381 replies to this topic

[Nelos Kniven]

Frozen City is difficult if you aren't a sniper. Maybe something as simple as extra cover in the valley would make it manageable. Alpine Peaks just has too much walking; once you get to the fight I find it to be quite good. Changing spawns or trimming the edges could help. Crimson Strait is best map on account of the many different places fights can happen without being completely one sided, plus being good no matter your range profile. Ceres Metal is very close to that for me, it's just too dark and alternate vision types don't really help. Forest Colony is... fine. It sort of feels like the forest bit is underutilized, probably from lack of cover, but that might be just me. Same thing with River City's river.
Incursion is a problem because it tends to turn into Skirmish with extra steps, even more so than Assault. If at all possible, a return to the original vision of an asymmetric quick play gamemode could be very interesting. Domination though seems a worse offender just because it guarantees the same spot on the map will be used. Then again, forcing everyone to congregate isn't necessarily bad so I don't know. Conquest is great because it breaks up the flow of the game so much compared to other modes, and in my experience seems to result in much tighter and more exciting games.
Great to see community engagement on this and striving to make maps better, even if they're arguably in the best state they've been. 10/10
I'd also like to note that 8v8s would probably scramble many of my opinions, so if that's still an idea, it does generally make maps feel less punishing.

Edited by Nelos Kniven, 01 August 2023 - 06:34 PM.

[CujoOfCanada]

I really like Tourmaline Desert, but the hit boxes on some of the terrain is pretty laughably bad

[Goose]

The name "Incursion" doesn't even ring a bell; Certainly haven't gotten it enough in normal rotation to figure it out.

[cougurt]

solaris city is the map i'd most like to see a redesign of. i'm not necessarily opposed to more brawl-friendly maps, but it feels way too claustrophobic, and all the junk on the ground is extremely annoying. it's also terrible in terms of performance and is rather ugly to boot.

[Frost_Byte]

To clarify a few things that I saw were asked in this thread.

1) Ceres fix in August patch will fix the pink bug for AMD users. That's the primary fix for the map.

2) The map designs comes from Krazzdaxx, we have faith in his work and his ideas.

3) I made this poll to see if I could take what you all liked and didn't like and update the bias of our matchmaker. There are parameters for how often a map or mode shows up, and I wanted to take this information and work with Cauldron and other members at PGI to see if we can update these parameters for something more enjoyable for the players. Not cut out a map entirely, but if something is really hated then reduce the frequency of it showing up.

[Purity the Kitty]

Major map issues right now:

* back capping on Polar Highlands in Assault and Incursion game modes is too easy. A coordinated lance of light mechs will usually win the game before it starts.
* Alpine Peaks is extremely one sided; the 7 line start is too good and sniping is extremely dominant due to almost no rotations to get in range, even if the sniping lance is basically afk
* Forest Colony Classic needs some road signs to explain to people how to play it since you basically cannot nascar

[Mechwarrior2342356]

I did like FWC better with the fireworks. Don't get why it gives people migraines and nausea. I get migraines at the drop of a hat and that map? Never did it to me. That ridge is ridiculously dominant even with the metal structures, though.

New Crucible is honestly pretty good IMO. I've learned to appreciate the deathpit. It's funny.

The only things with Ceres I consider a major flaw at this point is the really low default light level and the amount of invisible barriers. 90 percent of the problems with movement are navigating around other players. Invisible barriers have been a thing since Tourmaline and might not even be fixable.

I love Hellebore stylistically. It's a nightmare to navigate and has a lot of unused space.

Don't get the fascination for Conquest. It falls apart in the absence of strong coordination, and that's in short supply in QP. It's less dull than Skirmish and Assault at least. Incursion is halfway to being something genuinely interesting.

Edited by the check engine light, 01 August 2023 - 07:53 PM.

[robertstojs]

Ceres is just Canyon but dark, ugly, and more favorable to already broken light mechs.

Old maps NEED a redesign, period, there are too many invisible walls and completely unbalanced designs in the game. How many more polls will be posted before Alpine gets fixed or removed from the game altogether?

[Agiordantx]

Least Favorite Small: Hibernal Rift. It's a remake of the old Canyon Network with all it's old problems baked in. The Classic Forest Colony maps should be no-brainers when it comes to the worst so that's why I voted Rift. Give Rift the same treatment as Canyon, but maybe with different ramp placement and a new path here or there and it'll be better. Ancient forest colony maps need to be reworked/removed entirely.

