Hi there!
Since the release of the Star Wars: Domination game for the May the 4th event, Myself and a number of other players have noticed one key problem; the Rebel side wins over 90% of the time. I've noticed that it's either due to the ability for players to pick their teams or an imbalance on the map itself. In this thread, I will go over a couple of key map design decisions that might be the reason that the Imperials typically lose.
DISCLAIMER: I do not dislike the map or game itself in any way, I think the build team did a fantastic job on it and the attention to detail is immaculate and it's very immersive, I just wanted to share my point of view on why I think the Imperials mostly lose.
Firstly I'd like to talk about the spawn areas for each side.
Let's start with the Imperial spawn. The Imperial spawn has a good amount of cover, but what I really dislike about it is the South point. There is a wall blocking off some of the view of the Southern point from the Imperial spawn, creating a choke point. Any Rebels that capture the South point can then camp on it and freely deal damage to the Imperials through that choke point- one of the few easier and less time-consuming ways to get on to the point. This means that the Rebels can pretty easily capture and keep the Southern point without suffering too much damage, typically from what I've seen it only takes about 3 Rebels to stay on the point to keep it, but it takes much more Imperials to try and reclaim the point from the Rebels.
Image: Choke Point from the Rebel side.
Image: Choke Point from the Imperial side.
Let's move on to the Rebel spawn point. The Rebel spawn point, contrarily to the Imperial spawn point, has little to no cover. This also includes the Northern point beside the spawn. This means that any Imperials that might capture the Northern point can easily be shot down by any Rebels that might be coming out of their base due to the lack of cover. The Trooper class is the only class that tends to survive for a while before being swarmed and killed by Rebels exiting their base.
Image: Northern point from the Imperial side.
Image: Northern point from the Rebel side.
Next, I'd like to talk about the high ground on Falcon.
Again starting with the Imperials. The Imperials have a very awkward route to the high ground on Falcon compared to the Rebels. In order to get to the high ground, Imperials have to go left on to the Southern point then go right into the little hallway and up the stairs on their first right. Not only does this take more time than the Rebel's route in my opinion, but it puts the Imperials at a weird angle on the high ground compared to the Rebel's route.
Image: Falcon Highground from the Imperial side (just as you come up the stairs).
On to the Rebels, the Rebels have much more of a straightforward way of getting on to the high ground than the Imperials, all they have to do is take a staircase up to the left of the entrance to the point. Since there are normally 3+ Snipers/Pistol users on the high ground with longer range, this allows for the Rebels to effectively lock down the entire point for themselves, as the staircase leads the Rebels to a very nifty location, staring straight into the entrance of the point from the Imperial side allowing them to snipe at them, weakening the Imperials before they even touch the point.
Image: Falcon Highground from the Rebel side (just as you come up the stairs).
So how can we improve the map to make it fairer? Well, I'd say the obvious choice is to mirror the map so both sides are equal in cover and high ground, but this might make the game much more predictable and boring in some way.
Adding more maps is also something that might help- though for a limited time event I don't see the need for this.
A team randomizer could also be beneficial to the game so all the "better" players aren't teaming up together to completely murder the other team, but somebody else already suggested a team randomizer in a thread they made.
Am I saying I could do better and do I think I'm a map design expert of some kind now? Absolutely not, the game took so much time and effort from so many individuals and is very fun to play, and I'm just trying to share my point of view on why the game might be biased to one side, making it unfair on the other.
That's all I'm going to cover on this thread if you have any other opinions on the map or want to criticise me on my idiocy please feel free to do that below. Additionally, if you have any criticisms on what I said or have any other possible solutions or just want to reassure me that I wasn't just speaking nonsense throughout the post please say so below as well. The final thing I want to say is, is it worth going through all the trouble of fixing a temporary minigame? That's up to the staff team I suppose, I just want the game to be less luck-based and more balanced as whoever gets on the rebel side wins automatically over 90% of the time and whoever gets Imperials ends up losing.
Thank you for reading.
