My thoughts on Warcraft III "imba"lances -- Part I

You probably know that I'm quite a vivid fan of Warcraft III - The Frozen Throne (no, it is not World of Warcraft for those who don't know) if you bothered to come to this blog. I've admittedly spent too much time on this game, and especially too much time watching replays, but no, I don't pretend to be gosu on the game, because... I'm not.

Compared to Starcraft, Warcraft III has become a game where win-loss is largely determined by execution rather than strategy or ingenuity. Simply put, you can't throw a curveball to throw your opponent off, because with a certain race matchup, there are specific combinations of heros and units and upgrade path that you must choose to give you the best chance of winning. Anything else are pretty easily counterable. From time to time, you see the best of the best pro gamers do a new twist here and there to win games -- partly why they are so celebrated in the community, because when that happens it's just a beauty to watch -- but mostly the game gets repititious over time.

Yes, balancing Warcraft where each race has plausible alternative strategies in each of the 4X4 matchups are just exponentially more difficult than Starcraft not only there are 4 races, but unique spells from each Hero in each race + Neutral heros simply complicated balancing efforts. (I'm so glad that Blizzard stick with 3 races in Starcraft II). But, I still think there are certain things the game can ipmrove in terms of balance.

Well, if you don't know about the game itself, I wouldn't recommend you continue reading, because I am about to give my thoughts on the game as it is right now (patch 1.21b), particularly on race specifics and matchups.

All the analysis here only concerns solo games. Never mind balancing in team games -- crazy fast gargs and other weird crap like TP-militia to an offensive Necro are just strats I would never be able to think of a counter by the time I find out with my first scout.

Human

I'm pretty damn sure building 31532529 towers and elongated every solo game to 25+ minutes were not on the minds of Blizzard game designers when they initially designed the game. So, in terms of "imba"ness in the game, this is probably the most worst issue that Blizzard never bothered to fix. I hate solo games vs HU where they mass towers and turtle around and pump out mass tanks, which I saw more and more frequently when I was getting to higher levels soloing last year (when win/loss become more serious to ppl). Where is the fun of it? Warcraft was designed with the intent to minimize economy (macro), and put the emphasis on heros and units (micro). HU towers turn it upside down.

Speaking of tanks, how can a tier3 4-food unit worth only *40* xp? HOW?

I think Grubby once said HU was the most "balanced" race, in the sense that Blizzard tend to use it as the measuring stick to create and compare the other races. Well, I used to think HU vs Orc was perfectly balanced, until HU figures how to tower rush Orc in early tier2 about a year ago.

HU players argue that they can't win without towers, and I tend to agree. They are the slowest race, especially at tier2 (Orc has raiders, NE has dryads, UD can mass gargs); they seem to get picked apart mid game with the classic casters rifles, which used to be HU's predominant tier2. They also need a solution to counter destroyers without towers, something which I don't think I know enough to comment -- it was such an obvious design flaw when Blizzard creates a HU anti-air that cannot shackle a tier3 air unit due to magic immunity. I tend to think hawks should be able to shackle destroyers, which can be countered by DR's silence.

So, my recommendation: nerf HU towers by lowering tower HP (keep the armory upgrade), put some worthwhile xp in tanks and buff HU movement speed on rifles/casters.

Orc

Help me understand this -- why of all spells in the game, unit spells, hero spells... other than Hero's ultimates, that raiders ensnare is the only stunner that can be casted onto any enemy, may it be ground or air, or even magic-immune... and cannot be dispelled. Even hero spells, hex or entangle, can be dispelled but ensnare cannot. Talk about imba in the literal sense - there is no counter to it for a relatively cheap tier2 unit "spell".

Imba that it is, Orcs depend on this skill extensively in mid-game, to the point that it eliminates other unit combinations. It's either grunts/raiders/walkers for durability, or grunts/raiders BM+SH for hero nuking. Once in a while you'll see mass wyverns done properly to pick the enemy apart but it looks so difficult and counterable to count as a staple strategy for a race.

At least, I would like to see better payback for Orc's casters before tier3. Other than summon abuse (to get Shamans for purging), no sane Orcs build any casters at tier2 other than walkers for spirit link / disenchant. This eliminates any incentives for Orc to go tier3, part of the reason why Orc players complain about a weak tier3 in solo.

Speaking of tier3, Orc's tier3 does suck (in solo at least). HU immediately gets the best staff, UD immediately gets the best Orb, NE immediately gets venom Orb and then bears or cyclone quickly after. Orc's immediate benefit is only their lightning Orb which is not that useful unless you have a disgustingly packed BM. And then you have to wait forever to get totemed Taurens, and by the time you get them HU have gryphons, UD have destroyers and NE have cyclones, making them the most expensive free xp you've ever built. Defense upgrades are too late at tier3 -- if your burrows are not raped by then.

I think the Orc's weak tier3 can be solved by buffing Orc's casters at tier2. At least give some HPs to those skinny witch doctors so they don't die in two hits. Maybe a higher mana regen rate too.

So, my recommendation: lengthen ensnare cooldown from 12 to 14. Buff HPs on shamans and witch doctors, and their mana regen rate. Also create a "lesser" upgrade at tier2 for Orc burrows so the poor thing doesn't get raided every single time at tier2.

- To be continued...