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As we know, Blizzard is well-reputed for their cracking reputation at making maps for their games. The Legacy of the Void beta, however, had sparsely any new content to speak of, just 2 maps showcasing a smattering of the new assets. Now that the launch of LotV is upon us, however, they have opened the floodgates, unleashing several new maps to be played as of... well, now. Or whenever you people finish the campaign, if you still bother with that.
Thus I shall present each of the new maps, and instead of flat bashing them in classic Blizzard-hate fashion, I shall render an honest opinion - as a mapmaker myself. By the way, here's my twitter page. Yes I make maps. I promise you this is mine. Not that you really care.
1v1 maps:+ Show Spoiler +All the lens flares you are about to see are real, and not faked in any way. Seriously, look at Blizzard, not me. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eFbPXPY.jpg) So there's a lot not to like about this map. I make no odds about this. Both your third and fourth bases are golds, and the map is packed to the gills with expansions to begin with. The main is surrounded by completely pathable terrain, so have fun with Stalkers I guess. If Blizzard is willing to rebalance the game around these anomolous elements, though, it could be good to have maps like this in the game. Central Protocol![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Y6EV1YS.jpg) Alright, so they could have given us Bel'Shir Beach, but we got this. 4 spawns, none of which appear to be disabled. A flat main choke, and a back door into the main at that. Unlike the other maps I'm showing you, however, it's actually relatively short on total base count at 14. The third base options are wide open, but again, if Blizzard really wants to balance around having maps like these, I'm not complaining. Ulrena![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sKJY9xB.jpg) Imagine taking the short rush pathing of Klontas Mire, the island betwixt close air spawns from Scrap Station, and made it worse, you basically have this. The island is a gold for TBD reasons, the rush distance is even shorter than Klontas, and there are about 1000% too many expansions, in places where expansions don't belong in any way. Seriously, check out the third base. Dusk Towers![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MNP7DLb.jpg) Similar in design to Alterzim Stronghold, but with a rush distance that makes a bit more sense, Dusk Flares is an in-base map with some slightly unusual terrain features. It recycles the overall center idea from Eternal Scar, in a way that encourages you to move forawrd, so not a bad idea from Blizzard on this one. On the other hand, it doesn't come into play until you have 4 bases, which is one too many. 2v2 maps:Distant Plane![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/t7ZeS0T.jpg) Distant Plane is a nice demonstration of the new tileset from The Void, but the map closely resembles the HotS beta map Fractured Glacier. It's been scaled up a bit to better fit 2v2, complete with 300% more gold bases. It's a straightforward map, what do you want. Fields of Death![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/CjfDu2t.jpg) To be honest, I'm not sure what's going on here. I think it's a 2v2 map. 3v3 maps:Doraelus Hills![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/48qdjKx.jpg) The layout here is reminiscent of the old 3v3 map Vault of Secrets. You have a short rush distance between teams, and a large number of expansions stowed behind backdoors with a series of rocks protecting them. There are a lot of gold bases though, so you know it's a LotV map. Avalon Labs![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Z0JlrJz.jpg) This map... has 6 Xel'Naga towers. And an easy 6 collective bases per team. With a total of 6 players. No triangles here. 4v4 maps:Asper Mountain![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QtQBYTl.jpg) So this is where Blizzard starts shamelessly stealing my ideas. Like this one. And this one.This is a 4v4 map with a split-team concept and short rush distances. Overall it actually looks decent, however. Also, gold bases guys. There's even a double-gold, which new players will have a hard time understanding, but it's Legacy of the Void. Are you still reading this shit? Hidden Caves![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WKtNEYT.jpg) Once again, leave it to Blizzard to perform unabashed plagiarism on the community. Of what you might ask? Leave it to me to show Blizzard how it's done. They've taken the solid layout I created and reimagined it for LotV - although weirdly it has no gold bases. Less than mine, even. You guys figure it out.
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Make a post detailing what parts or ideas Blizzard has plagiarized including pictures with clear examples and you'll get tons more support, I think.
I'm having trouble seeing how Blizzard copied you, the maps look pretty different, especially middle sections.
To be fair - Blizzard owns anything you make with the editor anyway.
These ideas can't be 'owned' really by anyone, and Blizzard are too 'big' a company to credit community members individually or publicly at launch. That would make their maps seam amateur in a way.
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Doesn't really make me want to play lotv. Those maps look very uninspiring.
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On November 10 2015 15:37 GiveMeCake wrote:
Make a post detailing what parts or ideas Blizzard has plagiarized including pictures with clear examples and you'll get tons more support, I think.
