a question about maps and balance

Hey all, I'll just get straight to the point.

1. A long time ago, I helped a friend BETA test a map which I thought and still think it has great potential if tweaked for balance and added more features. However, now he's gone and his b.net account no longer exists (not sure about alts or anything). I wonder if it's proper "etiquette" to take the map and edit it for myself since he no longer cares for it (as far as I can tel). Obviously, I will be crediting him for the original map. Or, should I just leave it to die as the original creator is long gone?

2. On b.net now I've seen MANY maps that use the "buy your own spells" feature in which you can customize your hero because of this. I was thinking if there was anyway this was actually properly balanced, eg. making all the skills very weak so it has an effect just not too major.

Thanks for any help!

There are many such maps around. And some don't even credit its original authors...including DotA. I think your approach would be fine.

There is better way - just make the spells balanced and limit the count a hero can buy. Themust not be any significantly weaker or stronger spells!

Alright then, thanks so much for the response. +rep

As long as you give proper credit, it's perfectly fine. i've abandoned countless maps, and when someone else picks it up and leaves proper credits, I feel happy. When they claim that the map is entirely their own work, I want to beat the crap out of them.

About buying spells, several of those types of maps have a slot for each type of spell (2 actives, 1 passive, 1 ulti), which does also work well. Other wise how about having each spell cost a different amount? One player could have 5 weak spells and another could have 1 ulti and nothing else - with the limit being about 7 (for command card slots)

Well I was thinking about a max of 4, and buyable is 3 and one ultimate (rather they buy or learn at a certain level). The buyable ones probably would still have an effect but much lesser (eg. 10% evasion). I'm guessing to change costs if I got a method like that too. Thanks!

Are you going to have levels for spells?

Another way to do it is like in Dark Deeds: you can buy only 1 spell, the rest are always on your hero.

If you need reference and ideas, play:
Hands of Sorrow Knight
Custom Hero Arena
-hundreds of crappy b.net maps

Anyway, hurry up and make it so that I can play it =D

I wouldn't say it's perfectly allright. As far as standards of this site go (which we can't really impose on you unless you try to submit the map to our database) you are required to have written permission from the original author to continue his map. That may seem over the top but I know I wouldn't like it if someone took over one of my old abandoned maps, even if he gave proper credit and everything.

Chances are it won't even get approved here either.

Oh. Alright then, I guess I won't continue on it. Thanks for the info.