in the main. Kinda rediculous.

Nova Covert Ops - 1 point:
I didn’t like the gameplay here that much. Some chapters are basically a TPS, which I kinda don’t like. It’s obviouse that the Campaign was made after the canceled Starcraft Ghost FPS. I also don’t like that you don’t have some 30% of possible units, and the zerg coming to you almost all the time, with mostly weak Zerglings and Hydralisks.

Campaign Design/Structure:

Wings of Liberty - 4 points:
Again, Wings of Liberty wins here clearly. I just love the Hyperion and how it’s designed. You have four rooms, an arcade, news, people talking. Everything looks so lively. I just love the armory and laboritory systems, for you to choose on which type of units you wanna focus on. I love that there’s no turning back, so you have to think wisely. It’s awesome that you can choose whatever chain you wanna play, whenever, and you don’t have to stick with a mission chain like in other Campaigns. I also love that you have Zeratul’s mission chain, so that you don’t play with the Terrans all the time. The coolest thing, that other Campaigns lack, is choosing a mission. It just works well, and makes the Campaign more interesting.

Legacy of the Void - 3 points:
The Spear of Adun is a clear downgrade from the Hyperion. Only three rooms, and the Protoss behave like standing toys. The missions are spearated into planet chains, but not strictly following the chain, an improvement to HotS, but a downgrade from WotL. The thing that you can change your upgrades whenever you want is kinda a dull, and makes you not think as much, and not focus on a particular unit.

Heart of the Swarm - 2 points:
Again the Leviathan is a clear step down from the Spear of Adun. You have only two rooms and the characters there are more like toys. Kerrigan levels is a nice mechanic, however being able to change her abilities is kinda lame. I love the evolution missions and that you can’t change the chain, though. Also having to stick with missions of a single chain is kinda worse that being able to choose whatever chapter you like.

Nova Covert Ops - 1 point:
The Campaign doesn’t even have it’s ship. I mean it does, but it only appears in cutscenes. Both Nova System and Upgrades System is kinda lame to me. Why couldn’t you have both upgrades on a single unit, when you already did have that in WoL. Nova’s weapons and such also aren’t that good to me.

Story: (even I was shocked here)

Heart of the Swarm - 4 points:
Yep, a shock even for me. I hated it for the first time I played it, many things didn’t make sense to me, but now I think it’s story is the best of all the other Campaigns. First of all it has the best intro cinematic by far. Unlike other Campaigns, this one basically has only one character, Kerrigan, the others being almost non existent or her mind slaves. But it was done increadably well. You can really feel her character, her struggle between a human Sarah Kerrigan and the vicious Queen of Blades. I guess, I’m just a succer for that type of story, sacrifice everything to get your revenge, on one hand. And excepting who you are and use all of your assets on the other. It felt really good to finally deal with a big bady of Starcraft, and finally kill Mengsk. And the scene where Kerrigan, as Queen of Blades again, reunites with Raynor, and says something like “this is me, love me for who I am, or leave me”, pure badass.

Wings of Liberty - 3 points:
Yes, I’m a big fan of Star Wars. And Terrans being based on Starwars, it really felt like playing in the middle of Starwars. Like in Star Wars, you’re a rebel, an outlaw, fighting the evil futuristic, dystopian, dictatorship. While on the other hand having to deal with an alien invasion. Apart from Raynor, there are many other characters, Finley, Horner, Swann, Stentmen, Mira, Dr. Hanson, Tosh and Nova, Valeryan. And all of them are well done, and coordinate well together. I especially love Jim, how he becomes a heroic fegure, leading the rebellion and almost succeding, but being willing to throw it all away, so he could save civillians and people from the Zerg, and save the love of his life.

Legacy of the Void - 2 points:
Unlike WoL, here the chracters weren’t written that well. All of them are one dimensional, and frenkly some times even boring to watch. I don’t like the stuff about the prophecies of Xel’naga gods, the evil gods controling their minds etc… I think Amon is a weak villain compared to the Emperor Mangsk. I do like the part of all the Protoss uniting, but overall I’m not really a fan of this whole story. I’m generally also not a fan of super inteligent high tech alien stories, so that might be a factor.

Nova Cover Ops - 1 point:
To me the story was kinda lame. Whiping out the memories and emperial rebels that control the Zerg, like Mengsk did, kinda reusing stuff. I just liked this one least of all.

