[Daboo]

Blue post

The Season 3 lock will go into effect the week of October 10th. Season 3 will officially end, and Season 4 will begin on the week of October 24th. Season milestone rewards will be locked in at this time, and bonus pools will start over. Hidden skill ratings used for matchmaking and league placement will carry over from the previous season, so players who have completed placement matches in a previous season will only need to play one new placement match after Season 4 starts.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/3279043205


- Seasons will only last two months (as stated in the previous blue post)
- Hence, GM placement will only be a week
- Season 3 lock on Oct 10th.
- Season 4 Starts on Oct 24th
- See 1v1 changes below


Blizzard update on map pool

The transition between ladder seasons is generally a time when we take the opportunity to make adjustments to the ladder map pool. In Season 4, the 1v1 pool will remain unchanged, but we will be removing the following maps from the 2v2 map pool:

(4)Khaydarin Depths
(8)Tempest

They will be replaced with the following maps:

(4)Lunar Colony V
(8)Magma Core

We have chosen to remove Khaydarin Depths and Tempest from the 2v2 ladder pool because expanding can be a challenge for certain team compositions on these maps, and they aren’t as balanced as we would prefer for other team compositions. We also wanted to focus on maps that start 2v2 teammates closer together at the beginning of a match. Lunar Colony V and Magma Core are maps that should address these issues.

There was some confusion regarding the map pools, here is the official statement from blizzard, and the real maps for Season. Even the community managers didnt know about this. I guess we can expect SEA maps to change shortly too.

After reviewing player feedback, we’ve selected a 1v1 map pool composed of tournament-configured maps for the upcoming Season 4 of the StarCraft II ladder.

Six of the eight total maps in the Season 4 1v1 map pool will be maps that have been used in tournaments around the world. In addition, Shattered Temple and Metalopolis will be returning to the map pool, with close spawn positions disabled. Two non-tournament maps -- Abyssal Caverns and Nerazim Crypt -- will also be included. Players can veto these two non-tournament maps and still have a single veto remaining for the remaining maps, just as a player would in a major tournament.

These maps will be removed:

Backwater Gulch
Searing Crater
Typhon Peaks

These maps will form the new 1v1 map pool:

Abyssal Caverns (non-tournament)
Antiga Shipyard
Metalopolis (close spawns disabled)
Nerazim Crypt (non-tournament)
Shakuras Plateau
Shattered Temple (close spawns disabled)
Tal’darim Altar LE
Xel’naga Caverns

Depending on the feedback we receive regarding this approach to the 1v1 ladder map pool, we may move further toward a tournament-configured map format in future ladder seasons. We look forward to hearing what you think, and we hope you all have a great Season 4!