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My take on Fog of War - Page 4

Forum Index > BW General
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Levque
Profile Joined October 2016
88 Posts
May 21 2018 21:58 GMT
#61
Stop trying to make BW easier.
10dla
Profile Joined March 2018
127 Posts
May 21 2018 22:38 GMT
#62
On May 22 2018 06:58 Levque wrote:
Stop trying to make BW easier.

Why do people make it as easy as it gets by playing simply 1 map only?
Uldridge
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Belgium5204 Posts
May 21 2018 22:44 GMT
#63
Because FS is perfection.
Taxes are for Terrans
Highgamer
Profile Joined October 2015
1470 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-05-22 17:24:14
May 21 2018 23:02 GMT
#64
edit: I regret and atone.

+ Show Spoiler +
[image loading]



User was warned for this post
ortseam
Profile Joined April 2015
996 Posts
May 21 2018 23:04 GMT
#65
Sparkle will take the place of FS, Terrans will whine for TvZ and Zergs for PvZ. It's the future of BW
Dazed.
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Canada3301 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-05-21 23:07:06
May 21 2018 23:06 GMT
#66
On May 22 2018 06:57 The_Red_Viper wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 22 2018 06:50 Dazed. wrote:
I've played sc2 and broodwar, both at low and kinda decent levels, and at least from my own experience any concern about the mini map one way or the other is crazy/inexperienced. It just doesnt have an impact one way or the other, in terms of pre planning, figuring out the map, etc...I mean unless your an actual retard, it only takes maybe a ten minute game to figure out a map, and its usually symmetrical, the amount of players are told before the game starts...i donno. I dont see how anyone could load up longinus and remain confused and unable to adjust as the game developed organically, let alone going forward in repeats of that map.

Mountain out of a mole hill.

Then pls tell me why it's the new standard to have it transparent? Apparently developers agree in general that it's "better" that way.
The threshold for complaining in modern games is zero? In any case, who cares? This standard your referring to, universally, are rts games that failed where broodwar did not. Why should we want the mediocrity of a failed standard?
Also if you don't think there is a difference one way or another surely nothing speaks against changing it
True, and the reality is, the mini map wont actually change, i think we both know this. i like to argue.
Never say Die! ||| Fight you? No, I want to kill you.
A.Alm
Profile Joined September 2012
Sweden558 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-05-21 23:09:59
May 21 2018 23:09 GMT
#67
I like how ASL does it.
[AS]Rattus
Profile Joined March 2017
428 Posts
May 21 2018 23:14 GMT
#68
im not sayin its the only reason but greyed out minimap instead of a complete dark one pretty much killed the rts genre nowadays. :>
The_Red_Viper
Profile Blog Joined August 2013
19533 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-05-21 23:24:22
May 21 2018 23:17 GMT
#69
On May 22 2018 08:06 Dazed. wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 22 2018 06:57 The_Red_Viper wrote:
On May 22 2018 06:50 Dazed. wrote:
I've played sc2 and broodwar, both at low and kinda decent levels, and at least from my own experience any concern about the mini map one way or the other is crazy/inexperienced. It just doesnt have an impact one way or the other, in terms of pre planning, figuring out the map, etc...I mean unless your an actual retard, it only takes maybe a ten minute game to figure out a map, and its usually symmetrical, the amount of players are told before the game starts...i donno. I dont see how anyone could load up longinus and remain confused and unable to adjust as the game developed organically, let alone going forward in repeats of that map.

Mountain out of a mole hill.

Then pls tell me why it's the new standard to have it transparent? Apparently developers agree in general that it's "better" that way.
The threshold for complaining in modern games is zero? In any case, who cares? This standard your referring to, universally, are rts games that failed where broodwar did not. Why should we want the mediocrity of a failed standard?
Show nested quote +
Also if you don't think there is a difference one way or another surely nothing speaks against changing it
True, and the reality is, the mini map wont actually change, i think we both know this. i like to argue.


OR one form to show a minimap is considered "better design". That's really all there is to this question. Will a blacked out minimap have any positive value to the game compared to a transparent one. The answer is no, it doesn't really.
You find the same in mobas as well, hardly a fail (not that your argument was any good, you cannot say that every single feature of a "failed product" is automatically bad)


It probably won't change, but you never know. There are custom hotkeys, there is a higher resolution which adds more information on the screen, there are changes which didn't impact the game in a bad way, just quality of life and "better design". Blizzard thankfully finds the balance here so far.
IU | Sohyang || There is no God and we are his prophets | For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.” | Ignorance is the parent of fear |
neatpete
Profile Joined October 2017
49 Posts
May 21 2018 23:20 GMT
#70
Please change thread title to Black Minimaps Matter
Lazare1969
Profile Joined September 2014
United States318 Posts
May 21 2018 23:38 GMT
#71
Instead of removing Fog of War, make it a little transparent instead of fully black. Unexplored areas should still have to be explored first before you can build there.

