GitP WarCraft 3: The Frozen Throne group

[Winterwind]

A heartily welcome from me, too.

Now, as for your question, in detail:
1. Start WarCraft (well, obviously)
2. In the main menu there is a button for BattleNet. To the right side of it is a smaller button showing a magnifying glass. Click on the latter to choose which gateway you connect to. Make sure you have Azeroth (USEast) chosen. Click on the BattleNet button then.
2a. If you don't have the most current patch it will automatically be downloaded now.
3. In the following menu, click on Create New Account. Follow instructions.
4. After logging on, there will be a button labeled "Channel". Click on it and enter GitP as the name of the channel you want to join. You will, then, enter our (mostly) private chat room.
5. With the BattleNet commands Leper Kahn linked you to, you can make sure whether somebody is online. Preferably, add a few people to your friend list (using the BattleNet account names given in the list in the second post of this thread) by typing /f a AccountName - people who are, probably, online the most are Baneling_Aspect, tannish2 and myself (Winterwind_GitP). You can then see who of these people is online by typing /f l (that's an L, for clarification).

That's about it.

[Marek]

Account's been set-up, and here I am as Vinnam (screenname)!

[Winterwind]

We met yesterday already, but just to make it official, welcome once more.

[Winterwind]

So, reminder, tomorrow is our weekly session once again. Hope to see you all.

[Leper_Kahn]

I won't make it until late, if at all. I've got work.

[Crispy Dave]

i wont be on my vidoe card is still dead and i still havent gotton payed

[Cynan Machae]

I think I'm able to play! :o

[Winterwind]

A bit late, I admit, but just to make it official: Welcome to the WarCraft group as well, Cynan.

Has anyone else been thinking that our selection of custom maps is getting a bit stale? I mean... RvS, RKR, CF (acronyms are fun! ), Mad Balls Arena or Worm War are fun as ever, but I miss the old days when we'd spend half the session trying out new maps. I wouldn't mind if we also played melee someti--*gets stoned*. Okay, okay, I'll shut up but more new maps still would be great. DoE is a nice new addition though, I must say.

[The Orange Zergling]

Looking back in my old maps folder, I'm seeing classics that I really loved but haven't played in a long time. Bug Evolution (RTS where your soldiers start life as small bugs, but grow into larger ones over time that can evolve into Chaos, Breeder, Queen, Spitter, and Warrior bugs, I think), Tom Brown's Wilderness Survival (The only WS besides Island Troll Tribes I ever liked, but it requires extraordinary amounts of teamwork), Island Troll Tribes (Team-based WS map with Trolls, where the objective is to be the last tribe standing, rather than be rescued), Alien Invasion (Base-building survival map where aliens invade), Castle Builder (Just a plain from-scratch RTS, however some versions have "Myths" which are special players who do not control a castle, but rather a mythical beast that evolves over time. Many people hate Myths, but I'm rather fond of them), and other gems.

[PePe QuiCoSE]

I wouldn't mind if we also played melee someti--*gets stoned*. Okay, okay, I'll shut up

You know that when if i get online, ill play you 1v1. Though i doubt it'll be too much of a fun game (for me at least! ).

[Winterwind]

Looking back in my old maps folder, I'm seeing classics that I really loved but haven't played in a long time.

That sounds great, let's try some of those next session!

You know that when if i get online, ill play you 1v1. Though i doubt it'll be too much of a fun game (for me at least! ).

Great! For Aiur! Er, I mean, Ner'zhul!

[Cynan Machae]

Heh, as mostly of those customs where my first time (except BattleShips, and the one I played was old and different :P ), I can't really say much on the subject

And I wouldnt mind playing Melee either, seems nobody is really good at Melee, so I should be able to do something

Oh and yea, DoE was nice, tho I guess there is still some stuff that we need to grasp to play well (like the you can train from anywhere thingy ><)

[Winterwind]

So, reminder, tomorrow is our next WarCraft session.

