Okay played A2. Very similar to how it played before. The new pathway is nice, and I think the simplification of the lower area is good.
Demo:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3492731/spacesaver/20120721-0532-koth_skyward_a2.dem
Couple observations:
1) The grates you have that show the lower area are a bit of a problem. Those textures are very specifically set up to allow splash damage to go through them. Its (sort of) a bug, but it can have some really nasty consequences, especially if a demo puts stickies on the bottom side. Now, all the sudden you have an unengageable sticky trap, that could immediately kill you and no way to get rid of it. It also works for rockets and pipes, but not for any other bullet weapons. I would consider using either the chicken wire (which doesn't allow splash through), a glass window, or to come up with a thin bullet block layer that covers the bottom half of the grate. You have to be careful though, bullet block has a tendency to screw with visuals a bit, so make sure you leave tiny gaps at the edges so the game knows it needs to render the grate texture, instead of nodrawing it.
2) Medium healthpack in the yard feels okay, but I'm not sure on the location. Having a med be able to dodge around the corner and snag the healthpack out of your vision seems a bit odd, and leads to some kills stolen from you for reasons you may not like. I would consider putting it over near the hut, so its a bit more central and you have the opportunity to tag the med as they run for the healthpack.
3) The new room pathway you added is fine, but I would caution you a bit in terms of how the layout of that area is set up. One of the things comp players don't really enjoy is lots of tiny rooms clumped together with narrow hallways. Every door you walk through is essentially another place you would have to check for sticky traps, which really slows down the pace of combat, and makes it much more likely that you'll be discovered. For that room area, I would reccomend opening up the area a bit, making it more of one longhall, and if you need to break up a sightline for snipers try some props. I would also say you should stretch it out a bit, with a higher and lower area, so scouts coming in there can jump around and dodge a bit more, maybe jump onto a prop to shortcut up to the upper area.
4) I'm not sure about the change of position of the medium healthpack on that flank area. If you make the changes I said, then I could see you having it in that larger room, but I do admit I feel like its missing in that other room as well. That could just be me missing it, because it was there before and I'd gotten accustomed to having it there, and that it actually plays better without it. Not sure, will have to play some more.
5) One thing about the lower area, my immediate reaction to how its set up is that I'm not quite sure where the enemy team is going to be coming up when they use that area. Now, thats mostly from a first couple of times playing it perspective, and I'm sure I'll have a pretty good idea where teams can flank from in the future, but it is the sort of thing I think you want to make clear as you start to detail more. Make sure that room has the proper team color inside it, so people know which half of the map the sewer is going to lead to. I'm still not sure how it plays, but I think you could still make it work.
6) Still think you need that additional yard change that i mentioned in the last post. The map still feels a bit one dimensional, with everyone funneled into that single yard. If you made those changes to that side, I feel like things might really open up a bit more, and have a bit more unpredictable flow.
Still looking good, that blue base looks sick. Not a huge fan of the metal rim in reds spawn. Feel like a wood texture would match up better with whats behind it.
I know its probably the part you liked the best, but they are just confusing and poorly positioned for comp. You can't really use them to do anything major, as it takes forever to navigate them and then you just end up getting stuffed in the door, spammed to death by the enemy team. They really screw up the flow of the map, without offering anything particularly exciting. If you are going to keep the sewers, I feel like you need to really simplify them, make them pretty much a straight shot to the stairs + door and don't have them wind around into each other so you can push the enemy side. I could see a scout just running around down there forever without doing anything. The other part that should probably be on your mind, is that having a spy down there capable of going from his side of the map to enemy spawn is probably not so good. Takes all the stealth out of being a spy. If you did the red changes in the screenshot above, you'd probably have to get rid of sewers anyway, but like i said, if you must keep them, keep them simple.
