You must choose between all WADs before or after 2010.

[Hayden49]

You have to pick either all WADs released before 2010 or all wads from 2010 to now. What's your choice? I'll go first, I choose before 2010 because there's too many influential wads from back then. The after 2010 option does not include wads released in the future at the time of you deciding.

[vdgg]

My WADs of all time picks indicate that before 2010, no contest. Another question, which year would be the threshold that would make me want newer WADS? E.G. before and after 1998, I would obviously go for > 1998. 2008? 2006? I think from around 2003/2004 I would go for newer WADs.

[Deadwing]

Easily after 2010, the amount of great stuff in the last few years is crazy, imo.

Edited January 15, 2024 by Deadwing

[faceplant641]

I've enjoyed the pre-2010 WADs I've played as historical benchmarks, but for pure gameplay I'll take more recent stuff any day.  

[Maximum Matt]

Easily the ones between 1994-95, there's literally thousands to go through

[ReaperAA]

7 hours ago, Deadwing said:

Easily after 2010, the amount of great stuff in the last few years is crazy, imo.

 

^This. All of my favorite stuff (like Eviternity 1/2, Valiant, Ancient Aliens, Heartland, Sunlust, Faithless, TNT Revilution/Devilution, Resurgence etc) are post-2010

 

I think Plutonia 2, Alien Vendetta and maybe Scythe 2 are the only pre-2010 megawads that come anywhere close to my top favorite stuff.

Edited January 16, 2024 by ReaperAA

[cannonball]

To answer the question in a pedantic manner the only correct answer is before 2010, because as the IWads are required to run any PWad, choosing the latter option results in a load of stuff that you cannot actually play given you require the IWads to play them. 😗

If the question is specifically PWada then clearly the answer will probably be post 2010.

Edited January 16, 2024 by cannonball

[Doom-X-Machina]

Post-2010.

[mrthejoshmon]

Easy, before.

 

My favorite wads are 90's/00's era products like Icarus or Rebirth.

[fruity lerlups]

1 hour ago, cannonball said:

To answer the question in a pedantic manner the only correct answer is before 2010, because as the IWads are required to run any PWad, choosing the latter option results in a load of stuff that you cannot actually play given you require the IWads to play them. 😗

If the question is specifically PWada then clearly the answer will probably be post 2010.

ohh yeah but did you consider... freedoom?

(inb4 someone says freedoom has compatibility issues with X Y or Z idunno dude i've never even tried to run it with anything.. it looks funny tho and i like tht(

Edited January 16, 2024 by fruity lerlups

[Roofi]

Before 2010.

 

The quality of the wads definitely increased since but there's actually few modern releases than I played more than once whereas I played HR1&2, Kama Sutra, Memento Mori.... countless times. Most of my favourite mappers released their stuff a long time ago too and as a random wads addict, I tends to get more wads released in the 90's/00 than the 10's or 20's.

[RataUnderground]

Before 2010.

Objectively one cannot dispute that the quantity and quality of modern wads is overwhelming superior, but for me it is more important the history and nostalgia associated with a different era.

Edited January 16, 2024 by RataUnderground

[DNSKILL5]

Before 2010 because that’s the era my tastes developed in. 

[Stupid Bunny]

If I choose pre-2010 I don’t even have to change the wads I play

 

…which is why I’m choosing post-2010 I need to try some new shit, however much I’ll miss The Sky May Be and Doom Rat

[yakfak]

post 2010, most of my fave maps and sets are made by people still active or recently active in this community during the last fifteen years

there's old stuff I love though, like Jim Flynn's work, and I'm a glutton for challenge runs on the original iwads, shovelware etc... but I wouldn't be sad to move away from Scythe, MM and Requiem-style gaming at all, there's so much more diversity now. a hundred aesthetics and a hundred niches especially if you embrace what new players are making, what DSDA fiends are making etc

[SuyaSSS]

post 2010. I really have no nostalgia for older wads so the quality of the modern wads triumphs the older wads (although there are some really good pre 2010 wads as well). One interesting question is will the iwads survive? since we won't be able to play any doom wads without Doom and Doom 2.

 

[DRON12261]

After 2010. Today there are enough projects and authors who have taken and modernized the classic style in a great way and are able to constantly bring something new.

[Chainie]

After 2010, because of NT, Mordeth E2, Revelations of Doom and some other projects that haven't released yet.

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

Post 2010 - I couldn't even test my own maps, otherwise! 

 

Jokes aside, I have big respect to the giants on whose shoulders we're standing. But... The renewed interest in doom after Doom The Way id Did (2011) is incredibly refreshing. It feels too me like people said, "okay, we've done this already, let's try something different." I'm no doom historian but i think that there was a shift in gameplay with wads like Coffee Break (2012). More distilled form of gameplay, faster, more frantic, more enemies on screen... i may be entirely wrong, about the timing, though.

I mean to say that although i value the historical significance (and many of the old wads can easily stand on their own even without the context,) the innovation, and polish i see in more recent wads, is more valuable to me. Plus wads that are yet to come. 

