A question for other CoX Vets

How many of you have memorized the spawn points for most mission maps? Not because you have deliberately gone out of your way to do so, but because you have simply ran them so many times. You know that down certain corridors or in certain rooms nothing ever spawns and you stopped checking them for enemies long ago. You also watch other players with a certain degree of jealousy as they go investigating in said areas; resisting the urge to say "nothing ever spawns there" so they can remain blissfully unaware of the knowledge you have fortunately yet unfortunately acquired.

How many of you zone into a mission and because of the layout of the first few rooms know with a high degree of accuarcy where the lifts are and where the final room is? Personally I never used to suffer from this that much until I started tinkering with AE mission designer and began testing out the various random maps looking for the perfect first + final room. Yes to a perfectionist like me it can't just be any old sewer it has to be the right sewer!

I'm just trying to make sure I'm not too crazy or sad, or at least take comfort in the fact I'm not the only one who is. ;-)

Oh yeah, totally.

That's why new maps are always great, mobs can be anywhere

Especially on the TFs I run all the time, yes, I know where everything ends up.

Yeah, I know 'em. And where the glowies/hostages like spawning on a lot of specific missions.

There's a rather larged-size outdoor city map where you frequently have to find hostages and glowies (Neuron's temporal accelerators, for example). Learning all THOSE spawn points was one of the first things I ever did.

It's always jarring when they change the maps with each issue. It's a weird well-known but unacknowledged and rarely-discussed change.

Maps have been getting noticeably less friendly to speeders and flyers, with more jutting obstacles along the longer corridors.

I memorised all the redside mission maps in Issue 6/7, then was shocked when they suddenly changed in Issue 8.

Yup. It's especially discouraging sometimes in office maps, where if you see a set of branching corridors right in front of you with enemies right in the intersection, you know there's an elevator to the right after a turn, a dead end to the front preceded by stairs and another dead to the left after another turn.

Yes after close to 5 years I have even gotten to the point where I find myself thinking "Oh this is THAT map they just turned it around backwards to make it LOOK different". I have even gotten to the point where I know exactly where the spawns are on most of the outdoor maps. I think that's why new zones are always so popular. When they redid Faultline everyone rushed to get there and do the new content and see the revamped zone. Same thing when the revamped the RWZ and created Cimerora. Even if many of the maps were the same at least it was SOMETHING new. LOL

During the first couple of years, I was doing defeat alls on all of my missions. There was no specific purpose for it other than that everything was still new and I didn't want to "miss anything". Between that and occasionally getting stuck with the old can't find the last guy problems, I gradually became familiar with all the rooms. I started skipping a few nooks and cranny rooms because they always seemed to be empty and I was playing faster.

It was probably around the third year that I realized that I subconsciously knew when to slow up and take a peeks around corners because I've blundered right into groups before. Then I realized that certain rooms and corridors spawned groups at different positions depending on whether I was on a large team or solo. Then when Part_Troll did his idiot PUGs ASCII map layouts, he gave a name to certain rooms that I already recognized for what they are, but didn't really think seriously about: trap rooms.

I had transcended to being an "old timer" where nothing much could surprise me on an ordinary mission map. Initially, I tried to warn team mates about what was coming up, but no one listens. Now, I just hang back until they round the corner right into a kill squad and smirk.

After 75 months, the biggest QOL improvement they could make would be new/refreshed maps. I can only use 'Reveal' on certain CoT glowie hunts because everything else is ridiculously easy.

The frustrating part for me is Orenbaga maps where teams insist on clearing the mad room of multiple behemoth portals.

Yep. Know exactly where the spawn points are, where the bosses are, where the elevators are, where the glowies are.

Maps were one of the things they could have added a lot more of and maintained interest longer.

I know where everything is in general, but I don't have them memorized. don't care to commit memory to doing that...

This is one of the reasons I like doing the Hollows trial. I remember the first time I did it - about 8 months ago. I'd been playing three years and like many of you had most of the maps and spawn points memorized. So the maps on that Trial came as a pleasant surprise.

The only times I've seen anyone in the Council Prison Room is if a patrol wandered into it and stopped to mill around.

yes, absolutely, after a while, you just know where to look

Yep, I generally know where the spawn points are, common glowie locations, and I can often recognize a map layout after a room or two.

Any variety in these patterns would be welcome.

I don't feel bad about knowing where the spawns will be. For one thing I actually honestly don't mind knocking over "the same old office or warehouse", I'm just so happy it's not a freakin' blue cave. Another reason is that when I'm looking around for glowies or that last guy, I know all the hiding places too. Occasionally the game does throw you a curve too.

Mind you, I'm not opposed to new maps at all. As long as they aren't more caves! (Yeah yeah, I know, queue someone who just loves 'em.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SerialBeggar Initially, I tried to warn team mates about what was coming up, but no one listens. Now, I just hang back until they round the corner right into a kill squad and smirk.

Heh, the same here. There's one particular office corridor that nails practically every PuG that encounters it. It's the one with an office on each side, with a spawn in the right-hand office with the stairs and another spawn just around the next corner. I'm of the opinion that whoever designed that map had in mind that one Blaster/Corruptor who says "Hey, if I get over here, I have a perfect cone into that office and *shot in the back*." When approaching that area, I start taking private bets on who'll aggro the second group.

For real hilarity, there's always the famous "Hasty Backpeddle", usually followed by bullets, grenades, and/or rocks. I've been guilty of it myself plenty of times.

I'm not really an "old vet", but have some time under my belt.
I have a general feel for some maps, recognize the layout, know a couple spawn points... but I don't actually have them memorized.

It's paradoxical, considering that memorization is one of my "talents"... I rely on it when I'm working. I can have an entire script memorized for months, but as soon as the production is done, the lines are out the window. I wouldn't be able to recite a thing within two weeks.

This little phenomenon also allows me to read books and watch movies repeatedly, and even though I know the general storyline, I will still not know "what comes next". It's always somewhat fresh for me.

Same with the game.


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