Serpent Valley

[btp|Lancer]

Well met!

I got the chance to play this map. I haven't played a map with so many portals and cliffs. Most of the times feels like a turret/sunken custom game where the armies crushed in the middle in order to take the fountain. It's not a common 4v4 map, but I trully think this map is only for a 4v4. FFA doesn't make sense and 3v3 could be weird due to the last spawning position.

Overall I like the uniqueness. It's meant to be a map for longggg games. The amount of creeps I guess is correct. The variety of creeps is pretty good. The amount of gold mines I think it's perfect. More goldmines could make the game last too much.

What I think it feels weird (not wrong):

1. There are many creep spots that don't drop items (only tomes).
2. There is a creep spot (I think the one close to the gate) that drops a very unique item that I never seen before. Not sure if this item is balanced but it's pretty good as it summons 2 troll headhunters without consuming the item (just a big cooldown).
3. It's all about narrow paths and cliffs, so the best thing to do is massing air units.
4. Red creep camp in the middle (the fountain one) does not attack air units, and this map is mostly air battles. They cannot defend themselves.. so it makes it imbalanced a little bit..

What it's clearly wrong:

1. There is a chance that a 4th player could spawn in the other site of the map. There is only one way to play this map. 3 players on the top left + another one in the other side of the gate, on the left side. Thats team 1. The team 2 should only spawn in the bottom right and the last player of its team in the other side of the gate, right side. If you make a 4v4 all A.I. game and restart the game a couple of times, you will see that spawn positions are not suitable. Check my attach files if you want.

I would love to hear more opinions as this map is going to be shown in a 4v4 map making contest.

 

[Ceterai]

Thank you for the review
And also thank you for letting me know about the bug with the spawnpoints, I'll see what I can do about that.
Good point about the center camp not being able to fight air units, I haven't thought of that

 

[Zucth]

I don't wanna really say this but let me tell you something...

-some creep ability that u should avoid used. Entangle, Plague, Death Coil, Sleep, Mana Burning, only Possession and Unholy Frenzy are prohibited.
-never used random lv.n item drop, better drop charge or permanent.
-check for some medium armor creep.
-miscellaneous item type problem mostly come from the cost of the item when sell it. some item gave you 6900 gold from one sell...

 

[Ceterai]

I see, thanks for letting me know
I'll try to address all of that, although I'm not sure what you mean by an ability being prohibited.

 

[Zucth]

I see, thanks for letting me know
I'll try to address all of that, although I'm not sure what you mean by an ability being prohibited.

wraith and ghost have banshee skill. they are something that most people hate. different from unholy frenzy, he can accidently kill himself.

 

[Ceterai]

wraith and ghost have banshee skill. they are something that most people hate. different from unholy frenzy, he can accidently kill himself.

Oh, okay

 

[mafe]

Based on/In addition to the reviews of:

Melee Mapping Contest #7 - Results

>> Download All Entries! amulet spell shield). /20 Terrain Really cool look, but it wasn't intuitive to me that I couldn't walk on water in certain spots, or which paths were open or not towards an expand /19 Creativity Fairly conservative in terms of gameplay /8 Technical - /5 /88...

www.hiveworkshop.com

Of all the maps from the contest, this was the one that I had the most trouble with, in terms of how to review it.

Ofc there is the layout, which as the judges mentioned, will favor teching and mass air. Some players like a lot, others dislike it just as much (I include myself in this group, by I wont hold against the map). And nice to make a create a version that is playable against the AI.
Visually, I found the map very stylish and athmospheric.
But in terms of gameplay, there are many things which simply dont belong into "normal" melee maps, and nearly every single one of them is on its own enough to answer the question of "is this map viable with competitive play?" with a firm "no":
1. Campaign item drops: Not viable due to insane selling values, and general inpredictability.
2. Less than 100% chance for itemdrops: It's just not fun if one team receives several items and the other team is unlucky and doesnt.
3. Bugged level 0 powerup item drop: No items will drop here. None of the lvl 0 powerups is eligible to drop as a random item.
4. Creeps with posession potentially dropping items: Item will be lost if they use posession. Annoying even when player can theoretically play around it.
5. One-way-portals with creeps nearby: Creep can go thruogh the portal, and then they will run across half the map to get back to their spawn point. Just weird.
6. All itemdrops should normally have a defined class (powerup/permanen/charged).
7. Critters should not drop items.
8. Most of the normal itemdrops are too weak in relation to the creepcamps from which they drop.

So as it stands, the map is only really playable in a pure just-for-fun setting. Imho several of these issues should be addressed. Map set to Awaiting Update.

 

[mafe]

Map not updated in a long time. Therefore set to useful/simple.