I'm not saying the maps should be easy. I'm saying they should be fair. That's an important distinction. Although, indeed, a little more refinement of the individual skill levels would go a long way, too.
Facing an overwhelming army is one thing, it forces the player to consider his approach and adjust his strategy, but being locked in a cage and shot at from all sides is another.

I disagree that almost everyone is a vet. In fact, not that many players can or want to deal with hardcore++ gameplay all the time. Actually, the whole vet notion is responsible for a trend in Q1SP that caused the majority of levels especially in the second half of the last decade (including my own) to be grind gameplay - which I don't enjoy anymore.

I acknowledge the experimental nature of the first Nyar map. Not sure how it could have been improved for the general player. Perhaps if there had been a little more cover on each balcony and if the zombies had been more visible from a distance, for example by having them stand against a contrasting backdrop like a brighter texture on the wall behind them, or having them glow with the "effects" trick. 

Drake Merger = the Dark Souls of Quake! 

What does "fair" mean though? Is it fair if it is possible at all? Look at the popular "lol so hard omg i bokre my controller" games.

You don't have to like all maps. It's great if there are maps for people who want a hard challenge as well as maps for sight-seeing.

(Haven't played the second map yet but I did enjoy the first one once I got the hang of it (and I agree that weapons should better not be "hidden within combat")). 

The first map would be much more fun if you had a RL with full ammo. And Tronyn I hate that the RL is limited to 50 rockets in Drake lol.

Just on the hardcore gamers thing... I play a lot of games, more than probably 90% of people. But the thing is, I don't want to be challenged too much. Whether I'm a vet or not, I don't want games where I'm just about throwing the keyboard through the monitor because it's too hard, and I'm having to ramp my adrenaline up to get through it. Games don't need to be like that... adventure games aren't, and people play those right. So I'd be just as happy at killing a few ogres in a nice looking room, than killing 15 gaunts in a huge arena.

I actually put this one down to easy difficulty if I recall.

I've just played Dragon age origins and Left4Dead, and looking at a lot of the mods that have been made, they seem to be for hardcore players wanting a bigger challenge than the game provided. So would Quake be any different? 

Yeah, Tronyn always seems to withhold the RL until very late in the maps. 

Awesome hords to kill to relax from day 31 of December!


After survived to 1% died in that trap of spikes :( dawn...

Happy New Year to all and thanks for this Christmas gift Tronyn

First demos!

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/tr_nyar.rar 

the gameplay mechanic was definitely unique but it was overabused by the relentless attack/pressure the player is under for the whole of map 1. There is no downtime or buildup of combat at all and I found it a real slog. Not even enough of a breather to soak in the atmosphere, a big no no in my opinion.

Map 2 was a bit more normal Tronyn but I would say given that it was almost made for a different game what with the scale and types of brushwork being attempted and then the waves of monsters to slaughter without much thought as to placement.