Which difficulty do you play at [2018 Edition]

• Which difficulty do you play at?
• If you find a map tough do you lower the difficulty or grind until you can beat it?
• Do you ever play with -fast? If so do you do it consistently?
• Do you save often?
• Do you pistol start most, if not all, maps?

So how does everyone play? I feel like the general consensus is UV is the default skill level, is this true for you? Do you think UV should be the standard difficulty when it comes to level design or should it be quite punishing. MTrop bought up an interesting point in an Evolution of the Wad episode where people complained that Hard difficulty was hard and they were dying often. He said yeah, the whole point of hard is for it to be hard. Does this ring true for you in Doom? If you were to play a new wad on UV and it was ruthlessly tough would you lower the difficulty to HMP or would you keep at it until you crack it?

It depends on why I'm playing and how much there is. If I'm playing a single map, I'll almost always play on Ultra-Violence unless I know ahead of time that it's really hard or something. If I'm playing a megawad, especially a more modern release, I may go with Hurt Me Plenty. I recently completed Dark Encounters, which I played on HMP almost entirely because the text file basically said you'll be ammo deprived on Ultra-Violence.

If I'm doing a video and my primary objective is to complete the map within a reasonable amount of time, preferably without saving or dying, then my default is Hurt Me Plenty unless I think/know it's easier and/or short.

If I want to see how a map unfolds without cheating but I also don't want to punch 150 hell knights, I will play on I'm Too Young to Die for double ammo. 

I almost never play on Hey, Not Too Rough or Nightmare.

Generally I play both HMP and Ultra Violence. But I play HMP more.

prboom-plus, ultra-violence, pistol start, no saves

UV, as Doom should be hard, and Doom is a hard game to me (not hard to play, but hard on the player), as are all these old school shooters. The more enemies the better too, as it really allows the true strength of the game's combat to come out, but also as tough as it can get without any added gimmicks (fast monsters, respawning enemies, you die in one hit go to hell and stop playing our game etc).

. Always Ultra-Violence

. I try to finish it or I give up but I never lower the difficulty.

. I sometimes play on -fast when the wad proves to be particularly easy on Ultra-violence. It's more exciting and fun without becoming as overwhelming as Nightmare. I rarely have fun on NM and I never play on this difficulty when I discover a wad

. I never save in general. I save between each level if I decide to play continuously (without pistol-start). I can also use saves when some maps tend to be long or ridiculously hard and I don't have the time to retry thousand times

. I always like to play continuously when I discover a megawad for the first time , it gives a more adventurish side. However , I switch on pistol start when I want to explore more in details a wad or  when I want to make reviews on levels. I think it's necessary to play on pisto-start to know the real gameplay of a map.

I used to barrel through everything on UV like the uncultured swinephant I am. Today, I typically enjoy thinking over and enjoying the design of new releases with the (generally) more laid-back HNTR before deciding if I like the level(set) enough to go around a second time on UV. Unless it's completely devoid of challenge, that is. If time is a luxury you can afford, it's a great way to discover more of a set's character and depth.

Of course, this is probably why my Ironman performances have fallen off a cliff the last few months. A few skill-honing slaughter maps and speedruns here and there wouldn't go amiss.

I love -fast with UV.

I always play WADS on UV and continuously. When I play some megaWADs on my own, I play a bit more aggressively and as a consequence I generally save ~5 times a level, before key pickups, nasty looking switches etc. I also sometimes don't save in a level, but then I die a stupid death which makes me save at every corner of said level. When I Ironman stuff, I play lots more cautiously. I've never tried playing with -fast, but I might for fun. I play pistol start only when I'm recording (except if a WAD is completely unbalanced - hello Eternity), but also now for DWMegawad Club I'm pistol-starting each map to see the differences between playing continuously and pistol-starting.

I prefer Ultra Violence or Nightmare... Zzul violence is also nice, or italo violence...

HMP. I play with valiant monsters and argent on all maps for the added challenge, and only use a trackpad which makes UV a bit too frustrating. I save all the time, why do easy things twice?