I'm having trouble seeing how Blizzard copied you, the maps look pretty different, especially middle sections.
To be fair - Blizzard owns anything you make with the editor anyway.
These ideas can't be 'owned' really by anyone, and Blizzard are too 'big' a company to credit community members individually or publicly at launch. That would make their maps seam amateur in a way.
I had hoped the bombastic wording of my post indicated my sarcasm. I must practice further.
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The maps are great......I love them!
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On November 10 2015 15:42 NewSunshine wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2015 15:37 GiveMeCake wrote:
Make a post detailing what parts or ideas Blizzard has plagiarized including pictures with clear examples and you'll get tons more support, I think.
I'm having trouble seeing how Blizzard copied you, the maps look pretty different, especially middle sections.
To be fair - Blizzard owns anything you make with the editor anyway.
These ideas can't be 'owned' really by anyone, and Blizzard are too 'big' a company to credit community members individually or publicly at launch. That would make their maps seam amateur in a way. I had hoped the bombastic wording of my post indicated my sarcasm. I must practice further.
If the entire thread is just a joke it wasn't very funny.
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With this map pack, you successfully landed a job at blizz. congratulations 
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so gold bases are the new destructible rocks now?
this is the 2nd expansion and Blizzard still can't make proper maps...... Did they get a monkey to design these?
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Can you spawn anywhere on Central Protocol?
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To be clear I love LotV, but I do not love this ladder map pool. I'm just glad it's the off season because I can't imagine how painful it would be for pro-gamers to have to rely on these maps.
Prion Terraces in particular will produce some very odd games. A short rush distance, but an unpunished quick 3rd base will quickly slant the game in that player's favor.
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I remember that David Kim said that they don't ever want to have a 100% pure standard same-old-same-old map pool that makes for the same games on different maps, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Now the ladder maps aren't perfect, but I told myself to not veto them for the next four weeks at least and give it a fair try.
On November 10 2015 19:08 alexanderzero wrote:
Prion Terraces in particular will produce some very odd games.
Which is exactly what they were trying to do. And I think we should give them a fair chance of trying this out.
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China6329 Posts
Holy shit Ulrena, I can't even.
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4713 Posts
To be fair, due to the economic model we don't really know for sure what a good map is any more. We have a few ideas but no clear model, so in that regard these maps are ok, we can consider them a learning experience for better or worse. However the map rotation better be up to speed this year, because if we find a map type that just doesn't work/produces bad games, I don't want to have to play on it for 6+ months.
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On November 10 2015 17:06 ilikeredheads wrote:
so gold bases are the new destructible rocks now?
this is the 2nd expansion and Blizzard still can't make proper maps...... Did they get a monkey to design these?
I'll never understand this nor their inability to communicate with community mappers
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Czech Republic12129 Posts
On November 10 2015 19:15 KeksX wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2015 19:08 alexanderzero wrote:
Prion Terraces in particular will produce some very odd games. Which is exactly what they were trying to do. And I think we should give them a fair chance of trying this out.
I play to entertain myself, not to do beta testing for Blizzard. Unless they start paying me I will veto BS maps and not even try them.
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On November 10 2015 19:42 deacon.frost wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2015 19:15 KeksX wrote:On November 10 2015 19:08 alexanderzero wrote:
Prion Terraces in particular will produce some very odd games. Which is exactly what they were trying to do. And I think we should give them a fair chance of trying this out. I play to entertain myself, not to do beta testing for Blizzard. Unless they start paying me I will veto BS maps and not even try them.
Okay. Thats why you have those vetos. So everyone is happy.
I agree however that they should work more with community mappers. They have some really fun maps, too. But please, please please please don't cry for a map pool of the same x-map layouts. Please. It was super boring. Sometimes I think of Overgrowth LE when I can't sleep.
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Maps are a reaction to the meta, not the shappers, the stale metas comes from poor unit design and blizzards inability to properly manage a map pool and rotate maps sensibly
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Maps look sweet at least aesthetically.
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Ulrena looks like a goatse tilted to the right by 90°...
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On November 10 2015 19:53 Meavis wrote:
Maps are a reaction to the meta, not the shappers, the stale metas comes from poor unit design and blizzards inability to properly manage a map pool and rotate maps sensibly
Maps are only a reaction to the meta if you treat them that way. If you want, maps can heavily influence the meta. And we had community maps that did just that. Fruitland anyone?
