Gem Rotation on Art Map
The first time I loaded in to the "3 lane" art map I was pretty excited. I felt like I was on a more thought out map, that was developed earlier that the split map I had been playing on previously. When I first realized gems are on a rotation, I was also pretty excited as I believed this would force team fights and interesting interactions that possibly wouldn't occur otherwise.
Then a few issues game about:
I am a high level RTS/Moba player (currently Master SC2/Rank 1 Heroes) - so map pattern recognition is pretty easy for me. I don't like that I could figure out the pattern of the gem rotation in one try. It's mid, bot, top, mid (should be about 10 minute mark). I really wish that this was randomized or else it will be abused. I've already started split pushing against the rotation.
The next issue is with the forced team fighting I mentioned. Because you are unable to see your opponents squad in draft, you are therefore unable to pick/counter pick with any precision - it's pretty much play what's fun (not that anything is wrong with that in general). However, because you have no knowledge, the team that is tankier or more siege heavy, has a massive advantage on this map. That is because the team that can dominate the gem area, will gain massive advantages and eventually starve their opponent. It's gotten to the point where I don't even build for damage or support, just control and siege.
Possible solution:
Randomize the gem spawn locations, reduce the amount of gems that spawn in the location, and split up the locations. i.e mid and top at the same time
Do you guys have any thoughts on the matter? Do you enjoy how it works now? Think there are better ways it can work?
Comments
Perhaps something more like temples on Sky Temple in Heroes of the Storm. Three spawn locations with varying numbers and locations spawning through the game. I think it's top and mid first round, bottom second round, etc.
I definitely agree that one team tends to push other team out of the rotation zone. I watched a game today where a Celeste built into two purifiers strait out of the gate and allowed her team to dominate the rotation areas.
One countermeasure to a team with superior zone control is to quietly build at the gem expansions on the opposite side of the map. The problem is that skilled players will scout this, and since the gem rotation will soon take them to that side of the map, it is very convenient for them to swing by and make an attack on the expansion.
I think the best solution would be to expand the width of the rotation zones so that it is more difficult for one team to entirely zone out the other. I like SwipitySwipe point about HotS' Sky Temple map. Perhaps it would be best to divide the center line into five gem zones, and have two random zones spawn gems during each gem phase.
We almost certainly won't be applying any "fix" to the art-maps gems since we're intending to completely rebuild the map (and rebuild it to not be rotationally symmetric). In short, we want the same properties you're talking about for the next map -- reasonable predictability, tiny probability of being shut out, counter attacking/counter gemming possibilities etc!
Thanks for the response Day. I completely understand that everything we are looking at may be subject to change. All I'm looking for is not 100% snow ball effect. That being said, I would again refer to the possibility of reducing gem spawning per objective area - so that if your team does get shut out, it's a problem, but maybe not game ending. Conversely if you shut out the enemy team you again gain an advantage but aren't able to just steam roll the rest of the game. I've felt at a pretty comfortable winning stance from solidly winning the bot spawn (2nd in rotation) at like the 5 min mark with some of my builds - keep in mind AI is rather easy though.
That being said, I have already produced a pretty nasty Celeste siege build and plan on making a guide on it. It makes it pretty disgustingly easy to control the objective and then fire and forget some Glass Cannons etc. Working guide title "Siege Baroness"