The Heart of Storms is an ambitious Game Mod for Warcraft III. It seeks to include both a long campaign and a melee mode featuring ten playable factions: Orcs, Ogres, Goblins, Forest Trolls, Draenei, Humans, Dwarves, High Elves, the Burning Legion and the Aether Cult (which is original to the mod). Most units from the first two Warcraft games will reappear and keep their most iconic traits, but will be different in terms of gameplay. Naval combat from Warcraft II also returns, albeit more as a fun addition than a core mechanic.
The campaign is set across past and present Draenor, Azeroth, Argus and other, more exotic worlds, carefully recreated according to the Chronicle canon. While you will meet the familiar heroes and villains of Warcraft, the protagonists are completely new characters. The campaign is comparable to StarCraft II, with numerous side objectives, subfaction units and gameplay twists. The story changes depending on choices made, including secret endings and alternate routes.
The mod can be downloaded here
. Its community can be found on Hive Workshop and Discord.
This game provides examples of:
- 1-Up: The Soul Evacuation Crystal is a consumable item that allows the bearer to come back to life when killed.
- Achievement System: Each campaign mission features various hidden achievements awarded by fulfilling certain conditions. Upon being awarded, they're immediately saved to the game cache, meaning that they'll persist even if you subsequently do not complete the level. In Act I, collecting one specific achievement in each mission is required to unlock the secret boss fight.
- Adaptation Name Change:
- The neutral building that always sells a specific stock of items, regardless of map, is now called Artifact Merchant instead of Goblin Merchant (since the ones that appear on Draenor maps are very much not run by goblins).
- Numerous items are still recognisably the same as in the vanilla game, albeit with different names (for example, the Tome of Retraining, which resets a hero's skill points so they could learn something else, is now called Tome of Oblivion, but functions exactly the same).
- Adapted Out: Surprisingly, quite a few characters important to the canonical events do not appear in the story:
- Blackhand's daughter Griselda does not appear even in scenes she should be present in. A female Blackrock orc next to Rend and Maim in the final cinematic was thought to be Griselda, but Word of God has confirmed she's actually Siegemaster Mar'tak.
- Exarch Akama (and basically every Exarch besides Hataaru) does not participate in the defense of Karabor at all, only getting a brief mention in the dialogue and a couple of Blink-and-You-Miss-It appearances in cutscenes with no speaking lines. Probably justified in the canon since he was mostly busy leading draenei to safety.
- Ner'zhul is likewise absent, his role mostly given to Gul'dan.
- There isn't as much as a mention of ogre king Maulgar, and Imperator Mar'gok only gets a couple of mentions.
- Both Socrethar and Samaara are absent, the latter getting a single mention in an optional dialogue.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: The campaign's various missions are told from the points of view of multiple characters, and as you advance from mission to mission (or in some cases, within the same mission), you'll find yourself switching characters on a very frequent basis.
- Baseless Mission: In the campaign, you don't have control over a base in Chainbreakers (Act I Prologue) and The Last Sunset (Act I Chapter 1).
- Broad Strokes: Generally averted, as the mod's team specifically declares following World of Warcraft: Chronicle as the canon version of Warcraft history. However, some scenes intentionally mix several versions of one canon event, such as the drinking of Mannoroth's blood (which is loosely based on Rise of the Horde but features the famous dialogue between Gul'dan and Grommash from Warlords of Draenor intro) or the opening of the Dark Portal (which seems to recreate the film's counterpart but also features the sacrifice of a Draenei child by Gul'dan from Rise of the Horde). Despite the team specifically saying that everything past World of Warcraft: Legion is not valid in this continuity, flavor text for Death Knights implies that at least some of the Shadowlands lore is still relevant.
- Cassandra Truth: Cho'gall and Rogaar, for all their Void-induced madness, are remarkably well informed of how things will go in future, and flat-out tell other characters about their own fates. Problem is, everyone else considers their cryptic messages nothing but mad ravings.
