Over the past week, mappers have been working to tweak and finalize their maps for final public judging. Now it's your turn to take part in the process and vote for your favorite maps. Below are all of the finalists for TLMC9.
The images you see on this page are those of the pre-iteration maps.
Hover over the thumbnail for the images of these maps after iteration.
To get a larger overview, click on the map images.
Besides our display below, you can also view them all conveniently in this imgur album. We strongly recommend using this because it allows you to view the maps in high resolution very easily.
FINALISTS
Macro Maps
Backwater | AVEX
Backwater was my last attempt into creating a 'pocket-third' concept, and I think the games we had showed that it works out well. I asked around and it seems that the ease of scouting this base as well as the middle ground of harassing it seems to work out in most of the matchups, even in ZvZ. The map is easy to read, the linear expansion pattern and open field makes for surprisingly interesting engagements outside of the base locations rather than on the base itself. This map is a good bet to vote on if you are fan of three-base games that aren't necessarily turtle-y like Acolyte.
Changelog:
Backdoor third slightly moved and is no longer siegeable from the low ground
Fixed a reaper cliff being pathed over by the base hugging the main.
Re-done middle ground textures to be more legible.
Added water on the lowest ground, 'cause why not.
Made some non-pathable areas more clear.
Blackpink | AVEX
Blackpink was a strong inspiration for me as a music group, and happens to be a part of my motivation to continue mapping, and I feel like the map aptly named Blackpink is showing that my progress as a mapper is going strong. During the contest it showed some aggressive games, but showed itself as having ample room for awesome macro games as we saw between ByuN and Serral. This is a safe contender for a solid macro map where you can play the way you want on the ladder. If you like that, I think you should spend one of your votes with it.
Changelog:
Main adjusted, mineral line tucked horizontally by one cell relative to their spawn. Weird square on the side removed.
Re-designed triangular third base, removed pillar and opened the area up, moved the 'behind' ramp to be more direct, rocks added to the most direct path's ramp. Mineral line made diagonal Rock tower removed.
Vertical third rock tower removed.
Many of the main pathways have been expanded and widened for more open engagements.
Many of the lit-up decals and lights were toned back a little.
Defender's Resort | Youngrustler
Defender's Resort in the map tournament had very different 3rd bases taken which was very interesting to see what players would prefer in their 3rd choice. The map itself could end up being a unique twist to standard maps with the base set up on the map. Final comment who doesn't like beach maps!
Changelog:
Reduced main base sizes slightly to lower open space.
Fixed mineral patches that were off.
Added 6x6 rocks for the ramps leading to the middle 3rd bases.
NEO TROPICANA | IeZaeL
Lately there's been a lack of 4p maps in the ladder. Tropicana is a good choice, providing a safe layout with a few twists and a striking color palette, sure to be well liked by the majority of the players.
Changelog:
Siege tanks will no longer be able to hit the mineral lines of the main.
Main vespene geysers moved to the outer side to allow zerg slightly easier scouting.
Natural is now wallable with 3x gateway or 2x gateway+pylon+zealot
Widened the lowground areas around the 3/9oclock bases
Removed Line of Sight blockers in the middle.
Reworked the rock clusters in the middle. Now the Xel'naga towers are takeable right from the start, while players still need to destroy the adjacent rocks to open up the path.
Sky Garden | NewSunshine
The features of the map are simultaneously standard and familiar, but combined into a map like we haven't yet seen in Legacy of the Void. This map's strong point is one that no other finalist can share - 3 different possible spawn positions between you and your opponent. The changes made have been simple, and seek to address the power of the gold bases, and possible air-based openings in close spawns. The result should be a relatively balanced map, with a style we haven't seen since Wings of Liberty, with maps such as Shattered Temple and Metalopolis, that manages to offer an interesting variety in possible games.
Changelog:
No-fly zones between upper-right/lower-left main bases expanded.
Rock towers on the ramps to the high ground gold bases removed.
A single destructible debris added to the gold bases, blocking them from being taken early.
Low ground gold bases changed into normal blue bases.
Standard Maps
Acid Plant | nesta-kun
I made the map play out pretty much as standard as possible, it does get a little aggressive in the later stages of the midgame due to the destructible debris opening up a very direct path, but you can expand away from that area too. The games we saw on it in the tournament were really solid and we saw a ton of different styles being viable - And for that reason I have decided only to make aesthetic improvements to the map. Vote for Acid Plant if you like a solid map with room for variety.