What do you guys think?

Poll: Should Fog of War be changed in ladder via a new setting?

(Vote): Yes. Remove it, allow building anywhere without exploring.
(Vote): Yes. Make it a little transparent instead of fully black. Still need to explore to build.
(Vote): No!

6 trillion
lestye
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States4238 Posts
May 21 2018 23:55 GMT
#72
On May 22 2018 08:14 [AS]Rattus wrote:
im not sayin its the only reason but greyed out minimap instead of a complete dark one pretty much killed the rts genre nowadays. :>

Damn Warcraft III!
"You guys are just edgelords. Embrace your inner weeb desu" -Zergneedsfood
TL+ Member
blabber
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4448 Posts
May 22 2018 00:07 GMT
#73
I think having the map be greyed out but unbuildable is the best compromise. The blackness needs to go, for sure though.
blabberrrrr
Luddite
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States2315 Posts
May 22 2018 01:40 GMT
#74
At least give us the option of choosing. You can still have a "tournament mode" that enforces blackness, if it's that important. As it is:

a) yet another hurdle for newcomers to overcome
b) encourages every non-pro to keep playing FS instead of literally any other map
c) unfair advantage to anyone with a second monitor on the map
Can't believe I'm still here playing this same game
Alpha-NP-
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States1242 Posts
May 22 2018 03:15 GMT
#75
Pretend you hosted your favorite unorthodox map. Hardly anyone would play it if they never seen it before. But with a greyed out minimap it is better for everyone. New player to see map features and the host to get a game.
Ty2
Profile Blog Joined March 2013
United States1434 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-05-22 06:25:43
May 22 2018 06:20 GMT
#76
--- Nuked ---
Writer
Dantak
Profile Joined January 2006
Czech Republic648 Posts
May 22 2018 06:53 GMT
#77
Black minimap was one of the main reasons why I stopped trying to come back and play casually after remastered went out. I just couldn't find enough time to learn all the new ladder maps by heart (and especially in TvT that was a problem, that lack of 100% knowledge of the map made me lose most of the games). I had time for like 1-3 games a week, not learning new maps like that. And I sort of think that this "casual mass" is a group of people, you would have wanted to attract to keep the game alive.

But by all means, keep it pure. And dead.
"Life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery." - f33red k0r34n z3rg
Golgotha
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Korea (South)8418 Posts
May 22 2018 07:27 GMT
#78
On May 22 2018 15:20 Ty2 wrote:
I really like having no black fog of war because I like to location hotkey my expos. Normally I'd have to memorize spatially the map to get that natural base location hotkey just right. I know some people are going to make the appeal to tradition argument, but really it's just an arbitrary constraint that has little bearing on what makes bw bw.

Edit: The biggest change i can think of that acts as a precedent, and most definitely surpasses a QoL feature is custom hotkeys. People were loathing they'd bring harm to competitive BW, but we're a year in and, surprise, nothing has happened.


Are ASL pros allowed to change their hotkeys? Cuz that's awesome if they can.

One thing is for sure, removing black fog of war would make bring in many more newcomers and casuals. Couple this with better chat channels and 2v2 matchmaking, it would be one sick patch for the future of BW.

But like I said, if the pros in ASL want to keep the black fog for tournaments, let them have the option to do so when creating games. it's a win-win for both sides then.
Freakling
Profile Joined October 2012
Germany1534 Posts
May 22 2018 08:15 GMT
#79
On May 22 2018 05:03 Uldridge wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 21 2018 18:43 Freakling wrote:
You need to know the specific kind of symmetry beforehand, though. And on odd-spawn (3/5/7-player) maps people still tend to click at the wrong spots and get lost while scouting. And while symmetry can hep you guess the ṕotential spawns of your opponent, you'd still have to do a lot of extra scouting just to find out where to get a good third (especially in ZvP you want to know that before scouting).


How is that bad per se? Again, this only matters if your opponent is a master of the map. Again, how do you get lost with your scout in the early stages of the game, for real? Deducing potential spawning locations and checking up on your scout in the early game is not difficult.
I get it, you never watched any foreign competitive games on new maps, or you'd know exactly how easily a scout can and up sent to the wrong spot on the map. Why is it so hard to understand that players are called players because they just want to play, not do in-depth studies of maps beforehand?