- Civil Warcraft: In Fel Hath No Fury (Act I Chapter 3), the three clashing Ogre clans share the exact same unit roster, with the only difference being the hero who leads them (a Warbringer for the Bloodmaul, a Butcher for the Grimfrost, a Slavedriver for the Bladespire) and the units that each clan's AI prefers to use (though a human player has access to all non-hero units).
- A Commander Is You:
- Orcs are Spammer/Berserker, with elements of Technical and Guerilla. Unlike Warcraft III, most orc units are Glass Cannon types, partially due to No Cure for Evil. They have stealth hero and units, and very powerful offensive casters that are more of direct damage dealers than support. Dragons and Death Knights are not available in the campaign due to lore reasons, but instead orcs can summon some Legion demons.
- Ogres are Elitist/Brute. They are absolutely devastating in melee and have great healing and very tough units, but almost no good ranged or air options. They can also qualify as Gimmick due to their wide range of summoned units and ability to enslave (mind control) enemies.
- Draenei are Elitist/Turtle/Technical, and almost Purposefully Overpowered to show their technological advantage over orcs and ogres. Their defense options are borderline
Game-Breaker but this is mitigated by campaign missions involving incredibly brutal enemy attack waves, and they have long-range naval artillery that can destroy enemy bases a whole screen away. They can also pull out interesting mobility tricks as they have an ability to teleport units in the vicinity of special beacons. Draenei Rangari are arguably the most efficient Tier 1 units in the whole mod (at least pre-nerf), having a decent ranged attack with Cold Arrows, and detecting invisible units.
- Darker and Edgier: unlike Blizzard making their maps in traditional partially comic style, here there is very little humor present (not counting pissed unit replies). Even when characters do joke, it's usually a Casual Danger Dialogue at best, tragic Foreshadowing at worst.
- Doomed by Canon: the actual name of the achievement for allowing too many Draenei to die in Chapter One (either through not doing the side quests or just by taking too long). While the player can save much more in Chapter Two, canonically almost 90% of Karabor citizens did perish in battle.
- Draw Aggro: Activating a Horn of Courage causes all nearby enemies to attack the Hero.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Units and heroes from some factions (humans, high elves, Burning Legion and Titanforged/Stygians) appear in cutscenes long before they debut in the gameplay.
- Eldritch Abomination: K'ara, and Shial in the epilogue.
- Elsewhere Fic: The developers describe the story as a historical novel set in the Warcraft universe—a story with original characters who are involved in well-known events and interact with well-known figures. The events of the main games are not shown directly, focus is on what was left out. 'Historical' scenes generally adhere to canonical lore, and main characters' involvement in them is limited. Instead, they have their own arcs, intertwined with the canon story.
- Empathy Doll Shot: A discarded Elekk plushie next to a puddle of blue blood illustrates some Draenei child's grim fate during the sacking of Shattrath.
- Escort Mission: If Yrel chose to side with the Bladespire in Fel Hath No Fury (Act I Chapter 3), the optional objective to turn them to your side in the next mission involves escorting Imperatrix Bastinde to a place of power in the bottom left corner of the map. While Bastinde will automatically be brought back to her starting position if killed, she is not going to reach her destination without escorts.
- Gladiator Revolt: In the prologue, heroes break free from the Bloodmaul Arena, and then liberate and arm other slaves against their ogre masters, though many gladiators refuse to join the revolt.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Played straight with all canon heroes whose looks are based on Blizzard's illustrations. Averted with most original characters - generally, heroes who wear plate armor also have head protection. Also averted with Blackhand and his son Maim who wear helmets similar to their depictions in Warcraft Adventures.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Arnak's duel with Grommash, though it can be won via cheating (or some very good pre-planning and abuse of healing and speed items), which results in a different cutscene and an achievement.
- Human Sacrifice: Without any humans present on Draenor, it's Draenei sacrifice that's used to power Gul'dan's rituals. Made a game mechanic in the final mission, where the player must fuel the portal by sacrificing units of all available races.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: orcs' favorite decoration seems to be impaled corpses.
- Knight Templar: True for many Draenei, but best exemplified by Prelate Tavraas.
- Light Is Not Good: a recurring theme among Draenei, one codex entry outright stating that Velen is the only one holding them back from embracing their Blood Knight tendencies the Eredar were known for.
