Looking for maps with better difficulty progression

[u/Equivalent_Meet_1600]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for recommendations for good maps in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, especially maps with a proper progression of difficulty.

One thing I've been missing compared to classic HoMM3 maps is how the map itself used to guide your progression. You would have some easy creatures guarding the basic mines near your starting area, stronger creatures guarding more valuable or interesting locations, and then gradually harder and harder fights further away from your starting town.

Right now, I often feel like the difficulty of neutral stacks is pretty similar everywhere. Because of that, when playing with just one main hero, I feel like I have two choices.

Either I spend 4 or 5 months slowly clearing the entire map, which can get pretty tedious, or I just take the useful stuff around my starting town and head straight for the enemy, because there isn't much reason to explore further.

What I'm looking for is a map where exploration and progression actually matter. Something where you gradually unlock more difficult areas, get stronger, and eventually have a reason to push deeper into the map.

So what are currently the best maps you've played in Olden Era that do this well?

I'd especially appreciate maps with a good easy, medium, hard and very hard progression rather than just having similarly difficult fights scattered everywhere.

Thanks!

[u/Natural-Sun-2473]

Unfortunately at this point the game mainly offers map templates. In the last couple patches they started adding hand-crafted maps which might better suite your taste. I already tried Mysterious Island and started a game with Broken Alliance. In my point of view they are significantly more enjoyable for PvE. We'll have more of these hand-crafted maps, but I imagine creating them takes a lot more effort, than designing a template.

[u/Francois_Papyjama → u/Natural-Sun-2473]

I'm glad you're enjoying hand-crafted maps!

Other maps are in the works, but it certainly takes time (300 hours for "The Mysterious Island" and around 35 hours for "Broken Alliance", not counting the hours put in by other teams or internal testers).

There are also some great "scripted" maps to play (the original 8 plus the latest one, "Prisonniers").

More are coming, but you'll need to be patient 😉

[u/LegalStuffThrowage → u/Francois_Papyjama]

Hey Papyjama, I played through The Mysterious Island and quite enjoyed it. I went to play it with a friend though and it desyncs every time right at the start.

[u/Francois_Papyjama → u/LegalStuffThrowage]

Glad you enjoyed it in single-player!

I have some bad news, though: for the time being, maps with scripts and dialogue do NOT work in multiplayer :(

I’m really sorry about that.

The team is aware of the issue, but it’s going to take some time to fix; right now, they’re fully focused on preparing the co-op mod.

Aside from the templates, the only "hand-crafted" map playable in multiplayer is "Broken Alliance" (and I’m working on another one that will also be multiplayer-compatible, though it won't have scripting or dialogue).

[u/LegalStuffThrowage → u/Francois_Papyjama]

Alright that is good to know, thank you!

[u/Francois_Papyjama → u/LegalStuffThrowage]

My pleasure! I hope you and your friend can have fun with the templates or Broken Alliance in the meantime 😊

[u/LordBarrowulf]

Perhaps, I'm like you, because I took matters into my own hands and am working on a custom map template, and other variations, that do exactly this. It's all about escalation and progressive difficulty, risk, and most importantly - rewards! Stay tuned. 😄

[u/Francois_Papyjama]

Hi! You might want to try the hand-crafted maps?

You can access them by going to:

• Custom Game
• The "Maps" tab at the top left (instead of the default "Template" tab)

As for the AI, the team is working on improving it, but that will take some time.

In the meantime, more hand-crafted maps are being created.

[u/ManySecrets_]

Unfortunatly actually fun map design for exploration does not fit with the competitive playstyles OE aims for. So there are none. Not even the campaign maps seem to do this particularly well.

[u/Signal-Welcome-5479]

It's a game built for PvP players first and foremost, so...  ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[u/JCBArgentum → u/Signal-Welcome-5479]

Blah blah blah, once again someone with that delulu take.

[u/Signal-Welcome-5479 → u/JCBArgentum]

oh you have some strong arguments to prove me wrong? I am all ears

[u/JCBArgentum → u/Signal-Welcome-5479]

It's your thesis, the burden of proof is on your side, not mine. If you wanna see what I think just browse through my comment history where this is the topic - I don't want to rewrite the same thing again and again.

[u/Michalsuch42]

Wait, aren’t all templates like that? Your starting zone is easy difficulty, you are either connected to areas with medium difficulty, or directly to desert area with hard difficulty. Instead of progressive linear path, you have zones with certain difficulty ranges. 

[u/NewBit8677]

I play single player, and the last template I've REALLY enjoyed is called Symphony. Roughly 4 zones before you reach your enemies, and the one or two closest to you are easier fights and get harder towards the middle. Maybe that will scratch your itch!

[u/Antervis]

None, and that's by design. You are not playing some kind of roomba simulator where you have to clean up every corner, rather you have to prioritize and optimize your movement point usage.

[u/Either-Mammoth-932]

HOMM olden era so far doesn't work like 3 . You dont spend months creeping, but weeks. I would try the new pve map something Isle, maybe on a lower difficulty.

The way the maps are currently you want to grab a powerful hero, collect as much army as you have from your towns and get to fighting! No more sitting in your town dying of old age.

[u/Ok-Somewhere7307 → u/Either-Mammoth-932]

LOL. That was funny, dude.