...
1v1
Added Melting Valley v2
After the successful reworks of classic maps such as EI, SV and TM that we've introduced with our past seasons, with season 14 it's finally time to bring back another old friend: Melting Valley. Special thanks to Zucth and SaveOrcas for putting this up together. The remarkable differences with its legacy version are the following:
Creep camps around the map are now symmetric: this means players will no longer have different nearby creeps based on their starting location.
Goblin laboratories have been moved towards the middle and are now equipped with proper anti-air: we found that previously it was too easy to abuse these camps, either by disrupting the nearby enemy expansion by pulling the creeps, or simply by wiping everything with air units.
Rebalanced item drops: the map was infamous for its abundance of permanent items, while now we believe a good compromise should have been reached.
Eversong updated to v1.1
Murloc creep camps moved closer to player starting locations and now drop an additional level 2 tome.
Red camps now have a level 4 Bloodfiend (cleaving attack) instead of a level 3 Fel Beast.
Goblin Laboratory creep camps now drop an additional level 2 tome.
The 6-3-3-3 camps nearby taverns no longer drop the level 1 tome.
Removed Rusty Creek
This map unfortunately didn’t enjoy the favour of the playerbase, and many may argue that this is part of the inexorable destiny affecting all of the big macro maps. Nonetheless, Rusty Creek leaves us a lot of memories and the achievement of being included into the map pool of an S-tier tournament.
4v4
Added Cherryville
This map was one of the first to be rotated out of our 4vs4 map pool and we’re therefore glad to bring it back. After Battleground with the previous few seasons, this makes our objective clear to leave no map behind, and spice things up every new season both with new additions and maps that belong to our history.
Added Mount Hyjal
This is a brand new map by Zucth. Here teammates are close but afar, due to high grounds dominating the area. Players are well protected by natural defenses but it will be their duty to expand into the map and claim the exposed gold mines.
Added Winter Township
This is one of the few high-level maps that were still left behind from the latest 4vs4 mapping contest that provided us with many great additions throughout the time. The map layout is somewhat reminiscent to Northmarsh Ruin, but at the same time it might require some more focus towards the center of the map rather than at the corners.
Chimney Isles updated to v1.3
Now the red camp at the top is slightly stronger (a Revenant with Chain Lightning was added) and drops a level 6 charged item (e.g. Doom Guard summon).
Indigo Keeper updated to vv1.2
Fixed a bug that was allowing polar bears to run away from players by swimming on the water.
Removed Battleground
This map was recently given a second chance, but unfortunately it just isn’t so much of a fan favourite. Yet we believe it still served its purpose, as it’s one of the few maps to force unique one-base gameplay and a lot of action from the get-go in order to conquer the crucial red camps.
Removed Nerubian Passage
Nerubian Passage is one of those maps that has been with us for the longest time. Looking at the not-so-bright playrates from the past season and after talking to its author, we’ve decided to give this map a hiatus to hopefully bring it back for the next season with a refreshed look.
Removed Deadlock LV
Just like the previous map, Deadlock LV has also happened to be with us ever since season 1. Therefore, as part of a healthy rotation of maps, we want temporarily part ways to give some other maps the spotlight.
...
2v2 and FFA
No changes to the map pool of these game modes for the current season.
A shoutout to the map makers
...