5 replies to this topic

[Joseph Muray]

I have to say, I really don't feel the Polar Highlands redesign is a success at all.

Was a redesign necessary? Absolutely. However, you took a map with not enough cover, and replaced it with a map with far too much cover. Now, instead of suffering LRM bombardment from enemies several grids away, you instead get bombarded by close range brawlers able to abuse the massive amounts of cover now afforded to them to get in close almost completely undetected or unscathed.

Why couldn't you just have remade the map in a decent middle ground? As a player who prefers mid-range engagement, I'm feeling a serious lack of consideration for my playstyle in any of the current maps - It's always either a point-blank brawl or a long range bombardment from behind cover. So many of the maps already in the rotation favor close range fights, be it with a knife [Small Laser Vomit] or a hammer [RAC/UAC spam]. Those that are more open are generally only open around the central area, so the match devolves into sniper and LRM volleys across the way, with anyone brave enough to risk pushing through the open ground being torn to shreds before closing into effective range.

Really, the only map I have encountered thus far that seems to allow for any effective mid-range combat is Viridian Bog, due to the teams usually pairing off against each other from the tops of the hills. There is still room on the map for close combat as well as long range, but thanks to the spacing of cover, mid-range combat is just as important as either of the two extremes. Very few of the other maps offer this, with there being either too much or too little space between cover, resulting in mid-range builds being closed with too quickly and torn apart, or ground away slowly from range while trying to close distance themselves.

Even maps like Rubellite Oasis and Forest Colony, which have a good mix of long and short range opportunities, still leave the mid-range player at a distinct disadvantage. The dispersion of cover on maps such as these leaves the mid-range player vulnerable to getting rushed by brawlers or picked off by snipers, forcing them into predictable and exploitable chokepoints for either of the extremes to take advantage of.

Now it is no secret that I am relatively new to MW:O, but I have been a MechWarrior/BattleTech player for nearly three decades, and in all that time, I've never seen it become so dependent on these two extremes of the range spectrum until now. I'm all for having tight quarters city-style maps for brawling, and open sprawling wilderness maps for sniping and bombardment, but could we maybe see just a little more mid-range fire support and skirmishing opportunities?

[Leone]

I beleive you could use some time in the training grounds to familiarise yourself with the maps. As a brawler I prefer Viridian Bog to Forest Colony and Rubellite due to the better approaches and cover. Not that they aren't also decent brawly maps, but there're too many spots where mid-range has the advantage there if'n they're paying attention.

Also... Racs and uacs are midrange.

~Leone

[Joseph Muray]

Leone, on 24 June 2021 - 11:14 AM, said:

I beleive you could use some time in the training grounds to familiarise yourself with the maps. As a brawler I prefer Viridian Bog to Forest Colony and Rubellite due to the better approaches and cover. Not that they aren't also decent brawly maps, but there're too many spots where mid-range has the advantage there if'n they're paying attention.

Also... Racs and uacs are midrange.

~Leone

I have actually spent quite a considerable amount of time in the various maps on testing grounds, and I stand by my previous assessment. Very few of the maps have that same balance between cover that Viridian Bog has. Some do, to be fair, Terra Therma being a good example, but in the rare occasion that they actually turn up in the map rotation, good luck actually winning the vote to play on them when everyone and their brother is spamming votes for the other two extremes.

On the matter of the RACs and UACs, they can most definitely be used at mid-range, to be sure. My point in listing them specifically among the brawler classes is to illustrate the disparity in their usage between the two range sets. At mid-range, one has to exercise a great deal more effort with their aim and control of the weapon. At point blank range, by comparison, they generally just hold the trigger and spray recklessly to their hearts' content, because the chances of missing even a single shot in the burst are slim to nil, and the likelihood of a mid-range build still being alive, or at the very least combat effective, by the time such weapons jam is slimmer still. Very few weapons that could be called mid-range have this particular benefit in close quarters, and as I stated, most of the maps will see enemies either staying at great distance or rushing into close quarters, very rarely in-between. As a friend of mine once put it, they are the close range equivalent to LRMs at long range; maximum effect for minimum effort.

[Brom96]

As someone who plays LRM builds on occasion, I am happy when I do over 300 damage. Why? ECM, AMS are prolific these days, and there is no team without at least one of those. But the main issue was always radar deprivation in combination of the most effective countermeasure - cover.

Polar had enough of it. Basically, if I can hide Cyclops there, so can others. I think that I had some issues with being targeted by massive LRM barrage once in two months of playing? Never noticed it as a problem, and I do not play regularly any mechs with ECM or AMS.

Main issue with new Polar is that they broke the movement on the map and channeled the teams into the ditches toward the center where you have platforms and the gullies. Basically, whoever gets to the platforms faster wins. And, of course, people always go to the center.

Actually, the situation in center reminds me most of Solaris now.

[Monkey Lover]

Gameplay will change as people learn the map. You can't really compare gameplay right now. I think you will see less brawling as people look how to control the map.


But over all its basically a new map with nothing to do with polar. If you look at it this way I would say its a good map. If you look at it as an improvement for polar i would say it failed as its no longer polar in any way.

[Ekson Valdez]

This looks like a similar thread to New Polar… Well…
Since the other thread is older, I'll lock this one. Please continue the discussion over in the other thread.