Warcraft III 自定义战役《The Long Watch》

The Long Watch​

Overview​

The Long Watch is an original Warcraft III custom campaign focused on exploration, character-driven quests, and RPG-style progression.

You play as Harlan, a village guard in Lordaeron whose duties range from routine local problems to situations that are decidedly less routine.

The campaign takes inspiration from Warcraft III's more open RPG-style missions, especially The Founding of Durotar, with a focus on exploration, optional content, custom equipment, environmental storytelling, and a world that reacts to your progress.

The current demo contains the first playable chapter of the campaign, with several early playtesters taking roughly 1 to 2 hours to complete it.

If possible, I recommend playing it blind and avoiding the comment section, as it contains spoilers.

The campaign is currently designed for SD graphics. A port to DE is very much possible.

Screenshots​

Features​

Exploration​

The maps are designed as places to explore rather than simple paths between quest objectives.

Main objectives will take you through the important areas, but wandering off the obvious route can lead to optional encounters, items, secrets and small pieces of environmental storytelling.

Not everything is marked.

Character-Driven Quests​

The campaign focuses on smaller characters and local problems rather than immediately throwing Harlan into world-ending events.

Expect conversations, recurring characters and quests built around the people living in the areas you visit.

Some optional actions can also be acknowledged later through changed dialogue or rewards.

Equipment & Items​

Harlan can find, earn and purchase equipment throughout the campaign.

Items provide straightforward stat upgrades and rewards for exploration, quests and optional content.

Some items can also be combined into improved versions when the required components are carried together.

The system is intentionally simple and stays close to Warcraft III's normal item handling.

Custom Encounters​

Alongside regular Warcraft III combat, the campaign contains hand-built encounters with their own mechanics.

Bosses and stronger enemies introduce additional mechanics that reward positioning, timing and paying attention to their attacks.

Living Environments​

NPCs have ambient dialogue, movement routines and small interactions independent of quests.

Locations can also change as you progress.

Some changes are directly related to objectives while others exist purely to make the world feel less static.

Paying attention to your surroundings is encouraged.

Secrets & Optional Content​

There are optional encounters, conversations, items and other small discoveries throughout the map.

You are not expected to find everything during your first playthrough.

Completionism is entirely optional.

Harlan​

Harlan is not a legendary warrior, chosen champion or commander of an army.

He's a guard.

A reasonably competent one.

Most of the time.

The campaign is built around gradually developing him through equipment, experience and the things he encounters rather than beginning with an already established Warcraft hero.

The Demo​

The current version contains the opening chapter of The Long Watch.

It introduces Harlan and the supporting cast while establishing the campaign's approach to questing, exploration, equipment progression, optional content, custom encounters and environmental storytelling.

The demo is designed as a complete playable section rather than a technical showcase.

Future versions will continue the campaign with new locations and larger areas to explore.

Gameplay Style​

The Long Watch combines traditional Warcraft III combat with RPG-style questing and exploration.

Its main influences are Warcraft III's more open missions, particularly The Founding of Durotar, rather than full RPG conversions.

Expect exploration, quests, creep camps, boss encounters, item hunting, optional content, dialogue and cinematics while retaining the overall feel of Warcraft III.

Difficulty​

The demo is primarily balanced around Normal difficulty.

Exploration directly affects Harlan's power: players who discover more equipment and optional rewards may find later encounters noticeably easier.

Balance is still being refined based on player feedback.

Feedback​

Feedback is very welcome, particularly regarding difficulty, pacing, Harlan, item progression, cutscenes and anything that feels confusing or unintended.

If possible, please play the campaign blind without opening it in the World Editor beforehand.

Bugs, typos, strange AI behaviour, visual problems, performance issues and general impressions are equally appreciated.

If you encounter a reproducible issue, please mention roughly where it occurred and what happened immediately beforehand.

Cheats are completely fine if you become stuck or want to test something. If you use them, please mention what you used, why, and roughly where.

Installation​

Download the campaign and place the file in your Warcraft III campaign folder.

Launch Warcraft III and select The Long Watch from the Custom Campaign menu.

