So as far as we all know is, that we run different pathings (missions) through a complete cube, which is actually the whole map.
While i like the core-design besides some monumental immersion-breaker like the bridge at Enclavum / Comms-Plex, i thought we´ll get pretty fast more missions. I know you had other stuff to fix, but hey…
Nevertheless, i see a lot of wasted potential in the current and probably future map-design.
What i would like to see is more variety within the missions itself. It would look like the following:
Chose a mission.
Start as the same location as always and fight through the first little area
Reach the 2nd area and thanks to map-RNG the usual path is blocked and you´ll take an alternate one
Go through new areas or those who´re a thing in other missions of this map-cube.
Complete a different mid-event.
Move through another new area to the endevent.
Reach the last section you know from the usual runs.
Complete the same endevent as usual.
For example you start in Enclavum Baross…
We get closer to the second area and here the variety begins. So either we´ll play the map as we know (moving the the first event at the bridge, continue to move to the endevent) or we´ll have an alternate path and event available, which is just decided by some coinflips in the games algorythm.
So if we get a new path, the pathing to the bridge might be locked by a smashed house, but it opens a new way to the underground of the map. We go through it and the first event got changed, so instead of doing the bridge-thing, we might encounter a side-boss who rules the underground. We beat him and continue the path and try to find a way out of the underground. We´ll reach the last section and beat the usual end-event actually came for.
Another possible pathing could go through the mid-event of Comms-Plex. So we´ve to do a tweaked event in the library, which leads to a secret path bringing us back behind the big bridge, so we can continue to move forward to the end-event.
Since we´ve a cube-system, it shouldn´t be hard to implement multiple ways and atleast different mid-events, while the spawns and endevents stay the same.
Ofc some maps might need some adjustments made, but it´ll add a lot of replay-ability to already existing missions since you´ll never know what you get besides the map-cube itself and the endevent. Just like 3 possible pathings and different mid-events per mission should be a good number to keep things fresh and to make way more use out of the existing design-choice.
I like the idea - how much work implementation would actually mean I can only guess - but more variety would be great.
But additionally I‘d love some really new maps. A forest area (hive cities have artificial forest area for oxygen production that would be reasonable targets for cultists), upper hive districts or traitor spaceships intercepted by the Inquisition come to mind.
Yeah new maps with something else than just “industry” would be great. I personally would prefer some kind of forest or boarded spaceship we´ve to defend aswell. Maybe the last one even either in a form of a timed map, where we´ve to deactivate a bomb they´ve planted after entering, or as some “last stand” mode with like 3 defensive points and stationary weapons with limited ammo capacity.
Ofc we go through a bunch of re-used mapsections, but the bridge itself is too memorable. Feels kinda cheap to path it immediately at Comms-Plex once you’ve played Enclavum Baross, which is a fanatstic map in its design.
It’s just better “disguised” in other missions, which is not possible with the bridge.
It’ll be nice if they reimplemented the procedural pathing on the existing maps. That way you might get players to go through less travelled paths, and there’ll be some visual variety to the same maps.
I’m confused on that point. The Enclavum Barros mission makes mention of retuning to the librarium within Throneside. We then, in the ComsPlex mission, return to it. I don’t see how that’s an immersion breaker.
I do see how its stylistically pretty boring to be doing a sizable chunk of the same map a second time. But only because map variety is desperately lacking.
As i´ve said, it´s just too memorable, monumental, however you wanna describe it.
There are missions where you go through different rooms like e.g. the Powermatrix where you do the hack-event and this room is reused as the last section right before the end event of the train-map. Here we´re just entering the room from another side and yes, it´s pretty much the same with a medstation and some ladders on top. But it´s just not that monumental and map-defining like the sick bridge which pretty much screams “Hey this is Enclavum Baross!”.
I don´t mind stuff being reused in general. I mean i actually want it to have more variety within the exisiting mission pathing and even-wise. It´s just that some outstanding and memorable map-sections should be unique.
I know this is a petty semantic arguement but it doesn’t break immersion (the feeling of being deeply engrosed in the setting and story of a fictional world) to return to a part of a map you were in setting and story told you would return to.
As a map design it could be considered boring and repetitive, though i don’t find it that way in this case myself. I just find Enclavum Barros to be a really easy and slow map.
Let me just add a section working on the key part of this thread rather than wasting people’s time with this semantic nonsense. My bad on that. I would have loved to see missions with greater variety and mix n match segments exactly as you propose. I like many of the missions themselves but it would be cool to hit a different midpoint or have confouding factors that result in different paths. Etc. It may well be this was cut content and will be added later. It would have been cooler to launch an assassination mission and not know exactly how the point A to point B was going to go. Even L4D managed to add some dynamic map changes.
The map-design already allows this. Just look at the post where they explain their map-design, we´re running through a cube. They just need to open / close different doors and maybe add a ladder or barrikade somewhere. (As it is already a thing in reused sections.
I guess we can agree that it´s a personal thing on my side. Ofc everyone have a different view on the map-design in general. I´m fine with the maps in general aswell, while others want “own” maps like we´ve in V2 so. I´m just saying, we could´ve returned to the library without moving across the bridge aswell so… The starting points aren´t even the endpoints of both missions.