UV, I didn't run into something that'd force me on something lower, and I kinda see Doom as a game that's supposed to be difficult so...

And when shit gets insane, save scumming does the trick most of the time :v , although that's not as frequent as it might sound. I'm always saving during each map however, except when I forget, and that's when I usually die. And lowering the difficulty even when I should is not something that I do, I'd rather spend some time figuring out an optimal route or play style to complete the level than do it, I see it more like a cheap alternative, and if it's beyond me, welp, game over, no point in completing something just for the sake of doing it and not experiencing the wad/map to its fullest.

4 hours ago, xvertigox said:

• Which difficulty do you play at?
• If you find a map tough do you lower the difficulty or grind until you can beat it?
• Do you ever play with -fast? If so do you do it consistently?
• Do you save often?
• Do you pistol start most, if not all, maps?

• Ultra-Violence, unless I'm testing my own map; in which case HMP and HNTR as well.
• If I feel like playing a tough map, I'll go into it with that mindset and try to beat it. I'll usually play something else if I'm not in the mood for dying a lot.
• I do not like the changes to monster behaviour on -fast, i.e. every enemy is a turret that stands there shooting repeatedly, to play on it. And I've only played with it once for the first 2 episodes of Scythe.
• If I'm playing a challenge-oriented map blind, I will save between encounters. If I'm replaying a wad I know or playing something new that's of average difficulty, I may or may not play saveless to spice things up.
• I tend to pistol start wads that came out after Alien Vendetta. Anything earlier tends to be a coin toss with how annoying resource placement is from pistol start. I've played all 90's megawads, and the IWADs, continuously.

I believe UV should be pretty damn hard; designed for players wanting a serious challenge. My last 2 maps, 35 in DMP2017 and 29 in SlaughterMAX, can be overwhelmingly difficult on UV (or Wild/HNTR in the case of the latter), so I usually suggest a lower skill setting for somebody wanting to play them.

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UV. I'm pretty big on playing things "as intended," and (as someone who doesn't map) my understanding is that UV is the starting place for most mappers and everything below is just adding crutches to it. But if the mapper explicitly states that HMP is what they recommend, I'll trust them. I don't think I ever considered dropping difficulty if I'm having trouble.

I'm a firm believer in pistol starting all maps, no mid-level saves. That said, if I'm consistently getting my ass kicked for days on a longer-than-10-minutes map, I'll eventually relent and save once or twice. But I'll feel really bad about it, and I won't feel like I actually "beat it" properly. A few weeks ago, BTSX-E1 MAP19 fucked me up, and after I beat it with a save, I eventually went back and did it "proper" because it didn't feel right. That said, I also just saved in the last map of Coffee Break because it's such an intense slog that can end five seconds after you open the door to the final fight. After a certain point I just didn't have the fortitude to see all that work get destroyed over and over again.

Never -fast. It's not intended by the mapper.

Often on UV, but sometimes Hurt me plenty if I want to get a head start and familiarize myself with the maps, I don't lower difficulty, would rather just skip the whole thing (Meh not worth it) it doesn't happen too often with me anyways. as for saving, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, depends on how "non-linear" the levels are, and whether I feel like continuing to play it later or not, I use saving mostly when I get lost in a level that I actually enjoy or when I reach a far point in a level that I would like to continue playing later.

Also no pistol starts for me (at least not every level), I play Doom mostly to spend my free time and relax, I don't like to frustrate myself :)

Since most of the servers on ZDaemon have UV as their difficulty, and I don't play Singleplayer much now, so Ultra Violence most of the time.

For multiplayer Deathmatches, the difficulty often times is set to Nightmare for inventory purposes. Does that count? :P

ZDoom, hurt me plenty, continuous play

6 hours ago, xvertigox said:

 

• Which difficulty do you play at?
• If you find a map tough do you lower the difficulty or grind until you can beat it?
• Do you ever play with -fast? If so do you do it consistently?
• Do you save often?
• Do you pistol start most, if not all, maps?

