Quality of Life Wish List for Reforged/Future Patches:
Thank you Blizzard for the work you are doing! Readers, please comment with additional wants/needs. If any of these changes are bad, please let me know why you disagree
Replays
Ability to double click play replays from outside of client, and it will auto-open in WC3
Some form of Replay Auto-namer (Name/race of both players, date, and map)
Ability to search replays by, e.g., map/player/date
ability to “host” a replay and watch with other people
(Ability to watch not in client??? #WC3Mobile! #dontyouguyshavephones?)
In-Game
Display race beyond the loading screen (perhaps an icon next to the name on the f12 screen. Random would display a ? or a sick WC3 Reforged icon.)
Give units a “kill counter.” That way I know if that footmen I sent after the wisp completed its job or the wisp got away/detonated.
More squelch chat options. (For example - When obs games are being streamed, the streamer should be able to turn off all chat)
Option to choose whether auto-cast is default OFF when a unit is produced.
Ability to swap which hero is F1 or F2, by merely click dragging the hero portraits. (People who are used to DK on F1, probably get really weirded out when they go lich first, just let em swap!)
Y’all confirmed these already, so let me just say thank you for fully customizable hotkeys/inventory and for spectate option. Much appreciated!!!
Battle(.)net Log-in Screen
Ability to change realm at “gateway selection” screen instead of having to go back one screen and click the magnifying glass.
Ladder management
Up-to-date and maintained ladder webpage. Those stats are so useful. I miss my full games listing.
Three ladder seasons a year, each 4 months long. Top 20 (or so) of each season get to take place in year-end tournament. Give winner a unique icon. (or skin I guess)
Cross-realm ladder (with sliders for “allowable ping” i.e., I can say I don’t want to play a game where my ping is >250). To be displayed on the “global ladder ranking” page, you wouldn’t be able to use the slider.
(I understand if you don’t want to release this, too much whining, BUT) Release global ladder stats. Tons of data. Winrates by race, map, and matchup for 0-40% w/r; 40-50% w/r; 50-60% w/r; 60-70% w/r; and 70+.
Map pool:
Release stats for which maps are most vetoed (by race, etc)
Add a trial map every ladder season that may not be vetoed. At stats/race selection screen add a “thumbs up or thumbs down” for that trial map. If trial map gets high enough thumbs up percentage, add it into standard map pool, replacing the map that has the highest vetos among players.
Custom Games:
Allow host to choose server location, instead of auto-assigning to nearest server
More servers globally. (Let’s get some love for Australia!)
Random Team:
Allow all random team game types (2v2, 3v3, 4v4, and FFA) to queue at same time. You may deselect game types you do not wish to queue for
AT and RT should NOT be allowed to queue together. Please disregard comments that suggest you make this change.
Develop a reliable report system that responds to griefers
MMR / Ranking / Matchmaking / Smurfing:
I don’t know what the answer is here. I kind of like that you can have as many accounts as possible, but I also know of many new players that hate getting destroyed by smurfs. Or a lvl 2 account from a dude who is obviously 1k games deep. Seems like a fix to that is to tie all your accounts to one MMR. The issue here is, I have my ladder tryhard account. Then I just make a bunch of free-win accounts, to tank my MMR, and then my #1 account only has easy matches. Maybe the solution here is you may only designate ONE account that may be eligible for ladder ranking, and it is the only one where wins/losses affects your MMR. I’m looking for suggestions and discussion here.
Another possible solution (one in which I don’t think should be implemented) is unranked mode
Incentivize good spirit/sportsmanship:
There is no one way to do this, but it’s important. Please be thinking about it. Please note, this is NOT telling you to ban/censor speech. I think it’s better to allow crappy behavior, but show the community that being kind is rewarded.
An idea off the top: Every bnet account gets 100 “spirit” at the beginning of a ladder season. After any match (at the save replay/stats screen) you can give some or all of your spirit to the opponent if you thought they were nice or helpful or played well or whatever reason you want. Players that have a lot of spirit get badges or treats or something nice. You can also get spirit on ad hoc basis from Blizz team if you’re being helpful in the community.