Changelog:
Scaled down and changed some doodads to avoid air units flying through them.
Changed the playable boundaries to 148x136 down from 152x136 to eliminate dead air space around the edges.
Removed some visual effects on top of the low ground geysers.
Made a few aesthetic touch ups. (Mainly doodads)
EASTWATCH | IeZaeL
Play the game the way you want, be it macro or rush or standard, with the various rock towers providing exciting ways to shape the gameplay in never-seen-before ways. Now with even more meaningful choices due to the changes made during the iteration phase.
Changelog:
Moved back the vertical third by two squares;
Removed two set of rocks;
Moved the vertical third's rock tower a little bit closer to the mineral lines;
Added a base at 10/16 o'clock;
Widened a few paths in the middle areas;
Added reaper path into the main.
Grime | Fatam
"Grime" is a macro-friendly map that favors good positional play. Give Grime a vote if you enjoy those things!
Changelog:
Removed rocks from ramp inbetween nat and third
Added overlord spot near natural
Moved the ramp in front of the third forward
Moved the 12/6 o'clock bases slightly closer to your nat/third area
Slightly increased size of overlord spot inbetween nat and third
Moved main mineral line 1 square closer to nat
Minor aesthetics adjustments
CATALYST | NegativeZero
This map is a composite of some of my best standard map ideas dating back to HotS. The flexible expansion layout allows you to tailor your expansion pattern to your own play style, and the combination of chokes and high grounds create a variety of interesting attack paths and defensive positions. Changes from the original mainly help fix a couple potentially abusable areas around the 3rd - widening a chokey area along the high ground attack path, and reducing the vulnerability of the path between the nat and 3rd to tanks on the low ground.
Changelog:
Widened the area outside the 3rd
Moved center bases slightly inwards
Slightly enlarged mains
Minor decorative changes
Octane | Meavis
During the tournament this map displayed a lot of early aggressive builds. This was true for most maps, but Octane displayed particularly many compared to other standard maps. After further discussion, the suspected cause for players opting for more aggressive builds is the nature of the map putting emphasis on difficult yet straightforward expanding. Changes made are mostly about easier expanding, and aesthetics. With this, Octane will display more standardized gameplay as the map is supposed to function.
Changelog:
Moved clockwise third base 2 tiles closer to the natural
One of the entry points to the clockwise 3rd had it's size reduced by 2 tiles
Lowered some doodads blocking vision of air units
Vounterclockwise 3rd and clockwise 4th had their ramps adjusted to 2 size
Reworked some large objects into more detailed artwork
Lighting changed to be slightly brighter
Recoloured edges of pathable area to be more in line with the maps colour palette
Rush Maps
ABIOGENESIS | NegativeZero
Abiogenesis is a rush map which, despite its small size, is also designed to be capable of standard play. The short rush distance allows for aggressive builds, but the narrow forward chokes and tucked-away 3rd give an edge to the defender. Changes from the original serve to improve large army movement by opening up the map slightly in key central areas, and to give the defender an extra tool to help hold off early attacks.
Changelog:
Widened 4 more centrally-located ramps from 3 to 4
Narrowed ramps leading counterclockwise from the nat from 3 to 2, and added collapsible rocks to block them
BATTLE ON THE BOARDWALK | SidianTheBard
Battle on the Boardwalk is an early game aggressive map that can turn into end game macro games fairly easily if aggression is held off. Vote for the map because it's a smaller map that does offer that type of aggression early which has been lacking in many of the maps we've recently have had yet can also easily transition to longer games. The backdoor boardwalk leading to the in-base gold is new and the many tight choked off rush paths can provide interesting and dynamic gameplay. Nothing was changed during the iteration phase.
Changelog:
No changes
GOD'S GARDEN | IeZaeL
A map truly worthy of the favour of the Gods! Attack your enemy early using the central pathway, yet be careful, for your opponent has ways to shut you down. Explore the map, don't lose yourself amidst the plethora of fruits, and you shall prevail.
Changelog:
Every ramp has been brought back to standard 45° degrees
Streamlined and simplified the central pathway pathing.
Lots of very small changes in the cliffs structure and shape.
Swapped a few geysers position.
New Maps
ANOMALY | NegativeZero
This map is an anomaly in the SC2 meta. Will it end up a turtlefest, or will it produce interesting, strategic, positional games? How will each race adapt to the late-game lack of mobility? The best way to find out is to vote for it...
Changelog:
Altered resource placement at the nat to make scouting the geysers easier.
