Forgot to mention space levels too.

But yes, the problem isn't that Quake 2 itself doesn't offer enough variety - the problem is that the majority of custom single player levels made for the game are base-themed. I imagine it's because the easiest to work with, as the textures for some of the other themes are intended to be used in conjunction with more complex brush work. 

There are nine different units with completely different texture themes that make for varied environments. There's mine, palace, sewer, power, etc.

But it's still base, base, base...
Someone had nice idea to make base but in a jungle, that could be something different.
Huge trees, roots coming into industrial complex, maybe some swamp and of course a little bit of base :D 

I would like to map and play more Quake 2, but the fact that the files are a mess, as even the textures are individual files, and its hard to keep track of things and get assets as everything is a mixed random mess of files, so i lose more and more interest, and if mapping I keep it to only to the vanillaest possible.

I miss what we have on Quake, that most maps are just a .bsp and sometimes a .lit file too, and to get a texture pack is very easy in contrast to Quake 2, as they are barely shared, and on maps there are bits here and there, made more difficult to get and complete the pack as there are people that name the folders of the textures they used of a pack differently from others, so i have to search, check and join them like a puzzle for an hour or more just to get a texture pack.

Classic Quake on the other hand can be split into two themes: base and Gothic

That would be Quake 3 there, as Quake has no gothic theme.

Also, that Quake themes are base, medieval, wizard and runic/metal, and so were split into 4 wads by id. 

That's like saying New York City and Prague are the same since they're both still cities, cities, cities. 

exactly, Quake has more than one setting. Medieval, runic, base etc

You might not get bored of playing in cities because of all the detail cities have but the strogg BASE theme sure af does not have the same variety as a human city :P 

If you guys really want to have quake2 maps, just go map - there is easy tools nowadays. 

And I have no problem mapping for Quake 2.

Observe this guide:

http://maps.rcmd.org/tutorials/q2_mapping_today/

There are no excuses other than "I have no interest in it". 

If you guys really want to have quake2 maps, just go map

Amen (,amen,amen)

ps
But maybe introduce some new texture sets (?) 

There are a lot of things to like about Quake 2 from a mapping perspective. I actually worked on Zaero with Team Evolve so I have played a ton of the game. I played a bunch of DM and made a few lame box maps for Q2 as well.

But for me it's the physics and speed of the game I dislike. I just doesn't feel right to me. It feels loose and rubbery. Once Q3Test came out I literally never touched Quake2 again until last year when doing some research. The game just didn't grab me like Q1 and Q3.

So as far as mapping, I think the coolest thing about Q2 mapping is you can make an invisible brush emit light, making it much easier to light large areas. Also 16 bit color pallette? I think - right? I assume we can do this stuff now in Quake with Tyrutils-ericw.

Go map. There's nothing wrong with loving Quake 2! 

Quake's medieval and wizard themes are pretty much indistinct; they can be categorized together.

Quake's metal theme is runic and relies heavily on iron; it could also be described as "iron age runic".

And the official mission packs introduced a notable set of textures inspired by antique Egyptian/Mayan/Greek civilizations.

So, Q1 has:
Base,
Medieval,
Iron age runic,
Ancient civilizations.

Base & iron age runic are about materials, while medieval and ancient civilizations are about civilizations. Materials-based themes are good for gimmicks, while civilizations-based themes are good for atmosphere.

Also, Quake alternates its themes a lot. The start map mixes everything, then the episodes comes with base, medieval, runic, base, medieval, base, runic, base, medieval, and a mix of medieval with runic. This helps to keep things fresh, specially in the first episode. 

I feel like I should try making a Q2 map now... with Q1 textures. It would surely be the most popular Q2 map on this forum. 

someone should convert SPOG into a Quake base map 

http://q2s.tastyspleen.net 

There's plenty of awesome Q2 textures out there, people just never used them. Look at all the idtech2 games you can steal textures from, even half the q3 stuff and hl can be converted. Not that hl ever had any good textures. 

Might try to make a small map in October, just to get the feel of Quake 2. We shall see 

It's always nice to see what people can do for the 2 of Quake. :3 

Oh, yeah, now I remember. Another problem with Quake 2 level design is that it relied more on colored lighting than on textures to define the environments.

Some areas are mostly red, some are mostly yellow, others are mostly blue... It was their first game with colored lighting, so they ended up focusing too much on making sure that the players would notice it. And it's easier to notice variations of colored lighting across the same textures than across different texture sets, because when the textures are different, we can't be too sure of whether the colors are coming from the lighting or from the texture itself.

Quake had a bunch of similar textures with different colors. However, the changes in color usually were associated with subtle changes in the material - the green variant of the brown bricks is green because there's mud on it. The Quake 2 approach of relying too much on colored lighting to represent environmental changes works a lot smoother, but is also simplistic. This is why it looks more bland for some people. 

Also is less realistic, not that we care about that ;) 

Look at NewHouse's maps or Unreal 1, they're very colorful and personally I love it. 

Unreal does have greater texture variation than Q2, though, which is also thanks to using 16-bit colors. But Quake 2 has better architecture.

IMHO, while Unreal has some flaws, Quake 2 has some weak points. Quake 2 could be better, but I wouldn't say it's flawed. And Unreal could be more polished. 

Right here:

https://colonthreeenterprises.tumblr.com/post/149101737526/some-of-my-personal-favourite-details-of-quake-2

It's those little details that make all the difference in the world. 

in that article actually feels more Q1 than Q2... 

My favorite from your post are these:
screenshot 1

screenshot 2

screenshot 3

Your Quake 2 unit looks really impressive and fun, by the way. I gotta play it when I get around to playing Quake 2 again. 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/32374587 all I see is base. 

Me too.