I welcome changes that add diversity, challenge and quality of life to this game. I am very fond of adding optional bosses to maps like crusade and PTD and I would also welcome additional game modes. In fact there is a lot of good in this document. Keep up the good work!!!
Now to the dirty part: I AM VERY ALARMED by the huge amount of changes specifically targeting speedruns. To me the point of speedrunning is to find a way to navigate an obstacle course in ways that were not intended. For example the suggested change to move the Nightmares End p2 orb further away from the shrine will have no tangible effect on normal players. This change will have big implications in making speedruns easier. The change to stop units from being blocked in Crusade is again a change that will not affect normal players and will affect speedruns a lot. To me there is no fun in speedrunning maps that were modified by speedrunners to make easier to speedrun. Is making speedruns faster a good use of volunteer developer time? I STRONGLY ADVOCATE AGAINST MAKING CHANGES THAT MAKE SPEEDRUNNING EASIER especially when these changes are being pushed by people who are actively competing in the leaderboards. This will set a dangerous precedent that it's OK for speedrunners to make map changes to improve their runs.
This is shown again in the changes to remove time caps from only certian maps. Crusade, Siege of Hope, Defending Hope and Titans all have timers limiting how fast the map can progress. But the people working on map improvements only chose to implement changes in maps they are not already rank 1 in: Why was titans not included???.
And then there is the nerfs. This game's community has a lot of veteran players and to keep the game challenging we can progress to harder and harder maps. There is also a nice diversity of maps: some have lots of energy, some you are energy starved; some you have to attack, some you have to defend. The suggested energy changes for Nightmares end and Nightmares shard will make them less unique and less challenging. Yes this will make it easier for new players and speedrunners, but will also take away options for veteran players looking for a challenge. There are lots of ways to win in both Nightmare maps as well as dwarven riddle. Yes they are hard but some people (me) like hard and we should also have hard maps to choose from. There are plenty of easy maps already so instead of nerfing the remaining hard maps I suggest to not play them if you don't want to and keep the fun for those seeking a challenge. Same thing for convoy: even without blocks there are several ways to win with the current number of walkers. Why make the map easier for new players? Just don't play expert if you don't want a challenge.
Just to reiterate: The proposed changes also contain a lot of good elements: adding optional bossfights, improving quality of life e.g. empire. I even welcome speedrun changes such as in guns of lyr that remove exploits as they will increase the fun of running the map. I would love to talk more about a lot of the positive changes but first I HAVE TO CALL OUT THE FACT THAT WE HAVE SPEEDRUNNERS ON THE TEAM SUGGESTING TO MAKE CHANGES TO MAPS THAT WILL MAKE SPEEDRUNNING EASIER AND WHO ARE SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDING MAPS THEY ARE ALREADY RANK 1 ON AND SPECIFICALLY NERFING MAPS THEY ARE NOT GOOD ON. I cannot view changes such as nightmares end p2 orb location to be made in good faith and implementing these changes will take credibility away from the team of hard working volunteers making this game possible. It will take away the fun and glory from speedrunning.
TLDR: I strongly advocate to not changes maps to facilitate speedruns especially not when those changes are suggested by people actively competing in the leaderboards and specifically targeting the few maps they are not winning in and specifically excluding the maps they are already rank 1 in. These changes will not benefit the average player and will benefit the exact people who are pushing for these changes.
