Hi. I make a lot of custom maps. Some of them are fun and others were flops. Ultimately, these custom maps let us play a FPS like we never have before.

But AoS already had it's own unique edge. It used to be that simple terrain was generated for a new map each time. This gave us some hills and occasionally islands for us to dig through, and with an inventory of 50 (and before that, up to 100) blocks at our disposal, we could make our own bunkers and lines of defense who's presence alone would challenge the opposing players.

But the inclusion of custom maps gives us a few shortcomings to the way the game used to be played. There now seems to be a will to preserve the aesthetic and function of a custom map, [with the exception of griefing]. What I mean is that tunneling and building have almost been discouraged, because new maps already provide exceptional hideouts and cover and in some case edifices which are full-blown sniping camp-outs.

This has taken it's toll on digging too. It was once of great use to make tunnel systems underneath the enemy and destroy what the team had on the inside. Now, again because of the desire to preserve the map, this technique is seldom used. It's much more practical to rush the enemy and run and gun your way to the intel. Sneaking around is still important, but only a fraction of what it used to be. Some maps are too low to the "bedrock level" to dig any deeper than three blocks or even one at all. Others make digging seem like a task when it's much easier to go around something or make stairs along the side of a giant pillar or wall.

The final point I want to bring up is that when both teams are divided by a river and have their own designated piece of land, they are more likely to stay organized and decide when to build as a team and when to attack. I haven't seen some of the forts and intel towers that I used to see in the days of vanillagen in a long time. Most people assume that their intel is 'safe enough' because of the terrain that needs to be passed in order to reach it.

Some of the nature themed maps do a better job of nerfing these effects, but I still think that the vanillagen maps are by far the best. Anyone else agree?

Great post Sasquatch. I agree with most, if not all of your opinions. I guess as the game evolves it starts to lose some of it's original shine at the price of new features. I'm guilty of usually playing on custom-made maps, but as you said, they usually require a more "shoot and kill" style of of gameplay rather than focusing on the games main concept, capturing the intel. Nothing beats the "old-school" way of doing things, which sounds weird considering how young this game is lol. Playing on randomly generated maps will hopefully always provide the feeling of a more "classic" Ace of Spades.

You make good points, but you forget how early of a beta this game is. One gun and grenades. One objective. The game is amazing, but he's going to add a lot. By it's completion, you will be able to browse servers through a menu and toggle custom maps or "randomly generated terrain" that you will be able to modify, like snow and desert, color of teams, uniform style, ability to change whether there is or isn't a river/rivers, place pre-built buildings on the map and tons of other shit. Just trust Ben. He's gonna handle everything. And I have a good feeling about the game's development because of how much he actually responds to forum feedback.

Dogs are bullshit, they never meow. All they do is bark.

LOKIAMIS SPEAKS THE TRUTH

I play custom maps when I want to play by guidelines, and I play generated maps when I want to create the guidelines.

The best thing about AoS is that I can use the terrain to my advantage regardless of the map I play in.