Destructicus, on 30 September 2014 - 07:28 AM, said:
If he did that he might like TT, because at least SOMEONE would push into the caldera instead of everyone fouling on the entrance and eating a strike.
I actually think TT is an interesting map, it's just that it's not conducive to anything less than a 12-man, because it actually requires some leadership to succeed at regularly, along with a modicum of tactics. A lot of the maps are interesting maps, but not well designed for solo or low-man group entries. Certain maps heavily weigh in favor of certain sides depending on spawns. River City (RC Night) also being one of those.
It doesn't really need removal, it just needs a few changes to encourage some movement on the players side. TT always turns into "rush the caldera" until people realize they've lost that rush, then they mill about under the auspices of "flanking". The tedium of it is astoundingly boring. It needs something to mix it up. Putting in some reason to make holding the caldera a risk (like gouts of lava shooting up that worked like arti strikes) would add a lot to it. Sure, you can try to hold that point, but there's risk involved.
River CIty has the same issue with the citadel. The river funnels people into it, but it's difficult to get out in any fashion that results in something useful. So people just end up clustring around the "citadel" popping in and out. It's tactically viable, but it's REALLY BORING. Due to the bridge-side sometimes being a spawn (or not) people end up not really figuring out any of the other strats. Putting a few additional ramps on the river side (to stop punishing non-JJ mechs) and a ramp up to the top of the "citadel" from the river side would facilitate this some.
You could go on with Caustic, Alpine, etc.
Really, for some reason I can't figure out, people have a tendency to flock to one side of their spawns and then rotate around the maps. The new one is horrible for this beause of the a/c/e line funnels. Doing something to change up the "flow" of people would add a lot to making a map more useful.
You don't need a huge number of maps, you just need maps that require people to change up their tactics and style sometimes so you don't go "Oh, this is X , let's run YY line and do that thing we ALWAYS DO." I do think the new map at least does a better job of some of this, but the line funnels limit an otherwise great map. Additionally, it would be nice if solo play was actually taken into account as a serious concern on this (and every other) decision when making assets for the game, because repetitive encounters of everyone hiding behind a building and popping out 1-by-1 to die do not really result in people warming up to the game. Or, if you're going to have game mods or maps that aren't conducive to 12 disconnected players per side, remove them from the solo queue rotation.
Edited by Wraeththix Constantine, 30 September 2014 - 09:24 AM.