But the truth is people want the same old, big four player maps with the easy-to-take third and a fourth/fit nearby with a big main base and a gifted natural which is stupid not to take.
And then boom suddenly people start to complain about the fact that there's not enough diversity in gameplay.
Map Design is one of the pillars of RTS Game Design.
I mean, yeah I agree some of these maps don't look so good. But I'd rather have Blizzard try out new stuff / work with community mappers on new ideas than to gp back to a "standard map pool".
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Influence yes, and thats why I consider them a reaction, they're a tool to adjust the game, not one to shape
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Czech Republic12129 Posts
On November 10 2015 19:49 KeksX wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2015 19:42 deacon.frost wrote:On November 10 2015 19:15 KeksX wrote:On November 10 2015 19:08 alexanderzero wrote:
Prion Terraces in particular will produce some very odd games. Which is exactly what they were trying to do. And I think we should give them a fair chance of trying this out. I play to entertain myself, not to do beta testing for Blizzard. Unless they start paying me I will veto BS maps and not even try them. Okay. Thats why you have those vetos. So everyone is happy. I agree however that they should work more with community mappers. They have some really fun maps, too. But please, please please please don't cry for a map pool of the same x-map layouts. Please. It was super boring. Sometimes I think of Overgrowth LE when I can't sleep.
The beta just finished, that's what made me a little bit angry in your post - "we should try them". I just bought the game and someone wants me to do beta testing... WHAT? Is Blizzard channeling its inner Bethesda? 
I agree that boring same style maps are BS too, mostly because tournaments are boring to watch. But tournaments are not BO1 ladder! The system doesn't care about boring games and can generate 1 map several times in a row. And believe me, I don't veto all but 1 map
Where pro player can have different BO3 for PvZ, PvT and PvP, I cannot. I have to veto maps before I start playing ladder. And no one cares that I love PvZ Catallena and hate PvT Catallena. I either veto Catallena or play Catallena 
Edit> Not sure whether Blizzard changed veto system now, my copy is already payed but not installed, because Europe.
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After playing two games on Ulrena I totally and completely don't get the point of combining the oh-so-close air distance and ultra-short rush distance through the choke with the vast space and additional bases on the right.
I have to admit, though, that Blizzard kept their word and made maps which will produce 'nonstandard' games. Which seems to be a good idea for the WCS offseason.
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On November 10 2015 20:06 deacon.frost wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2015 19:49 KeksX wrote:On November 10 2015 19:42 deacon.frost wrote:On November 10 2015 19:15 KeksX wrote:On November 10 2015 19:08 alexanderzero wrote:
Prion Terraces in particular will produce some very odd games. Which is exactly what they were trying to do. And I think we should give them a fair chance of trying this out. I play to entertain myself, not to do beta testing for Blizzard. Unless they start paying me I will veto BS maps and not even try them. Okay. Thats why you have those vetos. So everyone is happy. I agree however that they should work more with community mappers. They have some really fun maps, too. But please, please please please don't cry for a map pool of the same x-map layouts. Please. It was super boring. Sometimes I think of Overgrowth LE when I can't sleep. The beta just finished, that's what made me a little bit angry in your post - "we should try them". I just bought the game and someone wants me to do beta testing... WHAT? Is Blizzard channeling its inner Bethesda? I agree that boring same style maps are BS too, mostly because tournaments are boring to watch. But tournaments are not BO1 ladder! The system doesn't care about boring games and can generate 1 map several times in a row. And believe me, I don't veto all but 1 map Where pro player can have different BO3 for PvZ, PvT and PvP, I cannot. I have to veto maps before I start playing ladder. And no one cares that I love PvZ Catallena and hate PvT Catallena. I either veto Catallena or play Catallena Edit> Not sure whether Blizzard changed veto system now, my copy is already payed but not installed, because Europe.
And this is why im still kinda bummed out how the ladder map pool is connected to everything
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I've been enjoying the hell out of Ulrena.
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These maps makes me think you guys are going to play Wings of the Void
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5 years and they still build maps. Why blizzard why?
There are so many amazing map makers within the community and there'd be even more if it hadn't taken you forever to even include community maps in the ladder pool (amongst other things). Please let those employees who make sc2 maps do something productive with their time. Just stop. Your team is mainly awful at it and it's a complete waste of your resources.
I honestly really enjoyed the most recent blizzcon/ladder map pool. But then again most people wanna play on the same standard maps for years and years...
Would be interesting to know how many of the people who prefer standard maps over and over again came from warcraft 3...
