New ladder maps for first season of 2021?

On January 25 2021 02:32 Elentos wrote:
They haven't said anything but I find it likely they will not change the map pool before the IEM World Championship so the players have experience on the maps.

On January 25 2021 07:37 samsim wrote:


Funnily enough, that page had a revision that reported that the season was ending in March as Blizzard revised their season end date, and then Blizzard revised the date again to the original one. Which only adds to confusion.

On January 25 2021 18:05 Legan wrote:
Also thing that could be highlighted is that TLMC has not been announced yet, but I guess everything is just scheduled to happen after IEM finals and/or Blizzconilne.

On January 26 2021 01:32 deacon.frost wrote:

Mapmakers need some time to do their maps and if the plan is to start new maps after the IEM which is happening in a month, I believe the time is now. But I've never payed attention to the scheduling of the TLMC so maybe later is fine.

On January 26 2021 02:14 Legan wrote:
In last last two years TLMC was announced on 9th and 10th of January and submission phase lasted 25 days. The judging takes about one week. After that one week for tournament and another for iteration before voting opens. Voting usually last only 1 week more. I expect that they at least don't want to try getting people to judge maps during Katowice. I'm not sure how long the off season is meant to last, but that is of course the best time for running this.

On January 26 2021 02:14 Legan wrote:
In last last two years TLMC was announced on 9th and 10th of January and submission phase lasted 25 days. The judging takes about one week. After that one week for tournament and another for iteration before voting opens. Voting usually last only 1 week more. I expect that they at least don't want to try getting people to judge maps during Katowice. I'm not sure how long the off season is meant to last, but that is of course the best time for running this.

On January 26 2021 08:27 InfCereal wrote:
New season is live on EU. Same maps.

On January 26 2021 12:32 Chris_Havoc wrote:
I think an ESL/TLMC collaboration for future ladder map pools is actually a pretty snazzy idea all things considered.

On January 26 2021 08:47 jimminy_kriket wrote:
You've gotta be kidding me.

On January 27 2021 07:25 Cyro wrote:


What is even the point of a new season if everything is the same? I always played them for the new maps.

On March 02 2021 20:53 iMECH_KolosS wrote:
Reviving this thread to go on a tangent. Assuming we don't get ''new'' maps at new season start in April, what recent map (< 3 years) would you like to see comeback in the new rotation ?

On March 02 2021 21:18 AbouSV wrote:
Lost temple and BGH like at Blizzconline?

*AHEM*

On March 03 2021 03:32 MockHamill wrote:
Do we even know that there is anyone left at Blizzard left that knows how to change the map pool?

On March 03 2021 03:32 MockHamill wrote:
Do we even know that there is anyone left at Blizzard left that knows how to change the map pool?

On March 04 2021 00:44 Nakajin wrote:
We have 5 years of LOTV maps right now, surely if they don't make new maps they could at least bring back some old one on rotation? It can't be more than a couple of hours work to do so

On March 04 2021 08:23 iMECH_KolosS wrote:
Indeed. As we all mentioned above, they could take let's say....the top 20 LOTV maps or so and every season they pick 7 out of them at this point.

On March 04 2021 08:27 ZigguratOfUr wrote:


I wouldn't be surprised if they did that, because it's low effort on Blizzard's part--they don't have to QA or performance test the maps. It would be awfully dull though imo. There are very few maps that I feel I haven't seen enough of, and very soon we'd end up in a 'Fighting Spirit' scenario where maps just stay on ladder forever.

On March 05 2021 00:28 Beelzebub1 wrote:
Bring back some olds but golds like King Sejong Station, Abyssal Reef and Frost LE!

Oh hell, bring back Overgrowth too, we all know that map was dope.

On March 05 2021 02:03 deacon.frost wrote:

Do you remember what happened when they introduced the good ol' maps in Hots? I do, never again. Especially don't reintroduce maps from a different era. Especially when Blizzard is in the no-touch mode. Many maps were balanced for that expansion and can be broken in another. (as HotS showin with WoL maps)

On March 05 2021 05:35 iMECH_KolosS wrote:


I'd be down for King Sejong Station, Frost LE and Abyssal Reef for sure, but definitely NOT overgrowth. So tired of that map.

Ice and Chrome would still be nice, so would be eternal empire, nightshade and ever dream.

Well, at least in my book as a 100% mech player :-)

On March 05 2021 08:02 WombaT wrote:

Cloud Kingdom baby.

I mean no idea how it’d work in LoTV but damn I loved that map

On March 05 2021 09:20 Teoita wrote:


Considering how many CK clones we've had over the years, I'm sure it would work fine. There are no glaring imbalances on that map, other than maybe the main being a bit too easily accessible by reapers and blink stalkers.

On March 05 2021 05:35 iMECH_KolosS wrote:


I'd be down for King Sejong Station, Frost LE and Abyssal Reef for sure, but definitely NOT overgrowth. So tired of that map.

Ice and Chrome would still be nice, so would be eternal empire, nightshade and ever dream.

Well, at least in my book as a 100% mech player :-)

On March 05 2021 09:20 Teoita wrote:


Considering how many CK clones we've had over the years, I'm sure it would work fine. There are no glaring imbalances on that map, other than maybe the main being a bit too easily accessible by reapers and blink stalkers.

On March 05 2021 23:22 iMECH_KolosS wrote:


Agreed. But still, I have great memories of Cloud Kingdom. Awesome map !

On March 05 2021 23:22 iMECH_KolosS wrote:


Agreed. But still, I have great memories of Cloud Kingdom. Awesome map !

On March 22 2021 05:50 Dingodile wrote:
A slightly changed Daybreak could be the best map by far (definitely for WoL and HotS). Always great games until the rock in the middle is destroyed. From there too many boring fights and stalements at any circumstances.

