Ok so this is the time of year that I get to procrastinating doing my finals work and that means IDL forums get more of my text walls. I&#039;ve looked into the IDL map packs and the selections/removals/replacements from IDL2009 through IDL2012. Here is what I&#039;m working with:<br /><br />[list]<br />[li]In 2009 Ralph made the IDL wad. Before that IDL used the ZDCTF packs 1-3[/li]<br />[li]In migrating from ZDCTF to the IDL2009 wad there were 10 map replacements and 2 additions (as ZDCTF1-3 is only 30 maps). [/li]<br />[li]IDL 2010 and 2011 wads saw 7 replacements each and some map shuffling.[/li]<br />[li]IDL 2012 saw 12 changes, 13 if you count the map11 clone.[/li]<br />[/list]<br /><br />These are the statistics of map turnover. Historically maps that received little to no competitive play were ousted. Similarly, this board weeded out maps that received little to no play in Private CTF. That may have been a mistake considering PCTF and IDL are vastly different environments, however, the way in which we judge a maps success is largely by the frequency it is picked in priv.<br /><br />The list of the maps we ousted maps includes:<br /><br />[list]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/odactf1.wad/2]ODA02[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/madctf.wad/11]MADCTF11[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/zdctfmp.wad/7]ZDCTF07[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/zductf.wad/10]ZDU10[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/zdctfmp2.wad/19]ZDCTF19[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/ReakuCTF.wad/1]REAKU01[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/zductf.wad/8]ZDU08[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/ccorectfmp1a.wad/7]CC07[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/zdctfmp3-.wad/25]ZDCTF25[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/zdctfmp3-.wad/27]ZDCTF27[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/zductf.wad/30]ZDU30[/url][/li]<br />[li][url=http://www.intldoomleague.org/maps/32in24-7.wad/27]THIRTY7-27[/url][/li]<br />[/list]<br /><br />I&#039;d like to take a few moments to shed some light on why we decided to remove these maps. Certainly I cannot speak for all the board members, but I am privy to the rationale present when the decisions were made and certainly my own take on things.<br /><br />[u]Something Epic II - ODA02[/u]<br />One thing that we have found in IDL is that players like more offensively leaning maps. This is probably because the weapon balance in doom (and the odds of scoring vs being scored on) is so heavily tilted toward defense. I personally like grind maps because they play to my strengths however many people prefer a more free-flowing game. This map fell into a group of maps that we felt were slow, low-scoring and overall boring to play for 20-30 minutes.<br /><br />[u]Caves - MADCTF11[/u]<br />And on the complete opposite side of the spectrum you have this gem of a map. This map is similar is play style to ZDCTF18. It fosters a very chaotic playing style that often results in flag standoffs and extremely disorganized roles for any 3 person team. Over its 4 seasons in the wad it was never selected for the regular season schedule and was never played on as a home field. <br /><br />[u]The Excavation - ZDCTF07[/u]<br />This was a bone of contention for many on the board. While I think we all have a certain appreciation for this map it has received significantly reduced play in the past couple of years. The inclusion onto the schedule (in the Ralphis era) was obligatory and aside from that it was extremely underplayed for a map that survived 10 seasons of IDL. I can see the merit in that map but change for change&#039;s sake actually can foster progress. My own personal rationale for voting this map out was in two parts.<br /><br />First I think there are maps that serve a similar playing style. One comparison I&#039;m sure will draw criticism is to that of ZDCTF09. They both have walled in bases. they both of raised and protected flags with health nearby. They both have entrances with a lift/door. The different I&#039;ve found in them is that map09 is one of the only maps in IDL history with a BFG in it. This gives the mid some level of importance that the mid in 07 never had to me.<br /><br />Second I felt like there had been far less games played on 07 in the past few seasons. Even when it came up as a scheduled map in IDL people were loathe to practice it if only because it is such a well known map that practice for many teams was without reward.