Visuals/Terrain:

Nova Covert Ops - 4 points:
Visually this one is the most stunning of them all. Every chapter was visually stunning and diverse, from the beach resort world, through a magical purple world, Zerg infested city worlds to grand imperial palaces. This one wins in this category.

Legacy of the Void - 3 points:
I really love the looks of all the Protoss worlds. Aiur looks stunning, Shakuras stunning and misterious at the same time, evil Tal’darim world and the sci fi flying Purifier World. I also love the visual destinction of the Protoss.

Heart of the Swarm - 2 points:
Zerus looks wonderful and awesome. The rest are kinda basic, Korhal looks awesome too though.

Wings of Liberty - 1 point:
This one is the most basic, some levels like the one where you destroy everything with the Odin or the space prison or the one where you mine terazine do look lovely, but most of them are kinda basic. I guess it’s cause this was the first Campaign they made.

Final Score:
Wings of Liberty - 12 points
Heart of the Swarm - 11 points
Legacy of the Void - 10 points
Nova Covert Ops - 7 points

TL;DR The winner is Wings of Liberty!

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A little thought for Skehan, banned for a day because of the F-word

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Warcraft 3 is balanced around every faction having a hero. In HotS Kerrigan makes every mission way too easy because the enemy has no counterplay.

Mengsk who was beaten 3 times in a row in Brood War, was helpless against the Swarm in WoL. How can he be the Big Bad in a Zerg campaign without feeling way out of his League ? Even when talking about the character angle, Kerrigan got her revenge in BW in a more brutal and satisfactory way, humiliating Mengsk by backstabbing him the same way Mengsk backstabbed her, showing her growth. In HotS, she just uses
brute force, and Mengsk actually outsmarts her like he did in Sc1, the only difference being that this time Raynor was there, it’s actually a regression.

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protoss are not flat at all they are just stoics, they reflect and avoid unnecessary conflict except Alarak who deals with it, Amon is a real threat compared to Mengs the only problem is that it is really stuck in Kerrigan’s mind, Amon by at least it raises a Nihilist-Buddhist-existentialist philosophy, the last evil the annihilation of existence the benefact of the void, which questions that the life of billions of beings revolve around the xelnagas although it has the same level of hypocrisy as Mengs is not reduced someone with megalomany who managed to feign idealism to carry out a revenge … wait Amon is Mengs on an existential scale

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Ahh… I’m too late… Now, I’ll never know Brother Bifrost thought as it is written…

What! No, buddy, just no. Nova’s Weapon is definitely, objectively, the most awesome thing in existence.

Is it, though? Buddhism is about end of suffering, but it’s about ending your own suffering. And maybe help other with theirs, but only if they give you explicit plea for it.

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The ones I most want to replay, recently having done all four, are LotV>Nova>WoL>HotS

While I appreciate HotS having more big macro maps (multiple bases, much money) than WoL, zerg just isn’t as fun as in SC1. Except Kerrigan spawning banelings–that’s glorious. Massing lings and hydras is way more fun in SC1–sound effects, attack animations, and the ability to send endless units where even on suicide runs against brutal aoe like psi-storm and reavers, you could wear down the enemy.

LotV and Nova have the best of both worlds, with fun units and maps where you can build up huge armies and a-move to victory, like it should be.

If like me, you only care to replay on Hard, two missions stand out as “turn it up to brutal for this one”:

The Tosh mission
HotS last mission

The last HotS mission feels like you finally get to play SC2 zerg the way it was meant to be played.

As far as story alone, Nova Covert Ops>WoL>LotV~HotS

The supporting zerg characters had annoying, grating voices, and LotV was a bit too “en taro everybody!” Thank goodness for Alarak.

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Story: HOTS < NCO < LOTV < WOL

Achievements difficulty (easiest to hardest): NCO < HOTS < LOTV < WOL

Favourite to play: HOTS < WOL < LOTV < NCO

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LOTV > HOTS > WOL > NCO. Based on funness.

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I can tell you don’t find Terrans fun.

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hmngh, nova is my favourite coop commander though…

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Then why would you rate her mission pack so low? Even lower than HotS? That’s sacrilege!!!

