Looks like an interesting map. Going to play through the first intersection tomorrow and arrive back here with a block of text and some screenshots if that's alright with you.
Thats fine, but if you think it will be really long try to use spoilers, it makes the page load better for people with slow computers.
MASSIVE EDIT:
Just finished the starting area and I have somewhat mixed feelings of it, so I'm arranging this into two sections:
PROS:
Very great design here, love the open area and how most of the notable landmarks are easy to see from the spawnpoint.
Monster spawns are not overwhelming which is well balanced in terms of difficulty in the beginning sections. For some reason it's a very common decision to spam the starting area with monsters for difficulty reasons.
The landmarks in question are very fun, escpecially the Proximity bomb in one of them. It also adds to the exploration factor of finding chests in hard to find spaces surrounding the noticable landmarks.
The cave section fits the difficulty curve well, alongside the more notable loot surrounded by harder challenges, a-la super creepers and the Wool room. I do have a gripe with that room, but that will be said later.
This part also works well with a clear goal + multiple side routes. There's tons of ways to complete this section, and the added spawners under the platforms add to the difficulty of performing the tasks from under the bridges.
That was my exact intention, to have a really small area, that gives every player a different experience.
Good on you for providing chests, I was full when I hit them and needed to dump my stuff.
CONS:
Might be an issue with the map itself, but there's anvil + button entities in the info room. If you wish for me to dump them in a lake, I can do so. This room also comes with a starting chest and a couple stacks worth of glowstone blocks. This might make the starting section too easy, as it provides a great amount of light, food, and health (golden apples).
You are also provided a great amount of resources out of the gate with little resistance from the environment. Grass usually would mean you can create a solid food supply from the start and full trees can supply virtually infinite wood. I also got a potato drop during this time, but that is the game's RNG factor, not the map's.
The viewpoints + the spawn chest also contain some very good loot for the start, including the sharp 3 swords that made me dump every other sword I found in the next area.
I did a horrible job balancing the loot for the map, the early areas have some very op loot, you'll see what i mean at dwarven ruins
The Proximity bomb I liked so much went off when I was well out of harms way digging into the wall nearby. Might need to find a way to either expand the radius of the explosion or use a bud switch on whatever was in there. The anvil inside didn't break, but was damaged, so it evens out.
It's just there for atmosphere, or really unlucky players
Small gripe was with the Wool Corridor, how it was a bit too easy to disable the skele spawners. Might be on purpose due to it being the first wool.
They were meant to be pretty easy, but I'll admit the design was amateur, and the whole corridor could've been done a lot better.
Anyways, I'm onto the first intersection, looks neat so far. Be sure to answer any criticisms I have or answer questions I have if you want.
I made the map quite a while ago back in 1.5.2, with a really quick update to 1.8 a couple months ago, so it's not exactly the most flawless ctm out right now. Thanks for the feedback, it's always greatly appreciated.
Just got finished with Intersection 1, here's my thoughts:
Intersection One itself is a very nice looking intersection with no death, so +1 on that.
Fury Caverns is a bit on the easy side, mostly with a single path to the wool with little obstacles involved. The wool itself is simple to get to via dodging with the ladders, and the loot on the left and right towers are somewhat pointless to fight for. Overall design is pretty neat, but not much is worth exploring in this area.
Dwarven Ruins is pretty bland in the color pallet and the overall look. It's pretty much a carbon copy of the sewers area with added difficulty. The difficulty is lost due to the water sources in Intersection 1 + the buckets you can receive in the other two areas. I also did not see the second Intersection at first so it took a while of looking before I saw it in here.
Two Swords Spire is the more interesting of the three. The tree itself is fun to explore around and the loot is manageable. The Sniper Bow did get me killed and I fell off the tree later, resulting in my only 2 deaths from the first intersection. It provided a good amount of challenge in the first half and spiced things up during the large tree area. The latter was far easier, but it did make up for that with the variety and possible courses of action it took.
I did then fight for Legendary in Intersection 2, and so far that's one of the most fun areas in the map, due to me finding a way past a hoard of blazes I didn't notice on the water trip down. Looking forward to Intersection 2.
Just got finished with Intersection 1, here's my thoughts:
Intersection One itself is a very nice looking intersection with no death, so +1 on that.
