The DWIronman League dies to: Hellfire: Dreams

[leodoom85]

I agree with that. I don't take attention to reviews since I want to try it on my own and have my own opinion of it, regarding gameplay, visuals and other things.

[Pegleg]

@Bloodite Krypto @seed

@leodoom85

True enough regarding reviews, although I did note that some of the reviews did point out shortcomings that have been noted here. My general point regarding ratings was that by a cursory glance (and I have no idea what Alfonzo's selection process is), Hellfire: Dreams was not generally considered horrific and despised.

 

2 hours ago, Bloodite Krypto said:

Length? If it's very long bordering over 3 hours to complete on average, it can be a turn off for those who don't have the free time or feel strained both physically and mentally having to commit themselves to a marathon in one sitting. Ofcourse epic and classic choices are expected once in a while, which may exclude particular players but this is still a crucial factor to consider nonetheless.

 

I have said in at least one previous month that shorter selections are more preferable, in my opinion, than longer ones simply for approachability. I personally can't imagine playing an entire 30 map (possibly 32 if you include secret levels) megawad in one sitting. Yes, people clearly do play them in one sitting, but that is why I advocated for players to be allowed to split such megawads up into a reasonable set of smaller chunks, if they chose to do so. That is also a reason why I prefer the mapsets of more moderate length for the DWIL.

 

2 hours ago, Bloodite Krypto said:

You'll need a citation when you mention regulars have stopped participating for a variety of reasons, as I've yet to see any public statements from players. It's rumoured DotW is too busy with real life commitments and doesn't have time, I believe Ancalagon finds the wad choices boring and deliberately rushes through them resulting in an early death from a past conversation and I've yet to hear why RjY stopped playing. However in all three examples none of them have publicly stated why they've stopped participating, so it's merely speculation and public rumour for those examples and others for the time being.

 

I don't know the particular reasons, either, and the exact reasons are immaterial to the overall point. Whether it is because they are bored or busy with some real life things, they haven't participated in several months, so I wouldn't count on their participation for the analysis (over-analytical or not).

 

And yes, 2017 and 2018 were remarkably consistent in average participation, and 30 was the low mark for both years. This is shaping up to be the least popular month in the competition so far; whether that's due to the selection or some other collection of reasons is unknown. Unless Alfonzo plans to start having participants vote on the next month's selection (a la dobu and the Megawad Club) then we have to trust that his selections will be more popular (if obscure) and will encourage increased participation.

[Capellan]

On 1/28/2019 at 8:14 AM, Bloodite Krypto said:

Never heard of this obscure travesity let alone touched A.L.T as I find it's design philosophy dreadfully boring. 

 

Oddly, while A.L.T. is totally not my thing, I actually am very glad I played it this month for the DWMC.  It was an interesting experience to play.  Once, anyway :)

 

I do disagree with you about the SSG, to some extent.  You can leave off introducing the SSG as long as you like, IMO, as long as you understand what you're doing in keeping it out of the player's hands.  A properly fed RL or PG works quite nicely for dealing with mid-tier monsters, and the RL in particular can often be more fun with clouds of weak enemies than the SSG is.  The real problem IMO is when you're expected to grind lots of mid-tier monsters with just the normal shottie and chaingun.  That's a drag (and may well be a sin this mapset commits - I haven't played it).

 

[Pegleg]

41 minutes ago, Capellan said:

I haven't played it).

 

Come on. Join in. The water's fine.

[Capellan]

2 minutes ago, Pegleg said:

 

Come on. Join in. The water's fine.

 

I don't think BK agrees :)

[Pegleg]

2 hours ago, Capellan said:

 

I don't think BK agrees :)

 

No, he doesn't. And if there was water in this mapset, it would probably hurt you.

 

Still, you should come join us.

[Jimmy]

 

Let's die. In the name of Britain but also Australia a bit I dunno I'm kind of having an identity crisis over here.

[Jimmy]

Big stinky stupid death on MAP02.

 

Category 1 run.

 

 

[SSGmaster]

Died on map 2, cat 1

 

 

I did not liked this wad at all.
Oh and because I decided to play with GLboom from now on: aweful.zip

[seed]

Peaking around corners with low health and barely any ammo...

 

Glad I died where I did, it stops looking fun. Shame, considering the music in MAP02 sound pretty fucking awesome.

