Hey DannyRand,
We played pl_goldblum_a11 in the gameday, and I wanted to give some extended feedback based off
the feedback notes we left.
The main problems of the map in my opinion would be that:
1) B point is not fun to defend.
2) C point is very tough to defend.
3) D's upward stretch is very hard to attack.
1: B point is not fun to defend.
B point is not fun to defend because the only reliable place would be to stand near it, the only safe place near it that controls it is the areas right above it, and the areas right above it have little control over the preceding sections, making it difficult to control without awkwardness.
Defending from atop of this ramp is where I mean, and I feel like I have little control up here because the flanking route is just across that gap - which is almost too far away for me to trap players with. And I'm not going to stand on that concrete balcony on my right due to the powerful sniper lines from the A point area.
I guess looking at pl_badwater's 2nd point, the defending section is very safe and out of sniper lines, and it has good control over the point, so you get - as a defender - lots of time and safety to maneuver around and experiment with different methods of defending the area - which is fun.
I'd recommend blocking out the side of this concrete balcony from the A snipers, and making this location a good place for the red engineers to set up. You can experiment with a new building type, with maybe putting a window in there for A snipers to get
some sight into it (but I'd suggest little or zero), and with maybe blocking off the dev brush window to the left of this bit:
The other side of this balcony area, the other side of the building - the flank - I mean, I never even saw because it was too dangerous to dwindle away from right overtop of the point.
2: C point is very tough to defend.
I'd say the front of the C building was okay - the ramp leading upwards towards it, but what
was very difficult to control, as a defender, was the immediate area of the control point. This was due to difficulty in backing up the rear - which was very open to snipers and whatever else is inside of the C interior.
The area is kinda awkward and seems hard to hold from an objective stance. You've got the under-routes which completely bypass the control point and give good access for blue's to the next area entirely, the reds don't have any other option than to approach the point from behind, and that route is very long and open and tough to get out of the way of shots if you need to do that.
There was also the area just behind (outside) and to the left (from red perspective) of C point, where there was a gap in the fence which looked down at B point, which I never found use for since the attackers coming at C point never seemed to be down there, and I'd only use it as a route towards them if I wanted to push them out. It would be cool if you could do something interesting-er with this area like: filling the gap in the fence with a wall, raising a platform so defenders feel safer (because they are aiming slightly down at the control point area), and from there adding a doorway into C room so defenders have a more strict guideline on where to defend the point? (I donno, experiment).
Otherwise, I'd recommend alleviating the 'I feel like I'm in danger from everything overflowing off of C point' feeling by maybe giving red players an easier way to get out of trouble in this section. Maybe even with the idea I suggested, extending its back (of the platform) towards the defenders so they can easily hop onto it from farther away and make their way towards the point? Again, because of the awkwardness of the under-area it's a bit difficult to make suggestions. I didn't really use those under areas much for defending this section, nor attacking it since it capped so quick, so I can't judge their significance.
3: D's upward stretch is very hard to attack.
This was touched upon in the feedback a bit, but was probably the major bad thing in the map since it stalemated every round. It was difficult to flank the defenders atop the hill since every route the attackers had upwards was visible from atop the hill. It was also difficult to stay alive around the cart since there was no way to get out of the way quickly (there's the chasm thing, but that's a death pit). It would be cool if you could give us a reliable way to jump back behind the cart (also give the cart people some defence there with some short walls to at least crouch behind and out of sniper sights) and maybe work our way up towards that left flank (from red defense perspective).
The other section past the house, working our way upwards towards the aforementioned flank, is probably what Auwi meant by 'a mess' since it's difficult to stick with teammates here - the ground is covered in obstacles that could interrupt easy passage.
I'd recommend cleaning some of that up a bit, and making it somehow more fun for attackers to go through there - like blocking the sight from atop the hill off totally, or pushing back the right ramp (from this new screenshot perspective) towards the red base, so that blue feels more comfortable using it both as a shield and a way to regroup with teammates. The other sightlines would probably fix themselves since we're solving the major issues of the points and dynamics would just change on their own.
Apart from that, there was the dark areas of the map: the buildings near B point, and the chasm cliff edge sections under and around the hill towards D - which was very dangerous (all pinpointed in feedback).