ARCH OF JANUS | Enekh
Changelog:
Changed type of rock beside to mainbase for to increase the backyard use. (1500hp -> 400hp)
Changed type of Natural's mineral for to increase the backyard use. (front yard 6 Gold Mineral -> 8 Mineral) (backyard 8 Mineral -> 8 Gold Mineral)
NEON VIOLET SQUARE | RQM
Neon Violet was a highly experimental map. It had many extreme features, not just one or two. Of course, it have received a lot of feedback during the tournament phase. Considering the comments, I picked acceptable ones out from those features. Now squares are only on the middle. As inevitable block lines were removed, players can bypass blocks and choose more routes than before. Safer main, more geysers on pocket base and new gold base let players to take different choices. Hence, the map now gives more possibilities. My attempt was to relax its forced gameplays. I hope you enjoy this map which now allows various aspects.
Changelog:
Increased size of the main base.
Shifted mineral line and vespene of main to enable defenses.
Pocket third has now 4M+2G.
Removed all 1x1 block lines on pocket third, middle and high ground bases. Block matrices still exist.
Reduced the size of high ground pods in front of bases on 8:30 and 2:30. LoS blockers were added instead.
Four 6x6 rocks on middle were replaced with two giant rocks. Removed one of two slivers of high ground next to them.
Low ground bases in 11:30 and 5:30 are now gold bases. Reduced the high grounds above them.
Darkened 1x1 block doodads and fogs. Brightened the lighting.
Decoration fixes.
Prizing
While Blizzard has the final say on which maps go on the ladder, this is your chance to send Blizzard a message as to which maps you want to see in the ladder pool next season.
The authors of all sixteen finalists have already earned $100 each for their hard work just for placing as a finalist. But in addition,the top five maps will be awarded with additional cash prizes - all provided by Blizzard:
First - $500 Second - $250 Third - $125 Fourth - $75 Fifth - $50
Vote!
This season, we'll be doing voting slightly differently. Instead of just selecting your favorite five maps, we'll be asking you to order/rank them as well. Your favorite map will receive 5 points, your second favorite map will receive 4 points, etc... Thus, the map that has the most points, not the most votes at the end of voting will win TLMC9.
Additionally, you must comment in this thread for your vote to count. A simple "voted" will do. Of course, we encourage you to post which maps you voted for and to have a discussion about which maps you like best as well!
You have until Friday, Oct 06 6:59am GMT (GMT+00:00) to cast your votes for your favorite TLMC maps, after which the winners will be announced.
When you are shocked that the ugly textures of Defender's Resort seem to become a thing, only to be greeted by Neo Tropicana. Eyecancer guys, it is a thing.
Backwater: "Added water on the lowest ground, 'cause why not." Good. I thought Backwater had water there the first time, I was much dismayed when I found out it didn't. Now that the heresy's been fixed, I can actually approve of it.
Arch of Janus: RIP all the gold rushes in SABRE for mass Hellion/Vigilant, or maybe even faster and bigger Raptorling masses. Oh well, it's not TOO bad.
1. Eastwatch - Nice original concept with low ramp usage, effective improvements, pleasing asthetics, well readable though fresh. 2. Neon Violet Square - Improved version adresses all critical issues with the checkerboard blockers, now it deserves a real chance. 3. Sky Garden - Return of a map style I miss, iteration phase was well used, nice mature asthetics, close air should be given a shot in LotV. 4. Abiogenesis - Liked this best out of the rush maps, layout screams two base aggression at first sight but defensive positions are strong. 5. Backwater - Well thought out concept and great execution, interesting paths available, unspent and nicely improved asthetics.
Voted. Went for the new maps pretty much. I'd like to have one them in our future ladder pool in order to encourage something new and to give us more intel about what could work even better.
On October 04 2017 19:09 Psychobabas wrote: Anomaly is from Starcraft 1 right?
the double narrow bridge idea is taken from bw maps like circuit breaker and destination, but the map as a whole is an original layout (as far as i know...)
I seriously hope anybody that says they voted for Janus "just to see how it plays out" isn't serious. Remember kids, it's all fun and games until Dasan Station shows up in the Blizzcon finals.
I hope they release the distribution of scores for the maps. It would be interesting to see which maps got mostly 2nd and 3rd and which ones get a lot more 1st than anything else.