A wall instead of the destructible rock is the solution.

On March 22 2021 11:29 Beelzebub1 wrote:
I wonder how maps like King Sejong and Abyssal Reefs would play out, both are still pretty straightforward maps.

On March 23 2021 01:31 ThunderJunk wrote:


The only problem with King Sejong is swarmhost nydus is horrible to play against in ZvP.

On March 23 2021 05:11 iMECH_KolosS wrote:


I actually am for this. I really enjoy standard 2 player maps, but I enjoy diversity as well. Now to think of it, I enjoy a map pool that has let's say

5x 2 Player Maps with relatively standard Design (ex. Death Aura, Lightshade, Pillars of Gold, etc.)
2x 4 Player Maps, which can alter the game plan based on scouting timings etc.
1x 2 Player Map with a curve ball design that could force map-specific strategies like a map with close air spawn
for instances.

That way, poeple can veto the 4 player maps and the curve ball one if they want, but tournament with BO7 could generate some interesting games on the 4 players maps and the curve ball one.

Just a thought anyway.

On March 23 2021 05:04 Sworn wrote:
Adding in GSL Nautilus could be a good change to the map pool. Reintroduces 4 player maps to ladder which could spice up the meta a lot with how common split map scenarios are becoming in SC2. Gives players an option to take more of the map which doesn't really exist on any current maps though the issue with early game scouting on 4 player maps does come back.

On March 23 2021 05:38 ZigguratOfUr wrote:


They took Darkness Sanctuary and put it on ladder a few years back and that was terrible. Obviously we never get to see much of Cobalt/Obsidian/Nautilus/whatever other 4p map GSL adds, since players veto it non-stop, so it's hard to say but I have my doubts about cross-spawn PvT balance on most of those. Plus as you mentioned there's all the RNG issues.

I would like a lot more non-standard maps on ladder (since most concepts never get a chance or when they do a second chance), but regular 4p maps are one concept that has gotten its time in the sun and played out really poorly.

On March 23 2021 06:21 Sworn wrote:


4 player maps obviously have their issues but there are ways to fix it like possibly revealing spawn location at the beginning and the acceleration field in the middle of nautilus does make ground distance similar. Years are a long time for SC2 the game has changed a lot since then and with how infrequent balance changes are now map design will be the only way we can get any kind of large meta shifts. Maybe 4 player maps aren't the answer necessarily but I'd rather see change than stagnation.

On March 23 2021 06:29 deacon.frost wrote:

4p maps without revealed locations are nearly impossible to balance and people will veto it just because they're bad because 12-worker start requires you to know where to scout in case you have to scout(e.g. random players). Same applies to the pro players who will veto them unless there are worse maps in the pool - looking at you, Submarine.

On March 23 2021 06:45 ZigguratOfUr wrote:


Well pros will also veto things just because they are different/non-standard and also if they're not on ladder, which means that GSL 4p maps face the quadruple-whammy of "probably imbalanced?", "volatile because of scouting RNG", "different", and "not on ladder".

On March 23 2021 12:55 Wardi wrote:
I’m still convinced people would have complained if we got new maps just before Katowice and blamed Blizzard for changing things just before a big event.

There is no reason to believe there wont be new maps, Blizzard does know SC2 exists considering they are funding ESL Pro Tour prizes, they probably just don’t have good communication atm because of a lot of internal shifting.

At the worst case scenario I’m sure ESL can talk to Blizzard if needed.

On March 23 2021 13:46 Cygnus wrote:
I would love to see some 4 player maps back in, fair arguments as to why we shouldn't use them but if there was a time for YOLO in regards to SC2 I vote now.

The concept of reveal may be a fair compromise, I like in BW how your optimal build could change if it was cross position vs not and it could be fun to add that factor back in.

But at this rate I'll take anything new! Hell, anyone have any sweet 3 player maps?

On March 23 2021 12:55 Wardi wrote:
I’m still convinced people would have complained if we got new maps just before Katowice and blamed Blizzard for changing things just before a big event.

There is no reason to believe there wont be new maps, Blizzard does know SC2 exists considering they are funding ESL Pro Tour prizes, they probably just don’t have good communication atm because of a lot of internal shifting.

At the worst case scenario I’m sure ESL can talk to Blizzard if needed.

On March 24 2021 19:57 iMECH_KolosS wrote:


I get your point Wardi. What I meant was more along the lines of Deacon Frost. We're 1 week until end of this ladder season and it's still radio silence to know if we'll get new maps or not starting new season. It'd be fun at least to get word from blizzard how they plan on updating map pools (including community made ones) from now on since they stoppoed fully supporting the game.

On March 24 2021 00:23 deacon.frost wrote:

I get why people were defending Blizzard during WoL, I don't get it now, honestly.

All we ask for is one stupid tweet - don't worry, there will be new maps. Or post. OR ANYTHING in this regard. Soon they will have less than a week

On March 24 2021 21:01 WombaT wrote:

Such things are totally unrealistic. The expense to have one person Tweet our ‘don’t worry we’ve got plans for new maps this upcoming season folks’ is stretching the budget of a tiny indie publishing house like Activision Blizzard too much.

They still might deliver but people’s worries are entirely due to a lack of communication.

I’m still kind of confused in why the withdrawal of active development worked as it did. The community could have just produced content like skins on top of maps with some kind of Blizzard rubber stamp process and things would be both smoother and they’d get some additional monies.

On March 25 2021 00:06 Elentos wrote:

Well community managers and the like were the first people who got fired. You can't really blame the unpaid intern working on the game for not having social media presence. He probably doesn't even have the login credentials.