So I posted this over on r/BroodWar the other day and figured I'd share it here as well since pretty much everyone in here is an UMS enthusiast.

https://www.reddit.com/r/broodwar/comments/4b5pby/iccup_should_become_the_new_home_for_people/

Basically I think we should make an effort to quell some of the fragmentation that has been going on for years now with people looking to play UMS maps in Brood War but being scattered across different servers. Since the community is smaller than it used to be it's even more important to consolidate and make it easier to find games and fill lobbies.

Here's an excerpt from the Reddit post:

You may wish to hold out on that front for this year. Blizzard is apparently working on a HD remake for SCBW. There has already been news in the Diablo II and Warcraft 3 fronts:

https://www.vg247.com/2016/03/11/diablo-2-gets-first-patch-in-over-four-years/
http://www.thebitbag.com/warcraft-3-joins-diablo-2-will-receive-new-patch-first-time-years/139928

It's hard to tell what exactly Blizzard is doing at this early stage, but we could be looking at some major improvements not just to graphical quality but perhaps even networking. If they made SCBW free to play (yeah it's still not free even today) and integrated it into the battlenet app that would undoubtedly breathe life back into the game.

serious question: What makes this apparent?

This would probably the most important factor.

In general I don't know if you can get the movement large enough that most of the community will be following the switch to a certain server. Most probably feel "at home" where they are and are not willing to switch unless there's considerable incentive.

Well the incentive would be having an easier time finding people to play UMS with since the numbers are dwindling and scattered across about three servers right now. Like I mentioned in the Reddit thread, it's common for r/BroodWar to have a "Where can I play UMS?" thread about once every other week or so. If the responses were always "ICCUP is where it's at," I think it would be a boon to the UMS community.

'HD remake' is pure speculation (afaik), but patches are likely since it's mentioned: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/careers/posting.html?id=1600060

This right here. "Create conditions for experiences that look as good as they play." is open to interpretation, I wouldn't immediately think of an HD remake when I read that.

An HD remake would be stupid. If we're talking a graphics overhaul, it would take so long to get used to that -- it wouldn't make the experience any better, not to mention the current graphics being perfectly acceptable. If we're talking about increasing the resolution to match today's standards (1080p, 2560p, etc), that would allow you see the entire map at once, which obviously is stupid. Modifying "conditions" for a better experience probably refers to the stability of battle.net, the various color issues that affect newer operating systems, and fixing color-related crashes and such (ie crashing when clicking on a non-standard colored flag).

But if they fix that then no extended portraits.

That crash is because player color is an index to which flag portrait to display which overflows on nonstandard colors, it has nothing to do with OS.

That assumes everyone has already switched and you actually find more people on the new server. The question is how to get it started.
Don't get me wrong, I do think it's a good idea. I just wonder how that could be made to work in practice.

I'm not looking to get a "movement" going, per se. Just trying to suggest that people recommend ICCUP instead of US East from now on whenever someone asks where the best place to play UMS is in 2016. Typically those questions are met with answers that suggest fragmentation across the official/private servers.

US East and West, for whatever reason, seem to have nearly died off in recent months. I came back after being away from BW for like 4-6 months to find them suddenly barren. I read something about US East gateways being DDOS'ed or something?

Anyway, even right now I have a much easier time getting UMS games going with full lobbies on ICCUP than anywhere else.

Yeah. To be honest I only hang around in donuts because of force of habit. Back in the day lots of SEN members would chill there. Nowadays it's mostly empty, not to mention this new and ongoing plug issue with US East has just about killed it.

What do I have to do to get onto ICCUP? And what channel do mappers hang out in?

Make an account on their website and then download either the ICCup launcer or MCA launcher. Both will connect you to the correct server (The Abyss). We usually hang out in donuts, as usual.

Sounds like people just use the donuts channel but on ICCUP now.

To get on ICCUP you need to make an account on their site and then download mca64Launcher. Launch Brood War through that with ICCUP selected as the server. From there you just log into the Bnet interface with the credentials you used to sign up on the ICCUP site.

Also, I highly recommend you join the Discord server that I created specifically for bringing UMS players and mapmakers together. I'm on their all the time, and it'd make it a lot easier for you to link up with people to play or test your maps given the time difference between you and most others. You can read all about the Discord server and how to get in here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/broodwar/comments/4boc03/brood_war_ums_discord_server_bringing_whats_left/

Okay, I'm in donuts on ICCUP now.

Is there a way to get on US East anymore? I always get a latency packet thing there. West works but it was and is still all Koreans. I wonder if I can remember my ICCUP login...

I don't think many people go onto US East anymore.