71 replies to this topic

[Shiroi Tsuki]

Okay so I will admit that Hoth Highlands does indeed look nice when it comes to visuals, atmosphere and all that stuff. Gameplay wise, I can't say that I'm a fan of it tbh. The majority of the map is essentially a massive snowfield with a few trenches and ditches here and there. I typically roll with Medium Brawler builds (gimme dem 270m sweet spots), but based on my experiences so far, they had been 95% horribad.

Like, if I have to describe my experience with Hoth, it would be like this.



I guess what I'm trying to say is, add more cover, so Brawler skrubs such as myself don't have to wait until everyone is done playing Whack-A-Mech between two trenches, absolutely doing nothing because range ftw. Honestly, playing on Hoth and sometimes Alpine is just ugh. Like the only reason why I'm not DC'ing is because I don't want to get penalized and I low key don't want to screw my team mates over Idk but I really don't have this kind of "problem" with other maps, except for the occasional Alpine.

But then again, I'm probably just a skrub that needs to git gud

[Bombast]

I agree, and I LRM boat half of the time.

[MeiSooHaityu]

"Hoth? Maybe they should call it...Coldth"

[Juodas Varnas]

I wish i got a Goliath to go full AT-AT on Hoth

But other than that, the map is horrid.
I don't think there's another map i hate more than i hate Polar Highlands.
It's just... Physically painful to play in anything but a LRM-bot (and since i mostly play short-range brawlers... You can see why i don't like it, right?)

Edited by Juodas Varnas, 01 November 2016 - 10:03 AM.

[Tarogato]

I'm pretty happy with the map as is, but the terrain could be slightly more exaggerated.






Slightly.

[Bombast]

Juodas Varnas, on 01 November 2016 - 10:02 AM, said:

I don't think there's another map i hate more than i hate Polar Highlands.

Not even Alpine, where Domination is completely broken and Skirmish mode is an invitation for 24 people to twiddle their thumbs for 12 minutes?

[El Bandito]

Win or lose I am always fine with the Polar Highlands.

[Juodas Varnas]

Bombast, on 01 November 2016 - 10:07 AM, said:

Not even Alpine, where Domination is completely broken and Skirmish mode is an invitation for 24 people to twiddle their thumbs for 12 minutes?

(To be honest, i kinda forgot Alpine Peaks even exist. Haven't launched there in like a week or something)

[RestosIII]

I really like Hoth, but every time I get it I'm in my Warhawk quad PPC loadout or something similar, and get absolutely shredded due to me not being able to tell if my PPCs will clear the snow ridges or not. That, and my teams are always potatoes that run away from LRMs and the Gauss/PPC mechs on our rear.

[Kasumi Sumika]

While Polar Highland is a super friendly with LRM-Boat, at least Polar much easier to flanking because of the hill and the trenches. It's much easier to brawl in Domination mode because it's focused on one location. Because of that I much prefer Polar than Alpine Peeks. Because Alpine have unbalanced onesided domination mode and it's much harder to flank since it have not much of alternate flank route.

[Hunka Junk]

RestosIII, on 01 November 2016 - 10:21 AM, said:

I really like Hoth, but every time I get it I'm in my Warhawk quad PPC loadout or something similar, and get absolutely shredded due to me not being able to tell if my PPCs will clear the snow ridges or not. That, and my teams are always potatoes that run away from LRMs and the Gauss/PPC mechs on our rear.

No gif?

Slacker.

[WrathOfDeadguy]

I actually really like Polar. It is the only truly wide-open map we have... but it still has a bunch of good places to hide. I favor mediums and lights, so naturally I enjoy having the whole damn map to maneuver and fight on without tripping over teammates every five seconds due to chokepoint camping. Polar has no chokepoints. It also doesn't have one single big terrain feature that everybody always NASCARs around. Sometimes fights happen at that little refinery/base area. Sometimes out in the trenches. Sometimes you see a good team split and do a pincer... sometimes you see a bad team try it, scatter instead, and get defeated in detail. Variety! Sure, sometimes I wind up there with the wrong weapons, but the rolling terrain allows short range builds to still close on the enemy safely, whereas Alpine (for example) forces you to cross over open ground and get your nuts shot off.

