What exactly changed about the melee combat in .47 stable?

[omgwtfbbq (DayZ) 1069]

So as many of us know, the .47 update to stable has made melee combat more clunky than it usually is. The motion of axe swinging into zombie face was functional before, even satisfactory. Hopefully in the future we reach the point of "hold left mouse button to raise weapon, let go of mouse button to swing". Now that it's changed, the animation does not relate to where your weapon is being swung. Everyone's complaining about how it's nonfunctional, but I'm wondering why it's nonfunctional.

 

What changed about the animation/hit detection with melee combat? Why was it changed? What was the desired goal?

[Zed's Dead 67]

Yeah, clunky awkward controls are just differently clunky now.

Sadly, zombies also have their amazing 10 foot reach so their controls are still god mode.

[DropBearChick 1216]

I think its cause of the ragdoll meaning the hitboxes and stuff are a bit fucked up atm

[TheWizard14 372]

When I use my axe, I pretty much just side strafe the zombie and swing the ax at a full 90* angle to get maximum chance of hitting the zombie.

[Evil Minion 943]

Seems like they just messed up the aiming. Other than that the issues are still the same as before (insane range on both players and zombies, desynced animations and desynced hit detection). For example the Fireaxe now hits your target if you aim to the left of his/her legs.

[wartzilla 182]

I'm pretty sure it's just the hitbox of the zombies being laggy and out of place, most likely due to the ragdoll system since this is the only thing that has changed.

 

I've found that if you hit them head-on they're as easy to hit as before, but if you let them run past you and try to circle-strafe them, it's a complete crapshoot. To me that indicates hitbox fuckery.

[blunce 991]

Yeah it's as if the hitboxes "shrunk".

[omgwtfbbq (DayZ) 1069]

Does anyone actually know, or is this all speculation?

[Shrub Rocketeer ™ 879]

when I was meet with Serb8 yesterday in cherno church he was kill 5 - 6 zombie with axe one shot kill on most but all was kill in 3 shot or lesser but when I was try I don't make any hit on the zombie I think some person have work out how is working like serb 8 who was zombie melee master and other person like me don't understand how is working new melee

[Ben_uk 24]

It wasn't perfect before by any means, but now it's just plain broken. I got hit from about 15 feet away, and the hit registration is total luck.

[SmashT 10907]

Melee issues are hitbox related. Also melee was until now a scripted prototype, now it's been rewritten so it's hard coded in the engine, that's why you are seeing so many issues right now. Going forward, it means they can now build on that, balance things out, do different collisions, raycasts etc to make melee better overall in the long-term.

[Parazight 1599]

It IS different, but not bad at all for alpha status.   Axes swing a lot faster now.  You have to be closer to the zombie to hit it and be much more accurate.  Damage values seem the same.  Also, you don't have to strafe as far to avoid zombie attacks, it seems.

 

The biggest issue is the Left Mouse Button problem, imo.  Overall, combat doesn't seem harder, just different.  Today I killed 2 zombies with one swing!  That was pretty sweet.

[Solopopo 330]

They changed the melee system because axes were over powered. It was very hard to kill an axe murderer that was running at you, because they ran inhumanely fast. This is because the sprint speed is set extremely high to compensate for the crazy distances players need to traverse without vehicles. Axes were so OP that I would pull one out in close quarters, even if I had end game gear. It was the first item I searched for, and I immediately started hunting other players with it, because it's all I needed. If you got a player with a weapon on the run, it was only a matter of time before you caught him, because you ran with your axe equally as quick as he did with his gun. As soon as he stopped/turned/slipped up, he would die. The guns in Dayz are clunky and unreliable at extremely close ranges. It is nothing like, say, CS:GO where a player with a knife would be punished severely by a gun. With a gun in Day Z you would most likely miss every shot you fired at a player sprinting horizontally across your screen. 

 

With all that said, they have made the changes they have made to stop the axe from being the single greatest close quarters combat weapon. It's no longer possible to run a gun wielder down with an axe. They have changed it so your axe must be in the raised position to swing, and you move more slowly in the raised weapon position. If you are moving, your axe swings higher than your crosshair. If you are standing still, your axe swings below the crosshair. This means that while running, you need to stare at your opponents feet to make contact, and while standing still you need to stare at the sky. It is entirely stupid, and broken, but it does accomplish what Bohemia wanted to accomplish, in a really sad, pathetic, way. There has always been a raise weapon feature, but up until now it's had no effect; at least with melee weapons, which suggests that they always meant to implement some sort of raised weapon mechanic and they hadn't quite yet gotten it down. They still haven't.  I prefer the old system. At least it was better than this. 

Edited August 1, 2014 by Solopopo

[Avant-Garde 229]

Imo they should use a tracer system on melee, like Chivalry:Medieval Warfare. Now it is totally luck based, you simple have no idea of what is going on, its a guess to find out where you will hit.

 

The melee system on this game suck so hard it's not even funny. Has zero depth and some times even anti-fun to use. If the ranged combat is so good and complex, why melee should suck so hard? It would be nice if they added things like blocking/parrying, would make the combat A LOT more interesting and it would reduce the need of a firearm if you at least could trust the melee system.

 

I hope they change it, but I don't think they will. At best, it will be a zero-range pistol like every other game, whitch is shit imo.

[robbyj 77]

Although my post is pure speculation. I believe the staff has come to a decision to force us to shoot at zombies to kill them. Axes are to be used on neutral animals or cutting down trees. For now, if you want to kill a zombie, shoot it. In the end you never waste all of your ammo, and you lose way too much blood trying to kill a few zombies with your rape whistle of an axe.

[Ugly (DayZ) 79]

 etc to make melee better overall in the long-term.

 

i am SO holding you to this

[AzrailCross 48]

Well in my brief experience in the new update, the hitboxes seem slimmer yes - but with a fireaxe aiming for the feet it's almost a promised hit. 

 

So just aim low, for now. Seems far more reliable. 

[King Raptor 191]

Seems like the hit box became smaller, you have to aim for the chest.