(A note on Balance:)
I know this is QOL thread not balance, BUT, here goes nothin - I don’t think I’m smart or good enough to suggest balance. I just want to suggest a philosophy and method for the design team:
Base balance around pro play and 1v1 play. If something is imba at 50%’er level, they (I) need to learn how to get better. My opinion (and feel free to disagree) is that balance only matters at the tippy top. Racial differences are likely never the reason I, a ladder scrub, win or lose any game. Rather it’s skill/micro difference.
Choose two prominent pro players from each race. Maybe some prominent retired players as well. Ask them to give one small buff and one small nerf to EACH race, one small buff/nerf to a tavern hero, and same for items. Hu + Orc + NE + UD + Tavern Heroes + Items = 6 buff suggestions & 6 nerf suggestions per player. Compile the buffs/nerfs and create a PTR that establishes the changes ONLY if you see 2 (or 3 or 4, whatever you decide) people saying the same thing. Create a tournament where PROS play on it, and then ask for their feedback.
I don’t want to say completely ignore reddit balance threads, but please take them with a heavy, heavy grain of salt. Top level players opinions just matter more. Reddit PR schemes could lead to heavy handed nerfs/buffs
I will cross-post this to /r/wc3 so please follow below link for more discussion:
www.reddit(dot)com/r/WC3/comments/b3wfyb/quality_of_life_wish_list_for_reforgedfuture/?
Thank you for a wonderful game and good luck with Reforged!!!
Great thread, just to add a little thing on the replay list; an option to choose which replays you want to save, for example ones from ladder or custom games(saving only replays of maps made by Blizzard/melee custom maps etc.) Also reserving this thread spot if i remember other little tidbits
Personally I just want a hero kill/death counter and possibly a level counter, race should not be known if the opponent is random, but it would be interesting if there was a hero level counter showing who has the higher level
I agree with a lot of your other requests, and I also believe a lot of them are already confirmed
that seems interesting, but how would they/blizzard choose? I think they are taking feedback from every possible outlet, and choosing a couple fans who are not game makers doesnt seem right. You also have to keep balance modifications to small increments, changing too much at once makes it hard to figure out what works or doesnt and why
I notice the devs chat in wc3 united a lot, kinda sad they never post around here the recent announcement of new items and the possibility of unlocking items based on hero level gives me kind of an uneasy feeling, but I would love to know why they have decided to go so far on items? adding new items is fine but they just need small tweaks not a complete overhaul, and what more are they changing? I hope there be 2 separate laddes, one for classic TFT and one for new Reforged stuff
Two Hero Stashes (Similar to Rexxar’s Stash in his Campaign) should be available to all WC 3 RF Campaigns for additional Item Storage.
Heroes in WC 3 Reign of Chaos Campaigns, now has the Hero Damage Type.
Updated Attack Damage & Armor Types of some Units, such as Spellcasters from Piercing to Magic Damage Type and etc. In Reign of Chaos Campaigns and more.
Updated Descriptions and Usage of some Items such as the Orbs, now also allows Melee Heroes to Attack Air Units in Reign of Chaos.
Updated Hero Titles of some special Hero Units to add some Uniqueness in them, like Malfurion from Keeper of The Grove to Archdruid of Moonglade, Tyrande from Priestess of The Moon to High Priestess of Elune/The Moon, Cenarius from Demigod to Demigod of The Grove, Uther from The Paladin to The Lightbringer and etc.
This is problematic, in my opinion. because it means, that they would ignore a huge player base, even if they are probably right and say what is “true” for all kinds of skilllevel. Also the pro players tend to accept the game how it is, and they won’t or cannot point out what is problematic for low skillers.
