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Ancient Forest

-Kobas- Presents

Ancient Forest

"And so a new legend begins...
The borders of space and time are broken once again
And the wise energy of cosmos calls for another hero...
There in the twilight lands of the dragons
Where the laments of suffering souls rise!"


The map contains:
- 2 Gold mines for each player (one with 12.500 another with 25.000 gold)
- 2 Taverns
- 2 Shops
- 2 Goblin labs
- 9354 Doodads
- 2 Regions
- 106/106 Creeps or monsters/neutral units
- 13/156 Different/total to pick items

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Version 1.0
*1st one
Version 1.1
*Fixed terrain errors so map can be more melee
*Fixed item drops
Version 1.2
*Changed few creeps
*Fixed even more item drops
Version 1.3
*Removed Creeps near Tavern
*Changed murlocks item drops


Please if you have any idea or want to help how to improve map, send me a message or leave comment!
Thanks

Keywords:
Ancient Forest, Ancient, Forest, -Kobas-, melee
Contents

Ancient Forest (Map)

Reviews
19:18, 12th Jun 2010, by Rui:: Interesting and appealing landscape. The same cannot be said for the itemdrops. {rectified on 13-Jun-2010 at 14:16} Read my review for details.

Moderator

M

Moderator

19:18, 12th Jun 2010, by Rui::
Interesting and appealing landscape. The same cannot be said for the itemdrops. {rectified on 13-Jun-2010 at 14:16} Read my review for details.
 
Level 9
Joined
Dec 25, 2008
Messages
110
Minimap reminds me of a map by Blizzard Spider falls I think it's called(?).Anyways the terrain is well done although in the fountain...spam of flowers if you ask me, could do with less.Overall it is a very balanced map with one and only one expansion in reach of each player.So 4/5 (-1/5 for the spam(in my opinion) of flowers which I personally dislike)
 
Level 8
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Messages
102
Well, as far as you have reviewed my resource from the aspect of a terrainer - I will review your map from the sight of a mapper. ( of course I will also review the terrain)

First of all - when I opened the map - I relized that you were focusing to much on terrain and forgot about the most important thing of a meele-map - its meeleness.

I will start with the balance:

- The forests have leaks - that could cause imbalance - cuz a wisp or any small unit could hide there.

Here the screenshot:

Balance_TreeLeaks.jpg


-Drops were totaly imbalanced, my suggestion is to use the blizzard-drop-pattern for beginners

Here the screenshot:

"
Balance_Drops.jpg
"]



Items.jpg
"]


-The next point is that there is too less wood for an actual game -
I dont think i need to make a screeshot to make it clear for you. Look up other blizzard's maps to relize how much wood a base requires.

-Now about the space/room of the map: Youre a minimalist - those are the smallest paths ive seen for a long time - and every player will say that too.
Here are the screens to show up how imense the missing space is:

"
Balance_ToLessSpace.jpg
"]


"
Balance_ToLessSpace2.jpg
"]


But now my fav. part of this map - the motha f*cking one grunt path:mwahaha:
"
Balance_ToLessSpace3.jpg
"]


Now one of the craziest things ive ever seen - 4 big dragons dropping 4x tomes of exp. ; 4 tomes of knowledge and 4 runes of revival (dont know how its spelled) but I mean hahaha - you get 4 dragons :xxd::xxd::xxd::xxd: GG

Last but not least - the crown - as far as youre the advanced terrainer - explain me this:

Terrain.jpg




Dude I will not rate this map - but trust me... you know what I mean:cool:
 
The forests have leaks - that could cause imbalance - cuz a wisp or any small unit could hide there.
Thanks for that!
Drops were totaly imbalanced, my suggestion is to use the blizzard-drop-pattern for beginners
Well map isn't created for competition and I like this way, because heroes can have greater effect on the game! I know that this isn't really melee but I like this way!
The next point is that there is too less wood for an actual game -
Maybe but in my map wood is placed all around base! - Thanks for tips btw!
Now about the space/room of the map: Youre a minimalist - those are the smallest paths ive seen for a long time - and every player will say that too.
Well my bad, it will be fixed! - Thanks again
Now one of the craziest things ive ever seen - 4 big dragons dropping 4x tomes of exp. ; 4 tomes of knowledge and 4 runes of revival (dont know how its spelled) but I mean hahaha - you get 4 dragons GG
Well you are first that commented about this one, if any other dude say that it looks bad, it will be fixed!
Last but not least - the crown - as far as youre the advanced terrainer - explain me this:
I don't want to talk about my terrain skills!

