Analysis and comparison of the new map changes

[Maf 32,307]

Greetings!

 

I'd like to discuss in more detail the map changes that were released in last week's update. Most of you are probably aware that the changes were necessary to make the maps more suitable for gameplay with 20 players, which is the number of players developers deemed most suitable for standard battles. Because of that, some smaller maps, like Polygon, had to be enlarged, while the size of some larger maps, such as Solikamsk, had to be reduced.

 

Some of the changes were not particularly significant, like the new ramp being added on Osa or a couple and a couple new barriers on Serpuhov, so I won't mention those here. But 12 of the maps had major elements changed, added, or removed, which, in some cases, completely changed the gameplay on those maps. In this topic I will compare all of those changes.

 

 

1. Forest    Pit in the middle removed.

 

  

 

While at first glance it may seem that only the hole got removed, the map actually became significantly larger around the perimeter, but the number of players did not increase. This means that the map will be less busy and there's better opportunity for stealthy tactics and general maneuvers.

 

The two cliffs on the sides of the map are now separated from the outside border, forming a passage between them. This can be used to hide when attempting a stealth flank attack, or it can be used as an effective camping spot, which I have already seen multiple players do in DM.

 

Worth noting that the flags have been moved closer to the middle of the base, shortening the distance between them. So while before the update every alternative path from flag to flag had a similar length, now there are clearly two tactics: either rush straight ahead and try to take advantage of the shorter distance or go the long way around and have a lower chance of encountering enemies and a better chance of being unnoticed right until you grab the enemy flag.

 

There are also two new repair kits in the corners of the map, so if you are holding the enemy flag in your base during a flag exchange, that's a new source of repair in case of emergency.

 

 

2. Highland   Increased base area

 

  

 

This map already got one pretty big update a while ago. Before then it looked like this. Basically a straight line with a courtyard in the middle, and two raised camping areas. But even after the update the map still felt extremely crowded when played with full 8 vs 8 teams. This newest change did add more space to move around, although I wouldn't say that the new areas make it easier to steal the flag. Their purpose appears to be nothing more than new camping areas for the 4 extra players, since the total maximum number went up from 16 to 20.

 

There is still the same number of entrances to the base with a single bottleneck near the actual flags, so it's unlikely that capturing a flag on this map has become much easier. Although it's worth noting that there is an alternative exit path from both sides. If you grab the flag and see the main path blocked by enemies, you can turn to the right and drive up onto the new hill. If you get lucky and don't blow up on mines placed by hill campers, you can drive right past all the enemies and jump down into the middle-side of the map, from where it's a fairly easy way back to your own base.

 

As for supplies, two new "sets" have been added - one DA, DD and Nitro on each base. Interestingly enough, the reds' camping place has a DD, while the blues' one has a DA. Also, blues' new DD is basically in the middle of the map, so this small detail might actually make the red team a bit stronger than before.

 

 

3. Highways    Bases shortened

 

  

 

Ever since becoming popular due to the change in the battle creation mechanism, Highways has been notorious for its difficulty in CTF.

In order to capture a flag, you had to:

1. Survive all the Shafts and Railgun, who sniped you from across the map while you were trying to tumble down the hill
2. Manage to get up to the other base and fight off any enemies along the way
3. Avoid all the countless mines on the ramps leading up to the base
4. Somehow grab the flag that was being guarded by two Titan Isidas
5. Escape the enemy base
6. Drive across the map without flipping on the hills, while fighting off pursuers.
7. Still somehow have enough health and supplies left to at least drive as far as meeting your healthy teammates

To do that you had to be either insanely lucky, insanely skilled, or insanely overpowered. Or better - all three of those things (yet you still wouldn't be guaranteed to capture).

 

Luckily, this has become slightly easier now, as the flags have been moved one layer down. It's still going to be hard to go through steps 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7, but at least you will probably no longer have to deal with the flag being completely blocked by mines and heavy tanks.