[WH-Wilou84]

Here’s my run for this month (category 1).

 

Add another corpse to the “Didn’t survive map 06” pile. I died at the beginning of the level, due to a pesky Shotgun guy who kindly put an end to my miserable existence.
By then, due to a series of mishaps, I didn’t care anymore to be honest.
A complete screw-up with a pack of Cacodemons earlier on map 03 cost me a ton of life, resources, and most importantly my self-control. Later, an unlucky linedef skip at the very end of map 05 had me wandering into the toxic sludge for what seemed like an eternity, leaving me with little health whereas I had a comfortable stash.
Mappers, please consider adding redundant lines in these scenarios so that it's harder / impossible to skip these lines… :)

I’m not a fan of this kind of mapsets where resources come at a premium, particularly when coupled with faraway Chaingunner snipers and toxic floors everywhere.
But that one’s well executed at least, and looks good.

On to February !

hfd-Ironman-Map06-wh.zip

[Jimmy]

@Alfonzo I believe I set my compatibility options to Doom strict instead of Boom strict. Does this invalidate my run in any way?

[Steve D]

As one of the regulars who hasn't participated lately, I'd like to say that, as with DotW, it's just a matter of being overbooked IRL. I can only devote about 10% of the time to Doom that I'd like to, and I'm absolutely mortified that I haven't participated in the last 3 months of Ironman, since I really enjoy it. I did manage to do a half-assed practice run of UDTWiD, and died on Map01. That was it.

 

I would have loved to participate this month as I did a tiny bit of playtesting for this mapset back in the day. I didn't get far into it, alas -- IRL commitments got the better of me back then, too -- but I remember being captivated by the lighting and atmosphere of Map02. And of course, I died. :D 

 

I hope to return next month. Barring another easy wad like DTWiD, I'll be scalped early as usual, but my whole scheme is to climb the leaderboard by accumulating points through steady participation, perhaps eventually cracking the Top 35 in Lifetime stats. We all need to have our cherished dreams. ;)

 

 

[Alfonzo]

19 hours ago, Jimmy said:

I believe I set my compatibility options to Doom strict instead of Boom strict. Does this invalidate my run in any way?

 

Unfortunately it does invalidate any points you'd have gained for this month as part of yearly leader boards, yes, although "illegal" runs will still be hosted in the OP and I'm sure @Dragonfly is happy to approve it for the Britbowl. Or not! That's certainly not my call.

 

@Lazorical I've had to give your run similar treatment because of the use of dynamic lights, but I hope this doesn't dissuade you from taking part in future. I enjoyed watching you get spooked out by everything. EDIT: Suitepee ran into the same issue as well, and I'm not suspicious that the rule has been poorly signposted. I'll shout it from the rooftops in February and we'll go from there. No penalty this time!

Edited February 2, 2019 by Alfonzo : dynamic lights

[Jimmy]

Bugger. Whatevs, I'll try again next month. Barring any time management disasters on my part, my monthly participation will now more or less be a guarantee. Stream quality no longer sucks!

[Dragonfly]

It's weird how I'm perceived as the judge for Britbowl; it's more mutt/suitepee's position as the founders of the cup. As the current loser I totally want to invalidate it but I am not a cruel man, so Jimmy, as far as I am concerned, you're still in it to win. No invalidation vote from me. How conflicting! :P

[an_mutt]

Jimmy's run will still count for Britbowl - it is not as cruel a mistress as the official league can be.

 

2 hours ago, Dragonfly said:

It's weird how I'm perceived as the judge for Britbowl; it's more mutt/suitepee's position as the founders of the cup.

Yes, Alfonzo. D:<

[Alfonzo]

Haha, sorry! I think I just foisted MC status onto Dragon because he's been the most vocal in this thread about the latest developments, perhaps. Way to force the issue.

 

Anyway, go #TeamJimmy

[Dragonfly]

Probably happened ultimately 'cause I make those shiny graphics for the league. First one to go on show soon in the new thread, whenever that's up (if it isn't already! :P)

[Ancalagon]

I know it's late but I must post this map07 DNF cause the stairs that raise after killing the spiders raised twice, and map06 is one of the worst doom maps I've ever played. And cat 1.

hdfancmap07dnf.zip

Edited February 2, 2019 by Ancalagon

[Alfonzo]

Apologies for the late thread. I have a colossal headache and need the time out. Should be up before too long.