<br /><br />[u]Compatible Mainframe - ZDU10[/u]<br />This might have been a preference one. I personally think it&#039;s okay but it&#039;s large and tricky from every position. The overarching reason this was ousted was because it didn&#039;t get played very much and the games that were IDL based were underwhelming.<br /><br />[u]UAC Headquarters - ZDCTF19[/u]<br />This falls into a similar category as ZDCTF07. From my perspective there are even more reasons for it to be ousted than 07. It&#039;s large, full of health and tends to produce very slow brooding games. It&#039;s an okay romp for offensive players but it&#039;s another map where 2D will show dividends. In addition it&#039;s a map that has seen every season of IDL. It wasn&#039;t a popular map and it has been in the wad since IDL began. Seemed like at the very least we could chance taking out a map that wasn&#039;t played virtually at all and put in something that might spark more play. As a relevant aside this is one of my favorite doom ctf maps of all time.<br /><br />[u]Andrigal II - REAKU01[/u]<br />This was one of two maps that were universally canned last season. To the few of you who disagree with the decision I&#039;m not really sure what to say. People just didn&#039;t like it very much. <br /><br />[u]Brickrun - ZDU08[/u]<br />This map has somehow seen 6 seasons of IDL. I can remember 1 season that it was a regular season map and I don&#039;t think it every got a playoff pick. Much as I think it&#039;s an okay map we def. gave it a sporting try and it wasn&#039;t well received.<br /><br />[u]Demios Hazzard Zone - CC07[/u]<br />Was broken. Zdaemon is broken. Map is broken. Boo hiss.<br /><br />[u]Lethal Industry - ZDCTF25[/u]<br />Another map we all felt was just too large for IDL. Another map we all knew had been in IDL since IDL started. Another map we felt we could remove for something fresher. <br /><br />[u]Exophase III - ZDCTF27[/u]<br />Another map we all felt was just too large for IDL. Another map we all knew had been in IDL since IDL started. Another map we felt we could remove for something fresher. <br /><br />[u]Redemption II - ZDU30[/u]<br />This is an interesting map. Maybe the one mistake I will cop to making in the wad. This map has good games on it, is well liked by many, was actively played in priv and has had many effective strategies. I&#039;d probably like to have this one back. Touche hindsight.<br /><br />[u]Insane Gunslinger Compound - THIRTY7-27 [/u]<br />5 people liked this map. Ralphis, Mike, Jenova, Lordbritish, Ladna, and some other person who likes to run I guess. It&#039;s one of the maps that I&#039;d probably suffer if I didn&#039;t think we could do better. And again it&#039;s been in every IDL****.wad made. Time for new things.<br />----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />In summation we had about 3 criteria for making the IDL2012 wad.<br /><br />[list type=decimal]<br />[li]Keep maps people like[/li]<br />[li]Get rid of maps people don&#039;t like[/li]<br />[li]Put new maps into the wad as often as we can[/li]<br />[/list]<br /><br />My personal feelings are that there were 8 terrible maps in the IDL2009 wad, 5 in IDL2010, 5 in IDL2011 and 5 in the IDL2012 wad. Considering we replaced almost twice as many maps as the last 2 wads and maintained a similar error rate, I&#039;m pretty pleased. <br /><br />Addressing questions like &quot;Why did you remove _______ but not ______&quot; will almost always result in an answer like &quot;because we liked the latter better&quot;. There are underplayed maps in the IDL wad right now, we know this. Map09 is a great example. In some cases we can make reasonable arguments for keeping maps, in others it&#039;s a matter of preference. Before we hear conspiracy from the gallery I&#039;d like to point out there has been significant turnover in the people who pick maps. From when the board was created up until today there have been [url=http://wiki.intldoomleague.org/index.php?title=List_of_IDL_Board_Members]12 board members[/url] with various clan affiliations, playing styles and connection qualities. <br /><br />I like this wad, I think it&#039;s good and there are maps in it I would rather watch Amateur Cricket than play one round on. Then again I can say that about every IDL wad so far. If only we could CTF on Sunder.wad. One can always dream.<br />