 

The bases getting shortened is a slight disappointment to me personally. It used to be one of my favourite challenges on this map - to drive into the enemy base, hide at the back and kill as many enemies as I could before they finally managed to get to me. The funniest thing is that once I managed to get in, farming kills was a piece of cake, since the camping Shafts and Magnums had no idea from where they were being hit, since they never expected to be hit from behind.

 

Another interesting note is that the narrow ledges on the sides of the hills are now self-destruct areas. This can be blamed on me personally, since I loved to go there with Wasp Magnum and effortlessly bomb the enemy base from below, often being able to remain unnoticed for the entire game. I send Hazel a PM, asking to make the area more accessible, and he called me a bas.. bad boy, and said he will block off that area completely. I'll be honest, I never actually expected him to hold true to his word :P

 

 

4. Industrial Zone    Numerous smaller edits

 

  

 

Industrial Zone had two areas changed. The biggest edit is obviously the removal of the smaller tunnel, that led to the inside of blue team's second building. Not sure what the purpose of this change was, as it only made the map less interesting, in my opinion. Perhaps developers thought that the tunnel was too confusing.

 

The other major change is the increase of red's far camping tower. It now has a much longer platform and some decent walls, which is a massive advantage for any Magnum sitting there. To compensate for that, the other camping tower next to the base no longer has cover, which makes anyone sitting there more vulnerable to enemy fire.

 

A few other minor changes include a new hole at the back of blue's base, a wider driveway between the double ramp and blue's building and the red flag being moved to the left, which actually makes red base harder to attack.

 

 

5. Massacre   Larger bases

 

  

 

Here the change is pretty obvious. Each side got a proper base now, so rather than spawning in some hole and being too scared to come out, you now spawn in a proper base that, while not providing THAT much protection, still feels better than before.

 

The bases are no longer reversed and each flag is at its team's base. Not sure if I like this change as the inverse flag positioning made the map more unique, but I guess this makes things less confusing for newbies, while the old inverse version will most likely always remain in PRO battles.

 

Another subtle, but arguably the most important edit is the fact that red base no longer has a hill spanning the whole width of the map, behind which they can hide and play peek-a-boo with blue. This definitely made gameplay a lot more fair, since being able to hide behind the hill while reloading or holding the flag with no chance of exposure to the enemy campers was rather OP.

 

 

6. Polygon   General increase in size

 

  

 

Probably the least liked and most controversial of the map changes from this update. Of course old Polygon, being one of the most popular maps and one of the best for getting high funds, was defended by a lot of players. Some of them complain that developers are purposefully making maps larger to reduce fund growth, while others simply don't like the new design and claim that old is better.

 

Whatever the opinions may be, the truth is that Polygon gained a lot of new ground on the flanks, and what's interesting is that the flanks are no longer flanks, but have actually been turned into new bases. So gameplay on the map has basically been rotated 90 degrees. Whether or not it's a good change, I can't tell. But the map is definitely more suitable for a 10vs10 battle than the old version, and the pit in the middle is still the same.

 

The fact that the number of points was increased from one to three is also suspected to be a deliberate method of reducing battle funds, however it's more likely that developers are simply trying to diversify the gameplay by forcing players to act smart and watch after all three points, rather than play the mindless "spawn, drive forward, die, repeat" game.

 

 

7. Rio   Larger bases

 

  

 

Despite already having 20 maximum players, developers thought that the map was still a bit too small. So now the teams have larger bases, each with a full set of supplies. The red flag also got moved down from the upper platform to be more like blue, and the two narrow ramps on the platform got merged into one wide ramp.

 

Fairly straightforward that will hopefully make gameplay on this map more balanced and tactics - more diverse.

 

 

 8. Silence  New areas on both bases

 

  

 

Another massive change to a popular map. Like Highland, Silence already went through a major rework before. In fact, it had quite a few changes done to it, including addition of the surrounding landscape, merge of Silence I and Silence II, addition of tunnels and opening of tunnels (since at first they were closed-off self-destruct areas).

 

Red team gained a massive advantage from this update. They now have a solid base/camping ground instead of the flimsy bridge, so now it's much easier for red to take cover and fight back those annoying Magnums on blue team. Red team's snipers can also much more effectively disrupt blue's defences, as the blue flag is clearly visible from the new raised hill. So while the number of entrances and exists remains the same, gameplay should still become more dynamic and balanced here.

