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Welp, that makes 3 of the 4 maps I actually played on ladder nothing more than a memory. My Terran perspective:
Overgrowth looks like a map one can jump into right away, so that's nice. I'll be avoiding Waystation like the plague unless Blizzard intends for some Zerg nerfs to be coming through the pipeline, which I think is unlikely. Merry Go Round looks like a nightmare for third bases, but the map design overall might make things reasonable for 2-base styles (which I can't hate), so I'll probably give it a whirl to see how it plays out. King Sejong Station... never liked it. Scouting the map is a nightmare, which is why there have been so many proxy-style strategies on the map in Proleague. I guess it'll be fun if you like rock paper scissors.
Leaves my (tentative) choices as:
Habitation Station
Overgrowth
Merry Go Round
???
I'm stuck with (IMO) sucky maps for my fourth pick. Time for brainstorming...
Waystation and Alterzim are completely off the table for massive amounts of suck, so it comes down to the lesser of two evils: Frost or King Sejong Station. In Frost we have the benefit of familiarity (and therefore more refined builds), but all the problems of high-economy quadrants, huge map size, and vast open spaces to generate extremely bland game play. In King Sejong Station we have lack of familiarity and high early game instability, but huge opportunity for interesting game play and the potential for scouting patterns to get figured out well enough to mitigate some of the problems I mentioned.
I think I'll probably go for King Sejong Station, at least to start. The rock paper scissors aspect can also lean in Terran's favour and I play this game to enjoy myself, not to be bored to death. May as well try it out and hope to be pleasantly surprised -- at the very least I won't have to worry so much about boring 3 base turtling.
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On March 27 2014 06:33 The_Templar wrote:
YESSSSSSS!!!
Perfect map pool now.
alterzim.
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Burn in hell Yeonsu ^^
KSS is a welcome addition. I'd like to see Outboxer too. :D
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Canada8159 Posts
wow ok this seems decent, probably the best map update blizzard has ever done
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really excited , as a zerg i like most of these maps, and better yet it frees up some vetoes :D ( like yeonsu and heavy rain)
the 3 player map seems like a ncie idea for some variety  , though disappointed that alterzim is still in the map pool though, just eugh
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so can we finally address the minimap representation of sc2 maps. i have such a hard time deciphering anything from those pictures. i can't be the only one, right? i stared at that Overgrowth picture for like 2 minutes after reading the text that said there's "high yield expansions with watchtowers nearby" and i cannot make out a high yield base or a watchtower.
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your Country52798 Posts
On March 27 2014 08:37 sAsImre wrote:alterzim.
Alterzim is an awesome map.
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On March 27 2014 08:45 Schelim wrote:
so can we finally address the minimap representation of sc2 maps. i have such a hard time deciphering anything from those pictures. i can't be the only one, right? i stared at that Overgrowth picture for like 2 minutes after reading the text that said there's "high yield expansions with watchtowers nearby" and i cannot make out a high yield base or a watchtower.
I don't recommend you try the Where's Waldo/Wally books.  It did take me a moment to find the watchtowers though, but only because the text kind of threw me off in terms of where I should have been looking.
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On March 27 2014 08:08 y0su wrote:Show nested quote +On March 27 2014 07:43 Tosster wrote:
So they've nerfed blink and boosted mines to address blink allins on blink friendly maps, and now there are probably 0 blink maps. Also, all new maps are just big fuck u to protoss players, with 3rd layouts. Well I'm an protoss myself so maybe I wear dark glasses, but anything I can see here is comeback of 2base allins. Mark my words. Protoss will be the weakest race at the end of season 2. Blizzard should really let the community map makers do the job for them. Offer some prizes, give support and voilà - you have the best map pool ever. mines weren't buffed (for) vs blink...
Yeah they were nerfed because every terran died to oracles and no one adapt their strategies.. right?
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On March 27 2014 07:03 Pursuit_ wrote:
Overgrowth might end up being too good for passive playstyles too, SH vs Mech / Toss gives the defender high ground advantage at 5 of 6 bases on their side of the map, and every attack path into those 5 bases is a choke. Might be able to deny mining at the gold and secure the base behind it? Guess we'll have to see how it plays out.
