Improvement idea for the loot economy

[murhis 4]

The main problem with the current economy is how stacked the high tier loot spawns are located. Currently if you subtract the heli crash sites there are only 2 buildings where you can find the "best gear" and they are both located at the very same area. So basically when the people will figure out this and they are just looking for high tier weapons or nvgs they will just "raid" these 2 buildings and change the server and repeat this procedure until they have found what they desire. This particular niche will render most of the map useless if you are just looking a good weapon or nvg.

Also when you think from an opportunistic or evil point of view this known fact it will offer a very easy option to camp those 2 buildings for whatever purpose(benefit,joy). Especially when those 2 specific buildings are located at very vulnerable locations. Like if you have a clear weather you can easily kill everybody who are trying to enter these buildings from a safe distance. Even from 800 meter or so. I have personal experience from this at the delivering side. I have also seen occasions when people have spawned on the command tower just to kill people at the airfield and then disconnecting. So basically what I'm trying to say this is a huge problem with the economy and the gameplay.

So what is my suggestion? First of all I really think the top tier gear shouldn't be located at 2 fixed locations. They should be much more scattered around the map. Secondly you shouldn't be able to spawn at the close proximity of the loot spawns, especially at hot spots like NW airfield.

Lets start with the loot spawns. I really think barracks should get down graded to "Military" loot level. Also I think the "Military" level in general should get down graded a bit. Why? Because of the nature of the gameplay I mentioned before. So no more battle just for two buildings or couple of places. Like barracks, NW airfield, Stary Sobor.

What I'm suggesting then? I really think those 2nd highest tier aka. "Barracks" level loot should be found from random places like "HeliCrash" level loot. They could be like ammo crates, ammo trucks scattered all around the map. Though they could spawn more frequently at the military areas. This change would encourage people to explore more rather than just "raiding" those 2 buildings. Which would be a healthy direction for the game IMO.

So hows the new "loot cheat sheet" would look like then?

For those who doesn't know what is the "loot cheat sheet": http://picacid.com/arma2/loot_en.html

Residental, Office, Industrial, Farm, Church and Hospital level should stay as the same. Except I think it is a bit strange to find military level ammunition from industrial buildings.

Military

- Deer stands should be on own category. Mainly because it is too easy and safe to obtain a good weapon from those. Lets call it "DeerStand"

- High tier weapons should be moved to higher tier loot spawns. Lets call it "WeaponCache".

- Weapon spawn rate in general should be down graded(at least for rare weapons). Military locations should be mainly good for your ammunition supply.

DeerStand

- Spawning only a gear which you could expect from a hunter. Hunting rifles like CZ 550, shotguns, binoculars, bandages, backbags etc. You could hunt game with AK47, but I think you got the point. Perhaps when we will get more civilian weapons available(?) there could be found like AR-15?

AmmoCache

- Spawning the Barracks class gear. Very plentiful source, but rare and randomly located. Perhaps spawning more often to a military areas.

- Like 10(?) spawn points per a server. But once they are looted/touched they will spawn at the different locations after a short period of time.

- Many military zombies guarding it.

HeliCrash

- Otherwise the same, but I think they should work as AmmoCaches. So they are spawning to different places when they are touched.

The last remaining suggestion I pointed out earlier is that I really think you shouldn't be able to spawn/log off at the close proximity of the loot areas(in this case buildings which has loot). This is because I think it would be cool if you wouldn't have to see a guy suddenly teleporting behind you when you are looting some place and this would also prevent the server hopping to loot areas. I think like 200 meter minimum would be ok to start with. Perhaps even more, especially at places like NW airfield. And if you are trying disconnect by force at loot areas your character will end up at the next spawn to the last position where you weren't close to the loot areas. Though this spawn system would require the DC timer introduced, because otherwise you could use it as a teleport for getting out from the town.

My Loot cents, dig, hate, discuss.. :)

[kloust! 0]

+1 support.

I think there should be WAY more locations, preferably far inland, though.

[murhis 4]

*bump* sorz :cool: Thoughts?

[vesmo 21]

It's a great idea, was gonna make a thread myself. I don't agree with all of your ideas, but I think the general idea is very good. At the moment getting high level gear is a death mission most of the time, so being able to REALLY hunt and scavenge for this stuff all round the map would be a great addition to the game and give a new sense of mission instead of just "head NW". I really like the military crate idea, they could contain loot to about the same level as barracks currently hold, i.e. a fancy weapon, ammo and maybe some gear.

I would also love to see something added to your average residential housing to keep you checking them out even after you have your ALICE pack, compass, matches and enough food and drinks. Maybe add a very small chance of spawning a dead soldier with a barracks-tier weapon next to him and some ammo/gear on his corpse? These would of course be very rare but I think it would work, and it even keeps finding military-grade stuff inside a common house realistic as some poor soldier has made his last stand there :D

As for the deer stands, personally I think they are fine as they are now, but if some of these new military-gear features are added, then they could maybe be downgraded, especially if more civilian weapons options are added. But the biggest focus should definitely be scattering around military gear spawns, maybe Rocket could even add more static, small military bases around the map to reduce camping efficiency.

[nivek 0]

Great idea! More loot spawns would be better plus there wouldn't be as great concentration of players around the high tier weapon spawns.

