Maelstorm Pass

Kino · Oct 21, 2016

Its a passable melee map.
Has some interesting ideas, such as how way-gates can be used for easy tavern access; despite said taverns being geographically on a different landmass entirely.
Terrain wise, I felt that the overall landscape was very interesting. It maintains a good degree of symmetry while being chaotic enough to look natural. That said, I would suggest that in future projects; you should work on the doodad placement and keeping the map (ground texture) wise more chaotic. Its a little too easy to see the patterns where individual brush strokes are.
Also a little unsold on Naga-Royal Guards being used as neutral creeps.

TLDR Version
Review version: 1 - 22/10/16
- O.K melee map
- Perhaps not the gold standard for ladder play; but has some interesting ideas
~ Map Approved

Augustus_Magnus · Oct 21, 2016

Thanks for approving this map. Forgot about the peasant somehow

. I just deleted the royal.

Its Fixed!!

B22 · Oct 22, 2016

Don't you think the starting location are is too small to really build a base. Well, despite that everything is good.

Augustus_Magnus · Oct 22, 2016

B22 said:
Don't you think the starting location are is too small to really build a base. Well, despite that everything is good.

Dont forget u can use the intire island to build. In future plans i might open the (if u look to the first island) right start positions a bit.

StoPCampinGn00b · Oct 26, 2016

Ah, I enjoyed watching this one on @WTii 's channel

.

I edited the map type to altered melee. It's not pure melee nor is it offense (used for Tech Wars / Castle Fight type). Not a Risk map either. Anyway, cool map and cheers!

Augustus_Magnus · Oct 30, 2016

StoPCampinGn00b said:
Ah, I enjoyed watching this one on @WTii 's channel .

I edited the map type to altered melee. It's not pure melee nor is it offense (used for Tech Wars / Castle Fight type). Not a Risk map either. Anyway, cool map and cheers!

Thanks, i enjoyed his stream too

deepstrasz · Nov 3, 2016

-because another player might start near another while both being enemies (unless this map is played at least 3v3) I suggest this map as an inspiration:
Skeletal Coast v1.3 Ask the creator for the triggers as they ensure no enemy player starts near you
-nice terrain but it's pretty much flat
-Mur'gul Reaver and Dragon Turtle are not available in the Tornado building from the start but the other units there have at least +3 to their stock; later the stack remains 1 for those two while 3 for the others
-although the Mur'gul Slave can only build the Spawning Grounds where basically only upgrades are and no units can be trained (they have to be bought from the special building in the middle), the Naga Siren doesn't have the upgrades for Frost Armour; why complicate yourself with upgrades for each unit instead of using the upgrades for the naga units like in the game expansion's campaign?
-100k start location Gold Mines? I think it's superfluous
-it's weird for a player to have a Naga Sea Witch (tavern) and to fight one that belongs to the neutral hostile; also it's weird for a building to look like the sea witch's ultimate
-ships might not be able to get to the sea because of too many doodads around the port (see picture); happened to the shipyard in the north (check pathing pressing P in the editor); the ports in the west and east have two sides through where the ship can exit to the sea while the one in the south only has one

3/5. Needs fixing.

Augustus_Magnus · Nov 3, 2016

deepstrasz said:
-because another player might start near another while both being enemies (unless this map is played at least 3v3) I suggest this map as an inspiration:
Skeletal Coast v1.3 Ask the creator for the triggers as they ensure no enemy player starts near you
-nice terrain but it's pretty much flat
-Mur'gul Reaver and Dragon Turtle are not available in the Tornado building from the start but the other units there have at least +3 to their stock; nice, players can build a naga base; later the stack remains 1 for those two while 3 for the others
-although the Mur'gul Slave can only build the Spawning Grounds where basically only upgrades are and no units can be trained (they have to be bought from the special building in the middle), the Naga Siren doesn't have the upgrades for Frost Armour; why complicate yourself with upgrades for each unit instead of using the upgrades for the naga units like in the game expansion's campaign?
-100k start location Gold Mines? I think it's superfluous
-it's weird for a player to have a Naga Sea Witch and to fight one that belongs to the neutral hostile; also it's weird for a building to look like the sea witch's ultimate
-ships might not be able to get to the sea because of too many doodads around the port (see picture); happened to the shipyard in the north (check pathing pressing P in the editor); the ports in the west and east have two sides through where the ship can exit to the sea while the one in the south only has one

3/5. Needs fixing.

Thanks for the feedback. Ill start on the new version in the weekends.

Dess_26 · Nov 6, 2016

Hi there,

I would like to test the map but I do not know which one is the good one. When I hit the download button I end up having an archive that contains 2 maps with the same name but different sizes (Maelstorm Pass - 315 KB and Maelstorm Pass - 319 KB).

Could you tell me please which one is the latest?

Augustus_Magnus · Nov 6, 2016

Dess_26 said:
Hi there,

I would like to test the map but I do not know which one is the good one. When I hit the download button I end up having an archive that contains 2 maps with the same name but different sizes (Maelstorm Pass - 315 KB and Maelstorm Pass - 319 KB).

Could you tell me please which one is the latest?

Weird, the biggest one is the latest, but this shouldnt have happened. Ill fix this as soon as possible.

EDIT

It should be fixed now, but I am very confused how this happened.

