Please add control group unit removal/transfer options
Disclaimer: I'm a recently returning WC3 player with below average mmr on w3c and around 150 games of experience. Please correct me if I any claims I make are wrong!
Let's say you're creeping with a DK and some Ghouls, all of them in control group 1. One Ghoul falls to low HP and you want to send it back to lumber, and remove it from CG1. Currently you would have to do the following:
- Select the Ghoul (on screen or via its portrait)
- Move camera to base, send Ghoul to lumber
- Select CG1
- Shift-click the Ghoul (via its portrait or on screen) to remove it from selection
- Re-assign CG1 from current unit selection
In total: 5 actions/selections (ignoring camera movement).
I would like the hotkey Alt to modify control groups such, that when holding Alt while selecting a unit, the unit will be removed from all control groups. Compared to above scenario:
- Alt-click the Ghoul to select it and remove it from all CGs
- Move camera to base, send Ghoul to lumber
- Select CG1
Done: 3 actions. That's 40% fewer actions for a simple scenario, and probably many other similar scenarios that happen very frequently.
(Yes I know by default Alt is used for pinging and toggling HP visibility but I don't see a problem in having the option to re-arrange those hotkeys)
This easily combines with the Ctrl and Shift hotkeys:
- Alt+Shift: Add/remove unit to/from selection and remove it from all CGs
- Alt+Ctrl: Select unit and units of the same type in the vicinity and remove them from all CGs. Same with Alt+double-clicking a unit.
- Alt+Shift+Ctrl: I think you get the idea :D
Additionally, and probably more importantly, you should be able to transfer a selection of units from one CG to another by pressing Alt+number, such that the selected units will be removed from their original CGs, and then added/removed to/from the pressed CG.
Example scenario 1: DK + Ghouls creeping
- Select Ghoul
- Press Alt+1
- Send to lumber
- Press 1 to re-select CG1
Example scenario 2: Heroes + Fiends in CG1, Statues + Banshees in CG2, want to have Destroyer(s) exclusively in CG3
- Select some Statues
- (Chain)morph them into Destroyers
- Press Alt+3 on selected Destroyers
In both scenarios this would skip the need to Shift-click all the transferred units from the old CG and then overwriting it.
Admittedly, I have not considered every possible scenario but I'm convinced these options provide a robust solution to improve control group management efficiency.
I'm also convinced that there are many other easy-to-implement QOL and UX improvements that would not only benefit the OGs of the game, but especially help the new and returning players as well. (E.g. higher CG size limit than 12 units, in-built item hotkey modifiers, similar to the AHK scripts out there, option to increase minimap size, etc. not topic of this post..)
I really think this game deserves a bigger player base for how good it is and how well it held up during all those years. Not modernising QOL and UX feels kinda criminal ngl. Wc3 has so much more potential, even (or especially) today!
What do you guys think about the control groups? It's not a huge issue, but maybe worth considering.