Refined Map Project

Each of these maps is made with extensive help from the community, using human resources at Team Liquid, Starcraftarena.net, PlayXP, SC2mapster.com, and various proteams to find asymmetrical imbalances with a map. In each instance the community is polled to figure out which way a positional problem should be fixed.

Once a map has been balanced, it goes through a testing period where it is tested by progamers in actual high level games, before it is cleared for tournament play. VT Gaming helps with this primarily, although several other professional gamers help with this part of the process. VT Gaming exclusively uses the refined versions of these maps for their team practice, so the maps will continue to be tested at a high level long after they are cleared. I review every test game replay, to assure that the changes do not cause any pathing problems or new imbalances.

Below are some quotes from progamers and community leaders about the map project, or individual maps specifically:
From VT:
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From others:
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Download link: http://sc2.nibbits.com/maps/project/76336/refined-scrap-station

Scrap Station is a good example of an excellent map with a few slight problems. A while back Zelniq posted a thread on Team Liquid illustrating these issues in detail.

The biggest concern is the ramp leading to the main base, which is a different distance from the starting location depending on your spawn point. This is a large concern for Zerg. On the righthand spawn Zerg cannot effectively cover the ramp with spine crawlers on their starting creep, nor can they spread creep to the bottom of the ramp with a single tumor. Both of these things are possible on the lefthand spawn, and the progaming community has accepted at this point that ZvZ on Scrap Station unquestioningly favors the left spawn position.



Below are a detailed list of the changes, their reasoning and images illustrating why they were problems in the first place, and what was done to change them.


Change #1:
The righthand spawn locations ramp was pushed inward slightly. This prevents the problem of spine crawlers on the right spawn having bad coverage of the ramp compared to the left, and prevents the problem of needing an extra creep tumor to reach the natural on the right spawn.

In order to make the number of buildings required to wall off as a FEing Protoss or Terran the same, a doodad was added close to the cliff edge. Walling at the ramp is the same.

Finally, to fix the issue of the righthand main now being smaller, some space was added on the far right side for tech buildings, similar to the space on the far left of the lefthand main.

The old and new righthand ramp:
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Spine Crawlers at the ramp:
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Number of Creep Tumors to connect main to natural:
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Different possible wall-offs:
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The slightly enlarged area of the right main:
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Change #2:
A doodad has been placed behind the destructible rocks on the left-hand spawn. Before, it would take an extra building to wall off behind the rocks on the left spawn compared to the right.

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Change #3:
The chokepoint south of the natural on the right hand side of the map has been slightly enlarged, making it impossible to wall with 2 buildings on the right hand side. It was originally possible to wall with 2 buildings here on the right side but not on the left.

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Change #4:
Previously, there was a spot on the island on the south spawn side where Infestors could spit Infested Terrans over the gap, even though Stalkers cannot blink over the island. This spot has been removed to make this no longer possible.

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Map Analyzer imagery of the changes, for reference:
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The map is currently online and up to date as "Refined Scrap Station" on the North America, Europe and Southeast Asian servers. It can be found by searching for "Refined".

Download link: http://sc2.nibbits.com/maps/view/135230/refined-metalopolis

While Metalopolis is generally considered a pretty good map with few imbalances and issues, like most Blizzard maps it too is asymmetrical, and has some minor problems. The primary problem is the difference in air distance behind the mains of each spawn location. This makes air harass much more powerful at the north spawn location compared to the others.




This, and two other minor problems, have been changed.


Change 1:

The air distance behind the main mineral line was evened out for the 4 spawns. Previously the north spawn had much more air distance than the other three, and the south spawns air distance was so small you actually couldn't click there without tilting the camera.

The changed air distance is even between the two extremes, at 5 range between the edge of the map and the closest point of the main base. This is enough for an air unit to comfortably get behind the mineral line, but not enough for it to kite enemy defenders.

Pictures:
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Change 2:

The inefficient gas geysers at the north and south spawns were fixed. It's kind of hard to explain this through pictures, but there are certain points where 3 workers only mine a geyser with 90% efficiency. This can slow early game tech by 5-10 seconds, especially if you accidentally take the bad geyser first. See this thread for details.

Pictures:
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Change 3:

The natural expansions were slightly edited, to make walling at the natural the same for all four spawns. This had the added effect of reducing the size of the west spawn main, which was substantially larger than the other 3.

Note that these pictures show the smallest possible wall (fewest number of required buildings), not necessarily the best possible wall.

Pictures:
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And for you map analyzers, we have some map analyzer imagery:
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The map is currently online and up to date as "Refined Metalopolis" on the North America, Europe and Southeast Asian servers. It can be found by searching for "Refined".