[Experimental 0.44] Zombies are fixed?

[scriptfactory 620]

I have recently heard of a lot of complaints about zombies... because I have been complaining about them. They sucked. Their AI was horrible. The respawn mechanic was horrible. Their speed was horrible. Their damage was horrible. Perhaps it is because of my utter hatred for DayZ zombies that I noticed some changes in their behavior on Experimental.

Here is what I noticed:

• Zombies are slower. They don't run faster than me anymore unless I am rubberbanding/desynced.
• Zombies are just as weak against gunfire. Guns are loud but effective.
• Zombies are much more resistant against melee hits to the body. Melee weapons are weak but
• Zombies are still relatively weak if you hit them in the head (1-2 shots with Pristine Fire Axe).
• Zombie attacks damage my items in a reasonable way; meaning, I feel the damage they do against me is appropriate now and not overpowered.
• Zombie pathfinding seems to work MUCH better now. Zombies seem to chase me through the doors of buildings and not the walls.
• Zombie respawn seems a lot less intense than before. I can kill zombies with my firearm and I don't get attacked by infinite waves of them.
• Certain zombies (soldiers) seem more powerful than others (dude with the red pants).

I think these changes were intentional from a game design aspect. I think they made killing zombies silently require more skill (a good thing.)

 

Did anyone else notice changes in zombie behavior? Are zombies and melee weapons actually "fixed" now?

[newguyzombie 122]

• Zombies are still relatively weak if you hit them in the head (1-2 shots with Pristine Fire Axe).

no more onehit with fireaxe except of headhit?

[hombrecz 832]

no more onehit with fireaxe except of headhit?

 

Yeah, no more 1 body hit kill.

You generally have to aim for the head with any melee weapon. 

 

So axes are no longer god items aloving plowing through zombies with impunity. I like that.

[scriptfactory 620]

So axes are no longer god items aloving plowing through zombies with impunity. I like that.

 

I noticed that a Pristine Splitting Axe is almost as powerful as a Pristine Fire Axe and easier to aim so smaller weapons may become more useful due to their accuracy. They should make sharp cutting/stabbing weapons like knives/machetes/pickaxes kill zombies in more body hits but only 1 head hit.

[hombrecz 832]

I noticed that a Pristine Splitting Axe is almost as powerful as a Pristine Fire Axe and easier to aim so smaller weapons may become more useful due to their accuracy. They should make sharp cutting/stabbing weapons like knives/machetes/pickaxes kill zombies in more body hits but only 1 head hit.

 

1 or 2 stabs, I guess.

And yes, currently its hillarious that you need to stab player like 20x times to kill him. Also zombies can take some crazy beating to the body with machette or bayonette etc.

 

Definitely need a lot more tweaking...still  I think we are on the right track.

[newguyzombie 122]

Yeah, no more 1 body hit kill.

You generally have to aim for the head with any melee weapon. 

 

So axes are no longer god items aloving plowing through zombies with impunity. I like that.

sounds good :)

[BadAsh (DayZ) 1513]

I also noticed that they don't respawn instantaneously anymore, and the zombie body actually stays on the ground for a considerable amount of time. Yesterday when I found myself in unlooted Cherno I decided to have some fun with my shotgun and 100+ shells (they seem to be everywhere), and while the shots did attract all nearby zombies within a long radius, as soon as I shot those the flow stopped. Only when I moved around in the city did new zombies appear.

 

And yes the pathing seems somewhat better, though they still walk through walls and have troubles walking up stairs. In terms of being a threat I do think the previous zombies were better. It seems they are testing whether making them more difficult to kill in melee can somehow balance the lower number of zombies. And they can be an annoyance now if you only have a melee weapon (especially one of the lower tier weapons), but on the other hand it is much easier to dispatch them with guns now, since they don't enter the eternal respawn cycle of doom.

 

Anyway, they are obviously working on zombies, testing out various parameters and tweaking them to see which ones are optimal, and I am all for that. I just hope they will become more of a threat again when you use firearms in high populated areas.

[cav_guy 62]

I think the zombies are much better now. They still glitch through floors in buildings that are slightly above ground level, but I'm not losing sleep over that.

I do think the pendulum has swung too far the other way on the damage the fire axe does. Five or six hits to kill a zombie with an axe puts me in mind of the black knight in Monty Python and the quest for the holy grail: "'tis but a scratch" as arms and legs are getting chopped off.

For what it's worth, I think that two or three hits with a fire axe is probably the right balance. Either that, or I need to get better at using it so I just hit them in the head ;)

[WrecklessMEDIC 129]

I just had an epic battle with a soldier zombie at one of the military bases. All I had was a splitting axe and that motherfucker was tough.

We ran circles around each other and I must've hit him a dozen times including a few shots to the head and that bastard just kept goin.

At one point when he finally dropped I went to grab a bandage to stop the bleeding and he just got back up again for more!

All I can say is thank god there was only one of them guarding those bunkers or I never woulda survived.....lol. :D

[cav_guy 62]

At one point when he finally dropped I went to grab a bandage to stop the bleeding and he just got back up again for more!

lol. I had the exact same thing happen to me. I now double check them to make sure they're down. There's nothing worse then a zed getting back up while you're in the middle of the bandaging animation :)

[BadAsh (DayZ) 1513]

If they fall down face first then they are only temporarily knocked out. You need to strike them until they fall on their back.

