So we're introducing the new match rules that everyone has had time to test on the WNL_Testing server. The changes look like this:
Round Time: 240 seconds (4 minutes)
Master of Field flag always spawn at 2 minutes.
- Combat Speed: Medium, Friendly Fire %100, Round Time: 240 seconds, Game Type: Battle, Re-spawn time: 8 sec, Gold: All set to %100, Camera: team member’s view, forced MoF spawn on 2 minutes.
The flag spawning on 2 minutes is done via a server side mod so there's no need for you guys to do anything. A quick summary of the benefits for anyone who hasn't seen them:
1. Less waiting for flags to come up when camping.
2. Enough time for aggression before flag spawns.
3. Draws extremely unlikely and impossible to force.
We've decided to be a little slower than previously thought in our introduction of new maps. Instead of wholesale changes, we'll only be getting rid of three native maps currently in rotation. This is for a few explanations. Firstly we initially mentioned our plan of only getting rid of three maps and do not wish to suddenly change the map rotation drastically. Secondly because there are some maps that whilst we really like, we believe need a little more work before they're ready to be introduced. So we've decided to pick five maps which we believe are currently ready to be used in the WNL, these will all be played from the start of the tournament. At Week 7 we will be introducing even more new maps, so people can feel free to carry on posting their creations until that moment. We'll also be looking at possibly getting rid of Nord Town, Field by the River and others in the near future. Because of this, we'll be keeping up WNL_Testing for the foreseeable future as a good place to try new maps and look for bugs.
So now a little explanation of why we're removing the three native maps. The maps being replaced/removed are Port Assault, Village and Snowy Village. We've decided to get rid of Port Assault for a few reasons. First and foremost we believe it's just poorly designed as an 8v8 competitive map. Firstly it's extremely unbalanced in favour of the defender. Furthermore it's a map that often leads to camping. Overall we think it's a grindy map that doesn't allow much space for tactical innovation. We believe there are just better and more interesting closed maps that have been submitted.
Next we're getting rid of Snowy Village. We're getting rid of this for numerous reasons, a large one being that it's probably the single most complained about map on warband. It's dominated by gigantic hills that are a nightmare to traverse and it almost always ends up with one team camping the gargantuan hill. Once again we believe there are more interesting custom maps at our disposal so we've decided to replace it.
Finally we're getting rid of village. Honestly it's another unbalanced and campy map. Everyone we spoke to agreed it that it lead to a considerable amount of camping and was very unbalanced. Similarly to Port Assault, the defenders advantage means it's often 4-0 for the defending team. This poses the problem that the other map being used in the match is made more important because of the likely stalemate on Village. On the whole we believed that Shariz Village by Maynd had similar areas but improved balance and a more comfortably size for 8v8 matches.
So here's the 5 new maps we're introducing:
(http://i.imgur.com/6rmeR1I.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/uxK4bcA.jpg)
By: Mr. Sphere
(http://i.imgur.com/IccZT7G.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/sjSeAKG.jpg)
By: Maynd
(http://i.imgur.com/zwf2dZg.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/fvuiRXk.jpg)
By: AZAN
(http://i.imgur.com/7WEnqow.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/pFYG3Cg.jpg)
By: Thunderon
(http://i.imgur.com/cbF6OQG.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/0kpnDrf.jpg)
By: AZAN
Map Pack: http://www.mediafire.com/?xelekyibny2gd02 (http://www.mediafire.com/?xelekyibny2gd02)