Data Lost [Feb 26, 2017] Squally's Sunday Skirmishes - Halo 5 (XONE)

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Squally DaBeanz

Big Jerk
Jan 9, 2013
342
217
126
Maps played on 3/6:

JA50N 0 - ODST Tayrai Plaza - CTF
OverlordRaven91 - Sanctified - CTF
alex quit - Kizingo - Strongholds
The Grim Dealer - Echoes - CTF
Mrmiclego - Nightclub - Strongholds
MrBamble - Hornets Nest - CTF
SonicWolf CD - Badger Pit - Strongholds
CommanderColson - Ferrous - Strongholds
MartianMallCop - Hangout - Strongholds
Squally DaBeanz - Fracture - Strongholds
Gehrtz - Centricity - Breakout

Please leave any feedback you have for the maps you played. I will be posting mine at some point this week.
 
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CDX34

Master
Mar 23, 2015
62
24
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Note: The following feedback may be limited due to My on/off connection issues last night.

ODST Tayari Plaza - Having to jump and clamber multiple times to get up to the Banshee drastically breaks the flow of gameplay, and makes it so nobody really wants to go through the effort of getting to it. A simpler path up would make the Banshee more worth using. I also don't like that there's a soft kill boundary on the Banshee platform, this adds to the previously stated issue. The banshee itself is well balanced on the map, and doesn't feel too powerful. The red side's Plasma Pistol spawn room (square room with an emergency exit sign above a set of stairs) feels too open and the alley behind the large truck feels too cluttered. Other than this, I like the outer paths of this map. As for the main road, it feels too big, and has a lot of "lazy cover", As for the bases, pulling the flag from red base is significantly more difficult than from blue base, as the teleporter in blue base makes for a quick escape, and the Shade turret directly above red flag can quickly break any large push. The map looks really good.

Sanctified - I didn't really use the vehicles on this map, as I never got a good grasp on just how big this map really is. At least, when I wasn't getting blown away by a sniper from who knows where. Because of this map's size, the Sniper Rifle is extremely powerful. I like the map's structural design, I just think a bit of downscaling would do it some good. I really like the teleporter going between the Sniper and Mantis spawns. I also like the closable door at the bottom of each base, but I think it could use a bit more indication as to what the very obvious button does, I stood there and pressed the button a good 5-10 times before it was explained to Me, and pointed out that the door was already closed.

Kizingo - Didn't play, lagged out.

Echoes - The Sniper Rifles beside either base are welcome, though I didn't get a chance to use them. Were they always there, or are they new? I can't remember. I also love the new teleporter exit.

Nightclub - I really like the additional verticality in blue base (don't know if there's anything similar in red base) however the hanging basket accessible from blue base has some very powerful lines of sight. The Shotgun by the Yellow Tower stronghold spawns in a very powerful position, and the same can be said of the Binary Rifle. While it's obvious the middle stronghold needs to be fixed, the Yellow Tower stronghold seems to be missing it's callout (Instead of "enemy captured Yellow Tower" it's just "enemy captured stronghold") this can be fixed by editing the location name volume to fully cover the Stronghold object, or moving the object so it's completely covered by the location name volume.

Hornets Nest - Didn't play, lagged out.

Badger Pit - This is My map. And I lagged out/rejoined three times during this match. Because of how severe My connection issue was getting at the time, I decided to leave the lobby after the match was over. It was about time for Me to go anyway.
 

Squally DaBeanz

Big Jerk
Jan 9, 2013
342
217
126
Just a heads up for future signups: I will continue to hold BTB lobbies through the rest of March to allow those of you who regularly signup a chance to thoroughly test your maps. Starting in April, I will be switching to 4V4 lobbies. This pattern of switching player counts every month will most likely continue after that.
 
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Gehrtz

Novice
Feb 28, 2016
5
1
3
25
ODST Tayari Plaza: I really liked how you owned the linear feel, it's linear, but you owned that and flourished with it. I felt the Camo alley area was too small however. I never wanted to go in there because there is no room to fight and Camo wasn't that big of a deal because the small exits are easily camped at the Camo mark to kill anyone with it. I enjoyed the rest of the map though.

