…without addressing the serious balance issues with maps. It’s bad enough that Trainyard and Bridge (and every map really) are so skewed in favor of Defenders, and now we have Stoker who can cut off even more routes to the objective, making it even harder for Attackers.
I’m really getting sick of one-sided maps where our top scorer (often me) has half the score of their lowest scoring player, and each spawn wave is 10 seconds (or more) of running somewhere to die in 1 second.
Did you know that the people who develop and balance new Mercs is a different team than the guys who work on game balance and map balance?
The most recent mercs have all been really well balanced - Redeye, Phoenix and Stoker (although Redeye could use a small buff). I think if they can keep up this level of evenness while bringing in future mercs then we will see the game become better and better with a large variety and fluorescent meta.
Map balance is really good right now in terms of attackers vs. defenders.
And if you’re unhappy about that balance, just play Stopwatch - that way you get a chance to match your defence against their defence, so the attackers/defenders balance is irrelevant. Same for Execution.
[quote=“Grave Knight;103799”]Did you know that the people who develop and balance new Mercs is a different team than the guys who work on game balance and map balance?[/quote]I don’t believe there’s anyone working on map balance. What has changed since Terminal a few months ago? In the meantime they’ve added Phantom, Sparks, Phoenix, Redeye, and Stoker. A pretty good argument could be made that none of those mercs help Attackers more than Defenders, and some (Stoker) make offense even harder.
Bridge and Trainyard are the same as they’ve always been since open beta started, except for the “fix” to EV speed on Bridge.
Imagine how bad it’s going to be when we’ve got Rhino the walking MG, Stoker flaming chokepoints, Redeye smoke hiding Defenders, Spark instantly reviving any you’re lucky enough to kill, and then they’ll release Turtle giving Defenders another obstacle for Attackers.
[quote=“ProfPlump;103804”]Map balance is really good right now in terms of attackers vs. defenders.[/quote]I’d love some of whatever it is you’re smoking.
As it stands: Bridge and Trainyard absolutely suck for attackers. Underground and Terminal are their best chance for a win. I refuse to believe Nexon/Splash Damage has statistics from pub play reflecting anything close to “balanced” for attackers vs defenders, regardless of map.
[quote=“ProfPlump;103804”]And if you’re unhappy about that balance, just play Stopwatch - that way you get a chance to match your defence against their defence, so the attackers/defenders balance is irrelevant. Same for Execution.[/quote]Horrible map design doesn’t motivate me to play a horrible map twice. At least when Trainyard or Bridge come up I know it’s going to be over in a few minutes and then (hopefully) I’ve got a shot at playing Chapel, Underground, or (better) Terminal.
[quote=“derpypenguinz19;103826”]IMO, the only maps with messed up balance are Bridge and Dome.[/quote]The distance from spawn to objective is greater on Trainyard than Bridge. Anytime Attackers have to spend more time trying to get to the objective than Defenders there’s going to be imbalance because Defenders know where Attackers are coming from and where they must go, and can setup appropriately to ambush with defenses to squash any effort.
Trainyard to a lesser extent. Trainyard is easy to attack on yet the defenders still have a clear advantage.
But Bridge and Dome are the ones whose balance is completely fucked.
Dome definitely (at least the first part), Bridge’s first part just seems to cluttered. Once you actually get the EV repaired though it’s pretty balanced till the last part (think the building shouldn’t unlock immediately, defense should have a few seconds to recover).
I think Chapel is really unbalanced during the second part where you have to push the EV. Attackers need closer spawns and the entire route should have three stages instead of two. During the first stage attackers spawn near the garage behind the EV (defenders spawn doesn’t move from the second stage), once the EV gets past the first turn the attackers spawn moves up and the defenders spawn pushed to outside the construction lift (where it normally is), once the EV gets past the second turn just past the church the defenders spawn behind the construction lift and the attackers spawn just across the church (or maybe next to that house that defenders like to hold up in). Another option is maybe add a forward spawn point like in Terminal by that house.