Revised Issues & Suggestions for War1R

Warcraft Remastered Battle Chest Trailer Screenshot. Taken from YouTube.

It's been over a month since Blizzard Entertainment has shadowdropped Warcraft 1: Remastered, Warcraft 2: Remastered and Patch 2.0 for Warcraft 3 during Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct. Since then, I tried my best to dedicate some of my free time to observe and take note of the general state of the first two releases, their updates and unaddressed issues. This approach mostly comes to the fact that more eyes are likely to be centered on Warcraft 3 with its fragmented community, but even then there're some things that I feel like have been missed out on by players and developers alike. It would have to wait for a good while though.

Nevertheless, right now I would like to talk about remaster of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and not just because it's the first game in Warcraft franchise. But because it's likely to be the most neglected one, which you can argue may be evident by all the recent updates both titles were getting: War2R managed to catch Patch 1.01 alongside multiple hotfixes, but War1R is yet to receive a proper patch of its own (only hotfixes). Warcraft RTS Team and developers from Blackbird Interactive (assuming they're still attached to the projects; hopefully, they are) are making some admirable small steps after the initial rushed release, but more needs to be done. Because these games deserve much more.

The purpose of this "article" is to revisit my list of issues & suggestions for War1R I posted on r/Warcraft3 & Blizzard's forum in more depth to the best of my abilities and even add something new to all that. Not only just to "do this myself" (video would be ideal, but that's not something I can do anytime soon; post's timing isn't good already with too many delays) and get it out of my system, but to publish a "comprehensive" feedback based on my outside observations for the developers in hopes that they're keeping track of all that people have to say outside of forum discussions, Reddit posts, YouTube videos and such.

Just an Idea: Hexen's New Backstory

Hexen: Beyond Heretic's Cooperative Ending.

I've been in a Hexen mood recently. Not only I finally revisited my old saves for both games from 2021 and completed my playthrough, there's also been some small talks about the franchise thanks to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. All because Phil Spencer mentioned Hexen by name once and then showed up on Xbox Games Showcase with game's key art on a t-shirt. Even though the latter "was just about nostalgia". It's not much, but sometimes you need even less to spark a discussion. So yeah, I'm taking a bait.

Alright, so how Heretic & Hexen franchise could be brought back? I'm not going to try and guess what genre it could take on. For all I know, they could focus on cooperative for it and try to mix both Hexen 2 & Heretic 2 for something closer to that illusive Hecatomb idea. What I'll focus on is the narrative of the world as I think there's enough good pieces to put together a proper starting point for a new story with some minor tweaks here and there.

Just an Idea: MCU's Spider-Man 6

"Spider-Man Final Suit" Concept Art. Taken from Concept Art Association.

I'm reaching the end with my latest "Spider-Man mania". Finished rewatching The Animated Series more than a month ago by going through its fifth season in a couple of days. Since I've already watched the vast majority of Spidey's films a few months back and don't have any plans to rewatch Spectacular Spider-Man at the moment, that was mostly it. Now, it's time for me to wrap up my silly collection of ideas for Peter Parker's second trilogy in Marvel Cinematic Universe with another nonsensical wall of text.

This "article" is more likely to be smaller in comparison to my Distant & Troubled Neighborhood posts. While these concepts of mine are definitely not as thought-out as they could've (and, perhaps, should've) been, the final part in this trilogy will be more vague for a variety of reason. I was pretty busy the last couple of months and didn't spend a lot of time to think about this story, even though I knew it would be the hardest. You know, I think I should just get down to business.

Just an Idea: MCU's Spider-Man 5

Spider-Man Homecoming. Taken from Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki.

This seems like a good time to go back to my derpy post from a couple of months ago about MCU's Spider-Man 4 (or "Spider-Man: Distant Neighborhood", as I suddenly decided to call it at the end of it; stupid title, I know) and continue this vision for the rest of his second trilogy. I kind of committed to it, went through third and fourth seasons of Spider-Man: The Animated Series and just think it's best to be done with it sooner rather than later. I mean, I already decided to myself that I'll watch the final season of the cartoon only after writing this "article". Some might consider this an interesting choice, but I'm sure those people won't be here. No, I have no idea why you're here either.