[akafugitive 244]

I've noticed the melee damage has had an impact on more then just zombies. I was attacked by a guy wearing a motorcycle helmet and carting a splitting Axe, all I had was a machete. He was flailing his Axe around madly and hit me a few times but I took calculated swings based on his movement hitting him in the head most of the time, one I defeated his helmet the next swing knocked him to the ground and I killed him. I was severely messed up in the end but came out the survivor.

Edited April 19, 2014 by akafugitive

[irishroy 1347]

I think both axes (Firefighter and Wood) and the Pickaxe should be OHK for Zeds to the head.

The Machete, Heyfork and Hoe also maybe 1, but mostly 2 hits.

[gibonez 3633]

So long as zombies spawn in zombies will never be fixed.

 

Spawn all the zombies in the game at server start or don't bother spawning any at all.

 

Magically spawning zombies 40-50 feet away from a player constantly is stupid.

[Deathlove 2286]

Thank God!... or the devs whichever

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVD2pY5Nepg

 

XD

[xX_fr0st-w0lf_Xx (DayZ) 343]

Do they still hear you from across the town?

[Etherious 907]

Yea,  same here, I noticed those changes but it feels like they nerfed them too much. Now it's easier for the kiddies to roam around without consequences.

Edited April 19, 2014 by DJ SGTHornet

[hannibaldaplaya 1095]

Do they still hear you from across the town?

 

They still see you from miles away. :C

[bodybagger2430 59]

I had a zombie walk up the stairs recently while I was scavenging for items in a house most people don't visit (found a canteen, you chuckleheads on whatever server it was missed :P) it scared me half to death and I was just punching it in the face with no weapon as I was fresh spawn, I noticed as long as I aimed for the head I could stun lock them into permanent get up -> collapse animations and they MIGHT get 1 shot on me if I can't move around them. Very tense, but very rewarding and fun.

 

 I would say keep melee at 2 hits minimum for items like the fire axe, so all melee is viable, not just one God like weapon. right now it is absurd because of the bug that causes even the fireaxe to require 5-6 hits, and everything else till the end of time (3 minutes with a splitting axe the other day, this is a known bug with experimental) Low tier weapons taking about 5 hits, higher like the hoe and splitting axe should take 3 and the fireaxe 2-3 (for zombies, not people, that would be more difficult to balance)

[ZomboWTF 527]

Yeah, no more 1 body hit kill.

You generally have to aim for the head with any melee weapon. 

 

So axes are no longer god items aloving plowing through zombies with impunity. I like that.

rightfully so

you can't slice through a human being with one swing,

and the downside of axe weapons is that they can very easily get stuck in the victim if you hit a bone

 

gotta go check out experimental now i guess...

[holdt@hotmail.com 12]

So long as zombies spawn in zombies will never be fixed.

 

Spawn all the zombies in the game at server start or don't bother spawning any at all.

 

Magically spawning zombies 40-50 feet away from a player constantly is stupid.

Yep! You should definitely be able to clear an area for good. Knowing that they respawn kills the immersion for me. Don't have the solution to this regarding loot etc. but when it comes to the Zeds, thats the way I prefer it to work.

[scriptfactory 620]

Yep! You should definitely be able to clear an area for good. Knowing that they respawn kills the immersion for me. Don't have the solution to this regarding loot etc. but when it comes to the Zeds, thats the way I prefer it to work.

 

NPC respawn is the only way to simulate an extremely large, dynamic zombie/animal population. After loot respawning is added and servers stop resetting all the time the zombie element would be reduced to 0 pretty quickly. What I would like to see is an integrated loot/zombie spawn system. When loot respawns make zombies respawn as well.

[xCAPx 349]

• Zombies are slower. They don't run faster than me anymore unless I am rubberbanding/desynced.
• Zombie respawn seems a lot less intense than before. I can kill zombies with my firearm and I don't get attacked by infinite waves of them.

 

too bad :-( I liked it!

[IamDinner 28]

So long as zombies spawn in zombies will never be fixed.

 

Spawn all the zombies in the game at server start or don't bother spawning any at all.

 

Magically spawning zombies 40-50 feet away from a player constantly is stupid.

 

Would the server restarts be based on a yes/no if zombies are still alive when the game polls?

 

I don't like the idea of a respawn either. I would rather there be about 100x the number of zombies and then regular timed restarts to repopulate the zombies or something like that. Loot I would have respawn so that people could not take advantage of regular restart timers. the loot would be static from restarts and just populate as needed based on whatever protocol they come up with.

 

I seriously want at least on occasion to come over a hill or around a corner to like 800 zombies and have to decide how best to die. Have a smart enough AI as well to keep them at angles that allow this to happen as well so you don't see them approaching and get a surprise.

[mastrplokoon@yahoo.com 8]

 

• Zombies are slower. They don't run faster than me anymore unless I am rubberbanding/desynced.

 

I'd consider that broken.