I thought this too when I saw the layout of Overgrowth. We may see some games rival the Reality/Soulkey one.
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On March 27 2014 08:12 klipik12 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 27 2014 07:43 Tosster wrote:
So they've nerfed blink and boosted mines to address blink allins on blink friendly maps, and now there are probably 0 blink maps. Also, all new maps are just big fuck u to protoss players, with 3rd layouts. Well I'm an protoss myself so maybe I wear dark glasses, but anything I can see here is comeback of 2base allins. Mark my words. Protoss will be the weakest race at the end of season 2. Blizzard should really let the community map makers do the job for them. Offer some prizes, give support and voilà - you have the best map pool ever. Alterziem is kind of a blink map, and Frost and Waystation are definitely. Possibly Merry too, but I'm not sure about the distance.
Alterzim isnt blink map, blink map is map when you can freely harass natural and main without concerns that you'll be cornered. Waystation isn't blink map... I really have to discuss that? On Frost - yeah i kinda forgot about Frost, this is good map for blink and overall best map in the map pool now after changes.
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fucking awesome maps, to be honest. i don't mind alterzim and all the new ones are interesting visually and unique. within a few days of the new ladder season i'm sure we will be hearing various races complain about how easy/hard it is to take a third base (since that's all some people seem to care about, ZZZ SNORE STANDARD PLAY EVERY GAME), but as for first impressions i'm psyched.
On March 27 2014 08:45 Schelim wrote:
so can we finally address the minimap representation of sc2 maps. i have such a hard time deciphering anything from those pictures. i can't be the only one, right? i stared at that Overgrowth picture for like 2 minutes after reading the text that said there's "high yield expansions with watchtowers nearby" and i cannot make out a high yield base or a watchtower.
they aren't minimaps?? as far as i can tell they're images of the actual maps as they appear in game, just zoomed out. click the images for full size!
edit: on second thought i agree with you about the watchtowers, they are a little hard to spot. here they are in case anyone still can't see them
![[image loading]](http://i.gyazo.com/48c47e265346559fa9d1b7f967215a8d.png)
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yay, finally a good looking 3 player map :D
I just wish there was a sc2 remake of medusa, would be pretty interesting to have a 3 player map without ramps from the main to natural, still plenty of space for a protoss wall at the natural though vs zerg.
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All of these maps are totally crap for reaper  as expected they couldn't make them less blink friendly while keeping them somehow reaper friendly so we will be back to guessing on which deadly thing is the protoss doing in his base.
I kinda feel that Merry go round will end up not being a really good map with most ppl vetoing it and the rest playing it because of special tactics it might be allowing.
Waystation: PvZ and TvZ will be a nightmare to take a 3rd with 7 and 1 o'clock positions and looking at the rush distance to the enemy base it will be all in heaven.
I cant see a protoss taking a 3rd on any of the new maps apart from KSS, hell it will be hard as terran too (both vs Z)
They wanted to fix blink with new maps but I kinda feel like they will skew the stats with other strats.
PS does any1 else experience performance issues on Overgrowth? I have gtx 770s in SLI and damn I get crazy stutters and incredibly low fps
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Would be funny if Merry Go Round involes lots of base trades that go in circles.
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I hope they will polish up the waystation, looks too blend imo
Other maps looking quite nice and they really are trying hard to make maps more interesting. Good to see island and gold base making a comeback
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These maps look good. Like this season, I won't be vetoing any maps. I also like the update to the 2v2 map pool (indeed all the team play map pool). As someone who plays team games with IRL friends, this is welcome.
DK indicated a greater focus on team games and on maps this year. Good to see them following through.
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On March 27 2014 08:17 Infinite976 wrote:
any word on when ladder lock happens?
April 7th, IIRC. New season starts on the 14th.
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United States45 Posts
On March 27 2014 08:48 The_Templar wrote:Show nested quote +On March 27 2014 08:37 sAsImre wrote:On March 27 2014 06:33 The_Templar wrote:
YESSSSSSS!!!
Perfect map pool now. alterzim. Alterzim is an awesome map.
We often get feedback of both types on this map. I just posted a more detailed explanation on our thought process for keeping Alterzim Stronghold in the map pool.
2014 Ladder Season 2 - 1v1 Map Discussion
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EPT
