Clearly if many people are saying the same thing, it's probably not all of them who are wrong about this: this is NOT a good map in its current state. You may think otherwise. You may think that many people are wrong, and that you are not. This can't be the case. I too make maps first with gameplay in mind, but I don't stop there. I bother with detail so it is a mark above simply a good playing arena. This map is probably good in terms of gameplay but that means nothing if people aren't interested in the map immediately or after a few plays. This map is immediately interesting, but after a few plays I'd honestly be bored of it because it's so basic in lighting, textures, and architecture.
Lighting: Lighting in Sauer is not just for visibility. There's a reason people bother with torches and things in maps even though rooms are sufficiently lit without them. They make it more interesting. That room was utterly boring and fake-looking when I went in there. Also, don't read too much into logic. Sure the place is abandoned but nobody's going to look at the torches and realise the clash of concepts. Alternative to torches you could have a hole in the ceiling with light pouring through.. That's a thought.
Landscape: It would not be boring.. Interesting, to me, is not constantly being thrown up and down by the terrain, but gradually rising and lowering with large bumps in the ground. Using longer curves makes the movement much smoother and people can actually use that for strategic movement. I am not saying make the map flat. That's a misunderstanding. I meant reduce the pointless 'spikes' in the ground because they make movement erratic and jagged. I can barely aim on rough terrain and most maps take this into consideration. Even full-on nature maps like Paradiselost and Sacrifice have mitigated bumps in the rocks so that you're not getting thrown everywhere, but there is a degree of rising and falling.
Crates: There's a reason they're always cubes. That's because CRATES ARE CUBES. How many crates do you see with random things sticking out of them? Besides, if you're basing the map's aesthetic value on how interesting the crates are, your priorities are not in order. They are only there for functional purposes, be it as barricades or something to climb onto. They are not in the map to make it more interesting to look at. As for the casks, Okay that's cool I guess but the texture on them kinda sucks. That wood texture in particular looks very unnatural without good lighting on it because it is so grey. There are plenty of other wood textures you can pick, though.
Ladders: It doesn't matter if they give you, the designer, problems or not. If this map makes it to the release, it means that dozens of players will play the map every single day for at least a year. In that time more than a few will try to run up the ladder while not paying 100% attention to movement so much as not getting shot, and they may run into the side and not move up the ladder. As a result they will get shot. And they will get angry. Noclipping is a fast, simple action that can prevent this so I don't see how you can justify not doing it.
Details don't necessarily even kill fps either. Plenty of high-detail, rich-looking maps out there push it a little (you know, on those 1990's computers) but function fine on modern, non-Costco machines. The ones on the release aren't necessarily huge on detail either, but they look interesting. Using many textures is a cheap way to make an interesting map without the huge fps drop.
AND NOW to butcher Poum. Absolutely all aspects of the content can be open to criticism. The map, the packaging, even the name (but I'm not quite arrogant enough to attack a name as original as terrain1). The packaging is a problem, and needs to be fixed. It is actually the worst I've seen because it has the same content used twice (may have been changed since I commented.. who knows). And I went further than criticizing the packaging. Usually it doesn't even factor into my rating so much as details in the map or content itself. This was a 2/5 map with or without immaculate packaging. It can't hurt to mention it though.
