Hey all!
This weekend we’re releasing the brand new ‘Execution’ game mode and we want your feedback to help make improvements. It will be live from Friday (01/05) to Tuesday (05/05). If you have thoughts for the game mode itself, you can leave your feedback here.
Along with ‘Execution’ comes the new map ‘Overground’ and this is also something we want your feedback on. If you have any thoughts on what you like/dislike and what we could improve, please let us know below.
Thank you!
shoe.
I understand that its a prototype map and bla bla bla…
However, if you want real feedback at least give the map proper collision so we can see how it should play without all this invisible walls stuff you get caught on. Right now, I think the map is awful but maybe when more routes open due to movement it would be a lot better. Currently, its all the worst things I hate about Dome compressed into a more concentrated form.
Feel like you need to be watching all 360 degrees at all times due to poor sound design, game speed and map design.
Very frustrating.
At the risk of making everyone’s eyes roll out of their sockets: I do think that there’s room for mini objectives that subtly change the geometry of the map. Machine gun nests, doors, ladders etc.
They can even be one-timers. Like blowing up a train wagon so it obstructs a path (though obviously not the main route) yet you can see and shoot through the wreckage.
Why are side objectives awesome? A team can obtain slight advantages at the cost of communicating their plans to the opponent. This is especially important in a mode where most of the time people will be spending their time wondering what the other is up to.
People don’t have to grab the objectives, some strategies will involve leaving them alone. But there’s also going to be tactics where a player ‘taps’ an objective just for deception and putting the opponent on the wrong foot.
The map needs to be made significantly less complex. There’s too many paths all over the place right now and even in 7v7 the map feels so barren. I actually found it easy to run into a bomb site without making contact with the enemy. At the start of every round teams are s c a t t e r i n g through the maze and it’s creating these really boring 1v1 1v2 skirmishes instead of playing into DBs strength of mercs synagizing together to push / defend a point. Not to mention artillery is 100% useless in this map. The map needs to be more dust2 and less dome. Never thought I’d ask for it but we need more chokepoints on this game mode. My opinion anyway.
This IS what the community has been begging for all this time. Lots of paths, open spaces and multiple approach angles.
I think it needs to grow on people, once they figure the whole thing out then you can see fights becoming less random.
I think execution could cater to both types of maps. I wouldn’t mind an execution mode on several of the maps we already have in SW, one map per ‘objective’.
Bear in mind that killing your opponent is a viable strategy,so maps like terminal last obj or trainyard last obj would not be nearly as one sided, as they are now in SW due to spawn distances.
What I’m missing in overground the most is more indoor complexity. Map is basically one big plaza, with walls, doors and stairs making a maze out of it. I’d love to see a smaller map with a high intensity of indoor objects - I’m talking boxes, desks, wreckages, piles of rubble etc.
Dome suffers from the same problem, its basically an open map with walls creating corridors.
Terminal and Chapel both benefit greatly from multiple objects scattered in the map: cars, trashbins, phone booths, it all adds to the flavour of individual map sections. Having one map where ach building is basically the same with some variation in geometry makes for a confusing maze.
I think the most frustrating part is that there is no mini map.
I know it is only a prototype but this really helps understanding the map.
This !
I really enjoy the différent tricks jumps, the alternative routes, and so much possibilities.
Movement and level design works much better than in any other maps in DB. Some maps with 2 or 3 objectives like this are more than needed !
My Feedback of Overground
Two things really stick out to me on this map:
#1) Attackers have a small bottleneck trying to get to bombsite B through their far right. Defender can actually beat them their and set up.
#1a) I actually dont mind this and play will progress because there are so many other ways to go. You can also trick jump into the little room! Or if the defense is to strong there just double back…
#2) My biggest complaint about Overground are the bushes!!! Can you shot through them or cant you. No bushes or rails or see through stairs. Replace with boxes or solid stairs or broken walls or blasted blast doors. NO BUSHES!
Other then that I really like this map. The trick plant was very cool!!! Saw a few of those.
Nice work SD!
Yeah can’t say I like them either from a gameplay perspective. They bring a lot of ambiguity to the fights.
Really happy with the current map version for 7v7.
There’s actual agency and not just players choosing between one of three tunnels into killboxes. Players aren’t forced together in fake cohesion due to funneling. Flanking chokes is not just possible but hugely beneficial. The outcomes of small duels matter and it’s not just chokepoint cluster****s.
There’s enough ceiling that airstrikes are decent but not arbitrary death abilities. Arty strike seems useless which is a flag for a good map because in no context should such an ability be useful. Lt ammo is actually useful because of the game mode but I wouldn’t mind an ammo dispenser in an open, dangerous location like ~ map center that’s potentially covered by train and the 2 story buildings near the plants and therefor not desirable.
Lack of soft cover is a nice change. It’s reminiscent of CS. Open maps emphasize the cover provided by corners and makes crossing or covering the areas in-between more dramatic. It encourages the use of the many alternate routes to avoid/flank a choke. Also makes medic reviving difficult because people who die out of cover are so exposed. In my opinion that’s a good thing given the mode. The bushes could use pruning because hard cover should have obvious binary states.
