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WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne official info/beta thread

DukeLeto

By DukeLeto
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DukeLeto

DukeLeto

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Posted

^Topic. ^-^

Seriously though, I did get into the Beta. :D So in this thread I will share info on the new units, spells, etc. If you got in, or if you have questions, or just feel like flaming me out of jealousy ( :P), post here!

Yes, I probably will gloat over you with this for the rest of your human lives. ;)

http://www.dune2k.com/forum/attachments/WC3XBeta.JPG[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

DukeLeto

DukeLeto

Posted
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Posted

Hmm...

OK, this is from the Readme, word-for-word:

WHAT'S NEW IN WARCRAFT III: THE FROZEN THRONE?

A lot! There are a number of new units, Heroes, buildings, upgrades, and items, in addition to a number of exciting new enhancements and features. Here's a brief breakdown of the new additions:

BALANCE OVERVIEW

Most spellcasters (Sorceress, Priest, Shaman, Witch Doctor, Necromancer, Banshee, Druid of the Talon) have been re-balanced and given new armor and weapon types. All of these casters, as well as Dryads, now have "Unarmored" type armor, which means they take additional damage from Piercing and Siege attacks. Additionally, all of these casters (but not Dryads) deal Magic damage, which works much like Piercing, except it does additional damage against Medium armor instead of Heavy armor.

Most advanced technology structures have had their build times reduced. This reduction ranges from 20 seconds for especially underused structures, to 10 seconds for less underused structures. For instance, the Slaughterhouse builds 20 seconds faster now, while the Arcane Sanctum build time was only reduced by 10 seconds.

Units can become ethereal in certain situations. Ethereal units can only be damaged by Magic attacks (from casters such as Sorceresses, Banshees, etc) and by spells. Ethereal units cannot attack, but can still cast spells.

Magic-immune units cannot be attacked by units with the Magic damage type, such as Sorceresses, Banshees, etc.

Gold bounties given for killing creeps have been SIGNIFICANTLY reduced, especially on lower-level creeps.

The gold costs of all units and buildings have been reduced by roughly 15%.

Auto-cast buffs have been rebalanced with new mana costs, and in some cases such as Curse, have been slightly upgraded.

Night Elf Ancients now have Heavy armor when uprooted.

Thunderclap slow duration and strength have been tweaked so that the slow effect lasts 5 seconds at all levels, and decreases attack speed and movement speed by 50% at all levels.

Entangling roots, ensnare, and other immobilizers no longer prevent units from town portaling.

Many more minor tweaks to units and abilities...

RACIAL CHANGES

HUMANS

HERO

Blood Mage - Mystical Hero, adept at controlling magic and ranged assaults. Can learn Flame Strike, Banish, Mana Shield, and Mark of Fire. Attacks land and air units.

Flame Strike - Conjures a pillar of fire which damages ground units in a target area over time.

Mana Shield - Surrounds the affected unit with a temporary shield that will absorb a set amount of magical or physical damage.

Banish - Turns a unit temporarily ethereal so that it cannot attack or be attacked physically. It may cast spells and have spells cast upon it, however.

Mark of Fire [ultimate] - Sacrifices a target non-mechanical unit to create a Phoenix. This mythical bird's fiery wings will singe nearby air attackers. Immune to magic. Attacks land and air units.

UNITS

Dragon Hawk - Swift flying unit, mounted by an Elven warrior. Has the Cloud ability. Attacks land and air units.

Cloud - Creates a small cloud that stops buildings with ranged attacks that are within it from attacking.

Spell Breaker - Elven warrior trained to disrupt and contort magical energies. Initially has the Spell Immunity ability, which renders him immune to magic. Can also learn Spell Steal. Attacks land units.

Spell Immunity - The Spell Breaker is immune to all spells (exactly like the Dryad).

Spell Steal - Steals a positive buff from an enemy unit and applies it to a nearby friendly unit and/or removes a negative buff from a friendly units and applies it to an enemy unit. This is an auto-cast ability.

BUILDINGS

Arcane Vault - Creates a shop from which Heroes can purchase and sell items. The items available are dependant upon what level of upgrade your Town Hall has (Town Hall, Keep, or Castle) and what buildings you have.

OTHER

Research Rocket Tank - This upgrade changes Steam Tanks into War Engines, giving them a rocket-like attack versus air units. CURRENTLY NOT ACTIVE!

NIGHT ELVES

HERO

Warden - Cunning Hero, adept at entering and escaping combat. Can learn Blink, Fan of Knives, Shadow Strike and Spirit of Vengeance. Attacks land and air units.

