Hai,
I'm going to talk about this RC...
The current rule allows mappers to make a mapset featuring different keycounts as long as the lesser keycount has the easiest diff whereas the highest keycount the highest diff. Which seems to make sense, but actually does not when you get to know the mode. 4K and 7K (I'll pick these as examples because they are the most played keycounts) are extremely different, and the current rule implies that 4K is easier to play than 7K, which might be true for a beginner, but later on, in Insane diffs, 4K usually turns out to be oriented towards density and reaction speed whereas 7K is mostly about reading difficult patterns, sometimes two or three at once.
Because these keycounts don't feature the same kind of gameplay at the end, you can't compare them and say that a lesser keycount is easier to play than higher keycounts.
Now that this has been said, having a mapset with 4K EZ, 5K NM, 6K HD and so on doesn't make sense, because there is no "transition" from a keycount to another. What I mean is that playing 5K won't teach you how to play 6K, and instead of having an increasing difficulty with each diff in the mapset, you have several individual difficulties unrelated to each other, despite being named EZ to MX or whatever. The first mapset which comes to mind is Wintersun for example (not trying to criticize the mapper. I love the 7K diff.) which is a good example of what I'm trying to point out (also http://osu.ppy.sh/s/114750). It also works the other way around : 7K only beginner/casual players have troubles finding diffs for their level.
Now what I suggest is, if you want to have 2 or more keycounts in a mapset, you'd have to make 2 diffs for each of them, preferably of similar level to keep a feeling of equality between different keycounts (5K NM + 5K MX with 8K NM + 8K MX for example). This is the same as treating different keycounts as different modes in the RC (2 diffs required for each mode in a mapset).
I.e. : https://osu.ppy.sh/s/119741
In short :
Treat each K as a game mode regarding the number of difficulties per mapset. Guest Difficulties are no exception to this rule.
I've also made a poll thread in the o!m subforum. Feel free to vote and argue there as well.
I'm going to talk about this RC...
...which is complete BS.Ranking Criteria wrote:
Diff Spread
- Each beatmap must have at least 2 difficulties and one of them must be Easy/Normal.
- The key amount of the hardest difficulty in your beatmap set must not be lower than the key amount of the easier difficulties. Single key amount beatmap set is not suitable for this rule.
For example:
(Let 4K be less key amount and 7K be high key amount)
4K Easy + 7K Insane: Accept
7K Easy + 4K Insane: Deny
4K Easy + 4K Hard + 7K Insane: Accept
7K Easy + 7K Hard + 4K Insane: Deny
4K Easy + 4K Insane + 7K Easy + 7K Insane: Accept
The current rule allows mappers to make a mapset featuring different keycounts as long as the lesser keycount has the easiest diff whereas the highest keycount the highest diff. Which seems to make sense, but actually does not when you get to know the mode. 4K and 7K (I'll pick these as examples because they are the most played keycounts) are extremely different, and the current rule implies that 4K is easier to play than 7K, which might be true for a beginner, but later on, in Insane diffs, 4K usually turns out to be oriented towards density and reaction speed whereas 7K is mostly about reading difficult patterns, sometimes two or three at once.
Because these keycounts don't feature the same kind of gameplay at the end, you can't compare them and say that a lesser keycount is easier to play than higher keycounts.
Now that this has been said, having a mapset with 4K EZ, 5K NM, 6K HD and so on doesn't make sense, because there is no "transition" from a keycount to another. What I mean is that playing 5K won't teach you how to play 6K, and instead of having an increasing difficulty with each diff in the mapset, you have several individual difficulties unrelated to each other, despite being named EZ to MX or whatever. The first mapset which comes to mind is Wintersun for example (not trying to criticize the mapper. I love the 7K diff.) which is a good example of what I'm trying to point out (also http://osu.ppy.sh/s/114750). It also works the other way around : 7K only beginner/casual players have troubles finding diffs for their level.
Now what I suggest is, if you want to have 2 or more keycounts in a mapset, you'd have to make 2 diffs for each of them, preferably of similar level to keep a feeling of equality between different keycounts (5K NM + 5K MX with 8K NM + 8K MX for example). This is the same as treating different keycounts as different modes in the RC (2 diffs required for each mode in a mapset).
I.e. : https://osu.ppy.sh/s/119741
tl;dr
_Gezo_ wrote:
Nothing to say more as I have also brought that idea. As a 4K player I feel extremely left out whenever I see such mapsets as they make no sense whatsoever - Less keys does not mean less difficulty at all, and that's been said, FCing XK doesn't make you decent at (X+1)K.
Maps of n keys should be considered as a mode. Not a difficulty of osu!mania. 7K is a mode, 9K is a mode, 3K is a mode, 88K is a mode, but allowing such difficulties alone is like allowing an alone osu!/Taiko/CtB diff in a mapset.
In short :
Treat each K as a game mode regarding the number of difficulties per mapset. Guest Difficulties are no exception to this rule.
I've also made a poll thread in the o!m subforum. Feel free to vote and argue there as well.