I might be late. Probably won't, but might be, depending on when exactly my father intends to visit me.

[Albub]

Just picked up the battle chest. Fridays we meet on? Darn...

[Marek]

*Dusts off thread*

In other news, I am currently working on an AoS style map. Cue rejoicing and general merriment.

[Albub]

I haven't tried many custom maps, or much multiplayer at all really. It'd be nice to do some melee matches, though I'm not great. I'm semi experienced at footman wars, that's about it.

[The Orange Zergling]

From talking to you about ideas it seems you have at least a good, solid idea.

However, one thing I should mention, is that you should probably think of something to spice it up, something that makes your AoS different from all the others. Like, for example, in Desert of Exile they have the trebuchets and forward bases (although that makes the game snowball really really badly), in Water War they have the surface/underwater lanes, etc. Also for the name try to avoid anything ending in otA, because people will think it's a DotA clone and depending on their attitude may either avoid it or play it and be disappointed because it does not imitate DotA adequately.

Making your map unique is what makes people want to play it. Unless of course you're just making the map to learn how to map, however even then it's a good idea to push the boundaries of what you can do.

[LiteYear]

Since I was finally able to permanently solve my hosting discrepancies, I can now make available a Ventrilo server for voice chat (and for StarCraft sessions too if I can show up). If you have a microphone, great, but even if you don't, feel free to come on in, as the speed of voice chat can really help for certain maps (as long as I'm not the only one in there with a mic), and you can still participate with normal WCIII chat.

In this spoiler block, I'll put a few tips on how to configure Ventrilo (you'll only need the client program).

Spoiler

Show

First, we should set up the connection to the server. You can get to this window by clicking the arrow button on the same line as server.

You'll probably need to set up a new server connection, so click on New an enter the name (it can be any name you want). Password and default channel will remain blank, Port will remain 3784, but you'll need the IP. I'll give that out to anyone who asks me through the session or through a PM. The options with the checkboxes are up to you, although I don't really see a reason for turning any of them off.

After you enter that information, the main window should say "MSG: Contacting Server", and, if my server is up, it should say "MSG: Server is available. Press connect." in a moment.

Now, for some options that I find useful. This is the Setup window (gotten to by pressing the Setup button)



The amplifiers box will be important. If people say that your mic is to loud or too quiet, the Outbound amplifier will be the one that you modify. Similarly, if you're hearing everyone too loud or too quiet (but other volume is fine), you can adjust the Inbound amplifier to get a more desirable volume.

For microphone users, another important feature is the push to talk (PTT) feature. I would recommend that you enable it, and in the box below (where I have mouse 3), press the key that you want (mouse 3 is the mouse wheel for me). With this feature, your microphone will only be transmitting when the button that you specify is pressed. Since this will reduce my server load, I would also prefer that you enabled this feature.

If you're finding that there's some crappy speech when people join, you can turn that off in the events tab. I would recommend that "Users connect to server" and "Users disconnect from server" are set to nothing (or a small wav file if you want an indication), but the other settings are up to you.

Finally, if there is some annoying person who keeps playing prerecorded sounds (known as binds), you can turn them off in the binds tab (it may be possible to single out a user when your connected, but I haven't explored that). However, I know that won't be a problem

This is all that I can think of for now, but if any other issues arise, I'll look into the solution and post it here. Hope to see you on!

[Marek]

However, one thing I should mention, is that you should probably think of something to spice it up, something that makes your AoS different from all the others.

I am planning on having a Penguin AND a Zergling Hero.

What more do you people want!?!

Seriously, however, I am trying to figure out an underground aspect, in which portals can take you either above ground or under ground. Adds a whole new level to stratagemy.

[Winterwind]

First of all, welcome to the WarCraft group, Albub.

