Legendary DLC Castlanche

I played this tonight and didn't like it. The tank was too overpowered and when it wasn't spawn killing us it was killing anyone who wasn't spawning. I know there's a laser somewhere, but I couldn't find it. I think there should be a laser in each of the start spawns, in addition to the one that's out... wherever it is.

There were also a few spawns that pointed into a wall, one I remember specifically was in the attackers start spawn. You spawned facing the energy blocker, and as you spawned you started walking towards it. If you move them so they face the teleporters, it would work a lot better and prevent people from walking towards the wall, realizing it leads them no where, and then turning around the find the teleporter.

The map looks amazing though, I love all the merging and effort that went in to making it look like a castle. The tank is just too overpowering, and I think you should try re-working some of the weapons and spawn points and re-publish the map.

 

Holy $#!7 this map. So much work put into it sweat blood and tears I can imagine hundreds of hrs spent on the build! The only problems I have with it is the equal amount of controversy which continues to surround it. I am the firmest believer of the credo "If you don't have any thing nice to say then don't say anything at all." You can check every reply I have ever posted on someones map, you will not find a negative one I gaurantee it. But I just cant hold my tounge on this one! This is not a smear campaign! it is a very high quality map, its just so many things dont add up to me.

First the claim of the 500+hr build time in under 45 days, which was discredited and Im glad to see has been removed! Now as of the time of this post your map has recieved 9,792 views. Which by the way is the 3rd most viewed competitive map on this web site ever! Above every bungie favorite and featured maps ever posted here except two. The problem is that some of these maps are world renownd as being the best maps ever built! Your maps only celebrity so far has been to be placed with 4,460 other usermade competitive creations, none of which even come close to the amount of views yours has recieved. But your map was posted less then 3 weeks ago! This would all be fine for a very popular map, except for the fact that I checked and your map has also broken another record in terms of most viewed maps. Being the #1 least downloaded map on the top 100 most viewed. With an unheard of dismal download ratio of 4.56%. Some of the worst maps ever posted here have a better view to download ratio, so how can this be? I downloaded the map again and compaired it to the one I got three weeks ago to see if maybe you pulled it and made any changes then reposted but it is identical in every way!

Now on to my last inconsistancy! I see that you stand by your map not being money glitched, and are pushing to have it put into matchmaking. I dont know if this counts or not? But you personally told me that you deleted a budget glitched canvas for this build and something was wrong with it, when I noticed you were 1 item short of the max limit with $31 left. I probably will never know and dont even care what the true story is. But with this information I went back to forge and did some research of my own on the items. I might be mistaken if I am I sincerely apologize but! I did double check and what I found was that including every gametype the max item limit for Avalanche is 365. I also checked your map varient and found that including every game type you are hitting the max item limit at 318 items. How can that be if there isnt some sort of glitch taking place? That is also the only sensible explanation I can find for why the map is not sealed with that many items in the inventory left.

Now I would never have posted a reply like this, if it werent for the fact that I feel like you have attacked a lot of peoples intelligence here with your statements and claims about this map. And are willing to compromise matchmaking itself for a claim to fame!

Other wise GREAT MAP 4/5. Cleanest built map I have seen on Avalanche.

 

Oh my god, I read all the comments, and there was only one that said it is not great, and unbelievable many saying OMG 5/5 feature! and you have a thread rating of 4...

Anyways, I love your geomerging, the overall map layout, the gameplay etc, and I think it is a great map. I think it could deserve a feature, yes, but let the staff etc decide...

Great job!

The only thing that worries me is that people could start walking around in the empty part of the map (people not from FH) and start crying.
...
MADNESS!

 

You dont know the tiny German 10 year old children (of DOOM!). Lol. There will be people who do that and say OMG this map is crap it only used half Avalanche.
(I dont)

MADNESS!

 

First off, great post. Second of all not only is this forged well, but it looks like a blast with a huge party! Boy, does this look fun...laz0rz and choppers...

 

Toxic, with the weird spawn, it was in one of the bases, where you spawn before you go through a teleporter. You spawn facing into an energy blocker (not RIGHT in front of it, but relatively close), and you usually end up walking towards it for a bit before you realize it leads nowhere. You should adjust the position of the spawn so it faces the teleporter or something, it's an easy fix.