The campaign is designed for the current Warcraft III version.

Development​

The Long Watch is being developed as a full custom campaign rather than a collection of independent maps.

Character progression, equipment and several underlying systems are designed to carry across future chapters.

The current demo serves as both the opening of the story and the foundation for the maps that follow.

Credits​

The Long Watch uses a number of community-created models, icons, effects and other resources.

Full credits for all external resources are listed below.

Loktar Church (WC1)
Loktar Peasant (WC1 & WC2)
kellym0 AnimatedFlowerEv017
johnwar Footmen and Captains (Re-Classic Pack)
Asssssvi Footman Lordaeron HQ
Sunchips GrassAnimated
bakr Lordaeron Buildings
bakr Stormwind Buildings
Red XIII WCIIOgreMound
Red XIII WCII_Church
stan0033 Market Stall and Merchant Tent
Mike Storage
Mike Wagon
Khazmo Tent
RvzerBro Village Structure
Illidan(Evil)X Wall
BlackDoom BTNShieldHumanLionMark
X.e.r.e.X BTNSwordSwing
Aldeia Ebony Shoulder
NFWar BTNFurGauntlet
NFWar BTNPlatedGauntlet2
NemoVonFish BTNGoldCoin
Maxwell BTNMurloc_Starvation
Panda BTNTwinFangAmulet
Khil Quick Slash Pack
Mayday High Resolution Loading Screen
communist_orc Tent
Murloc vocalization Soundeffect from World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment

A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed resources, tools, tutorials, documentation and technical knowledge to the Warcraft III modding community.

If a resource is missing from the credits or has been attributed incorrectly, please contact me and I will correct it.

Changelog​

Demo 1.0.8​

Addressed community feedback

• Fixed the Backpack not working correctly after saving and loading. Thanks to Fyar for catching the one test case I somehow missed.
• Fixed the Backpack close "X" not being reliably clickable. Its hitbox is now more generous, and the X is rendered behind the hitbox instead of above it.
• Fixed Edwin remaining invulnerable after The Last Watch zombie fight.
• Gave Edwin a proper unit description instead of the default Footman description.
• Fixed multiple doodads that stopped working after the latest Warcraft III DLC/editor update.
• Changed Calen's model from the Blood Elf Priest to the regular Priest model to better fit the timeline.
• Added new Osrick ambient barks after The Last Watch evacuation.
• Rescaled the ogre.
• Changed Edwin's bark color from Harlan's gold to the default white when entering his downed state.
• Moved Captain Garrick out of sight when returning with the herbs in A Growing Concern.
• Corrected the unit name of the Enslaved Gnoll.
• Updated the Paid Volunteering quest log during Something Larger.
• Changed Herman's introduction hint to better explain his mechanic.
• Added purchase limits to shop items to prevent players from ending up with things like 6x Old Reliable.

Known Issues​

• Dialogue timings are next on my list to patch, as it seems that every dialogue line is currently set to 5 sec

Released Sep 18, 2026

Demo 1.0.7​

Addressed playtester and community feedback

Released Sep 5, 2026

Demo 1.0.6​

Addressed a bug ruining immersion and the Ogre fight

• The ogre from Something larger is now back to neutral hostile. Sorry for the inconvenience introduced with the last version.