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I love the aesthetic on these new maps, they look so awesome. Excited to see what map makers come up with from the new stuff.
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mappers are some of the most ill mannered and entitled people in the community
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holy fuck these maps, what is blizzard thinking.. Its been 5 damn years and they still dont know how to make a good map.
just fucking put kespa maps in the mappool
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Russian Federation393 Posts
All the maps are so dark! don't like them!
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thing is kespa hasn't made maps in quite a while, not exactly sure why.
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On November 10 2015 20:11 corydoras wrote:
After playing two games on Ulrena I totally and completely don't get the point of combining the oh-so-close air distance and ultra-short rush distance through the choke with the vast space and additional bases on the right.
I have to admit, though, that Blizzard kept their word and made maps which will produce 'nonstandard' games. Which seems to be a good idea for the WCS offseason.
Standard is a silly term when there isn't even a defined meta outside of 4 gates.
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It's hard to judge maps before the meta settle down. Like, we don't know how blink timings will work in LotV. Your complaint about the Prion Terraces's blink friendly main could be completely irrelevant, for instance.
Blizzard wants to push map diversity. The community is not mentally prepared for it.
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Love the unsettled feel of these new maps + new game where everyone is still trying to figure things out. Feels like beginning of WoL to me. I didn't get this feeling with HOTS.
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OP, you really need to chill. Ur post is a travesty.
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An island gold base? Really?!
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On November 10 2015 22:07 brickrd wrote:
mappers are some of the most ill mannered and entitled people in the community
Care to elaborate, or do you just want to throw that out there and say nothing else?
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I'm not sure if I even want to have anything what the Blizzard's mappers were having.
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Whatever adds spice to life, I'll go with it
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and a back door into the main
no NO NO blizzard pls, backdoor rocks are bullshit, why do you care so little about a fair playing experience???
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Prion Terraces? Prions are what cause mad cow disease and CJD. Guess I know the inspiration for that one.
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On November 10 2015 22:07 brickrd wrote:
mappers are some of the most ill mannered and entitled people in the community
How enlightening
Thanks NS for posing all the maps, I didnt have the chance to look at them yet!
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Just to clarify that everything anyone make with Blizzard map editor or mod editor belongs to blizzard; so there won't ever be any plagiarism problem for them if they use community created content.
I know they didn;t copy any map becauset heir maps are terrible, but if they did it would be ok even without source mention 
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The commentary on these maps seems stuck in HotS. LotV plays out way differently.
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Too many low level players complaining about the maps instead of learning how to play on them is the problem.
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On November 11 2015 03:50 Tenks wrote:
The commentary on these maps seems stuck in HotS. LotV plays out way differently.
I didn't really go into that much depth, so I don't see how it could be taken that way. I simply made remarks about the map's broad concepts, which should still apply since SC2 is still broadly the same game.
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On November 11 2015 03:55 NewSunshine wrote:Show nested quote +On November 11 2015 03:50 Tenks wrote:
The commentary on these maps seems stuck in HotS. LotV plays out way differently. I didn't really go into that much depth, so I don't see how it could be taken that way. I simply made remarks about the map's broad concepts, which should still apply since SC2 is still broadly the same game.
Except you routinely hammered Blizzard for putting so many expansions on the maps. In LotV you need more expansions than in HotS. Possibly even the exact number is undefined at the moment instead of HotS where it was setting up the progression from your nat to your third then trying to make the middle interesting. I'd prefer to have dense maps than to be forced to play on gigantic sized maps every game simply because Blizzard wants to offer breathing room between expansions. So right now Blizzard has to throw a bit of shit against the wall to see what exactly sticks in LotV. I'm more excited to play on actual made-for-Legacy maps than having to use HotS maps in Legacy.
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On November 11 2015 04:04 Tenks wrote:Show nested quote +On November 11 2015 03:55 NewSunshine wrote:On November 11 2015 03:50 Tenks wrote:
The commentary on these maps seems stuck in HotS. LotV plays out way differently. I didn't really go into that much depth, so I don't see how it could be taken that way. I simply made remarks about the map's broad concepts, which should still apply since SC2 is still broadly the same game. Except you routinely hammered Blizzard for putting so many expansions on the maps. In LotV you need more expansions than in HotS. Possibly even the exact number is undefined at the moment instead of HotS where it was setting up the progression from your nat to your third then trying to make the middle interesting. I'd prefer to have dense maps than to be forced to play on gigantic sized maps every game simply because Blizzard wants to offer breathing room between expansions. So right now Blizzard has to throw a bit of shit against the wall to see what exactly sticks in LotV. I'm more excited to play on actual made-for-Legacy maps than having to use HotS maps in Legacy.
