What would you say is the best map of each official game mode?

MegapiemanPHD

Doctorate in Deliciousness
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Mar 31, 2012
1,937
1,280
Self Explanatory. Post which official maps you think are the best of their game modes.

5CP: Badlands
Arena: Byre
A/D: Gorge
PL: Badwater
PD: Watergate
PLR: Banana Bay
CTF: Landfall
Misc: Hydro
KOTH: Highpass
Passtime: Brickyard
Mannpower: None of them
MVM: Mannhattan
Event: Carnival of Carnage

Feel free to elaborate on your decisions as well if you want. Also let me know if I missed any game modes.
 

Da Spud Lord

Occasionally I make maps
aa
Mar 23, 2017
1,339
994
A/D: Mossrock
PL: Upward
KOTH: Lazarus or Viaduct
MVM: Mannhattan
 

Diva Dan

hello!
aa
Mar 20, 2016
1,024
1,951
5cp: Gameplay would be gullywash, granary for Looks and other simple things I like about it
Arena: Byre (Although offblast has a soft spot in my heart)
A/D: Steel
PL: Upward, but I really enjoy snowycoast
PD: watergate
PLR: Banana bay for gameplay and looks but it’s close to pipeline for looks for me
CTF: Doublecross
Misc: Hydro
KOTH: lakeside or maple ridge
Passtime: cuisine is the only good passtime map
Mannpower: anything but hellfire
MVM: Mannhattan
Event: Mann manor
 

VEssex

L2: Junior Member
May 19, 2016
63
83
5CP: Sunshine or Vanguard
A/D: Junction or DeGroot Keep
Arena:
PL: Upward
CTF: 2Fort
KOTH: Badlands or Sawmill

PLR: Hightower
PASS: District
MANNP: Thundermountain

MVM: Mannhattan
Event: koth Viaduct
 
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SnickerPuffs

(*single chuckle*)
aa
Apr 10, 2014
1,315
1,857
5CP: 5Gorge
Arena: Byre
A/D: Gravelpit
PL: Upward
PD: Watergate
PLR: Nightfall
CTF: Well
Misc: Hydro
KOTH: Brazil
Passtime: District
MVM: Bigrock
Event: Mann Manor
 

hutty

aa
Mar 30, 2014
538
444
Arena: Byre
PLR: Hightower
CTF: Doublecross (could be sawmill with some fixes)
Mannpower: Hellfire
Event: anything but Carnival of Carnage.
 

red3pit

High on melancholy
aa
Dec 3, 2016
262
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5CP: Gullywash/Sunshine
Arena: Sawmill
A/D: Gorge/Mercenary Park (I unironicly have fun on this map)
PL: Snowycoast
PD: shouldn't this be considered "misc" since we have only Watergate and Pit Of Death (which falls under "event" category)
PLR: delet this
CTF: Landfall
Misc: Degroot Keep
KOTH: Harvest/Suijin
Passtime: delet this as well
Mannpower: and especially this
MVM: Coaltown
Event: Sinshine
 

Xayir

L3: Member
May 27, 2017
127
71
5CP: Fastlane
Arena: Offblast
A/D: Steel
PL: Frontier
PD: Watergate
PLR: Banana Bay
CTF: Doublecross
Misc: Hydro ;3
KOTH: Lakeside
Passtime: Brickyard
Mannpower: Hellfire
MVM: Mannhattan
Event: Gored
 

Muddy

Muddy
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Sep 5, 2014
2,574
4,592
CTF: Landfall
Definitely what I'd consider an 'ideal' CTF map. It's got a little something for everyone, it's small enough that classes other than Scout are viable for capturing the flag, and the flag area can't be locked down by two sentries. I wanted to mention Double Cross as well but I like that more as a deathmatch map than a CTF map.

5CP: Snakewater
Most solidly-designed 5cp map IMO. Every cap point feels fun to play on, and the layout is very intuitive.

A/D: Steel or Gravel Pit or Egypt
The only Attack/Defend maps I can reliably have fun on. Gorge gets old quickly, Mann Mountain Manor Lab is designed weirdly and it forces BLU to hike a few too many miles to the last control point, Merc Park is boring and everything else is bad.

PL: Upward or Thunder Mountain
Upward is the most solidly-designed one; every area is fun to play in and it all feels like a lot of effort has been put into it. Thunder Mountain has somewhat less polish but it makes up for it by having an insane amount of playspace.

PLR: Nightfall
The PLR map that is fun to fuck about on but also actually do the objective. For every other official PLR map it's either one or the other...

Mannpower: fuck off

I can't decide on a favourite Arena map because I like all of them (except Watchtower and Granary). Everything else I don't have an opinion on.
 

