Do we really need more zombies?

[roguetrooper 201]

Aren't 'a few' (whatever this may be) zombies enough to serve as a reason why the ingame world is as it is and why its society has fallen apart? PvP is the core of DayZ. Not necessarily a kill rate of 50/hour, but the omnipresent threat of other players. Anyway, a hundred AI zombies aren't nearly as thrilling as a single hostile player nearby. A lag free gameplay is worth more than a zombie world with a lot of zombies (in comparison to a few zombies). And somehow I think DayZ (or the Arma-ish engine and network at all) will never be able to handle 50 players and hundreds of mobs (in the same zone) as fluidly and lag free as EverQuest II or WoW can do.

 

Edit: I've just brought up this topic because personally I'd prefer a fluid gameplay (fps-, lag- and ping-wise) instead hundreds of zombies at the same time (when both at the same time is not possible). I've been scripting and mapping since Arma 1 and having hundreds of NPCs in Arma just isn't what you could call a fluid gameplay. My concerns aren't many zombies in a zombie game but rather lags and fps (no, I don't need to be it a COD kiddy shooter with 60 fps).

Edited January 8, 2015 by RogueTrooper

[sachad 1016]

Aren't 'a few' (whatever this may be) zombies enough to serve as a reason why the ingame world is as it is and why its society has fallen apart? PvP is the core of DayZ. Not necessarily a kill rate of 50/hour, but the omnipresent threat of other players. Anyway, a hundred AI zombies aren't nearly as thrilling as a single hostile player nearby. A lag free gameplay is worth more than a zombie world with a lot of zombies (in comparison to a few zombies). And somehow I think DayZ (or the Arma-ish engine and network at all) will never be able to handle 50 players and hundreds of mobs (in the same zone) as fluidly and lag free as EverQuest II or WoW can do.

 

PvE is the core of the DayZ Standalone. Your theory is invalid.

[CornProducts 315]

They could handle those numbers in the mod, and have vehicles, and persistent tents and vehicles and 50 players.

 

With a decent AI (not the stand in behavior we have now) a couple hundred zombies will be quite an exciting challenge. A friendly street brawl with a few zombies turns into the fight of your life when 2 dozen more join the fray.

 

You'll like more Z's.

[roguetrooper 201]

PvE is the core of the DayZ Standalone. Your theory is invalid.

 

Imagine DayZ as a single player game. PvP (i.e. the presence of other players who can kill you) is the spice of DayZ. An offline search for food and warmth would be quite boring. Maybe they (or Dean) intented it to be more focussed towards "a few humans vs. many zombies", but actually people play it PvP.

 

I am not against many zombies. I just brought up this topic concerning how bad the (current) engine is in handling many NPCs (models and their bahaviour) at once in comparison to other games with many NPCs.

[Whyherro123 2283]

Imagine DayZ as a single player game. PvP (i.e. the presence of other players who can kill you) is the spice of DayZ. An offline search for food and warmth would be quite boring. Maybe they (or Dean) intented it to be more focussed towards "a few humans vs. many zombies", but actually people play it PvP.

 

I am not against many zombies. I just brought up this topic concerning how bad the (current) engine is in handling many NPCs (models and their bahaviour) at once in comparison to other games with many NPCs.

PvP is the spice of DayZ now because there isn't anything else to do. When you are starving to death, with infected wounds, can barely see due to dehydration, shitting your brains out with every step from drinking bad water, and you have only 2 bullets for your rifle, PvP will be the last thing on your to-do-list.

[Bludy 324]

i've still doubts about zombies, they are a threat when you are just spawned, or you've been unlucky so you're struggling with something, or they can easily spot you for other players, but once you are set up they hardly put you in danger, so maybe even a small change in numbers could make a difference

[gibonez 3633]

PvE is the core of the DayZ Standalone. Your theory is invalid.

 

ahahaha yea no its not.

 

PVE is almost non existent and is unimportant in dayz. Zombies serve absolutely no purpose in dayz other than to provide glitchy bouts of frustration and to put further emphasis on a broken melee system.

[blacklabel79 949]

how about we wait and see ?

[ChainReactor 922]

how about we wait and see ?

 

You mean we should wait for the actual systems meant to be in the finished game that will replace the placeholder systems that generate the current zombies before we judge?

 

Black, you're a silly, silly man!

 

:)

[Quimoth 7]

Aren't 'a few' (whatever this may be) zombies enough to serve as a reason why the ingame world is as it is and why its society has fallen apart? PvP is the core of DayZ. Not necessarily a kill rate of 50/hour, but the omnipresent threat of other players. Anyway, a hundred AI zombies aren't nearly as thrilling as a single hostile player nearby. A lag free gameplay is worth more than a zombie world with a lot of zombies (in comparison to a few zombies). And somehow I think DayZ (or the Arma-ish engine and network at all) will never be able to handle 50 players and hundreds of mobs (in the same zone) as fluidly and lag free as EverQuest II or WoW can do.

