Barrels - Yeah, I can change that for the next beta. It's cause I learned mapping from Cusoman and Rimini mainly, who convinced me the bigger barrels were better.
Trick jumps - I wanted ways to have trick jumps for faster routes, but made sure there was always slower routes for new players. The trick jumps are pretty simple. But, I generally find maps with more jumps tend to get more attention, so I tried to add extra jumps in a lot of spots. Some may be too forced and could have been just terrain. I think they serve a purpose of allowing more skilled players to show their skill.
Empty - Yeah, I just am not very good at making nice bunkers or models, or any other filler. So, I thought it would look ugly with just barrels/crates randomly placed to fill up the ground. I'm unsure what to fill in the paths.
High path - it's meant to be longer - however I agree I should make it a bit shorter - but the purpose is getting there offensively - not defensively. It's way out of the way to go "camp" that spot. So, people should hopefully be deterred from camping it as people could rush into their main flag if they do. But, with high-main spawn you can make the speedjump to the "high-mid" point. Allowing you access to the caves between flag 1 and 2 - or just a high mid control point. I see it being a bad spot for pubs, as new players will slowly walk through it and likely get capped on via faster maps. That spot was purely made trying to break the potential "main-to-mid" linefest. So, it's more of a "break point" I guess. And also works as a spot used to force revives.
Flags - I'll change the flag 2 platform so it's apparent where the cap point is. I may just completely remove the water. I generally don't like water in maps, however I wanted a change of texture. So if I can manage to make a cool looking cap/flag point there to replace it, I'll completely remove the water.
Main/Frontdoor - I'll try to work on making it a more smooth transition from out of base to mid. I agree it's choppy with such a "sharp" turn kinda thing, and the rock's for jumps coming into base blocking the way.
GENERAL: I feel like in the stage the map is at right now, most of the thought out paths and assumed gameplay fit into an actual competitive scene (All speculation - but based on how I picture teams playing). Since, we do not have that... is it better to keep it as simplistic as possible and attempt to create a map hoping it gets picked up in pubs rather than attempting one for the competitive scene?