• When I play the wad for the first time, I always pick I'm Too Young To Die, because I'm the kind of person who prefers relaxed and smooth gameplay to challenge. Plus, modern wads are usually really hard for me on higher difficulties, sometimes even on ITYTD.
• Since I'm usually playing on ITYTD, there's no way to lower the difficulty beyong that, so I just keep trying until I beat it or ragequit.
• Never tried it.
• I don't manual save at all. I die, I (pistol) restart. It's usually more fun that way, unless the map is too hard and that may become annoying.
• I pistol start only when I die on the map (which happens by default when you press 'use').

Which difficulty do you play at? UV

If you find a map tough do you lower the difficulty or grind until you can beat it? Grind

Do you ever play with -fast? If so do you do it consistently? I don't usually play with -fast.

Do you save often? Yes

Do you pistol start most, if not all, maps? Varies, but usually continuous play.

7 hours ago, xvertigox said:

 

• Which difficulty do you play at?
• If you find a map tough do you lower the difficulty or grind until you can beat it?
• Do you ever play with -fast? If so do you do it consistently?
• Do you save often?
• Do you pistol start most, if not all, maps?

 

1) UV unless it is Doom 1\2 then nightmare.

2) Bash face until map breaks apart.

3) sometimes. Don't like it much since the monsters standing still is kinda meh and too easy to cheese in most fights.

4) If it is a big map save before big fights. Don't have time to replay a +30 min map over and over.

5) Yes. 

I don't see why fast would be considered a gimmick, I think it adds some much needed challenge for those who are too used to UV and find classic style wads too easy. Of course it wouldn't be good for say slaughter based wads unless they were made for it in mind.

I play on ITYTD until I find a mapset I'm prepared to worship at which point I play it on every conceivable difficulty and die on all of them

frankly i don't have the gene that lets you learn how to play action games

• I always play on UV.
• If I have difficulty with a map, I grind till one of two things happens:  a) Beat the map.   b) Give up on it.    For some reason, I can't let myself lower the difficulty, even if I am getting my butt handed to me repeatedly. That is when giving up comes into play.
• I don't play with -fast.
• Saving depends on the map. I sometimes do a map without saves and if I find that I am dying often, I start saving around 5 times in the level. If it is a really lengthy map, I will save way more. Since I was absent from Dooming though, for 2 months and maybe more, I need to get more practice and I intend to start saving again at WADs, until I decide that I can do no saving again.
• Always continuous play.

By the way, does anyone know how do I pistol start on (G)ZDoom? Is idclev to XX level the way to do it?

I don't think I want to pistol start maps, but still, why not learn how to do it?

Usually HMP or UV depending on a combination of the day of week, the alignment of the planets and how blood thirsty I feel. I save when after I redo a section for the nth time.

14 minutes ago, ShotgunDemolition said:

By the way, does anyone know how do I pistol start on (G)ZDoom? Is idclev to XX level the way to do it?

I don't think I want to pistol start maps, but still, why not learn how to do it?

Use the map mapname console command. Iwad maps are named map01-32 on Doom2 and ExMX in Doom 1.

39 minutes ago, ShotgunDemolition said:

By the way, does anyone know how do I pistol start on (G)ZDoom? Is idclev to XX level the way to do it?

I don't think I want to pistol start maps, but still, why not learn how to do it?

There are some WADs that can do it. I use this one: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=47204

It often doesn't work automatically, but I can just press a button and it'll automatically reset the map I'm on with pistol start, and even autosave.

Quote

 

Which difficulty do you play at?

If you find a map tough do you lower the difficulty or grind until you can beat it?

Do you ever play with -fast? If so do you do it consistently?

Do you save often?

Do you pistol start most, if not all, maps?

 

1) HMP, but I can replay some wads later on UV
2) No changing.
3) No. I think I'm should try this somewhere later.
4) Mostly in start of level and in the middle (tough maps).
5) No.

UV with the -fast parameter, pistol starts, and saving is for wussies. :P

99% of the time I play on Ultra-Violence. I only lower the difficulty for super-challenging WADs, like Ribbiks' stuff (though I do still play a bit of them on UV).