Frozen Coast

[Nudl9]

I think the title name could be better.
Failed Exploration doesn't cling that well.

Overall looks nice.
I kinda got inspired by your use of ruins pillar doodads here.
Interesting detail.

 

[WolfFarkas]

review

1) maybe the gob lab wall of trees is a bit thin in that spot IMO.

2) IMO: with your layout, you have to creep and then turn back, because is somehow a dead end, the flow would be better if you could go there and then walk with shallow water, the walking flow would be better. (dead ends are very penaliced in ladder, I did that in the second contest, It wasnt good for me)

3) doodads: total: 2668: 549 winter tree, 1706 snowy tree, 2255 trees, 413 doodads for enviroment. Enviroment is ok, but since the balance is very good it would be nice to have more doodads as enviroment, skulls, braziers, pile of junk whatever.

I really like the design and balance.

 

[Cigaro]

Thank you for your feedback!

@Nudl9 - I'm completely open to map names. Most of them are merely working titles, I'd rather spend time thinking abut a new project rather than finding a clever name for an existing map.

@Ragnaros17 - You're right about the trees, I've added a few there and as well as in other spots.

Altering that creep camp is tricky cause adding a path there would screw up the creep aggro. I was hoping that the "detour" didn't matter much since it's only a small one. I'm considering to switch the lvl 4 and lvl 10 murloc camps though, so there would only be a small camp in that corner.

Regarding the doodads, summer tilesets usually allow for more stuff than winter doodads (I think) and the lordaeron winter tileset itself already makes it look very diversified. For example, there's not a single doodad in the screenshot, but I've highlighted some terrain details that makes it seem so:



For the rest I like to use mushrooms.

 

[Nudl9]

When layout or concept doesn't help, just look up an area from WoW, ez pez.

 

[deepstrasz]

Nothing to comment on, really.

Approved.

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[Cigaro]

Renamed it to Final Exploration – which is still not great, but less horrid to pronounce.

Also completely remixed the creep camps.

I also wonder if the map is too big. 104x104 right now, minus some water in the edges. It would actually be relatively simple to cut off like 10 %.

PS: Edited a lot more, shrinking the map quite a bit and improving creep routes. Also renamed it to Isle of Spears.

 

[Nudl9]

I think center area is lacking structure in the inland area.
Removing trees is not an option here as it would be bad for gameplay.
Here's some of my ideas:
-Introduce Lordearon Winter short grass tile. As this map has a lot of "dirty" areas.
-Have a small quarry of ice claws around a difficult camp. I feel it fits with the raw theme of the map.
-Or maybe a pile of white skulls placed around a pillar. As a landmark of sorts.
-With the new name of the map "Isle of Spears" you could use the barrens centaur totem?, which has a model with spears crossed.

From an NE perspective i feel like this map is lacking interesting things to do, my go-to strategies would be something like this:
NE*UD/NE: Hide and an AoW, chop through trees with AOW and harass. KoTG entangle workers that repair.
NE*HU: There's a lack of things to do in this MU. Pit Lord, Zeppelin, RoF harass. Maybe KOTG can Force of Nature the two center ogre camps for a quick 2.5? I feel like mercenary camp needs to be closer on the main path
NE*ORC: Lack of NE things to do. Orc can level up BM,SH safely with camps this close.
HU*NE: Milita lab, harass and tech. BM shenaninganz are easy here. Critters seem easy to hide.

Overall:
I think the main problem is that it's a wide style map. From my own experience, the wide maps are the worst ones i've made since they don't create confrontational gameplay which is what you want. Maybe the map would be better if you got rid of the hard expansion area?

 

[Cigaro]

Thanks for your input!

I'll probably add some spears when I'm certain of the layout. Would be cool to have them mark the entrance to the base. Totally forgot that Barrens tileset has them.
The claws are cool but I don't like gates that potentially obstruct the view. Perhaps they can be placed on the side though.

Regarding race balance: The recent change of the map shape probably makes a difference so I'll see which of your concerns will uphold. I'm the most concerned about the Blademaster fast leveling. The new creep camps form good routes.

 

[Nudl9]

I meant the tiny ice claws in icecrown props/enviroment?, not the archways

 

[Nudl9]

When i look at the map i feel like it has too much dirt.
It seems like every path is downtrodden at the moment, as if past people have moved there.
Leaving some areas untrodden will make it seem more natural.
More snow and grass would be pretty i think.
So i doodled over the areas i would like to see more grass or snow.
I tried to stay faithful to your vision of 70/30 mix with the grass/snow.

 

[Cigaro]

I'm very cautious when it comes to snow because some people dislike bright white areas.

I understand that you're weary of the dirt terrain but the only alternative here would be grass. Perhaps it can be accentuated with unbuildable brick terrain, by building a road or something.

 

[Nudl9]

That's a fair assessment.
Snow generally means blue light which is straining on the eyes.

More dirt grass could work maybe?

Maybe there are tiles in Nortrend, Underground or Icecrown that can serve to replace some of the dirt.
I don't know..