[SA] Zombie Mechanics

[Louis13245 29]

Simply, all I propose is to give zombies the ability/chance to 'grab' a survivor on a successful hit for a couple of seconds.

 

Honestly, one of the biggest issue that I see in DayZ is how non-threatening the zombies are. Even in your first couple of encounters with them, your chances of death by zombie are very slim while later on leading a train of zombies and killing them isn't anything more then a chore. More zombies might fix the issue, but I can imagine the problems with lag and pathing that servers might face if you were to add enough zombies to make them a credible threat. Making them hardier and stronger isn't really a solution since they very rarely seem to be able to land hits anyway, especially with how their attack animations work. Special infected derived such as L4D2 seems to be straying away from the shambling zombies that the game is portraying.

 

I feel the solution would mean a single zombie isn't much of an issue, but multiple zeds, perhaps 3 or more, pose a credible threat to your life if you make a single mistake.

 

Looking at The Walking Dead, a lot of the more high tension moments where lives are at stake are due to a person being grabbed by a zombie. In L4D2, while the common infected don't grab so to speak, a hit from them is enough to slow your character down which is enough to deal serious damage if there are more zombies around to hit you. Translated into DayZ, I'd imagine you could probably still lead those zombies around town to your hearts content. If however, you make a mistake and get hit and grabbed by one of those zombies, suddenly you're immobilized and swarmed by the train you've been leading, taking possible fatal damage.

 

In terms of mechanics, I'd like to see chain grabbing becoming a credible threat. Lets say that on a normal zombie hit, a zombie has an chance of around 60% to grab the survivor. One zombie could grab you and you'd be stuck for a couple of seconds and you'd be able to sprint off with no real harm done. However, if there were more zombies around, and they hit you just after the first grab ended, each zombie carries the same chance of grabbing you increasing the probability that you will be immobilized for another couple of seonds and take even more damage. Likewise, there would always be the chance, no matter how slim that you would be able to escape from a horde of zombies. Thus one zombie is a not a real issue and 3 or more become tangible threats to your health.

 

Finally, in terms of coordination, the zombies shown are coordinated enough to be able to throw themselves at survivors and sprint which would implies both the strength and coordination to grab or in one way or another immobilize a survivor for some duration of time.

 

Thanks for reading.

[BelMarduk 169]

As Rocket has said many many times, the zombies are a WIP (Work In Progress). One of these dayz a patch is going to come and BAM! the entire community is going to be qq that the zeds are too hard. Personally, I can not wait for that patch :D

[Louis13245 29]

I'm suggesting possible changes to the zombies mechanics which make them more of a credible threat. The patch you mentioned could contain a plethora of changes, and I'm just suggesting one possible method.

[Subject42 20]

I hope stronger, grabbing, infection spreading and tanking zombies will make it into the game :)

[HIHBGaming 14]

As Rocket has said many many times, the zombies are a WIP (Work In Progress). One of these dayz a patch is going to come and BAM! the entire community is going to be qq that the zeds are too hard. Personally, I can not wait for that patch :D

 

I welcome harder hitting, harder to take down and more numbers of Zeds. They should take more than 1 body shot as they currently do, have a chance to knock you down(like the mod) and hit like trucks. I have faith in the Devs to bring this to the SA and can't wait!