Also with the spawn killing, the tank can just sit outside the attackers "teleporting room" and it's impossible to get out. I remember there being a laser somewhere, but I never found it. Putting more down on the map would be a good idea, or putting it in a place closer to the spawn so people have a better chance of seeing it would be a good idea too.

Hopefully you can fix these. The map looks sweet, but the balanced gameplay isn't really there yet. It might be "fun", but it won't make it into Atlas if it's not balanced. Good luck.

 

I believe he was referring to the defenders' spawn. When spawning, a players natural reaction is to move forward. Its not after a few steps that you realize your headed towards a dead end, and turn around and backtrack to a teleporter. Precious seconds in a competitive map should not be wasted. I agree with Novak in that the tank is the bane of this map (along with the lack of a map boundary, which I'll get to in a minute). The tank is a spawn killing machine. And with the laser in an open box basically in the dead center of the map, anyone attempting to get to the laser has pretty much no luck. It made for a very unenjoyable game.

As much as I'd love to see custom maps make it into matchmaking via ATLAS, I just don't see this one making the cut, primarily due tothe lack of a map boundary. Sure, you are correct in saying that objective games should keep people in check and focues on well, the objective. But I believe you are greatly over-estimating the intelligence level of a preteen Halo 3 player who has never seen the map before. "Maybe there's a secret weapon over there or a secret teleporter!" People will go over there and it will ruin games. Not many, but it will happen. As far as customs go its not that big of a deal, but as far as matchmaking goes, its almost a definite no-no.Point being that no one KNOWS that nothing is over there.

Overall, I think the map is a great concept, but along with what I've mentioned here and what i mentioned in your ATLAS thread a while back, I think some aspects of the map have been poorly executed (not the forging itself, though..nicely done). Alas, I'm not Shiska, so good luck over there.

 

As Novak mentioned before, the tank is too overpowering, thus making the gameplay disagreeable. This is my opinion as well. No matter what you do to Castalanche, I believe that the tank will always detract from your map's gameplay. Considering gameplay, Tanks are just too powerful and they kill flow. All in all, tanks stop flow entirely. When an enemy tank approaches, a player will almost always abandon what he intends to do, and instead flee from the Scorpion's lethal shot. A player's intentions, no matter how small or large, are key causes that drive flow. That tank is a malefactor in your Castalanche because it disrupts the flow, and eventually the gameplay.

PS- That 500 hour thing was complete BS, thanks for taking it down.

 

It sounds like you may want to consider switching the Scorpion out for a Wraith. Or at least trying that out and seeing if the wraith isn't as overpowering. If the Wraith doesn't work, then I'd just bulk up on ghosts and or warthogs.

And while I know you're probably right at the item limit and you're short on objects, it may be worth attempting to block off the map. You may have to make some small sacrifices here and there, but those are choices that we all have to make as forgers to make a map the best it can be.

 

Perhaps a Guass Warthog? The blast is similar in power and is a bit easier to take down.

 

I think someone recommended that when we were playing. It would be about as strong as a tank, but at least easier to kill. And like DtL said, you should really make some sort of attempt to block off the map. Even if it's breakable, if you make sometype of low wall going across to at least encourage people not to go to the other side of the map it would play better and improve its chances at getting into Atlas.

 

That would be a great idea.... except there aren't gauss warthogs available on Avalanche....sad face.

 

This, I can honestly say, is one of the best btb competitive maps out there.
I do however agree with the tank being overpowered... But... Maybe this is just me but I always thought it was the defenders tank because all it requires is a small hop through the mancannon to acquire.
Maybe giving each side an anti-vehicular weapon could help clear that silly silly tank off the map.

 

Shows how many competitive maps I have made on Avalanche.

NONE! lol.

 

Ok so this thread has rubbed me the wrong way a few times! So what if we have strong disagreements! I'll leave it at that. I think I would be a bad person if I let our differences affect an obvous passion you have for map building. I have to respect you just for always being open to suggestions and wanting to make your map the best it can be.

