(http://i.imgur.com/kklDng5.jpg)
The top left spawn of "Frozen Deeps," the spawn of the hall is bugged, as you can see above. The hall is a country mile away from the mine, so you need at least 6 peons on the mine to get full output. I had 5 and I was wondering why I had like no gold for the longest time. Ruins any build order, where every point of food is crucial, and also is slanted toward UD/Elf whom it doesn't affect. This map also seems to be the only custom map that keeps spawning over and over and not appearing/filling, under the games simply titled "FFA #." I really miss Harvest of Sorrow, Deamonheim, Hell Square, Dalaran, Springwater Harbor, and some of the other really cool maps that used to show up. Not sure if games on those have to be manually made, but it seems like only the Deadlocks/Silverpines/Market Squares/Murguls of the world are coming up in the rotation now with any regularity. I'm not sure if it's just luck of the draw since I've seen about 10 Frozen Deeps in the last week and 0 of any of those other wild, unique maps.
I guess I might as well use this opportunity to mention some maps that could be fun for FFA at times.
Twisted Meadows (you know you love to hate it, but it makes for a different, interesting brand of FFA not just hinging on mass expoing/hoarding due to the mine constraints. Very fresh change of pace)
Lost Temple (ice/classic)
Emerald Shores
Emerald Gardens (8 man, like how Raging Stream is 10P but has 8 slots)
Last Man Standing
Stone Cold Mountain
Duskwood
Petrified Forest, Riverrun, et al.
Also, what happened to maps like Shamrock Reef, Duststorm, Sunrock Cove, Copper Canyon, et al.? Has anyone played any of these in recent days? I never realized how much I missed Copper Canyon till it's "gone" (just haven't seen it in eons, I was wondering if it got removed or the whole rotation got pared down recently, since they're apparently not showing up). In my opinion the more maps the merrier -- variety was the spice of FFA, but I keep getting the Deadlocks and "standard" Blizzard approved FFA maps repeatedly. It was really fun when it the maps were like a box of chocolates never knowing what you're gonna get and you sometimes had to have a totally unique strategy and creeping approach to each different map (e.g. saw game with ashalar burrow creeping on Harvest of Sorrow -- what other map would that happen on?). :icon_razz:
To me, an FFA map need only require about 2 expos per player and relatively wide, even spacing (that rules out some otherwise interesting 4v4 maps like Deadlands).
Even if some aren't perfectly balanced for "pro" play -- Usually all map balance is thrown out the window in 6-8P bot FFA's because you'll get a guy rushing or something. Seksi said it best: I've had the most fun in some of these games because it really brings out all the elements of FFA and skill... FML league games are very structured and full of chatting and manipulation as key elements. Early game peace, shared expos, coordinated teaming etc. In public FFAs (or ladder in the day) these things were thrown out the window which made it a real free for all, anything goes mentality. Some games were much less fortunate then others and you had to battle through adversity and crazy circumstances. That's cool and a big thing that the FML games sorely miss out out now... so I'm glad to see this ladder. The community will have a lot of fun in these games that fully encompass the skill and strategy of FFA. =D
There's always a wrench thrown into it and that's the beauty of it. Variety makes it amazingly fun and the same old ladder maps keep coming up. Who's with me?