Today, we’ve deployed a new PTR build, including the following new changes:
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue where players could no join a private custom game by name if they did not have the map downloaded
Items
Vampiric Potion now grants +6 damage and 50% life steal for 20 seconds
Added a persistent visual effect
Rune of Lesser Healing heal from 125 to 75
Ring of Protection +3 cold cost from 150 to 125 (matched Ring of Protection +4)
Human
Orb of Fire replaced with Orb of Slow
Orb of Slow has a 30% chance to proc on units, and 15% chance to proc on heroes. Applies a 25% attack speed and 55% movement speed slow to the target for 10(5)
Costs 325 gold
Blood Mage Banish cooldown increased from 0/0/0 to 4/2/0
Paladin Holy Light cooldown increased from 5/5/5 to 6/6/6
Flying Machine movement speed reduced from 400 to 375
Orc
Reverted Orb of Lightning cost increase
Tauren cost increased from 280/80 to 300/100
Sentry Ward health reduced from 200 to 50
Stasis Ward health reduced from 100 to 25
Stasis Ward detonation radius reduced from 400 to 350
Stasis Ward stun duration reduced from 6(2.5) to 4(2)
Healing Ward area of effect reduced from 500 to 450 (also affects item)
Great Hall build time reduced from 140 to 135
Night Elf
Reverted Demon Hunter Mana Burn change
Wisp lumber gather rate reduced from 8 to 7
Moonstone duration increased from 30 to 35
Keeper of the Grove strength gain increased from 1.8 to 2
Treant attack speed reduced from 1.75 to 1.65
Chimaera movement speed increased from 270 to 290
Moon Glaives upgrade now changes Huntress armor type to Heavy
Added a persistent visual effect
Faerie Dragon Mana Flare is now able to be toggled off before the full duration
Vorpal Blades upgrade now gives an additional 10 damage
Undead
Reverted Spiked Carapace change
Reverted Tier 1 Web upgrade
Reverted Gargoyle ground damage change
Gargoyle movement speed reduced from 375 to 350
Nerubian Tower attack speed reduced from 1.3 to 1.15
Wand of Negation is now a single target dispel that deals 200 damage to summoned units. (Still has 4 charges)
Master Change List
Performance
Fixed an issue that occurred on production servers that causes the game to hitch every 3 seconds for certain players
General
Updated various Campaign background screens
Lighting
Reforged environment lighting direction adjusted to match Classic / Classic HD
Dungeon biome lighting overhauled to better fit the Classic lighting
Minor brightness adjustments
Map Pool
1v1,2v2,3v3, and 4v4 Map Pool has been updated
Custom Games
Fixed an issue where players could not join a private custom game by name if they did not have the map downloaded
Balance
Items
Sentry Ward Vision reduced from 1600 to 1000
Healing Ward charges reduced from 3 to 2
Vampiric Potion added as a level 2 charged drop
Vampiric Potion grants +6 damage and 50% life steal for 20 seconds.
Added Rune of Lesser Healing as a level 2 powerup drop
Rune of Lesser Healing heals 75 health in an area around it.
Ring of Protection +4 reduced to +3
Ring of Protection +3 cold cost reduced from 150 to 125 (matches Ring of Protection +4)
Backpack shop requirement removed for all races
Orb of Darkness will now spawn level 2 Dark Minions
Ancient Jango of Endurance movement speed increased from 5 to 7.5 and attack rate from 3 to 3.5%
Legion of Doom-horn movement speed increased from 5% to 7.5%, hp regen per second increased from 0.3 to 0.35.
