13 replies to this topic

[w0qj]

Next QP Map Tweak: Terra Therma Classic Reborn
ETA: perhaps end-September 2022

Source:
MWO had just updated the Roadmap 2022 webpage
https://mwomercs.com/roadmap

~Supplemental Roadmap 2022 info here:
https://mwomercs.com...auldron-changes

~~There are lots of other things to comment upon in above updated Roadmap 2022 webpage;
will leave it up to others to bring these up!

[Escef]

Old Terra Therma was a great map for Conquest mode, it broke teams up into smaller units. Once you got outside of the volcano, there were a lot of ways to path to almost any area, which made it great for tactically inventive people. More than once I managed to get the drop on people because they didn't see me in a damned bone-white mech standing outside of cover, because they just didn't think to look in the direction I was coming from. (It's also the map where my SplatDog earned it's name of "RibKnife", after eviscerated from behind an enemy Mad Dog, then an Orion, and then started work on the side of a Cataphract.)

Honestly, what Old Therma really needed was a re-work of the center area. It needed more access paths, perhaps a secondary platform level, and a bit more cover.

Amazingly, Old Therma was one of the most LRM-unfriendly maps, yet the community as a whole hated the map because 1) it was hot as hell, and 2) they insisted on playing it stupid by almost always going for the center.

[ScrapIron Prime]

They should call it Terra Therma Reheated.

Looking forward to it.

[East Indy]

Escef, on 31 July 2022 - 07:25 AM, said:

Old Terra Therma was a great map for Conquest mode, it broke teams up into smaller units. Once you got outside of the volcano, there were a lot of ways to path to almost any area, which made it great for tactically inventive people.

Topographically, old Terra Therma functioned like an urban map. Those rock corridors were a lot of fun.

I'd say 1) turn the biome temperate and the lava into water, removing the heat; and 2) add a couple of alternate entrances to the lower section.

[LordNothing]

i think the map "heat" is mostly psychological. unless you are fighting while standing in lava. the difference between highest heat and lowest isnt that much and there are maps with higher heat. you see lava so it feels hot.

[Escef]

LordNothing, on 01 August 2022 - 09:23 AM, said:

i think the map "heat" is mostly psychological. unless you are fighting while standing in lava. the difference between highest heat and lowest isnt that much and there are maps with higher heat. you see lava so it feels hot.

I recall one time I dropped from the ring to one of the lava rivers exiting the center. I hit the ground and found my energyboat Battlemaster face to face with a Jagermech. We had a mutual, "Oh sh**" reaction (I had 20 tons on him, he had massive DPS), dropped crosshairs on each other, and just opened up. Right as my mech shut down I heard the tell tale sound of a component going pop, and figured that between damage and overheat, I was toast... But then the destruction screen didn't pop up and I saw the Jager collapse. When my mech powered back up my CT structure was exposed and was a deep, deep red.

So, the areas of extreme heat don't matter... Until they do.

Edited by Escef, 01 August 2022 - 06:52 PM.

[LordNothing]

i was referring more to ambient heat. but yea, standing in lava has the intended effect. i think the hotspot is underutilized. only on a few maps, and never in reverse (cold spots). mwll always did that better.

[TheCaptainJZ]

The main problem with the old Terra Therma was the center had 4 entrances with ramps up into them. It was a bottleneck in every match because of course the center of any map has strategic value. It also had almost no cover in the middle and going around to another entrance was very time consuming the way it was designed. The rest of the map was fine. It doesn't actually make sense why you'd build a structure above a lava pool like that anyway other than the cool factor. Or why you could stand in it.

To fix the map, they could have doubled the number of holes in the wall with an outside pathway or ring. They could also make the middle actually just a no man's land and not have a conquest point there. It would play more like the old Caustic Valley then so I don't know that it would have been an improvement over removing the volcano.

Edited by TheCaptainJZ, 02 August 2022 - 01:03 PM.

[pbiggz]

new terra therma is actually a phenomenal map, you just wouldn't know it because every match you play happens on the exact same set of grid squares around the center and the rest of the map might as well not even be there.

Game modes do us dirty and until they get proper attention, map reworks will kinda just be bandaids over broken bones.

[PocketYoda]

I've never liked any version of terra, early maps were too dark and too hot.. later maps were too dark and full of bias killboxes.

Edited by Nomad Tech, 03 August 2022 - 09:22 PM.

[martian]

The original Terra Therma sucked in many ways.

So let's just wait and see how PGI reworked the map.

[SirNotlag]

I am just trying to think how they could make a new Terra therma out of the old. I liked the areas outside of the center but sadly the center was so pivotal in most matches every fight was done there and it was just a funnel so which ever team got there first had a huge advantage. Best way i can think of is to open up the center make it a raised lava lake with the structure still built over it so you can cross carefully, provides an elevated sniping position and provide cover, albet being able to be attacked from lots of angles. However it might encourage nascaring again like most maps with a larger center feature.

Edited by SirNotlag, 05 August 2022 - 07:00 AM.

[martian]

SirNotlag, on 05 August 2022 - 06:53 AM, said:

I am just trying to think how they could make a new Terra therma out of the old. I liked the areas outside of the center but sadly the center was so pivotal in most matches every fight was done there and it was just a funnel so which ever team got there first had a huge advantage. Best way i can think of is to open up the center make it a raised lava lake with the structure still built over it so you can cross carefully, provides an elevated sniping position and provide cover, albet being able to be attacked from lots of angles. However it might encourage nascaring again like most maps with a larger center feature.

I just hope that the reworked Terra Therma will not be just another bowl-like map.

[1453 R]

Hot (heh) take: make the center of the map completely inaccessible, and wide/obstructive enough that you cannot quickly switch from one side to another. Make a map where it's physically impossible to Idiot's Bumrush the center and where people are FORCED to actually play the map. Which I know won't happen, the Idiot's Bumrush will simply happen on one side or the other and a map that makes Idiot's Bumrush difficult will simply never be voted for, a'la current Alpine Peaks. Maps where lighter, nimbler units actually have an edge over hundred-ton gunblobs simply never get played. Like Pbiggz said - MWO's game modes don't exist and until they do, nobody will ever do anything but pilot the biggest, fattest, slowest, most pointless metal gunblob they can, trundle their way to the middle with their ~30kph nonsense, and then ***** at everybody else for not taking for for them so they can click on red robits at their leisure while the reds do the same pointless dumba** thing.

And people wonder why this game has issues. Blegh.