Zombies need to be rebalanced (poll)

[11tw 106]

Just wanted to post a few questions to poll how people feel about the new zeds...

 

My suggestions are embedded in the questions, but to avoid creating bias I will not say which ones are my favorites. Would be great if as many people as possible participated, as how zeds behave and react to players will be key to the finished game.

 

Feel free to comment if you can think of any features which zeds could have which I haven't thought of, and to argue your choices in the poll.

[boneboys 7988]

Rebalanced !

They are being completely reworked, unless you didn't know.

[11tw 106]

Rebalanced !

They are being completely reworked, unless you didn't know.

awesome! in any case, feedback given here will still be valuable in the reworking

[boneboys 7988]

awesome! in any case, feedback given here will still be valuable in the reworking

Well, we all know there is a problem with the infected as do you (http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/182234-post-patch-zombie-feedback/page-63?p=2023845#entry2023845).

You can have your poll.

Carry on.

[11tw 106]

Well, we all know there is a problem with the infected as do you (http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/182234-post-patch-zombie-feedback/page-63?p=2023845#entry2023845).

You can have your poll.

Carry on.

... thank you? ...

(Is it weird that I feel slightly frightened?)

[TiggyPooh 134]

So many choices, so I thought I would just stick to what the majority votes, but the majority being 2 vs 1 is such a significant one sided shift of power I now feel compelled to support the minority.

[11tw 106]

So many choices, so I thought I would just stick to what the majority votes, but the majority being 2 vs 1 is such a significant one sided shift of power I now feel compelled to support the minority.

the last one is multiple choice, and the first two are just single choice. Also, allowing the views of others to influence how you vote is a tiny bit weird... if everybody did that minority views wouldn't ever get a voice.

[boneboys 7988]

 

(Is it weird that I feel slightly frightened?)

Don't be, I'm perfectly conditioned and harmless.

 

Z's should be attracted by fire (flares & fires).

The same with gunfire, when they are in a docile state, at night for example they should be awakened by gunshots and become aggressive.

They already hear/smell/see and group.

I've been sneaking about, it works !

If things go well there are going to be a lot of tears because players are used to ignoring the threat (or lack of).

It will change the whole game as (we) know(n) it.

 

This will end as a discussion about Zombies, whatever the propositions.

[TiggyPooh 134]

the last one is multiple choice, and the first two are just single choice. Also, allowing the views of others to influence how you vote is a tiny bit weird... if everybody did that minority views wouldn't ever get a voice.

 

Placeholder Zombie numbers, physics and movement, why bother?

I'm just going to wait until they bring in the new zombie pathfinding and take it from there.

For me currently the zombies are few and weak, but a new player would argue they are to strong.

Patch 0.44 the zombies could tank immense amounts of axing and lots of players complained.

They said it was a bug and now we can one hit them again, but like I said those things are in the development and what we currently have is so badly bugged it just isn't worth discussing, in my opinion.

You want to discuss it and make an elaborate vote on it and I respect that, but this means nothing until we get said new pathfinding improvements.

[Helix2000 128]

they need to add giant roaming heards of zombies, like in the walking dead, to encourage teamwork between players.

[freethink 984]

In exp. I find myself fighting them in groups a lot more but they are pretty easy to kill with an axe. You'll often see me running with 5 on my tail.

[saamohod 45]

The sad thing is that zombies are not a threat in this game but a petty nuisance. Even a fresh spawn has little trouble safely disabling three zombies with his fists, not to mention someone wielding an axe or a firearm. I think I should start a new thread about it.

[11tw 106]

The sad thing is that zombies are not a threat in this game but a petty nuisance. Even a fresh spawn has little trouble safely disabling three zombies with his fists, not to mention someone wielding an axe or a firearm. I think I should start a new thread about it.

the problem for me isn't that they are too hard to kill, it's that they respawn too close to you and too quickly. This makes running away the only good option for someone who is too weak to fight, as killing that one zed will simply beget another one. We should be fighting zombies, not a hydra...

[arabatur 4]

pls add more zombie

[Pvt_Larry (DayZ) 98]

I'm just hoping for busloads of slightly weaker, slower zombies. I'm going to take on the horde!

[Evil Minion 943]

Where is the "make zombies stronger but fix their awareness and collision issues" option?

[pilgrim* 3514]

... thank you? ...

(Is it weird that I feel slightly frightened?)

 

Don't be, I'm perfectly conditioned and harmless.

 

 

[artrath96 22]

The infected zombies, imo, are humans with something like rabies. They've just gone ballistic and are the animals that humans really are, not something apart from the other creatures on earth.

If I were to smack someone in the head with a fireaxe, or hard enough or enough times with a baseball bat, a crowbar, a hoe, or a shovel, they would die. Similarly, if you shoot a rabid squirrel or dog, it dies. If you shoot a normal squirrel or dog, it dies. Obviously dependending on where they get hit, but lets not get into semantics. The same would go with humans. They aren't reanimated humans, they are still the same person, only the primal version that is the animal portion of a human. If I chop off their head, or make them lose enough blood, or punch their nose into their brain, they would die.

