Curse

Patrograd · Nov 04, 2006, 11:02 AM // 11:02

The Corrupted isle is a really nice one that features two sets of footmen, one for each gate. there is a short back route that can only be reached through each base, but its a slow gank cos of all the NPCs. No thief on this map

The flag spawns within aggro range of the knights

The flagstand can be hard to get to (up a narrowish hill), quite easy to gank runners

The main battle area is quite wide open making it easy to deal with AOE

Cador · Nov 04, 2006, 01:38 PM // 13:38

Isle of Solitude is like a combination of nomads isle and Druids IMO. This isle is fairly small and for very mobile teams. There can be ganking on this map however if you were to do so i would recommend a cripshot or some kind of spellcaster seeing as the distance from base to flagstand is similiar to that of the Druids Isle. There is also the teleporters which allow for high mobility. I know when my guild ran it we (the monks) would trail the main team by afew IG feet, and then if the pressure got bad wed shadow step to a teleporter and get back into the GH

comonnow · Nov 05, 2006, 05:59 AM // 05:59

how? you can only go out the teleports...

Neo-LD · Nov 05, 2006, 05:39 PM // 17:39

Home team's base on Corrupted Isle is the best base in the game to defend because of the long, narrow hallway. Seriously considering moving to it. Flagstand on corrupted is in a weird spot... as long as your monks remember to follow the runner up the hill you'll be fine.. but that hill cost us quite a few deaths till we figured that out the first time we played that map :P

Solitude's bases are weird - kinda inverted. The Lord Room is actually very close to the outside of the base, its just that the path inside the base is roundabout. This setup means that the bodyguard is within cast range of people standing near the gate into the base. Depends on where the main battle commences, but its very possible to force boosts by ganking runners on this map.

Drewfense · Nov 05, 2006, 06:23 PM // 18:23

Thank you anet for isle of the wurms. Between Isle of the Wurms and Incoming! anet has pretty much insured that spike will never become the meta again.

Isle of the Wurms has its up and downs. I think both turtles are strong because of the close NPC placement, deep bodyguard, and obvious height advantage. The flagstand run is short so ele support runners benefit. Warriors will have trouble pressuring targets versus good teams. At the flag stand is a large wall which casters can hide behind.

The seperation between the two paths makes it hard to see gankers. It is similiar to the Weeping Stone in that aspect, except there is not cut across the middle. Then their is the obvious health shrine. It strongly benefits teams that can split a player off regularly to control it and has a large effect on the game. From playing on the hall, I stongly suspect the shrine effects NPCs.

The best advantage though...its one of the least played halls atm and entering almost every match you will have a strategic advantage. When we played it, it was not uncommon for us to cap the health shrine at the start of a game and not be challenged for control leading to easy wins.

I wish I could say more about corrupted...I am always kinda lost whenever I play there. The map is pretty ugly tbh.

moriz · Nov 06, 2006, 04:12 AM // 04:12

the health shrine allows a team to almost ignore the flagstand if they want to: the +120 max hp is far greater than the morale bonus can hope to provide. a build designed for the isle of wurms should feature 2 (or more, but 2 is good) hard rezes to take advantage of this, since without the flagstand you'll be running out of rez sigs.

i haven't seen the map too much. btw, is the two paths on it close enough to allow a shadowstep between them at the widest part?

Drewfense · Nov 06, 2006, 05:26 AM // 05:26

I wouldn't gameplan to ignore the flagstand...your much better of just being ready to ocassionaly split a ranger or warrior off to cap it...

comonnow · Nov 06, 2006, 05:30 AM // 05:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cador

Isle of Solitude is like a combination of nomads isle and Druids IMO. This isle is fairly small and for very mobile teams. There can be ganking on this map however if you were to do so i would recommend a cripshot or some kind of spellcaster seeing as the distance from base to flagstand is similiar to that of the Druids Isle. There is also the teleporters which allow for high mobility. I know when my guild ran it we (the monks) would trail the main team by afew IG feet, and then if the pressure got bad wed shadow step to a teleporter and get back into the GH

I would still like to know how this is possible.

