The ninth stage of the John Van Caneghem tournament.

So, let's go through it in order:)

Did you like the original map? If so, can you tell me what exactly was removed/modified, who was responsible for this, and what guided them during the editing process?

It was edited. The guard on the bridges was strengthened, artifacts of charm and diplomacy were removed, gloves were removed from the Chaos faction's territory, the castles were made fixed, well, in general, a lot of things were changed.

In general, the 9th Caning can be called a kind of experiment and, to some extent, an answer to the question of what will happen if you try to make the map as long as possible to complete. So now, before complaining about fast completions, you can remember this Tournament. In connection with the above-mentioned goal, all more or less well-known things were removed, be it skills, trees, artifacts, and so on.

The answer to the question of whether this is good or bad, I think we have received, at least I have, as the person who worked on this map, it seems to me that the best option is to give offline players complete freedom, with a caveat regarding the rules, and perhaps also the Minotaurs. No matter what they say about them, but who prevents you from taking them and completing all the battles with them. But that's a secondary matter now:)

As a result, the map turned out to be quite linear, despite the fact that I missed some of its flaws (I confess), in general, this can also be attributed to secondary things. And, in essence, the longer the completion (in days), the more linear it probably will be (this is just an assumption, I still have little experience in such things).

Therefore, it is not desirable to simplify them and make them linear. On the contrary, it is necessary to make it so that the mind works and not only.

Well, it depends on what is meant by linearity. In this case, there were few options for completing the map, which can be called linearity. In addition to the direct completion, a stealth option was described, and all those who used it completed it faster than those who played without it. Otherwise, judge the linearity for yourself.:)

What else do I want to say... Well, in general, only that, IMHO, the more and more diverse Tournaments are held, the easier and faster it will be to identify the "golden mean". Identify it not only with the help of the maps themselves, but also thanks to the comments of the players, i.e., yours, because who are the Tournaments held for in the end?:)

Well, I think I've written everything about the map in general:)