I'm not a big fan of baloo because I think it gives the defending team too many advantages (i.e. soldier can stand on top of the point, or use the barrier next to spawn to have immediate height advantage).

I liked the original ultiduo map in many ways because you had to drop below to capture the point, or you could fight up top which gave the attacking team a better chance at taking the point back.

See if you could incorporate something like this into your design. You don't have to favor the attacking team, you just need to make it an even fight.

The number one suggestion I could provide is to make a map that isn't depressing to look at with a good color scheme. Although some may not like the way baloo is played, you have to admit that it is a very aesthetically pleasing map.

Not make the medic a walking healbeam like on baloo, there has to be opportunity for the medic to take spam/focus/get ubersaw slices to really make an excellent map. Baloo doesn't offer this as the soldier fight is on the nipple or around it.

Don't put random objects everywhere as well, and try to reduce any clipping (no stairs please). Simplicity is key I think.

I want to see an area near the point where medics can't approach, so if soldiers want to cap they need to kill the other soldier first or duke it out 1v1.

I think baloo is a really, really cool map, but I have to say I tend to agree with slin on this one. While baloo has its own unique features and style, there is so much more you can do on koth_ultiduo_r_b7.

In koth_ultiduo_r_b7(which i think is miles ahead of other ultiduo maps in terms of depth), after you cap the point it is crucial to climb to the upper level as soon as possible because as soon as the other team spawns they will have the high-ground and it will be difficult to engage them BUT the map maker added a few things that can help the team playing on the bottom such as the ability to shoot through the metal grates and the ability to splash the spawn door frames. I think this aspect of that map is important and should be implemented in more ultiduo maps. ultiduo_baloo allows you to cap the point AND be in a good position at the same time which takes away from the depth of the metagame. So in short, position the point where capping it would put you in a disadvantageous position.

One aspect of baloo that I thing is neat is that it is slightly more forgiving to those losing a dm fight. If a fight appears to be disadvantageous you can jump away to the bottle, regain a little bit of health and reengage.

Ultiduo is one of my favorite game modes, I play it often and have some neat ideas floating around. If you're serious about making this map I'd love to help design and/or test it.

make something that is 2 level like the original ultiduo but the levels would be a bit closer together, and you remove the bridge in the middle, and replace it with a baloo like spire that has the top reaching from bottom level and at highest point at the top level.

It sort of encompasses both ideas without all the stupid flat, open ground that baloo has, and makes standing on the point less of a height advantage.

Also, covering the doors in some way like in baloo so you can't just shoot the doors when someone tries to leave spawn.

Also not so god huge like in baloo, the verticle height was great in ultiduo, just make it square so you can cover the spawns and make it look pretty and you've got a decent map.

I found it was easier to play agressive as medic on baloo since you can wrap around the nipple to catch people off guard. On ultiduo it's so open you're pretty much always going to see a medic coming at you, but on baloo the nipple blocks your vision so you can't always tell where the med is.

spires

But really, I like how baloo relied so much on the point, and how you could cap much more aggressively. Combine this with a less open map and maybe a balcony overlooking the point and you have what I'd like to see in an ultiduo map.

If someone made koth_ultiduo_r_b7 prettier it would be played more than baloo

The point is that soldier fighting on the nipple is too important, take the heal beam off your soldier and you lose as long as the other soldier is competent. I felt like i could get more aggressive as medic on regular ultiduo just because the soldiers were usually fighting on even ground.

play ultiduo on spire_2ez with the medic using quick fix

So I've seen/played alphas of the map, I think you guys are going to enjoy it. Specifically, capping does give a slight disadvantage, spawns are (so far) balanced in that they provide a lack of camping and advantage to use when necessary. In addition, the high ground is varied and accessible. I look forward to when we (Miro) release it!