While I thought that this post could be smaller and more focused in comparison to the first one, currently I feel like it will end up being much closer to it and I think I might be okay with that. After all, it's basically just me being an odd nerd having fun in my own way. It is highly recommended for you to go through previously linked post to have better idea of what I'm writing about here, but I will try my best to offer a short summary simply because that would a right thing to do: not only refresh my memory, but accommodate for potential laziness. This only implies to self-imposed rules I defined before.

Just an Idea: MineCustomization

Minecraft's Default Characters With Different Height & Arm Sizes.

While my recent Minecraft Just an Idea "articles" focused on things that have an actual effect on the game itself, this time I'm going to poke around something less influential to the gameplay... Depending on your perspective and specific question, I suppose. It's no secret that customization in video games nowadays considered by many as major part of people's favorite titles. It's not that hard to find someone playing a certain game only because of its skins, armor and all that kind of stuff. Even if they can't and/or don't want to purchase these items for real money or Minecoins in Marketplace on Bedrock Edition, some of them would likely still jump in for a few seconds just to grab free stuff. I know that because I'm one of these folks.

As overrated as it can be in some cases, customization can be decent. Not only new cosmetic items can encourage players to explore the side of the game they haven't engaged with before, but also reward them for both expressing their own creativity and spending more time in Minecraft. In this case, I'm talking about the kind of customization options that are available in-game without microtransactions. Although this post will cover all(?) the basis of cosmetic features: free things, accessible option, challenging reward and cunning offering. You just can't not have the latter when it comes to subjects like this.

Just an Idea: Phantom Changes

Phantom's Early Design. Taken from official Minecraft website.

Even though I think that Minecraft's mob vote have long since overstayed their welcome, let's be fair to its positive aspects. It had a great start at Minecon Earth 2017 with everyone's favorite Phantom. I voted for "The Monster of the Night Skies" since I believed that the game needed more regular flying enemies and I still stand by this choice, but I'll say that getting Wildfire would've been great too. Seriously, I like these undead folks, and it's not just me being overly sarcastic about them. I regularly sleep in Minecraft anyway, so Phantoms never really annoyed me.

It's fair to say that many players won't agree with me. Not only regular users and some content creators can sometimes express their dissatisfaction with these mobs, but even Mojang Studios talks about how bad Phantoms can be in an act of self-awareness. They can distract players from their current goal and force them to spend a few seconds to use a bed. The only real reason to letting them spawn is to get an ingredient for Potion of Slow Falling: you can use Phantom Membrane to repair Elytra, but there's no reason to do that with Mending enchant. It might take you a long time to get enough membrane from cat's gift after sleeping, but this route is just easier. You might as well just turn off a game rule responsible for Phantom's appearance in your world in original Minecraft and/or Bedrock Edition.

While I initially thought of this Just an Idea post as a compilation of random Minecraft ideas based on already existing stuff, I've come to realize that it would be much better to focus all my attention on this lovely monster and everything related to it. How can you make Phantoms even better? What to do with Insomnia effect? Can you add something new into the mix? At the very least, it's just so fun to throw out so potential and/or stupid solutions to game's problems that only you find interesting.

Just an Idea: MCU's Spider-Man 4

Spider-Man No Way Home Ending. Taken from A.frame.