I'm not slamming Blizzard. I'm aware LotV is a different beast, I'm merely acknowledging the differences. And yes, I make these remarks from the perspective of someone moving from HotS to LotV, because that's where every SC2 player is coming from.
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On November 10 2015 23:06 Tiaraju9 wrote:
It's hard to judge maps before the meta settle down. Like, we don't know how blink timings will work in LotV.
Blizzard wants to push map diversity. The community is not mentally prepared for it.
I agree, I am all for Blizz pushing map diversity.
I actually want t congratulate Blizz for having the balls to take risks such as these. Even if the maps are not the best, I admire their determination. Because we all know that there is loads of resistance against new concepts (from new players, from pro players, even from community and map makers).
It's tough so.. cheers, and I hope they can have a positive impact in as many aspects of LotV as possible.
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I'm excited for Scrap Station 2.0. It is the dumbest looking map in the best possible way. But I also loved playing Scrap Station so maybe I've got a screw loose.
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If it was time to throw out a bunch of maps with weird-ass layouts and wack-ass ideas, they should have held a Blizzard-official map jam in the week before release. Topics: greater than 1 gold per player, greater than 7 bases per player. Vote on blizz-selected finalists, top 7 are the new ladder! can you imagine the hype
instead...
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kHBtK8U.png)
Can we rotate Ulrena 90 degrees so I can have my minimap be Sarah Kerrigan (judging by her hair at 12:00) spreading her ass cheeks far and wide while on her knees, waiting for the big dick of Blizzard to penetrate her?
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Central Protocol makes my eyes bleed. So much visual clutter lol.. damn
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On November 10 2015 20:20 OtherWorld wrote:
These maps makes me think you guys are going to play Wings of the Void
well thats the feeling I had when I was looking at the maps ( particularly the crap station layout )
Its like Blizzard wants it to be 2010 again, back when SC2 was popular
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On November 11 2015 07:24 Kevin_Sorbo wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2015 20:20 OtherWorld wrote:
These maps makes me think you guys are going to play Wings of the Void well thats the feeling I had when I was looking at the maps ( particularly the crap station layout ) Its like Blizzard wants it to be 2010 again, back when SC2 was popular
I know right. It struck me, it's like it's voluntarily scrappy maps
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These maps are hilarious. We have a gold island base that's almost (S)crap Station level, a map with a 3rd base gold, a really weird 4-player map that has all spawns enabled for no reason, and Dusk Towers which I haven't played on yet (but looks okay). Seems legit.
Especially Central Protocol. I spawned top right, opponent spawned top left, do you even 3rd base bro?
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There are some very unfortunate images that are apparent when rotating Ulrena 90 degrees in either direction.
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Fortunately it's the offseason. But with the way they rotate maps I fear the first WCS map pool will be... quite strange to say the least. Maybe it's a good thing, I haven't played the game yet, maybe those maps actually suit the game well. But I show reserve about Blizz mapmakers abilities.
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On November 11 2015 06:40 [UoN]Sentinel wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Can we rotate Ulrena 90 degrees so I can have my minimap be Sarah Kerrigan (judging by her hair at 12:00) spreading her ass cheeks far and wide while on her knees, waiting for the big dick of Blizzard to penetrate her?
How do you guys even come up with this stuff?
Spoiled*
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OK I won't lie, I don't really like the maps, but I love everything else. Except the cyclones when they make dots everywhere.
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Maybe if we all complain enough we can get another TL vote and get some of the best community maps into the map pool!!
..........................
Aw.. gawd... pls... stawp ;~;
+ Show Spoiler +There are 3 maps that I think are pretty awful from this set: prion terraces, lerilak crest, ruins of seras. some of these have been in the map pool but I am pretty adverse to their layouts. Honestly, I think some of the others are not so bad comparative to the last few map pools... @_@;; I just wish we had like... actual, not terrible map makers ;~;. I made a video on this a few months ago ..
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I really like those 1v1 maps, both as a player and a viewer.
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ruins and central aren't bad
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On November 11 2015 08:00 Dangermousecatdog wrote:
There are some very unfortunate images that are apparent when rotating Ulrena 90 degrees in either direction.
I think you need to get out more.
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New game New everything, I don't mind the chaotic stupid etc start
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EPT