Fury Caverns is a bit on the easy side, mostly with a single path to the wool with little obstacles involved. The wool itself is simple to get to via dodging with the ladders, and the loot on the left and right towers are somewhat pointless to fight for. Overall design is pretty neat, but not much is worth exploring in this area.
I just wanted to make the area short and sweet, with a big difficulty spike at the end, I agree that it should've been much longer though, it's short to a point where it feels unfulfilling.
Dwarven Ruins is pretty bland in the color pallet and the overall look. It's pretty much a carbon copy of the sewers area with added difficulty. The difficulty is lost due to the water sources in Intersection 1 + the buckets you can receive in the other two areas. I also did not see the second Intersection at first so it took a while of looking before I saw it in here.
Yeah the area design is pretty bland as well, I could've done much better with that area, the way the paths were designed, and the color scheme were pretty boring.
Two Swords Spire is the more interesting of the three. The tree itself is fun to explore around and the loot is manageable. The Sniper Bow did get me killed and I fell off the tree later, resulting in my only 2 deaths from the first intersection. It provided a good amount of challenge in the first half and spiced things up during the large tree area. The latter was far easier, but it did make up for that with the variety and possible courses of action it took.
After a large update i made, i think the area got a lot better, it used to be my least favorite in the map so i completely remodeled it.
I did then fight for Legendary in Intersection 2, and so far that's one of the most fun areas in the map, due to me finding a way past a hoard of blazes I didn't notice on the water trip down. Looking forward to Intersection 2.
I'm glad you liked that, I'll be sure to include something similar in the next map.
Added some feedback to your feedback above. BTW the mines area in I2 is by far the worst area in the map, I'm sorry you're going to have to deal with that, I'm working on a giant update to that area, I'm embarrassed it even exists in the present state (besides those custom mobs, they're pretty cool)
Also confirming the next map will be called "Mythic", and it will be standalone, not a squeal to TOTS, which will probably be archived when this is released along with the minimaps in an effort to make the thread look clean for this new map, I assure you all, it will be miles ahead of TOTS.
Just played thru the yellow wool section so the mines area is next for me, so I'll be expecting something from this. I'll try to finish this up soon so I can get to the other maps quickly.
EDIT: also what does "Area Exclusive" mean? I thought it would not function outside of the area but I guess that's not the case.
Just played thru the yellow wool section so the mines area is next for me, so I'll be expecting something from this. I'll try to finish this up soon so I can get to the other maps quickly.
EDIT: also what does "Area Exclusive" mean? I thought it would not function outside of the area but I guess that's not the case.
It just means that it's only found in that area, a lot of the items are found throughout the map, but not those.
Just got to intersection 3, here's my thoughts on 2:
The True Hell: I thought it was a bit too linear for my tastes. The path given led to basically all the important stuff, and most of the real challenge was with the blaze towers. The towers themselves are difficult at first, but are easy to overcome once you get the Blazing Hot Shot, which is going to be a massive help for me in this map. Scenery was a + for me, bit of a dull choice but every map has a nether themed section so who cares.
Deathbloom Mines: Surprisingly easy. I finished both the wools in around 10-20 minutes of entering the place and you only had to deal with the custom silverfish twice if you take high ground. Those bridges negate most of the difficulty in the area due to it being a straight forward connecting point from entrance to Wool.
The Pink wool was a bit tougher, but the bow i got from earlier made fighting the ghasts easier. (also you can just dig up into the tower and dig down back into the caves that lead to Intersection 2.
The passage to Intersection 2 was rough on me, though. Even with the potions I stocked up, the witches nearly killed me twice, so I'm hoping that was a prelude to intersection 3.
Just got to intersection 3, here's my thoughts on 2:
The True Hell: I thought it was a bit too linear for my tastes. The path given led to basically all the important stuff, and most of the real challenge was with the blaze towers. The towers themselves are difficult at first, but are easy to overcome once you get the Blazing Hot Shot, which is going to be a massive help for me in this map. Scenery was a + for me, bit of a dull choice but every map has a nether themed section so who cares.
That was actually of my favorite areas i made, I guess it could come out to be a little dull though, and the lack of variation in combat was probably annoying.