Over the course of several months, I've been slowly getting back to Spider-Man and it's been great. Very charming and wholesome, no matter what I go through. First time reading Spidey comics series from 2015-2016? It's alright and enjoyable, but could be better (let's not talk about School's Out). Raimi's trilogy? Still awesome! The Amazing films? I haven't really watched them before, I don't think. Overall, I liked them too in spite of clear issues. While right now I started rewatching Spider-Man: The Animated Series, before that I went through Home trilogy from Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Homecoming was great and Far From Home not so much. As for No Way Home, it's very interesting. None of the films in this trilogy are perfect, especially the third one. If you really start to think about film's plot, things start to quickly fall apart. However, its good sides, power of nostalgia and its ending serve as a pay-off for many fans because of what it can mean for this version of certain nobody named Peter Parker. There's a chance for soft-reboot, a clear path towards some awesome Spider-Man stories without heavy reliance on certain Marvel character(s).

Although you can say that's all subjective, which is kind of a point of this post. Usually I write about some gaming nonsense without any logical limits. I know my stupid ideas have next to no chances to becoming real, so why hold myself? This time, I would like to take a different approach. Before writing down some of my personal ideas for yet to be (properly; "Serve no wine before it's time") announced fourth MCU's Spider-Man film, I will set down some limitations and general direction for everything I have in mind.

Just an Idea: Dungeons Update

Dungeons Hero Skin Pack Thumbnail. Taken from Twitter.

Caves & Cliffs wasn't exactly the type of "cave update" I expected Mojang Studios to announce back in Minecraft Live 2020. While this was a long-awaited patch many people were hoping for, I had my reasons to suspect something slightly different. You see, Minecraft Dungeons was already released at that point and pretty much since the announcement I suspected that Mojang must be working on some "dungeon update" for Minecraft that would also promote their new spin-off title.

It didn't really happen. Closest we got to it was Iceologer being the best option in the event's Mob Vote and the sneaky addition of Illager Rune font in Snapshot 21w37a for Caves & Cliffs Part 2 (there's a link to Xisumavoid showing it off). That was it. Not that I'm complaining about the update(s) we ended up getting or another stupid vote. All of this is not really important here. I understand and somewhat admire Mojang's desire to keep two games separate since both of them are doing their own thing. If that's what it is.

However, the lack of "colaboration" just seems odd to me. No, Dungeons Hero Skin Pack for Bedrock Edition is not it. I'm talking about carrying over some features from one game to another, opening each of them to the new audiences. Reusing the work in a way most players probably wouldn't mind. This idea seems obvious to me and I have in mind certain features that I would've added in this Dungeons Update. Not just the regular game, but DLCs as well.

Just an Idea: "War3EE"

Warcraft 3 Logo.

Two years ago, a day before Warcraft 3: Reforged released, I published a post on Reddit called "What about... Samwise Didier?" that talked about him not being involved with the project (as if it wasn't already obvious by looking at the art style), initial absence from "Special Thanks" section in credits and a couple of other things. It was received well, and then I went on writing two more posts of proper critical nature regarding the game's "remaster"/expansion. Ultimately, that led me to open up this Hall.

Even though I've covered pretty much everything I thought I could after "True Tragedy of Warcraft 3: Reforged", I knew there's something else that I needed to do in order to tie up loose ends. When it comes to people criticizing (in good, bad or "popular" ways), one of the most typical answers people come up with are something along the lines of "what's your solution then". Although I tried my best to acknowledge this situation with all the complexity surrounding it, I knew that this is an angle I pretty much missed out on.

And that's something I wanted to change for a long time, but struggled to come up with the right approach to it. Which resulted in me writing a few posts related to Warcraft 3 over the last 5 months as a "build up" of sorts. Now there's no better time to try my best and contribute to this fragmented community in its way to prospective in only way I really can: by throwing a bunch of ideas around I can't realize as if I know what I'm talking about. Many people seemed to enjoy it before, and I hope some will deem it worth their time now. 

Just an Idea: "War2EE"

Warcraft 2 Dragon Render Promo. Taken from MobyGames.

A week earlier I shared my perspective on how I would've handled an "Enhanced Edition" of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Despite not thinking it just wouldn't happen (or even necessary), there's still actually a few things that could be implied to the first game of the series via remaster or different kind of re-release, but I think I might've went a bit overboard in my scuffed pitch in spite of my initial intend. This series of posts is all ideas and not reality, so it's fine either way: I mean, I do enjoy this concept overall.