I voted. I'll risk putting my votes here but in no particular order. Note that I am not a mapper, but I followed the threads and enjoy these maps and the changes made most.
edit - voted, but honest to god fix your voting system, there was only one map that looked interesting and I needed to vote for five, add none as an option for maps 2-5. If you can disregard my votes for choices 2-5, please do so
Surprised about the turnout for sky garden in the comments, must be some serious amounts of nostalgia kicking in? Close air + coinflip spawns to this degree on a XXL map is a disaster for competition. lotv makes everything that was bad about these maps even worse, too.
i'm extremely disappointed in the people who came here from winter's stream and just regurgitated his opinion instead of actually thinking for themselves
1 post,1 post, 1 post, 1 post, 1 post,1 post,1 post, 1 post, 1 post, 1 post,1 post,1 post, 1 post, 1 post, 1 post,1 post,1 post, 1 post, 1 post, 1 post,1 post,1 post, 1 post, 1 post, 1 post,1 post,1 post, 1 post, 1 post, 1 post,1 post,1 post, 1 post, 1 post, 1 post,1 post,1 post, 1 post, 1 post, 1 post,..............................................................................1 post.
guys if you're coming from winter's stream, i beg you, please don't just blindly repeat his votes, take a bit of time to look through the maps yourself and come to your own conclusions.
I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
On October 06 2017 15:53 SidianTheBard wrote: I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
A lot of these votes came from a stream where we have been telling people to make their TL acct to vote. Winter's stream has been drawing a lot of attention to it where there wouldn't have been before. This is a good thing.
On October 06 2017 15:53 SidianTheBard wrote: I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
On what grounds? These are actual people not bots--just because some streamers encouraged viewers to vote as a block doesn't make their votes any less valid.
The popular vote has always been to encourage participation, not because the general population has shown any acumen at choosing maps.
On October 06 2017 15:53 SidianTheBard wrote: I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
On what grounds? These are actual people not bots--just because some streamers encouraged viewers to vote as a block doesn't make their votes any less valid.
Exactly! Not sure why he has such a problem with attention being drawn to this contest...
On October 06 2017 15:53 SidianTheBard wrote: I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
On what grounds? These are actual people not bots--just because some streamers encouraged viewers to vote as a block doesn't make their votes any less valid.
Exactly! Not sure why he has such a problem with attention being drawn to this contest...
I mean I understand that as a mapmaker he dislikes that the vote is being swung by community personalities, but from a rules perspective there isn't anything wrong going on.
On October 06 2017 15:53 SidianTheBard wrote: I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
On what grounds? These are actual people not bots--just because some streamers encouraged viewers to vote as a block doesn't make their votes any less valid.
Because this isn't about what map makes ladder or not, this is about what map gets $$$ or not. So it's basically saying as long as the biggest streamer loves your maps you will get the most votes.
If these are the top 5 maps, the only reason they won is because Winter listed his top 5 maps and all his viewers voted for it just because.
You know somebody is fixing the vote when all of a sudden, at 3am, we get a sudden burst of 50 "new TL accounts" with 1 post all voting for the same maps...
On October 06 2017 15:53 SidianTheBard wrote: I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
On what grounds? These are actual people not bots--just because some streamers encouraged viewers to vote as a block doesn't make their votes any less valid.
The popular vote has always been to encourage participation, not because the general population has shown any acumen at choosing maps.
if they're just blindly copying winter's vote (not saying everyone is, but it's definitely true for some) then they might as well be bots lol
On October 06 2017 15:53 SidianTheBard wrote: I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
On what grounds? These are actual people not bots--just because some streamers encouraged viewers to vote as a block doesn't make their votes any less valid.
Because this isn't about what map makes ladder or not, this is about what map gets $$$ or not. So it's basically saying as long as the biggest streamer loves your maps you will get the most votes.
If these are the top 5 maps, the only reason they won is because Winter listed his top 5 maps and all his viewers voted for it just because.
You know somebody is fixing the vote when all of a sudden, at 3am, we get a sudden burst of 50 "new TL accounts" with 1 post all voting for the same maps...
Blame TL for giving the prize pool based on a broken system. The electorate here is any user on TL (with a limit of one account per user)--just because individuals hold considerable sway over the electorate doesn't make it vote fixing. I know it sucks, but TL changing the system now would be more unfair.
On October 06 2017 15:53 SidianTheBard wrote: I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
On what grounds? These are actual people not bots--just because some streamers encouraged viewers to vote as a block doesn't make their votes any less valid.
Because this isn't about what map makes ladder or not, this is about what map gets $$$ or not. So it's basically saying as long as the biggest streamer loves your maps you will get the most votes.
