I've not heard shit about Overwatch recently. This article is over a year late lol.
What's about it? Bad map design, Blizzards inability to improve it, scummy lootbox practices and awful writing.
Some people might set you aflame in real life for saying anything negative about the game, but it's true: The map layouts are godawful. Lack of experience developing shooters is not a good excuse for them, specially considering this game has been out for over a year.
This is hanamura, posibly one of the worst, not player-mader, mainstream FPS maps ever made:
[t]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jeJoSiF-_qw/maxresdefault.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE=Malvodion;52321203]Some people might set you aflame in real life for saying anything negative about the game, but it's true: The map layouts are godawful. Lack of experience developing shooters is not a good excuse for them, specially considering this game has been out for over a year.
This is hanamura, posibly one of the worst, not player-mader, mainstream FPS maps ever made:
[t]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jeJoSiF-_qw/maxresdefault.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]
someone's going to have to point this bad map design out; i don't know much about map design. i'm sure the majority of the playerbase don't know any better either.
the choke points on some of the maps can get ridiculous, but i honestly found the maps quite playable otherwise
Problem is blizzard doesn't know how to make maps that don't revolve around huge choke points. Flank routes are what makes or breaks a map. While TF2 is not perfect, their maps for the most part had plenty of long flanking options available while still making it a linear progression for the objectives.
Blizzards best maps in the game are Hollywood, Route 66, Kings Row, Dorado, etc for this reason (at least, after the first points). The middle, open sections of Kings Row, Hollywood, Route 66 and other payloads all provide an open area with plenty of flanking options and in-door buildings and plenty of verticality to give plenty of routes for attackers to move while forcing the defenders to worry about all these flanks. In theory, Hanamura does this right by giving multiple flanks for the attackers (in fact, I'd argue that Temple of Anubis is even worse). What it does wrong is that the main point is too open. A majority of players are forced to go top right and the left side is pretty much restricted to heros with maneuverability (Winston, D.va, Genji, etc.) and not crucial choke tanks like Reinhardt or Orisa, who STILL have to go top right just to get a chance to get to that flank. So in the end, Hanamura point B comes down to either a middle push or a top right push.
For Hanamura point A, which is even worse, you have a team who has to get through a small gate to an open area to get to the point. There are zero flank options for tanks or non-maneuver characters, you HAVE to go through that middle choke. This leaves games becoming stale and predictable. There is a 'meta' way to get to the point which you can expect each and every time. Going into the left rooms on Anubis A. Going top right on Hanamura B. These tactics are cheap, predictable, and make every game similar to the last.
Volskaya is probably the best 2CP map in regards to giving the attackers many flank routes. However like Hanamura, the A push comes down to either walking through the main gate or having a mobile character go slightly right ontop of the gate.
Payload maps are definitely the best, most balanced maps (par for KOTH, but even then koth calls for 'boop' heros as a necessary pick (orisa, lucio, pharah, roadhog, etc) for cheap and easy environmental kills). They're far from perfect though. Payload maps usually have a tight first section, which is either dominated by a control point or not, followed by a huge, open middle section, and ending with a tight choke fest end, which is only fair as its the defenders last stand.
If we could combine a map with Dorado first point (a huge amount of flank routes for the attack) with a middle point like Eichenwald or Hollywood with an end point like Route 66, you have your perfect payload map. A first point with tons of flank routes, a open, middle section with tons of cover, verticality, and buildings, and a final, tight end section with some flanks and maneuverability, but not as much. Dorado does the first point absolutely perfectly, by giving the attackers full access to the high ground from both the left and the right sides to force the enemy down into the choke gate. Hollywood gives attackers plenty of high ground and open buildings for cover and flanking potential, and the final point for Route 66 is tight, but it still gives the attackers a back-right flank and a high ground of the left while making it tight enough for a tough defensive hold.
Gameplay wise, Overwatch is good. It is funny, addicting, and enjoyable to play. The maps is what kills the game (and their terrible lootbox practice, writing, etc.) The maps all depend on using the same strats for victory, and revolve around barriers and holding a choke point with little to no variation.
ana exists the game sucks
Yeah I don't know. It's got all the blizzard charm and polish but I played it for a week after release and then realized a few months ago I hadn't touched it since then so I uninstalled, just wasn't much fun to me.
[QUOTE=Octopod;52321642]someone's going to have to point this bad map design out; i don't know much about map design. i'm sure the majority of the playerbase don't know any better either.
the choke points on some of the maps can get ridiculous, but i honestly found the maps quite playable otherwise[/QUOTE]
There are not enough options for attackers. Maps like Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, Volskaya Industries revolve around giving attackers a huge middle finger by offering them just a door to pass through. The little "entrance" on maps as Hanamura don't count because: A - you need a character with verticality to pass through so not every character can go through there and B - the enemies still see you if you pass through. You can't flank, you can't surprise attack the enemy. It's just a giant death show at the big door and dying all the time just to finally get through that stupid door is just annoying and anti-fun. Kings Row and Hollywood partially have this issue too. There was even a user on this forum that defended this design by saying "you just need push through enough and fight as a team, it's fun". Yeah no.
Most maps just have this chokepoint nature by them because apparently Blizzards solution of developing "fun" maps is making them into chokepoint clusterfucks. Overall maps simply don't offer enough options for both teams but especially not for attackers. They just pull the ass card most of the time.
Eichenwalde is maybe the absolute worst one, for being attacker, especially the first point. I hate that map so much. And Blizzard is simply not changing anything. It's been over 1 year already and there was just little tiny change on Eichenwalde. Instead we get more and more legendary skins...
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