Now I would like to follow it up with my vision of "Enhanced Version" for Warcraft 2, but it's going to be more different in comparison to my prior material. Although, much like with War1, we pretty much have the second game in the great spot nowadays. Doesn't mean I can't throw in a few thoughts about what could've been, but this time it surely wouldn't be as lengnthy as previous "article" and you'll understand why.

Just an Idea: "War1EE"

Blackrock Dungeon Promo Screenshot. Taken from MobyGames.

My opinion regarding the remastering of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is that it's just not really necessary as the game's visuals are pretty much timeless and the same implies to Warcraft 2. It's not that you can't make it, just that a simple re-release would be just fine. However, recently I've been thinking of how remaster of this game could've actually worked and I accumulated a lot of thoughts to that.

I'm going to be looking at it from the perspectives both community projects and a greenlighted project by Blizzard Entertainment as if either of  those come to life. Funny thing about my vision for Warcraft: Enhanced Edition is that for the most part it's close to reality via WinWar: a fan-made port of the original game on Windows & Android based on Monogame framework and written in C#, according to clearly outdated GitHub page.

Just an Idea: Tales of Warcraft

"Tauren it up!" by Samwise Didier. Taken from BlizzGame.

There's been a lot of ideas for Warcraft floating around my head. As a fan of the series, you tend to look at certain parts of its narrative and things like me and ask yourself "how I would've done that". That's especially the case when you're not fond of the current direction the franchise has unfortunately taken under the leadership of those who have no passion or care for it. Although you might be delighted to see that more and more people are started to realize how bad things have actually become, it doesn't really matter at this point in time.

It's too late at point, and there's no way current Blizzard would be able to properly solve multitude of story/lore problems of Warcraft that became worse ever since Chris Metzen was gone and Steve Danuser took over the narrative. That leaves old fans of the series with only one option: fanfiction. Not the current official one, or typical cringe low quality material that's usually associated with the term nowadays. No, something that tries to be much better.

Revitalized Concept for Trial of Runes

...and she's not the only one waiting.

It's been around 4 months since my Just an Idea post about Trial of Runes. Since then, I still couldn't get this concept out of my head and I kept returning to it. Wonder if that's something I can actually achieve. Argue with myself about whenever or not I should actually pursue this endeavor. Challenge myself with something truly new, difficult and exciting for myself. And there's this lingering sense that I need to try in spite of all my concerns.

After some encouragement, I've decided to "take the bait". I want to try and make Trial of  Runes make to live. As far as I can, at least. With that, I was working on a proper "design document" for this mod, but progress has been slow, and I ultimately abandoned it for a time being. Recent re-release of Quake reinforced this idea and got me back to it. And now, I would attempt to provide more refined summary of what this project is.

Just an Idea: Trial of Runes

"Now, you have all four Runes..."

A lot of people fairly often ask themselves "What/How I would do that?" whenever in comes to games, mods, their story... Or anything else, really: from meal you just ate to how you put things on the table. Recently it has been like that for me more than ever in the context of video games. So I decided to begin this kind of series where I focus on one of those ideas. Attempting to somewhat finalize and contain them in order to get them out of my head with a pleasant sense of satisfaction.

Nowadays I dedicated a lot of my time to original Quake: dealing with ezQuake for the first time out of curiosity, returning to Arcane Dimensions with various degrees of success and thinking about where the series can go with a new instalment. Playing Hexen 2 for the first time is also contributing to it since I've chosen Paladin due to my need of more melee combat in a Quake engine game. Not to mention poking around Quake Champions with its lore and recent updates that might suggest that something is coming for the series' 25th Anniversary.

With all that, I had some ideas for an original Quake mod that would've served as a proof of concept for things that could've been done in a theoretical sequel of the first game (and its mission packs) in the series.

Remember: It's just an idea.