Most generic/annoying custom maps

[Witch]

Whats the most infuriating or unoriginal custom map you played? This thread is not to be seen as a thread for solely hating on other peoples' creations but rather a way for them to see flaws in their map and how they can make it more fun

[The Virgin Nick]

Can't really name one at the top of my head. But, custom maps that show 0 signs of where you're suppose to go. Accidently looping the same area like 5 times is the worst lol

[kurochama]

For me, "Hehe Series" & similar trap campaigns that punish survivors too hard with instant-death traps & SI/ tank coming out of thin air when you're doing something like walking to certain checkpoints, climbing a long ladder or pressing certain buttons, without any hints. I don't like using god mode or noclip as they can ruin my mood so fast, while campaigns like "Hehe Series" can't be beaten in normal ways except with those cheats, so that's why I usually skip this kind of custom campaign.

& for some solutions to make that kind of campaign more fun, it would be making them playable even without using cheats. For example, just set different conditions, like for example, if either sv_cheats, noclip or god mode is detected, the trap campaign difficulty would be the default with lots of troll SI & tanks coming out of thin air. But if sv_cheats is off, the traps would be greatly reduced to the point of making it playable in normal way, like adding more hints about instant-death traps for normal play without cheats, changing tank spawn traps to SI spawn traps, reducing custom boss's attack damage if there's a boss battle, etc. I ever saw "Lost & Damned" custom campaign with this feature, like there's an easier mode simply by adding an easier mode mod. If that kind of balancing method could be made even on "Hehe Series", probably not only would torture-loving people & troll lovers play them, but normal players would also try to play them in normal way.

[Witch]

Originally posted by kurochama:

For me, "Hehe Series" & similar trap campaigns that punish survivors too hard with instant-death traps & SI/ tank coming out of thin air when you're doing something like walking to certain checkpoints, climbing a long ladder or pressing certain buttons, without any hints. I don't like using god mode or noclip as they can ruin my mood so fast, while campaigns like "Hehe Series" can't be beaten in normal ways except with those cheats, so that's why I usually skip this kind of custom campaign.

& for some solutions to make that kind of campaign more fun, it would be making them playable even without using cheats. For example, just set different conditions, like for example, if either sv_cheats, noclip or god mode is detected, the trap campaign difficulty would be the default with lots of troll SI & tanks coming out of thin air. But if sv_cheats is off, the traps would be greatly reduced to the point of making it playable in normal way, like adding more hints about instant-death traps for normal play without cheats, changing tank spawn traps to SI spawn traps, reducing custom boss's attack damage if there's a boss battle, etc. I ever saw "Lost & Damned" custom campaign with this feature, like there's an easier mode simply by adding an easier mode mod. If that kind of balancing method could be made even on "Hehe Series", probably not only would torture-loving people & troll lovers play them, but normal players would also try to play them in normal way.

I actually managed to beat 2 hehe campaigns without any cheats. It wasnt fun.

[Vals]

Glubtastic hands down.

[Demo]

Campaigns that think they're being "unique" by utterly assassinating L4D's gameplay status quo tend to be terrible. Not every campaign that does some of the following is bad, it's obviously a case-by-case basis, but the general offenders I find are

- No medkits in saferooms
- tanks almost immediately spawning on Chapter 1
- over-reliance on tanks as "epic boss fights"
- infinite hordes for literally everything
- obtuse and hamfisted puzzle-solving required to progress in an otherwise non-puzzle-oriented campaign
- "open world" maps that don't even try to direct your eyes to where you should be going
- maps swapping between L4D1 and L4D2 survivors. Yes, we get it, you saw the line that says "survivor_set" in the mission.txt and just couldn't help yourself from fcuking around with it
- Tier 2 weapons immediately because the mapper wanted dessert before dinner
- the millions of "bleak, grey, urban city environment outside at night in the rain" campaigns that are just Wal-Mart brand No Mercy
- packaging in their own custom music that overwrites the vanilla music and bleeds through into the rest of the game even when you're not playing that campaign

[mar mar]

cold stream

[Geebanger0]

The two things I hate the most in custom maps:

- scripted elements. This leads to the map being repetitive and less fun after each play through. If I already know exactly whats going to happen, I may as well not play it.

- artificial difficulty. IE: maps that don't know how to be challenging in their own right, and instead just throw extra crescendos and tanks at you, or remove helpful items.

[raving_madness]

i can understand cheating at hehe maps. but saying its impossible without is wrong.
some chapters are "impossible hard" or bugged, i give you that :)
played ~27 of them. some took months. but mostly we figured it out.
played it on easy,some chapters were skipped, rarely looked up for help/but checked if bug, i d say all in all only 3 times for a chapter cheated.

and yes, am traumatized. we spent weeks playing ONE chapter for hours, trying to figure and survive.

