Getting familiar with maps is an important part of most RTS/FPS games. In most games, certain maps are more popular than others, and I assume that's also true for SC2.
I'd like to know which maps are played most often so I can focus on learning those as I start with multiplayer. I saw a related question from BlueRaja, but it was about training maps. Clearly I'll form my own opinion over time, but I like to study things as part of learning a game.
Is there a site or service that monitors gameplay and will give me an easy, factual answer–if not for all StarCraft 2 matches then for a good number of matches?
If there isn't, can anyone think of another way to find out? I'd be happy for a consensus from experienced players, though maybe that drifts too far into the subjective.
In case the answer varies by country and play level, ideally I'd like to know for US maches and low-level players.
Best Answer
When you play online you don't have much control over the map you will play. You can veto some maps off but in the end, it doesn't really matter whether the map is really played a lot or not, just your personal preferences.
In tournament, a popular map choosing technique is that the first map is decided either randomly, or every 1v1 starts on the same map. In Starcraft 1 Lost Temple has been chosen like this a lot in the early days (later on, it has been judge a little imbalanced because blocking the ramp gave the terran players a slight advantage).
After the first map, either the winning (rarely) or the losing (much more often) player would decide which map is to be the next. I'd say that most of the time, a 4 players map for a 1v1 is prefered since it gives each player much more territory to expand. Sometimes, they will choose "Steppes of War" in a "I want to rush you" fashion since it is the map where the spawning spots are the closest of the whole map pool.
So, on Battle.net, the maps are random so personal preferences don't impact the game much. Some maps are better for some races or some strategies (large choke points = harder to block = easier to rush).