The Zombie Hunters: DayZ's least acknowledged play style.

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

Yep -snip-

 

Flinching mechanics and blocking/parrying (all tied to physics) would be enough for me. I'm not really interested in seeing combos personally.

 

I hope everything you talked about and a lot more neither us know about is being tested in some way for DayZ melee mechanics.

 

Also, back a little closer to my OP, a melee soft skill would only be a small damage bonus (15-20%) versus infected and would not affect PvP melee characteristics.

 

Kill 200 infected with melee attacks = first tier bonus

 

500 = 2nd tier bonus

 

1,000 = maximum bonus

 

Honestly, I'm not crazy about the whole soft skill thing altogether and wouldn't mind if our characters never changed besides appearance.

[ZogVarnoka 26]

Complex melee system isn't really needed and the chances of us seeing one in an Arma based game are slim to be honest. The infected should be a danger once in melee range. Especially if there are more than a couple. Being able to take out 1-2 in melee should be ok. This allows for a stealth type game play when sneaking into towns. Firing a gun without a silencer in or near a town should be the last thing you want to do. (cue improvised silencer)  Straight forward melee with an attack based on hand held weapon and movement for dodge is fine if greater numbers of mobs means being attacked from different directions and it is hard to get the mobs to line up one behind the other. (collision mechanics /pathing AI) Melee doesn't have to be complicated for it to be fun. Hell bashing infected in the head with a baseball bat and seeing the grey matter burst out never gets old. (We need this devs!)

 

As has been mentioned, there are different types of infected in the works. We do not have any clues as to what that entails currently other than it won't be just different skins. I imagine it includes different speeds, player detection mechanics, different pathing AI, alerting other infected (horde mechanic), different attack speeds or animations, etc. The one thing that is certain though, is that the infected we have seen previously are not what the infected will be like once they are finished. 

 

Behind all this we have the undeniable truth that ease pf access to military weapons and ammo plays a large role in how we, as players, ultimately determine if the infected are a danger or not. The devs are most certainly taking this into account when creating the new infected. If a squad of four guys with AKs and a couple clips each can clear out Cherno easily of infected then there is a problem. Those four guys should be dreading having to fire their weapons at all in such a large town due to the attention it will bring them from the infected in the area. 

 

Now take those same four guys and move them to Vusnaya Dubrovka, a small town of about 15 buildings not counting the farm on the hill. Sure they can handle the infected there with no issue given the amount of ammo they carry. But is it worth the ammo? What happens if they get finished clearing out the town and then another squad runs into them while they have only 6 clips total left between them? These are the type of situations and questions the infected should add to the game.

 

But I digress. The zombie hunter play style should be just as valid as any other. Once we get infected back into the game, even if they are similar to what we used to have, zombie hunters need to be recognized. One of DayZ's major selling points is it is a zombie/infected apocalyptic scenario. Many players want to hunt infected. This is something the devs should have at the forefront of their thoughts when implementing new things into the game. It is also something I think Hicks has forgotten given his current comments on PvP and stressing the mechanics that deal with it.

[Avant-Garde 229]

Complex melee system isn't really needed and the chances of us seeing one in an Arma based game are slim to be honest.

Lol we are just scratching the surface about melee mechanics here mate, the bare bones to make something that actually resemble a authentic melee fighting experience instead of a spam fest. Wanna taste REALLY complex melee combat? Look at this game, still in development (pré alpher at the moment):

 

 

You have clashing, feinting, dodging, 360 multi directional swings (literally, you can swing from any angle) and a shitload of more stuff that I don't even know, more info here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSlashering/

 

But I agree about the Arma based games, how could they handle such things I really don't know lol, but it would be a GREAT addition to this game, especially when you think about situations with multiple survivors together fighting zeds using melee stuff. You can create a real "teamplay" where one uses a shield, other uses a spear to go with the shield guy and give cover to a crazy ass berseker, etc. Imagine how awesome it would be to make a improvised shield with a barrel lid!

Edited September 3, 2015 by Avant-Garde

[ZogVarnoka 26]

I'm familiar with how complex melee based combat could be. Don't get me wrong, I think it would be great if they could implement something more complex. I just think it will never happen in this game.

[Avant-Garde 229]

Flinching mechanics and blocking/parrying (all tied to physics) would be enough for me. I'm not really interested in seeing combos personally.

 

About comboing, I think it could be fun if well implemented, look at this video here for example, the first 20 secs of it:

 

 

This kind of chained attacks could be very useful with blunt damage weapons, but axes and general cutting weapons that get stuck would not have the privilege of comboing if you manage to land a hit, because it would probably stuck in ones shoulder/head/whatever, or at least they could have bigger combo times when a hit is landed, I don't know.

I would love to play zombie hunter stile tbh, but not at the moment. I think we need better mechanics to make it not only viable, but fun and deep, opening possibilities for teamplay (less KoS/more reasons to band together) and such.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Avant-Garde

[Coheed_IV 381]

 Horde mechanics, what does that really mean? Will they act different when in a horde?

