Search the Community

Just updated the map to better accommodate lower skill levels. Sorry for those playing the map on HMP or lower and got their teeth kicked in.

Nothing wrong to play games on lower difficulties, games are supposed to be fun and relaxing. HMP is default skill on Doom games anyway.

All of them. I like to play maps multiple times on different skill levels to see what's different or to work my way up to UV if I started on something lower.

Thanks, for me its just that I find it very tedious finishing a set and then having to balance it for lower difficulties. I know that most players will play ultra-violence, but I want there to be an option for lesser skilled players to still have an enjoyable experience. I'll let you know when I need the maps to be balanced to lower difficulties.

If it just was so simple. I have seen games that were a chore to play on harder skills but blasting fun on the lower ones. "Getting better" doesn't magically improve the fun factor of the harder skills because the added difficulty is done in a way that just makes the fun evaporate. Blood is a good example where higher skills not only mean more enemies - which would be fine - but also higher enemy health, which only adds to the grind the higher the skill level gets.

It changes up the gameplay too much. Going from skill 1 to skill 4 largely just ups the monsters and in some cases lowers the powerups and ammo, you only go up in skill as you play as all the quirks of the monsters are learnt. Nightmare punches your muscle memory by making the monsters go berserk and attack nonstop with faster projectiles/move faster, and they now respawn all over the place so you have to adjust. You cant even cheat to practice on these new monster AI patterns. As such, ive always seen the skill level as a joke (Turned out I was right; it WAS a joke from id) and for people with something to prove, like leaderboard climbers.

Reading through this thread has made me realise that the Doom community is very open, nay, even gracious, towards those who like to play at a lower skill level, which is certainly not the case in many gaming communities. Of course if you don't play on UV you suck. (j/k)

A friend of mine who usually doesn't play fps games, plays on ITYTD. They still get their ass kicked but oh well. I don't think there is anything wrong with playing on lower skill levels. People should be able to play and enjoy Doom, no matter their skill.

Playing on skill levels below UV is nothing like "playing shareware"; shareware involves cutting content from the full package, while other skill levels, if anything, are additional content, because the map author has to determine the thing placements for each skill level. The least you could do is at least respect that effort. To refuse to play lower skill levels while also suggesting that difficulty "should not go too much above original E4 or NRftL" is mind-boggling, to put it lightly.

heh No really, it's just a difference in skill. I'm not that great at Doom - I can beat the IWADs with ease but anything harder than say, Community Chest or Hell Revealed II is definitely out of my range on Ultra Violence. There's no shame in playing the Startdate wads by Ribbiks or other more modern sets on a lower skill. The skill feature exists for a reason. yeah wtf. Ten minutes is a long session heh

Great gameplay! Feel free to try on lower skills, I did change the settings to make things easier. A little hint for you: There's a secret in the very beginning that'll help how you play. But yeah, that last fight is definitely challenging. I myself don't always survive it. Also, doesn't that breakfast look really tasty?

GZDooM 4.10, PB 3.0, HeXeReTiC HUD PB3 v8.3RC2e, Weapon Neural Upscale, Destroyable Decorations Definitive Edition, Glory Kills v29b, SilentDoomguy, Flashlight, -iwad doom2.wad (ver 1.666), -skill 4 (UV), continuous play, no saves. MAP07 - “Cremation” MAP08 - “Pumping Station” MAP09 - “The Depot” The switch that lowers the lift on your way to the exit in the last room lowers a second lift for any unknown reason without any known function. This is not a bug but it is like that.

If you're having trouble with that level, play at a lower skill setting - some obstacles are removed, which makes the path to the exit significantly shorter.

If you try the map on HMP or even better on UV than I doubt you'll still be calling it easy, for the skill level you played it on though I'm not suprised you found it very easy (I hardly ever give much thought to the lower skill levels and I never playtest on them...) I'll also be removing that invuln from easy so keep an eye on that...

I apologize for the double post, but I feel this is very important to point out. There should be no shame on playing on lower skill levels, even if the ""default"" is UV and the mayority of players play on hard. So yeah, imo it's a bit stupid when you see people complaining that a wad is too hard when they play on UV or even NM, when, effectively, it's the HARD difficulty setting, it's MEANT TO BE HARD. I've seen this happen in some games too, for example, Friday Night Funkin, most of the time you'll see people playing only in Hard Now, I understand that sometimes games can become easy the longer you play them and develop some skill, and that beating games in hard is a prove of skills, but if it's the first time you play something and HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA of what you have to do, you should play in a lower skill level to know the game, develop some skill and then tackle hard. But in the end, you have the final word, it's you're choice after all.

Since it bears on this discussion: I have made a Revenant replacement mod that I use increasingly often with modern map sets that treat Revenants as lower tier enemies. I have no desire to "get gud" at fighting hordes of Revenants - I find them supremely un-fun to fight in general and for me those map sets are more enjoyable without them - not because it's easier but because I find fighting against more balanced enemies more fun. There's also games/map sets which I have beaten at a higher skill level but prefer to play them on a lower one, because it feels overall more balanced and less stressful. With that being said, I find any discussion that somehow implies that lower skill levels are akin to "selling out" supremely dumb because it ignores that not all potential players are equal. In the end most publishers want to maximize their audience - and with experts-only skill settings that's simply not doable.