Human
Orb of Fire replaced with Orb of Slow
Orb of Slow has a 30% chance to proc on units, and 15% chance to proc on heroes. Applies a 25% attack speed and 55% movement speed slow to the target for 20(5)
Costs 325 gold
Militia Armor reduced from 4 to 3
Flying Machine movement speed from 400 to 375
Defend piercing reduction reduced from 65 to 50%
Defend cost reduced from 150/100 to 125/75 and research time reduced from 45 to 40
Siphon Mana Range reduced from 600 to 500
Siphon Mana area of effect reduced from 800 to 700
Banish cooldown increased from 0/0/0 to 4/2/0
Holy Light cooldown increased from 5/5/5 to 6/6/6
Slow duration reduced from 60 to 45 seconds
Heal range increased from 250 to 350
Arcane vault requirement removed from Dragon Hawks and Cloud upgrade
Invisibility Range increase from 300 to 400
Orc
Mirror Image cooldown increased from 3 to 5 seconds
Tauren now have Resistant Skin by default
Tauren cost increased from 280/80 to 300/100
Lighting Orb cost reduced from 375 to 325
Lighting Orb damage against summons increased from 150 to 300
Envenomed Spears damage per tick reduced from 4 to 3
Wind Rider level reduced from 4 to 3
Sentry, Stasis, and Healing Wards are now magic immune
Sentry Ward health reduced from 200 to 50
Stasis Ward health reduced from 100 to 25
Stasis Ward detonation radius reduced 400 to 350
Stasis Ward stun duration reduced from 6(2.5) to 4(2)
Healing Wards duration reduced from 30 to 25 (also affects item)
Healing Ward area of effect reduced from 500 to 450 (also affects item)
Great Hall build time reduced from 140 to 125
Great Hall build time reduced from 140 to 135
Night Elf
Wisp lumber gather rate reduced from 8 to 7
Nature’s Blessing lumber cost reduced from 200 to 175
Hunter’s Hall cost lumber cost reduced from 100 to 80
Moonstone duration increased from 30 to 45 seconds
Moonstone duration increased from 30 to 35 seconds
Ultra Vision research time reduced from 45 to 30 seconds
Orb of venom damage per tick reduced from 9 to 8
Mana Burn range reduced from 300 to 250
Mountain Giant Food cost reduced from 7 to 6
Keeper of the Grove strength gain increased from 1.8 to 2
Treant attack speed reduced from 1.75 to 1.65
Chimaera movement speed increased from 250 to 290
Moon Glaives upgrade now changes Huntress armor type to Heavy
Added a persistent visual effect
Faerie Dragon Mana Flare is now able to be toggled off before the full duration
Vorpal Blades upgrade now grants an additional 10 damage
Undead
Wand of Negation charges increased from 2 to 4
Wand of Negation is now a single target dispel that deals 200 damage to summoned units
Ritual Dagger cost reduced from 100 to 75, charges reduced from 2 to 1
Ritual Dagger healing increased from 175 to 200
Frost Nova range reduced from 800 to 700
Burrow research time reduced from 45 to 35 seconds
Anti Magic shield blocked reduced from 420 to 300
Nerubian Tower attack speed reduced from 1.3 to 1 second
Nerubian Tower attack speed reduced from 1.3 to 1.15
Web is now available on tier 1
Carrion Swarm level 2 damage increased from 125 to 135
Gargoyle movement speed reduced from 375 to 350
Gargoyle ground base damage reduced by 1
Spiked Carapace damage return from 15/30/45 to 25/50/75
Neutral
Level 1 Rain of Fire increased from 700 to 800
Dark Ranger Drain Life can now transfer life to a friendly unit.
Creeps
Poison Treants no longer have entangled roots. HP increased from 290 to 350
Spitting Spider armor type changed from heavy to medium - HP reduced from 400 to 350
Giant Spider HP reduced from 550 to 500
Satyr Hellcaller level reduced from 9 to 8
Giant Wolf stock delay increased from 220 to 440
Satyr Shadow Dancer cost decreased from 200 to 190 gold
Immolation damage reduced from 10 to 5
Entangle root duration from 10(3) to 6(3). Range reduced from 800 to 600
Frost Nova slow decreased from 4 to 2
Unholy Frenzy HP drain reduced from 4 to 2
Brilliance Aura reduce mana regeneration from 1 to 0.5
Polymorph mana cost reduced from 225 to 200. Duration reduced from 25 to 20
Healing Wave amount reduced from 215 to 130. Jumps from 4 to 3
Cold Arrows duration increased from 3(0.75) to 3(1) and damage from 0.25 to 1
Diseased Cloud duration reduced from 120 to 75
Animate Dead reduce duration from spell from 120 to 40 seconds and mana cost reduced from 250 to 150. Cooldown reduced from 240 to 180
Parasite duration reduced from 30 to 15 seconds
Blizzard casting time reduced from 1 to 0.599
Rain of Fire casting time reduced from 1 to 0.599
Skink movement speed reduced from 200 to 100
Apprentice Wizard HP increased from 180 to 200 and damage by 2
Fallen Priest damage increased by 2
Lightning Lizard armor type changed from heavy to medium. HP increased from 280 to 300. Dice damage reduced by 2
Salamander Hatchling armor type reduced from heavy to medium. Damage reduced by 1
Arachnathid Earth-borer Shadow Strike and mana removed. HP increased from 400 to 450
Murgul Snarecaster HP increased from 375 to 400. Damage reduced by 1
Skeletal Orc Champion - Death Coil removed. Now has Cripple and Vampiric Aura
One question: Does resistant skin actually justify this much of a cost increase?