G.bo

L4: Comfortable Member
Sep 24, 2017
175
193
CTF: Well (Just feels better than the CP or Arena versions.)
5CP: Process (The other 5CPs are a bit less friendly. This one has pleasing colors as well.)
AD: Mountain Lab (It's based a lot on height and it's visually pleasing.)
PL: Cactus Canyon (It's beta, but still official. Plus, it's the papa of Banana Bay's gimmick.)
PLR: Hightower (Banana Bay is The Labyrinth, and the other two are staged.)
Arena: Offblast (I like cliffs. A lot.)
KOTH: Kong King (I like the theme a lot, and it's mostly balanced...except spawn.)
Misc: Degroot (Medieval is over appreciated by pubs and under appreciated by pros.)
Passtime: Brickyard (Best Troldier map in the game. Fight me on this, I dare you.)
MVM: Rottenburg (If wave 666 was on this map, I would love it even more.)
Mannpower: Thunder mountain (Who needs Grappling hooks when you can go godlike with Troldier?)
Event: Mann Manor (It's like Mountain Lab, but it looks NOTHING like it.)

I didn't put PD on here, mostly because there's two maps, and one of them is an event map.
 

Egan

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Feb 14, 2010
1,375
1,720
1 ARENA - Well: Reliable, enjoyable with a small-medium amount of players (the typical). Offers up enough variance in strategies with the main doors not being the fastest routes to mid giving options for alternate attacks either jumping up to the battlements early, or going through the water tunnels but leading to worse positioning in the center area.

The length of the center room also makes it interesting for attacking against snipers, since the height of the ramps in the room give you an advantage but not necessarily against the door exits (where snipers stand typically) because the snipers can easily just leave the sightline , and it becomes difficult to chase them. It's like, non-trivial combat, lotta depth to think about, which adds to the feeling of 'who knows how the round might end, even after I die', which is exciting and intense.

The other arena maps are also mostly good. Lumberyard is great, really cool fast height available, but I've like, played the map too much now lol. It's hard to say if it's worse than Well because I've just played it too much to find it enjoyable anymore? Same sorta deal with arena_nucleus or arena_granary. Good maps but played too much. haha

2 CTF - Double Cross: I don't really like CTF at all actually, the invasion-ctf from Converge is a lot of fun, but dedicating someone to stand idly by the flag 'just in case' some random guy comes by is boring, and I never want to be that guy.. But at least with doublecross all the lines going from the intel inevitably pass by where the main holds are up top, or at least the teams can revolve around to catch the person escaping by. Some interesting layout. My opinion of it is higher because I played it in the competitive match servers which made the combat more depthful.

3.a SYMM CP - Probably Badlands. I don't play a lot of competitive matches on symmetrical cp, and then pub matches are probably not a great representation of the strategies of them. Snakewater, metalworks, sunshine, and process have some good heights on them to interact with, and require a lot of team synergy and organisation to work with well, but I haven't played that personally, only seen in streams and things. Whereas badlands I have played since a lot of the heights at mid to take advantage of are simpler / faster to interact with / catch a grip on.

3.b A/D CP - Dustbowl: reliably fun after 10 years. these days requires several ubers to push onto the points, but the funneling effect of the tight tunnels and small controlpoint areas means teamwork manifests all the time on its own (without player interaction necessarily) and the game feels the most 'TF2'-y.

4 KOTH - Lakeside: was a toss up between lakeside or highpass. I think I can just stand to play lakeside for longer than highpass. Lakeside has a lot of team interaction, and gives that fun-for-me-at-least feeling of going into a battle, barely surviving and alone from your now-dead teammates, and then meeting up with another surviving group of teammates in the nearby area (point <-> inner room areas) and that shit is like the bomb, so fun.

Whereas a bit in highpass, which does feel like it has better balancing in spots for different kinds of class dynamics, I feel like I'm a bit too separated from my team, or it doesn't necessarily feel like I'm pushing with my team, rather I just scoot on past the point and go f*ck some shit up in the other team's battlement areas.

Lakeside has been fun for a really long time now too, and the theme is easy on the eyes, not easy to get super bored of it. Some cool details along the sideline areas!

5 MvM - Mannhattan: good amount of balance of scale, big enough with the two controlpoints that I don't feel totally f*cked for missing those fast scouts going past us.


6 MANNPOWER - Hellfire: the tunnel areas restricting combat help a lot with the poor prediction from the other maps, when the mannpower maps are so open and wide it's like which class I am has no bearing at all on the combat, and it boils down to just sniping each other or grappling onto each other for shits and giggles.

Meanwhile with the tunnels on hellfire the powerups become the major prizes (probably as they should, right?), and they then offer up some gameplay you don't see anywhere else in the game - chasing each other with unique powerups, or somehow outsmarting the guy with the powerups.

Mannpower doesn't seem to offer a lot of teamplay though. I wonder if an a/d converge-ctf might help supply that, with the small tunnels to narrow its focus. Could be more enjoyable maybe.

7 PASSTIME - District, I guess..: I say I guess because I don't really like any official passtime maps, but at least district offers some solid engineer sentrygun placements which at least makes it feel like I'm playing TF2 somewhat, and lets me witness the noobs have somewhat of an enjoyable time since they have a reliably means to help their team win.

Middle of the map seems really wide and open. Pretty frustrating making a 'sorta push' with my team and it being totally nullified by some random honkey and running away with the main resource / throwing it away, while I'm stuck in the subway tunnels struggling to survive against annoying classes who'd rather kill me than help their teammates go after the jack ball thing... So at least the capturezone plays out somewhat okay..

