SC2Mapster

@Hultmanable: Go

Hey man, I just played the updated M5. I was able to complete it this time. Well done on the boss fight! Was really engaging and kept you on your toes without being too hard. I wouldn't change the boss fight at all. Some notes:

• I didn't kill any guards this time - had to be very careful but I managed. However the protoss weren't hostile to the terran until I brought Rick up to them and they became allied with me. Also maybe give a tip that you can have to bring Rick to the units to rescue them.
• Game froze for a few seconds after killing the boss but then resumed fine.
• Maybe have a healing pod after boss fight.
• I guess I just don't understand why the terran units are hostile to you, then allied, than hostile again. Doesn't really make sense to me. I would give some sort of explanation on why the terran in that middle section are willing to join you.
• Beacon to free zerglings doesn't disappear. I noticed it in the escape section.
• Units didn't respond to auto attack from Kel'Rash when he outranged them.
• After escaping, it would be nice to have some dialogue (doesn't have to be long) before the victory screen pops up.

I also played M6:Vortex as well. This was a pretty fun map with an interesting mechanic I've only seen once before. The macro portion was pretty straightforward but not too hard or too easy. Notes:

• F2 selecting all units can be a problem because it selects both ground and air units. Either have a tip telling the player to be careful when using F2 or make it so only the units in the current screen are affected.
• Fleet beacon - graviton catapult upgrade - when researched it still shows as a upgrade option to get.
• You have tips on Kel'Rash hero but he is not used until later on and that is when he is an air unit.
• Possibly put minerals in space section to give the player an incentive to move out earlier with the air units.
• Space section is a little repetitive after a while since most enemy groups are exactly the same. Liberators would be a nice choice to vary it up a bit.

@Hultmanable: Go

• The markers I was thinking of are similar to those in .
• I did kill the terrans in the first part and I did not get any allied terrans to control, but they all became neutral to me in the second part of the mission.
• I do think the boss has too much health. More weapon pickups would definitely help too.

Let me know if you want me to re play an updated version of this map.

Just played Mission 5 (Kel Rash). Wasn't able to beat it though.

• Intro screen - should be "King and AJ have" instead of has (not that big of a deal)
• It's very hard to avoid guards in the first section. I would make it so there are markers/icons where the guards are. Similar to how EivindL does it in some of his stealth missions.
• The 2nd time you have to use AJ to open the gate for Rick, the ARES robot was attacking me while they were talking. I would make it so the gate opens right away and then they can talk. Or have the ARES robot stop while they are talking. There just isn't enough time for first time players.
• I would put one health pack after the first teleport.
• Why are the terrans neutral to you after you teleport and the protoss start warping in? I'm glad they were neutral but it didn't make sense to me.
• The dark templar section cinematic needs to be adjusted. The first time through I was killed by a dark templar without the cinematic even playing. The 2nd time the cinematic played but one of the dark templar killed me during the cinematic. Either have the cinematic play earlier or make it so the dark templar can't reach you while the cinematic is playing.
• I couldn't beat Zer'Rash. I really liked the mechanics in this fight but it was very challenging. The furthest I got him down to was about half health. First of all he attacks you right away before you really have a chance to do anything. You could have him further away to start out to give the player a chance to move. His orb lightning attacks are very hard to dodge. Maybe reduce the number of them or the duration they last. Also, I only saw one weapon pickup, so I don't know if there is more that pop up. You could also have different health and/or weapon pickups in different sections so it forces you to move around.

I liked the map overall and I think the boss fight has a lot of potential. It took me about 25 in game minutes to get to the boss. Is there more after the boss fight?

@Hultmanable: Go

I just finished the 4th map. It was quite fun once I got the general idea of it. I lost the first time just trying to get the map figured out, but beat it my second playthrough. It took me about 30 in game minutes to beat it. I feel like it is pretty balanced. Some notes:

• My ally hero failed to respawn probably a quarter into my playthrough. I'm pretty sure he was supposed to keep respawning.
• I was confused at first which lane was the crystals and which lane was King. Maybe have the transports labeled or have a description when you hover over them.
• The beacon in the middle of the map where you can get siege tanks. Maybe have an indicator on who is currently controlling it that pops up after you initially find it.
• The abilities are pretty fun to use. You really just need to use the penetrator round as often as you can. I never really used blink that much - didn't find it too useful. It might be neat to have an ability that you can warp back to base - it could be on a really long cooldown or something. You could also have available upgrades that you can buy specifically for your hero. For example, you could upgrade the fire rate or even add an extra ability.
• Maybe have a tooltip with information/background of your allied hero. I don't really understand who he is supposed to be.
• I like the use of the Zerg that are hostile too both factions.
• I capped out at Lvl 11 I think. It might be nice to specify the max level in the tooltips.

