71 replies to this topic

[Mystere]

It's called variety. Deal with it.

Le sigh! There really is a player-based reason why we cannot have nice things in this game. <smh>

Edited by Mystere, 01 November 2016 - 12:48 PM.

[Chados]

It's actually my best map. And I typically am running midrange builds. Some LRMs but not a lot, and not lately. I like the concealment the map has-the various terrain features can be exploited if you're mobile.

[DAYLEET]

Polar is good as it is, there is cover everywhere while at the same time being flat enough for spotters to be actually useful. I get lrm'd to death many times on that map but thats largely my fault or a light doing a good job.

One of the great thing about Polar is the ability to "camp" while moving. The cover is just enough to allow poking and sniping and lurm'ing without having to stand in one place. Im not a sniper or lurmer and i hate when my team camp but Polar is fine with me, it enables snipers and lurmers without having them stand in one place.

The bad thing is when people stop moving to camp.

i had written an essay about frozen, dammit learn to read dayleet

Edited by DAYLEET, 01 November 2016 - 01:56 PM.

[Tordin]

I like polar. One, if not THE map that hast the most even terrain. Looking left, right seeing mechs walking beside you in a line/ formation towards the enemy some kilometers away. I find it the most immersive map in that regard

[Weeny Machine]

LordKnightFandragon, on 01 November 2016 - 11:03 AM, said:

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.

There are many maps where long-range weapons are doing good despite brawlers have their use. Polar on the other hand is so heavily in favour of the former..it is not even funny.

[IreScal]

Honestly, I love domination on polar. Better than death box plexus.

I also think it's fine otherwise, but I hear the brawler complaint. I love to use my Nova when all other fun fails, but beyond 475 meters or whatever my med lasers are I'm useless.

The varied levels force adaption. If a military operation, there'd be no voting and you come optimized, but it's a game after all.

[Cy Mitchell]

IMO, Polar Highlands is one of the best maps in the game. If I take short ranged Mechs (which happens sometime) then I just sit in the trench behind our snipers and wait for one or the other team to push. Then I join in and take advantage of the enemy Mechs that have been softened up by our snipers and LRMs. Other times I will carefully try to flank and get in close. This has worked well at times and been a disaster at other times.

My other favorite maps are:
New Terra Therma
Alpine Peaks
Grim Plexus
HPG
Canyon
Mining
Frozen City

Edited by Rampage, 01 November 2016 - 04:36 PM.

[jss78]

I don't really get the complaints about brawlers on this map. The thing is, I don't remember a single game at Polar which didn't include a phase of short-range combat (usually towards the end). The terrain undulates enough that you really don't have to stand in the long-range fire unless you choose to. If you're short-ranged, just wait a bit -- the brawl will come, and the red guys will be nice and soft by that point.

I spend a fair amount of time in short-ranged 'mechs, and I'll vote for Polar every time, it's an interesting challenge.

[Y E O N N E]

Too many people just don't know how to play Polar. They cower against LRM boats when all you have to do is rush them as a team. It's like American football. Your bigs will lock their bigs and your smalls can shoot past the defensive line.and sack the LRM boats.

[FalconerGray]

I always get really disappointed when I read complaints like this. Especially because I then end up with teammates who end up believing it all.

I run short to medium range builds and vote Polar Highlands every time.


If you can't close the distance - you're doing it wrong.

If you're getting poked to death at range - you're doing it wrong.

If the enemy LRM's are picking you to pieces - you're doing it wrong.


Stop walking in straight lines! Stop cresting hills! Stop standing on top of things!

Polar Highlands is setup in a way that allows you to move from one corner of the map to another without ever being seen. Keep your bloody head down!

If you're running a short range build, encourage the faster mechs on your team to locate the enemy force from a distance and track their location, while you hug the lowgrounds, stay out of sight and keep advancing towards their position. Don't show yourself! Don't peek! You don't need to see the enemy if you can't shoot him, so don't peek!

There is no reason for you to be shot at until you are ready to shoot yourself. Be aware of the enemy location, the range of your weapons and don't show yourself until you are ready!

This very topic has been annoying me since the launch of Polar Highlands and since then, I've collected some screenshots to demonstrate my point. If you're guilty of this (which many of you probably are).....stop it. Seriously.

Edited by legatoblues, 01 November 2016 - 05:15 PM.

[Alistair Winter]

The good:

• No restrictions of movement on this map!!! That's huge! Most MWO maps have one or two viable paths for each team and loads of bottlenecks that force everyone into the 'grind zones'. Polar Highlands is the only map in the game without bottlenecks. You can flank or envelop any location from any direction.
  
• No dominating terrain features. One of few MWO maps without a huge god damned mountain or building or crater in the center.
  
• Scouts are actually useful on this map. It's not as tiny as Canyon or as limited as Crimson Strait, where scouting is hardly needed at all during pug matches. Granted, both teams tend to charge the middle, but sometimes one team is trying to grab cover in one of the industrial zones.
  
• All weapons can be used on this map. Whether your team is made up of brawlers, snipers or lurmers and narc Ravens, you can come up with a strategy that works. Not like other maps where certain builds have massive advantages.

The bad:

• Few landmarks makes it difficult to coordinate. (This is not such a bad thing, because most landmarks in MWO take up 50% of the map)
  
• Conquest is an absolute nightmare on this map. It's a bad game mode to begin with and this map shows you why. For light mechs, it means you're spending the whole match running straight lines through the wasteland, and when you reach a base, you just pray that you won't be outnumbered when you get there, because there's zero chance of escaping anyone with approximately the same speed as you.
  
