Played it last night. Was a very fun map. A nice tweak.
I initially thought the extra creeps from the middle portals would become an overwhelming advantage for whoever controlled them. This is not the case. Since the creeps run right into the towers (instead of joining the original creeps), they get held off fairly well. Unless you make creep upgrades, they aren't breaking through.
I had initially thought that if they break through, they would stall the opponent's creeps. Their path takes them directly infront of the opponent portal, which would prevent the creeps from going to their intended path as they'd be sidetracked by yours. This is not the case. Since they can't break through the towers unaided, they don't cause too much trouble. THis leaves the original creeps alone, and the original paths alone. You can play it like a normal Cataract, or you have a secondary path with this new portal.
Did you remove the fortresses from the center of the map? It was VERY easy for someone to stand in the middle lane and catch the opponents creeps as come. This is right where the creeps are together before they split left and right. For someone who can AoE farm creeps (TB's Ice Rain, for instance) it was very easy to park myself far enough away from the defending towers and just farm the double wave. Maybe put back in those fortresses? Or maybe add an opposing tower to prevent early game farming like that. It created an advantage very early in the game.
I had initially thought it would be easier to push opponent's towers. This is true! However, it is true for both sides, thus, you don't have a lot of time to push towers because the opponent could be doing the same. It actually made it more of a map-management game since you have to balance offense and defense, and not just upgrade towers and let them hold opponents back at first.
Other than that, I really liked it. It allows a secondary path to the opponent's citadel. It allows those of us who like to try to cap opposing portals some assistance.
Very nice tweak!
