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Blizzard's map team and positional imbalance. - Page 3

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Hydrox911
Profile Joined October 2010
United Kingdom261 Posts
December 20 2011 23:05 GMT
#41
Can someone confirm that this doesn't happen on alot of community maps aswell. Is this a fault of blizzards maps or the editor itself.
No, Your Quote.
BioTech
Profile Joined March 2011
Australia264 Posts
December 20 2011 23:06 GMT
#42
Do we really want perfectly even maps?!

Give us assymmetry! War isnt meant to be an event contest?

Give us island maps!

Give us maps where we are seperated by destructible rocks!
I actually played the original WarCraft - Orcs v Humans back in 1995!
Phanekim
Profile Joined April 2003
United States777 Posts
December 20 2011 23:24 GMT
#43
i mean seriously, what do you expect from blizzard. they really blow at making maps. however, they are still the best company at making rts...sad to say.
i like cheese
Klondikebar
Profile Joined October 2011
United States2227 Posts
December 20 2011 23:32 GMT
#44
On December 21 2011 08:06 BioTech wrote:
Do we really want perfectly even maps?!

Give us assymmetry! War isnt meant to be an event contest?

Give us island maps!

Give us maps where we are seperated by destructible rocks!


Give us a game where people stop playing because it's imbalanced!

Seriously though Starcraft was one of the first RTS's to perfect asymetic balancing and it's also really the only RTS to become an esport. That's not a coincidence. Maps need to be balanced.
#2throwed
chuky500
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
France473 Posts
December 20 2011 23:51 GMT
#45
I'm more worried about Antiga Shipyard's top right position where you need 1 more building to wall in.

Sometimes it feels like Blizzard really wants the community to adopt custom maps because making new maps costs them money, but somehow tournaments organizers don't want to take the responsibility to use different maps and keep Blizzard wasting money on new maps.
sevia
Profile Joined May 2010
United States954 Posts
December 21 2011 00:12 GMT
#46
Blizzard has always had a problem with symmetry for some reason. Metalopolis still makes me cringe.
최지성 Bomber || 김동환 viOLet || 고병재 GuMiho
Lysergic
Profile Joined December 2010
United States355 Posts
December 21 2011 00:14 GMT
#47
They also need to make there maps symmetrical. You have to completely change the way you wall-off on certain maps, such as Antiga Shipyard - the number of spaces from bottom of the ramp to the Nexus is different depending where you spawn. I think it's why pros usually wall at the wide natural ramp when they spawn bottom left. But when they spawn top left they can easily wall next to the natural Nexus because the space works better.

I don't think any of their maps are symmetrical, every main/natural is differently sized and has small differences that make it annoying to figure out building placement and gives certain races/players advantages based on where they spawn.
Ragoo
Profile Joined March 2010
Germany2773 Posts
December 21 2011 00:18 GMT
#48
On December 21 2011 08:05 Hydrox911 wrote:
Can someone confirm that this doesn't happen on alot of community maps aswell. Is this a fault of blizzards maps or the editor itself.


I'm not sure about the whole gas thing. At least in 2p maps and 4p mirrored this shouldn't happen at all, but it could happen in 4p rotational or 3p (haven't heard about it tho).

But there is definitely a lot less positional imbalance overall in community maps. Only some doodads are placed differently, but that doesn't rly matter a lot.
Member of TPW mapmaking team/// twitter.com/Ragoo_ /// "goody represents border between explainable reason and supernatural" Cloud
Sableyeah
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Netherlands2119 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-21 00:21:17
December 21 2011 00:20 GMT
#49
It's so easy to spot, the one that's closer, usually using your eyes is sufficient.

BoA | Sunny | HyunA | ChoA | Hyemi // Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won't see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree and you will miss the entire f0rest - Takuan Soho
ReaperX
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Hong Kong1758 Posts
December 21 2011 00:22 GMT
#50
On December 21 2011 00:06 luck_star21 wrote:
at the very least the spawn points should be equal (like arids are) =/

id suspected this was happening, especially on metal


Only problem is Arid is probably the worst map ever.
Artosis : Clide. idrA : Shut up.
Turbogangsta
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
Australia319 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-21 00:26:31
December 21 2011 00:23 GMT
#51
one of the fundamental concepts of a strategy game is about gaining as many small advantages as your can. catz is a very good example of this. he can be walled into his main, tech to lair, produce 4-5 mutas and constantly pick off 1 or 2 workers to find himself at an economic advantage.

