Why Randomly Spawning All Over The Map Is A Bad Idea

[q.S Sachiel 470]

is the heatmap your movements, or a survey of many players?

info plz.

[Katana67 2907]

is the heatmap your movements, or a survey of many players?

info plz.

 

It was taken from Reddit detailing the activity of a server, in the mod, over a period of 24 hours.

 

And lest we forget, this thread isn't about whether or not the northern and/or western borders of the map are good places to hide things. It applies to wherever people hide things. Because if folks are spawning all over the map, one is always vulnerable to folks just spawning nearby.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Katana67

[solodude23 649]

You've sufficiently convinced me against entire-map spawns Katana. I do still wish the spawns could be spread over the entire coast rather than just the east (as in your first picture), but that would entail players spawning at Balota or Cherno, both high value locations. Then again, Novo is pretty much the best spawn you can get right now, and that surely doesn't lead to same advantages. I'd much rather spawn there than Solnich if my goal is to gear up quick and get some good firepower.

 

I suppose I should have phrased it differently when I said that it's not debatable whether or not the current spawn system has issues. Hell, anything that's not a fact is technically debatable, but I suppose I meant that it's not something that I find much of the community will come to an agreement on. I don't like spawning to the east for several reasons, including the PvP-fest as you've mentioned. I'm not against the notion of a "PvP area" in itself - but I am against the notion of one that is a direct result of a clusterfuck of spawns in one area.

 

I don't think any large city or military base should be a place where players spawn, including Novo. Those, if anything, should be the places that players travel once they've built their character up a bit and thus can afford venturing into such a dangerous location. It's my hope that one day going into a large city by yourself will be a deathtrap, especially without gear. So it goes without question that you shouldn't be spawning in them.

Edited July 23, 2014 by solodude23

[Katana67 2907]

I do still wish the spawns could be spread over the entire coast rather than just the east (as in your first picture), but that would entail players spawning at Balota or Cherno, both high value locations

 

I agree. Unfortunately, it's not going to be possible in my mind with the new turn from east-west (vice north-south in the mod).

 

They've now got a pretty well-defined line of high-value locations running north-south along the western half of the map (NWAF, Kabanino/Veresnik/Dichina Barracks, Zelenogorsk/Green Mountain, Pavlovo Barracks, Balota). Whereas in the mod, for one, it didn't matter where you spawned because there were "military" loot locations spread out relative to what we've got now (NEAF, Balota, Stary, and NWAF). And second, because of that, you had an odd pairing of "military" loot and initial spawns. Which wasn't an issue to me, because the really good stuff could only be found inland. But, it wasn't as well-defined in the mod as it seems to be in the standalone.

 

But, there might be a middle ground in having folks spawn all along the eastern coast (which is what I believe they plan on doing). Like having the southern-most spawn be in the vicinity of Skalisty Island. Trouble with what we've got now, is it's pretty much just Svetlo/Berezino spawns and that's pretty much it. And rightly so, they need us to test the east-west corridor upon which they're placing new cities in the north. But eventually, I think that will, or should, change.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Katana67

[q.S Sachiel 470]

looks pretty evenly distributed then with a lot of activity around coast and certain inland towns.

In the mod, didn't players spawn all over the coast?  or was it more South spawns.  I remember Kamenka Balota, Elektro and Cherno as being rather popular spawns for me.  Sometimes in SE corner...I don't see though how one is vulnurable to people spawning all over the place, unless your indicating that it's the loss of gear etc...

shouldn't be any more dangerous than someone being there anyway imo, and may force more 'encounters' between players,  but good read.

[Katana67 2907]

looks pretty evenly distributed then with a lot of activity around coast and certain inland towns.

In the mod, didn't players spawn all over the coast?  or was it more South spawns.  I remember Kamenka Balota, Elektro and Cherno as being rather popular spawns for me.  Sometimes in SE corner...I don't see though how one is vulnurable to people spawning all over the place, unless your indicating that it's the loss of gear etc...

shouldn't be any more dangerous than someone being there anyway imo, and may force more 'encounters' between players,  but good read.

 

The graphic indicates several things

 

- Players favor roads

- Players favor certain paths to high-value destinations

- Players are less likely to be found in the NW and along the periphery of the map (just look at the densities of pathways)

- Players favor specific locations (like Stary and NWAF)

 

I don't want chance, luck, or clicking "respawn" to be forcing anything for players who've already gone ahead, risked their avatars, devoted time/effort to building up one's avatar, gathered gear, and hidden their persistent storage items. They/their gear can be vulnerable to other people who've expended time/effort/risk in searching them out and gearing themselves. But you shouldn't be rewarded with "easy" or "advantageous" placement simply by virtue of clicking "Respawn." Which is what would happen if there were random spawns across the entire map.

 

And again, you can encourage players to move around more so (i.e. more players likely to be in more places at more times) by adding/tweaking other things (which I've listed, but not detailed, above).

Edited July 24, 2014 by Katana67