Least Favorite Medium: River city is interesting where it forces one team to push across the river and hide behind a single building (usually citadel). The map feels like it was designed to have shootouts take place from both sides of the river, but punishes anyone who actually pushes across. The if the map design was to stay true to it's style and format, maybe spin the citadel around and have main ramps up to it coming from the river to give attacking side an advantage. Maybe place more of these "beachhead" positions along the side of the river to promote a more fair attack/defend style map depending on which side of the river a team spawns on.

Least Favorite Large: Forest Colony has a lot of potential, but most of the map space isn't even used. It could even be used as two separate maps even since it feels so big. There is an entire back-end of the map that could see a lot more action, and that could just be determined where teams spawn, so voting Colony could actually have variety. Teams could be fighting on one side of the map, or because it chooses the second set of spawns the fight is on the beaches.

Other little notes:
There are other issues with a lot of the maps. I saw someone mention Grim Plexus is WAY too open and I agree. Almost nobody fights center and everyone moves to a little hill where the nascar begins.

Alpine is one of my favorites but there are almost no actual flank routes, or cover to fight uphill. Maybe a tunnel through the mountain with some cover inside would make an interesting counter flank to fight enemies on the hill. I'm not talking about a straight forward tunnel, but maybe a tunnel with a couple twists and turns in it to make fighting more interesting (a mine-shaft perhaps?). A medium sized building or two could also be beneficial in the large open fields of Alpine, while also keeping the feeling.

Overall, the maps need a much higher draw distance too. Some things just DO NOT pop in while in longer range combat and it can really be the difference between winning an engagement or losing it. Increase functionality of maps, while reducing the strain on the engine. Viridian Bog is a perfect example of this. It seems like the game itself can't handle all the particle effects and leaves and really struggles to keep up. I get a maximum frame rate of 40 FPS on that map and it's unbearable.

For gamemodes, Both Incursion and Domination need an update. Incusion should be implemented as the faction attack/defend mode but for quickplay. Maybe adjust weight ratios for defending teams or attacking teams to balance the gamemode, because right now it's glorified Assault. As for Domination, the point should have multiple locations it can be.Having the circle be in the same position results in repetitive and predictable gameplay, and having the objectives move could bring a lot of interest into the modes. Im not an experienced at all with cry-engine and do not even know if this is possible, but it's just an idea.

[Mechwarrior2342356]

Rift's hills/slopes are absurdly slippery.

Also Forest Colony (not Classic) is gorgeous. Really need more excuses to actually SEE it all.

[Aick From ComStar]

Honestly, I know this is an unpopular opinion because of how often Canyon Network is voted. But it's an unbalanced and unfun hellhole. There is rarely a match that goes lopsided because of skill, but rather it goes extremely lopsided by rng. Whomst has the most LRM boats determines the victor of that map.

If that map had more obstructions to LRM's so that you won't be instantly deleted the moment a narc hits you, it would be an incredibly fun map, and judging by a sizable chunk of least favorite smalls, I don't think I'm alone in that opinion. I'm not asking for anything insane like what occured with our favorite purple arena, LRM's still should be an effective platform that hurts people. But I am saying that you should have options to approach the enemy team without being eviscerated because they just happened to have more LRM's than you. It's not exciting or fun gameplay in my opinion.


The main issue is that the flatland areas lack any proper upwards cover to soak missiles so LRM boats can be positioned quite literally anywhere and hit almost anywhere. Due to the angles of how LRM's track, they'll easily skip over the lip of a canyon (Or god help you if you're top side), and often times land right under any overhead bridges into your face/feet. Hibernal Rift negates this unbalanced issue by having a massive structure in the center, meaning LRM boats have to position themselves a bit closer to you and with that thing NOT between you and themselves, giving a proper level of risk and reward. Hibernal rift also has plenty of hills at the edge of the canyons to allow you to wall hug and minimize a lot of damage. But lrm's are still absolutely terrifying on that map, a proper balance.

[TW-Luna]

Just wanted to say, first, that it would be great to have some sort of notification in game about this poll. Had no idea this was running, nested into the different forums, and only heard about it on the NGNG stream.

