RPG - Four Paths (new map, screenshots inside)

RPG - Four Paths v1.2
by Vraq

This is an RPG map, meant to be played cooperatively by 2-4 players (it requires Frozen Throne). However, it is possible to beat this map solo since you will be able to choose three Champions if you play alone. Two each if there are only two players, and one apiece when there are three or four players. Enjoy!

Feedback is much appreciated. :)

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Story:
The Lich King has lost control of Frostmourne (and therefore Arthas). It is unknown just exactly who Arthas is working for, but he has coerced some Humans, Orcs, Night Elves, and Undead into aiding him. Jaina and Uther are under siege by Arthas and his new allies and they are falling fast... So they summon four Champions (the players) to their aid.

Champions:
There are 16 new Heros (called Champions) for the players to choose from. None of them have overlapping Hero spells, and most of them are custom spells. All 16 have custom Ultimates, and all 16 start off with a basic skill such as Defend or Pulverize that does not cost them a Hero Point to learn. The Champions may level up to level 15.

Map:
Custom designed by me from scratch. Lots of varying terrain. One enemy settlement in each corner, with Jaina and Uther's Stronghold in the center. Several secret areas with varying bonuses in each for those that care to search for them. There's also a couple Easter Eggs.

Quests:
Two required quests ("Destroy the Enemy Towns" and "Destroy Frostmourne") and four optional ones.

Items:
30+ custom items for the Champions to find and use. Five unique shops to do business with.
There are no Tomes of Strength, Agility, or Intelligence in this map. I originally had a Library that sold such items, but the Champions got ridiculously powerful ridiculously fast with it around.

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Screenshots:
Follow the links below...

1. Hello, Jaina.
2. One of the five unique shops.
3. Another shop.
4. One of the nicer custom items.
5. Level 4 Hero spells.
6. Embark on quests.
7. Battle mighty Creep Heros.
8. Contend with custom Burning Legion Heros.
9. Battle Arthas and the Burning Legion.
10. Or was it really Arthas?
11. Enemy Heros grow stronger as you do. (They get more/better items as you progress).

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Overview of the Champions:
Below is a synopsis of the 16 Champions available to players to choose from.

Healers:
1. Sorceress of the Light - The most powerful healer of the living. She can also disempower the enemy and speed up mana regeneration of the party.
2. Dementor - The most powerful healer of the Undead. Her very presence saps the will to fight right out the enemy.
3. Squad Leader - A versatile healer, he can heal both the living and the Undead. Specializes in spreading the incoming damage around.
4. Panderan Druid - The lesser of the healers, he can nonetheless get the job done. Dealing damage over time to the enemy is his forte.

Strength:
5. Field Commander - The boldest of the front lines units. Often rushes headlong into battle against overwhelming odds, only to immerge the victor.
6. Plaguebearer - A very powerful Undead front lines unit. Infects the enemy with a deadly disease and unleashes hordes of foul rats to do his bidding.
7. Bodyguard - A powerful front lines unit adept at keeping himself alive in the absence of a dedicated healer.
8. Elite Assault Trooper - All about dealing damage. If dealing damage is all that you love, this guy is for you!

Agility:
9. Mystic Warrior - An agile front lines unit adept at negating magic and avoiding blows. Also known for her love of extreme overkill.
10. Night Ranger - A ranged unit adept at lowering the defenses of the enemy, and seperating them from their comrads.
11. Sharpshooter - His range and accuracy are the stuff of legend. He can also repair siege weapons.
12. Pyro - "Burn, burn, burrrrn!" just about sums him up. ;)

Intelligence:
13. Advisor - Drastically enhances the damage output of the party. He is all about enhancing the stength of others.
14. Summoner - Summons minions to do his bidding. Has a summoning spell for just about any occation.
15. Bone Collector - A powerful Undead spellcaster. He can command great armies of Undead minions.
16. Warlock - An Undead spellcaster specialized in dealing damage and teleportation.

Sharpshooter = Sniper :////

well im dling it right now, and Im gunna try it out.. Ill edit this post later and tell u what i think

Me too. It sounds pretty damn nice! I wanna do stuff like this but...im ill...the lazyness bug! :P

The Squad Leader's Spirit Link skill isn't very useful. Spirit Link only moves damage, it doesn't reduce it; it's only a beneficial spell when you have something like a Healing Ward out that provides healing proportional to the number of damaged units in the area, and even that doesn't work very well when you have at most 4 units eligible for Spirit Link. In fact, Spirit Link at level 4 is practically a DEbuff - it takes all the damage that your melee tanks are supposed to soak up and shoves it onto the magic and ranged characters in the back!

Thanks for your interrest in my map! I hope you like it. :)

As for the Spirit Link... You make a very good point, Replicant. I hadn't thought of level 4 of it being detrimental, but you're right. It is if you've got non-tank Champions around. I'll definately have to fix that for version 1.3. Perhaps I'll make level 2/3 Spirit Link his Ultimate and split Aegolism into four levels.