 

Both teams also got a set of supplies in the newly added area.

 

 

9. Solikamsk    Removed tunnels on either side of the map

 

  

 

This is a significant, but still pretty straightforward change. The map was too big and had 24 maximum players, so the size got reduced and the number of players changed to the standard 20. Not sure why it had to be the side pathways though, since I always thought those were a very interesting element, which allowed for stealthy tactics. But I suppose it was the most logical and straightforward way to reduce the map's size.

 

At least this wasn't like the previous change from a few years ago, where the whole map was completely reworked and turned into an unrecognisable mess. #Only90sKidsRemember

 

 

10. Tribute   Numerous improvements for red base

 

  

 

Tribute got a few major improvements to the red base, which was quite a bit weaker than blue before the update. The DD box was moved further away from the middle, a new building was added to provide cover, a wall was added on the corner as a new potential camping spot, some walls under the bridge have been removed, and a new access point has been added, proving a new route to attack the blue base.

 

Blue base also got a minor improvement from the outside walls no longer being straight, thus providing extra cover for defenders and/or flag holders, who could previously be shot from the other side of the map while hiding behind a house.

 

Also, interestingly enough, the floor of the dry river bed (yes, that's what it's supposed to be) is no longer green. For better visuals, I guess...

 

 

11. Wolfenstein   Castle rework

 

  

 

Wolfenstein got a bunch of its houses moved and replaced a bit, but perhaps the most significant change is the red base, which is now completely free of houses (at least on the raised bit) and has a few small walls instead. Seems like red base was considered overpowered before due to large amounts of cover, so let's see how good the balance is now.

 

All of the castle ramps got barriers on the sides now, which will hopefully prevent players from flipping on them so much. Additionally, the castle in the middle got a slight redesign and is now symmetrical.

 

 

12. Year 2042   One side of the map shortened

 

  

 

Not sure why this was necessary, but the left side of this map got shortened quite a bit, which resulted in removal of two buildings, a parkour platform and a raised camping base on red's side. Not too many comments on this one. Parkour won't be happening in standard battles anyway, while the removal of the tall house is actually good news for gold hunters, since the corner drop over there will no longer be hidden by the building.

 

Also, a bunch of new containers have appeared here and there, providing extra cover, and blue got a second repair kit on the roof of the small building, which is strange since red only has one repair kit on their side.

 

---

 

That's it for my analysis of the biggest map changes from this update, so I hope you found this topic interesting and maybe even useful :)

[stanzhang 3,291]

Thanks for this new update review. I feel that the devs should have included this in the announcement instead of making us spotting the differences, but I am glad you did it  ^_^ .

[Stratosphere 2,234]

Thanks for writing all of this! Hopefuly it will come in handy for players one day! ^_^

[a7x_Pedro48 13,999]

Nice topic, I will read it now. I noticed that they removed two billboards in Forect.

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

I really liked the 11th map. :ph34r:

Edited December 7, 2017 by Maf
You didn't see anything

[a7x_Pedro48 13,999]

Very detailled review. I need to test this new Forest. I agree for Solikamsk about the sides.
 
I noticed a small mistake for Highland :
 
"actually make the red team a bit stringer than before"

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

I noticed a small mistake for Highland :

 

"actually make the red team a bit stringer than before"

There are quite a few. xD

[lukey0 27,543]

Nice review of the maps!

 

At least this wasn't like the previous change from a few years ago, where the whole map was completely reworked and turned into an unrecognisable mess. #Only90sKidsRemember

Can I spoil it? :LOL:

[Maf 32,307]

Nice review of the maps!

 

Can I spoil it? :lol:

Spoil it? As in, post a picture? I'd love to see that to be honest.

[lukey0 27,543]

Spoil it? As in, post a picture? I'd love to see that to be honest.

Here we go:

 

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

^Omg Flag on a ramp? o.O

That’s really dumb.

[lukey0 27,543]

^Omg Flag on a ramp? o.O

That’s really dumb.

