Empire War v3.2
The second major update of Empire War (v3) has come! It took longer than expected, but the wait was CLEARLY worth it. We are excited to present to you the Moria Update, which focuses on bringing a long-loved community favourite map; Moria Great Halls! Indeed, it has been revamped to the highest of Minecraft Standards across the entire building community. As a bonus, we've also introduced new features & changes into areas which aren't necessarily Moria related.
Following a well received Eriador Update (v3.1), which brought us the maps of Weathertop and Setton, the Moria Update (v3.2) allowed us to break the player record on Empire War! In fact, we have reached a peak of 85 players during the event on Saturday October the 5th, beating our 76 player record set last year during the Empire War v3 opening event. Numbers like this haven't been seen on the server since 2014. If you have missed the event, worry not, as we are confident this record will break again in some future update event.
Another exciting news I'd like to bring, is the growth of our presence on Social Media! Together with EbiWan, MrDrewSky, Rio155 and myself, we started making publicity on platforms like YouTube and TikTok to expand our community. This has already worked very well for us, as our subscriber count has increased by over 130 people on both of these platforms, and our discord population by 100 in just two weeks, with most videos reaching thousands and some even tens of thousands of views! As much as a lot of it was about building momentum for the Moria Update Event, we're going to post a bit less frequently as our media team is still too small to keep the current rythm. Expect approximately 1 video per week. You can subscribe to us now both on YouTube (CLICK HERE) and on TikTok (CLICK HERE)
Here are a few examples of the videos we've been posting:
New features:
> Added new map: Moria Great Halls [Siege gamemode]
> Added Many new classes (more info below)
> Added Heavy Hammerer Ability
> Added Volley Ability
> Added Quickshot Ability
> Added Advanced Bow Ability
> Added Sound Playing ability
> REWORKED HERO OBTAINING (more info below)
> Added Team/Faction sound feature
> Added Flag Indicators (disable with /settings)
> Rock Throw Ability now turns your "firework star" items into Large 3D rocks (for Trolls!)
> Added a Map name title with game objective displayed every time you spawn in for the first time in a game
> Added /cancelnextmap
> Improved /nextmap
> Improved /game info, with more information
> Added ability to scale class disguises
> Lava now deals 6x more damage
> Added a custom map queuing system
> Added Bank building interior to the Main Lobby, with an Empire War painting and Development Headquarters
> Added an additional way to get into the 4th level gate on Minas Tirith
> Added new commands: /links, /socialmedia, /media, /news (displaying our social media)
> Added many new textures to the Resource-Pack
New Custom Weapons
- Iron Poignard (Dunedain Tracker)
- Balrog Flaming Sword (Balrog)
- Gandalf’s Staff (Gandalf)
- Elven Swordmaster Sword (Amayan Swordmaster)
- Orc Warband Shield (Orc Warband Shieldman)
- Morgul Spear (Angmar Commander)
- Anduril (Aragorn)
- Dol Amroth Sword (Dol Amroth Knight)
- Dol Amroth Spear (Dol Amroth Knight)
- Dwarven Battleaxe (Dwarven Soldier)
- Dwarven Handaxe (Dwarven Spearman)
New Sounds
- 7 new Balrog Taunt sounds
- 4 new Balrog Hurt sounds
- 5 new Uruk Death sounds
- 5 new Uruk Hurt sounds
- 3 new Uruk Taunt sounds
- 2 new Uruk Marching sounds
- 3 new Uruk Generic sounds
- 2 new Orc Attack sounds
- 4 new Orc Die sounds
- 9 new Orc Hurt sounds
- 4 new Dwarf Attack sounds
- 5 new Dwarf Hurt sounds
- 4 new Dwarf Taunt sounds
- 2 new Goblin Attack sounds
- 3 new Goblin Death sounds
- 3 new Goblin Hurt sounds
- a new sound for goblins in the distance
New Custom Animations
- Shield Bash (All Shieldman classes)
- Parry (Upper Guard Stance) (Citadel Guard, Royal Guard)
- Parry (Forward Guard Stance) (Amayan Swordmaster)
- Spear throw (All spearman classes)
- Torch Throw (Dunlending Peasant, Easterling Torcher)
- Axe Throw (Dunlending Huntsman)
New Custom Food
- Maggoty Bread
Fixes
- Recorrected custommodeldata of the stone swords
- Fixed bow sounds not cycling through (only hearing the same bow sound variant)
- Iron Poignard (Dunedain Tracker)
- Balrog Flaming Sword (Balrog)
- Gandalf’s Staff (Gandalf)
- Elven Swordmaster Sword (Amayan Swordmaster)
- Orc Warband Shield (Orc Warband Shieldman)
- Morgul Spear (Angmar Commander)
- Anduril (Aragorn)
- Dol Amroth Sword (Dol Amroth Knight)
- Dol Amroth Spear (Dol Amroth Knight)
- Dwarven Battleaxe (Dwarven Soldier)
- Dwarven Handaxe (Dwarven Spearman)
New Sounds
- 7 new Balrog Taunt sounds
- 4 new Balrog Hurt sounds
- 5 new Uruk Death sounds
- 5 new Uruk Hurt sounds
- 3 new Uruk Taunt sounds
- 2 new Uruk Marching sounds
- 3 new Uruk Generic sounds
- 2 new Orc Attack sounds
- 4 new Orc Die sounds
- 9 new Orc Hurt sounds
- 4 new Dwarf Attack sounds
- 5 new Dwarf Hurt sounds
- 4 new Dwarf Taunt sounds
- 2 new Goblin Attack sounds
- 3 new Goblin Death sounds
- 3 new Goblin Hurt sounds
- a new sound for goblins in the distance
New Custom Animations