The amount of verticality is sufficient to be interesting without having so many windows/ledges that they can’t be accounted for and feel like arbitrary death portals. The trains, a location with great coverage and an area transition, is also highly exposed, which is fun.
More maps like this, please.
Edit: Need this mode back! How can I invite people when there’s neither overground nor dome in rotation? D:
Excellent feedback right there. Would be great if SD is able to apply the same design philosophy to more urban areas.
[QUOTE=BioSnark;527603]
There’s actual agency and not just players choosing between one of three tunnels into killboxes. Players aren’t forced together in fake cohesion due to funneling. Flanking chokes is not just possible but hugely beneficial. The outcomes of small duels matter and it’s not just chokepoint cluster****s.[/quote]
Funny how much I disagree.
I really like Execution also, and think it could be the main go-to mode insofar the bigger esports events (purely because SW games are just unwatchable, never were, and never will be).
From what I’ve played the most optimal tactic was to stick together as a 7-player army. You can camp one of the chokes - preferably under a bridge to avoid skyhammers, wait for the first wave of defence/attack come at you and mow them down. At that point you can stick around, wait for the ‘flankers’ to come from behind, chase those down and kill them too. At this point you are looking at something like 6v3 or 7v4, basically winning you the map.
There’s enough ceiling that airstrikes are decent but not arbitrary death abilities. Arty strike seems useless which is a flag for a good map because in no context should such an ability be useful. Lt ammo is actually useful because of the game mode but I wouldn’t mind an ammo dispenser in an open, dangerous location like ~ map center that’s potentially covered by train and the 2 story buildings near the plants and therefor not desirable.
There is not nearly enough ceiling in the map. Most of the ceiling includes the main bridge that splits the map, and some dangerous tunnels. You could almost never try to rush any open area of the map due to 3-4 skyhammers on the opposing team spamming airstrikes. Airstrikes length, and lack of smoke make them very hard to see & predict. I’d almost always camp under the bridge until I’m positive most of the airstrikes were already thrown.
Also don’t know what your beef with Arty is, but I found it be useful against reinforced Aura positions.
Lack of soft cover is a nice change. It’s reminiscent of CS. Open maps emphasize the cover provided by corners and makes crossing or covering the areas in-between more dramatic. It encourages the use of the many alternate routes to avoid/flank a choke. Also makes medic reviving difficult because people who die out of cover are so exposed. In my opinion that’s a good thing given the mode. The bushes could use pruning because hard cover should have obvious binary states.
Lack of soft cover is terrible. It makes every single area of the map feel like every other are of the map. Apart from some verticality and windows, there is no sense of ‘I’m better of fighting from this position’; or ‘I can take advantage of where the opponent is’.
The game is WAAYYY too fast to become a CS corner-camping. I really don’t think it should go that way. I’m not saying that soft cover should be spammed all over the map like a shopping mall during zombie-apocalypse. But I’d welcome A LOT more variety in how individual firefights are played, based on the part of the map. Atm. each building is exactly the same, and speed of the game makes up for any positioning advantage (except them windows).
Typically if you get a drop on someone they can:
The amount of verticality is sufficient to be interesting without having so many windows/ledges that they can’t be accounted for and feel like arbitrary death portals. The trains, a location with great coverage and an area transition, is also highly exposed, which is fun.
Agree! 
Verticality is really nice and well balanced throughout the map. The train carriages splitting the bomb sites are great. Bushes have to go, like you said.
That’s nice if you have a tactic that is currently working. The point is that the map isn’t making you do it. The map isn’t making the enemy walk into your stack.
There is not nearly enough ceiling in the map.
I didn’t encounter a lot of trouble with airstrikes although there are certain locations which I’d prefer to avoid because there’s nowhere to run. My problem with skyhammer is unrelated to the amount of roof since the prime target, mid map, is covered and so are the tighter areas where there’s neither room to dodge nor opportunity to anticipate the strike. I do think the drone should show up on minimap like the vampire could in etqw and the individual strike locations should be telegraphed (laser guidance and all that) so it’s a better area denial with a shorter cooldown and less of an arbitrary death tool for both parties. Overground is one of the rare maps where you can actually see the drone coming and then only if you’re looking the right direction. Even if it was used, sound isn’t good enough to warn in this game.
I don’t have a problem with arty. I have a problem with maps/overcrowding that allow an ability that limited to ever be effective.
Lack of soft cover is terrible […] Typically if you get a drop on someone they can:
- realistically fight back and still win (if they are confident in their aim)
- run away easily
Is this the benefit you argue adding soft cover will bring? That is beneficial in an elimination mode, in my opinion. In my experience, the opportunity for opponent reaction is already present, mostly due to long engagement ranges. I’m actually happy with the normally low TTK at these ranges.
I don’t like how the other maps dictate the correct places to fight, move, exist. I hate the pipes and piles of trash in underground that are all heavily packaged in collision and not actual things that can be climbed on or interacted with. It all feels like it’s suffocating under micromanagement. That includes doling out convenient soft cover damage mitigation bonuses, not just funneling into choke points. Anyway, that’s what I have against soft cover in most of the maps, aside from it tripping up my player collision model when I think I’m nowhere near it.
