Feedback from the test session 16/2/19:I played 2 rounds and had a pretty good time on both of them
I played 1 as Russian and 1 as German. I'd say that I had a lot more fun as Russian but the German round was broken up by a disconnect from a bug and also no one was allowed to use the pickup mortars
so it kinda killed the flow of the round. Sadly, both times I played the server crashed before the map was fully completed.
However, I do think that the test showed that a map like this could have a place in the rotation. It makes you play differently and is very unique. I know there were a lot of people in the chat talking about how much they loved it the first round (less so on the 2nd round
) It wouldn't be my favorite FH2 map ever, but it's unique and I think it would be a nice change of pace when it came up in the rotation.
Gameplay Observations-In general the gameplay was very chaotic. The flags were changing hands a lot and whenever you were assaulting one position, enemies would seem to pop up behind you in places that you didn't expect. I did get spawn killed a few times but that's bound to happen on a map like this. However, it was sometimes frustrating when you spawned right in front of an enemy's assault on the flag you were spawning at
I don't honestly think that much can be done about that tho. More covered areas for spawns would make them recognizable for campers and landmarks for people who are assaulting flags looking for cover. Just as long as there's a lot of spawns for each team on each flag. This way the randomizer won't spawn you in one place all the time.
-The 2nd round was a hard stalemate, but I think that had more to do with the pickup kits crashing the server. When we had mortars and deployable MGs in the first round, the flags changed hands and it was a lot more fun. The pickup kits certainly make this map more dynamic. Idk what the issue was, maybe it had something to do with CMP's server itself. It doesn't crash me on local and didn't when we beta tested it before iirc.
-I'll also say that the heightmap was surprisingly varied enough where I could find cover more often than I thought.
-In general it didn't seem like Landebucht got fought over very much, and Herzogstein only changed hands a few times. The fighting was very much concentrated in the Western area of the map.
-The 2nd round confirmed that I would get frustrated on this map having to face people with markedly better ping and skills like Achtungsnow
-I love the availability of the G33/40 & SVT-40
Suggestions:-I will say that I think the areas between the North German Main and Herzogstein could use some more cover. In the form of walls and rocks. We got locked into our main pretty easily there and our only recourse was to go the 'long way' to attack the two western flags from behind. The area between West German Main and Obersteiner was nice.
-Maybe make the flag cap times longer. Time to drop the flag to neutral can stay short, but time to get the flag the other way could be maybe a few seconds longer. Like I said the flags changed hands quite quickly and sometimes lead to that situation where you took a flag, then moved on and in a minute or two you'd lost it and were getting shot from behind.
Otherwise, it wasn't a bad map. And I think it has a place in this mod. It's a unique scenario where, once the atmosphere and aesthetics are done, I'll enjoy the history of it a lot more and be able to enjoy the change of pace in gameplay.