Map voting on normal mode. :~(

[Lanseril]

I actually disagree with most of the posters so far -- we shouldn't reduce map voting. Most of the arguments against map voting so far has been centered around an overplayed map (currently Great Hall), but with the removal of private servers in the coming week, Hande and the other devs will be able to update maps with much greater frequency. If a map becomes too "beatable" like Great Hall does using the VLKA strategy, the devs will be able to nip it in the bud more quickly before it becomes as overplayed as these maps have been in the past.

On the other hand, we've all seen servers completely clear out when an unpopular map is reached. This is especially an problem for hard mode, when often it can be difficult to get enough inertia going to fill a server to begin with. There are many cases where individuals can make map voting annoying, but on the whole I know I personally play on voting-enabled servers a lot more often than non-voting servers, and with good reasons.

Lastly, now that we had many redundant servers in EU, NA, and AUS, I suggest that we establish different map server types, which is the norm in most other FPSes (where clans often run multiple servers for just this reason). Rather than simply having EUs 1-10 all being the same, for instance, we should have 3 types of map servers:

* Rotation map servers, with a fixed, non-votable map rotation (EU_Normal_Rotation1-4);
* Voting map servers, with open map voting in addition to the rotation (EU_Normal_Voting1-4); and
* Popular map servers, playing the most popular map 24/7 with no in-server voting, with the map chosen being updated monthly via forum poll (EU_Normal_GreatHall1-2).

This would allow players to easily sort themselves via their own map preferences, and cut down on griefing and bickering over map votes and rotations.