I would totally play and think its an excellent idea!
However, I think there should be a way to still access classical mode for purists and those who long for both varieties.
Goals should be to find level of balance with out eroding some of the fundamental mechanics that make this game great.
Finding consensus for agreed upon changes is important.
Humans-
Non Controversial changes - that would make humans more competitive at Lust Stage-
Paladins Healing should be a proximity spell 3x2 like Runes with a better Heal to mana ratio
Auto heal takes the micro fun out of the game. And knights wouldn’t necessarily have to run every time they encounter lust. They could sustain minimal losses vs a pack of lusted
run away when mana runs low and retreat to a defensive position and wait for mana to fully heal, then would be able to take down the pack of lusted ogers that are now weak. It preserves the lust power factor while giving the humans viable counter manuvers.
Mage - Slow should have greater range- Its a decent counter to have a mage with a pack of knights vs lust but by the time ur in position to cast slow, the mage is usually picked off or they’ve landed a lot of critical hits on your knights already and you aren’t in ideal position to mage bomb.
FireBall- Very inaccurate spell unlike death coil.
Ballistas- Fix the misfire bug.
Optional Human Tweaks for better competition but not absolutely necessary-
Exorcism for 2500 is expensive as shit and requires full mana to not even kill a dk, by which point someone would have multiple farmed in dks any way or could just attack it in the open. It makes a bad ass sound when you cast it. It would be a lot more relevant if the cost was only 500 - 1000
And the mana requirement to kill was 150 or 200…. This could lead to more interesting late games where Fliers became a great asset for humans to spot and pick off dks. Orc
would also no longer be able to get away with a hasted dk to ruin your main exp. Many more players would be forced to get Unholy Armor to counter this at appropriate rally points.
Radical Human Changes- As it stands humans are at a disadvantage at Fort and Hall stages…
Hall for the simple reason 2400 is a lot when you’re 2 rax rushing. True the 3:1 lumber equivalent exists for orcs but, it’s different when it’s already banked and lumber isn’t as scarce at early game. A small delay in footmen production is enough for you to get outrushed which means u get out powered and out tech’d usually. Late lvl 5 sometimes means they’re already ogers by the time you make your main strike which is already a danger when Hard rushing.
Option 1 - Give Humans the same lvl 5 upgrade as Orcs
Option 2 - Make Humans the Stronger race at Strong hold while orcs retain their Hall and Fort Advantage to set the stages for Late game. If Humans were given the 20% extra gold at hold instead of waiting for Castle and the ability to make a church at Hold that make them quite a force to be reckoned with at the Hold stage. It would discourage that crowd who thinks war2 should be powering for 10 minutes until lust and try to back door them with a few grunts. They would be forced to not skip early game or at the very least make proper anti sap, tower builds for the keep stage if you planned on racing to lust. Then, once you survive the Keep onslaught you would take control at the lust stage and hopefully they haven’t gained too much map control.
Option 3- Weird option, that i’m against- Switch lvl 5 upgrades for Humans and Orcs, would give humans slight hall advantage.
I think option 2 would be the coolest here! You would see more dual rushing I’m guessing.
Non Controversial Orc Changes- Skeletons is essentially a useless spell used to clown people once the game is already over. If it cost only 500 - 800 people would
say fuck it why not. They need either greater attacking power or speed, so it actually becomes a useful spell for killing farmed in dks. So if you’re not paying attention a skeleton could wipe out a bunch of farmed in dks.
Runes 200 mana is pretty good most the time but in close intense games many ogers don’t live long enough to reach 200 mana. Especially if humans are given 150 Mana for Exo, Runes 150 would still be pretty reasonable. It would become a more integral part of the game and perhaps encourage more people to get fliers and not turtle as Hard massing ogers knowing inaction can cause people to temporarily make certain routes treacherous and seize territory.
I wouldn’t really make any other Orc Changes. They are pretty bad ass!
3rd RACE - Zerg Mized with Demons would be a pretty cool race to occupy the Random SLot or whatever.
I don’t know enough about starcraft to envision their dynamics but if each other race has an advantage at mid and later game. Zerg should be given
some sort of an Advantage at Early game. Maybe 500 Dollar Grunts with slightly cheaper level upgrades. Could they also be given Diagonal buildings ? This could give them nice layering for choke points so they don’t fall to a single breach. It would also make the Hopping Dynamic harder or easier to gain entry into a dual or power. 1 extra range on archer equivalent would be cool 2 for hit and run attacks.
— Pathing sucks and rally points could be interesting — However, I enjoy war2 has all these arcane rules with shifting priorities that means non stop multi tasking and while y ou’re busy attending to some mundane task you get hit by a pack of 20 lusted or a hasted dk. Shit getting stuck cuz of your lapse of attention is kind of fun and always elicits an intense emotional response!! SSSS MOTHER FUCKER. I would leave it but some people might appreciate less to do
I think these would be some awesome changes for a breath of fresh air into war2 with an added layer of strategy with out too much complexity. And still retain a way to revert to classic war2 mode…..