Drewfense · Nov 06, 2006, 05:40 AM // 05:40

You can't, he miss spoke, let it go. The Isle of Solitude is still very good for running around spike teams though.

moriz · Nov 06, 2006, 04:15 PM // 16:15

let me explain myself: the health shrine is a very important position. a build specifically designed to play on the isle of the wurms will need a very good split, as well as the ability to shadow step back and forth between the shrine team and the flagstand team. the flagstand is still important, but less important on this map than others. as long as you are not taking too many deaths, the health shrine will be the more important of the two. by overloading the health shrine team, you will gain a huge advantage no matter where you are.

Drewfense · Nov 06, 2006, 04:25 PM // 16:25

I understand what your are getting at, +120 health is greater than the health bonus from 10% morale, but I would favor control of the flagstand over the health shrine still because constantly fresh sigs is more important than a health advantage. The best way to use the health shrine is being able to split a strong solo character off to control it. Putting a heal sig Your All Alone warrior or a Crip Shot in your build would be ideal.

moriz · Nov 06, 2006, 04:32 PM // 16:32

a problem with splitting just one character to cap the shrine is the possibility that your opponents will split over two to counter you. i don't know about you, but i can think of no solo characters capable of taking on two characters and winning. since the shrine needs to be capped AB-style, having two characters against your one character will ensure that they will cap it, giving their flagstand team a huge advantage over yours.

Drewfense · Nov 06, 2006, 04:51 PM // 16:51

I am not really sure where you are trying to go with this arguement Moriz. So to play Isle of the Wurms you have to abandon a flagstand completely or play a full 4/4 split?

Most teams (especially in a 8v8 pressure meta) are going to have trouble sending one viable character much less two so such a situation is unlikely without them significantly weakening their flagstand group and likely occupying the runner. It isn't like 120 health = god mode. Tbh we ignored the shrine once completely (which was a bad move) and still spiked out targets 8v8 (the game I am referring to was vs Irc Carebear Pug when rank 5, Awowa and Three Pounds were monking so it wasn't versus chumps).

If you already have a strong solo character in your build, you wont be able to cap easily in that situation, but you can delay them almost indefinitly if played smart. Or you can send another character and since your build is better prepared for small splits, you will likely win.

But then what if they send three?

Patrograd · Nov 06, 2006, 04:55 PM // 16:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

giving their flagstand team a huge advantage over yours.

Not really, cos they'll be outnumbered. The flag team of the guild that split one off will see they have the numerical advantage and push really, really hard. +120 health, while nice, isnt going to save you in that situation against a decent team, especailly a decent team with flag control

A very big part of GvG is all about controlling the flag, I dont see this shrine changing that at all. Its another tactical consideration, like the gates on frozen or that top stand on meditation, but thats about it imo.

moriz · Nov 06, 2006, 05:05 PM // 17:05

any team who can split 2-3 characters away are usually designed to be able to fight short-handed at the flagstand. similarily, if you build your team to be able to fight with a man short, you will gain a large advantage by capping the shrine.

now, i'm not saying to abandom the stand completely. all i'm saying is that they are of equal importance, and teams designed for fast splitting will shine on it. shrine will affect your gameplay no matter where you are on the map, making it far more important that the gates on frozen and the fireball stand on meditation.

Patrograd · Nov 06, 2006, 07:27 PM // 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

now, i'm not saying to abandom the stand completely. all i'm saying is that they are of equal importance,

I think that what we are telling you is that this just isnt the case. Controlling the flag should be your first priority in 90% of builds and 90% of situations. And somehow I doubt that the +120 health is more important than controlling the gates on frozen. Dont get me wrong, its a nice bonus, doubly so against spike teams, but it isnt going to win you any games per se in the way that flag control will

Thom Bangalter · Nov 08, 2006, 07:42 PM // 19:42

Against a spike team, I'd certainly consider the health shrine over the stand, and only cap the stand when you don't want the spike team to get morale for fresh sigs. Of course, a spike team isn't going to be able to easily split and cap that shrine anyway, so you can probably keep it capped all game.

