Hm. From what I understand, your time is at a premium for work on mapmaking - at least thats how it has seemed. So what I would say is, shoot for beta 3 to be as close to the Final as possible.. since it may be some time before you can work on it again(?). I dunno, maybe you have lots of time now..
I'd rather see most, if not all, of those optimizing techniques that Guppy was throwing down, implemented; so the map runs smoother. The Faust issue is also a part of the map running smoother so, I think that should be done as well. Faust cache sounds like a good solution. And no offense crash, but I'm another person who thinks B2 runs poorly on your L&G server. It was unplayable for me a lot of the time whereas it was generally smooth on the other servers.
I would very much like to see this map realized in the way you, EH, envisioned it.. and I, for one, am willing to wait. What I
dont want to see is a map that couldve defined urban fighting in RO.. left in a beta state. Gorlitz had incredible shots at being that map and now its rare to see it played. Left for dead in a beta state. (who knows, maybe FPH is working on something incredible we dont know about
) Dont rush it. Make it good. All the coding work you've put into it so far deserves the quality touch toward the end.
edit: have you tested out that 1850 value for the HE yet? cause I'm thinking that would like, cover three floors vertically and horizontally D:!