In my opinion, Tree Ring should have stayed because, thats the ONLY OLDC contest entry with a perfect 10 score, and believe me if I was one of the devs I would certainly NOT remove that kind of level. (Okay I dont know if TRZ is not in here because of his absence but it still should have stayed.)
And besides, some other Multiplayer stages could have easily stayed, like Starlit Warehouse, Isolated Canyon, Dual Fortress, Hydro Plant, Airborne Temple, Midnight Abyss (Come on, it's the only DoomShip themed level) and eventually Metal Star.
Because now, we miss two Match levels (MAP96 & 97) and four(!) (MAP86-89) CTF levels ):
1: It scored a perfect 10 under totally different standards than contests are now... you might notice that a lot of mediocre maps scored better as a rule back then.
2: It was an ideal map in 1.09.4, but in the new system, the very features that made it an excellent map for the old system would make it relatively weak compared to the other maps. It was relatively small, without any significant direction other than bringing players to the center, and most encounters were totally random.
3: All maps would need to be optimized for the new system in some degree... and while Tree Ring may have been better off left to 1.09.4, any reworking of the map layout was withheld because the guy that originally made the map has been gone for a long time and the admins did not have any way to contact him.
4: Maps were judged by gameplay potential, not notability within the community. A perfect 10, a specific position in the community, a certain theme would not be enough to save a level. In the case of Hydro Plant, the layout was ditched but the concept was refined in the latest (and most successful) MP water level... Tidal Palace.
The only maps to have had the support of community notability were Meadow Match (which was the first SRB2 MP map and still plays well), and Sapphire Falls (which was only kept because Mystic found a way to make the hallmark layout work in 2.0)
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As for the original topic, I've spent more time editing SRB2 than playing it... which was true ever since Jazz's Dedicated Server shut down, and was probably even true then. I'm a designer, not a player. Therefore, I've not noticed any more or less activity, but I'd expect it to subside just a bit after the first couple weeks after release.
