Warcraft III/Patch 1.28.6

Patch 1.28.6 was a major patch that was released on August 25, 2017. This patch was never released to the live production, only the PTR.

• Balanced creep camp difficulty progression from early to late game
• Balanced creep drop tables for better item progression from early game to late game
• Item diversity: Varied Level 1 though 6 charged items and Level 1 through 6 permanent items
• Balanced all start locations: total amount and starting distance from lumber, equal amount of spacing, equal size choke points, et cetera
• Balanced expansion distance from start locations
• Decluttered points of interest to reduce visual competition during gameplay
• Retextured map surfaces for better visual clarity - both on screen and mini-map
• Minimized the size of trees and doodads that obstructed player view of points of interest
• Added cliff lines or deep water to edges of the map - removing hard edges (aesthetic choice for immersion)
• Properly placed trees and doodads on the pathing grid: full-cell Medium Grid to half-cell Medium Grid alternate
• Removed the rolling shoreline waves from rolling hills to remove the noise the waves created - remains for cliff shores

• This is an original map

• This is an original map

• Added a Tavern to the center of the map
• Added two Mercenary Camps
• Added an additional path/ramp to each player’s middle expansion

• Rotated 3 neutral buildings (Goblin Laboratory moved to the Goblin Merchant; Goblin Merchant moved to the Mercenary Camp; Mercenary Camp moved to the Goblin Laboratory)
• Added an additional green creep camp to each player’s side of the map
• Swapped the Mercenary camps with the Goblin Laboratories.

• Swapped Start Location with Goblin Laboratory
• Swapped Goblin Laboratory with Mercenary Camp
• Swapped two center green creep camps with orange creep camps
• Changed corner player expansions from green creep camps to orange creep camps
• Moved starting green creep camps further from start location
• Added unpathable terrain to the eastern Mercenary camp, so that both sides of the map have relatively the same amount of unpathable terrain.

• Added two Taverns per player side
• Swapped the Mercenary Camp with expansion gold mines
• Opened a path through the middle of the map.
• Removed the +1 cliff level for each start location
• Removed the -1 cliff level for the northern Murloc creep camp next the players start location, so that both the north and south camp are similar.

• Added a Tavern to the right side of the map
• Swapped Goblin Laboratory with Mercenary Camp
• Added some environmental effects (Light rain; Green fog)
• Tightened the choke point around the northern expansion - similar to the southern position.

• Changed tileset from Lordaeron Summer to Lordaeron Winter
• Added Mercenary camp with Goblin Laboratory
• Balanced the number of trees needed to harvest and reach the center of the map for all start locations

• This is an original map

• Added a Goblin Observatory to each corner of the map
• Added 2 additional green creep camps per start location area
• Removed cliff level (1up) from the map (no more ramps)

• Added some flair to the creep camps – attempt to bring life to the those points of interest (POI’s).

• This is an original map

• Swapped the east and west Gold Mine expansions with Goblin Merchant
• Swapped out the Fountain of Health with Mercenary Camps
• Removed the lower cliff level to the expansion
• Removed one layer of destructible rock chunks from the expansion
• Added an additional green creep camp to each start location

• Changed tileset from Lordaeron Summer to Lordaeron Winter
• Added Mercenary camp with Goblin Laboratory
• Balanced the number of trees needed to harvest and reach the center of the map for all start locations
• Opened the center of the map.
• Removed the Market place and Red creep camp; Added a Tavern in its place.
• Added upbuildable terrain around the bridges to help prevent blocking the bridges with structures.

• Replaced Fountain of Health with a Tavern at the center of the map
• Removed red creep camp from the center of the map
• Replaced the Gold Mines on the north/south/east/west locations with a Goblin Observatory
• Replaced the single red creep camp at the north/south/east/west locations with two Orange creep camps - separated by water to separate encounters
• Added an additional green creep camp for each start location

• Replaced center red creep cap with a Tavern
• Removed cliffs from the player’s base and center of the map; added trees to create lanes
• Added a third lane to the player’s base
• Added a 3rd green creep camp per start location

• This is an original map

• Changed tileset from Lordaeron Summer to Lodaeron Fall
• Added deep water to certain parts of the map to help define expansion
• Swapped the orange and green expansion creep camps
• Expanded upon the “creepy” creep theme by using creep from a different tilesest to thematically fit point of interest

• This is an original map

• Rotated 3 neutral buildings (Goblin Laboratory moved to Mercenary Camp; Mercenary camp moved to Goblin Merchant; Goblin Merchant moved to Goblin Laboratory)
• Changed the layout to better define intended Gold Mine expansions

• This is an original map

• Swapped out the center expansion Gold Mines with neutral buildings (2 Mercenary Camps; 2 Goblin Merchant camps; 2 Goblin Laboratory).
• Removed all the neutral buildings from start location plateau
• Added orange creep camp to the expansion Gold Mines
• Swapped out the orange creep in the corner for each start location with a green creep camp

• This is an original map

• This is an original map

• This is an original map

• Swapped Goblin Merchant with Mercenary Camps (4 Goblin Merchants to 2 Goblin Merchants; 2 Mercenary to 4 Mercenary Camps)
• Added a 2nd green creep camp to each start location
• Removed pure Golem creep camps for better player engagement with creep camps
• Changed to global constant for rain
• Thickened the grey fog for a heavy fantasy feel for the map

