Clockwork Castletown is a terrible map for casual players

[Novani]

I don't know, the new map is kind of underwhelming honestly. Yes the design is confusing thanks to the camera getting hooked on things constantly, the floor traps, I swear those things are larger than they appear as I've seen people get flipped even while clearly off the damned things, though this could well just be the old system sync issue showing up again. The secret doors are an interesting idea, but honestly, haven't felt any real compulsion to really use them, in fact I know one at least to avoid at nearly all times because "ta-da killzone on you!"

As for the adds, they're forgettable. If you have any experience dealing with such mechanics in PVE, you're almost never going to fumble dealing with them, only likely to get unlucky if you're still attacking a foe and you get turned towards a gaze attack at the last moment. You're almost definitely not going to get hit by the other one unless the other team locks you in place for seven or so seconds (which means you're dead anyways).

I do like the coin drops at least helping charge LBs faster, but this is honestly more an addition than a part of the inherent design. As to whom this favors more, I feel it tilts slightly towards melees and tanks, but only in select hallways between rooms, there's almost zero cover from ranged otherwise.

Honestly the biggest issue with this map is that the snowball effect you see on other maps, is even more obvious and difficult to overcome here. While not impossible, it's not uncommon to see one team almost capping victory node before any kind of recovery can be made, and much faster than what happens on the other three. This could just simply be because the map is still fresh, but I get the sense that something is slightly skewed somewhere depending on compositions, and how much effort the attacker needs to make to keep their momentum, which is weird since in theory the goal post is closer to spawn than any other map. Either way, there's some thoughts about it: it's not bad, but it's not quite the hype.

In my opinion the new map is great and they should go even harder on the gimmicks for future maps. Alexander map with height error going off and magnets, kefka fake aoes, there's a lot they can take from PvE. We need more and way harder gimmicks, as hard as literal savage raids.

That would be a pretty bold move, though I doubt it'd find much love in the regular queues. Also there is the issue that any issue with latency or how the server queues things up that things up tends to show up more in PvP than anywhere else. Unless they seriously cut down respawn timers or something, I can see plenty of people just getting fed up with such gimmicks before the first week is out. Still, is food for thought.

[ShinyChariot]

I thought the new map was going to have too much going on in it, but as a ranked player, I feel like it's got plenty enough to keep things interesting more so than the other maps. I do get people are going to have a hard time understanding the mechanics and getting a hang of things, but enough information about what the mechanics are have been provided, and the map shows where the trick doors lead, so with adequate time and play, I believe anyone can understand the basics of the new map.

If it's a skill issue, which I honestly think it might be, I wouldn't mind having map pools be exclusive to things people are looking for. Easy maps for people trying to take it easy, but that's not realistic for the state of PvP as it stands now in FF. There's no room to give people separate options, we all have to drink from the same well.

I sure would hate it if we stopped getting interesting maps because people don't want to improve and just grind rewards. Because if we cater maps to them, we'd just be left with bland maps after they've farmed what they needed and stop queueing.

[Sawamura]

The Map is fine it self. New/Causal players will always die until they learn jobs buttons and map mechanic anyways. Prepare a safe and mindless map would be pointless for new/causal players. What bugs me the most is more like throwers/Afkers/spammer on match. Which dev team still no idea how to fix it. So I don't rank until dev team make any change.
Though I do feel sorry causal/new player at casual mode whom keep getting murder by me....

[Valence]

If there was no skill expression, games wouldn't be that lopsided, and most would be pretty tight.

I thought the new map was going to have too much going on in it, but as a ranked player, I feel like it's got plenty enough to keep things interesting more so than the other maps. I do get people are going to have a hard time understanding the mechanics and getting a hang of things, but enough information about what the mechanics are have been provided, and the map shows where the trick doors lead, so with adequate time and play, I believe anyone can understand the basics of the new map.

If it's a skill issue, which I honestly think it might be, I wouldn't mind having map pools be exclusive to things people are looking for. Easy maps for people trying to take it easy, but that's not realistic for the state of PvP as it stands now in FF. There's no room to give people separate options, we all have to drink from the same well.

I sure would hate it if we stopped getting interesting maps because people don't want to improve and just grind rewards. Because if we cater maps to them, we'd just be left with bland maps after they've farmed what they needed and stop queueing.

My problem isn't that the map is easy or hard, or whatever that means, my problem is that the gimmicks get in the way of actual pvp.

[anna-steele]

the map is terrible but it is better than yet another boring map with nothing on it

[Valence]

I'm actually curious if anyone here has had different experiences or strategies when it comes to opening, since 99% of the time players seem to rush the front door and go to what I personally consider a deathtrap. Fortunately they often do the same on the other side, but if they don't you're gonna suffer, especially from AoEs, all clumped there at the door exit. I have seen some funny things happen, like a DRK showing up, sucking everybody in, and a full team wipe before even the crystal is unlocked.

So, is it a glue issue, or is there a legit strat behind doing this? It's so much safer to just go the standard way while your back is mostly covered...

[anna-steele]

I'm actually curious if anyone here has had different experiences or strategies when it comes to opening, since 99% of the time players seem to rush the front door and go to what I personally consider a deathtrap. Fortunately they often do the same on the other side, but if they don't you're gonna suffer, especially from AoEs, all clumped there at the door exit. I have seen some funny things happen, like a DRK showing up, sucking everybody in, and a full team wipe before even the crystal is unlocked.

So, is it a glue issue, or is there a legit strat behind doing this? It's so much safer to just go the standard way while your back is mostly covered...

i never take the door, so i think its more of a dunce issue of your general video game enjoyer. you are playing with randy andy, after all...
blueberries will do blueberry things. it is the way of the universe

[Valence]

Well yeah, then let's say it's a skill/glue issue, then what am I supposed to do? If I don't follow, I'm not even helping and I leave them 1v4 as ranged player. If I go another way, I'm mega exposed and if they even notice me and jump me, I would essentially have leroyed them away from my team.

This is slowly starting to turn me off that map altogether, even though I don't hate the map per se. I just think that random players are unable to cope with its specifications and it makes the whole experience way more lopsided and miserable most of the time. Now then the elephant in the room is, do we keep blaming the human races for being monkeys, or do we adjust the map designs with that in mind? Truly there has to be some kind of balance to reach there? Could we consider closing those doors for at least until the crystal is unlocked?

[anna-steele]

Well yeah, then let's say it's a skill/glue issue, then what am I supposed to do? If I don't follow, I'm not even helping and I leave them 1v4 as ranged player. If I go another way, I'm mega exposed and if they even notice me and jump me, I would essentially have leroyed them away from my team.

This is slowly starting to turn me off that map altogether, even though I don't hate the map per se. I just think that random players are unable to cope with its specifications and it makes the whole experience way more lopsided and miserable most of the time.

you have to simply not care about the result. otherwise youll never enjoy it. playing with randoms will always be this way

[HereticJay]

map is okay but the fucking crystal moves the wrong way