56 replies to this topic

[Fleeb the Mad]

The old caustic was my least favourite map, rivaled only by Alpine.

The new caustic has been promoted to second to least favourite map.

In general I think it's an improvement because there's actually some elements of cover now around the slopes of the volcano, so an abandoned assault has something to shield behind when the enemy team inevitably rounds the crater.

I'll grant that it's much prettier than it was before.

But I'll also grant that its one dominating central terrain feature hasn't changed gameplay much. I think it does offer more options than it did before, despite that most people won't take advantage of them.

[Ex Atlas Overlord]

They actually made it play WORSE

Fleeb the Mad, on 10 October 2015 - 02:02 PM, said:

In general I think it's an improvement because there's actually some elements of cover now around the slopes of the volcano, so an abandoned assault has something to get stuck on making it even easier to slaughter his 100 tons of armor with a light mech, when the enemy team inevitably rounds the crater.

Fixed

Edited by The Atlas Overlord, 10 October 2015 - 02:38 PM.

[Sarlic]

I think i have a older picture somewere when Viridan Bog was implented.

Found it!

Same frustating clutter, pebbles and crap on the ground.

It was my most humilating match ever as i recall. I scored 25 damage.

Edited by Sarlic, 11 October 2015 - 01:11 PM.

[Wildstreak]

I believe it just challenges people. There are times where I get stuck on rocks especially in a non-JJ Mech that were slopes before you could push onto. I even once tried chasing someone in a lake only to find my path blocked by pipes in the water that were not there before and, having no JJ at the time, had to go around.

[Brollocks]

Wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the mostly low visibility majority of the time I get to play this map. I don't enjoy low vis maps and hate to be forced to use vision modes I despise being forced to use for entire matches.

[Atlasian]

The new map is prettier with luminous blue flame and colorful pools. It 'looks' different but essential still feels like the old map after a few battles. Both teams will likely move to the crater and starts to dance around it. One difference that I personally feel is that my Mech (without JJ) has higher chances to get stuck around the crater due to its new rougher terrain.

A good map should provide opportunity for engagement in different locations on the map, not just at a "centralised" area where both team will always congregate. Otherwise, things will start to get repetitive on the map, no matter how pretty it looks.

[MountainCopper]

Personally, I like the visuals. As others have mentioned, the general "green layer" which hung over the entire map is now gone, and the yellow, sulphurous hues fit parts of the map quite well. A few trees on the map are not irritating, and they will fix that Dropships will shot the enemy on their spawn.
They kept the landmarks of the map, meaning that I don't get lost as much as I still do on the new Forest Colony for instance.

Some are claiming that the new Caustic map is now full of additional obstacles which stop your movement of, I'd guess, walking backwards. Confusing statements, as there close to no small "pebbles" which would cause that. And they can't mean the big boulders around the crater because you would just walk around them and be conscious of their presence when trying to walk backwards.

The new visual water effect now being used on all newer maps (River City, Forest Colony, Caustic Valley) is killing the frame rate by a lot. I am losing about 1/3 of my frame rate because of water areas or rippling effects on the edge of it.
Reducing the frame rate on my 5 year old computer from "playable" to complete "unplayable" wherever there is water. If they continue to use this new water style on all maps, I literally can't play the game anymore...

[Mitterman]

Dissapointing, small, dark, cluttered, too many hang ups, difficult to play with assults. This new map need a few tweeks.

[Nightmare1]

I rather like the new Caustic Valley map and wish that all future revisions be something similar. It still feels like the original Caustic Valley, but with a twist. Compare that to Forest Colony which was basically a brand new map instead of a revision, and I'll take the Caustic redesign approach any day! As for visibility, I think it's okay to have a few maps with bad visibility. It's just an extra challenge; that's all. Besides, Caustic Valley is supposed to be a sulfurous, volcanic, desert-like place with semi-volcanic topography. That's not really conducive to good visibility.

Note: I think the River City redesign was also a good piece of work!

[Mister Blastman]

The new Caustic reminds me of runny diarrhea--you can't see through it nor do you want to play with it.

[Kjudoon]

madhermit, on 08 October 2015 - 12:50 AM, said:

I like the map. Once (read: if) people will finally get rid of the "NASCAR 24/7" mentality that majority of the old maps had, and stop clumping up, the new caustic valley has great opportunities for more interesting tactical play.

Though I have to agree the trees don't really fit with rest of the environment.

you want to stop NASCAR? Simple, use the Refinery Lake on the backside. There's loads of cover and places to snipe from. It's cooler, and if they do charge your base, you can roll in on them easy. If they want to snipe from the Caldera, you win the heat exchange. They charge you and they have little to no cover from you. Now... if people would only do that the game would get MUCH more interesting.

[TLBFestus]

Juodas Varnas, on 08 October 2015 - 08:07 AM, said:

I just wish they stopped with the dynamic day-cycle nonsense already...
Especially since they don't seem to be able to fix the stuttering during the transitions (and let's just ignore the fact how ridiculous the speed of the cycle is!)

That's true, but what you don't get (and neither do I) is that PGI says that those maps count as (probably) 4, that's right FOUR, maps for the price of one;

Daytime
Early Evening
Night Time
Early Morning

I suspect that the next thing they will do is add Snow, thereby turning 4 into 8.

[Onigato69]

DailyFrankPeter, on 09 October 2015 - 02:15 AM, said:

This map, combined with the fact it seems to get +200% chance to come up in rotation, just ruins my experience. I've lost like 9/10 games there, most of the time my Assault just gets left behind when stupid team is withdrawing around the hill, then gets caught in some stupid pipe or rocky spine (one of the "visual enhancements") and it's blasted to pieces.

I could maybe take a 1/10 chance that this map comes up and it's an instalose (except why would I?), but in fact it is way more frequent than other maps.

If this is some convoluted way to balance lights in this game, then by the time balancing is finished, fun will be removed from every class. Edit: or let me put it this way: I put maybe 20(?) hours grind into my Banshee and PGI just threw my time away, because 5/10 times I get a map where it's screwed. I have better things to do with time.

Not to mention almost zero cover against LRM's for larger mechs. Feels like the old polar highlands for PPC, ER LL, and LRM's.

[martian]

Onigato69, on 09 October 2021 - 09:19 AM, said:

Not to mention almost zero cover against LRM's for larger mechs. Feels like the old polar highlands for PPC, ER LL, and LRM's.

Welcome to the MWO forums!

We appreciate that you took your time to write your post. However, this thread is from 2015. It deals with the variant of the Caustic Valley map that no longer exists in the game.

Perhaps it would be better if you could start a new thread.

[Scythe Kagato]

It was a trash map before and it's still a trash map.

[martian]

Scythe Kagato, on 13 October 2021 - 01:03 AM, said:

It was a trash map before and it's still a trash map.

I think that the current version (2021-) is worse than the previous version (2015-2021).

[Ekson Valdez]

It is against the Code of Conduct to post in threads which have been inactive for extended periods of time. If you feel the old thread should be discussed, please create a new thread to generate necessary interest.

Thread closed.