thegent

Made an account just for this as I think it's a very important topic to get involved in. (but first: Happy Birthday man.) I think the increased zombie numbers are an EXTREMELY good thing. Clearing things out either takes extreme stealth or lots of ammo, which in itself has the consequences of attracting attention. Obviously this is the other side of the extreme, but during my time playing 1.5.6, I found that I only ended up really using at most 6 rounds of whatever weapon I was using if I was being efficient to clear many areas. I personally very much enjoy that people clearing areas out now makes quite a bit of noise, as I enjoy keeping tabs on people and scouting them out to see whether they're bandits or just other survivors, and now if you want to clear out towns you really need to be both armed with enough ammo to take them on, and either keen enough to watch your back or be in a group to help prevent any bandits from catching you unawares. However, there are two problems that I find very apparent with this, and if these are fixed I would be completely okay with the hugely increased spawns: 1. Increase player check distance when spawning zombies With the increased count, I found it likely that I would end up attracting a horde if I fired in proximity to the zombies. However, being at a distance meant that zombies shortly after respawned, or being close and then mobbed meant they respawned after I had ran far enough away to deal with them safely. If zombie spawns ceased when there was a player within a 200-300m radius or so, then you could clear compounds from a short distance with ranged weapons, and wouldn't be surprised by zombies respawning in places you just cleared. Clearing groups of zombies out before you walked up would be vital to ensure that you weren't mobbed when you approached, as well. In player-heavy cities like Cherno and Elektro, this would also mean that while there is a heavy zombie count, if someone has cleared them out and is still in the city, other players approaching may find less zombies and will have a chance to smash and grab in their path without being mobbed. 2. Gauge zombie numbers based on demographic of area While high zombie numbers in big cities like Cherno add to realism and immersion, there are a little too many in some areas now, making them difficult to clear or just breaking immersion. Small towns should probably see their numbers reduced by about 50% I've seen a 3-building town with 10 zombies, which seemed completely screwy considering that only 2 of the buildings were human-inhabitable (one was a barn), but I'd say that 5 zombies wouldn't seem too out of the ordinary in that situation. I've not yet been to many military installments yet, but if the Bolota medical camp is any indication, there should probably be a 30-60% reduction in zombie numbers for those areas (there were well over 70 zombies in the camp when I visited it, with about 20-30 walking around the outsides, it was pretty ridiculous). With these two changes, big cities will be much more difficult to raid outside of quick smash and grabs on specific buildings, which will cause people to move more inland, and make them less enjoyable for deathmatchers to camp because less and less players will want to enter until they have good gear, at which point they might just take them on and win. Having a marksman weapon will be more useful as you could pick off zombies in the open from a distance where you wouldn't attract mass hordes, lessening any hordes you might cause when taking out zombies further into the town. Clearing out anything will take more effort, but you won't have problems with zombies respawning when kiting zombies away to take care of them safely, so there will be some 'permanence' of you clearing out an area until you leave.