Little feedback on my own personal votes.

Favorite Large: Free World Coliseum - With the last changes to this map, it's now easily my favorite to pick if I see it. Compared to Tourmaline and Plexus I feel like I actually have some maneuvering space against snipers, with the ample cover and the various hills and valleys. Most matches feel like solid fighting can happen across the entire middle area and it doesn't feel stale.

Favorite Medium: Mining Collective - 3.5/4 attack avenues for both teams with lots of space for varied styles of fighting. I would say it gets picked so often because you never feel completely screwed with whatever mech you pick pre-match. Usually there's plenty of opportunity for sniping and brawling. The out of bounds area could be brought in a bit to stop mountain side snipers.

Favorite Small: Network - Again, a map where it feels like fights can happen all over instead of just one or two static spots. Also a map where there's space to brawl and snipe. One downside if people looove to nascar on Canyon, but even with that have had great matches on this one.

Least Large: Alpine Peaks - Its gotta go. If you ever see this when you've picked a mech that has 300-400 range, you're screwed. Entire swaths of this massive map that no one goes to because you'd be easy pickings for some hill peakers. The only spot to get into a close-medium range fight is near where the Domination spot sit, and even then the cover is awful with really just one hill to side peak from.

Least Medium: Crimson Strait - It's the same fight Every. Single. Time. Until one team gets an edge it's a fight at the tunnel entrance on the construction side or right above it. It's so stale in my opinion that I just detest seeing this map at this point. Maybe it would get better with some varied drop points but ya, I would venture a heat map of this would show +60% of the map is never traversed.

Least Small: Forest Colony Classic - I would vote both Classic and Classic Snow if I could. Tunnel or near tunnel fights or risk getting absolutely hammered by today's meta pinpoint high damage pokes. Water side of the map is way too open and even concerted pushes on that side will get constantly plinked as they try to move between the islands. The update to this isn't a perfect map (another where the fight is focused on one spot every time), but it's much better than this one.

Favorite Gamemode: Domination - Seems to be a popular opinion, as it draws the teams together well, very well imo. You only need to have some small mechs at the circle's edge or just be regularly shooting enemies in the circle, meaning that fights still spread out around the area instead of being focused to the point of being stale. Snipers, brawlers, everyone has a place to fill. (Usually, not so much some maps)

Least Gamemode: Incursion - I'm honestly surprised an equal number of people spread their votes to the other 4 choices, so far. Incursion is not a mode that works in a single life match. The end. Some sort of Event Queue, with infinite drop decks or something like that? Match timer set to 20-25 minutes max, winner either takes out the command center or does the most damage to the base. That would make it awesome, get some Living Legend style matches in. But at the moment, the only people voting for Incursion in game tend to be people trying to game their vote multiplier.

Edited by TW-Luna, 01 August 2023 - 08:42 PM.

[The Mech behind you]

The problem with Forest Colony Classic maps are, they're just too small for 12v12. 8v8 already felt crowded on this maps. Otherwise they're ok. I was surprised that Terra Terma had so few votes for the worst map. I don't despise it because of the heat, I don't mind Cruicible at all, but it's something about the layout of TT.

Oh, and I agree, Frozen City Domination is the worst. Going into the circle is just suicide.

[Lepestok]

Quickplay. Any mode.
I can definitely say that the old PG was much better than the new one. The old Polar Highlands was also good in its own way.
And why don't you add new assets to the game? Ask the players (for example, in the form of a contest), someone will help.

[VulkanNo1]

looking at the results it appears that I am a contrarian. But I'm surprised tourmaline Desert is a favourite. I really don't like that map.

I like maps that are do not push people into the whole rotato potato. I like it when the two sides meet. and stay. with opportunities for each side to push if they chose.

Interestingly, for mech warriors, we don't really fight over anything really important. like battle shattered cities, crater torn battle fields with nothing for cover but the weary dead and the gentle lulling of soft hills.

How about a deep gorge, or craggy coasts. How about a broken fort, or a pristine villa for some rich *person" ( Rich people have reasons to pay for protection )

I personally like the idea of maps that don't really have "corridors" or "Linear play" put into them. Free worlds is a good map for that. as it was a little chaotic. but there were still ways of making it work. I don't feel it was designed with "linear play" in mind.