I do think that adding resistant skin to Tauren is better for the game overall. I just don’t want to see resistant skin rolled back just because another change was too extreme.
could you perhaps share the thoughts behind these balance changes? they seem a bit random and in some cases just not good, such as switching orb of fire for orb of slow (which iirc has the same bug as orb of lightning/darkness where it will never proc on passively acquired targets, and seems very redundant when you could just use sorceresses) and lowering wisp lumber gathering rate
I will also again say that it’d be very nice to focus more on fixing the large amount of bugs/crashes and improving webui performance.
I would love to know the thought process behind these changes because as it is right now Human and Elf somehow get insane buffs and previous nerfs reverted.
Human Orb of Slow is insane. A 20 second slow with the same proc rate as Orb of Lightning. Its literally an improved Orb of Lightning for a cheaper price. Why does Human need this again?
Same for the Huntress heavy armor buff. What is the thought process on this?
Undead somehow getting collateral damage nerfs once again because of what reason?
Why are Witch Doctors abilties nerfed into oblivion? Are they overplayed?
Please give us any kind of thought process or reasoning for all of the above
It‘s nice to have balance changes, but as mentioned before please also have a bigger focus on bugs. The game is still not in the best state. Especially for mac users, where the main menu is nearly unusable because of the very poor performance. Not to mention the annoying mini map.
Please give macOS some love. Or at least give an update what the problem is regarding the menu.
Overall nice changes I guess. Kinda feels sad for Orc players to have another patch where many buffs are reverted before patch goes live. I am glad that Pala Rifle problem is being addressed properly.
If I could suggest something:
Rings of Protection should be nerfed by -1 on all levels
Sentry Wards sight range is reduced only for item but you also applied it to Witch Doctor’s Ward. I guess that’s by mistake.
Reducing Stasis Ward hp 25 is pretty much a one-shot from any ranged hero. It’s too weak. I think 50 hp would be a sweet spot where you can stop it with focus from 2-3 units.
I still thing Vampiric Potion and Rune of Healing are not good idea for 1v1. I’d much rather see Wand of Lightning Shield making a comeback. An item that can be used may more creatively.
Orb of Slow is going to be too strong. Humans don’t need buffs. They are the best race right now. I don’t see the point.
Paladin aura should be nerfed a bit. In Human vs Orc mass Gryphons strategy is pretty much unbeatable in late game because of stacking armor upgrades and aura. Current values are very high regardless. My suggestion i small nerf to 2/3.5/5
I’d like to see Blademaster being viable versus Human again. Having one starting option is really limiting. Not sure how but a lot of changes made Blademaster much worse. Speedscroll was nerfed, Blade agility was nerfed long time ago, circlet and claws got nerfed. Maybe +2 agility would do the job. Also Orb damage vs summons would be handy but it got reverted… And Blademaster would be much better vs mass Gryphon strat than Far Seer.
On the same note - Orc has only 1 option for starting hero vs NE. Far Seer has 2 useless abilities. Far Sight should be reworked/replaced by other ability.
Liquid Fire is near useless upgrade in 1v1. It got nerfed heavily without reducing it’s cost or research time.
Reduce Riflemen attack rate increase from 1.35 to 1.4. They are overall too good of a unit.
Huntress armor type change is really controversial IMO. This might turn out to be too good
Wisp gather rate reduced from 8 to 7 is just ridiculous. Overall NE all of a sudden are getting some ridiculous economic buffs for no real reason.
My opinion on the things. In general, we don’t need much to fix game balance. It’s already in almost a perfect spot, so:
Balance
Items
Sentry Ward Vision reduced from 1600 to 1000 fine change, might bee too much, maybe 1400?
Healing Ward charges reduced from 3 to 2 - unnecessary. THis item is not that good as it seems to be.
Vampiric Potion added as a level 2 charged drop
Vampiric Potion grants +6 damage and 50% life steal for 20 seconds.
vamp pot looks ok. Needs testing still.
