Warcraft 3 normal or hard?

[Raghar]

Well, if I'd want to play it first time, should I play on normal or hard, and what are differences between normal and hard.

(BTW only total idiot would start Elven Legacy on hard. Some people found it unplayable even on easy.) So is it harder than Elven Legacy in later missions, or can I finish it easily even on hard without mission restarts?

 

[catfood]

I played it on normal and I found the difficulty balanced enough for me. The first human campaign was easy enough but then the later ones have tricky missions, especially in TFT. I don't think I would ever torture myself into playing it on hard mode, especially since it increases all the enemy units hitpoints by a percentage iirc, in addition to them having more troops. It's not worth the bother to be honest.

Bare in mind that upon losing a mission you are given the option to reduce the difficulty level so you could start on hard, get horribly raped, and then switch to medium. It even allows you the option of playing on easy if you got your ass kicked on normal.

 

[Hellraiser]

As somebody who has finished the game once on normal and once on hard I can tell you that you shouldn't bother with hard unless you're feeling a bit masochistic. It's manageable in vanilla apart from the last NE mission being utter bullshit. I finished it on hard using a cheesy tactic which prevented the AI from ever expanding beyond the first base making it a cakewalk mostly. I would argue that sans the AI suffering a stroke you can't finish it without cheese as it requires godlike mechanical skills and your AI allies not fucking up. Also the last undead mission, although you can win that without any cheese eventually, after much raging.

For TFT don't fucking bother with hard, I'm stuck on the 4th or so NE mission (the courier) on hard for over a year now, piece of shit is impossible without some kind of cheese I guess. The campaign can be challenging at times on normal but overall it wasn't too hard from what I remember, it's pretty good if you play it for the first time.

Also I wanted ships and drilling for oil back in WC3. That was the first sign of Blizzard's

 

[Raghar]

BTW my current system is bit allergic on that videos. Do you know what codec I need to install?

 

[Average Manatee]

Ehh, depends on your skill level. The last Night Elf mission is certainly very hard on hard, but everything up to that is doable on your first try (last Undead mission is probably the next hardest). Bear in mind that I found SC2 on the hardest difficulty to be much easier.

TFT is...schizophrenic. Most of the missions are a little above average WC3 difficulty but there's also tons of silly custom map-type stuff (tower defense lol), and a few others are just painfully hard (in a badly-designed way, like the last NE mission but far worse). The first Undead level for example is just ridiculous, though the concept was cool. And get used to restarting levels from the beginning as you get completely blindsided by shit you can't see coming.

 

[Average Manatee]

For TFT don't fucking bother with hard, I'm stuck on the 4th or so NE mission (the courier) on hard for over a year now, piece of shit is impossible without some kind of cheese I guess. The campaign can be challenging at times on normal but overall it wasn't too hard from what I remember, it's pretty good if you play it for the first time.

That one's actually pretty easy. What problems were you having? Base destroyed or courier's group dying?

 

[Hellraiser]

Base keeps getting whacked, I can micro the courier group well enough but the fucking naga murder my defenders and defenses.

 

[Average Manatee]

Hmm, can't recall anything special I did there. You know you can teleport the warden girl back and forth from the base to the group, right? I don't think I ever brought her back to fight but it's certainly an option.

Make sure you get that new upgrade for the moonwell's mana (shit is so cash) and spam them around both entrances, set to auto-heal. Then spam the items that make it night time so they regenerate constantly. It's like a several thousand hitpoint shield over all your units. Move your southern defenses back and just make a corridor of moonwells (top, bottom, middle strips) that your units fight inside. Should be able to do most of the fights with no casualties.

 

[Hellraiser]

Well damn, I haven't thought of spamming nightime using the item. Should be enough when I get back into the mood to play it again. Although I think I should try to finish Horde and Alliance Beyond the Dark Portal WC2 campaigns first as I never finished those.

 

[Average Manatee]

For the 5th Human mission I'm pretty sure everyone gets trashed in the last few minutes when the multiple level 10 heroes show up, but tower spam with farms in front of them along with lots of Mortar teams in back (to rip the hordes of weak units to pieces) should suffice to keep your castle alive till the end. Also, there should be an expansion in the north, make sure you take it for more money. Don't go into upkeep until you really need it, save dosh for tower spam. As long as Arthas is leveled up and microed properly you should be able to survive until the final wave with few casualties. Only problem before then is the damned level 10 heroes with their death nova raping footmen everytime they cast it.

Last undead mission IIRC I just spammed aboms and towers everywhere. Make sure to abuse the fountains. Can get sketchy towards the ends, but Arthas + death coil can keep a group of those guys for a hell of a long time if you keep his mana up.

Last Orc mission is just easy for me. Healing Wards + Bloodlust + Tauren + 2 max level heroes = cruise control for raping bases without even trying. Mildly upgraded grunts just don't compare. You can easily keep the human base alive from attacks with a single Healing Ward caster, those things are just awesome vs a non-focus firing AI.

Honestly you can beat the vast majority of WC3 missions without losing a single unit (other than intentionally because you want to replace it with a better unit) so long as you have decent micro and use of abilities.

