Things modern mappers do better

4 minutes ago, rdwpa said:

But how many people actually play Hell Revealed for any other reason than it's a classic? The "niche" crew that is genuinely into it is actually what I'd describe as "extremely niche", from what I've seen -- it's certainly a smaller subset than those who are into Sunlust-like gameplay. 

This is only because of the unfortunate first episode.  If Hell Revealed had been released as a 10-map episode with City in the Clouds, Gates to Hell, The Black Towers, The Path, Resistance is Futile, Ascending to the Stars, Postmortem, Dead Progressive, Afterlife, and Mostly Harmful, everyone would love it.

the music is better

16 minutes ago, Cynical said:

This is only because of the unfortunate first episode.  If Hell Revealed had been released as a 10-map episode with City in the Clouds, Gates to Hell, The Black Towers, The Path, Resistance is Futile, Ascending to the Stars, Postmortem, Dead Progressive, Afterlife, and Mostly Harmful, everyone would love it.

Having to surgically extract less than half of something to make a point is really telling.

Taking every Donner map from 14-onwards other than Everything Dies (which isn't actually bad, just not up to the standards of the 10 I posted above), Hard Attack, and Judgement Day (which really do suck) isn't exactly "surgical".  And, let's be realistic, there isn't a megawad in existence that has more than 10 highlight-quality maps; most other popular megawads were just lucky/smart enough to put a few of those highlights early (aside from Valiant, which I will never understand the popularity of).

You forgot Last look at Eden which is probably one of the most well designed, strategically-side, by Donner :)

The problem with Last Look at Eden is that it's too easy to slow-roll the start by just running circles while everything infights instead of doing things the "intended" method of immediately sprinting into the open courtyard.  Also, the courtyard is really dull, and there's no getting around that.

If only the second half of a wad is "considered well-liked" by your own description, that seems like a really strong argument for recommending a different wad first.

Asking for more than 10 "highlight-quality" maps is shifting the goalposts from finding a megawad comprised of well-liked maps to finding a megawad comprised of outright amazing ones. There will always be peaks and valleys, it's a question of how low those valleys are. (And starting off on the right foot makes a big difference! A tv series that's gripping from the start is going to be accessible to a much wider audience than one that takes a few seasons stumbling over its feet before becoming great.)

Case in point, modern mappers are better at arranging their maps within their projects.