Nord Invasion about to fizzle out.

[Malong]

I believe the problem at the time was a lack of mappers and, by extension, quality maps, despite the nature of said public outcry.

100% incorrect. The maps were being purposefully edited to remove choke points, and be more open. The movement was the idea that the mod should be more difficult, and a lot of players stopped playing. Recall Swadian Town, Swadian Outskirts from those eras. Players were just playing the archer and now-defunct cavalry classes where cavalry would kite the bots while archers would shoot from further back. It was done because it gave the best chance for progression, instead of the "fun" of playing infantry and trying to defeat bots. If that was really the player base's idea of fun, more players would have done that, but they didn't.

Instead of having more elaborate maps that allowed for progressive difficulty -- rather than the smack in the face that Hard Mode was at the time -- barricading became so much the norm that it was absolutely required and had to be catered for. This was especially the case when proximal looting was introduced.

Because regardless of what you think, people don't want too much of a challenge, let alone insurmountable ones. Your quarrel seems to be with human nature and the demographics of this mod.