Server Hopping + Loot spawns + Barbed Wire = Broken Game

[jonaswashe 7]

I love this game, it has the potential to be excellent, heck, it already is excellent, but there's a lot that needs to change. (It's an Alpha, so I'm being very patient) For me the following is the biggest problem in the game.

This game should be all about exploration and survival, instead it's become about exploiting the best loot spots. There are three issues, annoying individually, but which are together game-breaking.

Problem 1: Server Hopping: This is talked about in more detail here

(http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=693)

In short, people are logging off to avoid death, and switching servers to get loot from the best buildings multiple times. This is an exploit.

I propose a two part solution.

Solution 1 (logging off):

Make players who log off stay in the game for 15 seconds. This fixes the d/c bandits

Solution 2 (logging off):

Make every server save a players unique location, similar to how tents are handled. This may not be feasible as I imagine it would increase server load. However, this would drastically cut down on loot camping and stop people sneaking into areas on another server and popping up behind you to kill you. Both are exploits.

Even so, while this solution makes it more difficult to loot exploit, people who want to can just walk to the best buildings on every server individually and still pop in and grab things. So this solution will only work in conjunction with more randomized loot spawn, so that no one building is a prized location.

I understand that Rocket set loot up to spawn in a logical, intuitive manner, the problem is that, because of that the best loot spawns in one spot on the map, specifically in two building that are only on the map in this area. This leads to people blocking the doorway(s) with barbed wire and switching servers to collect their loot. I've only been able to vault over barbed wire a small portion of the time I've encountered it, so I think something is bugged there. I should also point out here that the current best military building only has one doorway, and is therefore a honey pot for barbed wire server-jumping exploiters.

Problem 2: Loot spawn

Solution (loot):

Fix loot spawns. Make more randomly generated loot spawns like the crashed heli is going to be for each loot class (Medical, Rural, Military) Make the best loot less common but have a chance to show up in more of its building types. If possible, make loot get gradually better as you leave the shore and head inland, but don't centralize it.

Problem 3: Barbed Wire

Solution 1 (barbed wire): If loot spawns and server jumping is fixed this will not be as much of an issue. I feel that barbed wire should block zombies but humans should be able to cross it like a fence. This would stop people from exploiting rare loot areas, but still leave the wire's purpose intact.

Solution 2 (barbed wire):

You need a toolbox to remove barbed wire. Barbed wire is extremely common while toolboxes are uncommon/rare. Either make toolboxes more common, or allow anyone to remove barbed wire without a toolbox.

TL;DR:

Loot camping, barbed-wire toting, server jumpers are breaking this game.

I'm interested to hear what others think about this issue. Any ideas on how to deal them? Thanks.

[McKlane 0]

I agree with everything that has been said.

[Decoy (DayZ) 0]

I endorse this product and/or service.

[ryanarand@gmail.com 0]

I agree the barbed wire is so annoying... cant get into some common spawn buildings and there is no way around it and its very annoying

Also i have never had a problem with server hopping but im sure its a problem, would like a 15 sec logout time period to be added or once your out of combat

[Sin Vince 3]

Great points, all totally valid. Thanks for the input! This game's going to be great if our developers react to intelligent and resourceful suggestions like this! Just showing my support, keep it up!

[B00tsy (DayZ) 19]

Yay for everything the OP wrote!

The thing is, that a lot of people are quite rotten inside (like zombies) and will use every exploit there is in the alpha stage just to gain stats ( I assume the younger croud). If this could be countered in any way then that would be great.

I especially agree with the individuality. Atm it pays of to be selfish, ignore the zombies and just kill the players. I personally would like to see the bandits to be the underdogs instead of the uberdogs with a sniper rifle and relog on several servers to get loot. So that you are basically a bandit for the honor, because you are bad ass, not because you snipe everyone off at long range (which is pure lame), but because you are good!

[That Lamer 0]

I'm not sure I understand the problem with barbed wire. I've been able to hop over it fine. I just need to hop twice to clear it. Toolboxes are also fairly common in any industrial area that spawns car parts.

[Snuffy McGee 17]

?

Edited May 18, 2019 by Snuffy McGee

[migel_b 0]

Unfortunately it's an arma 2 thing that you remove from the server instantly. If it's not 10 seconds is not a lot of time with all the different kinds of bleeding statuses and 2 long would bug with the JIP script on startup when a new player picks that slot.

[B00tsy (DayZ) 19]

Problem 3: Barbed Wire

Solution 1 (barbed wire): I feel that barbed wire should block zombies but humans should be able to cross it like a fence.

