Balancing of maps

[Lux]

The point I am putting forward here is that some maps go against the point of an escape map, and some encourage anti escape behaviour.


I'm not going to moan about guns because ultimately it is the map to blame.

In some maps you just don't have to escape, and the main focus is holding off the enemy...not running away.

When you see "escape" you think that you have to escape, none of ATIX's maps involve escaping. There is other maps too, and I think maybe the list of maps has to be overlooked.

Some maps have been edited to death.

Boatescape has become worse. Yes you have a controlloable heli and pods but this takes away the escape part, because zombies can't fly up to get you. It was far better when there was simply boats, a tram, and one boat to the island. This meant you had to run, and there was different paths so if zombies take one point you don't have to camp at spawn. Then at the end there is a brief period where you have to hold off the zombies and then you escape. The earlier versions of boatescape were THE BEST escape maps to exist.

Spacestation has gradually gone from great to awful. The only problem with the first version was that the autoguns shot humans. Once this was fixed the map was perfect, but people had to go and put in secrets which are retarded and take out of the point of escaping as people would rather do the secrets. The opportunity to close both doors and basically lock zombies out made this map one of the most teamwork demanding maps, and when you have good people to play with it is great. Sadly one of the doors can't be shut now so zombies can just charge towards you, there is the retarded hiding spots in the ct base and the other random one for cts who want to make the round longer (go die). But the saddest edit is Spacestationx which is currently on the maplist. There is two dam spaceships, and one is very close to the start of the map, and completely un holdable. What is the point of zombies taking damage trying to get humans when they can just camp at the first exit and then jump onto the other spaceship to kill humans. It completely ruins the idea of escape.



Er so my argument is that some maps need to be removed or edited because either the point of escape has been ruined or/also the balance of t/ct winning isn't even.

Some maps that lack the point of escape can be excused...such as ATIX panic/helicopter because they are pretty 50/50, but some others really need to be looked at.

Right now on the maplist the map which I see as the closest to perfection is Island Escape.

[Zargotelc]

As I have pointed out before , Trap Escape has nothing to do with escape and is just a big puzzle. Some of those who like that map may disagree with me on this though.

On a related topic , people such as GrayFox were talking about how overplayed such classic maps as Jurassic park and SST were. My feeling is it's not a bad thing that these maps are overplayed. At least we spend more time playing good maps like those instead of being stuck in some crap map like Mumbo Jumbo :001_unsure:. Plus you all know cs:s pretty well , they got servers that run Dust 24/7. Overplaying shouldn't be an issue. I've played the same Battlefield 2 city maps for over a year now and they're still fun. The same applies for the 5 or 6 repetitive maps that the server runs over and over. These maps are so great (esp the ones by Bill Smauz , the guy is a design legend , every map he makes is wildly popular with the masses) that it shouldn't matter if they're overplayed. The important thing is that the majority of people , idiots or not , still find them very entertaining.

Although I do admit by running the same 5 or 6 maps over and over I do miss classics such as icecave_escape Legend is also a great map that isn't played much.

[GrayFox]

Thanks for the shameless plug ;). Though your right, I do complain that those are overplayed, now that I think about it, the two jurassic park ones are the real escape maps of the server. If you don't get in the helicopter on atix_helicopter, the zombies will and then the map blows up. Spacestation requires escaping to the second shuttle because there is absolutly no chance to hold the first shuttle.

[Tcp-Kill]

Well i mean, technically your still "escaping" for the goal in the map. I mean i love atix panic, i think its cool but i know what you're saying but i do disagree in certain elements.

With spacestation

the thing i hate is people never go normal way, and they all get owned at secrets. So i'm not happy about that map spoiled
i liked it when only a handful knew it and we almost never used it.

I'm not sure.

[Jaffa]

the atix maps are based that you defend until your rescue, and opportunity to escap arrives. Many of the Boatescapes are the same thing, with you holding the end until the boats/helicopters etc arrive to take you away

[Lux]

Yes Jaffa but whats different is that you aren't holding it for the entire length of the map. In maps such as Icecave, Boatescape, Islandescape you have to travel a fair distance before getting to the hold point. Inbetween this time zombies can actually get a few cts before having to fight 20 cts with machine guns in a hold spot, which is impossible.

Also I don't think overplaying is any real part of the problem...

My point isn't how much a map is played, when you look back at lostworld when it first came out it was massively overplayed, and it was a balanced map and fun so why not. But now it has died down, the only reason I see SST being played is because it is new, the other maps were atleast enjoyable but this isn't, which is why it is "double-ly" bad.

[G-Man]

The major problem isnt that they arent 'escape enough' for you, its how we play the same maps evey damn time. On napalm its like this, Ghodds killer field>Cbble> forgotten town> zm_wtfhax> highschool. On escape its lostworld>blackmesa>jurassic park> sst> boat escape. You cant tell me out of the 40 maps on each server, only 4/5 are good, and i do know of some maps that are very good but never played on the server. But they are usually old school maps people havent played. And because people are afraid to try out new things, they continue to just go to maps they are comfortable with...

[Zargotelc]

Anyways while we're talking about escape , all the maps on the escape server have at least some element of escape which involve either a nuke going off or a vehicle that takes you away. ATIX Helicopter involves escape (guard that platform till the chopper comes and takes you away) , Panic involves escape too (guard the box until the chopper comes and takes you away). I guess Extinction doesn't have much "escape" in it. I'm happy though with the amount of escape in all the maps (except for malvinas where the point is just to camp in a room and there is no escape involved)

[Jaffa]

bit off topic, but saddest thing i found on the servers was arguing with some guy that atix_heli is better than iamlegend (no offence satan, but it is)

[Icelement]

NO!