Deathbloom Mines: Surprisingly easy. I finished both the wools in around 10-20 minutes of entering the place and you only had to deal with the custom silverfish twice if you take high ground. Those bridges negate most of the difficulty in the area due to it being a straight forward connecting point from entrance to Wool.
The Pink wool was a bit tougher, but the bow i got from earlier made fighting the ghasts easier. (also you can just dig up into the tower and dig down back into the caves that lead to Intersection 2.
As i said before, that area was not my best work, the spawners weren't placed well, the area seemed to small and there was barely anything else to explore off the beaten path.
The passage to Intersection 2 was rough on me, though. Even with the potions I stocked up, the witches nearly killed me twice, so I'm hoping that was a prelude to intersection 3.
Yup, trying to set the tone, the only area that could come off as easy is the Rapid Retreat, but that's meant to be a glimmer of hope, before your dreams of an easy ending are crushed with the path to I4
I made the map quite a while ago back in 1.5.2, with a really quick update to 1.8 a couple months ago, so it's not exactly the most flawless ctm out right now. Thanks for the feedback, it's always greatly appreciated.
Alrighty. Next time I bring a text block I'm going to use spoilers. The map still works in 1.8, maybe it's just easier.
Just got finished with Intersection 1, here's my thoughts:
Intersection One itself is a very nice looking intersection with no death, so +1 on that.
Fury Caverns is a bit on the easy side, mostly with a single path to the wool with little obstacles involved. The wool itself is simple to get to via dodging with the ladders, and the loot on the left and right towers are somewhat pointless to fight for. Overall design is pretty neat, but not much is worth exploring in this area.
Dwarven Ruins is pretty bland in the color pallet and the overall look. It's pretty much a carbon copy of the sewers area with added difficulty. The difficulty is lost due to the water sources in Intersection 1 + the buckets you can receive in the other two areas. I also did not see the second Intersection at first so it took a while of looking before I saw it in here.
Two Swords Spire is the more interesting of the three. The tree itself is fun to explore around and the loot is manageable. The Sniper Bow did get me killed and I fell off the tree later, resulting in my only 2 deaths from the first intersection. It provided a good amount of challenge in the first half and spiced things up during the large tree area. The latter was far easier, but it did make up for that with the variety and possible courses of action it took.
I did then fight for Legendary in Intersection 2, and so far that's one of the most fun areas in the map, due to me finding a way past a hoard of blazes I didn't notice on the water trip down. Looking forward to Intersection 2.
Added some feedback to your feedback above. BTW the mines area in I2 is by far the worst area in the map, I'm sorry you're going to have to deal with that, I'm working on a giant update to that area, I'm embarrassed it even exists in the present state (besides those custom mobs, they're pretty cool)
Also confirming the next map will be called "Mythic", and it will be standalone, not a squeal to TOTS, which will probably be archived when this is released along with the minimaps in an effort to make the thread look clean for this new map, I assure you all, it will be miles ahead of TOTS.
Just played thru the yellow wool section so the mines area is next for me, so I'll be expecting something from this. I'll try to finish this up soon so I can get to the other maps quickly.
EDIT: also what does "Area Exclusive" mean? I thought it would not function outside of the area but I guess that's not the case.
It just means that it's only found in that area, a lot of the items are found throughout the map, but not those.
Just got to intersection 3, here's my thoughts on 2:
The True Hell: I thought it was a bit too linear for my tastes. The path given led to basically all the important stuff, and most of the real challenge was with the blaze towers. The towers themselves are difficult at first, but are easy to overcome once you get the Blazing Hot Shot, which is going to be a massive help for me in this map. Scenery was a + for me, bit of a dull choice but every map has a nether themed section so who cares.
Deathbloom Mines: Surprisingly easy. I finished both the wools in around 10-20 minutes of entering the place and you only had to deal with the custom silverfish twice if you take high ground. Those bridges negate most of the difficulty in the area due to it being a straight forward connecting point from entrance to Wool.
The Pink wool was a bit tougher, but the bow i got from earlier made fighting the ghasts easier. (also you can just dig up into the tower and dig down back into the caves that lead to Intersection 2.
The passage to Intersection 2 was rough on me, though. Even with the potions I stocked up, the witches nearly killed me twice, so I'm hoping that was a prelude to intersection 3.