LRMs are only dangerous if the enemy has a halfway decent spotter and more than two boats coordinating fire. LRMageddon teams are few and far between; usually it's just that one guy per side who didn't feel like aiming today sitting in the backfield spamming indirect LRM5s, and they can be easily avoided by ducking into a trench and turning perpendicular to the missiles. Break LOS, zig-zag- twist to spread the damage; move. You don't always need to have a rock wall or a skyscraper to hug. LRMs are weapons, and believe it or not they are meant to deal damage to you. Just because Polar is the only map where you ever get killed by the things doesn't mean the map is bad- it means the weapon is bad for not being able to kill you on any other drop.

And no, I don't run LRMs. I don't own a single launcher (no Streaks, either). I still like Polar.

[RestosIII]

Hunka Junk, on 01 November 2016 - 10:47 AM, said:

No gif?

Slacker.

[LordKnightFandragon]

Not every map can be a brawlers paradise. Likewise, not every map can be a snipers haven.....they have to strike some kind of balance between the 2.

[GotShotALot]

Pretty sure I read a lot of comments back in the day:

-"Maps are too small"
-"Scouts are useless, no room for strategic maneuvers"
-"Need larger maps"
-"Too much cover, LRMs/Snipers useless"
-"Need long range / sightlines for long range weapons"
-etc etc

There were a LOT of comments like that. Pretty sure Polar Highlands was designed specifically for those issues.

If it's getting voted in a lot, it means the map is popular with a lot of players.

[Sully McLiwenn]

I guess the only problem with this map is, that there are only a few little "visual orientation spots" (dont know how to describe it).
I hated it in the beginning more then every other map. But not anymore. I kind of like it!
I even have the feeling that scouting is a thing on this map. Sure there are LRM duels from time to time, but i also had really fun brawls.

I remember one situation when our scouts where running along the border of the map to find the enemy without clear results. both teams did a very nice job with hiding in the small valleys. Only a few Laser and PPC shots were fired. The moment we got a voice call "they are 200m in front of you!" my seismic went nuts^^ ( we won 12:9 or something).

Edited by Sully McLiwenn, 01 November 2016 - 12:07 PM.

[Y E O N N E]

The term you are looking for is "landmarks." Polar has too few landmarks.

[C E Dwyer]

Hoth has some good places, that can make dropping on that map fun, around the few buildings.

It's very very rare that people go there, as people gravitate to the bad places near the center, much the same as old Terra Therma, and if it's dumbination mode, then you are forced to go to the dull places or let the other team win

[Y E O N N E]

Cathy, on 01 November 2016 - 12:24 PM, said:

Hoth has some good places, that can make dropping on that map fun, around the few buildings.

It's very very rare that people go there, as people gravitate to the bad places near the center, much the same as old Terra Therma, and if it's dumbination mode, then you are forced to go to the dull places or let the other team win

I mean, when the only mode and ever picked on this map is Domination...

[vibrant]

GotShotALot, on 01 November 2016 - 11:36 AM, said:

Pretty sure I read a lot of comments back in the day:

-"Maps are too small"
-"Scouts are useless, no room for strategic maneuvers"
-"Need larger maps"
-"Too much cover, LRMs/Snipers useless"
-"Need long range / sightlines for long range weapons"
-etc etc

PGI really do seem to be stuck in a quagmire of "damned if you do, damned in you don't." It appears that, ever since I started playing a year ago, everything PGI have done have been at the behest of users... and it's made a lot of other people angry.

It's times like this that two things become increasingly important:
1. Having an actual design intention of the game. Input from the players is great, but ceding to the vocal minority usually ends badly. Generally, people don't really know what's best for them. If PGI actually had a clear goal in mind of what they game ought to be, they COULD pick the ideas that fit in best with it, work well with their design plan, and focus on those.
2. Communication. Damnit, if there is ONE thing I wish from PGI, it's that they'd actually communicate. Communicate intentions. Reasons. Design principles. Discuss what you're working on, so we can prepare ourselves for it. Have frequent tests in the test servers so we can take things for a spin. I do have to give credit to PGI for finally posting design intentions with future patch-notes -- assuming they actually do follow through with their promise. ^^

Many of these issues though, could've been preempted if they had said something like, "Polar Highlands is being introduced to offer a large, ranged alternative map to balance out the prevalence of close-quarter combat in existing maps such as HPG Manifold and The Mining Collective. We encourage all MechWarriors to take a fresh look at their builds and perhaps make some adjustments to ensure they are prepared for all possible scenarios!" It's hard to argue with that. Even if I personally don't like Polar Highland much either, since I usually run brawlers. Still, there are some great matches to be had there after I've twiddled thumbs for 8 minutes and the team finally decides to move into brawl range.

Edited by vibrant, 01 November 2016 - 12:52 PM.