Currently in the osu! ranking criteria;
(the other modes have their own version of this, with similar wording)
There has been some discussion in the current spread rewrite thread about this.
The reason this rule exists to begin with is to not force people to make sections they would normally have as breaks in order to meet spread requirements. I believe this rule is good, and useful, but the wording can be improved.
I have identified 2 core issues regarding the current wording of the above;
1. Intros and outros are not ed for in this, so if someone would want to skip mapping the intro for a lower difficulty, they would have to add more difficulties to a spread in some cases.
2. The wording of "combining break time with drain time" is confusing to some.
Here's my suggestion on changing the above:
The above would address both of these issues, by redefining drain time + break time as play time (the time between the first and last objects of a beatmap), and also limiting the length of the entire mapset's spread requirements to just the top difficulty, allowing for lower difficulties to have unmapped intros/outros. I also propose removing the 30s limit on breaks, as this is highly dependent on the beatmap, hence my lack of including it.
An alternative version of this proposal that I'm also suggesting is:
This would move the responsibility of the hardest difficulty of a set being the longest, to simply any difficulty of a set being of sufficient length. I personally prefer this second option more, as it allows for more mapping flexibility, but I can see the potential issues with abuse.
Currently in Okoayu's spread.md reads;
This could be changed to;
Also, this proposal only intends to redefine some surrounding "drain time". It has nothing to do with length requirements of mapset spreads themselves. I'm aware there are changes in those in the current proposal, this post is not intended to comment on them or suggest changes related to them. I included the current RC in wording just for clarity.
(the other modes have their own version of this, with similar wording)
If the drain time of each difficulty is...
...lower than 3:30, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Normal.
...between 3:30 and 4:15, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Hard.
...between 4:15 and 5:00, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than an Insane.
Break times may be combined with drain time to meet the above thresholds. For the highest difficulty, this is limited to at most 30 seconds of break time. This does not apply to difficulties with less than 30 seconds of drain time.
...lower than 3:30, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Normal.
...between 3:30 and 4:15, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Hard.
...between 4:15 and 5:00, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than an Insane.
Break times may be combined with drain time to meet the above thresholds. For the highest difficulty, this is limited to at most 30 seconds of break time. This does not apply to difficulties with less than 30 seconds of drain time.
There has been some discussion in the current spread rewrite thread about this.
The reason this rule exists to begin with is to not force people to make sections they would normally have as breaks in order to meet spread requirements. I believe this rule is good, and useful, but the wording can be improved.
I have identified 2 core issues regarding the current wording of the above;
1. Intros and outros are not ed for in this, so if someone would want to skip mapping the intro for a lower difficulty, they would have to add more difficulties to a spread in some cases.
2. The wording of "combining break time with drain time" is confusing to some.
Here's my suggestion on changing the above:
If the play time of the hardest difficulty of a mapset is...
...lower than 3:30, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Normal.
...between 3:30 and 4:15, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Hard.
...between 4:15 and 5:00, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than an Insane.
...lower than 3:30, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Normal.
...between 3:30 and 4:15, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Hard.
...between 4:15 and 5:00, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than an Insane.
The above would address both of these issues, by redefining drain time + break time as play time (the time between the first and last objects of a beatmap), and also limiting the length of the entire mapset's spread requirements to just the top difficulty, allowing for lower difficulties to have unmapped intros/outros. I also propose removing the 30s limit on breaks, as this is highly dependent on the beatmap, hence my lack of including it.
An alternative version of this proposal that I'm also suggesting is:
If the play time of the longest difficulty of a mapset is...
...lower than 3:30, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Normal.
...between 3:30 and 4:15, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Hard.
...between 4:15 and 5:00, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than an Insane.
...lower than 3:30, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Normal.
...between 3:30 and 4:15, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than a Hard.
...between 4:15 and 5:00, the lowest difficulty cannot be harder than an Insane.
This would move the responsibility of the hardest difficulty of a set being the longest, to simply any difficulty of a set being of sufficient length. I personally prefer this second option more, as it allows for more mapping flexibility, but I can see the potential issues with abuse.
Currently in Okoayu's spread.md reads;
Based on the highest drain time difficulty in a set, the lowest required difficulty changes.
If the beatmap consists of 2 songs combined together, the minimum spread requirements of the longer song applies.
For certain song types and game modes, up to 30 seconds of break time can be included in the hardest difficulty of a set to meet the listed thresholds.
If the beatmap consists of 2 songs combined together, the minimum spread requirements of the longer song applies.
For certain song types and game modes, up to 30 seconds of break time can be included in the hardest difficulty of a set to meet the listed thresholds.
This could be changed to;
Based on the play time of the hardest difficulty in a set, the lowest required difficulty changes.
If the beatmap consists of 2 songs combined together, the minimum spread requirements of the longer song applies.
ORIf the beatmap consists of 2 songs combined together, the minimum spread requirements of the longer song applies.
Based on the play time of the longest difficulty in a set, the lowest required difficulty changes.
If the beatmap consists of 2 songs combined together, the minimum spread requirements of the longer song applies.
If the beatmap consists of 2 songs combined together, the minimum spread requirements of the longer song applies.
Also, this proposal only intends to redefine some surrounding "drain time". It has nothing to do with length requirements of mapset spreads themselves. I'm aware there are changes in those in the current proposal, this post is not intended to comment on them or suggest changes related to them. I included the current RC in wording just for clarity.