We still have a lot of Ultimates that have a 180 second CD.
I think the cap should between 140-160 seconds, so we can actually see some play of these spells, most of them are channels that get canceled within 1-2 seconds of use.
But we will see how this goes now that you can cast Earthquake and Volcano over your own units.
Other than that there are still a few things that should be changed:
#1 Tornado should move slightly faster now that duration is halved. This is because the cast range is terrible. I tested in PTR and its not that effective (actually sorceress invis and tornado in base is ruthless), I guess its how you use it now.
#2 Why does Tornado go from 200 to 125 mana on an INT hero, while Volcano on Fire Lord is still 200 mana cost? He is an AGI hero and lava spawn costs 150 mana, which is already burdensome for him.
#3 Animate dead doesn’t need a buff, but it should at least reanimate units with attack upgrades accordingly. I know DK is already strong but this is probably the worst ultimate hands down in the game currently. Increase mana cost to 150.
That is really all I have to say in regard about Ultimate abilities.
1 Like
At this point there are many ultimate abilities which are kinda meh. Like Tornado, Volcano, Stampede (which wasn’t changed at all?). Redesigning, buffing them all into something as useful as Mass Teleport, Avatar or Tranqulity is quite a big task.
I think Earthquake is very interesting now. For the same cost as Chain lightning, you get a 75% slow on the entire army. Orc already has an abundance of options to catch up to the opponent. This ultimate to me is going to force a Town Portal every time unless the Orc is losing the engagement, at which point Orc isn’t going to channel Earthquake anyway. I’m sure this will turn out a much bigger change than it appears right now.
I agree on Animate Dead. The argument that the DK gets an awful ultimate doesn’t hold up as there are tons of equally strong heroes who have game-changing ultimates. Alchemist, Archmage, Mountain King, Tauren Chieftain etc come to mind.
I already suggested multiple approaches:
You could remove the invulnerability on animated units and have them be raised with armor and attack damage upgrades and a flat 20% movement speed and attack speed for 60 seconds. That way they would be able to absorb damage and deal a lot of damage. Absorbing damage is what this ultimate ability needs to do. Because while you spend mana on Animate Dead, you waste 125 mana which is not going to heal for 600 hitpoints or 300 damage per Coil.
Other ultimates should also have been looked at. Why is the duration of Metamorphosis only 45 seconds now? It should go back to a 60 second duration. The Demon Hunter is already a rare sight nowadays. Transmute on the other hand should have a 120 second cooldown. Same with Charm and Doom. Also Tranquility and Mass Teleport need a 120 second cooldown. Mass Teleport probably even 180 seconds.
If the balance team would learn and take a look at Starcraft 2, then they would realize that a teleportation spell across the entire map is super powerful and must have a long cooldown. As soon as Mass Teleport is unlocked you can essentially evade any fight and just win by building elimination if you play properly. Or you pin down the opponent in his base and you go for an economic win by expanding.
And its not just Mass Teleport. Human can go for the most toxic playstyle in the game with staff of teleportation on Archmage, Mass Teleport the Entire army and Staff of Sanctuary on human heroes to constantly heal Tanks. Even though tanks are a mechanical unit, they get healed by Staff of Sanctuary for free! In my opinion the staff shouldn’t even work on Tanks. I have no idea how this stupid playstyle is still allowed in the game. Just because we do not see it a lot right now doesn’t mean its a problem. Its going to be a problem eventually as soon as a few pro players start doing it.
Yeah I never understood why the balance has been this bad for so long.
I think PTR was step in a good direction but ultimates and some abilities still need love.
Also why can’t they just make death pact work on your own invulnerable units? I am sure you can change that in editor as a variable.
Though currently I still think the attack upgrades should be kept for reanimated units.
Secondly two abilities that might need a rework are incinerate and possibly spiked carapace.
Now that you can get ring of protection spiked carapace will never be taken even with a CL at tier 3 for just impale.
This is because instead of going impale carapace your going impale beetles now for death pact two beetles.
Maybe incinerate should just be a passive without costing mana? Maybe it also provides +4/8/12 strength instead of 1/2/3 bonus dmg.
150 mana for resurrection is, lets say, debateable.
It is definitely one of the best ultimates in the game, reviving like 3 rifleman and 3 knights for just 150 mana which can totaly turn the tides of a battle, seems too good for my taste.
If its not 200 (backed up by an archmage or a bloodmade) then make it 175.
I mean, with the new manapotions, you get 6 entire units back for 150 gold, seems slightly too good for me.
1 Like
Its true Resurrection is extremely underrated.
However you still kinda have to make a decision to let units die and gain value from this ultimate, which gives exp to your opponent. Thankfully Paladin level 6 is extremely rare so this ability being powerful is not a problem (yet). Given the Rifle nerf, Pala+ Rifle will probably see less play from now on unless players experiment and find out more thigns. And Thankfully this ultimate abiliy has a long cooldown as it should be. Not like Mass Teleport or Transmute.
Just tested in editor - you can.
There are some great posts here. I will add that the balancers actually have worked on Sc2, look up Michael Scipione who has worked on both War3 Reforged and SC2. I’ve seen him in video interviews for both games. I think they’ve been taking small steps past 3 years and the changes so far have been great. I think 1-3 years from now we may start to see more ultimate changes. War3 balance and game design can be further improved via patching over the next 10 years, and I’m exciting to see this happen. They botched release but in the grand scheme it shouldnt be as big a deal (also likely not developers fault).