Me and my friends have come to be quite picky when it comes to maps, and the things we like are:
1. Only one starting town per player, and no "extra" towns to be found.
2. All players start under similar conditions. All starting locations are "playable" and any race can be chosen.
3. Players have their own "starting zones" that are guarded by higherlevel creatures, which makes it take AT LEAST 2-4 weaks before u can actually reach eachother.
4. The map isnt to large or to small (sounds stupid i know, but ya'll know what i mean!

5. There are "highlevel" zones with tougher creatures, better rewards (dragon utpopias" etc. that can be reached by everyone. These zones are however not to extreme, finding them shouldn't mean you're guaranteed win.
One map that we've come to love is "rise to power" because it's just the way we want it, but we havn't found many others. Anyone else who likes the same kind of maps and can recommend some (in-game that i might have missed or downloadable)?