I have been here just about 8 months, and in this time period although I usually dont share my thoughts. Im positive you would care to differ, I really don't though. But In this time I've tryed to pay attention in class. I think if this map would have been posted here 6 months ago it would have been an insta feature for sure, and as it stands It might be the cleanest build on Avalanche to date and who knows it could be featured for that reason.

But this is not a new web site, IT IS the premier brand established for over a year for containing and show casing some of the best maps around video games. And the bar is being raised all of the time! This is an entire community of devolopers and it evolves continually. If you dont believe me then come back in four months and compare what people will be doing with the Mythic maps and the techniques they will be useing, to whats Hot now. You wont believe your eyes, it is already impossible to bring just a beautiful competitive map to the fore front anymore. It needs to be equally amazing in all catagories or a high multitude of them, even more so it has to make you want to play it again and again.

Bungie said it best when they released halo 2. " We knew we had to make people have fun in less that 20 seconds and maintain that fun through out the experience, or we would'nt have done our jobs." So basiclly forge hub has come to that level with map building! Play the latest feature and you will soon learn if you are playing on it with cool people that hours can fly by! People here take great pride in their maps as I think you are one of them, but the best maps speak for there selves with the effort put forth. Especially since maps with such high potential as this are appearing. People who care actually hold a map such as this to an even higher standard then normal varients, based on its potential. Most of the people here I feel, myself included would drive a YUGO if it had a V8 in it. But if you make something that looks like a Lamborgini they want that MF'r to drive like one. Some are actually even willing to spend countless impresious hours of the own time, just to try to help you make a map they have no investment in reach its full potential. The question is can you answer the call?

When you build a map you have to think of map progression. The pros actually use grids but, a better explaination would be to say ok if I'm here in this area what can I do, where can I go, and how can I affect gameplay. these are important factors in keeping a competitve maps gameplay nonlinear and repetitive. You have to give options not just in weapons and vechicals but in open areas of the map its self to lessen predictability and provide a continual new way to approach game play.

With that said I belive there are multiple approaches that could put this Badass map over the top! The first thing I would do is to see if there was a way to bring the map item max back up to where it should be. Someone here, some where knows whats going on with that limit thing and might be able to help? I'd ask around. Next if I were you I would also go through and delete every thing not associated with the gametypes you are using, such as if there is no VIP then why would you need destinations for it or respawn areas? That would free up some items even at the current map max.

Now If you want to stay in budget and have a chance at ATLAS you have to make even more serious sacrifices, you have to focus on certain transition points. You may even want to use the opposite side of the map as one teams base if you cant seal that side off. That way the current play field and base could be a place maybe to catch a breath or gather troops for a flank attack on the castle, not be the only way to attack it. I think that is whats making the tank so imbalanced as is. In addition to adding possible key hold points like a structure maybe at the over head spear, or some where that if you control that zone you can possibly free up your options to teeter an advantange if certain things fall into place. Wheather it be for defensive or attacking purposes, especially if you intend to make it a big team game or want to have an additional heavy map varient, which I think could be awsome if balanced right!

Also use what you have built! How fun would a heavy tower of power match at the castle be! Or having the castle be used as a strong hold for a team of humans that escaped a zombie onslaught somewhere else. Belive it or not my friend, the one you think trashed your map actually came up with a amazing idea for a zombie varient on it I mean its a revolutionary idea, but thats between you and him. Or imagine with the additional structures and playspace having a strategic sniper match. These are just a few instances. This map exudes undeveloped potential. I think thats why so many people have showed so much intrest in it, but it lacks substantial Downloads. Well thats all I could come up with for now. Just so you know you are right, I do care about your map! And those are just my opinions but you can take em or leave em! I think for as much as I have ripped on you its only fitting that I use equal energy in a more positve manner. sSo If you ever want my help or a more detailed description of my ideas just hit me up I'll try to do what I can to help.

 

In my personal opinion the tank is perfectly okay. I had no problem what so ever with it. The tanks was countered by fewer objects though. As in it was quite a task to get something to destroy it. I just think that you should but a rocket or more hogs or something. Then your tank thing will be fixed. Or if you could spare a box put it in a place where the tank is difficult to maneuver around. That way if the tank goes by that area it can be hijacked.