WAD genres/types that you love/hate?

As the title says. For those of you clueless to what "WAD genres" are; it means  WAD types or "slaughtermaps, puzzle, non-linear, etc.". Yes, even Terrywads and jokewads count.

For me, I like maps with non-linearity and with puzzle-y elements (E: also narrative-focused ones) - they just have something exciting that I can't point my finger on.

I have mixed opinions on slaughterwads; but other than that, I don't really hate any genres of Doom wads.

City maps are by far my favorite level archetype: nothing comes close to them. I still generally enjoy every kind of level, though, terrywads excluded.

I'll answer this one in good faith. 

I don't like exploration/puzzles in Doom.  Full stop, do not enjoy.  I absolutely love Myst/Riven/that sort of thing but it drives me up a wall in Doom.

Ones I like:

- Easy difficulty

- Not referencing Doom 4

- WADs for Heretic/hexen (these two get very little love)

- Slaughter maps done RIGHT (Don't trap the player with 10,000 revenants and 1 pillar to hide behind, think closer to Plutonia 1's GO2IT level of slaughtermap design).

- "First map!" - I like to see how people start out and offer ways to help them improve their mapping skills. :)

- Gameplay changing mods like Brutal DooM or LaTailorGirl

- Experimental wads

- Adventure wads

- Grezzo-esque (Little controversial this one)

Ones I dislike:

- Slaughtermaps done wrong (Swiftdeath is a good example)

- Referencing DooM 4

- Horror maps (Me no likey horror.... too spooky Q_Q)

- Broken maps

- Terry-wads

- Pointless wads

- Oblige maps being passed off as "original"

- Plagiarism

- The Mis-Adventures of Dynamite Episode 0: TNT Strikes 👌

Maps that take less than 10 minutes to beat are my favourite. They can be any visual theme from E1 techbase to Gothic to OTEX, any level of detail - as long as it’s done with a degree of care. I know that’s not a genre as such, but bite-sized maps are the best because I’m not exhausted before finding the exit switch.

The most underrepresented variety of map by a long shot these days are compact, well made Deathmatch maps. Once a staple, but now new ones are rare as hen’s teeth. I’d love to see more being made!

Theres no variety of map that I hate. Even the ones that aren’t for me, I’m glad they exist.

Hot take

I prefer linear to non-linear levels. I very often get lost in non-linear maps, because more often than not, progression is very confusing in them, and far from clear or obvious.

I said it before, I'm saying it again, I don't enjoy slaughterwads, sometimes I come across some nice slaughtermaps that actually provide the player with some good space to move around and not a hundred tough enemies that will close on you no matter what, but I don't think I ever find that many of them.

I like non-linear maps as long as they're not Hexen puzzles, I like being able to approach situations from different angles but not having to solve cryptic puzzles, or rather, figure out what that one switch did.

I love shorter wads, at most I will play 2 hours of Doom for a day, so playing a megawad sometimes takes me months, shorter wads adjust well to my time on the game, that said I still enjoy megawads even if I have to take time with them.

I despise terry wads, but everybody does.

So yeah here's another one of my posts nobody cares about.

I find full conversions the most interesting, they're always a nice change of pace. Gameplay modifications are nice as well, but I'm never too sure which mapset to use with them. Not too into slaughtermaps simply because I am pretty garbage at them.

I will unconditionally love any map that is ultimate-doom styled (e1 through e4, though E2 is my favorite), but am really not a fan of slaughtermaps in general. I'd rather have smaller, more personal monster encounters. (ha)

Generally, I prefer more classical/vanilla styled WADs, still not sick of the classic DOOM style after all these years & there's many highly regarded WADs I've yet to give a shot.

I don't enjoy entire maps/WADs that are slaughter themed, but I don't mind regular maps that build up to a climactic slaughter encounter near the end.  I guess I like my DOOM slaughter in small doses ^_^

    I like maps that break away from established DooM traditions, even if those are established for a reason. Does a key always need to be near the corresponding door? Does the progression need to be fluid? I also like it when the map isn't tailored for the player, like the map exists and has a life on its own without the player activating lock-in traps all the time.

    Mapsets like A.L.T. and Sacrament are my favourite, precisely because they break these norms, sacrificing gameplay, yes, but for great compensation in atmosphere and narrative.

    My dream map would be a titanic exploration where you feel like an insignificant ant, barely surviving not because of ferocious opposition but ammo starvation, and fights would generally be uncoreographed and spontaneous. At the same time, you would have a great deal of mobility so you could leave inopportune fights.

I'd have to say I like maps that skirt the line between slaughter and combat-puzzle. Examples would be Plutonia, Plutonia 2, Alien Vendetta, Scythe 2, Japanese Community Project, Community Chest 2, Hell Revealed 2, Epic 2, Speed of Doom, Hellbound, Vanguard.

I need a lot of action but I don't want to face 100s of monsters in 1 room usually. I also enjoyed Equinox which doesn't quite fit with the others. Also, I LOVE Community Chest 2's 24th map The Mucus Flow by the same author.

"Love" : I don't know if "Loving" is the right term, but I think the big Ultimate Doom maps with exploration are the kind that aren't explored enough.

