FFA Masters League

This map looks incredible! An easy way to familiarize yourself with a new map is to:

Create a custom game offline in single player against 11 computers.  Type in the cheat "iseedeadpeople" to reveal the map.  Now you can scroll around the map with full vision and check it out.  Note the locations and frequency of important buildings:

-Taverns
-Natural Expos
-Contested Expos
-Shops
-Labs
-Markets
-Health Fountains
-Mana Fountains
-Way Points
-Merc Camps (least important)

-I have not play tested it yet, but I went through each section of this huge, epic sized 12 player map with the goal in mind to find things that I would change, add or subtract.  I could barely find anything, this map's layout is nearly perfect for 12 player FFA.

-Each of the starting spawns have enough lumber to start with and the natural expos have a good amount of lumber too.   Each starting spawn is balanced and equally spaced from each other.  The map even steers the direction of players slightly through openings and ramps that makes it 6 'pods' of 2 players each.  There are plenty of creeps of all difficulties, including many green creeps early to get the game rolling. 

-There is every type of neutral building except the one that should be left out, a Dragon Roost. 

-There are 4 Way Points that are smartly placed.  The North goes to South and vise versa while the East goes to West.  These are placed on the outskirts of the 'Town Center' which will help players traverse the map while not being excessive. 

-The layout is just awesome.  The fact that main bases are on an inner ring with natural expos on the outside makes it so the map seems smaller then it really is which is a great idea.  The Way Points add to this too. 

On first look, there are very few aspects of the map I would change.  The creator has obviously spent an enormous amount of time creating this (There are ramps, hills, etc placed all over the map).  What is great about this is that they are properly used to create a balanced map for all spawns and positions.  It is beautiful AND technically sound! I am really impressed and excited, this is the most epic map I've ever seen in wc3! 

Read his notes on Hive that go into more detail and explain the different sections of the map and how it is divided. 

NOW, the two things I will mention that I would consider altering are:

1) Inside of the City Center, there are areas that would be very tight for a large ground army.  I would make the City Center generally more open all around, but specifically in these 'hallway' spots.  Outside of the Center, there seemed to be enough spacing for ground armies throughout the rest of the map. 

2) I would consider removing the very middle diamond of terrain and leaving it wide open, maybe adding a couple fountains like Marketsquare.  The reasoning behind this it that it would create an EPIC battlefield at the very middle of the map if it was open where multiple players would encounter one another.  The terrain at the moment is unpassable and makes kind of a diamond cutout of the map that has no use. 

However, I don't mind it as it is.  Now, it divides the map up a little more to where you have to run around this diamond to meet other players.  It may serve better this way with creeping and map control/vision.   

wow, it's really beatiful map! thx~~~

Any official way to register or..?

Tomorrow @ 11:00 AM Central right? I'll be there

not sure about market places.. is there one or two? i cant remember from looking at it yesterday.. but it DEFINITELY needs two markets on a map this size.. and they need the GOOD items bro ;) not all the crappy cheap stuff that nobody buys and is just a total waste of time on a FFA map...

should have all the top items like a proper FFA map... crowns kings, masks, +15 claws, the frost orbs... all the aura items... khadghars gem and pipe... all the proper FFA items.

duh i cut + pasted your 2 points on purpose to say i agreed with them ;) wtf.

the market in the middle of rock quarry is a "super market" (har har).. has every item available in game i believe...

the balanced thing about that one is that because it has any item its not like you can just go there and buy +15 claws and go back 2 minutes later and get them again.. coz it has to cycle through a lot of items..

but anyway... crown kings/mask of death... could be done without.. but you need those level 5 items like orb frost, 15 claws, +5 ring, blink dagger in a ffa game.. and the aura items.. (pipe, endurance, doom horn, bone chimes).. especially on an epic and cool map like this one..

Essential FFA market place items!!! -

Khadgar's pipe (mana regen)
Khadgar's gem (+300 health)
Ancient jango of endurance (endurance aura)
Scourge bone chimes (vampiric aura)
Legion doom horn ("death knight" aura)
flute of accuracy (+10% ranged)
warsong drums (+10% attack bonus aura)
the stat boosting items
- medal courage (4 int, 4 str)
- helm valour (4 agi, 4 str)
- hood cunning (4 agi, 4 int)
- belt giant str (6 str)
- mage robe (6 int)
- boots quel'thalas (6 agil)
Orb of frost
+15, +12, +9 and +6 claws of attack
the 15 seconds invulnerability pot
pendant of energy (+150 mana)
+4 and +5 armour rings
sobi mask (50 % mana regen)

staff of silence - optional
pendant of mana (+250 mana) - optional but good
amulet of spell shield - optional but good

the mana stone and health stones are good to have too

seriously if you're gonna make a map this good! for free for all.. u need those big ticket items.. would be a total shame and waste not to have them (-:

just discovered you cant actually go into the "backstreets".. thats kinda disappointing... imo

potion of divinity and infernal stones appearing too!