Secondly, thanks for the Ventrilo thingie, LiteYear. I'll make sure to install Ventrilo soon (even though I'm somewhat anxious with regard to this - my spoken English is, I'm afraid, due to lack of practice, not quite as good as my written one.
We (=Cynan, Leper Kahn and me) tried to set up a Skype conference recently while playing, and the lag that followed this attempt made WarCraft effectively unplayable; is there reason to assume this will be better with Ventrilo?

And thirdly, here's the reminder: Tomorrow is our next WarCraft session again.
I'm not 100% clear whether I'll be able to participate yet, but I sure hope so.

[Cynan Machae]

You are not alone with a bad spoken english, so I guess it's less of a problem

And yes, Ventrilo could work better, mainly because Skype has the best sound quality but is really heavy on ressource usage, while Ventrilo (and Teamspeak too for the matter), has less quality but uses less ressources.

[Leper_Kahn]

We (=Cynan, Leper Kahn and me) tried to set up a Skype conference recently while playing, and the lag that followed this attempt made WarCraft effectively unplayable; is there reason to assume this will be better with Ventrilo?

Cynan is right. Vent has support for a much higher number of people. It is used by raiding groups in WoW to plan and command 40-man raids.

[Greenpepa]

My experience with Ventrilo has always been good. I use it with my friends all the time and we never seem to experience any loss of performance because of it.

[Bitzeralisis]

Hmm. I only have two problems with this group. One, it's on the East server (easily fixed, of course; I don't mind if I have to make a new account), and two, your meeting times are too early for my time zone (I have school and won't get home until 3:00. Then there's the problem of whether or not I can even play at that time, because I have piano class afterwards at 3:30. Then I get home at 5:00, and if I'm lucky, I get to play a small amount of computer games.) Still, those problems can be resolved.

Meh. I like DotA. What's your favorite game?

[Leper_Kahn]

Hmm. I only have two problems with this group. One, it's on the East server (easily fixed, of course; I don't mind if I have to make a new account), and two, your meeting times are too early for my time zone (I have school and won't get home until 3:00. Then there's the problem of whether or not I can even play at that time, because I have piano class afterwards at 3:30. Then I get home at 5:00, and if I'm lucky, I get to play a small amount of computer games.) Still, those problems can be resolved.

Hello! I don't think your time zone problems are going to be too much of an issue. Normally we play into the wee hours of the morning... Later depending on where you are.

Meh. I like DotA. What's your favorite game?

Don't say it again! They might hear you! (No one seems to like dota in this group *Shrug*)

We play a lot of RvS (Rabbit vs. Sheep), AoS type games, we play a lot of Castle Fight, and Worm War. We normally squeeze in either a Battle Ships, or Battle Tanks.

[Bitzeralisis]

Oh, really? Ha! You people don't play what I play at all! Maybe it's a server difference. More than 25% of games hosted on the West Coast Server are DotA. I play that (like all the time), non-generic Risks (if I see one), sometimes Island Defense, Tower Defenses and spinoffs, and oRpgs (when I'm bored).

[The Orange Zergling]

...only 25%? Man, you've got it lucky. It's not uncommon for us Easties to see two or so games on a screen that are not DotA. We sometimes do TDs/mauls too, most notably Warhammer 40k TD and Elemental TD (4.0 recently got released, by the way) as well, so we're not completely genre-divided. :P

[Cynan Machae]

I play DotA sometimes. It's not bad, it's only that there seems to be quite some people that really hates it around here .

And yea, like LK said, the playing hours usually strech a looooooong time. So really you shouldn't have problems coming in and seeing some people around.

[Bitzeralisis]

Did I say 25%? I lied. It was 50%.

[Marek]

Did I say 25%? I lied. It was 50%.

Yeah, that seems about right.

While I don't personally hate DotA (In fact, I had one really awesome game), I do hate that people get so hardcore about it. At best, it is a mediocre game, with tremendous Balance issues (Which is to be expected with NINETY heroes.)