Blink - Teleports the Warden a short distance, allowing her to move in and out of combat.

Fan of Knives - The Warden flings a flurry of knives at multiple enemy targets around her.

Shadow Strike - The Warden hurls a poisoned dagger with incredible force at a target enemy ground unit causing damage and temporarily slowing the target.

Spirit of Vengeance [ultimate] - Creates a powerful fighting Spirit from the bodies of fallen allies. The strength of the Spirit of Vengeance is proportional to the number of fallen allies nearby. Immune to magic. Attacks land and air units.

UNITS

Hippogryph Rider - This Archer mounted Hippogryph now has the ability to allow its rider to dismount.

Mountain Giant - Slow moving melee unit that can take incredible amounts of punishment. Has the Taunt and War Club abilities. Can learn Hardened Skin and Resistant Skin. Attacks land units.

Taunt - Causes nearby enemies to switch their attack to the Mountain Giant.

War Club - Gives the Mountain Giant a temporary siege enhanced attack.

Hardened Skin - Gives Mountain Giants increased resistance to attack damage.

Resistant Skin - Gives Mountain Giants increased resistance to spell damage

Faerie Dragon - Small quick flying unit, effective against enemy casters. Has the Phase Shift and Mana Flare abilities. Immune to magic. Attacks land and air units.

Phase Shift - Allows the Faerie Dragon to briefly turn ethereal, breaking targeting of enemy units. This is an auto-cast ability.

Mana Flare - Causes the Faerie Dragon to channel negative magical energies that damage nearby enemies when they cast spells.

BUILDINGS

All NE Ancients can now attack while rooted.

Ancient of Wonders - Creates a shop from which Heroes can purchase items. The items available are dependant upon what level of upgrade your Tree of Life has (Tree of Life, Tree of Ages, or Tree of Eternity) and what buildings you have.

OTHER

Cyclone - This spell is now dispellable.

Well Spring Upgrade - This upgrade increases Moon Well mana capacity and mana regeneration rate.

Enchanted Bears (temp name) Upgrade - This upgrade allows Druids of the Claw to cast Roar while in Bear Form

Enchanted Crows (temp name) Upgrade - Allows Druids of the Talon to cast Faerie Fire from Storm Crow Form.

ORCS

HERO

Shadow Hunter - Cunning Hero, adept at healing magics and voodoo curses. Can learn Healing Wave, Hex, Serpent Ward and Big Bad Voodoo. Attacks land and air units.

Healing Wave - Calls forth a wave of energy that heals a target and bounces to nearby friendlies. Each bounce heals less damage.

Hex - Temporarily transforms an enemy unit into a random critter, disabling special abilities.

Serpent Ward - Summons an immobile serpentine ward to attack the Shadow Hunter's enemies. Attacks land and air units.

Big Bad Voodoo [ultimate] - Turns all friendly units invulnerable in an area around the Shadow Hunter. The Shadow Hunter does not turn invulnerable.

UNITS

Troll Batrider - Light flying unit with incredible eyesight. Good at destroying buildings. Has the Unstable Concoction ability, which allows the Troll Batrider to explode, dealing damage to nearby enemy air units. Can learn the Liquid Fire ability. Attacks land units.

Unstable Concoction - Causes a powerful explosion that deals damage to nearby enemy air units.

Liquid Fire - Flings a volatile liquid that causes buildings to take damage over time. Buildings that are currently taking damage from Liquid Fire cannot be repaired.

Spirit Walker - Tauren caster who can shift between the corporeal and spirit worlds. Can cast Spirit Link, Disenchant, and Ancestral Spirit.

Corporeal/Ethereal Form - Allows the Spirit Walker to morph between corporeal and ethereal form.

Ancestral Spirit - Allows a Spirit Walker to resurrect dead non-Hero Tauren.

Disenchant - Damages all summoned units in an area.

Spirit Link - Links the spirits of several friendly units together so that damage to one unit will be shared to some extent by all the units linked to it.

BUILDINGS

Reinforced Orc Burrow - Upgraded version of the Orc Burrow with greater hit points and greater defenses.

Voodoo Lounge - Creates a shop from which Heroes can purchase items. The items available are dependant upon what level of upgrade your Great Hall has (Great Hall, Stronghold, or Fortress) and what buildings you have.

OTHER

Troll Berserker - Troll Headhunters may now be upgraded into Troll Berserkers, which are tougher and have the Berserk ability. Can learn Troll Regeneration.

Berserk - Gives the Troll Berserker faster movement and attack rate; however, they will also take more damage from attacks.

