Jeez... All his opinions have been provided with a logical reasoning for why he made them. And as for the OP, I pretty much agree with everything except the last one. While it is certainly true that many vertical based maps such as sword base have failed miserably, there are many examples of good vertical maps such as construct and mid-ship (Not sure if it counts as vertical).
Way I see it, Sword Bases main problem is that there was only one quick way to get up to the top level which made it easy for people to camp up top the lift. If they had added 2 or 3 quicker ways you could get up there very quickly.