@SpaceSanctum
A large chunk of the hightower player base stopped playing on hightower because of all the secrets. So of course the people that remain would be upset. Because everyone else who wanted it left. So this is my attempt at bringing everyone back in a way that everyone can enjoy hightower again. It's my fault I drove tons of people off so it's my responsibility to apologize and bring the map back to a state that everyone can enjoy it the way it is suppose to be enjoyed, as a TDM server.

@SpaceSanctum
If you want to be angry at someone then be angry at me, because this was my idea to go back to the way the map was meant to be played. I had recommendations for balance changes from other players, but you can blame me for removing the cliffs and the secrets.
While it does make me sad to have to say goodbye to all the secrets I have created please understand that I did this because the map was bloated, both in the metaphorical sense and the literal sense.
The map was so full I was constantly hitting new walls of engine limits that I had to be creative to work around while also trying to make it run well for everyone who doesn't have a modern pc. As a result the map was massive and way more complicated than it should've been.

The file size for R15, compressed, is 74MB. Meanwhile the filesize for C1, compressed, is only 36MB.

I am already compiling C2 based on the feedback of major complaints.

@SpaceSanctum
I've searched through all the means of ways of reporting bugs to us there are and all the bugs about the arena that were reported were already fixed, the most recent bug that we learned of was only because AI happened to be on the server when someone complained about it. This is the first time we've ever heard of said bug and it was never reported. Who ever ya'll reported the bugs to, that persisted, never said anything. We don't see everything that happens on the servers so just talking about it in the server chat doesn't do anything unless some staff happens to see it and they actually remember to tell us in the staff chat.

If you want to properly report bugs you need to use the correct tools. The tools being the Steam Group Discussions or the Discord. Simply just telling some random person on the server is not a guaranteed way to report a bug.
We do listen you just have to use the right means of communication for us to hear.

@SpaceSanctum
This map change was for all the people that played/wanted to play our custom hightower the way it was meant to be played. As a Team Death Match map. Over the years I've been here doing this I've had tons of people complain, and call me horrible names, about the secrets and how it ruins pvp for the map. Cause people just go friendly and don't actually fight. Or they're so spread out across the map that the people that want to fight have no one to fight so they end up leaving. Cutting off the cliffs and the secrets brings everything back to the core aspect of the map. The PVP.
If you are upset about all the secrets being removed then you probably never wanted to play for the pvp and you never would've played on the map back when there were no secrets, because the map was always meant to be about PVP.

@gentle puppet

many people reported the duel arena bugs, it's been a problem for months, was fixed for a day and then broke the immediate day after. This was all reported to you guys multiple times

@gentle puppet

All of the mods have ignored the main point, who wanted it, and prove to me the people you say wanted it actually wanted it

@SpaceSanctum
1. The server and map was suppose to be a Team Death Match PVP server. It was my fault for adding so much stuff that distracted from the core purpose of the servers.

2. Hearing the fall damage is a plugin bug and isn't map related. The ladders were changed not broken, it's is directly mentioned in the change log. Players getting stuck when the fall off the map is fixable. We did not experience this bug in testing because we only have a small group that tested the map before it is released and it was not reported. It was never reported on the steam group or in the discord. If a bug is never reported how are we suppose to know it exists unless we experience them ourselves.

3. The arena's logic is managed via a plugin that is developed by Mr.Squid, a moderator. I as the map dev didn't have anything to do with the code for it.

4. AI didn't know the plugin had bugs because both no one reported it, and he didn't make it. See #3

4 On the topic of admin responses, A.I. didn't even know about the duel arena being broken, so this begs the question, who did? The duel arena has been broken for months and not even A.I. knows about it? What kind of server is run this way, admins have no contact with the community, force feed them broken changes, and don't even take the time to listen to them when they have a criticism instead of maybe holding a vote to see if the community actually wanted this.

3 An important thing about this map change is that the broken parts of the previous map are still present, the big one being the duel arena. Instead of fixing the duel arena with developer time they implemented a change that no one wanted. I should point out that when I asked who wanted this (several times) I was given a canned response, I was told that the "top players" wanted this, no "top players" I know actually wanted this so the validity of that statement is pointless as I could not be given a source for the claim to “avoid a witch hunt” and "players yelling at them."

2 This update broke more than it fixed, some bugs I noticed were: being able to hear yourself take fall damage, ladders were changed or broken?, and there are a few places on the map where the player can get stuck, these places are all notably in the new cliff section where the "scared" effect is applied, which allows anyone on the map to hear one person scream infinitely while waiting to be killed by a player or to killbind.