According to you this is intended as a PvP. Yet why on earth would we need any zombies or a story at all, if this was a PvP? It is meant as a survival game. The current amount of zombies (and their still very basic AI) make the survival part extremely easy.

 

The ultimate goal of Dayz is probably that all the factors in the game make it extremely beneficial to team up with some people you encounter, this is realistic since you play as a human. If you want to play PvP there are plenty of games offering exactly that.(go play the new halo) This is a SURVIVAL game, not PvE not PvP. It is meant to simulate what COULD happen IF, therefore you should be forced to group or at-least interact with others. If you are alone you will get yourself into some trouble you CANNOT get out of (30 zombies for example).

Not to mention the pvp right now is just for fun, this is why they are focusing on persistence first. Once they can lower spawn rates, everything becomes rare. PvP then becomes something you do to get the loot or to protect you and your group/camp (which is strange since right now gear instantly breaks once it receives even a scratch from one single bullet, but i guess that will change)

 

This is merely my point of view, but i think that the major line is going to be verified in future patches, afterall this game is based upon Survival.

Edited January 5, 2015 by Quimoth

[roguetrooper 201]

Now and later it needs only one or two bullets to aquire food for hours or ammo to kill 60 zombies or to get rid a potential killer. Players will be killing each other as now, no matter how many and how dangerous zombies are out there or how grey their screen is due to hunger or coldness.

[sachad 1016]

A cow typically doesn't shoot back at you. But when you have only six rounds in your SKS and no spare ammo, are you really going to waste them on trying to kill some random guy, who might kill you before you get to him, or who might have friends nearby, while alerting every zombie (or worse) in a 1000 yard radius, when maybe, just maybe, this guy isn't a trigger-happy maniac and he might be able to help you?

Edited January 5, 2015 by Sacha

[doctorbadsign 645]

Aren't 'a few' (whatever this may be) zombies enough to serve as a reason why the ingame world is as it is and why its society has fallen apart? PvP is the core of DayZ. Not necessarily a kill rate of 50/hour, but the omnipresent threat of other players. Anyway, a hundred AI zombies aren't nearly as thrilling as a single hostile player nearby. A lag free gameplay is worth more than a zombie world with a lot of zombies (in comparison to a few zombies). And somehow I think DayZ (or the Arma-ish engine and network at all) will never be able to handle 50 players and hundreds of mobs (in the same zone) as fluidly and lag free as EverQuest II or WoW can do.

 

I think that DayZ is about more than PVP. Sure it is a factor in the game, but the potential for other forms of interaction is what keeps it interesting. DayZ isn't tense because I know you're going to fight me, DayZ is tense because I don't know whether you are going to be friendly, or deceitful, or aggressive. I have to be on the ball because the instant I make a false assumption, I either lose my character or I miss out on meeting someone interesting.

 

Personally I think there should be more zombies (once they work properly), killing on sight is the easiest way to play DayZ, it has instant rewards that no other play style affords. I don't want to be one of those who says KOS should be removed from the game, but I do think the game needs balancing so that it is as hard as any other play style. One way to do this is to make zombies a threat and make them hone in on gunshots. KOS is by no means an invalid way to play, but as things stand it is way easier than doing anything else, which totally unbalances the game and stops it from reaching its full potential.

[boneboys 7988]

Most definitely.

Improved and more of them.

I've placed my order, I'm just waiting for delivery.

[scriptfactory 620]

A cow typically doesn't shoot back at you. But when you have only six rounds in your SKS and no spare ammo, are you really going to waste them on trying to kill some random guy, who might kill you before you get to him, or who might have friends nearby, while alerting every zombie (or worse) in a 1000 yard radius, when maybe, just maybe, this guy isn't a trigger-happy maniac and he might be able to help you?

Um. The more limited resources become, the more likely players are going to be to waste their last bullet on killing you and taking your stuff. If all bullets were removed from the game it would have a better impact on KoS than limiting resources simply because it would be harder to get an instant kill.

[sachad 1016]

Well, you better pray the guy you shot has anything worth attracting attention over. If you manage to kill him with a single bullet, that is. 

 

People throw themselves into gunfights these days because there's little else to do, and the penalty for dying is mild, since gearing up is quite easy. Once the environment becomes a real threat from zombies, wildlife and climate, and food, weapons and equipment become scarce, the penalty for dying will be quite severe. 

[scriptfactory 620]

Well, you better pray the guy you shot has anything worth attracting attention over. If you manage to kill him with a single bullet, that is.

People throw themselves into gunfights these days because there's little else to do, and the penalty for dying is mild, since gearing up is quite easy. Once the environment becomes a real threat from zombies, wildlife and climate, and food, weapons and equipment become scarce, the penalty for dying will be quite severe.

The more scarce items become the greater the potential payoff will be to kill other players. If everything in the environment is more dangerous than players, players will become the safest source of loot, right?

Edit: I should add players are already easy to kill... The only reason I don't KoS is because they have nothing I need. I would wager many other players feel the same. These changes would actually give me a reason to KoS.

