My opinion on the guide is that people should probably not use a guide to choose a map.

Random maps really add a lot to the game for me.

Just recently I got two maps in a row that some people would call "easy" most/all biomes on main island with trader.

Getting maps like that for the first time really changed how I perceived the game. Progression was insanely fast and I was lagging behind in food constantly. The map was so easy to play that I just never had the time to get the food farmed for that level.

In a lot of ways maps can alter progression. And not just in ways that you might see but the added randomized spawns for POIs will change anyway and troll spawns for example.

I see complaints from people about progression and grind but I often wonder if that comes from the variation in maps and perhaps these people will only play one map and have no idea of the overall picture.

That does give a game like this more difficulty to balance, the maps really do alter things that much.

In the end I think doing many random maps is the way to play to get the full experience.

I do find it interesting that even people with similar tastes may have different opinions about the game based on the map they played.. it really does make that big a difference.