[Witch]

Originally posted by Demo:

Campaigns that think they're being "unique" by utterly assassinating L4D's gameplay status quo tend to be terrible. Not every campaign that does some of the following is bad, it's obviously a case-by-case basis, but the general offenders I find are

- No medkits in saferooms
- tanks almost immediately spawning on Chapter 1
- over-reliance on tanks as "epic boss fights"
- infinite hordes for literally everything
- obtuse and hamfisted puzzle-solving required to progress in an otherwise non-puzzle-oriented campaign
- "open world" maps that don't even try to direct your eyes to where you should be going
- maps swapping between L4D1 and L4D2 survivors. Yes, we get it, you saw the line that says "survivor_set" in the mission.txt and just couldn't help yourself from fcuking around with it
- Tier 2 weapons immediately because the mapper wanted dessert before dinner
- the millions of "bleak, grey, urban city environment outside at night in the rain" campaigns that are just Wal-Mart brand No Mercy
- packaging in their own custom music that overwrites the vanilla music and bleeds through into the rest of the game even when you're not playing that campaign

I've seen alot of em no mercy ripoffs, they manage to somehow be unfun every time

[Witch]

Originally posted by Geebanger0:

The two things I hate the most in custom maps:

- scripted elements. This leads to the map being repetitive and less fun after each play through. If I already know exactly whats going to happen, I may as well not play it.

- artificial difficulty. IE: maps that don't know how to be challenging in their own right, and instead just throw extra crescendos and tanks at you, or remove helpful items.

Same. I hate it when custom maps break l4d's design like this, all thanks to valve's influence with the base l4d2 campaigns

[Witch]

Originally posted by raving_madness:

i can understand cheating at hehe maps. but saying its impossible without is wrong.
some chapters are "impossible hard" or bugged, i give you that :)
played ~27 of them. some took months. but mostly we figured it out.
played it on easy,some chapters were skipped, rarely looked up for help/but checked if bug, i d say all in all only 3 times for a chapter cheated.

and yes, am traumatized. we spent weeks playing ONE chapter for hours, trying to figure and survive.

the amount of dedication you had to finish such an awful map is admirable

[raving_madness]

i admit, if it would have been only me, impossible. but i got lucky to find friends that are good players and dedicated too.
there was much pain, but also tears of laughter. there is a reason its called hehe. and some chapters have really good music or easter eggs/fun surprises.
dont judge one hehe by one chapter. ;) 2 can be very short and the 3rd might be really cool (still hard ofc).

on topic
its hard to set one criterium. take hehe, no details, too many tanks and smokers, traps everywhere and still there are quite some people who enjoy it.
its good in other ways.
give me a well made "just a campaign", with details, maybe special skin zombies, good finale or storyline, am in.
hmm maybe its "if i see someone put time and thoughts into it, even if not everything works perfectly".

[Jetzon]

Secret facility campaigns. My god. There are too many of them.

It's like one guy thought: "huh, what would be something unique? Cities, forests, etc? Nah that's too boring. Okay so... there's underground facility in the middle of nowhere. Nobody will think of that after me."

Then people did over and over x10

It's not that the concept of it is bad standalone but what makes them bad is that like other posters say, it goes against L4D2 fundamentals by turning L4D2 into a crappy corridor shooter that gets way too overcomplicated and turns into a maze. If L4D2 was like that by default, it would not have been as popular as it would've been. It would've needed the reverse; good mapping from the community to reveal the good gameplay underneathe.

I would gladly take any generic campaign over any secret facility now. Any generic city map is better.

[Shin Navideño]

Glubtastic because you show the minimum amount of humor and the entire workshop thinks its the best thing ever. No, just because it "attempts" humor it does not mean its the holy grail of the so called "funny"
That, and their horrendous performance and how self centered the author is.

[Witch]

Originally posted by Jetzon:

Secret facility campaigns. My god. There are too many of them.

It's like one guy thought: "huh, what would be something unique? Cities, forests, etc? Nah that's too boring. Okay so... there's underground facility in the middle of nowhere. Nobody will think of that after me."

Then people did over and over x10

It's not that the concept of it is bad standalone but what makes them bad is that like other posters say, it goes against L4D2 fundamentals by turning L4D2 into a crappy corridor shooter that gets way too overcomplicated and turns into a maze. If L4D2 was like that by default, it would not have been as popular as it would've been. It would've needed the reverse; good mapping from the community to reveal the good gameplay underneathe.

I would gladly take any generic campaign over any secret facility now. Any generic city map is better.

I played a l4d1 campaign that was basically that, and then I also played a l4d2 campaign that was literally that too. I can see where you're coming from