Ability to Veto some maps?

[Szei]

I guess I have different tastes than you. I enjoy competition where the tools and environment allow for even competition and who wins comes predominantly down to the skill of the player. On some maps for some matchups this is not the case. It can be fun to try playing on an unfavored map as a challenge in a non ranked game, but ladder is about skill and should be made as fair as possible.

I enjoy fair, competitive games reliant on skill, not handicaps and luck.

Again, a player much better than another can win on an unfavorable map, but if too players of equal skill meet, some maps provide a sorely imbalanced experience.

One of the major complaints is that it takes less skill if you don't need to play on 3 of the ELEVEN maps. I partly address this above in that I actually think the game is more focused on player skill with the veto system (instead of players just abusing a map they are strong on over and over). The other point is that the veto system still encourages players to strive for mastery on ALL maps. With the veto system nothing is set in stone. A player like game taker may think TG is unfair for F in FvS. If this is really true, then great, game taker vetoes the map and gets rid of an imbalanced part of the game. However, maybe it turns out that another player discovers a way to counter S with F on TG. This player then has the luxury of leaving TG not vetoed and frees up another veto slot for a different map.

It is always advantageous to be good at as many maps as possible even with the veto system so you have more flexibility. The veto system simply helps to remove the artificial handicaps and unfair aspects of the game and promote purely skill based play.

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On a side note I have played Feedback, Scallywags, and Adorables at the ST level so I have a decent understanding of how the teams play at a high level on each map and a decent understanding of most of the matchups as a result. In other words, I'm not just proposing this because I have trouble against a particular team. I simply settled on Adorables after trying all the teams and am happy with my choice as I only really have trouble on Peekaboo now days (against S). However, my hope is that the veto system will promote play with all teams at the high level instead of shuffling everyone onto the Adorables bandwagon. By allowing players of other teams to veto a few maps it would help the team balance and promote a healthier team distribution at the high level.

Oh, and I do agree that the "no" poll option should be rephrased as OutwittersFan suggested.