User:Shard/HA Changes
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*****ATTENTION*****: I will be reformatting/rewriting this to make it easier to find what you want to read, instead of me force feeding you a lame intro layout of every map.
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
Heroes' Ascent, love child of Tomb of the Primeval Kings and Factions. Along with the move to the Battle Isles came the new (and since abandoned) 6v6 feature. Later, we received new maps, changes to some current maps, and the removal of some maps. With over half the maps in Heroes' Ascent being non-annihilation came a new influx of build archetypes. Instead of raw power, teams were forced to bring more utility to deal with the new maps. However, some of the map changes were, to say the least, embarrassing, while others were probably accidentally added instead of being placed in a rectangular plastic bin most people call a trash can. If I were responsible for making Heroes' Ascent fun once more, here's how I would do it.
[edit] Map Overviews
[edit] The Elite Zaishen Battle
Arenanet has tried two ways of giving teams initial morale, with the side-effect that prevents teams from timing skips. The first was Rift Wardens. This objective forced either camping on the ghostly hero for close to no morale, or having the team split for high morale. The second featured a group of NPCs, consisting of 2 monks, and elementalist, and various frontliners and/or midliners. For the purposes of giving all teams a fair chance at top morale, the latter is the better choice. However, to encourage more versatile, splittable builds, the former would be a better choice. I would personally make it a combination of both, and run a time limit on it, so overly defensive teams can't enter HA at all.
- The party starts with 10% morale and has five (5) minutes to kill 8 foes, consisting of 2 monks, one ward ele, one domination mesmer, one curse necromancer, one bow ranger, one hammer warrior, and one randomly selected character of an expansion profession. Every thirty seconds, if the NPCs are not dead, a random expansion profession spawns and the party loses 2 morale.
[edit] The Underworld (arena)
The Underworld has always been the first map, and has always been straight annihilation. The layout is simple. Basically, there are only two ways to meet the other team, and 99% of all UW fights happen in front of one of the bases, providing a somewhat cramped playing field with few obstructions to hide behind, but still with plenty of space to move. Nothing is wrong with this map, I'd keep it the way it is.
[edit] Fetid River
Fetid river is arguably the simplest arena in the game. It's a circle. Yeah. A circle. Having priests in such a small map probably isn't too inventive, but adding priests to any map only adds to strategy, so I like it. Nothing imbalanced about it, except that while standing in the river, it is a bit hard to see the entire enemy team. I'd keep it the way it is.
[edit] Burial Mounds
Burial Mounds, my least favorite lower tier map. This map screams "AoE makes you win" and "Ranger Spike lol." If anything, I would change only the very middle of the map, where the choke point is, by removing that wall thing. It's practically impossible to get through it against a full AoE team and can cause long standoffs until someone decides to get themselves killed.
[edit] Unholy Temples
Unholy temples is the first Relic Run map in HA. The only beef I have about it is that there is only one way to get to the other side, and it's through a very narrow corridor. I would add pathways going all around the edge of the map (where mountains currently exist) to give teams the option to run relics a longer way around without the hassle of walking through a Ward Against Foes and getting AoE'd to death.
- If I had the map file, I'd show an edit, but I don't. I'd appreciate if someone could either post a clean one on wiki (the current one has incorrectly placed relic spawns) or tell me the ID number in the dat file.
[edit] Forgotten Shrines
[edit] Golden Gates
I'm a little biased to this map because it's never been a problem for me and it's fairly simple. The only beef I have with it is those raised walkways. Nobody ever uses them. Otherwise, a fine map.
[edit] The Courtyard (arena)
Aside from Sacred Temples, Courtyard is my favorite HA map. The only bad thing about it is that ganking can happen. Welcome to HA. I wouldn't change anything about this map.
[edit] The Antechamber
This map was a failure on an epic scale. Putting capture points in HA is bad enough, but arranging the points on this map in a linear fashion was outright stupid. Because of the layout, 99% of antechamber battles wind up being an 8v8 for the middle. When splitting happens, it ends up badly, because there is no easy way back.
I'm working on a possible objective that would work on this map, but it doesn't look promising. Removing it from the game would be the best solution for now.
[edit] The Hall of Heroes (arena)
The Hall of Heroes is a pupil-dilating sight for first timers, due to its server-reknowned fame and its intricate layout. Unfortunately, bad objectives were added to a good layout, and the result was a boring lamefest. The only good objective for this map is King of the Hill.
I would remove Capture Points and Relic Runs.
(new objective removed because it had some issues that allowed it to be abused)
[edit] Nonexistent Maps
[edit] Broken Tower
[edit] Scarred Earth
[edit] Sacred Temples
My favorite HA map. It encourages splitting without forcing annihilation, and it encourages team coordination. Wouldn't change a thing on it, but I would bring it back into circulation.
[edit] Nonexistent Map 1
[edit] Nonexistent Map 2
Because of its small size, simplicity, and cramped walkable areas, this map screams for AoE domination. I'd make it slightly bigger and widen the walkways more. Don't know what the objective is yet. Hopefully its size will limit it to annihilation. Anything else would be a frenzy of balling up and being AoE'd.