"Hate" : It really depends on my motivation and my mood. I "hate" maps that don't offer anything, have a more than generic gameplay. These are the maps that I'm going to like a little bit, but that I'm going to forget a few days later. That's a problem I have a lot with prolific mappers. They can make quite good maps but easily forgettable.

I have a huge appreciation for explicitly vanilla-compatible maps/wads that have creative and limit-pushing visuals, if that can be considered a genre.

I'm not the biggest fan of Doom E1 remake/tribute mapsets. They're not bad, and I can see the appeal. I've just had my fill of Knee Deep In The Dead.

Modern-style maps with a stronger focus on setpieces than incidental combat, that take 10-20 minutes to finish are my favorites by far. Most fan favorite boom megawads have those.

I also love GZDoom mapsets that make use of some of the advanced features to diversify gameplay. Like Skulldash or Winter's Fury.

Well made slaughter is also my thing, although I'm very picky when it comes to that. And I usually play slaughterwads on lower difficulties than UV.

I dislike wads that feel too much like vanilla Doom. They all feel so samey to me. I only got through a few maps of Shotgun Symphony before getting really bored of it.

Puzzles aren't my thing either.

the only maps I really dislike are the ones that have you go underwater n stuff. I love swimming in Quake where it's really well supported but it's goofy in Doom, no matter to the degree yr port is advanced lol

i love subtle levels and weird decisions. i like dead ends n things. puzzles, points of no return, places you can go for no reason. these can appear in polished mass-appeal maps, miserable counterculture maps, amateur maps or anywhere else, easy or hard, short or long.

Like:

Combat focused maps.

Detailed levels.

Linear levels.

Hell-ish/very otherwordly looking levels.

Hexen WADs.

Slaughter maps.

Hate:

I only hate everything obnoxiously obtuse and what goes crazy with full cheap traps and encounters.

8 hours ago, DynamiteKaitorn said:

- Grezzo-esque (Little controversial this one)

I hope this question doesn't bother you too much, but why do you like them? I am genuinely curious.

Simpe, I like wads that are over the top and overly inappropriate whilst still having good gameplay. Regular Day, despite all the messed up themes inside it, for example is one I do play often as I find the level designs fun to play through.

I don't  like maps with not enough ammo. Sorry, but I don't find it amusing having to carefully conserve every round of ammo by using the fists and chainsaw (if such a luxury is allowed) around corners to get a few weakening hits in, and using the pistol to finish off enemies so that I don't waste an extra round with the chaingun by mistake.

1 hour ago, DynamiteKaitorn said:

Simpe, I like wads that are over the top and overly inappropriate whilst still having good gameplay. Regular Day, despite all the messed up themes inside it, for example is one I do play often as I find the level designs fun to play through.

Oh, well. I hope I'm not sounding too much like a moral guardian, but you play what you want... As long as its not things like that one /pol/ wad... At least I think we can agree that we should stray away from that!

I don't really have any specific wad genres/types that I explicitly love or hate. I can like almost anything as long as it's well-executed - even a jokewad. The only wad type I'm sort of biased against is slaughter, but even then, I can still appreciate a well-made slaughtermap.

Wad/Map Types i like:

- Slaughtery Wads (around Sunlust level)

- Puzzley Wads (Phocas Island 2)

- Wads with storylines and cutscenes and dialogue via scripts

- Wads with beautiful detailed levels (like Sunlust, Eviternity, Ancient Aliens, Japanese Community Project, BTSX)

- Sandboxy Exploration

- DTWIDlikes (when im in the mood for something more classic)

- wads with furry characters (Shadow/Rise Of The Woolball, Ralsei/Suzie/Isabelle Companion wads, SRB2)

- Experimental / Avant Garde Wads

- Zdoom and Gzdoom wads that utilize the power of those engines to a good degree (Zpack, KDIZD, Zdoom community Project take 2, Void and Rainbow, Hurt)

- HQ / Hangout wads (MAG HQ, Gosimer's Boat and Gosimer's Town (except i cant find a download for those 2 wads anymore), Funwad, BMS Gold)

- Invasion Wads (Alpha/Delta Invasion, Invasion Unleashed, Reelism)

- Coop Wads / Coop Compatible Wads

- Deathmatch wads (like UDM3, UDMX, Cybercrime 3, Gothic, Some of 32in24 wads)

- "My House" / "My Hometown" wads

- Wads with unique bosses and megawads with final bosses that are not the icon of sin (like Valiant and Eviternity)

Wad/Map Types I don't like

- maps that are too cramped

- slaughter maps that go on for a bit too long to the point where they feel sloggish

- Scythe Map28

- broken maps

- lazy terry wads

- rocket jump wads (doom's rocket jumping has always felt a bit weird to me)

- size limit wads that are smaller than 1024x1024 (1024x1024 is good but i think the gameplay starts to suffer when you go smaller than that)

- randomly generated slige and oblige maps sometimes (sometimes you can get something interesting but there often a lot of dull maps)

- my wads on those days where i feel too perfectionisty

I'm especially fond of small arena-like maps like Chasing Suns, We've Been Boarded or Dare To Fly Where Eagles Soar. They allow more action and replayability. 

I noticed that maps that are hell and cave themed are usually unpleasant to play.