I've posted it numerous of times already, but there seem to be people, who has some kind of amnesia, cuz the post new thread on the same topic, that was discussed just yesterday:
1) Canyon - most balanced map, no clear advantage for some Meta. Assaults spawn point are a little bit bad, cuz they promote NASCARing.
2) HPG - same, but walls and outer circle spoil this map a little bit - sometimes they're exploited by JJ and hide'n'seek abusers (Making area, that can't be accessed by other 'Mechs, other than specific ones - is terribly bad idea. Why can't walls be blocked by invisible walls?). It happens quite rarely though.
3) Mining - same, but initially I disliked this map due to other 'Mechs being able to attack you from multiple directions at once - this promotes "stick to sides" tactic, that kills variety a little bit. But if teams decide not to fight for center - this map is great.
4) Tourmaline - actually great map. I even think, that this is the way, every map should be made. It has 5 sectors with completely different Metas, that suit different playstyles, and players are free to pick any of them. One sector - is Canyon like, that allows maneuvering without threat of being snipe-stomped, another - Mining-like maze with high walls and lots of ramps, that promotes brawling, third - is open and promotes sniping/LRMing, fourth - is balanced one, like old Frozen, and center of map - is arena-like, like Canyon/HPG/Mining have. The only problem with Tourmaline - it's big and hot.
5) Bog - great balanced map. Allows all different Metas - cover, walls, ramps, maze, "canyon" - all in place. Was imbalanced in the past, but now it's fixed. I personally don't have problems with it, but other players hate it due to bad visibility and clutter.
6) Caustic - this map is fairly balanced and was relatively popular in the past. But after fix it's a little bit broken. Clutter, that restricts maneuvering, promotes NASCARing tactic, many players hate. Also this map is extremely hot and visibility is bad at center.
7) Plexus - map, that misses it's real potential. It could be colder version of Tourmaline, but completely open center ruins this map and turns it into another Forest or River.
8) Frozen - top 2 best map in the past. Had two balanced snipe/brawl zones, separated by rock with tunnel and crash site in one corner of the map and great brawl city zone with canyon in another. Great variety of tactics, battle, moving from one spot of the map to another... But now it's just 1km wide crater, most players simply refuse to cross, with several rows of buildings at it's edges. No tunnel, no canyon. Too snipe-biased. Completely ruined. RIP.
9) Crimson - surprisingly many players like it. I personally hate it due to complete lack of variety - it's either messing in tunnel or messing on platform. This map has great potential, but open space between mountain and city part completely ruins all alternative routes. Great city part is completely unused due to this reason - either teams just don't want to risk to play this way, cuz if enemy team would react properly - this tactic would become suicidal one pretty fast.
10) Forest - again, very popular map in the past. Completely destroyed by overhaul. In this past this map had 2 parts - balanced brawling/sniping sector with 'Mech-height hills + several mazes, where two halves of map were split by rock with tunnel through it, and open water with great flanking potential, but with risk of being sniped/LRMed. Great variety of tactics. And what it is now? Now map is completely open with narrow stripe of cover along shore line, so players just don't have another choice, other than messing somewhere around two high rocks at the center of the map. RIP...
11) River - this map was relatively popular in the past. But it was considered to be too small and unbalanced - teams, that were spawning at higher side of map, were able to instantly LRM/snipe-stomp Assault squad of their enemies. But when it was made bigger - it turned into snipe fest. Yeah, it has great city parts, that were making it very popular in the past, but...river is now too hard to cross. In the past space behind Citadel was more safe due to being more narrow and that allowed teams so attack other side through this path. But not now. So, now it's boring snipe fest on a par with new Frozen. RIP.
12) Alpine - it's obvious. Doesn't need any comments. It's both unbalanced and way to snipe-biased map. Also this map is from "waste of time" category - i.e. it's way to fast-'Mech biased too. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes for teams to actually start playing the game.
13) Therma - old and new ones are very similar. The only difference - is that old one had only one point of interest and new one has several ones. But principle is exactly the same. It's way too hot and built around bottlenecked design - relatively open zones are separated by bottlenecks, without any options to flank or take another route. Majority of players hate this design, cuz bottlenecked design always causes matches to end as stomps. New one also promotes NASCARing, cuz players try to avoid being stomped at death traps and try to run from each other around the map as the result.
14) Polar - doesn't need any explanation. Same as Alpine, but twice worse. If Alpine at least has several spots on a map, where fair fight is possible - then Polar doesn't. Map is extremely snipe/LRM and fast 'Mech-biased. Most matches are waste of time there and usually result of match is determined by team, that gives up and decide to suicide first.
Edited by MrMadguy, 12 November 2016 - 05:02 AM.
3
jss78, on 10 November 2016 - 08:11 PM, said:
