Hero (Warcraft)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Blizzard Entertainment's real-time strategy game Warcraft III, a Hero is a special kind of unit which embodies some of the properties normally found in role-playing games, such as levelling and skill selection. Heroes were considered one of the most innovative features of Warcraft III, due to the large changes to traditional RTS concepts and strategies brought about by their introduction.
Each race has three different classes of Heroes in the original game, with a fourth type added to each race in the expansion set. Eight Neutral Heroes are also available to all players on certain maps in the expansion set.
Like RPG characters, Heroes gain experience points from kills made by the player, and "level-up" at certain intervals. In regular games and campaigns, the maximum level a Hero can achieve is level 10.
Contents |
[edit] Special properties
Heroes differ from ordinary units in the following respects:
- Heroes are physically much more powerful — they usually have much more health, armor and are able to do more damage compared to ordinary units.
- Heroes appear slightly larger than units and have a glow around their feet and weapon to identify them.
- Heroes appear larger in the minimap located at the bottom left.
- Each Hero has a unique proper name, so that even two Heroes of the same type can be distinguished. (In the case there are a large amount of the same Hero type, such as in a custom game, Heroes gain a roman numeral after the name, for example, Thrall II).
- Heroes are similar to RPG characters in these few ways:
- Heroes gain experience points from kills made by the player, and "level-up".
- Players can select a new ability or upgrade an existing one each time a Hero levels up.
- Heroes can carry and use inventory items. The maximum number of items each Hero can carry in the inventory is six.
- There is a hard limit of three Heroes per player. In addition, the player must have upgraded to tier-two before purchasing a second Hero, and tier-three before purchasing a third. Finally, there is a limit of one Hero per type (so each Hero must be unique).
- The first Hero costs no gold or lumber but only 5 out of a maximum capacity of 90 food. This is to encourage players to get one, and ensure that even players who do not wish to spend resources on Heroes aren't at a significant disadvantage.
- When Heroes are killed, they can be revived back for a price, retaining all of their experience, items and abilities. As such, Heroes are a permanent addition to the player's army. In addition, they do not leave corpses unlike other units. Players can choose either the following options to revive their dead Heroes[1]:
- Using the Altar built in the player's base (eg. Altar of Darkness for Undead race).
- Using a Tavern if available. It instantly revives players' Heroes but the price to revive at a Tavern is much greater. Moreover, Heroes revived at the Tavern are brought back to life with 0 mana and 50% of their full health.
- Heroes are given special significance in the interface design. For example, the player can view all of their Heroes (living and dead) in the top-left corner at all times, and select them with the F1-F3 keys. Also, special audio notifications are given when a player or allied player's Hero is killed.
- All Heroes share a magic resistance, which reduces the effects of all negative spells cast upon them.
- All Heroes are immune to several spells, either for balance or logistics reasons (for example, it is impossible for a Banshee to cast Possession on a Hero).
[edit] Effect on gameplay
The sum of all of these properties makes Heroes effectively mandatory for all players. The advantage of having a Hero in combat is so great that players typically keep their units with their Heroes at all times, and will flee a battle if their Heroes are killed.
Thus, the Hero system changed both the way the game is played, and the way it was designed. For instance, in previous Blizzard games, Heroes were used sparingly in the campaigns, and never in custom or multiplayer battles. In Warcraft III, every campaign level has at least one player-controlled Hero.
This not only changes gameplay, but the story as well. Warcraft III's campaign is driven by the characters themselves (as Heroes). In previous Blizzard strategy games, players were briefed before the mission, with the characters or narrator speaking directly to the player (who was usually given a title such as "commander"). In Warcraft III, for the first time, there is no narrator or "player character". The missions are introduced by the characters themselves, who address only each other and never the player directly.
