Hatchet is overpowered but necessary

[SpeechMan 7]

My friend an I have been doing quite well lately. We have survived a lot of though situations and even in the case of death it has been just one of us, so the other has been able to guard the body or save all all the really important loot.

The trick to our survival has been the hatchet. My buddy wields a revolver and a rifle, but I use a revolver and a hatchet. Whenever we go to loot someplace, the tactic stays the same. I go in while my buddy watches my back.

Here's the problem, zombies are where the loot is. That means that before you can grab any loot, you need to kill the zombies. With a gun this creates additional problem where when you shoot one, two more come running towards the sound. But because the hatchet is completely silent you can just hack away the zombies as much as you like.

Having the hatchet as primary, I don't even fear, or even respect, the zombies anymore. If I see a zombie cutting across my intended path, I just stand there waiting for it to come close and then just before they see me I kill them. If I see a bunch of zombies in front of a building, I just run inside and when they come after me I kill them.

Even though I end up losing some blood, it's easy enough to get some meat and fill it back up. Only problem I've faced is the fact that zombies break your legs and morphine is hard to come by, but even that means that after raiding a single hospital I can spend days before the morphine is used up.

So, the hatchet is completely overpowered. But what would happen without it? Just thinking about trying to raid a simple industrial shed (the one with the garage and another room) without the hatchet leaves me baffled. There are always few zombies inside, but shooting them would cause other zombies to come running. Even worse, the doors are often closed, so to open the doors before taking a shot would mean you go close enough to get aggro.

Something needs to be done. Unfortunately, I have no idea what (if I had I would have posted this to the suggestions forum). Every idea I have creates more problem than it solves. If you make the hatchet make a sound, it either becomes useless or alternatively the sound is so silent it won't make a difference. If you remove zombies from indoors, you create a situation where the looting once again becomes too easy. One possibility would be to make it less powerful and/or less durable. It already has an ammo count so maybe make it have only 100 "swings" in it. In addition to making the hatchet loot precentage significantly smaller.

Anyways, I see the hatchet enough of an issue to stir up some discussion and maybe create a solution that would make the hatchet less overpowered while still remaining useful.

[JustThatEpic 72]

In what way is a hatchet overpowered...?

I don't think you know what overpowered means...

[Nighthawk4 3]

In what way is a hatchet overpowered...?

I don't think you know what overpowered means...

I think he means that the game became too easy because of the hatchet, which is why he thinks it is OP. Granted, it's not the real definition of something OP, but i'm sure you can follow where he's going :).

Anyway, on topic, I haven't played since 1.7.1, so i'm not sure how it works, but if what you're saying is correct, that would indeed make it somewhat 'overpowered'.

That said, without the starting gun it is very difficult to change it because then the new people would be even weaker (hatchet wasn't rare right?).

[coolboynaked 0]

Pretty sure everything is overpowered when you only consider how useful it is vs zombies.

[Daisai (DayZ) 1]

The axe is nice vs zombies , although when you come across a other player you are pretty much dead.

[.martin 6]

I started playing yesterday and I also found the hatchet to be the ultimate zombie slayer (as long as you're stocked up on morphine!!!).

The way I roll now is that I run around with a main weapon in hand, but when I'm clearing a barn or running through a zombie infested area I always drop my weapon a safe place and bring out the hatchet, then after the massacre I go back and pick up the weapon. It's kinda tedious, but it saves ammo and makes me more stealthy.

[hkurban 31]

The way I roll now is that I run around with a main weapon in hand' date=' but when I'm clearing a barn or running through a zombie infested area I always drop my weapon a safe place and bring out the hatchet, then after the massacre I go back and pick up the weapon. It's kinda tedious, but it saves ammo and makes me more stealthy.

[/quote']

I do this too when I'm solo-ing it and don't have room in my pack for my primary weapon, but I'm always worried that a server crash or item glitch is going to rob me of my dropped weapon. I can handle zombies easily in large buildings, but the biggest problem is small sheds where they quickly and unpredictably exit the building at full speed. Usually I'll use tin cans or daytime road flares to clear zombies from a location like that.

When I'm in a large group, we put together a "breach/looting" team with 3 people: 2 with hatchets, 1 with a winchester or other 1 shot zombie weapon. The rest wait outside with military grade weapons or long rifles and keep an eye out for approaching players. The hatchet team clears the building, but if things get out of hand for them, they can tell their gunman to open fire.

[red_orchestra@msn.com 112]

It's OP at getting wood. Just sit in a forest and you've pretty much got unlimited wood

[crazierivan 2]

It's OP at getting wood. Just sit in a forest and you've pretty much got unlimited wood

agreed! my job now is to gather meat, wood and water camping simulator :D

[Liixe 0]

Hatchets would, I imagine be overpowered in a real life zombie apocalypse.

[Sethliopod 4]

I'm surprised you can stand still, then hit the Z's with the hatchet as soon as they see you. I usually get detected far sooner. And then comes the perpendicular running and all that.

Morphine is a little too scarce for me to allow that many hits from Z's. I play solo, and I simply am not interested in that many trips to the hospital/crashed choppers.

I do like having it in my tool belt for when I run out of ammo.

[Dr. Toros 8]

Hatchets, on a fresh life, are my absolute favorite loot. Frees up so many options gameplay wise.