- Hero Must Survive: In the campaign, the vast majority of times, if you lose a hero and have no Altar to revive them, be prepared to look at the Game Over screen.
- Mêlée à Trois: Fel Hath No Fury (Act I Chapter 3) is set in a three-way warzone between three Ogre clans, all of which are hostile to each other. You can decide to ally with one of them or participate as a fourth side seeking to wipe out all three.
- Mind-Control Device: The Orb of Domination allows the Hero to take control of an enemy unit.
- Mutually Exclusive Party Members:
- In Fel Hath No Fury (Act I Chapter 3), you can only choose to ally with one of the three clashing Ogre clans. When you do so, said clan falls under your control, while the other two turn hostile and must be defeated. This also carries over to At the Speed of Darkness (Act I Chapter 4); only the clan you allied with in the previous chapter (if any) will appear and can be turned to your side, while the Reckoners can only show up and be recruited if you chose to wipe out all three.
- Also in At the Speed of Darkness, whether you defeated the Thunderlord Clan or not in the previous chapter will determine whether it's the Frostwolf Clan (led by Durotan and Draka) or Teron'gor that will join you.
- Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: Wulnar, Rogaar and Garona are all half-orcs.
- Non-Standard Game Over: evading the slavers for too long in the very first sequence in Bloodmaul Arena will result in mission ending (and an achievement).
- Older Than They Think:
- The Orcish Horde here has red banners with black symbol in white circle, different from usual Warcraft III/World of Warcraft designs. This may look like a case of Putting on the Reich, but orcs had similar banners in Warcraft I and Warcraft II.
- Gul'dan summoning darkened K'ara to destroy Karabor may look like an adaptation of a similar AU plot from Warlords of Draenor, but this is actually a canon MU event according to the Chronicles.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: about the only time Gul'dan loses his composure and goes as far as outright cursing and swearing is in one of the Game Over cinematics, just as he is about to die.
- Player-Exclusive Mechanic: In melee mode, only human players can use ships; the AI only does so when specifically scripted to in some campaign missions.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Played straight with the Blackrock Clan. However, the Shadow Council and the Twilight's Hammer Clan are much more evil, and their team colors are respectively grey and purple or pink.
- Rock Beats Laser: orcs defeat far more advanced Draenei in Karabor and Gorgrond.
- See the Invisible: Every faction has a few units, spells and/or items sold in their shop that can detect invisible foes.
- Stuck Items: In the campaign, most playable heroes have one item that is locked in its slot and cannot be dropped.
- Succubi and Incubi: There are several variants of the Succubus demon available for summoning in the final mission, and named Succubi with unique looks appear in cutscenes.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Avelarii the Consul effectively replaces Zolaana from Chapter 3 onwards, despite having exact same gameplay functionality.
- Take a Third Option: In chapter 3, the main quest says one (and only one) ogre clan can be allied with, each of them being a very unholy alliance for Draenei. What it does not say is that Yrel is not required to ally with anyone. Defeating all three is notoriously hard, and is required for the true ending.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: made a game mechanic with both Gul'dan's sacrifices (when you can feed your own allies or captured Draenei to the Fel) and secret achievements (which involve killing 300 units (both friend and foe), letting a large number of civilians die, wiping out neutral factions etc). Since Gul'dan is evil to the core, and secret achievements are apparently connected to Void/Old God corruption, this isn't unreasonable. Also, in the prologue you can kill a harmless ogre merchant for his gold, and ogres can routinely have their units sold into slavery at Bazaar.
- Villain Protagonist: Playable original characters are between this and Anti-Hero type, being generally selfish, opportunistic and ruthless, but not completely lacking heroic qualities. Played straight with Gul'dan and Cho'gall in the final mission, who are just as evil as in canon, and then some.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Inverted, while canon Yrel was given this treatment in the main universe of Warcraft (being only briefly mentioned and her fate remaining unknown, unlike the Warlords of Draenor version), here her actions in the Rise of the Horde era are described in great detail, essentially making her an Ascended Extra.