Sanctified: This map has really cool moving parts that you don't see incorporated in a lot of maps. I like that. The main problem with this map is that it's too punishing on the people who don't get the initial long range weapons. There is little cover for people trying to live in between the bases and there is only one main path. You have divergences on the left and right, but you have to come back to middle to get across making it too easily controlled. I'd like to play on this map with more pathways and more cover.

Kizingo V9: It's very nice looking, it sucks that the object limit doesn't let you detail it up a bit. Eastgate was a bit oddly placed to the point where no one really defended it. It was a free grab anytime you got two people over there. You did a really good job at not having lazy cover down.

Echoes: The bases being faced sideways made the sideways approach to each base really interesting. I felt all the paths were fun to traverse. The Banshee did seem to be a bit overpowered and needs something to counter it.

Nightclub: The middle stronghold glitching out is a real bummer, but there is other things that I think could be improved. The bases seem to be a bit too open. People don't want to walk so far to get out of a closed area when they first spawn. If you do keep the layout at least detail it. The Nightclub itself looked very interesting and I could see how the pathways would create fun gameplay, but if you have a stronghold there you shouldn't also have a Camo. That might be nice to put there for ctf or slayer, but if the stronghold is in that position Camo shouldn't spawn there. The edges of the map should have more contrast or railings so that people don't accidentally walk off the edges as often. It should be made clear where the edges of the map are. This map looked very fun though and even with the two stronghold game I actually had a lot of fun playing it which says a lot about the potential of this map.

Hornet's Nest: This map could clearly be recognized as a rat's nest recreation right off the bat, it was very well made, but it was a lot smaller. This map might be better played in classic mode with thruster, sprint, and other movement options turned off.

Badger pit: The team I was on, including me, seemed to ignore the center stronghold because it was so hard to cap. We generally focused on grabbing the two bridges and taking the center stronghold when they would bring there team out of it by throwing bodies in there. The bridges also seemed unnecessarily high up. Besides this though it was a lot of fun to play, the weapon placement was sound.

Hangout: I got destroyed on this map and I was blaming it on myself and that I was having a bad game, but going back I realised the one time I did good was when I picked up a Binary Rifle. I am completely horrible with snipers, but got kills with that leading me to believe that this map is very unfriendly towards close to medium range players, like myself. It looked very good and I feel like it would be fun if I could of just got kills.

Ferrous: This map, probably through extensive testing and hard work, seemed right next to perfect. You obviously know about the cinematics problem and the cut off bodies in the last cinematic, but I also dislike the invisible wall in the waterfall area. I'm not completely against invisible barriers, like if you have a building and you extend the side of it with a invisible wall so nobody can clamber or randomly fly out of the map there. I hate blatant invisible barriers though. It doesn't make sense to walk straight and then be stropped. Even if you just added some more rocks to try and block players off it would seem better than a blatant invisible barrier. It's the only thing I think you need to fix, although I recognize that some people find those completely fine.

Fracture: This map was amazing and I liked it a lot. It felt great and I couldn't see anything wrong with it. Flag was pretty easy to run launch side but that's not necessarily a problem. Objectively mid could probably be more utilized, I found the only reason I ever wanted to go there was the power-ups which I didn't feel I needed. That probably is a different story though when it comes to different game types on this map.

Centricity: This map was designed for four teams all clashing in the middle. The corners were meant to be an alternate time consuming method of getting to the flag, but seems to have been utilized more as the power position it is and needs to be nerfed. That was suppose to be offset by the teams clashing, but it didn't really seem to work. I also noticed that most breakout maps compensate for the lowered health by giving players multiple engagement escape routes. My map seemed to lack that. The Breakout flag was initially suppose to be to stop people from camping and not to make it a flag oriented game, so I tried to improve on that idea here and it seemed like it worked. Camo was intended to be burned almost everytime by the main focus being towards it for all the players, but the corners seemed to take players aim away from Camo making it an easy grab. I'm not sure where I should take the map from here, but I'll wait for more feedback to make any big decisions.
 