8.a PL - Badwater: followed close by Borneo, probably. Badwater's last is hard and not super fun to attack, but its opening and middle sections are so reliable! Borneo's middle is a bit weird / too easy to push through. Like too instantly chaotic, somehow always our medics die from some random shit , like a pyro jumping in suddenly. Borneo's intro two points are very very solid though. Borneo's last is kinda not super fun to attack, but the theme over the map is great. Badwater seems just more consistently fun I suppose.

Swiftwater has some really interesting gameplay that isn't anywhere else, a bit spammy though. Detailing is kinda bleh too lol. Lots of weird detail that seems a bit random / not super thought out. It's an enjoyable map though, which means a lot.

Upward doesn't feel too organised , like the combat is pretty all-over , and I don't really feel like I'm often meaningfully pushing or attacking places with my team, I just somehow end up beside them. The combat spaces are probably just too big for my liking, like my individual actions have less bearing on the direction of the game, which maybe is too 'ego' sounding, but it's enjoyable when you get those important plays, or when you participate in them as a support class. Or even defending against such a play, even failing to, still fun. Upward doesn't really have those..

Barnblitz too spammy/too chokey on last. Pushing the first point as blue is not fun.

Goldrush is fun, but it is a bit spammy. Hard to enjoy the last stage cause you need very certain playstyles, which is probably not what you want to play on the final stage after such a long slog. The ending finale always feels a bit underwhelming somehow, like one team wasn't able to play their best in some way, and you just go "ya ,.. well.. eh.." before the map changes.

Blade's pl_pier should be official, it's good.

8.b PLR - Maybe Pipeline, I really haven't played much of blade's Banana Bay to compare. His is probably better, but I know for sure in the past I've had some decently enjoyable team gameplay within Pipeline... That stage 2 with the doors that open after a time is really interesting. There are some good defensible positions too that you can/have to dedicate some time to go take down, but once they're down it's hard for the enemy team to set them back up, which is cool. Feels a bit like the gameplay of thundermountain.
9 MISC - Wattagate. somehow feels exactly my-style of gameplay
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10 EVENT - Mann Manor: pretty much the only halloweeny mode that I can enjoy without heavy gimmicks overlayed on top - of course there's theming and the HHH, but those feels like supplements rather than the hooks. The theme is good and comfy though!


I feel like my tastes will change over the years, but so far it's this more or less.
 
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Svode

Take a Chance on Me
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Jul 31, 2016
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5CP: Well. Very nostalgic for me (had a lot of memories from it in my old TF2 days)
Arena: Byre.
A/D: Dustbowl. I've had great experiences on it
PL: Barnblitz.
PLR: Pipeline. As with Well, I have fond memories/nostalgia from this map.
CTF: Landfall. Great map with a lot of Tough Break-era memories
Misc: DeGroot Keep.
KOTH: Highpass. Favorite map out of Tough Break.
Passtime: Timbertown/TImberlodge
MVM: Coaltown/Ghost town. My most frequented MvM maps, love em.
Event: Ghost Fort (Merasmus compels you)
 
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Zed

Certified Most Crunk™
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Aug 7, 2014
1,241
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5CP: Snakewater's pretty cool. Definitely more pub-friendly than most 5CP maps, plus it looks really nice.

Gullywash is good too. I love how it's structured in comparison to most maps. Really interesting to see how these became such staples of 6v6 with almost completely unique point designs, when most CP maps made for comp tend to be more derivative.

Arena: Dead game mode, but Lumberyard is a classic.

A/D: Steel. It's a very dynamic map with a lot of fun & strategy involved. It's always great playing this one with a full server of people who know the basics of what they're doing.

PL: Probably Upward, in all honesty. The play space caters to every class, each of the points feels different from each other, there's death pits everywhere, and I really like the visual style. Last is also really nice; there's a lot of different routes for BLU to enter their side from and it leads to some nice push and pull between both teams when RED is able to put up a good defense.

Shoutout to Thunder Mountain, too. Lots of neat vertical space, and the mood is great.

PLR: Nightfall. I love the theming and each stage is fun to play on. It's a lot faster than the other payload race maps to boot, although that means the stages tend to feel a little bit too short.

CTF: Landfall. A lot more open and easy to play on than the other ctf maps, you can't turtle out the middle zone (like on Turbine), and the intel is easier to break into. Double Cross is alright, too.

KoTH: Lakeside. It's a very open map with a simple layout and a lot of really nice play space for every class. Always really liked Probed as well.

Event: Either Mann Manor or Gorge Event. Sexy maps without a lot of gimmicks to them.
 

Narpas

Takes way to long to make and update maps
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Jun 11, 2015
433
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A/D: I'm gonna go with a non-official map on this one and say cp_hella
PL: Thunder Mountain all the way. I love the wrap-around spiral gimmick on the third stage, and it also has wonderful visuals
CTF: I've always been partial to Doublecross. When I first started playing TF2 when it went F2P, 2fort was my favorite map, and I feel like Doublecross improves on it in almost every way
Misc: Pit of Death
Mannpower: Eh, I like all of them equally
Event: Mann Manor and George