MegaRandom should not be in every 1v1 map rotation

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
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MegaRandom should not be in every 1v1 map rotation.

The popularity is too low to justify such a guaranteed spot, and it hurt map diversity.

MegaRandom wasn’t always in the map rotation before spring 2023, and the devs changed that without explanation. But the game numbers are lower than those for Arabia and Arena:

According to AoEPulse.com there were 194218 Arabia matches and 61870 Arena 1v1 matches in patch 94056 so far, but only 35387 MegaRandom matches. AoE Pulse

I am not saying MegaRandom is abad map, but that its guaranteed spot hurts map pool diversity. The devs only choose 4 maps, and with 3 spots spend for permananet maps, only 1 unique map can be choosen by them. The 3 spots choosen by the player voting usually go to maps the players already know, so the choices will be rather conservative. This means the most interessting map is often the 4th chosen by the devs, and it would be much more interessting if the devs would chose 2 unique maps every time.

MegaRandom wasn’t always in the rotation before the spring, and nothing was wrong with that.

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Agreed. I like MegaRandom when it is in every 2-3 rotations but it’s a bit tiring to see it in every single pool.

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It gets voted in a lot. So people seem to like it. It is not like the devs always seem to pick this map and no one wants it.

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The last time it was in the voting was in April (roughly). Since then the devs have always placed it directly as dev pick.

If the devs put it in the voting every 2nd or 3rd rotation, and people vote it in, it would be different. This is the case for maps like African clearing, Hideout or Four Lakes. They get voted in a lot but aren’t picked by the devs all the time.

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I agree with you. In fact, i believe that meme map shouldn’t be in any map rotation, be it 1v1 or TG.

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The devs? You mean TheViper.

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TheViper only made 1 map rotation as far as I know, not all.

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Megarandom is by far the third most played map. I think it being a dev pick makes sense

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Viper only did one pool, the pool after Viper was made by Hera. He was told there are some maps that are popular thus have to be in all the time, MR is one of them.

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This site list 18 maps, so likely the just maps of the last 4 map pools.

MegaRandom gets a high percentage because it is always in the pool, so you can not just easily compare it to maps who were just once in the map pool in the last two months.

MegaRanom has a 8.85% play rate here. For example Kawasan has a 2.07 play rate but was only once in the pool in the last 4 rotations. If you multiply this by 4 it is 8.28%, very close to MegaRandoms 8.85%. Steppe would have even a higher play rate than MegaRandom. So MegaRandom is in the same ballpark like these other map, and has not significantly more popular like Arena.

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MR fixed in the pool means I permanently waste one more ban.

This map just doesn’t make sense. It’s not as random as it should be (which HyperRandom does well), but rather some combination of settings based on 43 template maps. If you play it enough times you find it really repetitive.

Plus it doesn’t force random civs. So everyone would pick Mongols because you scout way faster and have a good chance to eat a ton of hunt.

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I doubt it considers previous patches into currently avaible maps since that would lead to fairly inaccurate stats

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The last patch was on September 6th, so we are in the 4th map rotation since the last patch.

There are 7 maps in a map rotation, so on average a map gets played 14.29% of the time. Arabia is above it with 50.88%, Arena is above it with 16.39%. MegaRandom is below it with 8.85%.

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New data: The DLC patch went live shortly before the current map rotation, so the map stats from Maps - 1v1 Random Map | ALL - aoestats correspont almost exactly to this map rotation.

Maps by games played:

  • Arabia: 72714
  • Arena: 24069
  • African Clearing: 14963
  • MegaRandom: 11125
  • Golden Pit: 11098
  • Yucatan: 8484
  • Valley: 8426

How does this justify to give MegaRandom yet again a safe spot in the next map rotation? African Clearing is more popular. Golden Pit has the same popularity. Why do you enforce MegaRandom? What is your justification? It is time to stop this bullshit.

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