Ensnare - This ability is no longer dispellable, and it can target magic-immune units.

Wind Walk - If the Blademaster attacks a unit to break invisibility, he will deal bonus damage.

UNDEAD

HERO

Crypt Lord - Warrior Hero, adept at summoning insect minions and crushing enemies. Can learn Impale, Spiked Carapace, Carrion Beetles and Locust Swarm. Attacks land units.

Impale - The Crypt Lord impales a target enemy unit, then flings it into the air. When the impaled unit hits the ground, it is stunned.

Spiked Carapace - The Crypt Lord forms barbed layers of chitinous armor that increase its defense and return damage to enemy melee attackers.

Carrion Beetles - Progenerates a Carrion Beetle from a target corpse. At higher levels of the spell's proficiency, these Beetles can burrow into the ground to hide from enemies. While they are burrowed, they cannot attack.

Locust Swarm [ultimate] - Summons a swarm of locusts that attack nearby enemies and restore hit points to the Crypt Lord commensurate with the damage the locusts inflict.

UNITS

Obsidian Statue - Fortified statue with an aura that causes nearby wounded friendly Undead units to regenerate hit points at a faster rate. Can cast Absorb Mana and Replenish Mana. The benefits of its aura can be enhanced through research. Can also research Sphinx Form.

Aura of Blight - Regenerative aura that only affects friendly Undead units. This effect does not stack with other statues or with Blight.

Absorb Mana - Drains a target owned unit of mana. All mana stolen will fill the Statue's mana pool.

Replenish Mana - Replenish the mana of a target friendly unit. This is an auto-cast ability.

Sphinx Form - Transforms the Obsidian Statue into a powerful flying unit. Attacks land and air units.

Black Sphinx - Large flying unit with powerful anti-caster abilities. Can cast Devour Mana and Orb of Annihilation. Attacks land and air units.

Devour Magic - Dispels units of all magic buffs within an area. Every buff dispelled will be converted into hit points and mana for the Black Sphinx. This spell will also deal damage to summoned units in the area of effect.

Orb of Annihilation - Gives the Sphinx a more powerful attack that delivers splash damage. This is an auto-cast ability.

BUILDINGS

Tomb of Relics - Creates a shop from which Heroes can purchase items. The items available are dependant upon what level of upgrade your Necropolis has (Necropolis, Halls of the Dead, or Black Citadel) and what buildings you have.

OTHER

Crypt Fiend - This unit may now learn the Burrow ability.

Burrow (Crypt Fiend/Carrion Beetle) - Allows Crypt Fiends to burrow into the ground, become invisible, and regenerate hit points at a faster rate. While burrowed, Crypt Fiends cannot attack.

Web - This ability is no longer dispellable, and it can target magic-immune units.

Skeletal Mage - A unit summoned by the Raise Dead spell once Skeletal Mastery has been researched. Like Skeleton Warriors, Skeletal Mages can benefit from Skeletal Longevity.

Upgrade Aura of Blight - Increases the regenerative effect of the Obsidian Statue's hit point regeneration.

Exhume Corpses Upgrade - This upgrade allows Meat Wagons to generate corpses like a Graveyard. A new corpse is generated every X seconds and is placed inside their cargo. CURRENTLY NOT ACTIVE.

NEUTRALS

HERO

Dark Ranger - Cunning Hero, adept at manipulating opponents. Can learn Silence, Black Arrow, Life Drain, and Charm. Attacks land and air units.

Silence - Stops all enemies in a target area from casting spells for a short duration.

Black Arrow - Adds extra damage to attacks. Enemy ground units killed while under the effect of Black Arrow will turn into skeletons.

Life Drain - Channeling spell that siphons health from the target to the Dark Ranger for a period of time or until the affected unit moves out of range. Dispel does not affect the spell.

Charm [ultimate] - Takes control of a target enemy unit. Charm cannot be used on Heroes, or on creeps who are too powerful.

BUILDINGS

Marketplace - A store for purchasing goods. As creeps are killed, whatever items they drop will simultaneously stock this store.

Goblin Shipyard - Sells boats.

Tavern - Allows you to hire various Heroes.

NEW FEATURES & ENHANCEMENTS

AMM Search Improvements - Now when searching for anonymous opponents for AMM games, you can chat in the chatroom. Additionally, a "Quick Game" option has been added that will immediately start a game using the settings from your previous game.

In-Game Battle.net Reply - While in a game you can now "/r " individuals who message you from Battle.net.