Right now the barbwire does not block zombies, they go right through it, tried to barricade buildings several times but they walk just through it once they have lock you.

[ezdaroth 1]

The instant DC is pretty simple and obvious to fix, at least in theory. If the player loses connection to server, keep the character in there for 30-60 seconds and refresh the timer every time the player takes damage.

If the player tells the server he wants to log out, there's a 15 second timer during which the player can't do anything and it's cancelled if the player takes damage. If it's successful, disconnect the player without leaving the character on the server for 30-60 seconds.

Hurts the players who get accidental disconnects, but it's the only reasonable fix with little room for exploitation. Sure, 15 seconds is enough to log out if you see 5 bandits approaching from the horizon, but at least it would fix the most blatant cheating.

The server hopping for loot is way more difficult to fix and it's the issue we really need good suggestions for.

You could restrict the number of servers the player can connect to within a certain time frame, but it would only limit the exploitation a little and would cause problems for honest players. I often hop around 6 servers to see if I can find a -12h EU server, because I don't want to play in the darkness the whole week. Servers tend to crash a lot and people swap servers so their friends can join etc.

I don't think having server-specific character location is a good idea, it would force high-geared players to either spam join the one full server where they played in, or join a different server and be shot down instantly by the bandits who wait for them at the coast.

Making loot disappear around the player when he joins wouldn't work, since hoppers would just move a bit further from the deer stand to log out. Would have to be so large radius it becomes annoying for everybody.

I really have no idea how to fix it without causing other issues. If you come up with one, say it out loud. I'm sure Rocket doesn't have a perfect solution for this either. It's currently the #1 exploitation method in the game and needs to be fixed.

[SlamBliss 1]

Camping a lootspawn and server hopping are pretty pathetic, and the worst part is that people don't even try to hide it.

Example below, someone teaching their friend how to camp the barracks.

I can't say "THAT ISN'T HOW THE GAME IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED" because it isn't my place to say such a thing. It however from my point of view is robbing people of an authentic SURVIVAL horror experience.

[Gobbins 2]

Maybe make it so you cannot pick up any gucci rifle or ammo for the first 20 minutes after joining a server. By gucci I mean anything that spawns only in military or firestation.

[1mpuls3 2]

Or just make the loot spawns (good loot or bad loot) totally random so there's no need to "defend" or camp a house where you know the M24 spawns.

Also, for the wires - add a wire cutter that you can find (similar to the hunting knife) and hence being able to remove wires, should you have a wire cutter in your inventory.

[Renegade0260 3]

Server hopping solution.... prevent people switching servers more than once every 30 minutes or 1 hour or something.

Or, have persistence of player stats/belongings work on an individual server basis.

[SlamBliss 1]

No, that'd be way too painful on people who DON'T serverhop. Mayhaps, only 3-5 servers an hour?

As for loot camping, that'd be way more difficult to fix, I think. Maybe after a certain density in a zone, items no longer spawn? That'd at least make them leave the building they're camping in to throw down the trash, exposing them. Could mess up Stary Sabor's military camp, however.

[JezzaFromAUS 0]

1: Agree, your character should be left in there for at least 10 seconds to avoid logging out of danger.

3: Agree, a basic tool (pair of snips or even hunting knife) should be used to dismantle the barbed wire.

[UbiquitousBadGuy 846]

Threads like this is what we need. Fantastic suggestions. Server hopping is definitely something we need to address.

[mooncabbage 2]

Does anybody read the patch notes? I'm pretty sure the whole exiting to avoid death thing is being resolved in the next patch, servers will force a save if you abort or alt+f4, or crash or whatever. So you'll come back and just bleed out some more.

There is a fix to server hopping, it's just disabled atm as it puts too much strain on the central server.

The obvious solution to preventing people camping loot spawns is to not have loot spawn near players, just like zombies won't.

About the only thing that makes any sense in this thread is zombies being able to get through barbed wire. It really should atleast slow them down good.

[Poerisija 1]

Fix to logging out while in PvP without being unfair due to "I died while logging out".

When you log out, your character will remain in game for 15 seconds. If you move or fire during this period, you'll cancel the logout timer. You'll be able to see that you are logging out safely and alive, but you can't do it mid-battle.

All problems solved.

[Koffa 1]

Fix to logging out while in PvP without being unfair due to "I died while logging out".

When you log out' date=' your character will remain in game for 15 seconds. If you move or fire during this period, you'll cancel the logout timer. You'll be able to see that you are logging out safely and alive, but you can't do it mid-battle.

All problems solved.

[/quote']

This. I like this idea.