[Suggestions] What is the main problem with the "too easy to gear up" and how to fix it

[enricksolt 2]

I know it's an Alpha and that's why i want to give my feedback before it's too late. :P

In this topic i will not talk about food\water spawn rate, but i'll just express my opinion on the curret gear spawn rate and why is too easy to get full geared just after few hours into the game.

 

Loot spawn:

I've played the mod a lot and so far the loot rate\spawn in SA is way more balanced and challenging, if in the DayZ Mod it takes 1~ hour for get everything you need (Map, Compass, Backpack, GPS), now it takes 4-5 hours more or less, and thats good.

But it happens to many times that you find 2-3 backpacks or other high value gear in a very small area. Yesterday i was in Zelenogorks with my friends and we found 3 M4 in about 10 minutes, all in the same area, with their mags and attachments, that could be luck sure, but still this should not happen.

One time i've found two mountain backpacks in two houses, one next to the other.

 

This could be easily fixed by limiting the amount of gear of a certain type to spawn in the same town\village or within a minimum range of distance from one to another, like maximun 1 backpack in 400mq or 1 M4 every 5km.

 

How to keep player on edge:

What's the difference between a "Pristine" backpack and a "Badly Damaged" one? You're right, none.

Right now, once you got a backpack, you're fine, you know that you are not gonna have to worry about it again (until you die of course), and that sucks. Instead the player should fell like that soon or later he will have to throw it away and find another one. An easy way to do this is to limit the item's slots based on its condition.

 

Example:

Mountain Backpack - Max 35 Slots

Pristine - 35 Slots

Worn - 30 Slots

Badly Damaged - 25 Slots

Ruined - 20 Slots

(I don't remember all the states right now)

 

This is a general example, just to show how the scavenging for good quality gear is important and how the item's condition can drastically change its value.

 

Items decay:

The items should decay faster when you "use" them. Base the decay of the gear only by the time you wear them would be limited, it should be based on:

- How many time you drop or storage items inside them.

(An avarage pair of pants should have like 50 "transition" before they start to take damage, after that, everytime you put an item or you take out one, the pant's condition drop)

- The amount of items stored inside.

(While moving around the gear take damage, but a full backpack should take more damage than an empty one)

- The player's stance.

(Items like pants and shoes should decay very fast if you crawl often)

- The type of the object's material.

- The weather.

 

That's what i have to say for now. Hope i didn't make too many grammar errors.

I'm really enjoing the game so far and i'm excited too see what will come in the future. :D

 

Blackbut.

 

[Statik (DayZ) 2695]

I like it except for object decay.

[Nalestom 116]

Regarding finding the same items over and over again - this is likely due to the fact that half the items currently aren't in the loot tables left. There are still dozens of weapons that have to be implemented, as well as vehicle parts and more tools, so the loot tables are a bit screwed up at the moment. I wouldn't take anything you see in regards to loot rarity too seriously at the moment, simply because there are a lot more items to be added to the loot tables that could make some of these current items much rarer. 

[Psyl3nt 125]

I'm not sure about this. It seems random, sometimes I have everything I could want within an hour or so, other times it takes me hours or I just die of starvation travelling to a town. 

At this stage my answer would be different depending on the day, which I think isn't a bad thing. 

 

As for the same loot in the same area, it kind of makes sense, if the people in that house / building were into guns or camping it stands to reason they would have more than one backpack / gun / whatever item. 

 

That's the way I justify it anyway :) 

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

It's not that it's too easy to gear up, is that the game doesn't try hard enough to "gear you down".

 

Staying geared up should be a constant struggle, even if you don't die.

[thedogfoodyayho 295]

The M4 won't be everywhere once more"junky" military weapons like Pistols, AKs and shotguns are added.

As for backpacks, they do need to rarer.

[Gth 18]

I think the problem has more to do with there not being very much to spawn.  So things that are in fact reasonably rare are artificially more common due to the smaller pool of items. 

 

An item can have 1% chance of spawning in a pool of 500 items, but reduce that number of items down to 100 or even 50 then that 1% chance seems like a lot more. 

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

It's not that it's too easy to gear up, is that the game doesn't try hard enough to "gear you down".

 

Staying geared up should be a constant struggle, even if you don't die.

 

How? Why? Is my stuff just going to fall apart? That's goofy.