Show nested quote +
But knowing in time that you fucked up your scouting does not really solve the issue…

Let's be honest here. What is a few seconds going to make a difference in a low level game? You're making it seem like your scouts are getting stuck or are like WAY off the base you need to check. It's not going to matter in the long run when you have to readjust losing a few moments. Also you won't have the star sense anyway to see anything's off if the guy is going for an early type of rush (unless it's like a 4 pool or a proxies or something).
And a 4 pool or proxy something is of course an unlikely scenario on a map neither player knows well…

Show nested quote +
Your point?

My point is that you'd have to be extremely unlucky to face off every single time against someone who has intricate map knowledge of the map you're playing. This means that most of the time you'll be mostly at a slight disadvantage if you haven't played the map 3+ times. Also, what keeps you from looking at the map before or between games to look at what's possible?
Both players being about equally disadvantaged does not help the quality of the game or the learning curve of the map at all.

Show nested quote +
Is this what bothers you? Then you probably aren't aware of the effect that many players tend to cheese on maps unknown to them precisely because they don't know anything about the map and thus want to avoid more complex strategies. Having full disclosure of terrain and expansion locations from the start makes it easy to do an ad-hoc adaption of any standard build (unless the map is very nonstandard in some way – and even then actually seeing the map can help you determine what might work and what not, shifting the problem from screwing up players from the get-go, thus making them hate, fear and avoid an experimental map without ever really having explored its potential, to having to make up a creative strategy on the go, which is actually a worthwhile skill for a player to have).

I feel like you're blowing this way out of proportion. How many times will players improvise/adapt their strategies at lower levels? This is because of the FoW? Or are there other factors at play? People tend to go in the game of doing x and potentially modifying it in reaction to what the other player is doing. Is it actually that hard to prep on a certain, study it a little bit before you go into a game on it? Do you actually think you're going to be able to pull off crazy stuff the first (few) time(s) you play on a map with soft FoW?
The only thing that's blown out of proportion is your resistance against a feature that many players actually demand. If it all does not really matter anyway, why not just let them have it?

Show nested quote +
As you said, it's pretty demanding to play BW, dozens of things demand your attention and management, so having to form a mental model of the map on top of that can be pretty hard. You only get glimpses of certain spots at a time, can't really process all the details. Even knowing "minor" details like whether the main has a ramp or where the natural is located and how its choke looks before you send out a scout can make a lot of difference (for example when determining the build order and when to send out the first scout).

But the vision doesn't stay black dude. I don't get it. I guess I just don't understand your plea for soft FOW. For me personally, it doesn't matter. I don't want to intricately look at their base while I'm macro'ing to suddenly understand that "HA, I can put a Vulture on the high ground to kill his economy with!"
What about more mundane and obvious things, such as where all the expansions on a map are and how easily they are defensible? That's something you'd want to know pretty early on to figure out an expansion strategy. And you certainly don't want to have to scout everything first. Melee BW is not an exploration game. Players want to scout locations where they think they can gain important information on what their opponent is doing, not to figure out the map.

Like I said. It's blown up way too much and it probably wouldn't matter that much anyway if it was acquired, so why would you want it? The appeal of true FoW is that your map is what you've explored and keep using, not the entire map.
The only argument you really have, imo, is exactly the one I have: preference. You prefer to play on non-true FoW, while I don't (care). This isn't merit for any changes to occur.
Why do you think I personally care? I am a map maker, detailed map knowledge is definitely not a point where my game falls apart. I also clearly stated it should be an option, because many players demand it, not mandatory. Again you say it probably wouldn't matter much, but you are the one who seems adamantly opposed to it anyway. And as has already been pointed out, in part the change already has occurred (see ASL observer mode).
Navane
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Netherlands2762 Posts
May 22 2018 08:23 GMT
#80
First, OP is a whiner.

Second, this is not a major QoL thing that will make the game significantly easier for anyone, or draw in anyone who is now appaled by the harsness of broodwar. It is such a small nuicanse I can't even think of any feature that would compare to it in futility.

Third, it's not just about remembering the map layout. When you play on a new map you should actually go in there and try out building placements too. Do you want an imprint on the map where you should build your rax/supplys for walls on each spawning point? (I have one for hunters, its great!) The same for pylon/forge/gateway walls? Do you want a blueprint of the simcity of your race? So all you have to do is fill in the coloring picture? Maybe put in small numbers to correspond with the supply or order you have to build them in? Do you want a couple of arrows that show what locations are in range of siegetanks or psionic storm? Maybe a pulsating purple pedestal to tell you where you should perform your drops?

All this is knowledge you should build up for each new map. Adding your petty fog of war idea simply moves the wall one step further away. So new people bash there heads against it one step later. The fact that you have to send your scvs to the minerals, that's the thing that's hard for new people. True story.
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