Snow and fire.  
http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/2483318

Oh damn, they're already talking Season 3?

Let it be known that Season 2 is when I pretty much retired from the ladder to play with friends and watch GSL.

new maps lets see.....

1v1 Test1: Close spawn positions, but destructible rocks shrink the path into the natural. Close gold is the obvious third. Apparently it's "not all about the rush," but what about zergs who can't just wall off? Looks to me like it'll favour Terrans and tank play in general.

1v1 Test2: Ramps and bases galore! The lines are very confusing, not sure what'll happen. My gut feeling is good for zerg though.

1v1 Test3: Looks very standard. Contrary to the Blizzard description, paths through the middle of the map look limited. Two normal roads, two rock-blocked roads, and 2 expos.

1v1 Test4: Macro map, apparently. expo and third both connect to a single path making for relatively easy defense. Tanks are probably a good choice, as are air units in response.

2v2 maps: More shared bases, apparently attempting to address the broken 2v2 race matchups.

3v3 and 4v4: Apparently no serious players play these modes *COUGH* so they're close/shared base maps that casual players will enjoy. Guess I won't be playing these modes any more.

My gut feeling is that siege tanks are going to be overpowered on these maps. Which is good for me, as I am a Terran. :D

Blizzard I am many disappoint. 

As someone not super tuned into Starcraft I think they look cool.

I love the comments on the site and how all the zerg players from plat league and under are crying about balance...
 
 
...but I look forward to playing on them... and I need to get my practice on for next season it seems so I can get out of fucking gold 1v1

Besides balance (siege tanks seems rule all the new maps), what I don´t like is the lack of really new shapes. They must look at the Unreal Tournament maps. Every map was unique. Maps in spaceships, map in asteroids, castles. I don´t see that array of differents shapes in SC2 maps.

@Spectreman said:

Besides balance (siege tanks seems rule all the new maps), what I don´t like is the lack of really new shapes. They must look at the Unreal Tournament maps. Every map was unique. Maps in spaceships, map in asteroids, castles. I don´t see that array of differents shapes in SC2 maps.

You're not talking about shapes, you're talking about skins. These maps do show off a new skin, ice, and they've already got just about every other environment I can think of including the ones you just listed. The shapes of the maps have to be regulated in certain ways because this is a competitive game. I'm sure if you took a look at any competitive UT map, they would share a very specific shape as well.

Oh damn, they're already talking Season 3?

Let it be known that Season 2 is when I pretty much retired from the ladder to play with friends and watch GSL.

Dear god, there are a lot of ridiculous maps on that list.

I cannot fathom why Blizzard loves to put annoying little outcroppings into every base that are seemingly designed for cannon rushes and proxy buildings. I can understand needing space in bases to allow drops (behind minerals, etc), but honestly. Also these sorts of shapes promote the very strong seige tank elevator push on these bases, which I don't have a problem with, but in conjunction with natural gasses that look like they can be seiged from low ground or across gaps I see a lot of Zerg tears incoming.

Also the Blizzard hate against 3rd bases continues for whatever reason.

I hoped for some unbalanced maps, alas...

I say shapes not as skin, but map format. For example, Scrap Station has a quite different shape than other maps. I would like see pro matchs in balanced, but different maps. Is more trick and hard to balance, but interesting to have.

These new maps are sub-par and boring to say the least.
 
@baldgye said:

I love the comments on the site and how all the zerg players from plat league and under are crying about balance... 

@Spectreman said:

Besides balance (siege tanks seems rule all the new maps), what I don´t like is the lack of really new shapes. They must look at the Unreal Tournament maps. Every map was unique. Maps in spaceships, map in asteroids, castles. I don´t see that array of differents shapes in SC2 maps.

You're not talking about shapes, you're talking about skins. These maps do show off a new skin, ice, and they've already got just about every other environment I can think of including the ones you just listed. The shapes of the maps have to be regulated in certain ways because this is a competitive game. I'm sure if you took a look at any competitive UT map, they would share a very specific shape as well.

Pro's chatting about balance and bronze chatting bout balance are two very diffrent things lol

@Ben_H: Thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised if they are trying specifically to avoid making any super-distinctive maps, gameplay-wise. Here's a possibility: They figure only pro players will really care about maps, and any non-pros who say they care will just follow the pros. So, make maps that are the best for pros. For several reasons Blizzard can't just cram every tournament map in existence into the ladder, so the best they can do is make very simple maps, such that if someone wants to practice on the ladder, they can generalize their results to whatever tournament maps they need to prepare for.

Now I can certainly see why this would be a problem for the non-competitive players who actually notice the maps. I'd think the best option is a second 1v1 ladder with a bunch of fun, noncompetitive maps, but this is probably too resource heavy to expect. You're probably supposed to just go play customs with.... someone....