Date: 2008-11-02 11:52:02 Created: null
Last summer it was Warcraft III for birthday. Now, exactly one year later, Blizzard had the timing to put out the expansion just in time to make it on the wishlist once again. Good people over there.
So, now I'm finished with one third or so of the single player campaigns. I've certainly had a good time, but I've got a bit if a problem with my own skills. On one hand, I feel like the last night elf missions were pretty difficult. On the other hand, I don't think they are if I can just start playing a little more efficiently. It feels like I just get worse and worse at Warcraft the longer time goes on :-) ... So many wasted units, so many wasted resources, so little ability usage, so poor unit control. Got to get serious! I mean, it's not like I don't see my own problems.
I've actually quit missions in annoyance over my failures, feeling like there isn't any way forward. But, and this is where you tell a great game from a bad one, Frozen Throne makes me come back, and fast too. I only need to turn off the game before my mind starts working on what I can do next time to do better. And then it's not long before I start on the next time and find that damn, the mission was quite finishable with strategy adjustments so small I hardly know what I changed.
It's somewhere around that point you realize you're hooked.
And enjoying it.
Anyway, time to move on to the Alliance campaign and see if I can shape up a bit on the way ...
July 18th, 2003
Yes, I'm improving, little by little ... I'm currently on the sixth mission of the undead campaign, and just quit my first attempt after getting beaten pretty hard. Two different bases that both can (and do) be attacked from two different directions is a bit much to keep track of at once, but I at least think I started well enough. Then I got kind of stuck with the humans, who seemed to get the toughest part of enemy attacks. Next time I think I need to break out with them and be more offensive, the way I managed decently with my undead base this time. And I need to find my way to those dwarves (a secondary mission) so I can get the humans some anti-air units ...
My unit control still isn't all I'd like it to be, but that's improving bit by bit too. I'm getting into the habit of creating groupd and setting them to follow eachother which works pretty well, but I'm certainly not optimal in using special abilities.
I'm curious to try the orc campaign, but I'm going to finish the undead first. Got to do things in order :-) ...
July 21st, 2003
Wohoo, the undead are finished! Only the bonus campaign left to go ... Athas the dead object abuser (You will know endless torment!). Dang that last mission was a hard one indeed, and the sixth wasn't a pushover either. But that one once again turned much easier when I changed a few things (like fetching those dwarves as soon as I could). But damn, you can never get a truly satisfying ending when the most evil side has the last campaign ... Will there ever be a XCraft: Sunshine where things actually end really well?
Very early July 22nd, 2003
And that was the orc "RPG" campaign. Short but pretty sweet, and shows Diablo would work pretty well with RTS controls. The fun wore off a bit when you reached the level cap (and why was it as low as 8?) but overall it was a nice change from the usual mechanics. It's nice to play through Warcraft missions without losing a single unit for a change :-) ...