Blizzard has announced the new ladder maps for 2014's Season 2. They are available in Battle.net for testing in custom games, while feedback threads have been opened on the battle.net forums. Season 2 will begin on Monday, Apr 14 7:01am GMT (GMT+00:00).
"Our direction for the 1v1 map pool in Season 2 is to continue to find interesting, unique maps that will help provide variety in our map pool. We want more maps that show creative use of existing mechanics and provide different gameplay options from other maps already in the ladder pool. Habitation Station is a great example of a map that achieved this goal in Ladder Season 1 and we believe this was the best map addition in a really long time. Going forward, we’ll look to continue adding new maps that offer diverse gameplay.
For the 1v1 maps that we’ll be removing in Season 2, our goal is to reduce the amount of maps that heavily favor Blink all-in strategies. Other than that, we’re also looking to remove older maps that have been in the map pool for a while. Here are the maps we will be removing in Season 2."
1v1 Removals Polar Night Yeonsu Daedalus Point Heavy Rain
1v1 Additions
King Sejong Station LE
King Sejong Station is a 1v1 map that is currently being used in Proleague. This map has proven to be quite interesting as it offers a variety of timings and strategies, which we feel are due to how the natural and the third expansions are set up. We have high confidence in this map both in terms of balance and the potential for diverse strategies based on the games we’ve been seeing in Proleague.
Overgrowth LE
This is a new two-player map created by GSL, with a fairly standard natural and third base set up. Overgrowth also features High Yield bases in the middle of the map with watchtowers nearby. We feel these features, combined with a more familiar expansion path, will create some exciting games.
Merry Go Round LE
Merry Go Round is another new GSL map, and also the first three-player map to join the ladder. While the weakness of three-player maps in general is that they’re naturally not symmetric, we believe any start location advantage on Merry Go Round is minimized by how late this asymmetric advantage kicks in. We’ll definitely be watching to see if this works as we hope, and any feedback from games played on this map will be helpful prior to heading into Season 2.
Waystation
Waystation is a four-player map where you and your opponent can only spawn diagonal from one another. With this map, we are hoping to see players have to adapt based on the different strategic options offered by the different start locations. The top left and bottom right start locations will offer a more macro oriented game, while the top right and bottom left start locations will play quite differently. When starting in the top right and bottom left, the combination of a more normal rush distance, an open center path to your opponent, a slightly more difficult to defend third base, and island bases behind your main base will make this start location feel a lot more unique.
As with recent ladder seasons, the maps used in 2014 Ladder Season 2 will also reflect the map pool used in WCS 2014 Season 2. Below is a compiled list of the complete map pool for both 2014 Ladder Season 2, and WCS 2014 Season 2.
Complete 1v1 Map Pool for 2014 Season 2 Alterzim Stronghold TE Frost LE Habitation Station LE King Sejong Station LE Overgrowth LE Merry Go Round LE Waystation
3 player map? I don't know how well that's gonna work. Seems like a map that won't please many people. I'm all for trying, though. At least it's different.
The 4 player asymetrical map seems cool. As long as the games on that map are okay no matter which spawn locations you get, I think it might be popular.
Kind Sejong looks okay from proleague, we'll see how well it works on ladder.
Overgrowth looks... whatever. Basically a 2011 map.
Overgrowth and Merry-Go-Round both have interesting features (mid-map gold/odd number of spawn locations) that intrigue me. But I do have to say that they both have one small thing that annoys me greatly on a superficial level: Their names and tilesets don't match up at ALL.
As for the maps cut, they were the smart choices. Polar Night, while interesting, has been around for a while, and every other map had a tendency to favor one race in particular (Zerg for Daedalus, Protoss for Yeonsu and Heavy Rain).
Edit:
On March 27 2014 06:33 Darkdwarf wrote: Merry Go Round is the worst map name I've seen in a long time.
C'mon, every time I heard someone talk about Heavy Rain I instinctively yelled out "JASON!".
On March 27 2014 06:36 Greendotz wrote: No polls for peoples opinions? Not that it means anything but I still find it interesting to see the populous first impressions.
I'll make some polls for TL, give me a minute
Poll: First Impressions of the addition of King Sejong Station LE?
Approve (192)
72%
Disapprove (48)
18%
Neutral (27)
10%
267 total votes
Your vote: First Impressions of the addition of King Sejong Station LE?
Not a fan of how Merry-Go-Round lets the player who is counterclockwise expand+push into his opponent. Feels like it could potentially give a big adv to the counterclockwise player in certain match-ups, maybe TvZ the most troublesome.
I am still annoyed by seeing GSL maps becoming the ladder while other maps made by the community are being overlooked. Merry go round is being released for ladder really early (it had a drastic change a month ago) so this is more of an experimental release for a map, to see if 3 player maps are viable? I guess we will see. I will need to see the maps in higher detail to be able to judge them.
On March 27 2014 06:39 Waxangel wrote: Not a fan of how Merry-Go-Round lets the player who is counterclockwise expand+push into his opponent. Feels like it could potentially give a big adv to the counterclockwise player in certain match-ups, maybe TvZ the most troublesome.
This.
I like all of them except Merry go round and Alterzim.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/misc/sc2maps/sejongthumb.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Waxangel/misc/sc2maps/sejonglebig.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/misc/sc2maps/overgrowthsthumb.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Waxangel/misc/sc2maps/overgrowthbig.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/misc/sc2maps/merrythumb.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Waxangel/misc/sc2maps/merrygoroundbig.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/misc/sc2maps/waystationthumb.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://tl.net/staff/Waxangel/misc/sc2maps/waystationbig.jpg)