Clan Support - UI support for clans is now available on Battle.net. Please visit the Beta site http://www.blizzard.com/war3x/beta/ for further information on how to create clans and manage clans.

Allied Team Colors - The "Minimap Ally Colors" button now toggles units in the minimap AND IN THE world view to appear colored according to alliance. Player is white on minimap (Blue in world view), allies are Teal on minimap and in world view, and enemies are red on the minimap and in the world view. Creeps appear black in this mode.

Dark Mask Creep Indicator - Creep locations are now visible through the minimap in the form of a glowing icon. This icon indicates a creep camp's threat level as easy (small-sized icon) or challenging (large-sized icon).

Health Bars - Holding down the "Alt" key will display health bars above all units on the screen. Holding down the "[" will display friendly health bars where the "]" key will display enemy health bars.

Queued Research/Upgrades - You can now queue multiple upgrades as well as units simultaneously from buildings, provided there are available resources.

Research/Upgrade Complete Messages - The text messages that appear when research or an upgrade is completed now tell you specifically what was completed.

Inherited Follow - When following a friendly unit, following units now inherit the order of the leader. For example, units following an attacking Hero will also attack along with the Hero.

Improved Defeat Conditions - Defeat conditions now greatly reduce the frustration caused by "hide the farm" tactics.

Town Portal Improvements - Players can now more accurately control where they arrive when they use a Scroll of Town Portal by clicking on a specific location in the world view within limited range of the town hall they are teleporting to. Additionally, double-clicking on a Scroll of Town Portal will send your affected units to the nearest, player-owned town hall on the map. In the case that the player has no town halls, the units will be taken to the highest technology allied players town hall.

Rally Point to Hero Icon Feature - You can now select a unit-producing building and right click on a Hero icon along the left side of the screen to assign the rally point to that Hero.

Building Control Groups - Buildings are now supported in control and subgroups the same way units are.

Handicaps - We now have handicaps in the game allowing players to set themselves at a disadvantage if they so choose. This reduces the maximum hit points for the affected players units to the chosen percentage. So, for example, a player setting his handicap to 60% will have units with maximum hit point values 60% the normal value.

Occupied Display (Bunkers) - These structures now display "occupied" graphics above them when a unit is inside.

Improved Waypoints - Waypoints are now graphically represented much more clearly. A small flag is placed at each waypoint. Additionally, several buildings can be way-pointed for construction by a single worker unit, although you must have the available resources for each building.

Construction Site Indicators - A transparent building appears at the construction site of placed buildings indicating that a building is going to be constructed there.

There are other features, game concepts, and play tips that were not included in this readme. For further clarification or information on other topics please visit The Frozen Throne Beta Information Center http://www.blizzard.com/war3x/beta/ where you can access the much more thorough Warcraft III Guide.

Vanguard3000

Vanguard3000

Posted
Posted

You call 100Mb huge? CAPS huge? I downloaded the Age of Mythology demo, which was over 300Mb, on my 56k connection. ;)

By the way, good stuff with getting the beta. I'm not big on the new Warcraft, but I'd still like to see some screenies of the units. ;)

DukeLeto

DukeLeto

Posted
  • Author
Posted

OK, here are a few screenies of the Beta; descriptions follow:

BM1 - Showcases the Human Blood Mage

CL1 - Close up on the Undead Crypt Lord and one of the new merc. units

MG1 - Up close and personal with the NE Mountain Giants

MG Battle1 - Some Mountain Giants in action

NPRST1 - A nice pic of the redesigned Human Priest (new colors, to match the new Blood Mage)

Undeadgrp1 - a nice undead group featuring the Crypt Lord and a new merc. unit[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

Navaros

Navaros

Posted
Posted

i didn't get into the Beta but i have all the tools on my PC to play the pirated Beta over Warforge whenever i so choose just like i did with the Beta for the original game LOL

DukeLeto

DukeLeto

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  • Author
Posted

I see Blizzard "borrows" much from HOMAM...

"HOMAM"? What's that? ???

You notice how some of the new spells are copies of ones from StarCraft: "Cloud" is almost exactly like Disruption Web, "Banish" is like Stasis Field, etc. :P

thomas

thomas

Posted
Posted

bah I could say blizzard takes spells from D&D like animate dead, blizzard, summon water element etc but I dont and hte heroes are like D&D classes.

DukeLeto

DukeLeto

Posted
  • Author
Posted

well i don't realy got into the Frozen Throne Beta, but now everyone can download it ;) :) , i'll try it ASAP.

i fyou mean from here, you'll need a CD key.

If you don't, Blizz could take security lessons from EA; the Generals beta never leaked.

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