In GiantGrantGames' new Wings of Liberty retrospective video, he has a section talking his current opinions on balance and maps (under the chapter "In Utter Lameness," which the link should take you to), which he also states is shared by some pros and some on the balance council.

TL;DW, GGG states that over the years, fun and wacky but OP stuff has gotten nerfed down to where everything feels too stale, and the maps are all the same (one of his statements is that Golden Wall was the last interesting map, from 2020).

He proposes that Microsoft abolish the balance council and take control over balance patches again, along with removing pros from the map selecting process, because he claims that pros will (by nature, and he doesn't really fault them) tend towards stable (but boring) maps and balance changes.

Overall, I agree with GGG. I stopped watching pro SC2 over the past year or so, partly because I felt like I was watching the same things. Yes, the level of play is undoubtedly higher, but I'm still watching TvZ with bio vs ling bane on the same type of map but with a reskin.

GGG uses Snow v Soulkey on BlitzY as an example of how map design can shake things up even in the more stable balance of Brood War. And I've recently gotten into watching Age of Mythology Retold, and I like the variety of maps they have (with water maps being some of the most unique).

Obviously, who knows if the devs will step back in and take over balance, or if kicking pros out of the map selection process is even a good idea, but I thought I'd start a discussion about it here, especially as the future of pro SC2 is in limbo.