Of the Essence

Of the Essence
"A standard conquest map. Now approved by the Xforgery certification team. 4-12"
-By Gunnergrunt

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If you haven't heard, Of the Essence was the winner of Vorpal Saint's Conquest Forgeoff a while back. Since then, OTE has been adopted into the world of Conquest. It has been played in ForgeHub's TGIF and by many fans of Conquest, but those who have played this map before will agree that it wasn't perfect. I have improved the map. It does not bear the title of "v2" because this is the final, official version of the map. Here is a link to the original Forgehub post.

And here's the original map layout (without walls and such)

Several weeks ago, I met AZN FTW, the "God of Conquest." He told me about his featured library of Conquest maps and his certification team on Xforgery.com. Then he got his team together and we played Of the Essence. After several rounds, the team examined the map in Forge mode. It was no simple forge-through; it was an hour and fourty-five minute scrutiny. No detail went unobserved, and no spawn point went unchecked. (These guys know everything there is to know about Conquest. As we all know, AZN FTW invented the addicting game of Conquest.) While critiquing the map, they educated me in the ways of Conquest. They explained every aspect, from weapon placement to territory size.

As they pointed out the flaws in Of the Essence, I listened and observed. I absorbed the information so that I would be able to soon perfect my Conquest map. Here is what Of the Essence lacked:

-The territories did not touch
-Weapon placement needed adjustment
-Weapons needed to be more eye-catching
-Spike grenades were a poor choice for the map
-Spawn points were poorly placed
-The "spawn box" was disorienting and awkward
-Overall map flow was mediocre

The Xforgery Certification Team told me how to fix every single problem and gave me in-forge examples. AZN taught me about the details of spawn points and weapons, etc. I saved the film and prepared to fix Of the Essence. A week later, I made a few tests, and I invited AZN back to view the improvements. He made more suggestions and I went back to the Forge. A few days later, the map was nearly complete. After another forge-through by the certification team, the map was almost ready. I made the final adjustments and got the team back for testing. Several tests were made. The new Of the Essence was a huge success! (And I was also made a member of the Conquest certification team! I now have the knowledge and skill to help others perfect their maps, so that we might add them to Xforgery's Featured Conquest Library.) The new map was very smooth and played Conquest like the pros.

Now, I will point out the improvements along with the pictures.

-Weapon placement perfected
-Weapons are eye-catching
-Territories are the correct size and shape
-Spawn points and areas adjusted


First off, the weapon placement has been adjusted. The bruteshot is placed closer to the starting area, held by a fancy set of bars, and the plasma rifles are now in a pair on the elevated segment of the map. The SMG, now in the main path, are floating in a pair just above the first ramp. A battle rifle has been added to the map. It can also be found on the elevated portion of the main path, near a barrel and street cone to attract attention. A frag grenade is now located in the starting area, on the left side.









This is the new starting/respawn area. The annoying double box has been removed. To compensate for the lack of extra spawn room, an additional dented portion of the wall has been forged.







The spikers are now placed along the main path, on a overturned barrier. This contrast in colors between the weapon and the barrier attract attention, making it easy to locate and use the weapons. Also, the spike grenade has been replaced by a plasma grenade, which can be found floating the corner of the hallway, just before the ramp.











Here are the new spawn points. In order to follow the rules of "smooth spawning," each spawn point is placed in the exact direction the player will go upon spawning. Also upon spawning, each spawn point allows for three seconds of uninterrupted forward movement. Weapons and elevation change are located just outside the three second period. Players will no longer bump any walls or objects, which eliminates frustration. At spawn, players will make the choice of either the bruteshot (on right) or the frag grenade (on left).







Now I will explain the new territory size. In Conquest, each territory must be touching, with no gaps or overlaps. If there are points on the map that give players a slight advantage, they should not be able to contest the territory while on that point. The new territories follow those rules quite well. The first, starting territory has been extended to cover both the starting area and the first elevated segment. But to avoid players contesting that territory from the center, the height remains the same. Now players can contest the first territory from the higher elevation, but it is low enough that jumping will cost them to cease contesting it.
The second territory has been expanded to fill the entire corner. It now covers the hallway ramp into the middle territory and can be contested from within the hallway.













