kevin_gatormustardoverlordas for whether or not to let open players weigh in, I understand both sides of the argument, but at the very least they should have a chance to play a map a bit more- have it in pugchamp and nut city, maybe make some tf2centers on it- before it goes in the pool
Villa has already received thorough testing from players of different skill levels. The majority of testing and feedback has come from the Testco discord server, which I would say has an average skill level in the RGL Open to IM range. An earlier version received testing and feedback in RGL’s Map Cup in November, another later version received testing and feedback in a league-wide event in Ozfortress, and the most recent version before the RGL Invite tests was played in S2 of No Restriction Sixes (yes I know NR6s is not a good comparison to traditional sixes at all, but it still gave teams an opportunity to get a feel for the map). Finally, lucrative has been supporting this map since its early stages by hosting pugs on it with higher level players. There have already been many opportunities for people to evaluate the map, it’s not like it just appeared from nowhere.
I think you misunderstood what I was saying here, I wasn't focusing specifically on whether or not the community writ large likes this version of villa/has had enough time to suggest changes to it (though that is important). I was saying that, if the map goes in the pool without a large enough percentage of players having gotten used to it enough to know how it plays in very basic ways (the rollouts, where all the common flank routes are, etc), everyone will just permaban it and it'll be a massive lose-lose.
If the only goal is to get map feedback then yeah the new map pugs are a great place, but that's self-selecting for people who WANT to play new maps. The average competitive player in like IM or Main has probably never even seen villa let alone played it, and I think a map needs to be more ubiquitous in a pug setting before it's added (I was around when process was first added, for instance, and it was pugged HEAVILY beforehand, and not just in new map places).