Devilcross (Doublecross Event) is official content that comes included with Team Fortress 2.

The one in the window that's easy to snipe from

You could tell me which board that is and perhaps I could look at the issue? The whole feedback cycle, and all...

entire map ruined by a single board -1/10

The #1 issue I've heard in game is that rounds can drag out if they are especially being turtled, which is a problem for the stock map as well. If anything, the spells can help break a strong engineer flag room hold, one of my favorite strategies is to throw a monoculus in to clear it out to finally get the flag out, and even then I've considered ways to not completely ruin the engineers fun with it.

All of the things you've commented on I HAVE considered and taken into account to the best of my ability, you just don't like the conclusions I've come to. I find the spells fun, I think they work fine with the layout, I have many playtests that have backed that up. I have jumped onto casual for many rounds since it got in game and have barely heard any issues, most people are having fun with the map. I am sorry you haven't enjoyed it.

Again, you are making assumptions based on how you think things work. I have my own community of testers I've built up because I've tried to avoid only getting "mapper feedback" because we look at maps differently than the average players. I have some overlap because I'm part of TF2Maps in ways, but I intentionally shoot for a more casual focused testing environment.

When it comes to playtesting (considering what's been going on in the community as of late), it's not an unfair question. Also considering that your testing was most likely done with the TF2Maps group, the fact that 'everyone liked the spells' doesn't hold much weight, it's playtesting has always been under scrutiny. Concerning all the design changes you mentioned, pretty much none were felt in game. The map just doesn't work with spells, and players have to play around them instead of with them. I know what you mean by “it won't be for everyone” I just think it's the really wrong attitude, it doesn't help anything.

Overall in testing, the chaos of the spells was well received. I compare the middle bridge area to the map Moonshine that I also worked on, as a "spell arena" while still allowing for the objectives to be played. Players often liked being able to have easy access to spells because a lot of maps make them rarer. When I made Doublefrost, there were a lot of complaints about not enough being changed, so I went bigger with this version, and decided to lean heavily into spells experiment with how they affected gameplay. In all of my testing, players were having fun with the chaos of the spells.

Some players flat out don't like reskins, they will not like this map because of it. Some players hate spells, they won't like this map because of it. This is what I mean by it won't be for everyone.

Multiple design considerations were made to accommodate spells. I knew they would add more mobility, which is what a lot of the hazards are there to counter. The lava hazard by the drop down is there because I knew with minify and the jumping spell it would be easier to utilize, so I might it slightly more dangerous to use that route. Same with the death pits outside of the flag room, giving defenders a place to push people using spells into, making it harder to just quick escape.

The new open space behind the point is a place an engineer can duck into if they see a monoculus being thrown into the flag room to clear the nest, allowing them a quicker re-setup, or even a way to counter the person who threw it in.

I lowered the spawn timer from a stock 10-20 seconds to 8-16 because of the extra hazards and lethality of spells added to the map, I chose not to lower it too far because it would make capturing the flag nearly impossible, lengthening rounds even further.

And I don't think you're taking much of what I'm saying in good faith. Of course I playtested, as I have said in these comments. I have a testing server that we run most every Friday, testing my WIP projects and other mappers that I offer testing to to help them get it as well. I test as much as I possibly can. You are welcome to join us to help this process, we need more players.

I absolutely considered the minify spell, and in testing it was rare enough that it didn't seem to be a big issue outside of the occasional fast cap, which felt acceptable as a fun occasional moment to have happen. On a bigger scale, this occurrence is amplified, which is why I decided to remove it when my player base got larger.

I did a video on the issues we encounter when our testing base goes from a few hundred people to hundreds of thousands, for what it's worth. No amount of testing can compare to the massive leap maps take when they get in game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9QKF_HlESg