Why The Map Feels So Disjointed
I've been thinking a lot about why the game currently feels like a 2v2 and a 1v1 that never interact, or at the very least are discouraged from interacting, and, from the perspective of a League of Legends player, I think it comes down to two problems with the current map design:
First, there are no safe paths of traversal between the top and bottom of the map. If the bottom player wants to journey up and help the two players at top, his two choices are to either recall and walk there from base, which could take way too long, or to walk through the open middle of the map and leave himself entirely vulnerable to all three players on the enemy team. If a path existed around where the 2x expansions are currently located, the bottom player could safely and quickly walk his army up to the top half of the map without getting caught out of position, making cross map play at the very least a possibility.
Second, it is incredibly easy currently to punish a player for being absent from his side of the map. For example, if the bottom player ever does decide to go up and help create or break a siege, the opposing bottom player can very quickly jump in and destroy a tower or an expansion uncontested. This is because the map is currently incredibly short length-wise in relation to its width. As soon as a player sees his direct opponent on the other side of the map, he can move into position to pressure their base in seconds. Thus, not only is a cross map play dangerous for the health of your army, but it also almost always results in a strategic loss much greater than the value of whatever assistance was provided to your teammates.
Some possible solutions, outside of the solution of making a different map (which I actually don't think is necessarily required):
Remove healing auras from towers and remove healing totems. This would make recalling the only option for healing damaged units, other than for Hydros and Grath. Then, after a skirmish, the victorious player actually has a window of opportunity to exert presence on the other side of the map while his opponent recalls and regroups.
Implement a long cooldown teleport ability from one side of the map to the other. This would allow the player abandoning his side of the map to at least take his opponents by surprise, and therefore increase the odds of success upon his arrival. This would immediately make cross map play more attractive, because the guaranteed loss of pressure on one side of the map is made up for in pressure on the other side. This also guarantees safety for the teleporting army, making sure at the very least the play is allowed to be carried out, and attempting to assist your team isn't necessarily an absolute lost cause.
Neither of these changes are guaranteed to make leaving your side of the map ever the correct play, but I think they would at least make doing so much less punishing, and would open up the possibility for such play in situations where the need arises. If any of you guys have any other ideas, I would love to hear them as well.
Comments
I'd build upon your point #1 by noting that the map really doesn't have good overall "flow" to it either. Things kinda fan you AWAY from your buddy's side of the map.... and then also there's a nexus. We're hoping to address the flow in a map re-building (happening literally right now. I can see the monitor w/ it being worked on).
The other point you bring up is something reeeeeaaaallllly tricky for us -- what gives you permission to leave your region? Tower building is a bit "not compelling enough" right now because it feels SO scary to lose your expansions! In PvP, early gold differentials almost always lead to loss. Faster to build defense OR different expo architecture OR maybe this teleport idea could help?
In short, we DO want it to be that 2v2 / 1v1 feel connected in a way AND that you feel permission to leave at "clever times." Lots of ideas to test here!
I'd like to chime in... when I spawned in as what I'll call the "bot lane" player, there were times where the 1v1 was really engaging and fun. It felt similar to being a top laner in LoL, where in some games the other 4 players are interacting quite a bit but top lane feels like a bit of an island, that pressure of having no one there to hold your hand is pretty nice.
I think in the mid to late game a player should have more freedom to roam and the teleport or maybe a unit or 2 with some sort of mass recall would be a great big help to that.
I absolutely agree, Robbin. Early game separation is fine, and creates some differentiation between the duo role and the solo role, but there should be a point in the game where it becomes okay for the solo player to join the other two for big team moments. Right now, leaving for any length of time means losing gems, losing towers, and maybe even losing expansions. That means even an end game 3 man push is potentially really risky, when that is exactly the kind of moment that SHOULD be ending games.