I don't do something crazy. ^^

Or perhaps, some hidden bunker in the deep mountains........

Gauss Flat's ( We all know why )

i mean this is just a wish list.

I do think generally the map quality is really good. there's nothing quite so satisfying as taking a highlander round the whole map, and annihilating the snipers. ( Scouts failing their job's for sure XD )

[Lepestok]

I would like the maps to be a little more lively. Look at the old maps. A worm is swimming in the swamp, birds are sitting in the trees. Previously, they tried to make the maps look like a real place. Now it's more just a kind of conditional arena.

[RogueGarou]

I have been playing since beta and I am not a competitive player so my opinion is probably different from a lot of the folks who have responded. I enjoy both 8v8 and 12v12. Back when 8v8 was the norm, me and about everyone else thought the game would be better with some more players in a match. As I recall, the main reason for that was because in an 8v8 match, if one person disconnected or the game crashed, it was very difficult to make up for that down Mech. Very often, if not almost every match, when that happened, the team that was down a Mech lost the match. There is a reason players wanted to increase from 2 lances per side to 3. On the other hand, fewer players might make matches faster to spin up but I remember back in the 8v8 days sitting for 15-20 minutes waiting to find a game. Personally, I am happy with 12v12. I would also probably be happy with 8v8.

Game mode is something of personal preference. I do not care for Conquest myself. I play the game to drive a big walking tank around and shoot other big walking tanks. For me, I like that kind of FPS element. I have played in Conquest maps where the match is decided just by a couple of Mechs running around and avoiding each other and the other players. If I wanted to play a racing game, it honestly would not be a game based in the BattleTech universe. Battle is kind of in the name, right there on the tin, so to speak. Having said that, I have played some fun Conquest games but for me, Conquest is usually not as much fun. It turns into a deathmatch anyway or it is just a couple of Mechs running around the map and avoiding everyone.

I think all of the game modes are OK. I do not mind playing an occasional Conquest map but I honestly vote for any game mode other than Conquest. Incursion can be fun but I do think it needs to be tweaked a little bit. I saw someone else mention earlier in this post that having the power points be capturable points to power the towers and I think I like that idea. To get the radar and other resources that would turn the power points into mini capture the flag fights. It might be a fun thing to try out if that is possible. I also think the defense turrets need to be tweaked. Maybe add one next to each of the resources or upgrade their damage and hit points a bit. They do not seem like they are a threat as they are currently configured.

And the maps. I personally do not like the beginning of Frozen City when the whiteout is going on. That is why I prefer the Night version of that map. I am also not fond of the fog in Caustic Valley but it is still a fun map and I think the newer version is better than the original version. I like Alpine well enough but it is played differently now than it used to be played. Formerly, the fight would take place on the main slope and occasionally on the top most peak. I cannot remember the last time I was in that part of the map. The fight is always in the valley below the main peak with each team staying on their side of the rock wall in the valley until one side pushes. Then the pushing team either rolls over the defender or the defender wrecks the attacker and then rolls over the other team's remnants. Perhaps moving the map around a bit would push the fight onto the slopes and make it more engaging again. Or even removing the rock wall in the valley so it is a large and open area that would make it risky to choose that as a place to move and fight.

Vitric Station is one that I am on the fence. It has some good points but it feels like every match I play there is a rout for one team. I think I have only had a couple of matches on that map that were close fights and the rest were one team getting steam rolled. There are also some odd geometries on the map, I think. A couple of places seem to be in cover but shots still creep in while a couple of other points, a Mech can be fully visible but hits do not register.

A couple of the maps in Domination mode seem like the critical area is still skewed closer to one team. That may just be my perception but Canyon Network, Polar Highlands, and Alpine Peaks all feel like one team is a bit closer to the tower than the other team.

The revised HPG can be fun but I would like to sometimes have the original HPG show up in rotation. Ditto for the old school Terra Therma; I miss some of the fights in Mount Doom's ring of death. Not too often but having that show up every once in a while could be fun. The new Terra Therma is better than the old one but we used to have some hard fights in that center ring. Like the old Terra Therma, there used to be some fun matches playing king of the hill in the old HPG.