CAT · Nov 09, 2006, 02:33 AM // 02:33

All 4 of the new halls are extremely different, compared to the standard hunters-wizards etc...Once again like factions, its going to make having a new hall that you are familiar with a huge advantage vrs a team thats only played the map once or twice.

The isle of wurms offers a totally different splitting possibility.. Requiring a team to keep the +health flagstand and basically stopping spike teams (or atleast force them to cripple their build by having counters to the stand). I feel that the isle of wurms is similar to the burning isle in the fact that if your build is prepared for the map, you have a gigantic advantage over a team running a standard build. A proper split to control health shrine will beat a strong 8v8 pressure build every time if played right.

Although the corrupted isle has no real differences from other halls, the shape and way you play it force you to have experience in strategies prepared for this hall alone. There is an EXTREMELY short back side that does not require a thief. This hall seems to be a good VoD hall. Ganking and splitting considerably easier and the amount of npcs is massive compared to other halls. The exits/entrances are fairly small so the aggro and nuking of npcs is easier. Although vod is a large part of the hall,the flagstand is the critical point of the map. The flagstand goes along a short path from the main engagement area, forcing monks to push to frontline when healing a flag runner taking pressure. Passing the flag off to warriors and properly timed returns(monk) are key to successfully capping flag. As long as you have a compitant broken split, it seems the meta of this hall is going to be 8v8 pressure.

The isle of solitude is another very complicated map which requires extensive practice to master different types of splits and paths. One way teleporters make ganking and splitting quick actions that require decisive actions to counter. Although there are many split possibilities, the hall area is extremely condensed so that gankers can be easily collapes on, and theifs make ganking much harder. Another map with walls and hills at key points of the flagstand and base that make return an important utility. Right now all I see the hall as is a map similar to hunters isle, a standard 8v8 flagstand map but easily able to split against teams that need it.

Of all the complicated maps, i think the flooded isle takes the cake. The map contains 3 paths. The bottom path is probably the easiest gank path ever, making the knights and bodyguard aggroable and gankable by only killing 1 archer, when the flagstand is miles away from the base. At any time during an 8v8 fight at the flagstand a player can split off and gank all vital npcs of the other hall. The flagstand and outer flagstand areas are considerably different. The flagstand contains a very small area connected by 2 bridges, while the outer area is an extremely open area. Playing this map is going to force you to run high pressure builds that can whipe a team fast, while maintaining a thief "babysitter" watching when they are going back to save the npcs in time. Solid 4-4 splits also will be very valuable considering the distance between the bases and flagstand is pretty far. Flagstand chokes small and long like the corrupted isle so morale can be an issue if played right

Thom Bangalter · Nov 09, 2006, 10:03 AM // 10:03

I really like isle of solitude, because there are so many damn ways to the flagstand. If a team comes from the back, I can go out the front. If they come from the front, I can wait for them to push up that hallway and take the teleporter.

Flooded isle is rediculous. You can immediately gank the bodyguard. Same goes for isle of solitude just because of NPC locations, send any ranged non-LOS character over there and blow the crap out of them. It makes taking out as many NPCs as possible very important, because it's easy for the other team to take out yours as well.

Patrograd · Nov 13, 2006, 09:27 AM // 09:27

Quick comment about Uncharted isle

This is the only hall in the game where you need to pass through the Lord room to get from the back gate to the front and vice versa. As a result, it is both a good gank map, and a bad one.

A good one because you only need to take down one knight and one or (if being cautious) two archers to get to the bodyguard (two gankers can get the BG down in less than 2 minutes from game start), but a bad one, because it is very easy to trap a gank squad between a rock and a hard place if you return to base the back way. Their only means of exit is then through the lord area, past the other knight, the archers, and finally through the front gate past the footmen and archer. Or they run through you. Ouch either way imo

nice map for runner ganking though because of the position of the flagstand.