Released Sep 5, 2026

Demo 1.0.5​

Addressed more feedback from the first playtesters and more polishing

• Gave the western road a little facelift with some terrain and doodad adjustments.
• Redid the river terrain to the north, as parts of it clipped awkwardly into the void.
• Changed the murloc huts back to Neutral Passive for technical reasons until I'm sure how I want to handle camp buildings in the long term.
• Adjusted some loot and gold tables.
• Rebalanced the stats of several creeps, including the Bandit Wizard, Standoffish Vagabond and bears.
• Implemented a new lore item.
• Increased the duration of most ambient barks by 4–5 seconds.
• Implemented ambient bark hints for a secret item.
• Changed the description of The Missing Livestock to make its location clearer.
• Fixed the discovery of Cut Short incorrectly displaying The Missing Livestock as a new quest.
• Reworked one of The Last Watch's ending triggers so the sequence no longer breaks if the player uses whosyourdaddy.
• Corrected some terrain clipping around the southern pond.
• Fine-tuned the text pacing in the final cutscene of Cut Short.
• Gave the Bandit Wizard some additional loot.
• Buffed the Gnoll Tooth to also provide Strength scaling.
• Heavily reduced the hit points of the Bandit Hideout, as players were practically taking naps while destroying it.
• Optimized some dialogue timing in the A Growing Concern debriefing.
• Fixed the final cutscene of The Last Watch by teleporting Harlan out of the city when skipping it, preventing the player from getting stuck.
• Known Issue: The ogre from Something larger somehow went into player control. Sorry for the inconvenience introduced with this version.

Released Sep 4, 2026

Demo 1.0.4​

Addressed more feedback from the first playtesters

• Buffed Harlan's attack damage again, though by less than last time.
• Made the inhabitants of the northwestern part of the village invulnerable. No more slaughtering the innocents.
• The elusive Bram is finally invulnerable.
• Despawned the Murlocs after reporting in for Trouble at the Pond, preventing their triggers from changing after the quest.
• Adjusted the gold rewards from Droplets, as they could be used to farm gold.
• Fine-tuned some dialogue timings in Cut Short Cin 3.
• Rebalanced several creeps.
• Rebalanced shop prices, as items were considered "too affordable".

Released Sep 1, 2026

Demo 1.0.3​

Addressed more feedback from the first playtesters

• Reverted Harlan's damage buff as he was way too strong.
• Known Issue: Bram is still not invulnerable.

Released Aug 31, 2026

Demo 1.0.2​

Addressed more feedback from the first playtesters

• Increased Harlan's Wide Swing hitbox and FX effect to make it feel more natural and consistent.
• Made Bram the blacksmith invulnerable.
• Fixed some creep name typos (e.g. Squatter, Bear Cub).
• Lowered Edwin's Priority as he seemed to be an aggro magnet.
• Slightly increased Harlan's starting attack damage as early combat seemed tedious for some playtesters.
• Changed a villager's ownership to Neutral Passive, as he was unintentionally assigned to Player 2 and therefore hostile.
• Shield Bash's dummy unit was visible and could be targeted by enemy abilities. This has been fixed.
• Made the animal farm inhabitants invulnerable.
• Removed many unnecessary pathing blockers.
• Removed the Cut Short survivor after the cutscene.
• Changed some unit levels to better match their actual power relative to each other.

Released Aug 31, 2026

Demo 1.0.1​

Addressed feedback from the first playtesters

• Fixed Brace mana and cooldown costs.
• Removed Edwin's player control and unit after the ending cutscene of The Last Watch.
• Fixed numerous typos in cutscenes.
• Fixed several item descriptions.
• Buffed Horrid Effigy.
• Adjusted several doodads to improve pathing.
• Changed one Gnoll Hut to Passive Hostile.
• Changed the Murloc Huts to Passive Hostile.
• Fixed the Herbal Healing Ointment description to match its actual number of charges.
• Harlan's house now transfers ownership when he reaches low health.

Released Aug 29, 2026

​

Demo 1.0.0​

Initial public demo release

• Added the complete opening map
• Added Harlan and the initial supporting cast
• Added main and optional quests
• Added equipment progression
• Added multiple explorable areas
• Added custom creep encounters
• Added custom boss encounter
• Added ambient NPC behaviour
• Added environmental progression
• Added secrets and optional rewards
• Added cinematics
• Added campaign progression systems

Released Aug 28, 2026

Final Note​

This is the first public version of a much larger project.

The goal of The Long Watch is to create a Warcraft III campaign that still feels unmistakably like Warcraft III while giving its locations, characters and smaller stories more room to breathe.

Thanks for playing.

And keep watch.

A very fun and pleasant experience. An original story that takes place during the plague of Lordaeron with unique mechanics, characters and gameplay. The more times you play it, the more secrets you realise you missed. The only real downside of this...