Human 4 (Mission 7)

Synopsis

What is this mission?

Blackhand, Cho’gall, Kilrogg, Doomhammer, and Gul’dan show up alongside the rest of the Horde. Their numbers are overwhelming. King Llane and Lothar argue about the correct course of action as Khadgar stands by. Medivh is absent. Lothar wants to take a significant portion of the human army and wrap around to strike the Horde’s back lines. Llane doesn’t want to take the risk. The potential cost – to kingdom, army, and citizenry – is too great. Khadgar weighs in with intelligence from Garona, arguing in favor of Lothar’s plan. Llane ultimately (and reluctantly) agrees to hold the front line while Lothar gambles everything on the wraparound.

Mission Mechanic

What is the player doing to complete the mission?

The player takes a small force of knights led by Lothar to assault the siege engines of the horde located along their flanks. They must use caution and approach from angles the horde do not expect, using the riverways to strike rapidly from. Once all of the siege engines have been destroyed, the Horde can no longer successfully breach the walls and must retreat. 

Quest(s):

Main Quest: Destroy the Horde siege engines.

  • The Horde siege engines are the lynchpin of their assault. Destroying all of them will cripple the Hordes offense on the city of Stormwind

Bonus Quest: Rescue Stormwind soldiers.

  • Pockets of Stormwind soldiers resist the orcs in the surrounding lands. Assist and rescue them.

Mission Flow:

Bullet point each event in the mission (Cinematic; Quest; Scripted Events; etc). These should be chronological from start to finish.

Opening Cinematic - Lothar and Khadgar lead an army around the orcs by sea and strike them from behind. Meanwhile, Llane leads the defense of Stormwind’s main gates—though he can’t hold for long.

  • We display a large health bar at the top of the screen representing the health of the walls protecting Stormwind. If this health bar reaches 0, the player loses the mission.

  • The player starts off with a small force (Lothar, Khadgar and some Knights) and a River Barge to use on the nearby waterways.

  • They are also in control of a base on this side of the river that they can use to train reinforcements and other forces. They must hold this fort from the Bleeding Hollow clan across the bridge, which continually assaults them.

  • The Bleeding Hollow clan immediately starts the mission attacking the players base and will send small attack waves at it over the course of the mission.

  • Across the river from them are horde siege engines firing at the base of the Stormwind walls. Lothar says to load up in the barge and prepare to assault them from the river.

  • New Quest - Destroy the Horde siege engines

  • After destroying these first siege engines, Lothar sees the true strength of the Horde - their numbers - as they assault the front gate leading into Stormwind. He knows that his small force won’t be able to push through the mass of greenskins and decides to use the barge to move south along the river and strike at the siege engines from there.

  • Soldiers to the south near one of the farms signal that they need reinforcements and Lothar guides his men down the river on the barge to reach them.

  • Bonus Quest - Rescue Stormwind Soldiers

  • The Orc Camps in the center of the map are heavily defended and powerful enemy heroes are located at each one. We should heavily discourage players from attacking them.

  • The player takes his forces down the river and under the bridge to rescue the soldiers and also conveniently find some horde siege engines here to destroy as well.

  • Just south of the Bleeding Hollow camp, Lothar’s forces sneak around behind them and destroy another siege engine.

  • After the player reaches the halfway point in the mission, the horde deploys siege engines back in areas they already cleared out. The player needs to continue forward but also split his forces to destroy the ones that have been re-deployed in areas already cleared out.

    • This happens sporadically throughout the mission

Blackhand’s Response: As more and more siege engines are destroyed, Blackhand reacts in various ways (also blaming everyone but himself).

  • He sends a large force of grunts directly at the player’s base

  • He might send some raiders after Lothar’s forces

  • He may send some Warlocks at the player’s base or they summon demons which attempt to hunt down Lothar and/or Khadgar.

  • Once all of the siege engines have been destroyed, the Horde retreats.

Quest Complete -  All Horde siege engines have been destroyed.

Victory Cinematic - Stormwind is saved at great cost. Llane, tired but relieved, congratulates Lothar and Khadgar. Blackhand blames everyone except himself and his clan (the Blackrocks) for the defeat. All clans suffer from the successful defense and the Frostwolves in particular lament the wasteful loss of life.

Units

What does the player start with and what will the player train?

  • Begins with: Lothar, Khadgar and some Knights

  • Train/Build: Footmen, Archers, Knights, Clerics, Conjurers

AI

What is the player expected to fight?

  • Orc Forces (Grunts, Spearmen, Raiders, Catapults, Necrolytes/Warlocks)

 Script: Once we start getting the script we can cut and paste. This should also list out any text added to the mission (Quest; New Unit; Tips; etc)

 ORC CLANS

  • Bleeding Hollow

  • Blackrock

  • Twilight’s Hammer

  • Gnolls creep - predecessor to Hogger