Added Rune of Lesser Healing as a level 2 powerup drop - fine
Rune of Lesser Healing heals 75 health in an area around it. - fine
Ring of Protection +4 reduced to +3 - fine
Ring of Protection +3 cold cost reduced from 150 to 125 (matches Ring of Protection +4) - not that significant. Fine
Backpack shop requirement removed for all races - fine change
Orb of Darkness will now spawn level 2 Dark Minions - fine change
Ancient Jango of Endurance movement speed increased from 5 to 7.5 and attack rate from 3 to 3.5% - unnecessary as about other aura items
Legion of Doom-horn movement speed increased from 5% to 7.5%, hp regen per second increased from 0.3 to 0.35. - unnecessary as about other aura items
Human
Orb of Fire replaced with Orb of Slow
Orb of Slow has a 30% chance to proc on units, and 15% chance to proc on heroes. Applies a 25% attack speed and 55% movement speed slow to the target for 20(5)
Costs 325 gold
might be interesting. but only vs ud. It’s not needed vs others as you might have sorceresses with slow. The slow duration is too long. Needs 10 (5) secs. As you can click through the entire enemy army and it will be slowed, this is too strong.
Militia Armor reduced from 4 to 3 - doesn’t matter. It only makes human weaker in open fights with militia.
Flying Machine movement speed from 400 to 375 - unnecessary and unclear what for.
Defend piercing reduction reduced from 65 to 50% - unnecessary and unclear what for.
Defend cost reduced from 150/100 to 125/75 and research time reduced from 45 to 40
Siphon Mana Range reduced from 600 to 500 - good change, might need a bit bigger nerf
Siphon Mana area of effect reduced from 800 to 700 - maybe 600 range?
Banish cooldown increased from 0/0/0 to 4/2/0 - perfect change
Holy Light cooldown increased from 5/5/5 to 6/6/6 - might be strat breaking change. It’s too big. Maybe making holy light 75 mana is fine
Slow duration reduced from 60 to 45 seconds - ok
Heal range increased from 250 to 350 - ok
Arcane vault requirement removed from Dragon Hawks and Cloud upgrade- ok
Invisibility Range increase from 300 to 400 - it has already big range, unnecessary
Orc
Mirror Image cooldown increased from 3 to 5 seconds - perfect
Tauren now have Resistant Skin by default - - unnecessary, it’s gonna make taurens too strong as you won’t be able to counter them in any way.
Tauren cost increased from 280/80 to 300/100 - unnecessary and unclear what for if you want to buff unit’s usability.
Lighting Orb cost reduced from 375 to 325 - fine
Lighting Orb damage against summons increased from 150 to 300 no change from current patch needed. It’s a good item already.
Envenomed Spears damage per tick reduced from 4 to 3 - unnecessary, it weakens wyverns too much.
Wind Rider level reduced from 4 to 3
Sentry, Stasis, and Healing Wards are now magic immune - bad change. it makes wards too strong and unkillable.
Sentry Ward health reduced from 200 to 50 - might be ok without magic immunity
Stasis Ward health reduced from 100 to 25 - might be ok without magic immunity
Stasis Ward detonation radius reduced 400 to 350 - fine
Stasis Ward stun duration reduced from 6(2.5) to 4(2) - fine
Healing Wards duration reduced from 30 to 25 (also affects item) - fine
Healing Ward area of effect reduced from 500 to 450 (also affects item)- fine
Great Hall build time reduced from 140 to 125 - good.
Great Hall build time reduced from 140 to 135 - not needed. 140 is good. They have tiny great hall already.
Night Elf
Nature’s Blessing lumber cost reduced from 200 to 175 - fine
Hunter’s Hall cost lumber cost reduced from 100 to 80 - fine
Moonstone duration increased from 30 to 45 seconds
Moonstone duration increased from 30 to 35 seconds - good
Ultra Vision research time reduced from 45 to 30 seconds - good
Orb of venom damage per tick reduced from 9 to 8 - not needed. The orb is in a perfect spot.
Mana Burn range reduced from 300 to 250
Mountain Giant Food cost reduced from 7 to 6 - good
Keeper of the Grove strength gain increased from 1.8 to 2 - nice change
Treant attack speed reduced from 1.75 to 1.65 - not needed. They’re not that strong to be nerfed.
