What's With the Map Rotation?

I haven’t noticed any discussion about this, but my games have been under a very small, predictable map rotation for it seems like a couple of months now. It’s currently a repeating sequence of Battlefield of Eternity, Braxis Holdout, Alterac Pass, and Blackheart’s Bay, in that exact order. About a month ago, I recall Hanamura Temple and Sky Temple were in the mix, but it was still only four maps total.

I’ve played long enough to notice map rotations being put into place for brief periods of time, but usually only when new maps are released or major changes are made to an existing one. And the list of maps in the pool is announced in the patch notes whenever it takes effect.

This time, I see no such announcement. No explanation of why, or how long it will last. And this is the most limited rotation I have ever seen. Four maps? Two of them only double lane?

Can anyone explain and/or attest to this? I primarily play Vs AI, so I don’t know if it’s affecting the other modes.

I only play QM, and I’ve also played Hanamura, Cursed Hollow, Warhead Junction, Garden of Terror, Tower’s of Doom, and Sky Temple, with the rare Volskaya thrown in, in addition to the maps you’ve listed. Maybe its just a coincidence, or maybe the AI maps are more limited. I can’t say for sure. My map pool has been pretty inclusive.

AI and QM (I don’t remember if UR is the same or if it follows ranked) have all maps in rotation, expect haunted mines that they are probably reworking.

There were a lot of people complaining in the support section for months now about only getting the same maps over and over again. Blizzard said they are trying to figure out what is happening but I don’t think they have a solution yet.

I too am experiencing this, and am extremely frustrated by it. One of the biggest charms of HotS is the variety it has over other MoBAs. I have the same map pool as the OP, and play pretty much exclusively Co-Op. If this is not intentional, please fix. If it is, please revert. I’m so bored of these maps.

there’s a big thread in the bug report section about it

from my understanding, vs AI mode is limited to 4 maps at a time which seem to change every few days based on player replies, or some other factor

Blizzard acknowledged it back in October, but everytime they patch the game in some way, this problem seems to reemerge

The said thread: Available maps in vs AI mode

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I have played all maps except Haunted Mines.

Thanks for the info. I honestly never considered this could just be a bug.

…And lo, the hotfix today seems to have fixed it.

I gather it’s supposed to keep things interesting, or at least controlled. I really don’t see why it matters in vs AI or QM, just leave all maps in rotation, they aren’t competitive modes. More variety in maps, more fun I say.

I think it changes every week when the free rotation also changes