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

... What a long wait to get part II done. Work has been getting in my way...

Undead

This is probably the race I find it most difficult to comment on, not only because I haven't played this race enough myself to understand how it could be different, but also it is the most "off-balanced" race in itself.

Let's see -- a race with units that do not regen health at day or at night except in blight, and no other health regen options other than DK in tier1. The only good offensive units in tier2 are gargs (which are VERY good, btw, against both and air units, if they are not shackled or concocted). Sucky casters. One of their best offensive units, even in late games, is a tier1 unit that is also responsible for wood gathering. A ridiculous orb at tier3, followed by the best anti-casters unit that is magic immune, fly and with a ridiculous armor, and adding a third hero with ease makes them the best race at tier3 with imba hero-nuking abilities. At equal food, it is the most efficient army you can build among all races, offset by totally exposed helpless gold miners making it impossible to expand.

Given all that, when you play UD, it has been for years that you really don't have options. You must start off with DK for coil + aura for healing. Then everything else is pretty much dictated by map and race matchup. Harass your way through tier3, so you can eventually have Lich + Orb for nuking to win you half of the games. Expansion denial, or at least delay, wins you the other half. Proper execution on harassment, quick clicking and timing, wins you the game.
Ideally I would like to see them not relying so much on nuking, but that means changing the Hero's spell characteristics which is foolish at this point of game maturity. Maybe decrease the orb armor reduction rate, but then I don't play the race enough to comment on it. HU and NE has staffs to counter, and Orc > UD so maybe nukes aren't even worth balancing, if not for the sake of allowing other playstyles. Casters need significant buffing of some sort.

The other UD issue that should be addressed is destroyers. Both HU and Orc have real difficulties dealing with its high HP and armor. It is an abusable unit, but given the overall balance of HU vs UD, and Orc vs UD, I think I'll give it a pass at the moment.

Another issue I don't play enough UD to comment on, is of the UD casters. All pro gamers seem to totally avoid using UD casters like a disease. I really don't know whether UD casters are THAT weak in solos, or UD pro-gamers are simply unable to adapt to incorporating them, even in unique game situations. As NE, I have been soundly beaten by mass skeles + meatwagon done properly; even with detonate it was difficult to constantly get rid of the skeles. I can't imagine HU or Orc have any easier time in doing so. Banshees are another seldom-used unit that should be exploited in Orc or HU matchup. Mass knights are particularly vulnerable. Again, I'll leave the issue at that.

Finally, air-to-air attack in gargs are too good for a flying unit that can attack ground. None of other similar units (wyverns, hawks, gyros) are like that. This causes a bit of imbalance in UD vs NE, because NE has to be committed to hippos, a non-ground attacking unit, at basically equal unit count as gargs to win the air fight). Maybe weapon upgrade does not increase air-to-air garg damage could solve the problem too.

So, my recommendation: Not good enough to comment! I'll chicken this one out. =D

Night Elves

I play this race, since the beginning of war3 -- people call it the Noobelf, for different reasons that I'll talk about -- so perhaps I may have a biased opinion on it.

I think I understand where most of the frustration of other races come from, some justified, some not. Let's go throught the major complaints.

1. Dryads -- Yes, I admit it, it is IMBA. I really think Blizzard designed the unit incorrectly. Runs fast, magic immune, able to kill summons, can get rid of de-buffs for the army, stings the enemy to poison and slow them. Just too good for a single unit. No matter what you throw at an NE mid game, you can almost never go wrong with dryads. Casters? Mass summons? Hit-and-run? Even siege? Dryads army stand their own with proper positioning and micro. And for this reason a "Noobelf" can always double up Lores and mass dryads without really knowing what is going on at mid-game, and tech to Bears. Dryads made NE too easy to use in terms of decision making.

But taking away any of the characteristics of dryads at this point would collapse the NE race. So I would, instead, make dryads more expensive, from 145/60 to 160/60. For example, say having 6 dryads mid game, would become 90 gold more expensive, which I think is about the fair price.

2. Staff of imba -- I mean, Staff of preservation, yeah, that's what it is actually called. So much hatred has gone into this tier2 item. Before moving onto the analysis, let's look at some fundamentals of NE. Before getting adept Druids of the Claw (which means you must be committing to tier3), moon well is the only way to heal -- which means you have to heal at home base. No salve, no healing hero-spell or aura of any kind (except KOTG ultimate, good luck getting that), no priests/stats/units-that-heal-for-others. Staff of preservation is the only means in mid game to save any unit or hero. So, fundamentally, staff of preservation is a necessary item for race balance.

