I think going forward I like the idea of maps with more specific focuses at least in the later rounds of OWC. I think it's a tricky thing to pull off in group stage for example because each team, for better or worse, is only able to form a team consisting of members of a single country. Some countries have enough players to qualify for competing in OWC but might struggle to even come up with 4 players consistent enough to do well. Thus, picking less generalized maps for the map pool hurts these small countries the most because whatever their 4 players are able to play is all they are able to play.
On the other hand, we see countries like the United States and Poland who have very deep rosters this year such that they have more specialized players to rotate in depending on what maps are picked/banned. I think on top of this, it encourages players who want to compete in OWC in the future to consider investing a lot of time into specializing in some of the less popular skills that are not as well rewarded by the PPv2 system. Instead of thoughts like "I'll never be able to play in the OWC because I'll never be as good at everything as players W X Y Z" it fosters thoughts such as "I may not ever be able to surpass player X in general, but if I can at least prove my self in niche skill A then I can actually be of use for my country."
So I think finding the balance in which stage of the OWC to start shifting to a more skill specific map pool is something that should continue to be evaluated as the player base improves and grows.
On the other hand, we see countries like the United States and Poland who have very deep rosters this year such that they have more specialized players to rotate in depending on what maps are picked/banned. I think on top of this, it encourages players who want to compete in OWC in the future to consider investing a lot of time into specializing in some of the less popular skills that are not as well rewarded by the PPv2 system. Instead of thoughts like "I'll never be able to play in the OWC because I'll never be as good at everything as players W X Y Z" it fosters thoughts such as "I may not ever be able to surpass player X in general, but if I can at least prove my self in niche skill A then I can actually be of use for my country."
So I think finding the balance in which stage of the OWC to start shifting to a more skill specific map pool is something that should continue to be evaluated as the player base improves and grows.