Edited January 5, 2015 by scriptfactory

[sachad 1016]

Nobody said players will become the lesser threat. Everything else will just become more of a threat than it is now. You can keep blasting people away in hopes that one of them has the stuff you need, but then you'll just keep inviting trouble on yourself. Do you really want to risk hordes or bandits coming after you for the off chance that the guy you just shot has a can of beans or a few bullets on him? 

[ToySmokes 116]

The more scarce items become the greater the potential payoff will be to kill other players. If everything in the environment is more dangerous than players, players will become the safest source of loot, right?

Edit: I should add players are already easy to kill... The only reason I don't KoS is because they have nothing I need. I would wager many other players feel the same. These changes would actually give me a reason to KoS.

Think of It in this way. If you see a player just a few meters in front of you and you have one bullet in you gun. You know that the chanse is that you kill him and get he's loot. But you also know that if you fire that bullet. A 100 Zeds will chase you til you either find a house to lock youself in or til you give up and die. You will probably not take that chanse. Especially not if it's hard to get looted up. You want to keep your gear and there for you have to keep on living. BUT if you decide to shoot him. You will probably die. Re spawn and have a hell to get new gear. That's why don't do it.

[scriptfactory 620]

You guys should play Project Zomboid MP and then reassess this idea. It simply won't work to any great degree, if at all.

[BadAsh (DayZ) 1513]

I don't subscribe to the theory that more zombies will diminish KOS (or much PVP), but I do subscribe to the theory that more zombies will make zombies more of a threat. And they really need that, because right now they aren't any sort of a threat, and they should be one of the greatest non-player threats in the game. They should be a constant annoyance, and the the possibility of a dangerous zombie attack should be something that players would have to always keep in mind whenever they perform any actions in this game.

This is something that would change player behaviour, not necessarily towards other players, but just doing ordinary actions. The need to find relatively safe places for eating, drinking, bandaging, rearranging inventory etc etc. No more of that in the open, or whenever you feel like it. Making looting towns much more of an adrenaline inducing experience than the carefree "going shopping" feeling it currently has.

Generally speaking basic survival should play out on the premises of the zombies, not the players. And more zombies is one of the main methods of achieving that (a proper AI would partially be another).

[AlphaDogMeat . 493]

PvP is the core of DayZ.

 

PvP is the core of your DayZ.  What are you going to do when zeds can dodge your axe swing and then grab your arm or knock you down?  What about turning a corner in Cherno and finding the street blocked by thirty zeds just waiting to be aggroed by the slightest movement?  Or after sniping five zeds with your suppressed AK101 near a crashed helo, you crawl up to loot it and find a ghillied zed gripping your neck and biting your face?

 

When looting up can't be done in twenty minutes, and duped items get wiped every couple of hours, you're not going to be sprinting to the fire station in Elektro for a fight any more.  You'll be lucky if your total loot is a mouldy cabbage, a spanner and a Dean "Rocket" Hall bobblehead.  Good luck PvPing with that lot.

[blacklabel79 949]

I liked the Change that sometimes if i camp my own garden from a bit further ( sometimes with the evil intentions for getting some nice huma Steak ) and shoot at whatever i pull Zombies from the Woods behind me.

 

GIMME MOAR ZS!!!! GIMME HORDES !!!!! GIMME GIMME !!!!!

 

 

anyways...we will see :D

[sachad 1016]

You'll be lucky if your total loot is a mouldy cabbage, a spanner and a Dean "Rocket" Hall bobblehead.  Good luck PvPing with that lot.

 

You could probably get a decent cult started with that, though!

[sneakydudes 278]

1. With the current system, of spawning in and having zombies hit you (because its still loading) they need to change the newbie spawn locations to the smallest towns so you start out finding food.

 

2. The more zombies will be a change that might be needed if the system can handle it and not cause more lag for those that are running below my 780ti sc video card. They shouldn't have to upgrade to an 800 dollar one.

 

3. PVP yes, its exactly what we do. It will also be that way in RL if your starving and you have bandits trying to steal everything you have and your life.

 

4. We need more PVP to be honest to keep ourselves busy. The game is boring after 1 week of searching for everything. 1 month and you have the rare items. (unless your on public pvp your dead before that)

If this game was about pve you need boss mobs, lots of trash to go through to keep yourself busy. Loot at the end of the trail to slow us down. The key is....... to slow us down in the game to keep enjoying the thrill of "I got to have that loot/prize at the end of the day"

 

PVP is what is killing you mostly. The zombies being attracted to you are too easy to see, kill and run away from. There is nothing hard about them unless more are attracted then you space them out for the kill.

 

So what's next? searching for loot that you will find because zombies are too easy to kill. BORING!!

 

TO change the loot drops to rare and very rare means you have to re spawn weeks of the same old same old thing. BORING!

 

You need that PVP attraction to keep you busy. Either its knowing that someone might be a bandit around the corner, or your directly involved as a bandit. You need that PVP factor.