As 4.5 is very close and as many of us love the Misty Mountains faction, maybe we should start discussing some topics already, and the
spellbook of Misty Mountains needs to have new features, as many of the powers from Vanilla's Goblin spellbook can't be recycled here.
First, I'd like to say that my following proposal is more
about initial concepts as well as a
compiled of ideas from people from the community; I just thought that giving some ideas would be of help to start thinking about new concepts for the next faction to be released, even though it's release is very far from close.
Before I start, it's important for me to say that
I'm making this proposal based on the old updates about the Misty Mountains - and those have possibly changed in various aspects. Said this, I will explain every thought of mine about each spellbook power.
First of all,
here is the draft of Misty Mountains' spellbook:
https://imgur.com/QaHL6yw> Defensive/long term spells:1- Drums from the deep - Summons a troll drum which gives +20% armor to nearby allied units and makes them fearless.> The concept of this power is based in
Angmar's obelisk power (but with a buff instead of a debuff, and with a fear resistance), is based on the
lore and is also based in the fact that there is already a
troll drum model in Worldbuilder that could be used.
2- Work Pit - Summons a work pit. Generates small amounts of resources. Work pits cannot be summoned near other pits. Each work pit summons permanently a horde of goblins from Goblin Town every 3 minutes. The player may have only 3 pits at a time > The idea here is to
create a spell which fits a more long term role and that fits with Goblintown, to have a mirror of the spell "7", which will be a
reference to the realm of Gundabad (I want the player to have the
possibility of using goblins from all Misty Mountain's realms even if he wants to focus on only making Moria's bases, for example). A
work pit levels up just like settlements after purchasing upgrades, but they give only
half the resources of an equivalent settlement. Each pit will have
3 Goblin Town's goblins protecting it, which will respawn some time after being killed. The summoned goblins won't be plunderers; therefore,
they can't steal resources. Lastly, there is a
hobbit work pit model in Worldbuilder that could be used.3- Armed for war - The monsters of the Misty Mountains prepare themselves for war - allows the purchase of armor upgrades for cave trolls and mountain giants.> Here is why I came up with this proposal:
1- An important thing to consider is that Misty Mountains
will not have siege engines, but only monsters that will be used to siege; as arrow fire is such a prevalent feature of sieges,
it is important gameplay-wise that this creatures get more resistant to enemy's arrows;
2- I want to
make a reference to the Hobbit movies' trolls;
I'm not talking about making those deformed trolls from the BotFA with blades on the hands,
I'm talking purely about awesome plate armor for these beasts;
3- I think that
cave trolls compared to Mordor's mountain trolls will have a -10% armor and damage (as they are smaller)
that will be compensated for a +10% movement speed (as they are faster, more fitting to the faction)
and the possibility to throw rocks from a short range; both trolls will
cost 600 gp. Well, as the
cave troll will work mainly as a siege ram for this faction (and as a player should not always have to use an outpost to create giants for sieging), I thought that giving it an
armor upgrade for the cave trolls that would give them a + 200% armor against arrows and + 50% health for 400 gp would be a huge deal to make them
more useful for sieging.
4-
The mountain giants on the other hand are not
lesser monsters like the trolls; they are
greater monsters such as the ents and the werewolves, so I imagine that they will also cost
1200 gp. Compared to ents, they will probably have very similar stats (
but with a weaker armor against arrows, even though with a slightly stronger armor against general damage and stronger armor against fire); also, Lothlorien has access to
Treebeard and Quickbeam as stronger or more dynamic long distance siege units, so, to compensate that, I thought that giving an
armor to the mountain giants for 600 gp that would give them +50% armor and +50% health would
boost considerably the use of these beasts - even more considering the fact that they
will only be produced in outposts.
4- Scavenger >
Remains the same from Vanilla.
5- The Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities>
There is a poll discussing especifically about this power; for those interested, here is the link:
https://modding-union.com/index.php/topic,34953.0.html> Offensive/short term spells:6- Cave Bats - Summons cave bats. They reveal stealthed units, nearby enemies loose 20% armor.> Well, it's a spell from Vanilla which fits the lore, the bats can still be controlled; only the debuff was adjusted.
7- Warg ambush - In the selected area, wargs and warg riders from Gundabad will continuosly spawn and chase nearby enemy units> The concept of this power is based on
Gothmog's power to recruit individual orcs to the battlefield; this spellbook power, on the otherhand, will have
stronger units that will spawn in greater numbers (but they also
can't be controlled and will be temporary)
8- Awaken Wyrm >
Remains the same from Vanilla.
9- Summon Watcher >
Remains the same from Vanilla.
10- Durin's Bane >
There is a poll discussing especifically about this power; for those interested, here is the link:
https://modding-union.com/index.php/topic,35742.0.html> Central spell:11- Untamed allegiance - buildings will be protected by half-troll marauders (now
settlements will be guarded by 1 half-troll marauder each and
outposts and citadels will be guarded by 3 upgraded half-troll marauders each which will respawn some time after being killed)
, units produced in the settlements are recruited 50% faster, allows the drake lair to be built and the recruitment of drakes (passive ability)> Here I thought that the
idea behind untamed allegiance was really fitting for a central spellbook spell, but not as it was in Vanilla,
because as soon as all lairs in the map were destroyed, the spell had no use; also,
because of the fact that Misty Mountains will be able to recruit almost every unit from the creep lairs through settlements or outposts, there was
no reason for this power to remain the same way. That is why I went for this new proposal;
- As drakes are
the greatest monsters (and therefore will have a price of
1800, I suppose), just like oliphaunts,
they should be harder to get, as
they are very strong and levelling them up will be very rewarding strategically. That is why this power reflects an interesting idea:
by having this power unlocked, the drakes feel like the goblins are worth their support and will fight as their allies.
- The faster recruitment speed for settlements is also fitting for this faction -
it does not only consist in spamming units, but in swarming the enemy, quickly producing units that are naturally faster than most of other faction's units.
- About the marauders, I just thought of a way that could
implement them just for a nostalgic feeling, but
without being an important part of the faction (just as
Edain Team wishes) - that is why
they won't be controlled and won't appear in larger numbers. Also, I tried to implement them not in a broken way; for example,
it will still be possible to harass settlements with cavalry,
because a single half-troll will not be able to beat an entire batallion, even if it is unupgraded; however, a
weaker/damaged cavalry batallion will not get much done against the marauder.
IN FAVOUR1. GildorInglorionAGAINST