How do you all play wads?

[Inky_]

Usually just play casually, unless i know the maps well i prob wont be secret hunting or anything

[RHhe82]

I try to max kills and secrets, which usually isn’t a big deal since I use saves, anyway. I also pistol-start.

 

Lately I’ve been thinking of this: I always play megawads such that I complete each and every map in order. Usually this means 1-15, 31-32, 16-30. That’s a very natural order of things. Recently I completed Resurgence, and for whatever reason, after MAP24 or something I browsed thru the remainder of maps to see what’s coming, listened to MAP30’s music, I liked it, decided to play a little and ended up finishing the map. The next day went back to MAP25 and continued from there and eventually tagged the wad as completed after finishing MAP29. I felt no harm was done doing the maps in slightly wrong order.

 

Yesterday I resumed BTSX e2 from a loooong hiatus and finally finished MAP15, naturally going thru the secret exit - and I’m seriously considering leaving MAP31 for last. Does anyone else vary playing order? At least on replays?

 

Some (less story-driven) wads lend themselves more naturally to this sort of behaviour than others, to be sure, and I know the dev team won’t sue me (right? :P) for deviating from the linear path, but I can’t help but feel a little criminal doing this.

[Xaser]

I'd much rather see folks IDCLEV around a set than get stuck on a map and have a bad time with it or decide to quit playing altogether, especially for projects that have lots of different map authors. If you don't like Person A's work, maybe Person B's suits your fancy.

 

tl;dr, you're doing it right. ;)

Edited March 24 by Xaser

[RHhe82]

Just to clear any possible misinterpretations; my hesitation had more to do with an anticipation of a very long map after a very long map than the actual (subjective perception of the) quality of maps :-D And as it happens, I ended up playing Fireking anyways, and had good time with it. Only took me some 81 minutes to complete it as opposed to 84 minutes of Theory of Broken Circles :-D

 

But indeed; now that you put it that way; in the case of some map rubbing the wrong way, I suppose it’d be better to skip the map and then come back to it later rather than be miserable and drop off the wad altogether because of frustration in one map.

[LadyMistDragon]

I lean toward the first option but if there's something about the map that really grabs me, I'll spend more time looking for secrets. That's not normally the case though.

[Mystic 256]

somewhere between casual and completionist

[Sesamia]

I do a mixture of option 1 & 2, but I'll more often choose option 2 since I like to see everything that a map has to offer.

[WhateverComic07]

I almost always UVMax (With saves, no midcombat saves except the wads that are just way beyond my level because I'm pretty casual), but in recent times I've just kind of said fuck it for secrets, because 90% of the time they're unfun garbage to look for that then trivializes the actual combat of the map instead of rewarding the player with more combat. There are good secrets, but slightly off texture walls aren't it. I think a good example of a fun secret would be Godless Night map 1 secret exit. You have to figure out some wierdness in the geometry and once you do the level clearly points you where to go from there, which leads to another fight and not just an invincibility sphere or something. 

 

Back on topic though, I always go for 100% kills, even on my first playthrough, because it feels wrong not to for me. It's the same mentality that ruined my Elden Ring playthrough the first time because I went down a list and killed every single boss (it's not worth it, don't do it). On replay I just killed what I xcame across and enjoyed the game far more. I should probably do the same for Doom wads, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

 

I hope this response is coherent. I have been awake for about 10 minutes or so.

 

 

 

 

[Dantosking]

Skill: Ultra-Violence

Saves: no

 

That's all. 100% Kills, items or secrets aren't important for me. Today I finished probably the most craziest level without saves in my Doom way.

[Kesky]

2 hours ago, Dantosking said:

Skill: Ultra-Violence

Saves: no

 

That's all. 100% Kills, items or secrets aren't important for me. Today I finished probably the most craziest level without saves in my Doom way.

God damn respect brother. I cant imagine a straight run of a 2 hour map. I can barely do an hour and I mainly play hideous destructor

[watermelon eater gaming]

i try and find the exit while trying not to die while also trying to find any items, kills and secrets found in the obvious spots

 

unless i find the exit early but only have 18% kills 0% items 0% secrets

i go "HELL NAW" and skip the early exit and beat the rest of the level

 

i also savescum consistently

Edited March 24 by DASniperIC

[CacoKnight]

I also close the port after every level, think about it for a bit and take a break to relax.

[Patrick_Plays_Doom]

i play till map02 ragequit

come back 2 weeks later

ragequit 3 levels later

come back 2 weeks later

rinse and repeat

[Shepardus]

I play the first map, think "man, what a cool WAD, gotta play the rest of this later," put it in my WADs folder, and then never play it again.

[yakfak]

skip between maps subject to feelings. or forget what i saw last time and then idclev 1d30

sometimes kinda play for anti-completion? like run round the enemies seeing if i can live through it or refusing to jump into obvious floor level secrets cos i am adventuring up here not down there

there are still exit rooms in my fave wads i haven't seen honestly

anything to avoid exhausting a level or level set's stuff in one shot

 

edit: but it's been a while since i played anything but my own stuff, really preoccupied

Edited March 24 by yakfak

[Plerb]

I almost never try to get 100% anything, I play HMP for most WADs unless they're too easy on that difficulty, and I'm a fan of the save feature.

I used to swear by playing continuous, but after I started making maps with careful balancing that would get ruined if not played pistol-start, I now only play continuous if the WAD was designed for it.

[Kesky]

10 minutes ago, Plerb said:

I almost never try to get 100% anything, I play HMP for most WADs unless they're too easy on that difficulty, and I'm a fan of the save feature.

I used to swear by playing continuous, but after I started making maps with careful balancing that would get ruined if not played pistol-start, I now only play continuous if the WAD was designed for it.

Im trying to balance my map right now, im quite new to mapping and balancing for both pistol start and continuous play sucks but I think Ive figured out a way to make it work. Still trying though.

[Sensitive-Sky]

I like doing both casual and completionist styles, I play continuously and with saves when I play causally (lower difficulties, etc). However, I do play wads with a completionist style with pistol starts and no saves to improve my skills with wads such as Vanguard that I played recently. I'm planning on doing the same with Speed of Doom, but I don't know how long I'll last :)