[hoik 415]

I think all the loot should be randomised (but contextually, that is military stuff will still spawn at "military" spawn points but the chances of quality/quantity are random) Would this be very had to do in ArmA?

[alexander_q 6]

I agree. Weapons can stay as plentiful as they are, but there should be no reliable spawn locations for ammunition.

I'm not sure how I feel about your no DC areas. It feel like a bandaid measure, but it seems like it would be better than what we have now.

[optimate 4]

Perhaps more use could be made of the zombies to randomise loot as well. At the moment there are no wandering zombies, they just hang around where loot is. This could be changed so that civilian zombies just hang around the areas they used to live in - clinging to the familiar as it were - whilst military zombies who came in from outside and had no home would wander the countryside. The former would perform the current function of protecting loot sites whilst the latter would be sources for military ammo and rare weapons and gear like NVG in the usual random fashion. That way players who wanted such things would literally have to hunt them down rather than just camping and server hopping through a few areas to get them. Would also spice things up in the countryside by introducing a bit of danger.

[Dreganius (DayZ) 55]

I'm going to sound like a total oddball here, but I'm not too fond of removing/editing the loot spawns from the NWAS as they are now. I'm all for more high tier loot spawns (Look at my Underground Military Complex suggestion), but at the same time I feel like these high tier loot spawns should always be a high risk, high reward scenario, which is why I like how the NWAS is set up. Loads of other players are around that could easily take you out, but at the same time, if you manage to get the spoils of war, you can then become the hunter, not the hunted.

[dennis.ivanchenko@live.com 0]

You have a great idea on your mind.

I like the though of having multiple areas of loot and random locations on the map with higher tier gear, it would add motivation for players to go and explore Chernarus, instead of everyone respawning in Elektro or Cherno, getting their basic needs then head to the NW airfield. In my opinion, the only thing i would've said differently is the teleporting feature you spoke about where you cannot log in certain areas, and it would teleport you out of town. I would suggest a feature where when you log in, your screen is distorted for 5 or so seconds and your character makes a yawning noise within X amount of meters, to simulate you being asleep, so then if someone is server hopping, or trying to re log in a high pop area, it will give any unsuspecting survivors a heads up. just a better feature to be implemented in my opinion to keep the "realism" within the mod, since this would not affect players who decide to log out in remote locations.

Just my two cents.

[murhis 4]

I'm going to sound like a total oddball here' date=' but I'm not too fond of removing/editing the loot spawns from the NWAS as they are now. I'm all for more high tier loot spawns (Look at my Underground Military Complex suggestion), but at the same time I feel like these high tier loot spawns should always be a high risk, high reward scenario, which is why I like how the NWAS is set up. Loads of other players are around that could easily take you out, but at the same time, if you manage to get the spoils of war, you can then become the hunter, not the hunted.

[/quote']

Well I agree with you that the high loot spawns should be a high risk. But with current zombies the only real risk are other survivors who either end up to the same place or camping the place for killing or benefit.

It's really sad when the so called "end game" will culminate to just two buildings in a map size of over 200 sqkms. This is exactly what will happen eventually when the players will figure out how precious these 2 buildings are. The only ways to fix this are to prevent spawning close to these buildings(among every other loot locations), avoiding quick server hopping(like connect timer when changing the server) and the most effective one is to scatter and randomize the loot more. Preferably I would like to see all of these included. The another point for scattering the loot is that it will give more purpose for the rest of the map and I rather actually find something precious by exploring the map than knowing exactly where the good stuff might be. But to acquire them you have to go and loot the exactly same place multiple times until you will find what you are seeking for and that is the problem.

I read your suggestion and it's not that bad, but honestly I don't really believe we will see more map content in a while. So I believe these fixes I mentioned would be more doable with much less effort. Going back for the high risk you mentioned, perhaps there could be more aggressive type of zombies at the high loot areas.

[wolfstriked 143]

Would removal of all food and water spawns from NWAF benefit gameplay?I would think that would mean less camping there.

[vesmo 21]

Would removal of all food and water spawns from NWAF benefit gameplay?I would think that would mean less camping there.

No way. The campers have huge loads of food/drinks in their inventory and their camps around the north. Just think about it, if you have ~4 of both drinks and edible goods, you can camp the place for what seems like an eternity, since you aren't moving a lot.

[murhis 4]

Would removal of all food and water spawns from NWAF benefit gameplay?I would think that would mean less camping there.

No way. The campers have huge loads of food/drinks in their inventory and their camps around the north. Just think about it' date=' if you have ~4 of both drinks and edible goods, you can camp the place for what seems like an eternity, since you aren't moving a lot.

[/quote']

Exactly. Besides even if you have just water bottle or two, there's 2 ponds quite close to a NW airfield and every town around the NW airfield has a well. So that wont fix anything. Edit: Who really collect food items from NW airfield?

[Erick (DayZ) 0]

+Support I like it

[Igor Fury 0]

Some realism should be added in loot spawning. Like now its really hard to find box of mathces for example, but still there are lots of farm kind of villages in game where people in real life needed to make fire to cook and warm houses. Thats just an example.

I like hospital loot spawning where you find first aid items, its logical and realistic. Also army tents where guns and ammo etc. can be found, is logical. Add more realism on loot spawning. Think what you would expect to find in real world in different places. And dont make common items rare, like box of matches for example.