 

Edit: where does sunder go? It started 2009 but is being worked on to this day. 

Edited January 16, 2024 by Sneezy McGlassFace
didn't read op carefully. no future wads

[rita remton]

umm... i choose wads before 2010 for gameplay, and after 2010 for aesthetics. i love vanilla gameplay and the old school slaughter genre. i'm also fond of the "modern" looks, especially maps with vanilla aesthetics that use surprisingly awesome arrangements of stock textures even after 30 years.

Edited January 16, 2024 by rita remton

[roadworx]

12 minutes ago, Sneezy McGlassFace said:

Post 2010 - I couldn't even test my own maps, otherwise! 

 

Jokes aside, I have big respect to the giants on whose shoulders we're standing. But... Renewed interest in doom after doom the way id did (2011) is incredibly refreshing. It feels too me like people said, "okay, we've seen this, let's try something completely different." I'm no doom historian but i think that there was a shift in gameplay with wads like Coffee Break (2012). More distilled form of gameplay, faster, more frantic, more enemies on screen... i may be entirely wrong, about the timing, though.

I mean to say that although i value the historical significance (and many of the old wads can easily stand on their own even without the context,) the innovation, and polish i see in more recent wads, is more valuable to me. Plus wads that are yet to come. 

i think you are wrong about the timing, yeah. i feel like it was more the 2008-2010 period that was the roots of that more than anything else, with stuff like plutonia 2, sunder, and speed of doom all coming together after a long period of stagnation to truly bring things back. i certainly wouldn't pin it down to a single wad made after all of those, even if dtwid is highly influential

 

the early 2010s definitely did set it in stone tho, that much i will say

Edited January 16, 2024 by roadworx

[Sneezy McGlassFace]

11 minutes ago, roadworx said:

i think you are wrong about the timing, yeah. i feel like it was more the 2008-2010 period that was the roots of that more than anything else, with stuff like plutonia 2, sunder, and speed of doom all coming together after a long period of stagnation to truly bring things back. i certainly wouldn't pin it down to a single wad made after all of those, even if dtwid is highly influential

 

the early 2010s definitely did set it in stone tho, that much i will say

Thanks for the correction :)

 

it's really cool that we can see 30 years of community output. Track the themes and sentiments but that's off topic. 

[Enzo Carozza]

Before 2010, a few the older WADs are personal favourites of mine; mainly Scythe, Perdition's Gate and Memento Mori.

Also where would Freedoom fall on this? :P

[MFG38]

After. If only because the level design sensibilities of today actually play to my preferences more than those from "back in the day".

[Budoka]

1 hour ago, roadworx said:

i think you are wrong about the timing, yeah. i feel like it was more the 2008-2010 period that was the roots of that more than anything else, with stuff like plutonia 2, sunder, and speed of doom all coming together after a long period of stagnation to truly bring things back. i certainly wouldn't pin it down to a single wad made after all of those, even if dtwid is highly influential

 

the early 2010s definitely did set it in stone tho, that much i will say

Arguably the extended version of Scythe II (and Scythe X) as well(2009). The original release was, if anything, far ahead of its time. With my apologies to the Scythe trilogy as a whole, Alien Vendetta, and Memento Mori II however... I obviously have to choose post-2010. Heck, the megawad that got me excited about classic Doom again is a Speed of Doom sequel. Then there's Vanguard, and how Skillsaw's entire mapping carreer skyrocketed from there... and beyond, too many legendary wads to bother mentioning them all.

Edited January 16, 2024 by Budoka

[Async Unicorn]

Though I like old wads and there are plenty which inspired me for ages [Doomcity, TNT Evilution, etc], I think I can trust the new ones more.

[BeetBeardTheBrave]

I only started playing Doom in late 2021, and most of the stuff I've enjoyed playing has been post-BTSX, and therefore Post-2010.  Mapping (to me) felt like it matured and became more fun/skill-focused(as opposed to spectacle/experimentation focused), while the detailing quality continued to improve in this time.  Plus there has been just so much dynamite that has come out since then (the entirety of Skillsaw's work, to name a subset that I like).  And there are many sets that hearken back to the days of old, and pay respect to it, so it feels like you can have your cake and eat it too.    

[plums]

Tough call but Epic 2 is 2010 so I'll use it as the deciding factor and say 2010 onwards

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

Before.  Outside of TWID-type stuff and other throwbacks I can't think of many modern WADs I even like.

[Celestin]

3 hours ago, roadworx said:

 i certainly wouldn't pin it down to a single wad made after all of those, even if dtwid is highly influential

This. If you go around and ask historians when did the Middle Ages ended, they would give you ten different dates, all of them would be symbolic. It was a gradual process and only from a distance you see things have changed.

 

Doom mapping works the same, you can see a change in trends over the years, but everything is fluid and gradual. That being said, Speed of Doom is a decent symbolic beginning of the modern ear of mapping, just like Alien Vendetta can be seen as a symbolic end of the classic age.

 

As for the question itself, I'll go with the post-2010 wads. I have no nostalgic attachment and greatly prefer the creativity of present-day authors.