[Custom Hero] Could anyone lend some help?

Im trying to make a hit-and-run draenei hero in the map editor with some custom abilities, but the sheer number of strings in the object editor seems a bit overwhelming. Could someone give me a little walkthrough this thing?

This is what Im thinking of (still working on the names)...


Draenei (Ferryman, Nightwalker, Shadowguide)

Netherflesh
Simmilur to a faerie dragon's phase shift ability. When this is on autocast, the hero becomes invisible and gains damage reduction every time he is attacked.

Lv1 : 8% reduction for 3 seconds, 25 mana/use
Lv2 : 16% reduction for 4 seconds, 25 mana/use
Lv3 : 24% reduction for 5 seconds, 25 mana/use

Toll
Raises "spirit chimes" from nearby corpses. They are like stasis wards, but with better armor and have a continuous (medium cooldown), area-effecting stun so long as they're summon gauge doesnt run out.

Lv1 : 3(1) second stun, 120 hp, 75 mana/use
Lv2 : 5(3) second stun, 200 hp, 50 mana/use
Lv3 : 7(5) second stun, 280 hp, 25 mana/use

Clouding Aura
Generic, movement speed reducing aura.

Lv1 : -15% movement
Lv2 : -25% movement
Lv3 : -35% movement

Passage (ultimate)
This is the really tricky one. I want the hero to summon a portal near a friendly unit, have a second one appear right next to him, and have both act as a waygate so long as the hero stays chanting.


Anyone want to tackle this?


[Update]

I solved the mystery of the negative aura thanks to another thread. Right now I have a problem with the aura animation. I wanted clouding aura to have the replenish mana (spirit touch) animation from the editor, but it wont show up when I testrun the map.

[/Update]

I really would like to help, but to be honest you're not going to be able to make a map if you can't come to terms with the object editor. I'd suggest spending some time and effort getting to know the object editor -- it's a must if you plan to make a map.

Afterwards, if you get stuck on some specific thing you don't know how to do, ask for help and someone will probably have an answer.

I will tell you that alot of those strings you mentioned can be ignored -- often times you can leave most of that stuff alone. Just base your new hero off of one of the default ones that seems "similar" and only change a few things as you need.

After reading your update -- let me try to answer one of your questions. The aura effect you mentioned you wanted, use a trigger and attach a special effect. Look for the model for the cloudiness and attach it to the unit which has the aura. You probably want to change the attachment point to "origin".

Hmmmmm..... Well, I'm no expert, so I doubt I'll be much help, but I can say that I think it sounds like an awesome hero. And the name Dranei Ferryman really sticks out to me as exceptional. 0_o (Or should I say it "Styx" out to me? ...er, yeah, been listening to the unit quotes too long, I know...) Anyway, I just think the concept and the subtle references to various underworld traditions is too good to pass up with the Ferryman name. :D

Now as for implementing these things... Well, I agree with Jeffsu's advice, the Object Editor is definitely something worth coming to grips with, despite how frightening it looks at first. But as with most things that look defeatingly complex and scary, it's not. As he says, most of those values can be left alone except for, of course, those you want to change.

As for the actual logistics of what to modify to make these abilities work... hmmm... Well, to again parrot Jeffsu, the key to object editing is to find the object most like yours (in behavior, not in looks) and then use that as the base for your new object when you create it. And you are going to have to create a LOT of objects since the hero, abilities, chimes, and what have you are all objects. More importantly, since you cannot edit EVERYTHING from within WorldEdit, you need to base your object on the object that already has the uneditable values you want. A prime example: If you want to create an aura of defense increase, you should base it on Command Aura because it already increases defense, even if it uses the wrong graphics or values for what you want, because the grapics and exact amount of defense are changeable. But you cannot make a Vampiric Aura do that because it is not programmed to work like that, it gives units nearby an HP-sucking ability and that you cannot change even if you make it look, sound, and smell like a Comand Aura, it will still have that kind of effect.

Now, understand that I am a newbie myself and my ideas are not guaranteed to work. Moreover, my copy of Warcraft is not with me right now because I am in the process of moving. But I'm willing to toss out any ideas I come up with and hopefully someone will tell you if I'm wrong. ;)

Regarding Netherflesh.... hmmm, this first one's a toughie. I can't say I've looked at what can be tweaked on phase shift, but it seems you'd have to base it on this ability for the "activate when attacked" part to work. You should look at what options in Phase Shift can be edited and see what progress you can make.

