I’ve been wanting new arcade maps for quite a while so I’m happy with these recent updates. The more doom / conquest / 18v18 maps they add the more I’ll play them. The devs have the opportunity to try new stuff and not worry about game balance and whatnot when designing these kinds of maps. They can really just do whatever inspires them I think and players will make use of it regardless.

A good example of this is that whole water temple tower that trickles down into Loki’s lair under the 18v18 chessboard. Strange’s mansion has several unique spots to camp too. An interesting thing spawned from this where players that know esoteric map sections would encounter each other and they sort of developed this improvised honorable dueling culture. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s existed since launch. You don’t see it too often unless it’s like 2 dive players crossing paths in QP and sometimes even ranked matches. But these duels have happened in places like this while chaotic battles rage on around the normal parts of the map and the average playerbase has no clue it exists until they see it randomly in the wild.

There’s always been this whole other side of the community that a lot of people don’t seem to know or even care about. People assume it’s just all casual passive players that hang out and emote, and yes, these players definitely do still exist in these modes even though Times Square was added. They’ll be roleplaying or whatever while casual players fight around them.

But while there’s plenty of pacifists like this, I’ve also noticed that every now and again you’ll see some of the actual best PvPers in this entire game in these modes, especially while chain queuing. Sometimes they’re high rank players that are experimenting with weird strats while other times there’s these genuine savant oddballs that just main arcade all day and play purely for the thrill of finding the best fights. If you play enough you’ll eventually cross paths with them. I’ve learned SO many tricks from these players that can be applied to actual normal matches. It’s completely changed how I view this game.

I’ve heard some of them say there is a hidden elo for each arcade mode but I don’t know how true that is. What I do know is I’ve met some of the most memorable and active players here. People I had just randomly added after an interesting duel way back yet many of them are still playing since launch. They always know what’s going on in the meta and actually test breakpoints and mythbust patch notes for whatever questions I may have. They do this all while surrounded by roleplayers and random people fighting and just seem totally at home in the chaos. Great vibes.

I ❤️ the arcade modes