PL pl_badwater_pro v12

First things first, big thanks goes to UGC Kumori for gathering and facilitating feedback over the Holidays!

This version of pl_badwater_pro contains a couple changes to help RED hold second, as feedback indicated it had become too weak of a hold in comparison to standard pl_badwater. The changes include the reintroduction of the one way gate from A to B rooftop that was in versions prior to v10 and the removal of the barricade in B alley.





The other major change in this update is a new staircase in Tires that leads to the spiral staircase at last point. This is an experimental change meant to provide more routes for BLU to push and flank from. Given that this is the entirely untested change in this version, special attention will be paid to feedback on how this affects RED's last defense.



Read the rest of this update entry...

Bowl said:

bring back the wall blocking sightline on 2nd and this is way better

Click to expand...

I'm sure everyone has ramblings they could share about stuff like this, it feels like a topic all unto itself for the Tutorial section or something, but that small wooden barricade caused a whole world of unintended effects. It cleaved the objective of B in half. The alley beyond it towards A was now 100% BLU territory. The barricaded alley meant BLU was safe from everything by RED spawn, and if they got in a fight near cart on its way into B, any sightlines RED would use to support their contesting players were small.

So then the trouble was that closing the area with the barricade meant RED couldn't crossfire the cart until it was very close to B cap. With no fear of being in a sightline until practically on the objective cap, the most effective BLU strategies became even more effective. If RED held lowground, BLU went rooftop and sniped them/spammed RED out. If RED held roof, BLU split up like normal (but with way less ranged pressure from RED), or went all in on cart to force RED to drop down.

The disadvantage of having to drop down to fight cart or just fight from near RED's spawn connector meant RED lost the tradeoffs heavily. Even more heavily than in standard badwater. Cost benefit analysis by many teams led to B becoming a throw away point with far less importance, which wasn't the intention of the barricade at all.

On top of all this, the actual intent of the barricade; to prevent Snipers from being so gosh darn strong, was unevenly experienced. Sniper is a powerful class that practically has no skill cap. It would follow then that in higher level play, Sniper is even better at what he is already great at, one shotting and holding areas with the threat of one shotting. Shutting down a good sightline mattered to high level play way more than lower level play, and the feedback showed it. With RED sniper significantly weakened, BLU walked all over what used to be contested space with impunity.

I guess where I am going with this is, the barricade didn't really solve enough to warrant how many problems it created as well.