Following my match from yesterday and after hearing the comments from the shoutcasters, I felt like I should state my opinion on the modifications of the maps.
First of all, thanks to MrGrins, m3ss and PACO for shoutcasting matches yesterday, I truly enjoyed that and hope you do more in the future.
However, I felt that the comments from the shoutcasters were inaccurate regarding the spawns on Codex and that I should not have won with a 7 frags lead.
I watched the stream today and clearly nanm misplayed the spawns on some occasions, making me look as a "lucky guy who gets lucky spawns":
- The spawn kill at 9:57 could have been avoided if he didn't rush towards flak as a quick reflex on the heat of the moment.
- Then that "lucky spawn kill" lead into a quick "unlucky" spawn at armor that imo, could have also been avoided if he had dodged properly or piston even.
- The next spawn kill, it just happens, in all *&@*(#!@ games.
I have nothing against nanm, but whenever I used to play higher-skilled players in duel like flux or depain, these easy spawn kills barely never happened because they had a much stronger defensive/evasive game. nanm did not play passively but rather played aggressively on some occasions where he shouldn't have. The kill streak that I got was mostly due to errors on his part or my map knowledge.
I truly believe that modifying maps is not the solution. Pretending to "fix" maps, simply based on false assumptions, is NOT the solution. Even worse, running a whole tournament with modified maps that could change the whole dynamics of gameplay, and that have just been released a month before a tournament, is unacceptable. Except for Deck for course! Everyone loves Deck, right? This map does not need any modifications at all with its mini and pulse spawns that you are almost guaranteed of getting spawn killed. I have nothing against bleh, but of course he is going to be against if any changes occur to it, considering he has mastered the map and can play the spawns perfectly at the right angles. Deck can be abused as much as Codex can. Why not change Deck simply because of its popularity and familiarity and change Codex because you've seen someone get 2 spawns kills, which happens on Deck all the time. Everyone loves Spheres also, right? Where you know that your opponent is going to spawn at Pads every spawn.
About Liandri, ahhhhhh Liandri (dreams). Everyone knows I love Liandri. As I kept telling sLY, I do not know what is wrong with our North American community, but I have never seen a streamed game of Liandri at a world tournament of local tournament that was not intense. Liandri makes up for the best games. However, I totally understand the point of view of shoutcasters that a 1-0 game could be boring to shoutcast or watch. The proposed changes would make the map more than horrible imo, considering that it would put too much weight on that belt room. Moving the sniper to the redeemer room would give the guy spawning at belt a huge advantage having the belt and the most powerful weapon in the middle room. Reaching that sniper on Liandri was a challenge on its own when playing someone who controls the middle very well. Liandri was somehow a hitscan map already, please do not make it even worse.
With that said, I truly believe that ONE solution to the problem is to do what Quake 3 did years ago, i.e. implement a maximum of 5-seconds delay on spawns that could throw off the guy in control. The player of course, could use it only if he desires it, at his own risk of getting spawn raped. Having played Quake all my life, I do not give a damn about getting spawn killed, those still frequently occur in the latest FPS games. DM6 was never changed in Q3 despite the massive spawn raping in the LG room. The best games I have seen in this game are on DM6:
Must-watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKV1WFkwRK8Play as smart as possible, deal a lot of damage to your opponent before dying such that he cannot rush you to spawns. If you think you didnt do enough damage, be ready to run for your life or piston to get out of tricky situations. Not all spawns kills can be avoided. Accept it.
Keep in mind that if you can get spawn-killed, you can spawn-kill too. It works both ways. Learn how to do it yourself.
More importantly, learn how to deal with a game that was developed in 99, otherwise move on to another game.
I am ready for your comments sLY.