Thanks for some tips! I will fix this one and be more careful next time!
 
Level 31
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
3,155
First of all - when I opened the map - I relized that you were focusing to much on terrain and forgot about the most important thing of a meele-map - its meeleness.

What do you expect from nazi terrainer? :grin:

- The forests have leaks - that could cause imbalance - cuz a wisp or any small unit could hide there.

I agree and disagree in this issues at the same time.

First of all, it is very critical for an melee map to follow most of the blizzard standard and this is one of the few element that cannot be excluded. Thus, you're right in this issues; even Rui does not encourage an leak among the forest.

Second, some blizzard standard could be excluded to give more variety in strategy/challenge and those path could be use for guerilla warfare style; given the melee map much refreshing aspect.

Infact, I seen couple of melee map that ignore 1-2 blizzard standard to enchances the strategy/replayability.

Drops were totaly imbalanced, my suggestion is to use the blizzard-drop-pattern for beginners

100% agree in this issues, (Based on the screenshot of yours) it doesn't make sense for level 1 creep to drop healing salve (I don't recall the exact name of the item).

-The next point is that there is too less wood for an actual game -
I dont think i need to make a screeshot to make it clear for you. Look up other blizzard's maps to relize how much wood a base requires.

I agree and disagree at this issues at the same time, but I am too lazy to explain why.

-Now about the space/room of the map: Youre a minimalist - those are the smallest paths ive seen for a long time - and every player will say that too.
Here are the screens to show up how imense the missing space is:

From the screenshot, it look like decent space to me.

From the screenshot, it doesn't make sense for the summer type tree to grow in the water.

Well map isn't created for competition and I like this way, because heroes can have greater effect on the game! I know that this isn't really melee but I like this way!

A little inbalance.. ok!! maybe acceptable... but it look like overkill especially when gaming mention.

Now one of the craziest things ive ever seen - 4 big dragons dropping 4x tomes of exp. ; 4 tomes of knowledge and 4 runes of revival (dont know how its spelled) but I mean hahaha - you get 4 dragons GG

Well you are first that commented about this one, if any other dude say that it looks bad, it will be fixed!

I would said it.. XD

Unless you're planning to make a melee map genre where it was designated for a mass war zone style and ignore several melee standard, it certainly isn't acceptable.

Even for an crazy melee map style, those quantity drop of the dragon was definitely overkill. It usually only drop 2 item, 1 strong and another 1 which are weaker.

To -Kobas- : I would review this map later for much accurate opinion.

To Gaming: Mark your post as review. :)
 
Well I will upload improved version with more space, less doodads, more trees etc etc to make game more melee!
Also Dragons will drop rune that will heal instead of current one, and tome of exp will be deleted!

I already fixed few of this above! I hope I finish it this night so you can check it again!

Thanks guys!

EDIT:

Half map terrain fixed:

*No leaks
*More trees
*Less doodads (more free ground)

Else fixed:

*Items
 
Last edited:
Level 6
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Messages
1,425
loved the map, loved everything about it, no complaints:thumbs_up: here except...
-Kobas- said:
"And so a new legend begins...
The borders of space and time are broken once again
And the wise energy of cosmos calls for another hero...
There in the twilight lands of the dragons
Where the laments of suffering souls rise!"

my head exploded:pal: when i read that. in a semi good way:p :mwahaha:
 

Deleted member 157129

D

Deleted member 157129

Pretty neat terrain. About the creep camps, though, the middle one with dragons seem to be a bit close to the expansions, so while I was clearing the creeps a dragon dropped by to greet me. Also, do not put creeps around the tavern. Just don't. People sometimes use the tavern to get a neutral hero first and that's simply impractical when there's creeps around it.
 

