Anyone else disappointed by the recent maps on wizards.com?

[Ukyo the undead]

Depends on what you like. Personally, I like the smaller one since I don't care for ungodly long dungeon crawls. The larger have their uses, but the smaller are more useful to me personally. Another problem, I spent a little time looking at the larger one and I have a hard time coming up with an even semi-logical reason for such architecture to exist.

I just hate the "artsy" maps that are useless as a gaming aid. There are more than a few of those in there.

When I saw the first map, the first thing I thought: small map = kobold lair, or a small bandit hideout.
But when I saw the bigger one: too big, makes no sense, I would never use it.
Sometimes WotC do things right.

 

[clockworkjoe]

I'm pointing this out in the hopes that someone at WOTC notices this and takes action. The better the free stuff at wizards.com is, the more I think about D&D and the more I buy at my FLGS. But if it's useless like this map, then I won't think about D&D as much and won't buy as much.

I don't mind small maps, but do you really need a small map that's basically linear in nature? Small maps can be extremely useful like last month's collection http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mw/20040603a which laid out several mansions. Note that while the map is small, they are far from linear in nature. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/Coastal_1_72ppi_gf93.jpg is also a useful small map since it offers several branching paths, a variety of rooms and an interesting room. Compare that with the latest map, which has none of those features.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

That first map is completely f***ing pointless. If you really have a lair or whatever *that* straight forward, you don't need a map. Really.

The second one looks nice. I'd probably break it up into smaller chunks again and use those. Never been impressed by "superdungeons." Undermountain's was possibly the second lamest, if it hadn't been cobbled together out of maps from the B series of modules.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Just looked at the archives. Dude, they had some pretty great maps this year. Sure, the last two were stinkers but I'm seeing some really nice ones from the previous months, esp. the manor, the coastal dungeon, and "Wedge Mountain."

I wouldn't see this as a real trend or anything.

 

[buzz]

...and considering that the only person who's going to see most of these maps is the DM, I don't see how it really matters. If you're getting it free off the Web, you shouldn't compain. I also find it hard to lambast WotC considering they provide more quality free content on their site than any other game company currently in existence.

 

[Gregor]

I wont complain about something that is free and quite frankly I generally enjoy the maps that are posted there.

However, I would take Phineas Crow's free maps in the Enworld Art section over the Wizard's maps any day of the week.

cheers,

 

[Orius]

Hey you get what you pay for, and in this case sometimes a little more.

Yeah, some of the Map-of-the-week maps are crap. Others are redunant for me, if I already have maps they scanned from a product I have. But there are some good maps there as well.

Besides, I'll also say that Wizards offers a lot of pretty solid free material, some of which I probably won't ever use. There's a lot of variety, and there's certainly anyone can find something they can use.

 

[LostSoul]

What could a DM use it for?

A complex that makes some sense outside of the D&D world?

Not everyone has the same tastes as you. To assume that things that aren't to your taste are worthless isn't the best way to go about things.

 

[scourger]

Just looked at the archives. Dude, they had some pretty great maps this year. Sure, the last two were stinkers but I'm seeing some really nice ones from the previous months, esp. the manor, the coastal dungeon, and "Wedge Mountain."

I wouldn't see this as a real trend or anything.

Agreed. I think this is an awesome resource. I combed the entire archive recently for a particular type of map and found it in Wedge Mopuntain.