Sorry to say, but I believe your nostalgia may be deluding your memory. After its 2014 release livestream, UHC was never popular, often times taking minutes at a time to find a single team to play with.Why change a successful game if it isn't broke?
Sure they can change some stuff around but what they've done is completely altered the game play of uhc.
It's like a cheap remake of a successful game.
Perhaps as to not have all of their work be for nothing, seeing as this was an ongoing project for almost a year, a single 'Classic' map could be added. Said map would be randomly generated, and would thus offer a unique experience every game.