to put it like a WoW friend of mine did once about speccing and gearing properly "alot of little numbers make a big number"

ive also seen a thread about how larva that pops off hatch opposite to minerals can be as much as a 10% (not completely sure) difference in income. now take the geysers into account too and all of a sudden it seems like a very big deal to me that someone could be down so many resources because a map wasn't balanced right.

all other arguments aside its not like this is something that actually requires the fundamental game code to be changed to be fixed. it can be fixed by any decent map maker in a very short time. im not sure how this would affect mineral patches in some maps but im sure many players would prefer their gas geysers to all mine consistently then their mineral patches.

as far as im concerned i will continue to trust blizzard to strive for balance perfection as they work their way down the list of imbalances and continue to belive in the theory that alot of small numbers make a big number.

edit; just wnt to clarify that i know the side a lava spawns on a hatchery cant be fixed by map design
Esports is killing Esports.
Klive5ive
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
United Kingdom6056 Posts
December 21 2011 00:31 GMT
#52
On December 21 2011 08:24 Phanekim wrote:
i mean seriously, what do you expect from blizzard. they really blow at making maps. however, they are still the best company at making rts...sad to say.

Yeah this is very true.
By RTS game low standards Blizzard are phenomenal but by our standards they make some obvious mistakes. I think it's about time they passed map making over to the community. They could have voting on the maps each reset so we at least get a rotation.
I mean I don't ladder very often but I went to ladder after 3-4 months out and I'm shocked.... there are 3 maps that are still identical, there are still positional imbalances and there are still terribly balanced maps.
It's really bad. How can you play ladder consistently knowing this?
No wonder IdrA leaves when Ganzi takes the gold expansion. Everyone knows that Terran muling gold expansion is just overpowered hence why GSL took the gold expos out.... so why even bother playing ladder in that ridiculous situation?
Don't hate the player - Hate the game
Nazeron
Profile Joined September 2010
Canada1046 Posts
December 21 2011 00:37 GMT
#53
wow, thats pretty crazy, thnx for the write up. wouldnt have had any idea that there was positional imbalance. hopefully blizz fixes this asap, wonder how much of a difference this makes in the professional scene
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
llKenZyll
Profile Blog Joined November 2011
United States853 Posts
December 21 2011 00:41 GMT
#54
Does this really matter that much? Its the gas amount of one or two stalkers, not a big deal.
http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/nd6nd/tang_in_his_natural_habitat/
bounca
Profile Joined June 2011
140 Posts
December 21 2011 00:43 GMT
#55
On December 21 2011 09:41 Lebzetu wrote:
Does this really matter that much? Its the gas amount of one or two stalkers, not a big deal.

That can decide a game. So it is a big deal
FeyFey
Profile Joined September 2010
Germany10114 Posts
December 21 2011 01:08 GMT
#56
On December 21 2011 09:31 Klive5ive wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 21 2011 08:24 Phanekim wrote:
i mean seriously, what do you expect from blizzard. they really blow at making maps. however, they are still the best company at making rts...sad to say.

Yeah this is very true.
By RTS game low standards Blizzard are phenomenal but by our standards they make some obvious mistakes. I think it's about time they passed map making over to the community. They could have voting on the maps each reset so we at least get a rotation.
I mean I don't ladder very often but I went to ladder after 3-4 months out and I'm shocked.... there are 3 maps that are still identical, there are still positional imbalances and there are still terribly balanced maps.
It's really bad. How can you play ladder consistently knowing this?
No wonder IdrA leaves when Ganzi takes the gold expansion. Everyone knows that Terran muling gold expansion is just overpowered hence why GSL took the gold expos out.... so why even bother playing ladder in that ridiculous situation?


its more a zerg reason why golds got removed and less a mule reason (well it was a terran reason as well but not really mules). And its interesting that tournament maps often pick up things introduced in Blizzard maps. And balanced map wise there were alot of failures in the tournaments, while Blizzard maps are really persistent in tournaments. So i doubt they don't know what they are doing. I consider the bad bad blizzard maps a myth, that came into existence because they kept the laddermaps different in style, so everyone hated one+ map.

And starting position imbalances is nothing new in blizzard maps, its acutally often wanted and adds to the map, but i can understand why people want to be able to open every map the same way until the 30 supply mark, without thinking on which position they started.

Well the more imbalanced the map is the better it is anyway, because it makes games more fun if every race has some spots to abuse on the map. And imo Blizzard is doing a good job on adding things to the map that favor one race, so the overall balance gets shifted to 50%. Playing custom maps though, mostly because they look better ^^. The Ladder maps are optimized for performance, so weaker pcs can play them.

