Onslaught 1.09

[Moderator]

19:01, 9th Aug 2011
-Kobas-:
Status: Rejected

 

[Kino]

I would say this is barely approvable, by no means a good map. But still fairly adequete.

Good Points
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- Terrain was decent, its no masterpiece but definitely a refreshing break from the standard 3 lane DotAesque thing most AOS have.

- I love the empty sidelanes that allow backstabs and ambushes quite easily.

- The presentation although not fancy, is easily understood. Nice touches such as the time indicator when creeps spawn, K/D Ratio indicator, hero names that are not ripped from melee. Basically, nice touches in the minor details.

- The items were somewhat basic, but at least each one had some sort of function instead of just existing for stats.

Bad Points
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- You only get your abilities at level 2. Sure its a nice feature that deviates from standard wc3 gameplay, but it means your literally left autoattacking until the second level

- Since all classes share the same set of abilities based on book, theres little difference between what hero you pick other than very minor stats differences. See the next point.

- Mounted Heroes (Raider and Farseer) have turn rates so absurdly slow it actually makes an impact on their gameplay. Retreating is extremely annoying on these characters. On the other hand I noticed they had higher movespeed than other characters, I cant say for sure if it evens out, but it is sure annoying.

- Map generally suffers from passive hero syndrome. Creeps inflict more damage to each other than hero attacks, creeps waves generally arrive just after the earlier wave has died. Towers are extremely powerful.
In other words, the difference between actually playing the game and afking next to your creeps is almost 0. Until level 5ish. And thats not really soon

- Some abilties have very strange properties, Charge cannot be used within a certain range (4 yards). However it is not stated how far is 4 yards nor is there anything to tell you, the hero is too far away. Until youve actualy tried casting, which is too late and rather annoying.

- Abilties also dont scale in any way. Pheonix Wake deals about half of an enemies health when first learned, thats a huge amount, but quite quickly looses its power.

- Basically the abilities are all really messed up. Disables with massive range, Sfx that dont show correctly how far an ability travels.

Minor Details
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- The command to change spellbooks could shorter.
From "- change book summoning etc." to something like "B1 etc." 1,2,3 and so on being the books.

- The so called "fountain" is a little priest in the base corner. Hes really hard to notice and most players have no idea thats where you go to restore hp.
The fact that the horde uses an alliance priest is also kinda strange

Possible Changes
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- I would have a good look through the heroes, decide what the difference in each you want to be gameplay wise.

- I would polish all the abilties and make them more user friendly.

- I would speed up the game and make it less passive so that heroes arent irrelevant for the first 5 levels.

The Verdict
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- There are some neat features in this AOS that make it appear special at the surface level, but personally its the same gameplay as most others in the genre. And to be honest, its not anywhere near the best.

 

[johnq1216]

Thank you very much for your time in giving this map a run and the feedback. I have been having a lot of trouble getting someone to give me a feedback in other websites.

I'll attempt some changes based on your suggestions.

 

[ksStr]

Commenting:
-There is some movement issue on Thailog the Druid, maybe change base model will fix that
-Double clicking is way better than single clicking while choosing heroes
-Terrain lacks of Environment Props
-Killing mobs doesn't show we earned money value, though I still know I earned something
-While clicking the book, I believed you used Roar as base skill, Red Paws appears on head of allies for that split second

Just testing =)

 

[johnq1216]

And with great respects to your comments, this is what I have to say:

- Getting to level 2 to learn the first ability may seem like a pain. But I don't see any other way of streamlining this leveling process. Other maps that feature customized ability sets have you stroll through several buildings before you're set to battle. Perhaps I should increase experience gain to the first level?

- Yes the heroes have minor stat changes at the beginning, but they do become different over time. Rexxar is a strength hero that attacks faster than Cairne who has the highest strength growth.

- The turning speed on the mounted heroes is annoying. I'll have to get rid of that. I've increased the mounted heroes' speed to 400. They already have low stat growth, but I'm not sure if it will balance out in the end.

- The creeps and towers do less damage now. But the gameplay in Dota Allstars is pretty much the same way. Usually by level 6 is when anything happens. But my aim for this map is to be done in less than 30 minutes.

- I know abilities don't scale in level. Perhaps the abilities should level up automatically? I originally hoped that new abilities learned along the line would compensate for diminishing returns on the first offensive ability you choose.

 

[eubz]

Those things were all good but from what I have heard/read from the Mod and reviewers group, an uploaded map should include a good, if not the best, presentation of a description about his map. As I could see, you do not have a description with this map. Please do have that description before this map get rejected... I am just concerned about your map, thanks...

 

[Kino]

The creeps and towers do less damage now. But the gameplay in Dota Allstars is pretty much the same way. Usually by level 6 is when anything happens. But my aim for this map is to be done in less than 30 minutes

Waiting longer for Hero v Hero action is fine. The problem I had was that until level 5 theres no difference between actually playing and afking.
In other such games you farm creeps, defend/push towers early game. Here the creeps simply do that all for you, nothing you do has any impact on the game.

 

[johnq1216]

I see what you mean.

I'm thinking about having the players earn gold just by attacking and not necessarily killing. Gold will be earned on a consistent rate so long as the hero has attacked an enemy within the last 5 seconds. Unlike Dota Allstars, gold will not be earned every second.

At the same time, last hitting will be a feature in the game as well to earn extra gold.

I'll think of a way to make sure heroes get more involved in pushes.