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Vitric Forge for quickplay!
Or at least some new topography with the textures and assets from Vitric Forge. The layout of a quickplay map is obviously different than seige. So some new topography would need to be built to make something suitable, but hypothetically that would be the only new work that would need to be done aside from adding the assets. If the textures and assets could be reused like was done on grim (if this is possible, I know it may not be), this could be one of the best maps in the game. Vitric Forge still looks awesome, I have heard new players say it, even say they saw it on a screenshot or in a stream and wonder why they have never got to play on it. Everything about it is incredible.
I know there has been mention of new maps, I know there were 3 community map designs that were chosen as winners in a contest of which at least one is being made as I type this. There is solaris on the horizon, there are the unfinished test arena maps available in private lobbies. I have also heard things about something called "crater" that is in the works (maybe its the name of the community map, if you know tell me
), awesome news all of it!Just 1 more, lets just put it on the table if it can be done with the existing assets.
Game Balance:
The reason I say it helps game balance is here https://mwomercs.com...rf-laser-vomit/ its a 13 page thread on laser vomit balance. I personally think Vomit is strong for me, but that it depends on the reference frame of the player.
Vom seems to be very strong for most strong players, but not for most casual players. There are also only 3 hot maps in QP, which means a player can ALWAYS vote for something other than a hot map, and they usually do. They never get punished for bringing mechs that only play well on cold maps, because the chance of getting a cold or neutral map is extremely high.
Adding another hot map to the QP rotation punishes players who only boat the highest-possible-alpha laser combo that they can manage to fit in the mech(thats me!). This means that adding another hot map to the QP rotation adds variability, provides disincentive to extremely hot builds, hopefully provides more implicit balance.
Here is the list of QP maps for reference.
Cold Maps:
Alpine
Grim
Frozen city
Polar
HPG
Neutral maps:
River City
Canyon
Mining
Viridian Bog
Forest Colony
Crimson
Hot Maps:
Terra Therma
Caustic
Tourmaline
Honestly, at the moment, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage if you are playing a heat efficient mech. With this map distribution there is a huge chance that the map will do your heat management job for you. Neutral maps are heat friendly to vomit and often fit the range envelope for vomit better than most of the cold maps, making them just as strong as the very cold maps for vomit.
On the off chance someone throws their 10x map multiplier into terra therma, its still usuallly fine because pretty much everyone is nearly as heat inefficient as you are, because everyone on both sides was prepared for the cold / neutral map. If you (PGI) added just 1 more hot map into the QP rotation, it would start to push more QP players into a more balanced, more heat thoughtful mehcs. As soon as players adjust to that, more players will vote for the hot maps with some regularity. It could be done without touching balance in other game modes. And it has minimal adverse changes that would effect casual players.
I kinda hoped that when I heard the rumor about "crater" that it is Vitric for QP... maybe it is, maybe it isnt, but I hope someone can at least ask if Vitric for QP is an option.
I think Vitric Forge has always looked awesome, and has always been a great mix of chokepoints, high and low ground, cover, midrange DPS + brawl, dakka and heat. It is a ton of fun to play, on either side in FW.
Also, It looks awesome!
Regardless of whether this idea becomes a new map, PGI did a great job making the Vitric we already have, so great work guys!
Sorry for the run ons, and extended post. I tend to do that. PLZ vote in the poll one way or the other!\
edit: accidentally listed sulfurous rift as a hot qp map in place of caustic valley
Edited by CraneArmy, 02 September 2017 - 10:19 AM.
