MY 2 cents, all the more as I won't play the very next games to completion (not past QSC periods for sure)...
I like some parts of modded games. What I didn't like at first is that I couldn't even play the games with my French version !!
Thanks Firaxis... Now with C3C I believe this issue is fixed, but I'm not sure at all... since I lack experiments.
Otherwise, I enjoyed how cracker designed the maps (special kudos for GOTM 24 - Korea : I was stunned when I first got the WM, though I didn't take advantage of it, since I didn't take over my whole continent (spaceship victory)). Placements of terrain and resources around our starting positions made for interesting pre-game discussions. I quite liked some of the new stuff that was added, like the new Mediterranean resources... But I have to say that I was disappointed to see that some of the latest stuff didn't receive full explanation : the Asian tribes were unknown tribes, no UUs nor traits explained.
I'd like some non-modded games back, in terms of rules. Maps should be modded in any game IMO.
As for victory conditions, I liked this a lot ; I went for every victory condition for the Medal series. I think they add a lot for comparing games, and the maps should reflect that. Of course it's nice to have the choice to go for another victory, so I guess we should get two seperate competitions, one with free victory conditions, another one with a set victory condition, but which one is which I dunno.
No GOTMs before the big bugs in C3C are gone ! That should let you some time, given the time it may take for Firaxis or whoever to make a patch. Then of course I urge you not to make a same competition for C3C and Vanilla/PTW. This will be a total mess, I mean it, you should spend your efforts on giving us results more often and quicker, if you see my point.
Seriously, don't plan to do that. Because more players will have C3C over time, I think we should have C3C GOTMs as soon as its main bugs are fixed. I think you should make a poll to see if people still want to play Vanilla/PTW games. If it's only another minority, then you should consider stopping Vanilla/PTW games. As for the MAC community, I really don't know ; I don't know if they're gonna get the add-on soon or never.
As for classes, it was a nice idea, but maybe newbies always took easier games (so they wouldn't improve as much as with open games), and I feel that predator games were sometimes somewhat easier than open games, like in the latest games : more free units support for the AIs made that they would research more easily, therefore accelerating the tech pace in the beginning of the game, and so we were able to ride the wave and finish the game faster than on open class (GOTM 24). Maybe I'm wrong here... I don't know, maybe you could consider having one class only, or 3 different rankings for each class, and then players would get their final score upped or downed for the Medal series rankings...
All in all, I'd be pleased if the first C3C GOTMs were a lot less complex !!!
I may do my GOTM comeback if I feel something has been made this way (though my semi-retirement has little to do with this issue...).
ainwood, I hope that you'll do great !