[Suggestion] Counter Griefing with Rewards for Teamwork

[kulin 10]

Hi all,

i think there is a reason why everybody prefers to shoot someone instead of taking the risk of getting killed while trying to find someone who wants to team up. The reason is, that there is nearly no reward to play together beside bloodpacks. You're getting killed by a sniper as fast as you get killed alone since sniper-rifles are by any means the strongest weapon in a game like this. You can't see your opponent, you only have a rough estimation of the shot-direction while the sniper has direct control of the situation. He opens fire when he thinks it's the best time to do so.

Even if a single player sees you first and manages to kill your friend and you kill him you have a disadvantage because you want to wait for your friend to respawn while anybody around 500m hears the shots and comes by to take a look. So... i see many downsides in teamplay while there are many advantages when you go alone.

Thats why i think there are so many "shoot first - ask questions later" players out there. The solution for this is very easy. Just add more mechanics like the blood pack to the game. Effects and advantages you only get when you play with more than one player. My suggestions would be:

1. If another player bandages you, you should heal 300-400 Health(with a cap of about 1500-2000 per hour of gameplay). Bandages + wood should also give the ability to "heal" broken bones.

2. Add heavy doors to the game that only can be opened if there are 2 players who try to open it together. Probably also a little bit better loot for 2 players(only standard loot in citys, military grade equipment only in airports and military bases as it is). This special doors should be only a part of other houses. not the complete house should be locked to penalize single players not too hard.

3. Always spawn two bikes, not only one.

4. The ability to takeover certain spots, like the windy mountain antenna. Not cities but places out in the wild. You should need atleast 5 players to take or retake them. If you kill all the zombies there they should not respawn. The reward is a container that can be used to store stuff. This container should be bound to the cdkey. The first one who opens it is able to give the rights to other players. To overtake them you need to attack at prime time(selectable by server admins) to make it impossible to attack at the late night hours or things like this. While i don't like gameplay restriction this may be necessary since everything else would make the storage useless.

5. If someone shoots you and the shot has enough power to kill you or bring you below 3000 otherwise it should knock you unconscious for 3-5 minutes instead. The next shot kills. This would allow players to "ask questions later". They also could rob whatever they need and let you go your way after they have everything they need. It would also make sniper ammunition more expensive since you would need atleast 2 shots to kill somebody if you don't want to risk to come close.

I think this things wouldn't create any gameplay restrictions. You still can kill and murder however you want. And the omnipresent sense of danger wouldn't be any lower. But if you decide to team up you have some REAL advantages. Probably this would change the player-type from "90% shoot first" to 50-60%. :D

Best Regards,

K.O.

[Scerun 227]

Number 5 is a really nice idea.

Not so keen on having a safe container to store stuff - nothing should be safe!

[zzSTABBYzz 9]

idea 1 and 2 is the better of the 5

[kulin 10]

Number 5 is a really nice idea.

Not so keen on having a safe container to store stuff - nothing should be safe!

I won't call it safe. I would call it open for everyone who brings some friends. Its far beyond safe but its limited to player groups. The necessity for groups would boost team building. Players are going to try ACTIVLY to search for other players to form groups and takeover such a safe spot, instead of shooting everyone.

I think such encampments would be very nice, since they would bring DayZ to the next level. The Level where players form organized structures, clans and search for home servers to takeover a spot they have to guard and maintain.This cannot work if there is a zombie-respawn. And this cannot work if a single player is able to come at 5 o'clock in the morning to steal all their stuff and destroy their base. There needs to be atleast a small possibility to defend the spot in some way. This can only be achieved with prime-times. Its a old and well-proven instrument in open pvp games and mmos.

Think about the possibilities:

-Real big fights with 5 vs 5 or many more.

-Team tactics

-Team organization with work for everyone, like scavenging, animal-hunt and cooking(to build food reserves)

-Real Bandit-Teams that don't want to hunt newbies, but well equiped players, close to their bases. Probably this would move the combat off the shore to the inland where better opportunities are waiting.

-Player generated content like politics, coops, alliances and so on.

And this JUST with one easy thing... the ability to takeover a few spots for your team and the ability to retake them at certain times(for example: every day between 17:00 and 23:00).

Its far from safe. Very far. The bigger such a outpost-stash grows, the more greed and envy will grow in the bandits and other alliances.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Knightowl