Would you link some, I've searched LvL and the nearest to playable I've seen is DieselRabbit's ice map. Most maps are rejected because they're not playable, usually because mappers are unaware how well players can use the railgun but also because of common mistakes like too many nooks and crannies. 'Progamers' (by this I really mean the highly competitive amateur scene in Q3 because the proscene plays anything put infront of them for money) are very interested in playable new maps, we've already had interested from the Produels Q3 tournament organiser in one of the maps we're working on. This is not a boast, as someone who tries to find good gameplay maps for mappacks I can tell you there are very few. The map in question, a rebuild of akumacpm1, is partly why I am interested in talking to mappers and getting them involved. This map was like a lot of the maps that get made - a nice layout with potential there but lacking that final level of gameplay polish that makes the difference between ignored and played to death. There are some very simple things that had to be done to that map that apply to the majority - losing pointless nooks, cleaning up the geometry, removing dead space and unnecessary routes and you end up with a map players like that on the face of it isn't all that different to the map you started with.There have been excellent terrain and other styled maps made, but the problem is that they still get rejected by "pro-gamers" because it's not something that they've been trained to play. And if a new style makes them feel like a noob again, they simply won't touch it.
As to settings yes, most people play at high picmips, this doesn't nullify good mapping, people still load nice settings to look at the map, to watch demos and so on. What gets killed by picmip is a small part of making a good map.
I envy the mappers who make beautiful maps, quakerx and mrlake (burning reminders) have both made maps I still load up regularly, turn on s_ambient and just soak up the atmosphere. 