• This is an original map

• This is an original map

• Added 2 Taverns to the north and south of the lake
• Swapped Goblin Merchant with all 6 Mercenary Camps
• Removed the 6 Gold Mine expansions from the center of the map
• Added 2 Goblin Merchants, 2 Goblin Laboratories, and 2 Marketplaces where the center Gold Mine expansions were
• Removed double cliff ramp into start location

• This is an original map

• This is an original map

• Swapped neutral buildings around the edge of the map with Gold Mines
• Swapped the center Gold Mines with Goblin Merchant
• Swapped the near center Gold mines with Mercenary Camps
• Replaced the orange creep camp near start location with a green creep camp
• Removed the +1 cliff level from the expansion goldmine between Purple and Blue start location.
• Adjusted all the expansion goldmines, so that there is more room to build Town Hall equivalent and defenses.
• Red start location no longer has two expansion goldmines pointing its way. The expansion between Red and Pink start locations now points towards pinks location.

• Removed the Fountain of Mana

• This is an original map

• This is an original map

• Swapped neutral buildings around the edge of the map with Gold Mines
• Swapped the center Gold Mines with Goblin Merchants
• Swapped the near center Gold mines with Mercenary Camps
• Replaced the orange creep camp near the players start location with a green creep camp
• Removed the +1 cliff level from the expansion goldmine between Purple and Blue start location.
• Adjusted all the expansion goldmines, so that there is more room to build Town Hall equivalent and defenses.
• Red start location no longer has two expansion goldmines pointing its way. The expansion between Red and Pink start locations now points towards pinks location.

• Swapped out center Gold Mines with a Marketplace
• Swapped locations of Goblin Merchants and Mercenary Camps

• Added 2 Goblin Merchants and 2 Mercenary Camps to the middle of the map
• Expansion Gold Mine creep camp now drops items

• Added 2 Mercenary Camps and 2 Goblin Merchants
• Added a Tavern to the center of the map
• Added an additional Green creep camp per start location
• Adjusted the ally properties so teams can be top vs bottom or east vs west

• Removed the Fountain of Mana

• Replaced the 4 Taverns with 2 Goblin Merchants and 2 Mercenary Camps
• Swapped the 2 Goblin Merchants with 2 Taverns
• Added an additional green camp to each start location
• Orange camps at the 4 corners are now red camps
• Eased path to the red corner creep camps
• Adjusted the ally properties so teams can be top vs bottom or east vs west
• Tucked the Goblin Laboratory and Mercenary camp buildings and creep off the main path. Now easier to move around without engaging them.

• Swapped the 4 Mercenary camps with Goblin Laboratories
• Swapped the 2 center Gold Mines with Mercenary Camps
• Added a second Tavern to the center of the map
• Added 2 green creep camps to the center of the map
• Added a red creep camp to the center of the map
• No more all Golem creep camps
• Lowered the previous 2 center red creep camps to orange creep camps
• Replaced most Lordaeron creep camp units with Cityscape creep units

• Swapped the Goblin Laboratories with Mercenary Camps at the edges of the map
• Created three distinct difficulties for the orange camps

• This is an original map

• Swapped out the center expansion Gold Mines with neutral buildings (2 Mercenary Camps; 2 Goblin Merchant camps; 2 Goblin Laboratory).
• Removed all the neutral buildings from start location plateau
• Added orange creep camp to the expansion Gold Mines
• Swapped out the orange creep in the corner for each start location with a green creep camp

• This is an original map

• Swapped Goblin Merchant with Mercenary Camps (4 Goblin Merchants to 2 Goblin Merchants; 2 Mercenary to 4 Mercenary Camps)
• Added a 2nd green creep camp to each start location
• Removed pure Golem creep camps for better player engagement with creep camps
• Changed to global constant for rain
• Thickened the grey fog for a heavy fantasy feel for the map

• This is an original map

• Added 2 Taverns to the north and south of the lake
• Swapped Goblin Merchant with all 6 Mercenary Camps
• Removed the 6 Gold Mine expansions from the center of the map
• Added 2 Goblin Merchants, 2 Goblin Laboratories, and 2 Marketplaces where the center Gold Mine expansions were
• Removed double cliff ramp into start location

• Swapped neutral buildings around the edge of the map with Gold Mines
• Swapped the center Gold Mines with Goblin Merchants
• Swapped the near center Gold mines with Mercenary Camps
• Replaced the orange creep camp near the players start location with a green creep camp

• Swapped out center Gold Mines with a Marketplace
• Swapped locations of Goblin Merchants and Mercenary Camps

• Removed the Fountain of Mana

• Swapped the Goblin Laboratories with Mercenary Camps at the edges of the map
• Created three distinct difficulties for the orange camps

• We are aware Warcraft III matchmaking is a bit long in the tusk; we will be improving matchmaker logic for a future patch
• Automated Tournaments and Ladder Board are not functional for PTR
• Latency was improved with 1.28, but still needs work to meet modern standards