Mrmiclego

Qualified
Feb 18, 2016
23
3
13
Ok i need to post this as soon as possible and thepsychoduck feedback is not open yet

Kizingo:this map is taking a step backward it is a shame to see it change in a way it shouldn't there was not much that i can say changed but junction stronghold needs to come back and if there is a possibility add a fourth stronghold it may sound a little too much but just try it it could work
 

Squally DaBeanz

Big Jerk
Jan 9, 2013
342
217
126
Disclaimer: Because some maps were played on both Sunday and Monday, feedback for cross-lobby maps have been posted on Monday's thread to account for any potential changes that may have taken place between the two lobbies.

JA50N 0 - ODST Tayaris Plaza
This map suffered the same problem many early maps do. It's a cool space to look at, but it doesn't play well at all. The map is far too flat and linear, making gameplay stale and boring. The wide open center is a death trap for anyone unfortunate enough to go there, and any flanks on the sides were very exposed and offered no advantages other than not being shot immediately. To top it all off, the team spawning on the high side of the map had a huge advantage, as they were closer to the Banshee and had more movement option off spawn, The team spawning down the street was trapped from the beginning and couldn't get out of their base. I suggest completely rethinking the map and creating a layout that's less linear and offer more depth for gameplay.

OverlordRaven91 - Sanctified
This map is really cool, and I love the concept and theme. However, I feel it is vastly overscaled. The wide open fields were impossible to traverse as infantry, and the bases could only be approached from the front. This meant that players could only gain control of the bases using brute force rather than smart tactics and movement. The bases themselves are a little over-complicated, and could benefit from some simplification and additional routes to make them less campy. The middle "bridge" is a really cool idea, and the interactive door could be an interesting dynamic for flag runs in vehicles. However, the players on top of the bridge have too much cover and power at the moment, and the vehicles are practically trapped if the door is closed. The top of the bridge should be more exposed with more routes up, and the vehicles should have another option for movement if the door is closed. The Mantis hallway in the back of the map felt very disconnected, and was too far away from everything else to be a useful position. The hidden teleporter connecting this area to the upper bowl felt like a bandaid fix for the size of the map. Scaling the map down would eliminate the need for a teleporter.

alex quit - Kizingo
This map keeps getting better and better. The tweaks to the stronghold placement felt really good, and the new geometry by Eastgate is a definite improvement. The only complaint I had about that area is the lack of vertical movement options when right next to it. Right now,m players have to backtrack to blue base or red bridge and then work their way toward the stronghold, which just takes too long. Perhaps lower the room slightly and adding jump ups will help this.

The Grim Dealer - Echoes
Feedback posted in Monday's Thread.

Mrmiclego - Nightclub
Feedback posted in Monday's Thread.

MrBamble - Hornets Nest
Feedback posted in Monday's Thread.

SonicWolf CD - Badger Pit
Feedback posted in Monday's Thread.

CommanderColson - Ferrous
You know what you did... ;)

MartianMallCop - Hangout
Not much else I can say at this point. You know my complaints, but you have a vision for the map that you're clearly sticking to. I'll admit, I had some fun playing Slayer, but I still think the map could be improved.
 
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Squally DaBeanz

Big Jerk
Jan 9, 2013
342
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Map lineup for 3/13/16:

ImDahUnicorn - Unistreet - Slayer (BR starts)
OverlordRaven91 - Sanctified - Assault
The Grim Dealer - Echoes - CTF
alex quit - Kizingo - Assault

Backup maps:
Squally DaBeanz - Fracture - Strongholds
The Psycho Duck - Guillotine - Strongholds
Nokyard - Deadlock - CTF

Note: Fracture, Guillotine, and Deadlock are maps that I would like to play for fun when we get through the main testing slots, since the list is so short at the moment.
 