@Hultmanable: Go

I'll be happy to continue testing these maps. Feel free to send it to me and any in the future that you want tested to my email. I can test it out this Friday.

@JayborinoPlays: Go

Bilxor told me that the 2nd mission probably won't be out for another month or so and that he's planning at least 6 missions. But he can probably tell you more than I can. You would definitely enjoy playing it - there is a lot of custom stuff that I haven't seen before.

@Baelethal: Go

No problem. Happy to play them. Yeah I think if you moved the location of the ramp higher up and delay the attack it would help a lot. On Mission 3, I built a barracks at each of the defending locations, which helped a lot. Then with bunkers and turrets, it wasn't too bad.

I just played Missions 2 and 3. I played on hard on both. Some notes:

Mission 2

• I liked the addition of the second hero. Hopefully he'll get additional abilities later on.
• I didn't actually beat it. I kept loosing the APC at the beginning when the enemy would come down their ramp. The ramp is right next to where the APC spawns. I think I could have beat it if I tried again though.

Mission 3

• This was the easiest one of the 3. Maybe make one large attack wave at the end.
• I liked having to defend multiple bases.
• There is a ton of dialogue at the beginning of this mission (after the cutscene). Maybe add some to the beginning cinematic. It is hard to read all of it when you are trying to build up your defense and figure out what you need to do in the mission.

I really liked the custom units you use. The turrets are really cool and fun to use. Looking forward to using those air units you see in the last cinematic.

@MaskedImposter: Go

I just played Mission 4. Was a fun pretty short mission. I enjoyed all of the dialogue/cutscenes and the psi storm part was really fun. I'm curious as to what happened to Hockleberry now. Also, I didn't experience any lag playing this on the arcade.

@slitwarmer: Go

I did find the secret. It's a XelNaga tower (if I remember correctly) in the upper portion of the macro portion of the mission (it's in the snow). There was some dialogue after finding it but it had no effect on this mission as far as I could tell. It probably will come into play into later missions.

I played on Normal and set up 2 bunkers at each of the 3 points with 1-2 scvs repairing. That should be all you need.

@Hultmanable: Go

The zerg do not have any detector units - They definitely had spore crawlers in the bases they built (aren't they detectors)?

Psi destroyers going neutral - Okay that makes sense. I just didn't notice that I guess. Maybe specify that in the tips.

Story and terrain - I really liked the terrain on the first mission. I also liked that the terrain has varied each mission so far. The story seems fine to me. It's kind of hard to come to a conclusion about the story when everything is kind of a mystery right now. My only advice would be to give more character development. Why should we care about these people so much?

I just finished playing the 3rd mission. I feel like with some refinement this could be a really fun mission. I really enjoyed the gameplay aspect as it was pretty unique. I ended up beating it by taking control of the area where the vehicle would spawn. Some comments:

• What is the advantage of destroying the psi emitters? The terran units never attack you and when you destroy the psi emitters the zerg just build a base there so it doesn't make it easier to get the minerals/vespene.
• Maybe have markers on the minimap where the psi emitters are and the hive. At the start of the map, as it is now, I feel like the player will be really confused as to where they are supposed to go.
• Possibly give the player a few more units so they can more easily defend the first few waves of attacks.
• Units can walk right through the gates.
• Some psi emitters are neutral, some aren't.
• Mission doesn't end when your hero dies.
• The boss is much easier than the first boss.

I just finished playing the first mission. I think it has so much potential and could definitely be up there with the best custom campaigns out there. It seems very polished and very well done. I would definitely recommend people playing it.

@Hultmanable: Go

My first strategy was to just get the beacons but I didn't have enough units to keep at each beacon while I walked to the next one. After depleting all of the minerals in the starting base and the expansion on the right side of the map, I had a pretty large army so I thought why not just kill the enemy base so they stop reinforcing. I could have just got the beacons at that point though.

@Hultmanable: Go

So I played the 2nd mission last night. A few notes:

• The warp prism that was periodically sent to the middle of my base did nothing. I'm assuming it's supposed to warp in units or not be there at all.
• There are a lot of upgrades available in the Factory and Starport tech labs that do nothing because you can't build the units. I would recommend removing all upgrades or buildings/add ons that don't benefit the player at all just to streamline things.
• After upgrading stimpack, the marines did not have the ability.
• The delta personnel (all but one group I think) were all killed right after the bonus objective popped up.
• There is 1 mineral patch in the expansion on the right side of the map that you can't mine from because scvs can't reach it.
• There was a miniature warp gate in the enemies base.
• After completing it and the ending cinematic, the screen went black but I never got the victory screen.

Overall it was a pretty fun map. I liked the hero scvs abilities and the terraining. There was a lot of empty space in the map however. Maybe try to reduce this. What did make the map more difficult though is that the enemy units would spawn from the bottom base. So even after destroying the enemy buildings they kept respawning. It just made it a little frustrating.