Based on complaints I’ve seen as recently as 2 seconds ago, some people have no clue about some of the changes that have been made to the map. Allow me to bring you all up to speed so that you can complain more accurately~
1.) Shrine effects are annoying because fire turrets, birds that blow you off of cliffs and invisible zergs.
-None of that stuff exists anymore. Instead, when you hold three shrines, you can essentially teleport from one shrine to another. At Airkeep, you transform into an eagle and fly to a new shrine. It’s exhilarating. I absolutely recommend trying it when you get the chance.
2.) It’s impossible to get anywhere without jumping off of a cliff.
-This was actually never true. You can get from any point to any other point by following a road that never goes near a cliff. There are also some cliffside roads that are totally optional. The only cliff you have to jump off of is in Rampart if you’re trying to leave to the south. Even then, it’s just a shortcut, but some stairs would be nice.
3.) Small groups can’t take big objectives.
-Not long after it came out, tier 2 and 3 Tower defenses were weakened to make them less impervious to small group attack. As for Keeps, you’re able to hit them without being as exposed as the day you were born, which offers ample opportunity for the creative havoc squad.
4.) Objectives reach tier 3 in 3 hours.
-This one is a bit tricky since objectives upgrade at different rates. North East tower is served by 2 Yaks with routes that take 3:57 and 3:54 to run. That’s roughly 2 Yaks every 4 minutes. It takes 140 Yaks to hit tier 3 so, if no Yaks or camps are hit and all sentries remain allied, it should take 280m. That means, unless Speedy Yaks are used, the minimum time to hit tier 3 for NET is 4 hours and 40m.
For Airkeep, it’s also served by 2 Yaks (note, on ABL side keeps are served by 3 Yaks). Their routes take 3:14 and ~2:10. The optimal time to tier 3 comes out to about 3 hours.
I don’t have exact times for SC Yaks atm, but I can say that for a south tower, time to tier 3 is even less than 3 hours. In general, the further south an objective is, the faster it upgrades. At the same time, it’s more vulnerable to enemy attack.
5.) It takes forever to run anywhere
-Again, this one is slightly tricky. Run times from Rampart WP to a side keep lord room are about 30% longer without shrines. With them, they’re about the same. Meanwhile, the time it takes to break into lord room from an enemy spawn is over 100% longer. Run times between north and south camps are almost identical to Alpine. Run times from enemy spawns to side keeps are longer. Run times from Rampart WP to a south camp are similar. Run times from SWT to Firekeep are much greater while SET to Airkeep are slightly larger. On top of that, DBL has an easy to get MS buff that allows any class greater mobility.
Still, when attempting to take shortcuts around Undercroft especially, it’s easy to get lost in the stairways if you aren’t familiar with the territory. You never have to go that way to get an optimal run time from one objective to another, though.
If there’s another change you feel is important, feel free to point it out. Otherwise, have fun~