I Miss Old Io
Io was always one of my favourite defense maps. Most people tended to flock to Hydron or Selene for their experience gains, but Io was always the cooler map. I say ‘was’, since Io is now a completely different location. One that isn’t nearly as cool or anything. Thanks to the large Jupiter update, one of my favourite maps is no more.
“But Medic, the Jupiter update was ages ago!”
You’re completely right. In fact, most Corpus tile sets aside from Europa and the ground icy missions have been upgraded. But it’s taken a while to sink in just how bad Corpus defense now is. The Jupiter update only featured one defense map, io, which not that many people cared about. And even if they did, they could just, well, ignore it.
On the other hand, the Corpus ship update changed way more defense missions, which kinda brought Corpus Defense overall back to my attention.
Anyway, back to old Io
Io was actually a rather small map. It seemed large at a glance, but that was mostly because of the lift you took to get up to the main level. And the giant gas clouds all around you. But the actual combat area is actually pretty small. Three spawn rooms all leading up towards a platform with a defense target on it. The flow of enemies isn’t the fastest, but because the map was so small, it never took too long for enemies to get to the defense target.
Honestly, the map wasn’t that impressive. It was a small map with several small platforms. Small enough for nuking abilities to work well, with plenty of enemies filing in from all directions. Enemies almost always filed straight towards the defense, and the only waiting around was for enemies trapped by crowd control. A tiny map that’s easy to nuke and doesn’t take forever.
New Io is completely different.
With the big Jovian update that introduced the Ropalolyst and the new tile sets, Io got a complete makeover. This tiny map was now absolutely massive. There are FOUR massive levels and enemies spawn from miles away. Enemies also take forever to reach the center of the map. Okay, sure, some of them can slingshot their way down using the cables around the map. But everything else has to walk around like an idiot.
Because of this, defense missions take FUCKING FOREVER. You’re constantly waiting for enemies to spawn in because the spawn areas are so far away. Worse, because the terrain consists of multiple levels, enemies take even longer to arrive.
Interception has the same issue.
Old Io interception was absolutely amazing. Because the whole map was small, the interception terminals were also close together, but without the pesky walls in Hydron. This led to a super chaotic interception that was always super fun. But just like defense on the Jupiter tile set, Interception has the same problem that enemies take too long to arrive. And once you complete a round, enemies spawn miles away and you have to search them all out.
ALL new Corpus missions are like this!
The problem isn’t just new Io. Although Io is the most obviously affected mission, literally tripling in size, the problem is everywhere. Every single new Corpus map is absolutely huge. And, because of this, enemies end up spawning really far away, then struggle to cross the map’s geometry to get to you. Enemies, Corpus or otherwise, simply can’t get to you quickly enough. Not even flying enemies like ospreys and Amalgams can easily traverse the terrain!
So you end up in this weird situation where you are looking for enemies to kill. And, to compensate, most enemies tend to deal more damage and be more sniper-orientated.
Yet, somehow, despite all these tiles being massive and more designed for Warframe mobility, I still find myself getting caught on every single tiny nook and cranny.