What gameplay elements would you like to see in Warcraft 4?

[ScorpionPrince]

With the RTS team of Blizzard is freed up after the last Starcraft II expansion is released, it seems reasonable that their next RTS title will likely be Warcraft 4. While it is a bit problematic storywise if Warcraft 4 and World of Warcraft exist side-by-side, it's not an impossible problem to solve. (Personally I think the best solution would be to start a few decades into the future, with mostly new characters, to give the WOW story some breathing room, without the two feeling completely disconnected)

Lorewise aside, what kind of gameplay would you like to see from warcraft 4?

(1 - Scale) keep the low number of units and zoomed in style of warcraft III, go bananas with the scale a la Total War, or something in between?

(2 - Campaign structure) Would you like to see a campaign structure similar to that of starcraft II, with a point-and-click style homebase, managing campaign permanent upgrades, talk to characters relevant to the story, decide where to go next, Or perhaps a more linear structure, sacrificing some interesting side branches for a more focused story?

(3 - Campaign only units) RTS games usually slowly release new units as the campaign goes on, acting as a tutorial of sorts for the multiplayer. But as we've seen from the starcraft II campaign, adding extra units that might be completely imbalanced for multiplayer, but with a specialized map could be very fun to play with. Would you like to see something similar in Warcraft 4?

(4 - Factions) Keep the factions from WC3? Perhaps a system with variants of each faction next to a vanilla faction, similar to command & conquer generals: zero hour? For example: a more druid focused night elf faction and a more ranger/sentinel focused night elf faction

(5 - Heroes) Would you like to see heroes return? If so, should their role be downplayed to a more modest strong unit, or go all out and have it truly be the centerpiece of your army?

(6 - World of Warcraft Crossover) If there is to be any crossover with World of Warcraft gameplay wise, maybe two opposing WC4 players take the roles of commanders in a World of Warcraft battleground, where the commander can facilitate the wow players by sending creep waves, build defensive structures, determine the upgrade path according to the need of the battlefield, fire of artillery shots to help turn the tide of battle, etc. It could be an interesting game mode.

These points are just for structuring the discussion, but feel free to just give a description of what you would want out of a potential Warcraft 4.

 

[Pogilrup]

#6 would be like Dust 514 and EvE at least in terms of principles of having games crossover.

 

[shrekfan246]

For a proper RTS Warcraft, I'd like if it built off of the mechanics of Warcraft III.

The addition of hero units which the story is based around was what made me interested in actually playing Warcraft III in the first place, even though I'd been playing WoW for quite a while by that point. And yeah, I like the relatively limited scale of things because I'm notoriously terrible at micromanagement in RTS games.

I think I'd like a pretty focused and linear single-player narrative, as well. Separated between the factions/races, but all continuous with pretty clear indications of how everything relates to the timeline of the game. I'd also perhaps like to see the maps influenced by the actual geographical maps which have been used in World of Warcraft, so that they're comparable and recognizable for more than just having similar tile-sets.

I'd probably like a bigger focus on the hero units, too. I like the feeling of having a central commander who is leading their army, rather than the detached feeling of being an omnipotent power nudging things from on high, and hero units help to make that connection.

This is probably a bit of a tangent, but as for what I'd like to see from Warcraft next in general is a party-based open-world RPG. I'm probably one of the very few people who feels that way, but I'd like for there to be a single-player RPG which has the progression mechanics and world/dungeon-building of something like WoW, if not specifically the World of Warcraft. I love the variety in areas, I love the number of more difficult locations intended specifically for multiple characters to try tackling, I love the end-game raiding which feels like an army is banding together to take down the great enemies, and I love the boss encounters themselves. But I'm burnt out on the actual MMO and the competitiveness and all of that. I mean, there have been games which have done similar things, but they're all on vastly smaller scales, and it's the sheer amount of variety in WoW which I crave out of a single-player experience. It'd be prohibitively expensive, I'm sure, but I can still wish.

 

[al4674]

Same amount of units as in WCIII. Add four heroes for each races + neutral heroes. Keep the creeps, item system, neutral stores etc.

Races are a bit problematic given that the undead are now a part of the horde and elves a part of the Alliance. As such, I would go for the following races:

Horde - encompasses trolls, orcs, ogres, goblins and the undead, maybe blood elves too (wut).
Alliance - encompasses dwarves, humans, nightelves and so on. Worgen never made sense to me, sorry.
Naga - keep the units and races from WCIII
Nerubians or Faceless ones as the fourth race. Maybe the fourth one could be the burning legion. Dunno.