 

<snip>

 

Also yeah, I do think the zeds will resemble what we have seen by now. How much different you think they will be?

 

I'm thinking very different. The mods AI was awful, it did the job for the mod, but it sucked. Especially if you already understood how knowsAbout works for arma. It was painful

 

The horde mechanic he's talking about I think was to help with atleast these problems; The problem of them forming a line when chasing. The problem of them standing on top of each other. And the hoard all having matching animation at the same time. Could be more too.

 

 

You can count me in on this playstyle.

[hrdrok 183]

I'm thinking very different. The mods AI was awful, it did the job for the mod, but it sucked. Especially if you already understood how knowsAbout works for arma. It was painful

 

The horde mechanic he's talking about I think was to help with atleast these problems; The problem of them forming a line when chasing. The problem of them standing on top of each other. And the hoard all having matching animation at the same time. Could be more too.

 

 

You can count me in on this playstyle.

 

 

While the mod left much to be desired about the AI, it did several things right. Stealth was important, shooting a weapon in a town/city was like ringing the dinner bell. 

[Deathlove 2283]

 

 

7 Days To Die feels more like what a zombie survival sim should be at the moment so your best bet is that. Not every patch is the best but they are improving allot with each one and the game gets better. At least for me in single player.

 

I'm hopping the developers in Dayz can push out the infected more fluid and interesting in behavior patterns than they have been in the past. I don't mind waiting if it takes longer to improve on this but ill be playing more other games in the mean time so I don't get burnt out. Having no zeds in the game hardly at all right now just shows how flavorless it could be. Diseases I'm hopping get pushed out soon to. Were getting closer and closer to beta and iv seen very little signs of serious infections yet outside of food poisoning and hypothermia.

[youngjediknight 51]

Very interesting post,OP.  The devs really need to figure out what kind of game this should be and stick to it.  When I first got this it was primarily a zombie game.  Now its just horde loot and find other people to kill.  Nothing wrong with that but not what I initially bought into.  So much so I'm finding myself looking more and more at Rust and 7 Days.

Thanks for the beans guys but the lack of zombies in a zombie game makes this a pure PVE game which is not what I bought into.  I'm now enjoying zombies galore ... heck, I have not run into a single other player in this other game but I dont care because the zombies and gathering resources is tough enough!!  Just hoping to make it past the 7th day ;)  Have fun in Chernos!

Edited September 6, 2015 by youngjediknight

[youngjediknight 51]

7 Days To Die feels more like what a zombie survival sim should be at the moment ..

You're kidding right?  If there was a way to take away beans I would.  How can a zombie game be the best when it doesnt even have zombies in it?  Patch or no patch early release whatever euphamism you want to uise ... this is b.s.  I'm voting with my feet LOL.

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

Thanks for the beans guys but the lack of zombies in a zombie game makes this a pure PVE game which is not what I bought into.  I'm now enjoying zombies galore ... heck, I have not run into a single other player in this other game but I dont care because the zombies and gathering resources is tough enough!!  Just hoping to make it past the 7th day ;)  Have fun in Chernos!

 

 

At PAX Hicks said he was excited to bring back the infected and hoped to reintroduce them in .59 or .60!

 

Praying to all the powers that be that it's sooner rather than later....

[Deathlove 2283]

You're kidding right?  If there was a way to take away beans I would.  How can a zombie game be the best when it doesnt even have zombies in it?  Patch or no patch early release whatever euphamism you want to uise ... this is b.s.  I'm voting with my feet LOL.

I never said anything about it being a good game right now without zeds.

[Greaves 131]

Agree with this playstyle completely. Not playing SA right now because of no zeds. 

Zeds are also probably what worry me the most, progress wise. I really hope they can get them to work as intended, in great numbers, but since it's likely the hardest part of development i'm not sure it'll happen.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Greaves

[igor-vk 909]

IMO, zombie situation was best at .42 or something. Weapons and ammo were plentifull and zeds were respawning instantly. Yes they were buggy and saw you from miles away but they could you chase you out of town if you were alone or had slow fire weapon. Then there was .55 with zombies with sensors which worked 90% well, but zombies moved like on 5 FPS. In .55 I spent more time sneaking around zeds than in mod. I decided not to play SA untill devs dont bring zombies back in suficent numbers. Ill play .59 exp but Ill put stable on hold.

[theSpike 1]

Totally agree with the OP. The hunter is also me and my friends preferred play style.

I like the rush you get in PVP, or any kind of interaction with players, and it's fun for sure, but at the end DayZ is supposed to be a zombie apocalypse survival game, so the hunting of Zs and securing areas should remain a main aspect of the game mechanics imho.

On the other hand, we are still quite early in the development and I'm sure there is still a lot to come in regards to Zs and the PVE play style, so I'm not really worried.

So in the future I'm really looking forward to team up with players to clear towns and defend our base against the hoards of the undead ;)