Since the release of the Star Wars: Domination game for the May the 4th event, Myself and a number of other players have noticed one key problem; the Rebel side wins over 90% of the time. I've noticed that it's either due to the ability for players to pick their teams or an imbalance on the map itself. In this thread, I will go over a couple of key map design decisions that might be the reason that the Imperials typically lose.
DISCLAIMER: I do not dislike the map or game itself in any way, I think the build team did a fantastic job on it and the attention to detail is immaculate and it's very immersive, I just wanted to share my point of view on why I think the Imperials mostly lose.
Firstly I'd like to talk about the spawn areas for each side.
Let's start with the Imperial spawn. The Imperial spawn has a good amount of cover, but what I really dislike about it is the South point. There is a wall blocking off some of the view of the Southern point from the Imperial spawn, creating a choke point. Any Rebels that capture the South point can then camp on it and freely deal damage to the Imperials through that choke point- one of the few easier and less time-consuming ways to get on to the point. This means that the Rebels can pretty easily capture and keep the Southern point without suffering too much damage, typically from what I've seen it only takes about 3 Rebels to stay on the point to keep it, but it takes much more Imperials to try and reclaim the point from the Rebels.
Image: Choke Point from the Rebel side.
Image: Choke Point from the Imperial side.
Let's move on to the Rebel spawn point. The Rebel spawn point, contrarily to the Imperial spawn point, has little to no cover. This also includes the Northern point beside the spawn. This means that any Imperials that might capture the Northern point can easily be shot down by any Rebels that might be coming out of their base due to the lack of cover. The Trooper class is the only class that tends to survive for a while before being swarmed and killed by Rebels exiting their base.
Image: Northern point from the Imperial side.
Image: Northern point from the Rebel side.
Next, I'd like to talk about the high ground on Falcon.
Again starting with the Imperials. The Imperials have a very awkward route to the high ground on Falcon compared to the Rebels. In order to get to the high ground, Imperials have to go left on to the Southern point then go right into the little hallway and up the stairs on their first right. Not only does this take more time than the Rebel's route in my opinion, but it puts the Imperials at a weird angle on the high ground compared to the Rebel's route.
Image: Falcon Highground from the Imperial side (just as you come up the stairs).
On to the Rebels, the Rebels have much more of a straightforward way of getting on to the high ground than the Imperials, all they have to do is take a staircase up to the left of the entrance to the point. Since there are normally 3+ Snipers/Pistol users on the high ground with longer range, this allows for the Rebels to effectively lock down the entire point for themselves, as the staircase leads the Rebels to a very nifty location, staring straight into the entrance of the point from the Imperial side allowing them to snipe at them, weakening the Imperials before they even touch the point.
Image: Falcon Highground from the Rebel side (just as you come up the stairs).
So how can we improve the map to make it fairer? Well, I'd say the obvious choice is to mirror the map so both sides are equal in cover and high ground, but this might make the game much more predictable and boring in some way.
Adding more maps is also something that might help- though for a limited time event I don't see the need for this.
A team randomizer could also be beneficial to the game so all the "better" players aren't teaming up together to completely murder the other team, but somebody else already suggested a team randomizer in a thread they made.
Am I saying I could do better and do I think I'm a map design expert of some kind now? Absolutely not, the game took so much time and effort from so many individuals and is very fun to play, and I'm just trying to share my point of view on why the game might be biased to one side, making it unfair on the other.
That's all I'm going to cover on this thread if you have any other opinions on the map or want to criticise me on my idiocy please feel free to do that below. Additionally, if you have any criticisms on what I said or have any other possible solutions or just want to reassure me that I wasn't just speaking nonsense throughout the post please say so below as well. The final thing I want to say is, is it worth going through all the trouble of fixing a temporary minigame? That's up to the staff team I suppose, I just want the game to be less luck-based and more balanced as whoever gets on the rebel side wins automatically over 90% of the time and whoever gets Imperials ends up losing.
Thank you for reading.