The choice of Hero in a custom or multiplayer game adds another interesting twist to the game. Since Heroes are so influential on the gameplay, the Hero chosen greatly affects strategies and chances in battle. While some Heroes are better in certain situations than others (eg. The Paladin has "Holy Light" which can only damage units in the Undead race), generally all Heroes are designed to be evenly balanced, and the choice merely comes down to strategy.
Most of the other innovations in Warcraft III are related to Heroes in some way. Inventory items, for example, are only usable by Heroes. Creeps, the other major innovation, serve their primary purpose as providing Heroes with experience and items early on in a match.
[edit] Hero abilities
All Heroes have four abilities which can be earned through level-ups. Heroes begin at level 1, and are allowed to choose one ability when created. Each level-up allows the Hero to add one ability, or upgrade an existing one. All Heroes have three normal abilities, and one ultimate. The normal abilities can be assigned from level 1 onwards (giving spell-level 1), and can be upgraded twice (to a maximum spell-level of 3). The first upgrade may only be done from Hero-level 3, and the second, from Hero-level 5. Once the Hero reaches level 6, the ultimate is unlocked. The ultimate has one level, and is generally much more powerful, but costs more Mana and has longer duration than the other abilities.
Once the Hero reaches level 10 (the maximum), 10 ability points will have been assigned, so each normal ability will be on spell-level 3, and the ultimate will also have been learned.
Hero abilities can turn the tide of a battle if used correctly. Once a Hero obtains an ultimate, the game can quickly tip in their favour. Certain Heroes have a stronger ultimate and weaker normal abilities, making those Heroes relatively much stronger from level 6 onwards. For instance, Night Elf Priestess of the Moon has three normal abilities — Owl Scout, Searing Arrows and Trueshot Aura, none of which is particularly powerful compared to some other normal hero abilities. However, her Ultimate ability, Starfall (which inflicts 50 damage per wave to nearby enemy units and buildings and lasts 45 seconds) is so powerful that it can allow a player to win the game if not interrupted as soon as possible (Eg. Using the Mountain King's Storm Bolt spell to stun the priestess from channeling the spell).[2]
[edit] Types of abilities
There are three general types of abilities,[3] which are the same types as found in Diablo II:
- Spells - Most abilities are spells, which appear on the Hero's command card once learnt. Spells are cast manually by the player, which uses up Mana. Some spells are casted automatically when the auto-cast is enabled.
- Example: Human Paladin Holy Light ability, which heals a friendly unit or damages an Undead enemy unit when casted upon.
- Example for auto-cast spell: Undead Lich's Frost Armour ability which increases one's armour while active. When auto-cast is enabled, the Hero will cast this spell on a friendly unit randomly so long there is enough Mana.
- Skills - Passive abilities which are permanent upgrades to the Hero and requires no Mana cost. (Note: In Diablo II, these are called passive abilities).
- Example: Night Elf Demon Hunter's Evasion ability. This ability gives the Hero a significant chance to evade attacks.
- Auras - Special skills which give benefits to all friendly units or penalties to all enemy units within a given radius. Like skills, they have no associated Mana cost, and are permanently active. All units under the effect of an aura have a pale-blue highlight under their feet. The generating Hero has a large glow pattern under, which appears different for every aura.
- Example: Orc Tauren Chieftain's Endurance Aura ability. This aura increases the speed (both attack and movement) of all nearby friendly units.
[edit] Campaign Heroes
In custom and multiplayer games ("meleé matches"), Heroes are purchased from the player's altar. The player can choose any Hero, and can continue buying a Hero for each tier they develop. Such "bought Heroes" are randomly assigned proper names, as outlined above, and serve no other purpose than leading the player's army.
In the single-player campaigns (or story-mode), Heroes are treated somewhat differently. Like in previous Blizzard games, Heroes are major characters in the story, assigned automatically to the player in each mission. As such, the player has no control over what Heroes they can purchase, or how many there are. The altar serves only to allow dead Hero revival.