This is my first DOOM2 wad and it is a work in progress. I'm brand new to creating maps. If you give it a try; Hurt Me Plenty with honesty. Difficulty is somewhat implemented, I built the encounters to challenge my "skill" level for Ultra-Violence and scaled down the enemy counts and some factors beyond that for the lower skill levels. It shouldn't feel like a walking simulator. I have played myhouse.wad/pk3; and yes, the influences are definitely there. It's probably too DOOM Cute for it's own good, but it's been a joy to work on. maintv005.zip

I fully understand why Ribbiks chose to put that barrier in place. The ardant refusal by many people do take advantage of the choices given to them by a creator can be extremely frustrating. When you design UV to be a difficulty that's very blind unfriendly you can hope that people realize that and lower the skill level, but unfortunately many people do not. When you put a lot of effort into balancing lower skills so that they can still be enjoyable and intend people to play on them, then constantly get feedback that's basically people complaining about the choices they made, that can lead to you wanting to remove that choice from the player. Since UV was intended to be fore people who played HMP and wanted to play it again, the way he implemented it makes sense.

I played your level. Not going to lie - it was quite hard, there's list of things I think you should note: +I slid so fast and smashed my player avatar into wall and died at the start. I feel you should readjust speed of this and maybe give player alt way to get into main area at their own pace. + I feel giving player invulnerability in lower skill settings would make fights more manageable. +I'd give ssg earlier, but that's just me. More ammo also would appreciated on lower skills. +I feel you should give some visual clues how to get yellow key, because at first I've got confused about it. It's easy to miss locations. + Music was good choice - felt like hero taking down hordes.

Thanks for the detailed response and even providing suggestions for improvement, I really appreciate it. I've decided a clever way to implement this in a way that makes the fight more interesting is that initially only the centre part of the walls lower, and then after a short 10 second delay (that changes based on skill level), the rest of the walls lower. I've also reduced the difficulty of the monsters they can revive on easier skill levels. Hopefully you'll give the new version a shot and see through to the end of MAP03. In general, I've watched a couple of people play both live on streams and on uploaded video playthroughs and I've come to the decision to reduce the overall difficulty on the Medium and easier skill levels. I think this is overall beneficial since it helps the mod feel more inline with the difficulty of Winter's Fury and ensures that people playing on easier difficulties aren't being thrown in the deep end from the beginning. I still want to keep the spirit of the encounters and make it challenging, so it's not a dramatic change, but hopefully enough to keep players engaged without ramming their head against a wall. If I have to adjust it again later, so be it. if you're having trouble on the ultra-violence equivalent, it's a skill issue Detailed update notes below:

1. I went and tried it (swtw 03 platforming before light blue skull switch) just now and it's not that bad (in isolation) 2. Did you know the platforming in swtw03 vanishes on skill 3 or lower. So, like, play skill 3. Playing skill 4 on swtw is signing up for pain.

I guess this is the main reason for those maps to exist. Well, I'm not one of that experienced players, but I can imagine how playing some wads with a progression similar to the Iwads(maybe I can call this approach a "traditional gameplay"?) can be boring. Personally, I tried some slaughter maps and didn't enjoy them, but I tried to play them on UV, and maybe they are for more skilled players (and, yes, they are, I'm not a skilled player). If you like the architecture of the maps, for example, and wanna finish the maps you can always lower the difficulty, as people said before, but it's important to remember that every player is different.

I think one problem is so many people refuse to play on lower difficulty settings. They want to play on UV no matter what, and I think that should change. If you’re short on time and/or if it is too hard, try a lower difficulty setting. Chances are you’ll complete the map faster, and still have enough of an experience to decide if you’d want to replay it on a harder skill later when you may have a bit more time to play. Some maps won’t mesh with everyone, that’s just how it is, but at least give it a chance before writing it off. Now, if the level designer didn’t incorporate difficulty settings then there’s not much you can do besides moving on if you aren’t up for the task.

I understand you! Doom can be quite intimidating for beginners compared to others shooters. I would run through Knee Deep in the Dead on lower difficulties to get an idea of how levels work. It teaches you keycards, enemy placements, secrets, basic navigation, etc. Doom is meant to be played in the way that makes you feel most comfortable and the lower skills are there for a reason. Do not feel obligated to rush into hardest difficulties because of peer pressure, because the word "doom" does not just mean one thing to every one person. :)

I'm playing on HMP. When map01 has me dealing with revenants and an AV armed with just a shotgun, that exits the "easy" category for me. I'm not complaining at all -- maybe I should play on a lower skill than HMP, I imagine you meant "easy" a bit tongue-in-cheek anyway, and I am hardly the expert Doom player in any event.