Vores and Spawns are sooo coool 

i think it's a nice idea of you guys, but i have to say, i don't think it would work as you'd miss out on a lot of gameplay without enforcers, hknights and vores...

esp enforcers w/rt base maps... enforcers make up about 33 to 50% of a base map's monster count. :S 

I know. Vores and Hell Knights are my favorites.

Hell Knights could be replaced by a Quoth class, Vores by Droles?!?

I and others have been watching this game fade away for no particularly good reasons. Only the ID site sells Quake new and the store has been down for 7 days and last time it was down, it was down for about a year.

Some of us feel if Quake could be available legally and expose news players to a cross section of what it has to offer, that this would be reversed.

There are several sites in Quake that have turned to illegally distributing Quake to continue their communities; our site is not one that will be taking that route.

In fact, there was a big debate over those illegal distributions on our site very recently.

It's worth reading that to see the feelings and perspectives. Some feel that illegally downloading Quake is ok and justified, others do not and some of us are against it but have express frustration with the current unavailability of Quake.

This is a quality read, at our forum we don't interfere with debate (much like this one:

http://www.quakeone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179 

i could live without fish, spawn and shub... but quake without helknights? vores?
and enforcers, what necros said. and not only old-school base maps use enforcers. sm28, could ...

also, the best maps for quake newbs to play are the original ones from id. the original episodes. those are so good (as well as stuff like beyond belief). people should not miss them, they are not optional, they are part of quake. integral to this work of art. the quake experience is not complete without them.

the best solution is for people just to get pak1.pak, I think you can still buy quake on ebay... and flea markets... steal it from your older sister... beam it down... assimilate it... ask a friend who has the CD for a copy ...

that´s the cold hard truth. we are in a situation where it is not so easy to get pak1.pak. I would prefer if I could buy the CD at the local media markt for 5 euros. I´d buy 5!!! sadly, that isn´t the case. and any more than 7,50 is not a realistic price. and not everybody has a credit card. so much for online shops.

but anything based on shareware quake is less than half the deal. the monsters, the three episodes, the dm maps are integral.

so what is the new age? players using shareware quake? are you kidding? would you want a bicycle with one wheel? and new wheels unavailable? imagine all cyclists using that, mounting new gadgets onto it, and pretending it was normal. no. the truth is, you find some buddies who have a source for wheels. whatever that may be. such is life.

but sure, your idea #1 has at least something going for it. I think you should present it more as a challenge to mappers, "using only shareware content". Nice theme for a speedmapping session. That way, it could work.

idea #2 (hub map): it´s been done before, check out the original 100 brush contest pack. but it´s just sooo easy and quake loads maps so fast, to enter "map xxx" in the console, look around and say "oh, this was this". Joequake even has a map menu. And hint, hint: There is a "teleporter hub" map in the standard quake, without screenshots OK, but the id maps are so short that it´s enough to link to the first map of every episode.

Better idea: Take screenshots of all maps, and make a list on a website using the shots, full name and short description. much easier than mapping.

idea #3: best map packs are problematic, because everyone will have different "best maps". it would be unfair. I´d really just link to underworldfan´s review site and the quaddicted archive. and celephais.net.

good luck man.