Each campaign typically has a single main character who is the player's first Hero in most, if not all, of the missions. Usually, several other Heroes come and go during various missions in the campaign. This generally gives the player an opportunity to try all three Hero classes for that race. The expansion campaigns all include the new Hero class as the primary or secondary character. If a Hero is killed in the course of battle, they can be revived at the altar as usual (in certain missions, a player is considered to fail the mission if the Hero is killed). However, if the Hero is killed in a cinematic sequence (as part of the game's fixed storyline), then they will be permanently removed from the game.
Unlike custom and multiplayer games, the campaigns let each Hero keep their levels and items throughout a campaign. Level progression is much slower, and usually limited to one level per mission (once the Hero levels up, they receive no more experience until the next mission). The campaigns also tend to control the selection of abilities by providing only one or two options in earlier missions, and unlocking more later on.
[edit] Strategy
The presence of Heroes in Warcraft III means that traditional strategies are useless or need heavy modification. For instance, in StarCraft, units would generally wait in the player's base until ready to attack. In Warcraft III, it is considered wasteful if an army is not constantly moving or fighting either the enemy or creeps. This is because, with Heroes, killing creeps has become an important gameplay activity, to ensure the Hero is of a high enough level when combat with the enemy occurs. However, when Heroes reach level 5, they do not gain experience points from killing creeps but only from enemy units.[4]
Combat strategies vary based on the Hero, but use of Hero abilities is one of the most important actions in battle. Heroes are often also used as a tank, to absorb damage. Caster-type Heroes (Eg. Night Elf Keeper of the Grove) has relatively lower health and armor, and usually have ranged attacks, therefore they are always placed behind an army to avoid from taking too much damage.[5]
The number of Heroes chosen by the player is important in their overall strategy, though there is some debate as to what is the optimal number of Heroes. Purchasing only a single Hero is called "soloing", and has the advantages of the extra resources from not buying a second Hero, and also usually a higher-level Hero from not having to share experience. However, the lack of the extra firepower, abilities and backup that a second Hero usually provides makes having two Heroes a more popular option (in the Ladders of Northrend and Kalimdor Gateway at Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Battle.net)[6][7]. Having three Heroes is seen very rarely unless the game is long - the third Hero is usually underdeveloped and too weak to fight the very powerful opposition faced at tier three (when the option of buying a third Hero becomes available). However, adding third Hero into the army sometimes can be helpful. The third Hero could be used for the aura or an offensive/defensive spell. For instance, Undead Death Knight as third Hero can use his Death Coil spell to heal a wounded Undead unit or to damage a non-Undead enemy, while staying behind the army to avoid being targeted.
[edit] Development
Heroes have always been present in Blizzard's real-time strategy games. In Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, Warcraft II and StarCraft, "Heroes" were only seen in campaign (story) mode, where they were simply stronger versions of regular units with special names, portraits and speech who served as the major characters in the games' storylines. Most missions with Heroes would automatically fail if the player's Hero was killed. Alternatively, some missions had the objective of killing an enemy Hero. Each Blizzard RTS game and expansion gave Heroes a larger role than the previous one, leading up to Warcraft III.
Heroes were always a large part of the gameplay during Warcraft III's development, but did not always serve the same role as they do in the released version. When the game was announced in 1999, Heroes were to serve an even bigger role in the game. The game was lauded as a "Role-Playing Strategy" game - a melding of the two genres. In the original design, units had to be attached to a Hero at all times (and could not go wandering by themselves). Also, instead of having the traditional fog of war (as the game now has), originally the camera was bound to Heroes as well, and the player's vision was simply limited to that of their Heroes.
Heroes were originally to be called "Legends", according to the book The Art of Warcraft.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Hero Revival.
- ^ Priestess of the Moon.
- ^ Hero Abilities.
- ^ Standing Around.
- ^ Information about Night Elf Keeper of the Grove.
- ^ Northrend - Multiple Hero Usage Reports.
- ^ Kalimdor - Multiple Hero Usage Reports ((Korean)).