The best example here are the batriders. (or lets say batriders + tower macrogame) Better players know how to handle them, but that doesnt mean, it is not a completly unfun, frustrating, easy-to-play-hard-counter playstyle.
I think, tons of players agree with me, when I say, that liquid fire should be nerfed.
Non-pros are bad for a reason… they need to l2p. Can’t balance for ones unwilling to l2p and being spoiled about easier games. Every Blizz RTS is balanced around 1v1 and best players, that’s how it is. If one has a problem, he has to learn to overcome it, not balance the whole game for them.
I never added a video so far but briefly put here are my ideas in short:
Just use the SC2 replay features like Production tab, Units Tab, Heroes Level And Learned Abilities, Upgrades tab (maybe even better than SC2 if more than 1 of these tabs are combined?), UI Score/Player Name overlay, ability to watch even when window is inactive (not pause it like now where war3 windowed deselected pauses the replay)
APM/EPM if you like, units lost, resources, all these
Replays from Online ofc, not having to exit Bnet to watch a replay
Perhaps more interesting ranking system with leagues or more exciting way for profiles than just levels
Remove XP decay every 10 days, why even keep that, SC2 removed it
I like the idea of getting newer maps but that requires a lot of dedicated community map makers who are also really adept at balancing how the 1v1 maps go and team maps I suppose can change more often while 1v1 would require careful and continuous making to make sure they are good enough
I think AT and RT can match if they wish to , im not sure if done so far in SC2 it is like that and RT is bad to be matched vs AT but people need to find AT partners than complain how matchmaking is inaccurate with allies and opponents, lots of ppl complain about this in SC2 but they cant even think that they just need to have some partners if they dont want bad allies.
Penalties for team killing, I dont care cause I dont play team but I know that is a complaint too
I think it would be good to have a kick command once in game - And instead of a ALL chat mute as u suggest, the obs should’ve access to a command to mute any other obs/player they want once in the game.
This way, in leagues/tournament, if we’ve some people who want to obs to support one of the players / their teammate while the event is Stream ; So the streamer(s) can just mute every obs if he wish , and the players still can discuss without disturbing the Stream at all. This would be better because some people like to have their teammate here to support them during their games, and it’s Always a good time we share as obs to support our friends/players and discuss the game, lets not lose this proximity we’ve between us, if we can make the suggestion differently asked , as long as the main goal of “why this suggestion?” isnt hurt !
A very good post IMHO, and I agree with almost everything said here, so I’ll only mention where I don’t:
If so, make this disablable, and possibly add hotkeys too: move hero up/down (bound to nothing by default).
Add 1v1 also?
Please don’t say things like this. I may agree with the opinion this refers to, but it’s trollstyle.
That’s quite nice, as long as they understand how to avoid the potential pitfalls / methods of abuse. It might also penalize people who like to stay even when the odds are well against them.
Being a good player is not a sign of being a good designer or balancer. Opinions from the very top often little no concern for fun (eg: suggesting ways to fill gaps in races which ends up makes everything the same). They’re often not very objective, and there’s even (mostly subconscious) conflict-of-interest issues.
There’s also not that much need to ask them - if they’re playing to win just see what units/skills/etc they choose to play more or less, and let that be a hint as to what to buff or nerf.
Lastly, they’re typically very conservative with regards to gameplay. If some current system is unpopular with most people for whatever reason they’re the ones most likely to fight against a change.
Some of my views on balance philosophy are:
Where possible, try to make most changes purely quantitative (only change numbers, not mechanics) - most balancing can be done this way.
Avoid changes that homogenize the races (such as making spells more similar, like with the old roots change that made it just another stun).
Balance to encourage thinking (complex plans etc), not APM.
the recent announcement of new items and the possibility of unlocking items based on hero level gives me kind of an uneasy feeling, but I would love to know why they have decided to go so far on items? adding new items is fine but they just need small tweaks not a complete overhaul, and what more are they changing? I hope there be 2 separate laddes, one for classic TFT and one for new Reforged stuff