Umlike Starcraft II, gameplay should be completely micro orientated - every individual unit matters. Every unit must either be saved or denied from the enemy (killing your own units to prevent enemy hero from gaining exp and leveling). Racial advantages and disadvantages - dunno at this point.

Campaign should just be as it was in WCIII - no need to fix what isn't broken. Maybe add customizable units and heroes to the campaign.

 

[aozgolo]

I'd say if they were to make it, make it similar to Warcraft III with more enhancements and a bigger scale, I haven't played SC2 so I have no basis of comparison.

I am however skeptical of this ever happening until WoW is dead, the lore for Warcraft STRONGLY suggests at it all building towards fighting Sargeras as the ultimate final boss, which seems will come with the last WoW expansion.

 

[Bruce]

I would like to see a bit more out of Warcraft II in it - namely more of the naval combat mechanics, bring back submarines and suchlike.

Maybe an experience system for individual units to make them feel less expendable.

For races, I am less concerned with lore and more mechanics. I would like to see:

Race 1: Murlocs. Their focus can be on rushing enemies down - but suffering late game.
Race 2: Bandits. Their focus should be on micomanagement and scavenging - weak units with special abilities.
Race 3: Horde. Their focus should be on bigger, stronger units that can take a beating.
Race 4: Alliance. Their focus should be on turtling - slow, but also well fortified.

Bandits lorewise I see as being a criminal group turned resistance to just about everybody else. Maybe have the hero be from Alterac.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

1- Low scale like WC3, the opposite design philosophy of Starcraft 2. Been playing that a lot lately, but I get annoyed that most units are so fragile and numerous that most battles end within about 5 seconds of the 'we're under attack' chime. Ever since the completely superfluous unit ranking system was put in Starcraft 2, I thought about how it could be used to give units with many kills benefits, rewarding players who keep their units alive and potentially even causing them to become attached to them as they become stronger and more cool-looking the more kills they get, but it would work much better in a style of game that already places emphasis on heroes.

2- Either or. I could certainly see the phasing out the peon management, instead doing it Warhammer: Dawn of War style where all you have to do is control an area to automatically mine resources from it, except with you choosing only which units or turrets to construct and which upgrades to get. Keep the mercenary camps though.

3- Absolutely. Some of my favourite WC3 missions had you controlling the Naga, even if they were far too broken to ever see multiplayer use. Not every unit needs to have a place in multiplayer, though I would keep the tradition of introducing new units in a mission where they will be extremely helpful and can demonstrate what they are good and not good at.

4- Dunno. My main idea for a plot relatively free of the encumbrance of WoW's lore was a prequel set during the first invasion of the Burning Legion, but that would mean no humans or orcs. Probably better to set it many years after WoW ends, with the Horde and Alliance split by interracial conflicts after all the recent disasters they've endured.

5- Yes, but allow normal units to play a role as well, as demonstrated with my ranking idea. Maybe cause the heroes to give buffs or additional abilities to certain units that they like, allowing each player to determine their own playstyle. You might even blend the ranking and hero systems, and allow any unit who reaches a certain rank to become a new hero that you name and choose the voice set for in the options menu, thus you'd get more heroes of the unit types you use more often. Yes, this would even allow siege units to become heroes... like Grond. Just the presence of such a mighty machine of war inspires all the troops around it.

6- See above.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I don't know if I'd really be that keen for WC4 after WoW killed any remaining love I had for the lore, but here goes:
1) Same scale is fine, but I think Blizzard really needs to move on from building and controlling individual units. They should come in squads like Rise of Nations or Company of Heroes, just so you cut down on pointless micro.
2) SC's campaign was good, they could do worse than keep those ideas going.
3) They did that in a way with certain missions in Wc3 (Naga, Demon Orcs etc). It's definitely needed to keep things from getting stale.
4) Mix the factions up. I guess it will mostly depend on the lore.
5) This is tricky. I'd rather see a CoH style system where all units gain experience, but you could still keep existing heroes within that structure. The best thing about the hero system was the possibilities it opened for the editor, but it made the base multiplayer game really un-fun when a bunch of heroes were incredibly unbalanced.
6) NO.