• Skirmish is a pain when some Spider decides to troll the enemy team by running laps around the map for 10 minutes. Skirmish should have some kind of auto defeat mechanic if the team with fewer mechs has not done any kind of damage in x amount of time.

[MechWarrior5152251]

Learn to LURM?

[Ryllen Kriel]

Polar Highlands is a fine map. The LRMs can be brutal sometimes, but they are a valid weapon system. Also, you can't expect every battlefield to fit your 270 metre preferences. Keep in mind that certain maps are rough on LRM boats, snipers, ect.

I wish we had some warning of the battlefield selected and could pick a mech with an appropriate loadout after knowing where we dropped. Imagine if modern militaries only took pre-determined gear without knowing if they were deploying in the mountains, jungles, deserts, swamps...you get the picture.

[Lyoto Machida]

Ryllen Kriel, on 01 November 2016 - 07:23 PM, said:

Polar Highlands is a fine map. The LRMs can be brutal sometimes, but they are a valid weapon system. Also, you can't expect every battlefield to fit your 270 metre preferences. Keep in mind that certain maps are rough on LRM boats, snipers, ect.

I wish we had some warning of the battlefield selected and could pick a mech with an appropriate loadout after knowing where we dropped. Imagine if modern militaries only took pre-determined gear without knowing if they were deploying in the mountains, jungles, deserts, swamps...you get the picture.

Great for real war engagements...bad for build diversity in this game (unless you like min/maxing all the time).

[TheArisen]

You could say it's... Hothtile.

[MrMadguy]

This problem isn't limited to Polar only - 90% maps are affected by it after so called "overhaul". PGI has strange design philosophy. Some kind of E-Sports mentality, I guess. They create maps with different Metas and features. Yeah, it would be nice to have different maps in PVE game, where immersion - is one of the major goals of design, or in PVP tournament, where players can agree about map, they want to play on, or it's set by the rules, everybody would know in advance. But in Quick Play, where completely random players are playing??? It's nonsense. And they also use voting to determine the map, we will play on. I.e. their idea is - players should play on a map, majority of players want to play on (democracy), or on map, that is unpopular, but wasn't played for long enough time, so players, who want it, was able to stack enough multipliers to bring it (tyranny). This is extremely terrible solution, that doesn't suit both sides - majority and minority of players. Best solution - ALL MAPS IN QP SHOULD BE BALANCED ONES. Balanced - they shouldn't give ultimate advantage to any Meta. And we have only 3-4 such maps now - Canyon, HPG, Mining and may be also Turmaline and Bog. That's it. All other maps are too Meta biased - Snipe/LRM biased mostly. They are too open and lack cover - no way to get closer to enemies without being wrecked by Snipe/LRM rain. If you don't play ER-LL/ER-PPC/LRM boat - you may simply press Alt-F4 immediately and delete game from you HDD, cuz it isn't worth time wasted while playing it.

Edited by MrMadguy, 01 November 2016 - 09:46 PM.

[627]

I like polarbear highlands. It is not perfect but overall a nice map.

And I have no problem as a brawler there. You have plenty of (low-ish) cover so getting out of line of sight is rather easy (radar derp is your friend of course). The only deal breaker on this map is a light with a narc. Get narc'ed and it's gg for you.
As a brawler, you either need patience there or... speed. Do what the lights do, surround the enemy and get in their backs. Kill one or two before you die on overheating and call it a good day

By the way, if you play Assault on polar, try this. Go straight to the enemy base. Straight, not right or left, no circling, just forward. My numbers aren't complete but with what I have you don't see the enemy in 7/10 matches. With luck you find a single slow assault mech or some drowzy who missed the match start. *splatsplatsplatkill*

Edited by 627, 01 November 2016 - 11:29 PM.

[RestosIII]

627, on 01 November 2016 - 11:28 PM, said:

I like polarbear highlands. It is not perfect but overall a nice map.

And I have no problem as a brawler there. You have plenty of (low-ish) cover so getting out of line of sight is rather easy (radar derp is your friend of course). The only deal breaker on this map is a light with a narc. Get narc'ed and it's gg for you.
As a brawler, you either need patience there or... speed. Do what the lights do, surround the enemy and get in their backs. Kill one or two before you die on overheating and call it a good day

By the way, if you play Assault on polar, try this. Go straight to the enemy base. Straight, not right or left, no circling, just forward. My numbers aren't complete but with what I have you don't see the enemy in 7/10 matches. With luck you find a single slow assault mech or some drowzy who missed the match start. *splatsplatsplatkill*

Your worst enemy on Polar as a brawler or assault? Your own team. Basically every "bad" match I've had there was due to NASCAR of some sort, stretching us apart and getting picked off. Thankfully, a lot more people have been accepting my challenges of zellbrigen recently, so I don't have to deal with that sort of situation unless I win the duel. (I'm bad enough that winning isn't expected usually, hehe)

[Roadbuster]

The main problem I have with Polar is the same I have with Grim Plexus...Teammates.
For some reason I end up with the potato team most of the time, especially on Grim Plexus where my W/L is not even half of every other map.

I always see people with short/mid-range weapons play peek-a-boo against snipers, stay at range or run away from LRM boats and hunt Locusts with assault mechs...
When you should push they keep hiding and when you should hold a position they fold and run.
Just recently I watched an assault trying to 'snipe' another assault with 4x LB-X 10ACs and advanced zoom at 800+ range...sometimes it's really sad.

That being said, both maps, Polar and Grim, are very sniper and LRM friendly, so I'd welcome some additional cover.

[Wil McCullough]

i hate polar with a vengeance. strangely enough, i do my 2nd best on it with a 1.3x wlr. my best is crimson with 1.8 heh.