Ohh and for anyone going from WC3 to TFT, keep in mind the damage type/armor type counters completely changed.

 

[Erebus]

I think the last undead mission is WORSE than the last NE one, because in the Undead Mission, the map is pretty open so they attack your ritual AND your base, from many sides.

It really is. I've won the last Night Elf mission on Hard several times, but I've never even come close to doing the same with the last Undead mission. It's even a challenge on Normal difficulty.

The "Hold the Fort" Human mission is easier, though still fairly difficult. Spamming towers is mandatory, but not sufficient (if only because catapults can destroy towers very easily).

 

[Malakal]

I played all campaigns on hard and had fun, not that much trouble - only had to restart some final missions once or twice. Sometimes you need to be aggressive (like last campaign mission in TFT where you defend three bases - rush your forces to the furthest base and you can keep it for so long that the enemy wont even have time to threaten your final base...) sometimes you just need to plan your defenses. Pimp your heroes, those are important. Their skills, especially their lvl 6 skills can single handedly win battles - like star fall.

Other than the "use your heroes" tip remember to have a constant flow of resources and troops but dont reach high upkeep - keep enough production capacity to quickly replace losses.

 

[Malakal]

I think the last undead mission is WORSE than the last NE one, because in the Undead Mission, the map is pretty open so they attack your ritual AND your base, from many sides.

It really is. I've won the last Night Elf mission on Hard several times, but I've never even come close to doing the same with the last Undead mission. It's even a challenge on Normal difficulty.

The "Hold the Fort" Human mission is easier, though still fairly difficult. Spamming towers is mandatory, but not sufficient (if only because catapults can destroy towers very easily).

I only remember that undead missions were horribly BORING, eh being dead sucks. Being able to build several buildings at the same time helps a lot with spamming towers and some blocking buildings.

 

[Average Manatee]

Yeah, the undead campaign up until the Lich guy is back is pretty boring (and way too long). After that you get your good casters, your good units, and your good missions with lots going on. Prior to that all you can do is spam skeletons everywhere.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

WC3 is very much am modern game, in that "normal" is the easy setting where you won't have to reload except maybe once every 2-3 missions.

don't think I would ever torture myself into playing it on hard mode, especially since it increases all the enemy units hitpoints by a percentage iirc, in addition to them having more troops. It's not worth the bother to be honest.

I don't think this is not true for campaigns, and not exactly correct for customg games. In custom games, you have an option to give yourself or opponents a handicap of x% less hp, but that's it.

 

[Average Manatee]

I believe easy mode is simply normal with all enemies given a further -20% HP handicap. Hard gives enemies more upgrades, makes their heroes higher level, and throws in an extra unit or two in per wave.

EDIT: I search for WC3 hard vs normal differences and this thread already comes up. Fucking google owns the internet.

 

[Raghar]

Well I have high APM from SC2, and orcs works like terrans in SC2, thus I move through like knife through butter on both normal and hard.

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

The only thing you have to worry about is the first campaign in Frozen Throne. The formerly-underwater temple that's full of Naga death regiments is one of the hardest missions in any RTS I ever played. And that's coming from a guy that breezed through Warzone 2100s campaign.

 

[Raghar]

Actually I have blast by playing it at full resolution with all patches. It's quite refreshing when compared to what's common today, and it had quite quirky humor. For example that video with horde that moving through the land... and one of them badly stepped and fall on his face. Or that dream at the beginning, followed by an image of orc face when he woke up and did AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHH. Authors of ME3 would take it seriously, not so Blizzard.

BTW I seen a ship with Phat lewt.

 

[Lyric Suite]

Original campaign is pretty easy. FT can be a challenge, but only if you never played online. I did for a few years and the type of schooling you get there makes the single player easy as pie, no matter what.

 

[L'ennui]

I found "uninstall" to be the perfect setting for this game.

 

[Excommunicator]

Yeah, the undead campaign up until the Lich guy is back is pretty boring (and way too long). After that you get your good casters, your good units, and your good missions with lots going on. Prior to that all you can do is spam skeletons everywhere.

I started a hard campaign recently on the recommendation of a friend but I got to the early Undead missions and realised I just don't have the tolerance/stamina for it. It's so slow going.

The biggest problem I found after playing WC3 for the first time after so many years was how massive the collision boxes are for units and how terrible the pathfinding is (and complete lack of formation movement). You tend to be spoilt in DoTA with those small unit boxes and telling a group in WC3 to go somewhere and seeing half the units walking back and forth bumping into eachother as they block eachother's path unable to resolve their issue just too much for me to deal with.

 

[G.O.D]

Don't bother with the game at all. Play WC2 instead (again if you have to).

 

[Hellraiser]

Don't bother with the game at all. Play WC2 instead (again if you have to).

Beyond the Dark Portal Draenor beckons you.

 

[G.O.D]

Don't bother with the game at all. Play WC2 instead (again if you have to).

Beyond the Dark Portal Draenor beckons you.

The Orcs shall rise once more. For Ner'zhul!