Most of the time, the Champions are off on their own and so there are typically not more than four units around (although the Champions CAN buy siege weapons, those are mechanical and don't count), making the Spirit Link very useful indeed. Especially coupled with the Squad Leader's Healing Wave... Which was the whole idea behind that character.
Of course, you could also always have somebody bring the Summoner along for Healing Wards if you are using the Squad Leader, too.

Thanks for the feedback! Keep it coming. =)

Downloading it right now. I'll give a comment later

The terrain doesn't look that good, but if it's a multiplayer map, that can be forgiven.:D

Terrain: 6/10 - Terrain isn't very snazzy-lookin', but since it's multiplayer, it's worth it.

Gameplay: 7/10 - 5 for the originality, and 2 for the custom heroes. The 3 lacking is that it is sorta gets boring after a while.

Balancing: 5/10 - The adventuring in the game is pretty easy, yet the attacks on the base is very hard to stop. Also, the 'munitions can easily hurt allied units, and that's not good.

Overall: 7/10 - It's better than most RPGs, but it still needs improvements whatsoever. I would suggest balancing the attacks on the town, and air units being damn hard to kill.

Draco: Terraining has never been my strong point. ;) I'm more of a triggers/units kind of guy. This was my first attempt at doing a complete map start to finish from scratch. But now that you mention it, I'll sure try to spice up the terrain for version 1.3!

Mech-Sheep: Thanks for the review! Very helpful, I appreciate it.
Terrain - See above comments.
Gameplay - Is the map too large, does it just take too long to complete? What would I need to change to up the rating here?
Balancing - Granted, after you've conquered the first town (your Champions would be about level 9 by then) the rest of the Creeps between you and the other towns are pushovers. I suppose I could have it dynamically sub in tougher Creeps as you progress...
But as for the attacks on the Stronghold, I will change it so Jaina/Uther tell you themselves that they can fend off most attacks on their own. The real intent there wasn't for the Champions to save the Stronghold every time it gets attacked, but rather to show you Jaina and Uther have their hands full - which is why they need you to press the attack on the enemy towns / find Arthas. The only times the Champions should need to actually save the Stronghold are when Arthas attacks.
And you make a very good point about the 'munitions. I guess they're a kind of necessary evil; the towns take too long to level without siege weapons.
Overall - It would probably help if I lowered the frequency of the enemy town attacks. I will definately have Jaina/Uther tell you that they don't need you there to help unless they're getting swarmed (sometimes multiple towns attack at once).
As for killing air units... One of the shops in the Stronghold sells an item with several charges of Web, that helps (and an item with unlimited charges of Web drops fairly often off tougher Creeps and enemy units). The Elite Assault Trooper can Ensnare, which helps a lot. And there is a secret shop that sells Orbs, which is a great boon once you've found it.

Thanks for the comments, everyone! I am open to all suggestions for improvement. =)

The gameplay needs to be more fun afterwards. At the beginning, my thought would be "Hey, this map has something new", but after lots of repetitions, I think of "Man, this is getting boring.".

You need something to spice it up. Ask some other guy :)

Im afraid i was Disappointed with this RPG,

Heros 4/5. Good use of custom spells showing some orginal thought, though i do question some of the balancing
Terrain 2/5. Not great, it looked pretty lame at times. even though its an online RPG doesnt mean the terrain has to be dull and uninspired.
Story line 1/5 Oh dear. The plot was really implausable. One thing that kept anoying me was the fact im sure Uthers dead. Alos the premise that you travel from base to base killing as you go isnt great as it seems a little over simplistic, this would eb ok if combat and encounters were interesting but i found them monotonus after about 5 minutes.
Game Play 3/5 Nothing seriously wrong here just not anything particualy exiteing.

End Verdict. 2.5/5 Reminds me of Rise of Krill in many ways, technically well done, but with a poorly designed plot and little compelling encounters

On a final note none of the conversations with NPC's work for player 2, it may have been me but was this map tested with 4 palyers before realese?

Ok here goes:

Heroes-Functional custom spells, not the greatest or most original but better than nothing. Heroes seem pretty balanced.

Terrain-As you said its not your strongpoint, the way everything spirals out from the castle while not looking good is functional, more doodads besides trees plz.

Gameplay-Pretty much wack-a-creep, some more variety in the recquired quest, generally something 2 spice it up.

Plot-????????? BBDino pretty much summed it up, though he didnt say something about the corrupted night elves. Arent they normally called satyrs? Why do the look like normal night elves? Something mightve been said about arthus corrupting them, but that doesnt sound feasible, better to use satyrs.

Overall the plot and terrain arent the greatest issues, more that gameplay needs something more than hack and slash.

I was not impressed with this RPG. At the start I found It pretty cool but soon it became monotonus. At the secret area parts there are two right next to each other! And how the hell are you expected to get to certain parts without a teleporting hero?!

Nice word :D

The concept is good, but even if there isn't Arthas attacking, it owned the base pretty much.