I just need more user generated maps.  I am sick of the few good ones out ;/

Problem is that the popularity list only changes dramatically when Blizzard resets it, which is a little under once a month.  I'm sure there must be hundreds of awesome maps that never get played because they aren't on the top page of the popularity list.  Right now, the game is riding on its (quite strong) campaign and skirmish gameplay; custom maps are effectively gimped by this lack of selection.

The game's good, definitely my go-to game right now.  That said, it doesn't make my list of "greatest games", and falls in with company like Supreme Commander that were well above average.  It'll definitely have a spot on my hard drive for years to come, but it's several strides from true greatness.

Problem isn't that it's complex, but rather convoluted.  Perhaps it's because I'm a programmer, but I intrinsically understood many of the new features in the SC2 editor, I just couldn't work them because you needed to go through five different menus and change dozens of fields to do simple things.  In WC3 I could churn out a heavily customized unit in under a minute, maybe two or three minutes if I wanted customized abilitis.  In SC2... it takes me over a minute just to copy the existing unit I'm using as a base.

Well my understanding is that it is the Holy Grail of modding when it comes to the ability to create all sorts of different types of games that have nothing to do with the original. People have created or are working on creating first person shooters, racing games, Japanese Style RPGs, even Tetris and Diablo using SC2 mods. The amount of versatility it's supposed to have is amazing. And people are still only just learning what they can do with it.

But it sounds like they may have sacrificed quite a bit of user friendliness there.  

It's even worse than that; until you get on the top-2 pages of the popularity list (which necessitates thousands of people playing your map) the only people who will join your game are those on your friend list.  Unless you have a dozen or so people on that list, you can't even play your own map. 

I'd love to throw together some tactical battle and strategic warfare maps (there are no good ones on the popularity list yet; it's all push maps, tower defenses, and the occasional melee-remix) but there would be no way for me to play them... and for all I know there are some great ones that already exist, but I have no way of finding them.

Blizzard had the opportunity of creating a comprehensive map database to support the modding community.  Instead they created a mandatory screening process that raises the bar too high for 99% of us.  I'm very disappointed, and unless Blizzard has a change of heart we may have to wait several years for a true successor to the mapper mecca that the 'craft series has been up to now.

This is what it's built up to.  Blizzard is putting a lot of money and effort into turning a traditionally open and free-form modding community into an enclosed and controlled space.  The next step is to toll all the entrances to their newly gated community.

I can only hope this system fails, because right now it's only serving to destroy the very thing that made the 'craft series great.  If it succeeds... I won't be sticking around.  For me, modding and mapping is about people creating new and interesting works just because they are passionate about it, and participating in that open process is what draws me in.

yeah - I'm actually surprised that I'm not as into it as I thought I would be.  I played the crap out of sc1 competitively, but for some reason I haven't quite bit on sc2.  Weird. 

I challenge Frogboy to a 1v1!

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