So what do you think?
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So the big update that Valve promised us at the beginning of the year will probably start to roll out over the next few weeks. With what is expected to be plenty of map changes all around, I don't picture Valve giving us more than 3-4 updated maps at a time. Plus we're getting 2 new maps cp_standin and cp_somethingotherclusterfuck.
I'm going to spend some time on the new maps. I'm not really interest, nor freaked out about the weapon updates. Hey it's not hats right? Any player changes or changes in dynamics are a welcome change. Doing the same thing week after week gets boring. Which is pretty much why I've avoided TF2 the last few months. Just bored.
Anyway. New maps. Let me preface. The overall update is Valve's way of saying sorry they unbalanced the game. Because no one likes getting spawncamped because we added this weapon. Or with X weapon you can do Y unexpectedly. Not looking to start a philosophical debate on said things. But they do ruin gameplay for some players and overall can just stall the 'fun.'
But Valve goes and picks 2 maps that do the exact opposite of what they are preaching.
First take a look at Standin.
Map features:
* old school gravepit look
* 3 open cap points
* future place in the dustbin with Hydro.
[youtube=iU_NGDq_FrI][/youtube]
Why so bad? My first thought if comp TF2 rejected it, it should be great for the rest of us. Well it's not. You have 3 open control points. To win, a team must control them all... And they cap slowly like Gravelpit. So for team death match players (who favor doomsday and hightower) FUCKING GREAT MAP. But overall even they'll get sick of them. Why? The map is pretty open. Congrats on dying from behind a lot. (Wait didn't Valve say this balance thing was to try and correct that?) Spawn camping? Yep.
Well OK maybe Process is better.
[youtube=AAXRcdYS4n8][/youtube]
[img]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTf7ThIblj0sWGgXTGzvqg_WihfEtykvWfUfw0a5xAFpz5gpCj66lNRdbJM[/img]
The video starts with spawncamping! That should end the conversation right there. Granted the video stars a semi-pro comp player. But we have our fair share of those. You know that guy that only ever plays 1 class and is really good at it? But 1 semi-good player shut down a team. Game play aside. Sorry, broken game play aside. What is so special about either map? Standin is different. But there's a reason why no one wants a multi-cap open map. A few engineers can stall a cap and the game. Luckily there's a time limit. ( Thanks Pipeline.) I think the visual work of the maps is a step backward. It's nice to go back to 2010. But far better maps have been created visually. This back to basics junk may be a thinly veiled attempt to get map sizes down. But that's unimportant with steam pipe. On cp_process. Yes, it's not a flat 5cp indoor/outdoor map. But Gullywash cornered the market on that last year. And Gullywash was a gimme to the Pro guys. Look at it's popularity. Somewhere above Yukon and below Koth_King.
So what did Ian Cuslidge deserve to get 2 maps shipped? I'm not knocking the map maker himself. The maps are polished. They look great. Hell, they shipped Hoodoo with the phantom cart moving on it's own glitch. But did no one else deserve? If you don't get what I'm talking about. Stop looking at gamebanana and head over to http://tf2maps.net. Plenty of polish there.
And finally a vote. Do you think they'll make any changes to CTF_Turbine[b] <removed>[/b]