I had pretty high hopes for this map refresh, there were even multiple pro players and coaches involved in the testing; however, it has ruined and sense of flow on the maps, and replaced with even more annoying weapons than before. In this thread I will go over problems with this new map update pertaining to FFA.
COLISEUM - This is absolutely the worst of the bunch. For starters, whose bright idea was it to put boltshots in the cave? I get it, this gun has taken a bit of a backseat role in much of the gameplay so far, but as far as I know nobody has deliberately asked for more boltshots. This gun takes barely any skill to you, yet can overpower anybody at a short to medium range. I thought the SMG was moved to prevent easy guns off spawn.
Battle Rifle/DMR - There is little to no point in controlling top mid any longer. It used to be great, as whoever was in control of this area also had control over the BRsand snipe spawn. Now when I stay at top mid longer than 20 seconds I can expect to be simultaneously shot by a boltshot and an AR, versus the way it was before when there was no boltshot and anybody attempting to take top could be easily 4 shotted. Instead, there are now DMR spawns, which encourages players to randomly shoot people across the map without a realistic chance of getting the kill.
Battle Rifle (Lift) - This was added to “cause interesting movement and flow”; the only thing a BR in the bottom of Sniper Side does is cause players to be multiteamed as soon as they go for the gun.
Carbine - All this does at Rocket Spawn is encourage players waiting for rockets to attempt more random cross map firing.
Note: The spawns on this map are still insanely bad. I have spawned multiple times in front of people and in the middle of gunfire, and today I actually spawned in front an incoming grenade, which needless to say is not desirable. Maybe instead of useless map refreshes we could get a fix on this.
EMPIRE: This map had great CQC flow before, why ruin that?
Boltshots - Wow even more boltshots, how luck we are! Contrary to popular opinion, I thought the Storm Rifle had an interesting role on that side of the map. It countered the OV very well, yet at medium range was easily defeated by a BR.
Plasma Caster/SPNKR - Wouldn’t it be a great to add ANOTHER close quarters one hit kill weapon on this map? NO. What was 343 thinking? Now any dude that spawns by Rockets (and doesn’t get killed by a damn boltshot) can go right over to security or tower or whatever and blow literally everything up. The plasma caster actually required skill to be good in close range, these SPNKR spawns are just another thing that lowers the necessity of gun skill.
FATHOM: Wow great now whoever gets the railgun can be immediately killed. In all seriousness though, I feel like the Camo/Railgun switch has just caused it to be easier to acquire both Railgun and Camo and steamroll everybody.
SMG - I really don’t understand the reasoning behind this, the SMGs actually provide a possible counter against the storm rifles. Why remove them but keep Storm Rifles?
TRUTH: The medium to long range precision gunfights were very unique to this map. IMO the recent changes have negated the long range factor.
SMGs and Storm Rifles - Okay, I get it, Storm Rifle is OP plz nerf blah blah blah. Maybe this decision seemed to be the right one at the time, but in reality all it has done is buff the effect the Energy Sword has on the map.
Caster/Fuel Rod - The
Battle Rifle - Why remove this weapon in so many maps? It is really the only meaningful upgrade for a precision weapon. DMR is just the magnum with a faster firing rate and higher accuracy/distance, and carbine can be easily defeated by magnum. The removal of the BRs just makes the map feel empty.
PLAZA: The only problem I have with this map is that moving the plasma pistol so close to the overshield is just honestly a bad decision. The sort of abstract previous location of the weapon caused players to go out of their way in order to get a power weapon, now it is right by multiple spawn points.
REGRET: WHY 343 WHY DO YOU GIVE US SO MANY -Yoinking!- BOLTSHOTS?!? Seriously wtf is with this? This effing gun only decreases the level of skill needed in a gunfight. It is a 4 shot kill, and the shots are homing. It is way too overpowered to be so readily available; at least the storm rifle sucks at a certain range.
Before this refresh, I felt like I knew the maps and what they had to offer. Now I just feel bewildered and astounded at some of the decisions made in this update. This is constructive criticism, and I am sorry if I insulted anyone’s favorite weapon (-Yoinking!- boltshot, man). In addition, my complaints are all based directly off of my experience in the Free For All game mode, but I imagine some of the same problems exist in others.