[Paskatykki 0]

I'm surprised you can stand still' date=' then hit the Z's with the hatchet as soon as they see you. I usually get detected far sooner. And then comes the perpendicular running and all that.

Morphine is a little too scarce for me to allow that many hits from Z's. I play solo, and I simply am not interested in that many trips to the hospital/crashed choppers.

I do like having it in my tool belt for when I run out of ammo.

[/quote']

Same here, after on my way getting quite bored of crawling for hours for some minor loot, i discovered i could survive like this with no problem, but the reality seems quite different. The range advantage over zombies with hatchet is not that great, and for some reason i tend to miss with my hatchet every now and then even when using aim ('accuracy' of the hatchet poor by default perhaps?), which results in zombies scoring hits on me. Due to apparent issue of zombies having a high chance of breaking one's legs (at high blood count) along with the apparent near non-existence of morphine anywhere except hospitals tends to end the game for me right there (at least if there's no hospital anywhere within 2 kilometers)

And for OP's comment, i disagree with hatchet being anywhere near overpowered (or there's some wicked technique for the hatchet use i've yet to come by, that you should explain for us).

[Techercizer 82]

Hatchets are crazy OP outside of PvP, and they're crazy OP all the time if you roll with a group.

Soon, rocket will implement persistent ammo counts, forcing players to manage their ammunition use carefully and making every zombie fight a costly one. Unless they have a hatchet, then they're laughing their infinite ammo count all the way to the supermarket. It's as silent as a rare SD gun with rare SD ammo, a one-hit kill on zombies (unlike those SD guns), more common than a Lee Enfield, and its only downside is that you need to be relatively close (not even that close, really) to use it.

I have snipers on overwatch and an M1911 in my belt for other players. The hatchet does everything I need in a weapon for no cost at all. As for what we'd do without it, probably the same thing I did before I found how crazy it was: sneak a bunch or lose zombies in buildings.

[geekcream 12]

I'm surprised you can stand still' date=' then hit the Z's with the hatchet as soon as they see you. I usually get detected far sooner. And then comes the perpendicular running and all that.

Morphine is a little too scarce for me to allow that many hits from Z's. I play solo, and I simply am not interested in that many trips to the hospital/crashed choppers.

I do like having it in my tool belt for when I run out of ammo.

[/quote']

Haha. You had me at perpendicular running. Its so the only issue I have with the game. I can even deal with the scarcity of everything. But Rocket has stated hat he has created some motion caption for the zombies. He is simply waiting for a good way to implement it. Perpendicular running indeed.

[Spunkmire 36]

I like the idea of the hatchet having a life span.

Currently it has infinite use, but wearing it down to a useless nub every time you chop down zombie will definitely change the OP dynamic.

[rocksicles 0]

how do you overpower an axe, a sharp heavy object + Force + trajectory= death.

anything else ?

[Neog2 (DayZ) 0]

how do you overpower an axe' date=' a sharp heavy object + Force + trajectory= death.

anything else ?

[/quote']

Well there is one thing that is definitely overpowered the damn hatchet has longer range than a real life hatchet. I use that thing like a shotgun. Ill be in prone and once they are withing 5 or 6 feet I am at their head and one shot them with the hatchet and I have even gotten head shots in prone position with it lol.

[SpeechMan 7]

Well there is one thing that is definitely overpowered the damn hatchet has longer range than a real life hatchet. I use that thing like a shotgun. Ill be in prone and once they are withing 5 or 6 feet I am at their head and one shot them with the hatchet and I have even gotten head shots in prone position with it lol.

I don't even care for the headshots, it's a one hit wonder no matter where you hit.

[Yeni 53]

The hatchet is perfect. You can kill zombies easily, you can kill players within 1-3 hits(They might have a gun meaning they can shoot your legs). Nothing wrong about it.

[Timma (DayZ) 16]

If it needed to be merged a successful hit should have a longer "reload" time - if you sink a hatchet blade into a body you are going to have to give it a good tug to get it back out, which would slow down your swing time.

[andreamit 2]

L85AWS is overpowered man.

[wufnu 0]

Hatchet is fine. The only reason it's OP vs zombies is because they're so easy to kill indoors. Outside, they always run (or teleport) behind me or to the side and either cause me to bleed or break my legs. Even if you walk backward and swing, they still run to your side or behind and smack you on the back of the head. Inside, they just walk into it.

It does cause me to kill more zombies, though. Without it, I would just run through a building and lose the 1000000 zombies behind me instantly; now, sometimes I'm bored enough to kill them. They have beans and ammo. Mmm, bean banditry.

[PlutoniumPlague 0]

I disagree with the OP and agree with several others in this thread: Hatchet is not overpowered...you get the same effect as you would expect if you hit someone with a hatchet...they go down for the count. I do agree, however, that it can hit at an unrealistic range (too far) and that perhaps it should take longer between swings after a successful hit.

Other than those two points nerfing it would take it further from away from realism. My two cents

~The Plague

[Comcastle 12]

Overpowered? Maybe I just need more practice, but I hated using them.

Zeds have to be right in front of you hacking away at me whilst I'm hacking away at them. Every encounter I've had where I've used the hatchet and I've come away bleeding as the few chops it takes to put a zed down, they've grabbed me a few times in return.