If these are the top 5 maps, the only reason they won is because Winter listed his top 5 maps and all his viewers voted for it just because.
You know somebody is fixing the vote when all of a sudden, at 3am, we get a sudden burst of 50 "new TL accounts" with 1 post all voting for the same maps...
Blame TL for giving the prize pool based on a broken system. The electorate here is any user on TL (with a limit of one account per user)--just because individuals hold considerable sway over the electorate doesn't make it vote fixing. I know it sucks, but TL changing the system now would be more unfair.
When the past 50 of 63 have less than 2 posts on TL. You know there is a voting Brigade going on and it's pretty fucking annoying since there is money involved. It's basically saying, whoever is telling all these people to join the forum and vote these maps will win. Either way, I'll copy/paste this again:
On October 06 2017 15:53 SidianTheBard wrote: I hope to god you guys reject everybody with less than 5 TL posts. I love that in the past hour suddenly 50 people that have never been to TL decided to register and vote for maps...
On what grounds? These are actual people not bots--just because some streamers encouraged viewers to vote as a block doesn't make their votes any less valid.
Because this isn't about what map makes ladder or not, this is about what map gets $$$ or not. So it's basically saying as long as the biggest streamer loves your maps you will get the most votes.
If these are the top 5 maps, the only reason they won is because Winter listed his top 5 maps and all his viewers voted for it just because.
You know somebody is fixing the vote when all of a sudden, at 3am, we get a sudden burst of 50 "new TL accounts" with 1 post all voting for the same maps...
Blame TL for giving the prize pool based on a broken system. The electorate here is any user on TL (with a limit of one account per user)--just because individuals hold considerable sway over the electorate doesn't make it vote fixing. I know it sucks, but TL changing the system now would be more unfair.
When the past 50 of 63 have less than 2 posts on TL. You know there is a voting Brigade going on and it's pretty fucking annoying since there is money involved. It's basically saying, whoever is telling all these people to join the forum and vote these maps will win. Either way, I'll copy/paste this again:
I'll be curious how close to the final standings this is...
Yeah that's completely true, but this is frankly what's been happening to a lesser or greater extent every single map contest. Only this time it's clearly apparent.
Bluntly if you want a system that rewards the best map you're not going to turn to a public vote--even if there was no vote brigading going on. I'm sure TL is aware of all this too, only having a public vote does make people pay attention to the contest, so while a few mapmakers might lose out it's still worth it overall. I wonder if that's one of the reasons why they changed the prizepool structure to reward all the finalists.
On October 06 2017 16:28 Finch518 wrote: I wonder if youd be as mad about it if he voted for any of your maps.
I'm sure he would be. It's a principles sort of thing. -NegativeZero- is the maker of Catalyst and he isn't enthralled by community figures swinging the vote.
i'm glad winter is encouraging participation in the map contest and i definitely don't think he was trying to rig the vote on purpose - but yeah i don't think he should've put that list of his choices up next to the link to vote. that's just begging for people to copy his vote instead of looking at the maps themselves.
this wouldn't be nearly as big of a problem if the community, and pro players/streamers in general, were as interested in the map contest as winter is, because then there would be a lot of discussion and dissenting opinions. but unfortunately, when it's mostly just 1-2 prominent people talking about it (like winter here, or basetrade during the last contest) then you do run the risk of unintentionally swaying a big portion of the vote.
I believe winter could have handled the linking to the thread better if his true intentions were to spread awareness to the map contest. My only criticism of it was like others have stated putting his choices with the link will more than likely lead to people to mindless and blindly follow his voting and not consider for themselves. I don’t believe everyone who came from winter’s stream all mindlessly voted what he voted but you can’t rule out that can be a possibility.
Non democratically selected individuals already had the absolute power to select which maps make to the finals and receive the "free" 100 dollars.
In a competition like this, I wouldnt even care if Team Liquid made a featured news article guiding people what maps to vote.
Also lol at the people who say only active people of Team Liquid community should be able to vote. I wish Blizzard hosted this competition on their battle net website, and then banned most of you people from voting, because you are not active in that forum.
