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To re-hash, I've dabbled in FP but am not committed for a variety of reasons. First, second, and third of these reasons are that I find the Invasion mode as currently implemented to be rather repetitive--something that is compounded by the inherent similarities of all the maps.
Here's what I like about this map:
1) Three different attack corridors. This keeps the defenders guessing. I've seen some successful flanks, or at the very least attempted flanks. I would attribute this to the fact that the outlets of the corridors are closer together--flankers can more easily assist each other in the main base.
2) Cover is dispersed and structure-based, not terrain-based. Compare Hellebore springs, where most cover is hills, cliffs, and ravines, and it is hard for multiple players to hop in and out of cover without deathballing as one. However on Sulfurous Rift, all the buildings on this map produce cover of a variety of sizes and shapes (hill-poking and side-poking) and create a variety of gameplay (that is, once the attacking team gets within the gates).
3) The shortcut in C5/C6. This little connector between the "top" and "mid" lanes makes flanking maneuvers for both sides somewhat more feasible.
The common theme is variation. This map has the most corridors out of all FW maps, and along with the variety of building-based cover, gives it some tactical variety.
Here's what I don't like about this map:
4) The switchbacks outside the central gate. These feel contrived only to increase the walking distance for this gate so it matches the other two. The little JJ shortcuts are only useable by lights and mediums with lots of JJs, so the slowest 'mechs--assaults and heavies--have to take the long way anyway. It could be that the zig-zags serve to prevent over-aggressive counterpushes, but for the most part it feels like a needless barrier to just getting there. I'd much prefer that one corridor is shorter--it thereby becomes "preferred" and so flanks to the side corridors, though more time-consuming, are less expected.
This final point gets down to one of my major complaints about FW-Invasion maps: Lots of needless walking.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind walking in the game--Conquest on Polar Highlands is my favorite mode/map combo. But walking around PH on Conquest has a purpose: Beating the enemy to objectives, outsmarting or outmaneuvering them.
Compare Sulfurous Rift, Hellebore Springs (the worst offenders) and the other FW maps: Most of the walking that you are doing is along pre-defined corridors. The defenders spawn next to the objectives they are meant to defend (reasonably enough), and they know that you will pop out from one of two or three chokepoints.
The walking has no real tactical value. It's just getting from A to B. And though it may be boring as the team doing the walking, it's even worse for the defenders. Once you set up a firing line (particularly on CR and HS), it's upwards of five minutes of just sitting and waiting until the enemy shows up.
TL; DR: Variety due to types of cover (buildings, not terrain) and the multiple corridors is good; However the length of the corridors feels pointless and only serves to prolong the period that you are not actively engaging or maneuvering.
EDIT: Thank you for listening to our feedback!
Edited by Jables McBarty, 02 August 2016 - 12:26 PM.
