Crisis

[Zucth]

Nice try!
I did a little look in the map, item drop look decent but gold coins are a bit out of the thought. I have no comment let say...
lv5,11 item drop look good (without gold coins)
You should consider about doodad gaps and critter.

 

[Knecht]

I for one think that the gold coins are an interesting take since there are no expos on the map.

If you made the item-drops according to the camp level, the gold coins could be somewhat of a replacement for an expo. However, with the items right now they're more like a replacement for the actual items that should drop from the camp, so it's basically the same as if the creep dropped a good item and you'd immediately sell it.

So here is what I'd say are the map's issues now:

• the itemdrops don't scale right with the creep camp level, eg. red camp drops only a L2 permanent and a powerup
• there isn't any creep route, there aren't actually that many creep camps on the map
• tree gaps - toggle pathing with P and hide doodads with Ctrl+D, the small paths in the trees can be misused by peons/wisps
• the only critters on the map for undead are in the center
• if you were to add creep camps, you can either push the gold coin theme or you could go the standard way -> drop the coins and add expos for each player

It's also rather peculiar that the shop is guarded by a red camp.

I'd suggest looking at this guide as it basically has everything a mapmaker would need: Competitive Melee Map

 

[Lodnar]

• the itemdrops don't scale right with the creep camp level, eg. red camp drops only a L2 permanent and a powerup

I will replace items of level 2 with 3. When playing without opponents, items of level 3 drop out of the arachnids in the mine, but for some reason I did differently for the draconids.

• there isn't any creep route, there aren't actually that many creep camps on the map

At the scale of the map, it is difficult to find new places to add new groups of monsters, unless, change the center. Then it would be possible to add 1-3 groups of enemies, but then, most likely, will have to replace the Tavern with another building.

• the only critters on the map for undead are in the center

I don't quite understand what this is about.

 

[Knecht]

When playing without opponents...

Well... it is a 2 player map so I don't think there will be many opportunities for that

I'd say there are several possible places where you could place camps if you wanted. One could be between the green camp and the red shop camp. Other in one of those corners of the center square. You just need to delete some of the trees and you'll get some nice space for new camps.

On the topic of trees, I also noticed that the bases have the trees quite far so one would definitely need to build a lumber mill. (the distance also benefits NE wisps).

Lastly, the critters have a tactical use in melee as well. Undead can kill them and use their corpses for skeletons. That's why you see the critters near expos or strong camps on other maps.

 

[Lodnar]

I'd say there are several possible places where you could place camps if you wanted. One could be between the green camp and the red shop camp. Other in one of those corners of the center square. You just need to delete some of the trees and you'll get some nice space for new camps.

On the topic of trees, I also noticed that the bases have the trees quite far so one would definitely need to build a lumber mill. (the distance also benefits NE wisps).

Lastly, the critters have a tactical use in melee as well. Undead can kill them and use their corpses for skeletons. That's why you see the critters near expos or strong camps on other maps.

I added 2 green camps.

Yes, I noticed the trees are quite far away when I recently played.

Undead can use skeletons, but this is also present on standard Blizzard cards. On the Hills Of Glory map, my skeletons were able to reach the enemy base even faster than on my map.



And... how to update the map file on the site? After design changes, I cannot find this function.

 

[deepstrasz]

And... how to update the map file on the site? After design changes, I cannot find this function.

Spoiler

 

[Lodnar]

The map has been updated.

 

[mafe]

I'm sorry about the long delay until the "official" review.

Normally I cannot recommend having a map without expansions at all, as this is just such a heavy restriction to many strategies. Given that you have created a lore-based justification, I guess I'll accept it a feature this time. And the goldmines as intentional compensation are a nice idea indeed.

Nevertheless, many of the issues @Knecht has raised, still exist in the current version: Gaps between doodads, itemdrops still very questionable, creeping is really inconvenient; and relatively quickly all creeps will be dead and then there isnt really much to do besides either camping in your base or attacking the opponents base.
Additionally The red spawn point is too far away from the mine, humans/orcs need more than 5 workers.
Visually, the map has some nice places, but in several locations it looks as if doodads were placed without any goal, just to that there isnt a large empty space.

I'll be honest, I have a hard to imagine how this map will be turned into anything a "normal" wc3 player will want to play more than a few times. Since the categories of the hive were renamed, I think Useful/simple is a fitting description of this map, so I'll set it to this. If you make some major updates and want me to have another look, feel free to contact me.