DINKER'S MAPS FOR W3A LADDER MAP POOL

So far, total of 7 maps are playable and ready to be imported in W3Arena ladder map pool. Testers who played on them and who helped me a lot, were more than happy when they saw how I edited these maps. Thanks to GaBe-, Moscow(Den), Vankor, ArnOrc, RapiNg and others whom I forgot, who were part of this great adventure. Lets hope that the other will like the maps as well. Link to the map pack inside the post.

Maps that have been edited are hard to play. With a lot of new starting possibilities for each race, game variations and required adaption they are way different than the maps that we were used to play. The item distribution from the creeps you kill is also very different. I call it adequate item distribution because the items that you get are balanced when you are looking at the spot you have crept.

Every map, on the maps that we were used to play, was dominated by certain race like Scorched Basin was dominated by Night Elf. I didn't want to change that completely when I was editing Scorched Basin. However, I tried to give the space and some chances to other races as well. So, some maps might have changed their look'n'feel but they haven't changed their role.

Here are the maps that have been improved so far. They are all at version 1.05.

Lost Temple

When I told my testers, for the first time, that we are going to test out LT, some of them were like "Why the hell did you edit LT? It is balanced." However, when I edited it they understood what was my intention and they loved it. It's much more open, dynamic and requires decent aggression. Some spots have been balanced with additional paths and corners in which expansions were guarded with Golem and his trolling mates are now reachable. Middle is no longer one way in no way out place which was easily dominated by strong ground unit combos and the natural expansions are harder to defend because of additional paths. I have more plans for this map and I believe that it can be even better than it is now.

Plunder Isle

Blizzard's Plunder Isle was a disgusting piece of shit. I believe that we all can agree on that. Two races were dominating that map and every game on it was pretty much the same. And there is nothing more disgusting when the map forces you to strict game play. Plunder Isle 2 which was used in W3Aladder was edited by ZeN and me 4-5 years ago and was used in some of the leagues and cups we hosted. It was good with the additional paths to the natural expansion, shops behind the drakes but it had many flaws. I succeeded in correcting them all. Now Plunder Isle is great map because players can use its whole space and combine it with their game play. You just have to see it to understand what I am talking about.

Scorched Basin

What to say about the old Scorched Basin? How many times have you heard - noob ne on sb? Well, Scorched Basin is still an Elf map. No doubt about that. It just requires more adaptation unlike it required in the past. There is more space, creeps are different, there are two merc camps instead of one, middle cannot be as easy taken nor controled. Basically, it is a completely new map which now offers other races decent changes against Night Elf. 

Secret Valley

Another map on which Elf had strong domination because of its structure. This map was great example of how the TFT maps cannot be just imported to ROC and played without corrections.  After we played several game on it, ArnOrc told me that this one is his favorite map. Perhaps because fountains are now both random instead of both health which gives a nice variation. Middle is different with shops being divided by stones and trees that are making control of both spots very hard. The dynamics is also changed because of additional paths that lead to expansions. The map has everything for all type of players. If you want to creep, go ahead and do it. If you wanna rush and play aggressive, no problem. It is all doable. It all depends of you and your adaptation.

Ruined Rainbow

One of the maps that lost their original look and feel after I edited them. I completely changed the pathing, places of interest, shops and labs placements, creeps. Every inch of the map is potential battlefield because the map space has been exploited to its maximum. 

Echo Isles

I seriously regret that I didn't make a completely new map before I started working on Echo Isles. Again, TFT map, imported to ROC without a single correction. Changed places of interest, shops placements, removed that dummy gob's lab from the middle and gave it a proper function on a different place. Changed some creeps and edited terrain so much that it is unrecognizable when you look at both minimaps. RapiNg and Vankor said it is great.

Rift Valley

I said that Rift Valley and Outskirts were the best "handmade" ROC maps. I still think that. However, that doesn't mean that they can't be improved. Rift Valley had some flaws and conflicts with places of interest. Also, the creep structure and camping zones were a bit confusing. I changed that. I also created a place of interest in the middle by changing the creeps and its structure a bit.

I am releasing the link to the public so everyone can enjoy these good maps in their hosting bots, tournaments or even LAN. They are all currently on 1.05 version and will all get updated with the time.

W3A Map Pack v1.05 by Dinker (click to download)