An idea for how to mod Doom 2016.

[DooM_RO]

A few months ago I saw a rudimentary Doom modding tool that was used to create simple mods that were capable to adding more enemies and tweaking the weapons. This tool is what inspired this post.

 

These are the tools I am talking about:

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/doom/mods/1

 

 

 

 

Some of you might share my sentiment that Doom 2016 is a very good Doom game that is marred by a multitude of small problems that prevent it from being truly great. Many of the game's mechanics are really cool but perhaps overtuned for example. Glory Kills and the Chainsaw mechanic are a prime example of this. While very cool mechanics, they could use a bit of a nerf to encourage the player to get resources from the map itself. They are not broken or anything and in fact I think could be fixed with just a few tweaks.

 

Chainsaw, BFG and the Glory Kills:

 

There is far less Chainsaw fuel in the maps. Each canister only gives 1 Fuel. Killing a small enemy refills 5% of ammo, while larger enemies give 10-15%. This way, the player always has a fighting chance but is never overflowed with ammo and has to be more careful.

 

The BFG no longer gives ammo and has less ammo overall.

 

The  Glory Kills are another really cool but sadly flawed mechanic that if tweaked could be perfect. I like the fact that you can get more health in emergency situations but I think it is a bit too much. You should get no more than 25 health and it should have a cooldown, possibly even have a suit upgrade that lowers it. The chance of special ammo such as Rockets and Cells should also be much lower. On the other hand, the player should always have a healthy supply of Shells and Bullets.

 

Weapon Tweaks:

 

The Pistol should either be completely redone or replaced with the Repeater from MP. Seriously, just because it is a starter weapon does not mean it should suck. The repeater could work like the Pistol in RAGE. It has a default fire option, a burst fire mode and a magnum upgrade that uses more ammo for more firepower. 

 

The Charged Burst upgrade for the Shotgun sounds like a neat idea but it actually kind of sucks. An alternative would be to replace it with a passive upgrade that significantly increases the range of the weapon, making it behave more like the old Shotgun. This way, the player would actually have a reason to use different upgrades and each upgrade would have a pro and con.

 

The HAR is perfect as it is. I actually think that from a gameplay perspective it is the "real" Chaingun: a long range needler. 

 

The Plasma Gun is a tough one. It sucks and if it weren't for the Stun Bomb upgrade, I would not use it at all. The main fire should do more damage and the Vent upgrade should be made more useful or be replaced with a charged shotgun blast like in Brutal Doom.

 

The Chaingun is another tricky one. I am actually not sure how to fix it. The winding takes a bit too long and the gatling gun upgrade slows you down too much. Maybe an upgrade could be to place it as an individual turret. Would welcome any ideas. 

 

Rocket Launcher is fine as it is.

 

Gauss Cannon is a bit too powerful but could be fixed by making it use more ammo.

 

Multiplayer Weapons:

 

Perhaps the Multiplayer Weapons could be introduced in the Single Player campaign to spice up the game even more. Some would require some tweaks to work though.

Maybe they could also only be introduced in the new Nightmare difficulty I am about to discuss. That would give players an extra reason to play it.

 

Runes:

 

Blood Fueled should be on by default and not take a Rune slot. I really like this mechanic. It makes you fast in fights but the effect wears off when exploring, letting you soak in the atmosphere. 

 

The Air mobility rune should also be on by default. Makes the movement much better.

 

The rest of them are OK I think.

 

Demons:

 

Imp: Best enemy in the game. Perhaps a bit TOO strong.

 

Possessed Scientist/Engineer. Lower the sound volume, make them run at the player. 

 

Possessed Soldier. Another great enemy.

 

Possessed Shield Soldier: Give it more range, lower shield health.

 

Hellrazer: Useless, but could be fixed by increasing accuracy.

 

Revenant: Oddly useless. Not sure how to fix.

 

Hell Knight: Really good enemy, no tweaks required.

 

Baron of Hell: Another great enemy.

 

Lost Soul: Best incarnation so far. 

 

Summoner. It has too little health.

 

Mancubus: Good as it is. 

 

Cacodemon: Also good as it is.

 

Pinky: I think it is OK.

 

Rebalanced Nightmare Difficulty:

 

One of my favorite things about Classic Doom is how as you increase the difficulty, tougher monsters start appearing in earlier maps and the density of weaker monsters is increased. 

 

So this gave me an idea. What if we altered the monster composition of arenas and encounters outside arenas? What would it be like to fight a couple of Hell Knights at the end of the first level, BEFORE you get any heavy duty weaponry. What would it be like to fight Cacodemons and Lost Souls in the Foundry? We could also tweak the arenas to have more interesting monster compositions too. Since the player has already beaten the game, they should be up for the challenge.

 

Another idea I had would be to include the MP weapons only in this difficulty. They would be a reward for the extra challenge.

 

What do you guys think? Do you like my ideas? Are they doable?

 

 

Edited April 18, 2018 by DooM_RO