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alex quit

Got Gud
Nov 19, 2014
39
29
23
29
actually i'd like to sign up for my new map ENTITY -CTF

I'd also like to try Assault or Slayer on Kizingo if everyone's not entirely sick of it yet ;p - if people stick around
 
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Apr 23, 2013
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Sanctified - This map is way too big, especially for Assault, as the bomb carrier could easily move across the map without being spotted. The vehicle pathing could use some work too, specifically at the top of the map. Maybe you could add a ramp to allow vehicles to access the Forerunner structure up there.

Entity - This map was very confusing to navigate, which unfortunately is all I can say about it at the moment, as I only ran into enemies maybe 3 or 4 times throughout the match.
 
I had a ton of fun testing! Here are my impressions of the first three maps we played (I don't have as much feedback for Deadlock, Fracture, Guillotine, or Scavenger, as those maps felt very polished and close to finished):

Sanctified:
Likes:
  • Aesthetics: The windswept desert theme lent some great atmosphere to the map, and the Forerunner glyphs in the Mantis room were excellent touches. The base interiors were also nicely detailed.
  • Balanced vehicle set: the Rocket Hogs, Gungeese, and Mantis felt effective but never overpowering.
Dislikes:
  • The Mantis Cave: Despite being mostly sectioned off from the rest of the map, all the action seemed to funnel down into here, especially during Assault, where the bomb would physically roll downhill into a corner. The widest part of the vehicle path also led down into the mouth of the cave, which was frustrating because the wall dividing the cave in half created a dead end for vehicles driving in from either side. Because the cave was the most obvious way to circumvent the wall in the center, it also drew players away from the high side of the map, leaving those routes devoid of action.
  • The High Side Vehicle Route: As the only vehicle path between the bases, the high side route felt narrow and congested, and far away from the fight.
  • The Wall/Gate: It was unclear whether or not the gate in the center of the map could open and close. As far as I could tell while playing, it remained closed.
  • The Bases: The base interiors were much too large, and along with the surrounding area, saw very little action.
Echoes:
Likes:
  • Forerunner Architecture: The structures on the map had a great Halo CE feel, with some cool touches that alluded to the towers on the "Halo" level.
  • Banshee and ghosts: The vehicle set complemented the theme well, and the neutral Banshee provided a fun point of contention at the center of the map.
Dislikes:
  • Scaling: The map felt huge, with long sightlines that kept players pinned behind inside structures or behind rocks. The segmentation by terrain was a neat concept, but in practice it gave a huge advantage to whichever team had the high ground and provided little incentive to move.
  • Spawning: Players (at least on the Blue Team) rarely spawned in their base, instead spawning out in the open in the center of the map. This lead players to ignore the Warthogs and Gungeese for most of the match, as they never spawned near them.
  • Bases: Surrounded by high ground and open terrain, the bases were very difficult to defend and the least interesting area on the map to fight around. I was pinned inside the base more than once, with nowhere to go.
  • Terrain aesthetics: Rock arches and hills weren't as well-integrated into the terrain as they perhaps could have been.
Entity:
Likes:
  • Theme and aesthetics: Entity is beautiful. Paired with the new skybox, the Forerunner architecture is massive, detailed and feels almost like a campaign environment, right down to the floating bits of architecture around the spires.
  • Unorthodox layout: For better or for worse, the floating platforms in Entity are unlike anything I've seen in BTB, so props for thinking outside the box.
  • Weapon set: The complement of Forerunner weapons suits the map perfectly and gave me an excuse to play with guns I normally wouldn't use.
  • Facing spawns: Pleasant memories of Countdown from Reach.
Dislikes:
  • Navigation: Though it helps with aesthetics, the monotone gray palette made it hard to differentiate one part of the map from another. I got lost. A lot.
  • The Central Platform: There are several jumps from the platform that look like they might be possible with the thruster pack, but just barely aren't. This wouldn't normally be a huge issue, but the death pit makes those a problem.
  • Sightlines: There are plenty of long sightlines, and plenty of tight corridors, but there weren't many opportunities for mid-range engagements. The map was so segmented that, despite feeling small, I had trouble finding enemy players. During the game of CTF we played, I never spotted the flag carrier once.
And that's all I've got. Thanks for hosting, Squally, and I hope to catch another one of these lobbies soon!
 
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