Best PL Layout

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,694
2,579
the different stages arent linked together like goldrush's are

This is why I loathe Pipeline too. Well, that and why the hell is a symmetrical map multi-stage at all why would you even do that aaaaaaaargh.
 

Jyyst

L1: Registered
Aug 24, 2012
33
10
I guess it raises an interesting question that I've been too scared to ask (I pretty much know everyone will rip the suggestion apart); but...
If Valve doesn't fuss overly with balancing, and allows some maps to have some fairly unfair areas, then is it really a top priority?

My instinct is obviously yes, because you shouldn't aim to have an unfair map; but then again, when the teams swap at the end, the balance is inevitably fair... No?

Edit I'm tired, so that may have been a b/s question, but psht.

Most people that play games are casualplayers who most often don't care about a delicate balance. They come to enjoy their dose of a game and expect to get rewarding experience or they might not continue playing that game. In tf2 rewards are: loot (HATS!!!!111) and ingame stats (mostly your points and kdr).

I don't see how balance is a factor here. Unless the unblance is horribly huge!

Short: Balance =/= fun , Unbalance =/= unfun. :p
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
While casual, the maps are in a way pub-competitive. There are still strategies, even if those strategies aren't finely balanced.

Agree about badwater being more analyzable. I think that's because the map is more clear, the strategies more specific. You could say the other maps are more chaotic, and that's true, but they also offer more variety and suprise. Badwater you are lucky if an engineer has placed his sentry more than 32 units from a typical spot!

I really like the first and somehwat also the second stages of thunder mountain. The third stage is just confusing (where is cart?!) Barnblitz is really cool but I'm not as familiar with it. Goldrush and hoodoo are good, but they haven't aged well. Hoodoo has aged the worst I think, but they are both too small and chokey. Still goldrush is a nostalgia machine and fun. Hoodoo can still be fun.

Frontier I hated when it was early beta, and liked later, then hated, then liked when official and now I don't know wtf to think. Parts are really cool but parts are just a mess gameplay wise, either way too easy or too hard to push. That last CP is impossible.


Hightower and pipeline, hightower was good for a laugh. Pipeline was cool when new but, it just hasn't aged well because PLR is a mess and it is too big and hard to coordinate on.
 

Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
aa
Nov 14, 2009
4,694
2,579
I really like the first and somehwat also the second stages of thunder mountain. The third stage is just confusing (where is cart?!)
Wasn't that the same update where they added the glow around the cart? Which, by the way, I've never liked. It just feels like a cop-out in a game that used to go so far out of its way to make its visual hints feel like a natural part of the world, like the Spy's paper mask.
 

soylent robot

L420: High Member
May 26, 2009
499
394
Wasn't that the same update where they added the glow around the cart? Which, by the way, I've never liked. It just feels like a cop-out in a game that used to go so far out of its way to make its visual hints feel like a natural part of the world, like the Spy's paper mask.

i have the same feeling about the payload glow too. seems like a cop out

ive never liked plr. it feels too chaotic, and if one team gets a big lead on the other it becomes all about defence for the other team and tends to just stalemate. that, and i think that pipeline is laid out and detailed poorly. its a jumble of oddly shaped corridors and the interior sections of the map are barely detailed large rooms.
 

Fredrik

L6: Sharp Member
Aug 15, 2009
376
219
Badwater and upward are wonderful.
Frontier feels like a longer version of goldrush, but a lot more fun.
Barnblitz is alright. Probably the best looking payload map to IMO.
Thunder mountain is fun but nothing special I think. I think I've never felt like I have to play some thunder mountain. I don't like the spawns.
Goldrush is fun but a bit to small in a few areas. It feels a bit cramped some times.
I feel the same about hoodoo as goldrush.
I love to mess around on hightower. I think I've never played PLR_hightower.
I like pipeline in general, but the last stage sucks. I basically hate when tracks go side by side up a long hill.
Nightfall could be fun to play sometimes. Unfortanely I don't like the final stage of it either.

There you have it.