Regarding Toll... this time the key element you need to copy is the "affects every corpse around you" part... you should probably find something that does something to every corpse around you and make it a copy of that... if it's possible to control what that skill summons then you're all set, just set it to a custom Spirit Chimes object, but my experience says you can't do that, so instead you'd probably need map triggers to detect the effect of the basic spell and replace it with summoning Spirit Chimes. (i.e. If the base spell summons a skeleton from every corpse, you would try to create a trigger to detect this and replace the skeletons with chimes.) The Spirit Chimes themselves are easy since, as you say, they work like modified Stasis Wards. So you just base them on Stasis Ward and change the stats you want. :)

Regarding Clouding Aura.... I see you already have the logistics worked out, so I won't pester you with the solution. As for the graphics... I do not know if the skill you are basing it on has any graphical effect already, but if so it would not be hard to find that setting in the fields for your custom ability (most all effect graphics ARE editable) and replace it with the path of the effect for Spirit Touch. As Jeffsu has said, the attachment point for the model should be set to "origin". Only your own experimentation, thoug, can determine if the effect you are basing this on has a graphic or a graphic you can change or whether the Spirit Touch effect is in the effects models for you to use. Again, I do not have my copy, so you'll have to confirm this on your own, but it'll be a good exercise in getting to know the object editor and the way graphics are stored, both valuable skills for a customization as extensive as this.

Regarding Passage... Sheesh, you don't pick the easy ones, do you? :bgrun: Create a portal that remains as long as you're casting... Well obviously you already know about the similar ability Dark Summoning which is never used in-game and used in just about every custom map. It teleports a group of units to the hero's position like the Arbiters in Starcraft could do. But that's not really what you want to do here, is it? Hmmmm... OK, you've got me stumped on this one, my limited knowledge inhibits me... Would a more experienced user care to field this?

Anyway, I hope in some way this helped. I know you wanted more of a walkthrough, less of a series of ideas, but as Jeffsu says, it does behoove you to learn the Object Editor. You have my solemn oath as a person who uses the word "behoove" that it's not as scary as it looks. I'm sorry I cannot be of more help, being but a newbie myself and separated from my copy of the very editor itself, but maybe something in here will click and make your Ferryman more than vapor. ;)

Also, just as a suggestion/curiosity... what are the cooldown times for each of these skills? Netherflesh could be seriously cool if its cooldown time were just over the length of the ability at its top level, making it a ubiquitous ability of the unit kind of like the Warden's top-level Blink where it costs a pittance to use and has a negligible cooldown. Anyway... Good luck! Don't give up, no matter how impossible some things may seem... I mean, we've got a group making an FPS out of Warcraft, so if they can do that, you can darn well come up with a few custom abilities for a custom Ferryman to the Underworld.

For Netherflesh, you could base it off of Phase Shift (with no or 0.01 duration) and then use this trigger:

Event - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
Condition - Ability being cast Equal to Netherflesh
Action - Now, here's the tricky part. There are two routes you can take: The first... create a dummy unit to cast a spell on the caster. There isn't a castable-on-other spell that allows % dmg reduction (or maybe there is and I'm forgetting), but you can achieve a similar effect with Armor or.. whatever else you can think of.

The 2nd way would involve adding the unit to a unit group called Netherflesh. Then put a Wait action, that would wait for 2 seconds + the level of the spell (store this in the unit's custom value when the spell is learned)

Then, have this trigger:

Event - A unit is attacked
Condition - Unit-type of Unit equal to (Draenei <whatever you choose>)
Action - If (Attacked Unit) is in Netherflesh then <blah>

Ok... now that I think about it, it won't work exactly as I was thinking. But, I won't delete what I put.. maybe it will give you some other idea.

For Passage...
Essentially what you'd want to do... base the skill off of Channel, changing the targeting behavior to Point or Unit (or Unit)...

You'd need an Is Issued an Order targeting a Point/Object event here to keep track of the Targeted Point/Unit.

Then, use a Unit begins channelling an ability event to create a waygate at the point of the caster (offset by something?) and another at the point that you kept track off in the first trigger.

The Neutral Building - Way Gate actions should be of some help there. Keep track of the portals that you create in variables/arrays.

Then, have an event for A unit Stops casting an ability. Then remove the Way Gates from the game...

So, there are some general ideas to get you started. Good luck with the skills, sounds like a cool hero :D

Thanks for your help. I think it helped point me in the right direction. If nothing else I could always just think up some new abilities (sometimes I have a tendancy to get way in over my head).

As to the cooldown for netherflesh, Im not really sure yet. I wanted to get the ability to actually work first before getting into the balancing for a multiplayer map.

One thing I thought of replacing the portal aspect of passage with, would be a sort of mass invisibility spell - OR a mass banish/poison combo spell. But there I go again, getting in over my head. :ggani:

I'll keep those suggestions in mind.

Just a bit ago I managed to create an ability that summons waygates with an altered appearance (to make it look like a portal), but they dont seem to want to transport units. And you can summon a dozen of them, even though I specified the limit to be only 2.

Sigh... don't worry, lil' buddy. I'll finish you some day.