Boomerang A5b

Last playtest (A5) saw a significant increase in back-and-forth play, especially in defending the finale. The map is now less swing-heavy, and the ramp changes made for a much stronger attacker-sided push into 2nd, but this change stops Blu from easily pushing out of last with any entrance other than the flank and uppers. Which is healthier for the map.
I was unable to update this map on the site due to downtime, but other than the respawn-time advantage being reduced from 3-to-1, there are no differences between A5 and A5b.
Very close to Beta now.

Overall

• Reduced base spawn time to 8 from 10.
• Removed all spawn-time advantage from point capture for attackers.
• Added 1 second respawn-time advantage for defenders on last.
• Various minor clipping / bulletblock improvements across the map.

Last

• Expanded the vertical size of the cap trigger to assist explosive classes in blocking the point.
• Increased size of lower platform slightly.
• Changed the Medium HP kit in lobby to a Small.
• Moved the Medium HP in flank to be more defender-friendly / visible.
• Removed circular ramps, raised entire point structure 16 units to compensate.
• Added extra cover to the flank-side barrier next to the cap point.

Second

• Flipped the orientation of the ramp closest to mid so that it faces attackers rather than defenders.
• Clipped an unintentional spot near the cliff.
• Opened up the little cliff-hut.

Mid

• Shifted medium health kit/ammo from choke-entrance to rock
• Widened middle exit into house.
• Moved health in the cubby to the top of the ramp.
• Reduced Full Health to Medium.

Playtests are going great, generally a positive reception all-over, but this new test has revealed a few issues with the layout. Mainly that the flow around the second point is problematic, players are finding it hard to find the routes, especially on forward-respawn. To alleviate this, the low-ground area on Second has been opened up, which also provides classes like the Medic and Engineer a good place to stand close to the fight in safety.

The next issue is the final point and back-caps. They are inevitable in this mode, and all 3 times observed were because of players abandoning their last-point and leaving it open to sneak-attack, but it seems too easy for any class to get past right now. Visibility on the lower-area of the point has been opened up, and the entire point has been raised slightly to allow for easier jumping on/off of the cap, to hopefully let defenders commit easier and see threats more quickly.
The other issue with the final point is that the defending team doesn't have a great defensive position. So now the area that exits closest to mid has seen a minor rework to promote holds / engineer setup positions, and a medium health pack has been added on that high-ground. The entire final point past the entrances has been lowered by 32 units to accommodate this change also.

The final problem I wanted to fix was with the clutter on mid, so I have simplified geometry on the outside edge, and expanded the inside edge area slightly while keeping gameplay almost entirely the same.


Overall

• Changed values / positions of ammunition to adapt to where players play more often.

Last

• Overhauled the front area near the point.
• Added a medium ammo/health pack to the freshly overhauled area.
• Slimmed-down the pole intersecting the lower capture zone.
• Raised the point island by 32u.
• Increased capture time by 1 second.

Second

• Overhauled the area in front of the two lower chokes, adding a small health and medium ammo there.

Mid

• Reduced capture time by 2 seconds.
• Increased size of capture zone.
• Removed clutter around the slanted-roof cubbies on the inside edge of mid.
• Slimmed-down the large sheet of cover next to the cubby.

Overall

• Extended skybox height by 256 in all areas.
• Decreased purpley-ness of ambient light.

Last

• Reduced width of spawns by about 96
• Fixed some errant disabled spawn points.

2nd

• Extended cap zone by 32u to give more leverage over a powerful defensive Sentry spot.
• Flipped the entrance to cliff from mid.
• Expanded doorways into lower flank from mid.
• Clipped the outside edge of cliff.
• Fixed a displacement gap at cliff.
• Removed the point's hat.
• Fixed floating tree prop.
• Fixed z-fighting in connector
• Fixed an unclipped roof.

Mid
- Reduced the length of a sightline from lower entrance to 2nd and the full-HP cubby.

General

• Fixed no-entry texture appearing within red forward-spawn @ second point
• Improved clipping across the map, smoothing out transitions between some problematic doorways.

Second Point

• Overhauled right flank from mid
• Fixed a pixelwalk above playable space

Mid
- Overhauled full-health cubby at mid

• Fixed bugged spawnpoints
• Fixed a func_respawnroom sticking from the wall