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Just thought the story was dumb honestly. And I didn’t find the missions fun, too much timed stuff.

On the contrary, I love HotS. I find both LOTV and HOTS to be immensely fun although HOTS was too short, and WoL to be only pretty fun. NCO was kind of unfun.

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Too much timed stuff? I’ll admit I didn’t like a lot of the hard or soft timer missions, but at least they change up gameplay.

If it was like SC1 or BW without timers, everyone would turtle behind bunkers and tanks / lurkers, sunkens, and spores / cannons for 20 minutes until one amasses a 200/200 army and then F2-A. Doing that for 86 missions straight would get really boring really quickly.

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HotS has incredibly dull gameplay. Outside of the Niadra and Bone Trench missions, there is zero new stuff.

1st mission is tutorial, nothing great, nothing terrible.
2nd mission - dungeon crawler and not an impressive one, but hey it’s an early mission. Still it’s not exactly Piercing the Shroud, In the Enemy’s Shadow or Templar’s Return.
3rd mission - like nothing wrong with it again, but definitely the weakest 3rd mission of the main saga. Zero Hour is a fun holdout and Spear of Adun gets the nod of being surprisingly difficult on Brutal.

Kaldir 1 - alright flash freezes are cool, this one’s fairly high
Kaldir 2 - Not memorable, but a very good early mid campaign mission.
Kaldir 3 - Finishes off the best gamplay arc in the installment with a very intriguing take on a dungeon crawler.

Char 1 - I have been to Stratholme before.
Char 2 - really cool gimmick and a nice way to teach players to spread creep.
Char 3 - big army pushing into giant base. Hm. Ok.

Zerus 1 - Welcome to the Jungle. Except boring, because Mutas make it too easy. Also, poor design because Primals don’t even have an actual base unlike Tal’Darim on Bel’Shir.
Zerus 2 - All In lite, although bonus points for not having Kerrigan.
Zerus 3 - Oh a Diablo mission.

Space 1 - Kind of an Arcade mission, but hey I don’t mind one like that.
Space 2 - Dungeon crawler with a big emphasis on Kerrigan. Yay…

Skygeirr 1 - Gas was a cool mechanic. Kind of a reverse flash freeze.
Skygeirr 2 - Mission where you need only 4 units - Brutalisks, Kerrigan, Leviathan.
Skygeirr 3 - KAMEHAMEHAMEHAMEHA. Good thing we’re playing with Stukov who isn’t so bonkers.

Korhal 1,3 - I don’t mind macro mission where you push slowly into the enemy, but honestly? Give me some damn challenge.
Korhal 2 - I have been to Dalaran before.

Evo missions suck from gameplay point of view. They are good flavour though.

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Whoa, not prepared to argue or analyse big guy, I just enjoyed it.

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No problemo. Just giving my two cents. Or twenty cents.

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I finished the campaigns a week ago and for me

  1. Wings of liberty because I liked the choice system between what upgrades you want. Gameplay was really fun and I was enjoying it especially at the end where you have a choice what you don’t want to fight in the last mission between air units or ground units. I love the characters in the campaign like Swann or jim or tychus. I like the story because at the beginning I thought we would kill Kerrigan in the final mission as she is the main villain and only later it changed to saving her after Zeratul arrived and I was wondering how will Jim save her from her Zerg state.

2 Lotv it was fun. I love the characters especially Alarak. Wasn’t a fan of the Units system where I could change them whenever I want as I didn’t think what’s best or worst because I could swap it after a mission and had no consequences. Story was good but I am just sad that Zeratul dies early in the campaign but the ending where every protoss faction like the taldarim unite against Amon was really cool

3 Hots and Nova I don’t love hots because Kerrigan is just OP especially after unlocking her final ability where she can summon zerg and I felt that I don’t have to protect my base or make units because she can summon like 20 different zerg with a 3 minute cooldown I believe it is. I didn’t like the characters except for Zagara and Stukov. And story was just bad like where she does everything in the campaigns just to get vengeance and thereby revealing what will happen in the final mission where she just attacks Augustgrad and gets revenge. And she willingly infested herself again and thereby forgetting everything Jim did to restore her Humanity. I hate the Unit missions I thought it was only a waste of time. And Nova I didn’t played because I am not a fan of her and I am really not interested in her.