I like Xel naga caverns by the way. Loved by all zergs at the start, saying this is the map and now betrayed as the terran super favored map. And its mostly only because the standard strategies changed in zvt, while the map stayed the same.
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10376 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-21 01:12:57
December 21 2011 01:11 GMT
#57
On December 21 2011 09:20 Sableyeah wrote:
It's so easy to spot, the one that's closer, usually using your eyes is sufficient.



at first i was like, darn, time to memorize which gasses not to take... then i realized this xD


On December 21 2011 09:43 bounca wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 21 2011 09:41 Lebzetu wrote:
Does this really matter that much? Its the gas amount of one or two stalkers, not a big deal.

That can decide a game. So it is a big deal



But it's like 2 stalkers in gas difference when the geyser is MINED OUT. That's like 15 minutes into the game. 2 stalkers at that time can make a big difference yes, but there are a lot of other factors that aren't equal like the map not being perfectly symmetrical, or mineral patches being farther away as well, etc.
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
SoulWager
Profile Joined August 2010
United States464 Posts
December 21 2011 01:20 GMT
#58
On December 21 2011 10:11 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 21 2011 09:20 Sableyeah wrote:
It's so easy to spot, the one that's closer, usually using your eyes is sufficient.



at first i was like, darn, time to memorize which gasses not to take... then i realized this xD


Show nested quote +
On December 21 2011 09:43 bounca wrote:
On December 21 2011 09:41 Lebzetu wrote:
Does this really matter that much? Its the gas amount of one or two stalkers, not a big deal.

That can decide a game. So it is a big deal



But it's like 2 stalkers in gas difference when the geyser is MINED OUT. That's like 15 minutes into the game. 2 stalkers at that time can make a big difference yes, but there are a lot of other factors that aren't equal like the map not being perfectly symmetrical, or mineral patches being farther away as well, etc.

the issue isn't that you get fewer stalkers 20 minutes into the game, as much as that all of your gas requiring units/tech are delayed, and that that delay grows as the game goes on.

Currently testing the GSL maps. There are some issues, but, so far, none as bad as meta or entombed valley.
SoulWager
Profile Joined August 2010
United States464 Posts
December 21 2011 01:25 GMT
#59
On December 21 2011 09:20 Sableyeah wrote:
It's so easy to spot, the one that's closer, usually using your eyes is sufficient.


Usually yes, though there are exceptions, such as arid wastes, where the diagonal one is closer, but mines slower ( distance ~2.83 tiles mines slower than the one at ~3 tiles) The easy rule is that diagonals are bad, straight up/down or straight east/west is good.
SoulWager
Profile Joined August 2010
United States464 Posts
December 21 2011 03:16 GMT
#60
Just took a look at gas on the GSL maps mains and naturals. The biggest problem in the mains is an 88 gas difference on calm before the storm, while some of the naturals on some maps have up to a 132 gas difference between spawn locations. Calm before the storm has a significant problem in the sheer number of inefficient geysers in top left vs the one marginally inefficient geyser in bottom left. Is 276 gas significant in a 3base vs 3base situation?

GSL Belshir beach (winter):
all mains, naturals OK

GSL Crossfire SE (official):
top main left geyser 28 gas remaining

GSL Daybreak (official):
all mains OK
right natural right geyser 92 gas remaining
left natural left geyser 56 gas remaining

GSL Dual Sight:
all mains, naturals OK

GSL Antiga shipyard:
all mains OK
Top left natural bottom geyser 176 gas remaining
bottom left natural right geyser 176 gas remaining
bottom right natural top geyser 156 gas remaining
top right natural top geyser 176 gas remaining

GSL Tal'Darim Altar(official):
top right main left geyser 28 gas remaining
bottom left natural right geyser 56 gas remaining
bottom right natural top geyser 176 gas remaining
top right natural left geyser 56 gas remaining
top left natural bottom geyser 176 gas remaining

GSL Calm before the storm:

top left main right geyser 88 gas remaining
top right main left geyser 28 gas remaining

top left back natural left geyser 28 gas remaining
top left back natural right geyser 188
top right back natural bottom geyser 88 gas remaining
bottom right back natural left geyser 176 gas remaining
bottom left back natural top geyser 56 gas remaining

top left front natural top geyser 28 gas remaining
top right front natural top geyser 88 gas remaining

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