Overall, I am happy with MWO. If I were not happy with the game, good and bad things included, I would not still be playing it around a decade or so after I first installed it. New Mech's would be nice. New maps are appreciated. Some of the newer tech and recent changes to the weapons and equipment have been fun. I am happy with the game and will continue to play it.

This is not a suggestion or comment you asked for but there are some cool Mechs still out there that could be fun to bring into the game. The Hollander is one I would like to see. A light Mech with a Gauss rifle isn't something I see in matches very often. Reflective\glazed and Blazer\reactive armor might be interesting. The HAG weapon or Streak LRMs might be cool. Arrow IV missile artillery or SWARM LRM might even be something that could be added at some point. I imagine it working like an LRM but firing a single missile that has a wide area blast might be how that would work in MWO. The SWARM missile could apply a blast area longitudinally from the firing Mech like an air strike while the Arrow IV could just be a semi-spherical blast area like artillery strike. That could be a reason to bring in the Naga Mech or maybe a Stalker variant with those weapons. And Inferno SRMs might be fun if the code can apply heat rather than damage or light damage with the heat increasing effect.

Any way, it is late. Thanks for all of the good times playing your game and keeping the BattleTech universe alive for me and other players.

[Clay Endfield]

Hate alpine, because it's design is hands down the worst since classic polar. Take the mountain, or die; or walk forever in domination and mill around until something fun happens.

Caustic's color palette just pisses me off. That much yellow is just obnoxious, fog be damned.

Cere is too dark. Easy fix: make it brighter.

Incursion is just a more complicated version of Skirmish. We don't want it or need it.

[CwStrife]

Frost_Byte, on 01 August 2023 - 02:54 PM, said:

Hello everyone!

Here are some polls on your favorite, and least favorite, maps and game modes. We'd love to hear the community feedback about what you like or dislike about current maps and modes so we can help work forward on making new maps and improvements to current ones!

Of course, don't just vote in the poll. If you have more thoughts, I'd love to read about them in the comments!

Regarding game modes...


One of the best things I thought was something you recently did for an event. We were running standard FP drop decks of 265 tons, but playing regular QP maps and game modes. It was like playing quick play, but having 4 drops so that it really added just a new fun dynamic to the game that would be really great to see again. If anything changing Faction mode to something like this type of mode would be really fun I think, the old mode of FP just never worked out, and the objectives required make it something people don't care to play these days. Just an idea.

Edited by CwStrife, 02 August 2023 - 12:13 AM.

[Ilostmycactus]

My major issue, brought up by Ceres, is the game's contrast lighting. This is also tied to thermal and night vision, and their usefulness. The game heavily rewards playing mechs that are painted as dark as possible. Adding an ecm or stealth is even better. These dark mechs blend into the environment, especially on any dark or middling dark map (Grim Plexus, Hpg, etc). A lot of the time I'm forced to use thermals just because it's the no brainer move in order to see mech shoulders peaking around a corner or above a hill. (Thermals also reduce muzzle/cockpit flash which is honestly an issue in and of itself). The contrast is what's important, along with the brightness. Thermals are so much more useful for seeing contrast. Night vision just adds a microscopic bit of brightness but nothing really for contrast, except on Ceres where Thermals apparently don't work well.

Battletech is about fun and colorful heraldry and unit designs. It's not just a paint it black add a bush simulator like War Thunder. But if I bring my tan and blue on a map like Ceres, where I can already basically not see contrast if the enemy has dark mechs, then I'm at a huge disadvantage because I stick out easily. A lock doesn't help necessarily because it's so general in what it highlights (imo it should outline the mech). Because of the game's heavy saturation, white/earth camo is much less effective too.

I actually like Alpine. It's charming, maybe because it feels like actual terrain and not an arena? It does have problems though.
I'm surprised that many people don't like Hellebore. It's got a unique theme and a lot of varied terrain. Too chokepointy maybe.
Personally I really don't like Solaris. A huge portion is because it tanks my fps, the other part is because it feels guaranteed to pop up when I pick lrms.
Mining collective always feels restrictive unless I'm playing a light/medium/heavy with good jumpjets so you can get on buildings, probably because it's very nascary.

The hitboxes on Tourmalline and Rubellite really need fixed. I'm tired of shooting open spots through rocks just to get blocked.


For maps I want more realistic terrain and less arenas. The grading and scale of hills and objects feel strange a lot of the time.