I have been playing a lot of QuakeWorld the past few months and feel I have more of an understanding between the differences between the feel of the two games than I previously did! This is the conclusion I reached.

QuakeWorld advantages

QuakeWorld gameplay is fast. Thats the first thing you notice, especially when playing DMC after a lot of QW. Some of the reasons QW gameplay is fast can be discovered when looking at the movement.
Bunnyhopping is easier to do in QuakeWorld because you can hold the jump button down in midair so no timing is needed by the player. Because of this, using rockets to speed up the player is more efficient because they can gaurantee their ability to bunnyhop afterwards. Different heights while bunnyhopping is no problem to the QW player since they don't need to time their jump.

Ramps

In QW if you are bunnyhopping along and then hit a sloping ramp, you will jump higher off of the ramp.. you bounce. In DMC you typically do not bounce at all. This can be noticed very obviously in DM6 where players can fly around at ridiculous speeds and pull off wild stunts in QW due to the grenade launcher ramp, and the ramps at the bottom (which can be used in QW to jump onto the teleport or into the tunnel etc). Dm3 has a ramp next to the pent which in QW can be used to pull off a single rocket jump to the upper window. In DMC this move is impossible since no height/bounce is gained from the ramp.

DMC advantages

In DMC the player can accel jump more effectively than in QW. Why is this? It is quite unknown, perhaps the player jumps higher, or perhaps further.. I just don't know. Some players argue that the DMC player is taller than the QW player and it has apparently been proved, but personally I don't notice apart from seeming lower in QW. I have found no physical proof that the DMC player is taller so it doesn't really matter, what is important though, is accel jumping is 'better' in DMC. The best example is to compare the two using a jump on dm4. In DMC using matchmod (or even normal DMC, which makes the jump slightly more difficult but still far easier than in QW), try accel jumping from the Shaft to the stairs, you will find this jump is easilly pulled off with an accel jump. In QW this jump is far more difficult. It can be done by gaining speed first but on its own this particular jump is extremely hard (possible.. but extremely hard).. the QW player simply cannot use this as an effective strategy where as in DMC it can and should be used. This opens up Dm4 duel with more possibilities. Check out demos of the best dm4 QW players in the world such as Griffin and Reppie, these players NEVER use the shaft->stair jump, yet they use every other trick in the book on a regular basis, regardless of risk. I have only seen it done once in a demo of The-Interceptor, yet still he had built up very high speed with bunnyhops before pulling it off mid duel. Theres no doubt that the move is left alone because it is so difficult in QW. But in DMC it can be done easilly.

Rocket jumping

Rocket jumping in DMC is more effective than in QW because the DMC player can look directly down. In QW often the player must look behind him and down to make a jump.. such as the DM2 stair rocket jump. In DM3 I have managed to rocket jump from the megahealth to the window in DMC, by bunnyhopping at it fast. In QW to do this jump is far harder since not only should you gain the speed first, but then you have to look backwards and down to make it.. very awkward.

Air control

In DMC the player can turn sharper corners than in QW while bunnyhopping. When moving at an average bunnyhop speed in DMC, using erratic exagerated air control patterns actually speeds you up, but in QW it slows you down. I have tested this in many different examples and it is particularly noticable when on dm3, you combo jump the door frame and RL window from the upper bridge. From the staircase leading to the upper area, you can combo the ledge and RL window in 7 hops, in QW this is possible but to do it you need to limit the mouse movement as much as possible. In QW on dm6 i noticed i was losing a lot of speed when turning sharp at the grenade launcher to hop the center gap multiple times. In DMC you only start to lose speed while turning sharp corners when you are at very high speeds. I noticed this when heading from the quad to the pent window at very high speed.. the narrow sharp corner here was very hard to navigate and its easy to lose speed here, but only if moving at rocker launched type speeds.

To conclude the main difference between the two games is that in QW ramps and ease of bunnyhopping timing perhaps accounts for much of the feeling of speed. DMC has its advantages of course, with more effective rocket jumping, accel jumping and gaining speed using purely bunnyhops is more effective in DMC. Try any combo that doesn't involve ramps and it will be easier to gain the speed required in DMC through aircontrol patterns, since in QW aircontrol patterns need to be used less as they slow you down.. speed is mainly gained in QW through ramps and rockets and such.

My opinions; [pFc]Tayste 14th March 2005.