Rui

Rui

Level 41
Joined
Jan 7, 2005
Messages
7,550
Rui's review for "Ancient Forest", a melee map by -Kobas-

I'm going to be brief here. First off, I found the terrain plane very interesting and appealing. This island is divided in six slices, and you have room for a base, an expansion and a creep camp. The rest is pretty much a passageway (which includes neutral buildings, too) to the enemy's land slice. I like that. It makes things simple and to the point.Now, what I definitely didn't like was to see a Tavern guarded by creeps. This is greatly undermining the map.Important are also the drops. There is a silly proliferation of powerups and the drops are royally screwed up; they, too, destroy the beauty of the map. Here are a few suggestions for the creep camps and drops:
  • Starting location creeps: Lvl4 permanent + lvl1 powerup for the Storm Wyrm.
  • Neutral building guards: Lv1 permanent for one of the Murloc Nightcrawlers.
  • Expansion Gold Mines: Remove a High Priest and a Dark Troll and add two Trappers. Lvl4 Charged drop for the Warlord.
  • Fountain of Health guardians: One Green Dragon, three Drakes, three Whelps. Random any level artifact for the Green Dragon.
My rating is 2/5 (Lacking). I trust that you'll be rectifying your map, so I'll set it to Reviewed status.

RECTIFIED (13-06-2010, 14:16) – The map has been rectified. Taverns are no longer guarded by creeps and the drops have been fixed. Well, most of them. For some reason you decided the Goblin Laboratory would drop a Charged item instead of the powerup. That's fine. Anyway, the major problem of this map lies in its very structure; everything is way too tight. This had already been pointed out by R.Gaming_Strike and we confirmed the problem on a 3vs3 game. On top of this, the AI doesn't behave very well. That's something that we can barely blame on you, though. Anyway, the passageways between every player's portion of land is indeed too narrow. I don't know if you can even fix this, but most melee mappers don't bother to remake portions of land once they realize the landscape structure's not going to work. It is up to you.My rating is 3,5 out of 5, which rounds up to 4 (Recommended).
 
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*First of all thanks, you approved map even if you are free to set to pending (2/5) or reject it (2/5)!
*Then I must say that I tried few times to fix item drops but always some other dude didn't like that!
*Now come thing about Tavern I placed few weak units to guard it because map is for 6 players and I use only 2 Taverns so if we look image (Map Info) Some players will have more creeps to kill earning some free gold and exp (on picture that will be PURPLE and RED)... So this can be bad and good at same time! I know that it should be protected but I find that is balance more important!
*And for the end you didn't liked guardians, well I changed that also few times but I am still learning about melee maps so I will listen you about this one! Thanks Again

Here +rep for you not for approving map but because you showed me some important things, thanks again!

EDIT:

Ok I fixed all that above about creeps and item drops, thanks once again, but I still didn't deleted creeps near Tavern, I wrote above why so...
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 157129

D

Deleted member 157129

OK, updated review. We just played a 3v3 game on this to test the changes. The taverns are now unguarded, which is good. The dragons guarding the fountain in the middle, however, are still aggressive towards expansions and needs to be dealt with somehow. It's not very attractive to have a bunch of dragons harassing your expansion.

Also noticed that it's incredibly hard to move a large army about, because the paths (rivers if you will) are so slim. It's not necessary to change it, it's more of a tactical change for the players, but I'll note it anyway so that you are aware of it.
 
Level 13
Joined
Sep 14, 2012
Messages
437
Comment

Map looks awesome, very cool description, very nice creativity, but no screenshots? could you add some.
_______________
Rating:
4/5

Terrain

I have only one word for terrain ''WOW'' neat terrain, no rely grate work :D
___________________
Rating:
5/5

Gameplay

A regular melee map.
____________________
Rating:
4/5

Final Rating:

Terrain:5/5
Gameplay:4/5
Comment:4/5

FINAL RATING:
5/5

Suggestions
-The dragons in the mid, only the green dragon is in camp the rest are not, please fix this

GIFT

1/5=no rep
2/5=no rep
3/5=no rep
4/5=no rep
5/5=1 rep

Rating 5/5=+1rep


Vote for: Approval
 
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