I think that reworking the zombies a good thing. But they didn't grow armor plates, nor did they mutate into something new. They're infected humans.

[Evil Minion 943]

Right now zombies are much less durable than survivors and thats something that needs change. If they are simply infected (most likely given the otherwise realistic setting) they should function just like the players - bleeding, becoming unconscious and taking damage according to their gear (which means military zombies would be as hard to bring down as highly geared players). However, if they are meant to be undead (less likely given the setting) they should be more durable and less immune or resistant to status effects.

 

Nothing supports those paper zombies but the gameplay argument of "I don't want zombies to be reasonable strong or challenging" - and I think thats not how the game should work (poll is still biased towards annoying powerless zombies - please change).

[11tw 106]

Right now zombies are much less durable than survivors and thats something that needs change. If they are simply infected (most likely given the otherwise realistic setting) they should function just like the players - bleeding, becoming unconscious and taking damage according to their gear (which means military zombies would be as hard to bring down as highly geared players). However, if they are meant to be undead (less likely given the setting) they should be more durable and less immune or resistant to status effects.

 

Nothing supports those paper zombies but the gameplay argument of "I don't want zombies to be reasonable strong or challenging" - and I think thats not how the game should work (poll is still biased towards annoying powerless zombies - please change).

the poll isn't biased, the questions are posed in a way that gives no indication as to which answer is preferable. My personal opinion is that zeds should be dangerous, but that an axe to the face should definitely put them on the ground. Also, the respawning needs to be fixed so that you don't have to fight and infinite army of zombies (right now they spawn ANYWHERE within 100 metres of the player after 5 secs, so if you are fighting multiple zeds using a rifle, the fight will be infinite unless you kill them all within 5 secs). Tbh, killing zeds will be easier once hit boxes are fixed, and weapon aiming for certain melee weapons is fixed.

 

These zombies are from what we have seen most likely 'living' dead, so they should die from an axe to the head, end of story. Now how well they can dodge hits to the head on the other hand is still something that can be changed to make them more of a threat.

[Evil Minion 943]

Not biased you say? Then why are there two options for keeping zombies at equal strength, two for nerfing them and not a single one for buffing them?

• keep zeds as they are
• keep zeds strong but change respawning distance and time
• weaken zeds but keep respawning as it is
• weaken zeds and change respawning distance and time

Please add:

• strengthen zeds and keep respawning as it is
• strengthen zeds and change respawning distance and time

Then you got an unbiased vote. ;) Or just provide an "other" option.

The other questions are fine.

 

As for zombie strength: I don't care how many hits they need with a certain weapon as long as you need the same amount of hits to kill an equally geared survivor. But right now zombies die much easier which means they are too weak and could need some durability.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Evil Minion

[vladomir 8]

they need to add giant roaming heards of zombies, like in the walking dead, to encourage teamwork between players.

YES YES YES... You run to an area only to see the horde moving through town you duck into a nearby house and crouch upstairs to look out the window as they pass by.. Is it safe to go out or is there a few stragglers? And of course you can't kill um all so you run like hell if they notice you... With hit detection I can see the shoot the guy next to you in the knee so you can get away while they pile on and Devore him!, muhahah not that I would do that but still... I hope they can make zombies a lot more in numbers and maybe a few different types like ones that are further alone in the infection that they cannot move as fast or get winded quicker. The threat of zombies should be the biggest part of the game (in my opinion) not that the pvp side should be ignored but if your going to take that shot to kos someone you better make sure that the horde isn't near by.

[11tw 106]

Not biased you say? Then why are there two options for keeping zombies at equal strength, two for nerfing them and not a single one for buffing them?

Please add:

• strengthen zeds and keep respawning as it is
• strengthen zeds and change respawning distance and time

Then you got an unbiased vote. ;) Or just provide an "other" option.

The other questions are fine.

 

As for zombie strength: I don't care how many hits they need with a certain weapon as long as you need the same amount of hits to kill an equally geared survivor. But right now zombies die much easier which means they are too weak and could need some durability.

fair point! sorry, I did let my bias affect my choices of questions, so that question is invalid. However I suspect that the majority of players are against strengthening zeds, as after the latest update they are harder to escape.

 

The real question is how strong we want zeds to be. Once that is decided, everything else has to be decided based around that. For example, if we go for really hard to kill zeds, then they have to be slightly easier to escape. If we go for weak zeds then there have to be more of them. It's about balance, and I think that that is something for the developers to discuss further down the line.

 

The only question in this poll which was really valid, I now see, was the third one, as this doesn't focus on the strength of zeds but their behaviour. I think that we should discuss more about adding to zed behaviour and less about balancing zeds, as this is what is most important in alpha, adding content, not tweaking existing content.

[General Zod 1118]

Keep the strength the same 

No instant respawn whatsoever 

More, once they are working as they should

Attracted to gunfire 

[Gatorgutz 8]

wtf other day i went upstairs and the zombie followed me, upstairs would be a nice place to hide as a new spawn, in every zombie book or movie, people seems to get a way from zombies by going to higher ground.  i would like to keep upstairs free of em,, whats next, ladder climbing zombies.  over all,, great work on the newer zombies, they are coming along great.