It should be done by blizzard if u ask me why have this all to do the community, i dont get this. And its totally ok that people are interessted in and come online here to vote that needs effort so they are at least interessted in. And i agree thats a good thing. For me best solution is just all with Diamond can vote for 1vs1 maps made by blizzard. Only solution i see here. Cause the problem of deciding which is a good map can only make good players playing the game and actual playing the game. Otherwise keep it like this and dont wine and be happy someone is coming here to vote for this shid. The community is fallen apart anyways long time ago. Its just left a little group care for the game and then let them decidie or just blizzard which doenst support the acceptance of new maps but maybe we dont need this right. Its the same with balance patches u can talk here for days and we dont all accept the patches like they happen but somehow they get created like this, however i dont mind anymore about a DEAD GAME lets be honest.
On October 06 2017 18:26 NasusAndDraven wrote: Non democratically selected individuals already had the absolute power to select which maps make to the finals and receive the "free" 100 dollars.
In a competition like this, I wouldnt even care if Team Liquid made a featured news article guiding people what maps to vote.
Also lol at the people who say only active people of Team Liquid community should be able to vote. I wish Blizzard hosted this competition on their battle net website, and then banned most of you people from voting, because you are not active in that forum.
You are constructing a straw man here. No one is saying that only active TL members should be able to vote. What a few people here are worried about is that one or two popular figures could easily sway the vote. If they didn't like your map, you are at a massive disadvantage. Streamers are free to share what they voted for, and their viewers are free to vote the same way, but if that happens, it is very discouraging to some map makers.
not only to the mapmakers i wanna edit here. Lets just call it democratie :D retards with no knowledge can vote and thats it At least we should just appreciate the participants and let blizzard decide not our job anyways. Blizzard maybe has a brain aswell, MAYBE :D TL delivers like this just info to blizzard what they should look for and give them impressions So to me its not that important which map wins and is on rank 1 im sure blizzard is able to take a good map from rank 8 and just ingores bad maps on 1. For example arch of janus here. Last contest they have decided to give blood boil a try which was my NO 1 map so im pretty confident into blizzards decissions. I was sad that acolyte didnt make it. We all know today even this map did it with delay so i trust em. Im overall for macro maps as lotv is a macro game to me. Maps wiht 6 patches makes absolutly no sense to me minium of 7 patches each side is required and im sure they see this aswell.
I dont think there is a good way around this - as a mapmaker I would of course love it if my maps only were judged by pros/blizzard and other high level designers but this contest is as much for the people to show their interest and preferences in maps as it is for us map makers. I’ll happily pocket my $100 (which I won through being judged by qualified people) and see who takes the cake in the contest rigged or not <3
I want to offer my perspective to especially any mapmakers, because I am actually very passionate (in the most casual and probably ignorant way) about the mapmaking community.
I think maps are one of the most interesting parts of Starcraft, as they are more dynamic than even the races in the game themselves. I was excited to see increased Blizzard receptiveness (and I gave direct feedback to the same tune) about adding community maps because it is quite obvious community mapmakers put much more into their work than most standard Blizzard maps.
With TLMC 8 I was excited to be directly involved in the form of interviews/discussions, and with TLMC 9 I saw an opportunity to expand that and get a newer audience interested in a part of Starcraft that they quite literally had no idea existed.
I played many dozens, possibly hundreds of games on the variety of the finalist maps against all levels of players including GMs as/against all races, hosted a pro showmatch for $350+, and weighted my personal votes on my own interest/experience and that of general feedback.
The comments of several mapmakers, top tier players and of course casuals anywhere from gold to unranked encouraged me to widely promote the contest. Many people who did not even know what teamliquid was created accounts for the explicit purpose of participating, and many of those probably have less than 50 apm and have not played their placement matches. As an extra note, I added the maps I personally voted for after pretty much constant spam of the question.
If it is about the prize money, I am more than happy to try out mapmakers maps and host showmatches on them if possible (including supporting mapmakers). If it is about excluding newer people who are getting into starcraft and excited to participate in a new event and join communities that they didn't even know existed it's a bit different.
This whole thing would be a non-issue if there were other streamers/players/personalities who spent as much time as Winter on the maps. Winter probably could have avoided publishing his votes, but it's not his fault no one else bothered to talk about the contest. If other streamers talked about it, we would see a lot more perspectives represented in the voting.
On October 06 2017 23:54 paralleluniverse wrote: This vote determines only who gets the prize money, not which maps get in the map pool. Blizzard chooses that, and not based on the rankings.
For me, my biggest goal is to get my maps into GSL, but the possibility of winning money adds some incentive to compete. For others, prizes might make the difference when deciding whether or not to invest the time and effort into making maps. If some map makers feel like they cannot compete for the top prize, they may lose motivation, which ultimately lowers the quality of submissions.