That's mild compared to some maps. Some had random areas just blocked off, you couldn't access there unless you had the right Hull but even then it was mostly pointless. Sometimes I wonder why there were there. :LOL: 

[a7x_Pedro48 13,999]

There was a spot like that in the old Highland. Not the actual one in Pro Battle, it was even older. It was possible to parkour with wasp or hornet to get behind a wall, it was a safe spot to snipe with Railgun.

[Guest TSY_the_crazy]

Maf for reporter 2k18 :D

[Heles 9,220]

Wow, nice job Maf :) 

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

Really love all the camping spots added for Hazel's favorite turret . . .

Highland is the epitome of poor map design. Two powerful camping spots that can only be reached by going through the team's base - no problem here at all.

Edited December 8, 2017 by ThirdOnion

[PetoAbyssus 20]

The aerial view of the maps makes it easier to see the difference. Thanks for your time in doing that. 

 

Game play has certainly changed on some of the maps. On Silence, I used the bridge on red side for sniping blue's outside platform and upper platform and small ramp. I'd snipe on side and while reloading, I'd drive to the other side. If I was lucky, I could snipe in between the buildings at blue's ramps going to the upper level. Oh, well, back to the sniper's drawing board for new strategy.

 

I like the idea of the hill disappearing on Massacre. Who ever controlled the hill, controlled the battle. More mounds and containers were added to compensate for that. However, it's harder to snipe on the flag.

 

I got lost on Polygon.

 

Wolfenstein....Well, I don't know. I'm still on the fence with that one.

 

The other maps I've only played once, so it's too soon to critique.

 

On the older map of Highland, a player on blue could drop down on that little strip of land behind the cliff and snipe anyone trying to cross the bridge.

[Maf 32,307]

Oh, well, back to the sniper's drawing board for new strategy.

What do you mean? The new area on red base is even better for sniping compared to that bridge.

[iplayatankonline 61]

Some of the complaints for polygon seem justified. 

 

Not every complaint.

 

Blue side is overpowered. 

 

OVERPOWERED. 

 

Espec in things like CTF. Extremely OP. 

 

In TDM also.

 

In cp... I'm not sure. In ctf, red can spawn where the "C" cp is I believe... 

 

In CP mode can red spawn on the third cp? cause that would be a boost to red.

 

But the coverage of the red base by blue snipers is just a nightmare. 

 

I won't even play this map unless I'm on blue, and half the time its not even an effort. Unless my team sucks and we are outgunned.

 

The games I've played as blue on polygon in t dm are like 100-22, ctf is just a 10-0. 

 

It depresses me. 

[ThirdOnion 4,898]

Actually red team has two repair kits as well. One is under a hangar so you can't see it in the overhead view.

[Guest]

Forest: Good

 

Highland: A bit favored for campers; otherwise liked the changes. 

 

Highways: Dislike how the devs changed the flag positions

 

Industrial zone: Too open. Liked the older version better.

 

Massacre: More suited for Shaft now, thumbs up for that. 

 

Polygon: Loved the changes, this will make me play Polygon again.

 

Rio: Changes were okay

 

Silence: The back of the Red base needs to be more open. 
 

Solimisk: New version encourages more drugging and less planning/sneak attacks.

 

Tribute: Liked the changes

 

Wolfenstein: Devs should have left the castle alone

 

Year 2042: Completely ruined, the map lost most of its standout features.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Guest

[T-34-3m 360]

Polygon is playable for light hulls now. So that's something.

[Viking4s 10,791]

Vote Maf for reporter 2017 :ph34r:

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

I haven't thoroughly played all my maps but the only one I really actually enjoy is Tribute. 

I dislike the Polygon and Silence ones, both maps have become horrible to play - every match is one sided.

[wolverine848 13,097]

 

I haven't thoroughly played all my maps but the only one I really actually enjoy is Tribute. 

I dislike the Polygon and Silence ones, both maps have become horrible to play - every match is one sided.

 

I agree. Changes to Silence have not made things better for Red - especially CTF.

 

basic nature of higher-ground is still there.  Though not as lopsided as Noise issue is similar.