But why is it only 150 gold and has a cooldown of only 30 seconds? Only Blizzard knows. Basically the cost of the item is justified by saving ONE fairly decent unit or a hero. And its existence does make NE one of the most lenient races to play. UD got to time their delayed coils, Orc's TC or BM need to be smart about positioning and use of invul potion, wind walk and/or scroll of speed. But NE? Walks into a fight with heros soaking hits (hopefully on purpose) and can teleport it out instantly (barring the unabolishable ensnare -- see how IMBA ensnare is?), even if they get surrounded or out of position. And it is a big reason why NE can take advantage of neutral heros better than other races. Combined with the use of dryads, it does make NE fairly easy to use and flexible midgame.

Different people have suggested 2 ways to curb this item, increase cost or decrease cooldown. I would recommend to increase cost, to 200 (or even 225), because I do feel the cooldown is necessary in elongated fights, particularly against UD nuking (unless Coil/Nova cooldown increases dramatically as well... like that's going to happen).

3. NE vs Orc -- one of the most imbalanced matchups in the game, so to speak. So perhaps I should address this. Ignoring the mass dryads strat (which unlike some others I strongly believe it is an even matchup against Orc's raiders, but I digress), the two imba strats are tri-hero(usually DH, BM, Tinker) mass dotts or mass bears. I believe imbalance is evident in this case, but most players have incorrectly blamed NE on imbalance.

First, it is the design of the Orc race, rather than NE, that is to blame. In no-expansion scenario against each other (80% of the case), if a player has tier3 and a player has tier2, it should be natural that the tier3 player win the game in the long run, unless the tier2 player gained a large advantage before tier3 is reached. But Orcs have shown (at least by the best Orc players) inability to either show a strong tier2 rush or "equal" the tech race by teching to tier 3. This relates back to the issue I have with Orc tier 3, that not much value is returned. As for the dott strat, it shows how Orc misses a strong anti-casting unit, where the spell can not only be neutralized, but "reversed" against the original party -- HU has spellbreakers, UD has destroyers, NE has Faerie Dragons. Orc has nothing.

Second, I have problems understanding why Orc players have not shown more aggression at tier2 against NE. Some have claimed that a tier 2 tower rush is a do-or-die exercise against NE. So what? Since when HU tower rush is not a do-or-die exercise? I can see various strategies that would work (and some I have a taste of in solos) for Orc, depending on maps; with either dott or bear strat, NE is vulnerable before tier 3 is reached (and that DH gets the Orb of Venom) especially with archers instead of huntresses. One is the classic 5 grunt, single beastiary for raiders, gruntapult tower rush with BM+Tinker. There's just too much HP for NE to deal with before the towers are up, and then catas would gain a foothold when tier3 is reached. Second strategy is a BO similar to Orc/Orc mirror -- tech early @17 food and then rax, double beastiaries @tier2 with BM/SH combo + pillage upgrade. Go for building raids, or with DH+BM decides to show up, nuke a hero.

4. Neutral heros -- people argue that it is much easier to take advantage of using Neutral heros than other races, and I tend to agree that sentiment, mostly because of the staff. But, one thing that few would point out, is that NE heros are actually comparatively weak overall. DH is the only "good" general hero, but is a "reactive" hero (but still good) as I would put it. No ability to nuke, doesn't creep faster than others, and doesn't creep jack well. The others are simply awful particularly as second heroes. Warden is way too weak until level 3. Kotg is simply not as good as equivalents in other races(MK, TC/SH, Lich). As an NE player, Tavern is a necessity mid game. (Yeah I blame my record @LT -- the only non-tavern solo map, on sucky 2nd heros =P).

Yet, the use of Neutral Heros in other races, particularly from Orc, is discouraging. I think HU and UD is starting to pick up on Beastmaster/Naga/Panda, but I am not certain whether TC is THAT good in all situations. Yes, Stomp or Wave, with Endurance Aura, is drooling and should be considered as the main strategy. But considering timing: 1) TC needs time to come out of Altar, 2) TC needs to creep to level up to be effective -- Orc becomes the reactor rather than aggressor in the 30-60 seconds elapsed when tier2 is reached (then Orc has a TC with raider with ensnare getting upgraded).

So finally, my recommendation on my race: increase Dryads gold to 160, and staff of preservation to 200.

(woo... this post is too long...)