Chimaera movement speed increased from 250 to 290 - not needed.
Moon Glaives upgrade now changes Huntress armor type to Heavy - might be good, needs testing
Added a persistent visual effect
Faerie Dragon Mana Flare is now able to be toggled off before the full duration - nice
Vorpal Blades upgrade now grants an additional 10 damage - not needed. It’s a good siege unit.
Undead
Wand of Negation charges increased from 2 to 4 - the item doesn’t need any change. It’s good already.
Wand of Negation is now a single target dispel that deals 200 damage to summoned units - this won’t work, it’s a bad idea, especially vs mass summons, like human water elementals or treants of the keeper of the grove.
Ritual Dagger cost reduced from 100 to 75, charges reduced from 2 to 1 - bad change. The item is in a perfect spot, doesn’t need any change.
Ritual Dagger healing increased from 175 to 200 - not needed
Frost Nova range reduced from 800 to 700 - fine
Burrow research time reduced from 45 to 35 seconds - fine
Anti Magic shield blocked reduced from 420 to 300 - fine
Nerubian Tower attack speed reduced from 1.3 to 1 second
Nerubian Tower attack speed reduced from 1.3 to 1.15 - fine
Web is now available on tier 1 web doesn’t need any change.
Carrion Swarm level 2 damage increased from 125 to 135 - good. The dreadlord might need more attack speed to synergize it with his vamp aura - make it something like a blademaster of a demonhunter, but a bit worse in 1v1 fights.
MAybe make vampiric aura lvl 2 or 3 boost hero’s attack speed?
Gargoyle movement speed reduced from 375 to 350 - fine. They’re still good with speed aura.
Gargoyle ground base damage reduced by 1 - might still need a slight -1 damage nerf for night elf to feel more comfortable.
Spiked Carapace damage return from 15/30/45 to 25/50/75 - this doesn’t need any change.
What’s wrong with your balance? Who is responsible for this?
Do you really think that you can do that?
The latest patch touches on fundamental changes that have not ruled for the entire existence of the game Warcraft III.
Interview at least the top 5 players for each race. And only on the basis of this do you make changes.
Yes, at least look at the statistics of the games for the Elves from the best players. With whom do they have the lowest winning percentage? That’s right- elf versus elf. That is, the Elves are already the strongest race based on the statistics of the games.
Amazing changes.
Blizzard is back? Seems like this.
NE:
Huntress change is what many people were waiting for. Now ne on t2 is playable. They are still weaker then bears (what is good and it is expected). Now you can do upgrades for archers/huntresses.
Not sure about +10 dmg buff to glave is bugged
Wood buff is good.
Orcs:
Buffs now seems more fair (still seems like resistance skin without even research is too much)
Consider all orcs changes it seems like a bit overpowered.
Humans
Get what they deserved.
Orb - is good experiment. We need to test this in real fights.
The fact that 6 militia can creep entire camp is still crazy but we need to test what we have now
Undead
Probably a bit too much nerfs and necro are still unplayable almost. Not sure how to change them without buff cheese strats
In general - Very good direction to refresh the game and not just +1 here -1 here.
Humans, Night Elves, and Undead each have plenty of magic damage at T3: i.e. Frost Wyrms, Destroyers, Gryphons, and Chimaeras. Damage spells like Death Coil will also still work, and most forms of crowd control will still work at a reduced duration.
Not everyone agrees with you, colorful bear. It’s obvious which race you’re playing. You’re not objective like most people who are jealous that their own race didn’t get some kind of reinforcement.
regards.
I think this was a change in a good direction. However this time the elf buffs probably went too far. The faster wood gathering by wisps seems huge, but might be warranted since elves struggle with lumber so it will need testing. That said, if it stays, it will probably be better to restore the huntress hall and Nature’s Blessing cost to where they were before.
The Huntress upgrade seems really dangerous too. It is probably too much, but perhaps making it a Tier 3 upgrade instead of Tier 2 would be better. However it might be too much regardless.
I like the overall direction where orcs went best. And human Pali-Riffle needed these nerfs, hope we get a chance to test them.
Another aspect to keep an eye on is the Orc-Undead matchup where gargoyles have been ner fec and this could break the balance there. I like that the gargoyle-flyingmachine balance was kept, but undead will need better ways to deal with mass wyverns. Perhaps an increase to hippo-ridder speed would have been better?
