Firewatch, including Junglewatch, Ghostwatch, and Frostwatch feel like visuals were prioritized over gameplay. Firewatch was a sweet inspiration from the trending Firewatch game, but underneath this was a layout I believed deeply flawed ever since I played it in 2016.
Stage 1 begins with a turtle's paradise where you defend a single room with 2 doors on opposite ends. Half of the stage is a narrow corridor which limits many classes from excelling. It sets a bad first impression for the map and harbors most of the resentment for Firewatch. Many people like Dustbowl for its familiarity and crown in the series history, they do not like "Dustbowl-esque" maps and this have been proven many times before. They don't want a new Dustbowl, they just want Dustbowl.
It was different back then with maps like cp_aqua or cp_toyfort having rigorously difficult chokepoints to break through, but the audience has changed and so should our map designs.
Stage 2 has a commendable creative effort allowing 2 points for capture simultaneously. It has more breathing room compared to Stage 1 and feels like an okay intermediary for BLU to gain time for the final stage. This was my favorite stage, I enjoyed the rotates and risk taking to push for information almost like a Counter-Strike map. And the points being close together for RED made rotates/retakes viable. I wish more of the map was like this because I had fun with it.
Stage 3 has a wide front to the first point making it challenging to defend and perhaps trivial—why have it all then, is my sentiment. Last becomes a slog just like the first stage where all of BLU is forced down one chokepoint. Even compared to Dustbowl, this choke isn't dynamic where RED could push up and take a knee at the corner. You have a hill that puts RED at a cover disadvantage, and so people turtle at last firing down the hallway until the next Ubercharge comes. Even a modern map like Gorge has catwalks to potentially hold forward on last; it gives players opportunities and choice, which Fire/ghost/jungle/frostwatch severely lacks.
Overall, my opinion on Frostwatch is that it feels soulless, like the 2 other reskins hoping Valve includes it in their diminishing standards for updates. 3 stage maps are a lot of work, I won't gloss over that: except this layout has been ridden 3 times without any remarkable changes that give it a unique identity (ex. Gorge Event, Ghost Fort, Harvest Event, Turbine Xmas if we had it, even Snowville or Snowfall).