Dess_26 · Nov 7, 2016

Hello again, I am back with a review.

The map is definitely altered melee, as you have Goblin Shipyards and a special building in the center (which is actually the Maelstorm - the main theme of the map). This maelstorm is the place where you can hire Naga mercenaries to join the battle on your side. The 4 armies that guard the central part are really powerful and you need Tier 2 or Tier 3 units to clean that area, so the moment when you go there should be somewhere in the late game. You also have a Market Place (with very beautiful items that you can buy), a Fountain of Health and a Fountain of Mana, so the team that controls the central part of the map has many advantages over the other teams.
The map is absolutely huge, there is no way you can end a game in less than an hour. The Goblin Laboratories are welcomed on this map, but the Goblin Shipyards are even more welcomed because the transport ships offer you the possibility to transport 10 Units each instead of just 8 (like the Zeppelins do).
The map has very beautiful terrain, the shallow waters look really nice, and the neutral units fit the theme of the map. Awesome drops also (Orb of Darkness, Scourge Bone Chimes, Mask of Death, Khadgar's Gem of Health etc.).

What I did not like about the map:
- Mur'gul slaves (that can be hired at the 'special' shop in the center) can only build Spawning Grounds (where you can upgrade the Naga units) which is a good thing. But when I saw the Mur'gul units for sale, I was thinking I can build a Naga base and train some special Naga Heroes... that was not possible. The Mur'gul slaves will work for you but they will carry only wood. When I tried to get some gold with these units, they were not able to take it to the main base (I played Night-Elf). They go inside the 'un-entangled' gold mine (otherwise they cannot enter the mine), they get the gold and when they reach the main base, they just sit there and do nothing.
- Some Makrura Deepseer units have no aggro at all (even when you fight the other Makrura Units right next to them). If you go for expansions (especially on the Northern Islands) you will easily notice this.
- AI wont play on this map. they buy zeppelins (lots of them) but use them chaotically.
- The map is absolutely huge and there is only one Market Place. In my opinion, the map size requires at least 2 Market Places, because good items take too long to appear in the only shop available. Think about 3v3v3v3 or 6v6 on this map. Think about how many heroes are there. Think about the rare items that everyone desires, and they cannot get them because they are out of stock or simply missing. One Market Place is not enough for 12 players.
- The main Gold Mines have too much gold (just my opinion). 100.000 is way too much.
- The green camps (the first neutrals) right next to the main bases, are located in very narrow places (you can barely enter those areas).

Augustus_Magnus · Nov 7, 2016

Dess_26 said:
HIS REVIEW

Thanks, with your and the rest of deepstrazs review i can make version four. It will come, but not very soon. My exames are coming and ill focus on that.

deepstrasz · Nov 17, 2016

Dess_26 said:
The map is absolutely huge, there is no way you can end a game in less than an hour.

Well, maybe that's the idea of the map, a long war but this thing could be resolved by making the Gold Mines have low gold. This will force players to expand and advance and even fight for control over mines.

Mote -E · Jan 1, 2017

Cool map bro, the terrain desing and textures combination are just excellent, but I noticed that the AI can't play this map, they just get stucked in the mid-game and cant move along, other thing that I saw its that the Naga Siren have improve research but can't get the "Frost Amour" ability and gold mines expansion haven't enought gold, this won't force the player to look up for an expansion, overall loved the desing of the map (good job).

Augustus_Magnus · Jan 2, 2017

Mote -E said:
Cool map bro, the terrain desing and textures combination are just excellent, but I noticed that the AI can't play this map, they just get stucked in the mid-game and cant move along, other thing that I saw its that the Naga Siren have improve research but can't get the "Frost Amour" ability and gold mines expansion haven't enought gold, this won't force the player to look up for an expansion, overall loved the desing of the map (good job).

Thanks, ill look to the caster upgrades again.

Augustus_Magnus · Apr 2, 2017

Well, the upgrades are fixed, i used Blizzrds Naga Tech system again.

gendac · Apr 5, 2017

how do i play the naga on this map?

Augustus_Magnus · Apr 6, 2017

gendac said:
how do i play the naga on this map?

You can hire a Murgul slave from the middle building to set up the Naga race. Theyre stronger than the four other.

gendac · Apr 7, 2017

Augustus_Magnus said:
You can hire a Murgul slave from the middle building to set up the Naga race. Theyre stronger than the four other.

i see ty for the info

Lord Siler · Apr 13, 2017

Interesting so you can play as Naga

gendac · Apr 13, 2017

Siler said:
Interesting so you can play as Naga

ik players told me they'er strongest units in the map

Lord Siler · Apr 13, 2017

Ok, I'll try this out

Burningshadow · Apr 9, 2018

Can i use your map for my fel orc race?

Augustus_Magnus · Apr 11, 2018

daniel atendido said:
Can i use your map for my fel orc race?

Sure. Send me a link when it's finished. I'll test it and give feedback.

Augustus_Magnus · Aug 14, 2019

I'm giving a little preview of a facelift I'm planning to give this map. I'm just waiting for Blizzard to fix their bizarre terrain copying bug. Feel free to give feedback if you think it looks a little too rough (or ugly). I was personally triggered by the unnatural feeling the smooth edges of the islands. (see the before and after attached)

Maelstorm Pass

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Maelstorm Pass (Map)

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