- Shield Bash (All Shieldman classes)
- Parry (Upper Guard Stance) (Citadel Guard, Royal Guard)
- Parry (Forward Guard Stance) (Amayan Swordmaster)
- Spear throw (All spearman classes)
- Torch Throw (Dunlending Peasant, Easterling Torcher)
- Axe Throw (Dunlending Huntsman)
New Custom Food
- Maggoty Bread
Fixes
- Recorrected custommodeldata of the stone swords
- Fixed bow sounds not cycling through (only hearing the same bow sound variant)
Bug Fixes & Balancing:
> Fixed Trolls having a Warden Heartbeat sound
> Fixed /ranks not working
> Fixed issues interacting with the woolmap
> Fixed parry ability checking wrong item
> Fixed being able to apply Hero classes by clicking on NPCs
> Replace Arnor Remnant's hunger levels with half-troll stats (full hunger level, food, slowness)
> Fix Elven Soldier/Archer/Fieldmedic leap
> Morgul Orc: Buffed Damage (7 -> 7.5)
> Buffed crossbow fireworks rocket to do actual damage while giving it more value than normal arrows, making consumption more strategic when using all 3 of them
> Reduced reach on pikes by 0.2
> Halved extra reach on spears
> Buffed reach on daggers
> Fixed the brief OP Crossbows and Bows during the Event
> It is no longer possible to receive assists for killing oneself
> Fixed Advanced Crossbow Ability not working at all
> Swapped Eoford and Osgiliath in the map Rotation
> Moria is now right after Helm's Deep in the map rotation
> Crossbowman (Uruk, Mordor, Angmar): Buffed Melee (5.5 -> 6)
> Crossbowman (Uruk, Mordor, Angmar): Nerfed Armour (13 -> 10)
> Crossbowman (Uruk, Mordor, Angmar): Buffed Health (20 -> 28)
> Crossbowman (Uruk, Mordor, Angmar, Firebeard): Added a cooldown of 4.2 seconds
> Crossbowman (Uruk, Mordor, Angmar): Buffed bolt damage (2.75 -> 3.4)
> Crossbowman (Uruk, Mordor, Angmar): Increased bolt velocity (1 -> 1.1)
New map
Moria Great Halls:
Moria Great Halls:
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The jewel of the update, arguably the most loved map of Empire War since 2012, Moria Great Halls. It is also known as Khazad-Dûm, and very few maps have managed to match the glory of this icon.
It has received a strong revamp, making it the map with the highest build standards to date on Empire War. We have preserved the integrity of the first half of the map as it was known a decade ago, but gave it a much more modern look. The goal was to rework the surface of the caves, make the build feel old and MASSIVE, all while hinting at an attempt to reclaim the long lost kingdom by Balin's company, hence the numerous crates and supplies lying around the place. The second half of the map, however, is completely new; for the 23rd hall, which lies right past Balin's Tomb (also known as the Chamber of Mazarbûl), was built to further enforce the idea of Great Halls, as a map. It is a large feasting hall, long abandoned by the Dwarves. Past that hall, a movie inspired Great Chasm, where the Great Stairs stand. The very same stairs that the Fellowship of the Rings passes in the movies! Further down the ravine, the iconic Bridge of Khazad Dûm connects the Eastern part of the Chasm with the Second Hall, one of the most beautiful on the map. Finally, through the colourful First Hall, right up the stairs, we arrive to the valley of Azanulbizar, in front of a movie accurate Eastern gate, as well as the iconic rocky plateau, the Mirrormere and the Stone of Durin.
The lore behind this map, is an interpretation of Balin's attempt to reclaim the kingdom for the dwarves. As his company settles down in its caverns, slowly rebuilding the ruins and restoring the halls, Balin is shot by an orc by the lake, near Dimrill gate. As the other dwarves bury their leader in the chamber of Mazarbûl, Ori takes command of the colony. But at some point, goblins attack from the deep... The battle of the Great Halls has now started, near the old mines. The fate of Balin's quest now lies in the hands of players of Empire War...
Following a classic Empire War siege format, the layout of the map is simple and linear. The order of the flags is the following: The Delving, The Watchtower, The Stonehelm Crossing, 21st Hall, Balin's Tomb, 23rd Hall, The Great Stairs, the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm, 1st Hall and the Valley of Azanulbizar. The Map was designed to be suited both for lower player counts, and the largest of them.
Starting classes:
The class selection for both maps and teams will increase with time. We would like to start with the following choice of classes, for now.
Dwarves
| Goblins
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Hero Rework
Each player, per-team, will have a "hero points pool". Essentially every action you do that contributes to your team will add to this hero points pool. This is different to the old system, which relied on randomness above a certain threshold (e.g., 10% chance of getting hero at 10+ killstreak every kill).
The exact formula to obtain hero is a secret! But to give you some hints, prove yourself useful to the team; contribute to it as much as you can. Do not be afraid to put your faction before your own life, after all, true heroes are ready to die for their people!
Good luck!
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