September 2011 Rotation Feedback

[Masakari]

Things for everyone to bear in mind here:

To try and plan out maps for TV2 under the assumption that you can get it to stay seeded and filled all the time is a bad idea. This server is specifically intended for the opportunity for villains to get maps on it that they enjoy playing. Odds are usually high that if you get good maps villains enjoy and get a group of villains to come play together, pubbers that join in will see the atmosphere and be more inclined to play. That's how a large people really understood the Ville Spirit from first playing on the customs server when TF2 first launched.

That said, putting in what I would consider niche appeals of maps like either KotH, Arena, or warpath variants tend to not produce good results. The truth of the matter is that people tend to either really like or really hates game modes like those three, and tend to completely ditch when they come out as opposed to hanging around anyways for things they may not like, but can tolerate.

[One_Medic_Army]

I'd say KOTH is less niche than A/D CTF...

OTOH, we might want to stick Wacky Races in officially, since most times we end up voting it up anyway, along with lolcano and occasionally degroot keep or meleebarn.

[abiscuit]

Hunting around on TF2Maps and I found three I want to try:

cp_dusk - An A/D map with two stages and a nighttime theme. Kinda reminds me of Hightower in a few places.
cp_mojave - Another two stage A/D map with a desert sunset theme. After running around this a little bit it looks a little better than dusk, not sure how it plays.
pl_boundary - This is a 4 point single stage payload map similar to Badwater. This is my favorite of the three just by looking at it and it has a beautiful snow theme to it. It borrows some things from Badwater for sure, especially on the first point, but it's a really good looking map.

I'd replace pl_dbheights with pl_boundary, pl_waste with cp_mojave, and one of the other CP maps with cp_dusk.

[TheCarpe]

Hunting around on TF2Maps and I found three I want to try:

cp_dusk - An A/D map with two stages and a nighttime theme. Kinda reminds me of Hightower in a few places.
cp_mojave - Another two stage A/D map with a desert sunset theme. After running around this a little bit it looks a little better than dusk, not sure how it plays.
pl_boundary - This is a 4 point single stage payload map similar to Badwater. This is my favorite of the three just by looking at it and it has a beautiful snow theme to it. It borrows some things from Badwater for sure, especially on the first point, but it's a really good looking map.

I'd replace pl_dbheights with pl_boundary, pl_waste with cp_mojave, and one of the other CP maps with cp_dusk.

We just put DBHeights on, though. And it's awesome. There's also that.

[abiscuit]

Either way, I'd still like to see newer maps near the beginning/middle of the rotation.

[Supreveio]

Some KOTH maps I'd like to see us try:

Sekhmet by EArkham - Modified from his entry to the (A)Symmetrical CP Contest, Sekhmet is an Egyptian-themed map. From the looks of it, you can capture the point by standing on the platforms directly above it, much like some of the points in Gullywash.

Mill by IrishTaxiDriver - A vertical alpine map with the point inside a mill on a dried-up river.

Watermill by loc_n_lol - An alpine-themed map built around a watermill, similar to Mill. Only this one has water and it's horizontal.

Coldfront by Icarus - It's Coldfront, KOTH style.

Moonshine by heyyou - Swamp-themed from like 3 years ago. Oldie, but goodie, I think.

[TTHREAZ]

I miss Corporation.

[Stevo]

Added all the suggested maps. Try them out when you want.

[abiscuit]

We looked at some maps tonight and had a chance to play them with a near full server.

pl_boundary received the most positive reaction out of the maps we tried. This one should be added to the rotation.

cp_mojave received mixed reactions. I think it's better than some of the other customs on the rotation and should be worth a try. I don't think we have any A/D maps on the rotation currently.

koth_sekhmet and koth_mill seemed to be the least favored out of the ones we played tonight. I would advise against these.

We played a little bit of koth_watermill, but the server population started dropping out by that time. We may have to try that one again. We also looked at cp_dusk, but didn't play a round on it. Right now on paper it doesn't look like it would play well, but we'll still need to try it. koth_coldfront hasn't been tried yet.

[crimsonshootingstar]

We looked at some maps tonight and had a chance to play them with a near full server.

pl_boundary received the most positive reaction out of the maps we tried. This one should be added to the rotation.

cp_mojave received mixed reactions. I think it's better than some of the other customs on the rotation and should be worth a try. I don't think we have any A/D maps on the rotation currently.

koth_sekhmet and koth_mill seemed to be the least favored out of the ones we played tonight. I would advise against these.

We played a little bit of koth_watermill, but the server population started dropping out by that time. We may have to try that one again. We also looked at cp_dusk, but didn't play a round on it. Right now on paper it doesn't look like it would play well, but we'll still need to try it. koth_coldfront hasn't been tried yet.

Boundary showed promise. On both parts of mojave the first points were very difficult to attack and the second very hard to defend which struck me as pretty backwards. Mills point was very hard to attack when someone camped on it. Sekhmet was not so good in my opinion. Watermill was promising but as biscuit said we didn't have many players.

[Bronze Fox]

I'm against pl_boundary just because of some poor map design, but if people really liked it, I guess we should keep it on.

Both KOTH maps suffered the same problems: long walk to the point, spamming entrance ways to point, and too easy to hold points.

I liked Mojave because of the simpleness behind the map. I picked it up fast and thought the map was pretty well done.

[Flaming Cheese Wheel]

Didn't like Sekhmet for the aforementioned design issues. Mill has an interesting design, but yeah, the center point is unpleasant.

Mojave... I think it'll play better once we get a handle on it, but I think its biggest problem will be what it will be like with 12 players on a team. The CPs don't have a lot of cover, generally.

Boundary has some intriguing vertical design.

[Stevo]

cp_toy_fort
cp_blazewalk_rc5
cp_mojave_b1
pl_boundary_final
cp_desertfortress
cp_gullywash_pro
cp_observatory4
pl_dbheights_b5
cp_labor