Minecraft Annihilation Map Reviews - Coastal

Just a heads up, these are my personal opinions.

Alright, we have to start with Coastal right? As the first ever Annihilation map introduced, Coastal is the original map first to be played on. Created by xxSaundersxx, it features 4 different islands for the 4 different teams, separated by a small body of water. The middle island which contains diamonds [which spawn in phase 3] is a circular island shaped like a bowl, with the diamonds inside. The map consists of lots of trees and mounds containing the mines, with each Nexus base perched upon a hill with 3 towers connected by bridges.

Here is a picture of the map:

Now for my personal opinions...

Let me just state that Coastal is not my most favorite map. Yes, it was fabulous in the early days off Annihilation, but now with 6 other maps, playing Coastal 80% of the time is getting really old. One would have to switch to so many different games to find a game played on a different map. Don't get me wrong, it's a good map, but it's just too overplayed nowadays.

The map layout for each team's island is really awesome. The the Nexus perched on a hill, teams can build awesome water defenses and cut off enemy access by chopping the bridges to nothing. Also, the mines are fairly big which can allow around 3 people to comfortably mine together. I personally don't like the placement of the gold mine, because it is literally 10 blocks away from the entrance to your island. Frequent attacks on people mining gold occur through many games. Each island is connected by a bridge to a boss arena and another island. The other side is exposed to plain water, which players must swim across.

Now for the diamond mine. The diamond mine, also known as "mid" by literally every single Annihilation player is a bowl shaped island in the middle of the map. It contains fire, soulsand, and 6 diamond ore. With the bowl shaped island, and a small place to fight, mid makes a very dangerous place for players to engage in combat, as everyone goes there for the diamonds. Unlike several other maps, Coastal's diamond mine is quite small, not only in the amount of diamonds, but the size of the area containing them. This doesn't really allow for much intense action except if you strength rush everybody.

Overall, a pretty decent map. As the first map to be created, I suppose it grabbed everyone's attention from then and there on. You can have a very enjoyable game on this map, saying that you don't get wiped out beginning of phase 2.

Until next time, have a nice day and feedback is appreciated!

Minecraft Annihilation Trailers [From the Shotbow Network]

As I enjoy playing Annihilation on the Shotbow Network [us.shotbow.net] so much, I decided to put together a video highlighting the main points of the game, basically a trailer.
Here it is:

I also made a video showcasing the Annihilation map "Canyons". It showcases the amazing terrain and highlights some combat clips.

Hope you guys enjoy these videos :)

Server review: The Shotbow Network

Since I have so much time on my hands, and I enjoy playing on this server a lot, I am going to give it a review.

First, let me give an overall description of how the server is like. This Network of many different servers houses 11 different gamemodes. MineZ, the classic, Shotbow games, GunZ, Civilian Craft, Ghostcraft, Wasted, Annihilation, HCF, Death by Void, Crafty Bomber, and Smash. The entire Network is also relayed onto an XP system, which players can earn by playing different gamemodes. Players can use their XP and redeem different things on the website such as kits, perks, and pets.

This is the main website http://shotbow.net/forum/pages/Home/
With at least 5000 players on the whole network each day, the Shotbow Network is the #103 most popular server in the whole world. Combining the Europe Network with the US Network, Shotbow accumulates at least 10,000+ players at one time. Not something most servers can do.

Let's get to the gameplay now.

Shotbow has a wide variety of game types, zombie apocalypse, super smash, strategy games, and modern-based games. If players take the time with each game, they can find them to be very enjoyable. Annihilation, the most popular gamemode, houses 20+ servers with 1500 people playing them daily. An original gamemode that the staff created, it has lead to become to most popular gamemode ever since MineZ. Wasted, another original gamemode created by Shotbow, attracts loads of players also. With fast paced shooting and strategy, players can find it to be a very thrilling game.

Community and Staff
Shotbow has a very big and varied community. Lots of interaction goes on in the forums and in the game. As a very creative and supportive community, the forums is a nice place to be, with members helping out newbies and others who share out their ideas and suggestions. There is always that group of people who just bombs your post, but literally every big server has those. Overall, a very good community, fun to interact with.
Now with the staff....
Well, I can't say they are the worst, but they aren't that great either. The network currently relies on 2 main developers as the overall developers for the entire server, leaving for very slow updates. The Admins constantly ban people everyday, and that's a good thing. But there just isn't a good relationship between the staff and community. First problem, the staff have forums available for the community to give ideas for the devs. But the things is, community ideas are BARELY looked at my admins. The only things that are looked are what the ADMINS like, not the community. There are some instances where an Annihilation map was added because the head builder decided she liked it. Barely 20 people from the community commented on the post and actually liked it. Then there is another map which attracted over 1500+ views and 500+ comments with people liking it so very much, but the builders or admins didn't even look at it. Second problem, the staff seem to only input things they like. There has been 3 gamemodes added from the original 8, and they were created by admins. New updates, by admins. New perks, by admins. Barely any community suggestion is imputed. The last Annihilation update, HORRIBLE reaction by the community. Also, the developers aim to update gamemodes that are not popular and are not in need of update. The Wasted gamemode has had many glitches and bugs lately, and instead the devs aim to update smash. GunZ has been released for half a year, and it is still in alpha testing for premiums only.

I think the staff could have a better relationship with the community, and that would make the whole Network much better.

My overall ratings?
Gameplay: Fantastic, definitely 10/10

Community: Awesome people, fun to interact with 9/10

Staff: Could pay attention to the community more 7/10

Aside from the staff problem, this is a great Network to visit. With many enjoyable games, you will surely have a good time here.
Hope my review was helpful, have a nice day.