The central territory on Of the Essence remains unchanged. It fills maximum middle space without overlapping into other areas of the map. Advantage points (such as the one out of view from the hallway) are not within the territory.




Yep, showin' off!


I owe a special thanks to...

the Xforgery.com Certification Team (AZN FTW, Ell3ment,
Coyote1023)

All my testers!

The gamers in my screenshots (vortex422, samsternator, IBI Chewbaca, A Badger Ferret, R0FLninja, Black Theorm, phychoactive THC, Iv Zatoo vI, Black Koncept, MaaaaaaaaaaaaaaD (14 a's?), PELGORE, and breynoldsI22)

And to the members of Forgehub who commented and played the original map


Also, I am looking for someone with a capture card who would be willing to help me make a video for the map. PM please. Thanks!








Download links:
Of the Essence
Conquest

 

I'm glad that this map is bringing more popularity to Conquest and the Certification Team. There are tons of Conquest maps out there, but if you are looking for a true and perfect game of conquest, you will need to use a certified map. And thats the goal of the team, to certify and perfect as many maps as possible. Take this one for example. From the comments, it is easy to tell that it had plenty of problems originally. But now that it is certified, it really brings out the true gameplay of Conquest. Hopefully all Conquest maps will have the opportunity to go through the same refining process as OTE has. That's the purpose of a new gametype, to create maps focused on that particular variant. So we want as many Conquest maps as we can get, but we also want true Conquest maps.

And I hope that this earns AZN and the team some respect and credibility. They really know what they're doing, no doubt about it. The new Of the Essence map serves as proof of that

 

No, this is a completely different map buddy =P This is the v2 of the original Of the Essence. Drop Shock is a different Conquest map, not yet perfected. Keep up! ^.^

 

Thank you Pel! Yeah, weapon placement is absolutely crucial in conquest. Weapons must be placed along or within the main path for easy access (power weapons such as the bruteshot and sniper should be slightly out of the main path). And not only the placement is critical, but the ability to see each weapon clearing. They need to stand out and catch your attention. Nobody wants to search for a weapon in conquest, or on any map for that matter.

 

Agamer93 will be playing Of the Essence in today's TGIF. If you've been waiting for a chance to play the new version of this map, it would be a great time to do it! I will also be playing in Agamer's party, so hopefully i'll see some of you there! Oh, and if you have something to say about the map, just swing by here and drop in a few lines!

EDIT: Unfortunately, i was unable to get into Agamer's party. But! I did have the chance to play in Frozen Banshee's (Skanky Toast around these parts) TGIF. He hosted an unofficial conquest/racing TGIF of his own, which actually turned out to be one of the more fun TGIFs i have yet experienced. Anywaffes... Of the Essence was played several times, along with many other conquest maps. It was very easy to distinguish between the quality and not-so-quality conquest maps. Not to boast, but Of the Essence played as one of the smoother, more enjoyable conquest maps (as many other gamers commented). We also played chasm, which i discovered (i never noticed till now) has some frustrating spawns and weapon placement. So my conclusion: AZN and the team really know what makes or breaks a conquest map (as we can see with Of the Essence). And my advice: For those of you who are forging conquest maps or have some out in the forums already, i recommend pulling the team together for a few rounds and a forge-through of your conquest maps (we may be busy. we have several maps working towards certification at the moment).

Oh, and conquest is zero fun with swords >.< Yeah, we played that on OTE too...

 

Thats what i like to hear! Hopefully, after playing a great conquest map, people will be inspired to make their own conquest maps. Thats the way the conquest community grows and progresses. I built Of the Essence because I joined the site in the middle of the conquest forgeoff, when conquest maps were being made daily. So hopefully we can keep the thrill of conquest going. Of the Essence is a great reference for new conquest fans while building their first map