Increasing challenge over time

[unclegus 21]

There's nothing left to do. Once you "crack it" and get yourself a decent weapon, a hatchet, matches, a water bottle and a hunting knife, there is no challenge to surviving. You can just hang out in the hills, shoot (or even ax) an animal every now and then and you're laughing. The whole challenge/"achievement" or this game so far (yes, I know it's Beta and it's practically just a glorified Proof Of Concept at this stage) is survival, but once you've achieved that, there's nothing left to do.

There are a couple of ways to address this I think. Firstly, there should be a shared zombie kill count, so you can see who has killed the most zombies. This would at least give an incentive to take further risks in order to get recognition of it, but even this isn't enough because it is voluntary; I can still just camp out in the hills and be safe. The coolest part of this game is that when you spawn, the risk is enforced on you. Sure, you can choose to avoid zombies if you want, but you will starve to death. Once you've overcome that restriction, there is no necessity to risk encountering zombies/other players.

I think the best way to keep this game thrilling is to forcibly increase the challenges faced by survivors as their survival time increases. One idea I had would be to start having zombies spawn near survivors that have been alive for X amount of in-game time. This brings a whole set of challenges, like not having zombies suddenly appear in someone's line of sight, etc. but it would mean that even in the hills, there is some risk. This would at least keep survival interesting. Another idea would be to have different "difficulty" areas, i.e harder zombies to kill, but there would again need to be some incentive (forced or otherwise) to go there. Better gear perhaps? But why would you need better gear when you already have everything to survive? More credit from killing more/harder zombies, perhaps. But again, why?

Now, I don't want this game to turn into another MMO, but it does need just a little something more. Maybe there should be a way to "escape" (kill a boss zombie or something) and a person who escapes gets a score based on zombie kills and the gear they take with them. Just some ideas that I think are worth discussing.

TL;DR Once you get the right gear, survival is no longer challenging. There need to be more challenges.

[TWhelan 2]

Let me start off my saying that I haven't actually played the game yet, but I have been following it's progress for a few months so I can definitely see where you are coming from when you say that there is a limit to when the game stops becoming fun for experienced players.

I'm sure this has already been suggested before but it would be cool if there were achievements, (e.g. kill 200+ zombies in one life, repair 5 vehicles etc) to give players something to work towards. I think the appeal of the game is the fact that players can do whatever they want with it but it would be nice to have the option of completing challenges.

[foxforgames 2]

If you play like that yes... you wont realy get a challenge. But maby you should go to city's/airfields. That will give you a challenge.

[killashrub324815@gmail.com 18]

I agree totally. And going to the airstrip isnt a challenge its just asking to get sniped by some dude sitting on his ass 600m away.

[Uuni 74]

Maybe make players make a 'scent trail' that zombies even from far away would start to linger towards. This way zeds would track players into forests and unhabited areas as well forcing them to act quicker and camp less

[L0G!N (DayZ) 149]

I totally agree with you, feel free to hit the link in my signature and 'bump' the threads you like, preferably with a well thought out comment, don't just 'bump' ... i would do it myself but i am the last poster in most of them, and i replied to everybody in the thread already... and i realy dislike bumping posts myself, if people like the ideas it should show from itself :)

[Ske7ch23 1]

what the game really needs is some higher level gear, and the natural push anyone would make to return to normality after you master surviving.

Reclaiming buildings, towns cities, when this is done the zombies stop spawning near by.

communication tools used more effectively in game

Zombie numbers should climb a lot higher on servers, a lot of the time they are not much challenge but hopefully when the bugs and animations are fixed this wont be a problem.

team objectives, team loot

[L0G!N (DayZ) 149]

@TPAM, So basically after you survive this game becomes 'second life' ?

Edited July 19, 2012 by L0GIN

[MikeTupper 68]

im at that stage where I have everything too, and its true there is no "endgame" per say, but its what you decide it will be. Its your story. Personally, I decided to become a vigilante for the noobs and kill the snipers/campers. At the same time, I collect mountain dew cans. Its still fun.

[unclegus 21]

what the game really needs is some higher level gear, and the natural push anyone would make to return to normality after you master surviving.

Reclaiming buildings, towns cities, when this is done the zombies stop spawning near by.

Dude that's like, the opposite of what I'm saying.

[Ske7ch23 1]

Dude that's like, the opposite of what I'm saying.

how is that the opposite, maybe i worded it wrong.

what I mean is that as the game progresses, players may receive missions or objectives that are very difficult to achieve, they might require a lot of preparation, such as reclaiming a set of buildings or a lab or something from the infected. once the area is cleared then significantly more zombies start to spawn outside of the cleared buildings, making escape back to the safety of the trees dangerous. Later game players would experience much higher levels of zombies in the server after completing objectives.

I don't think creating a kill count or scoreboard will help. who keeps count when you are just surviving. But if you were forced out of the safety of the trees and the hills by the promise of gear only obtainable by completing objectives set in game and defeating what would essentially be a large horde of zombies, then the risk reward aspect of the game would continue to a higher level. Things like radio communication, GPS, satellite Phones, Working vehicles, Safety deposits, Store rooms for food etc etc.

What I was trying to say was Nobody would want to stay in the hills eating goats for the rest of their lives. what they want is to get back to normality. That should be an ongoing challenge for late game players and the rewards should be fitting to the huge risk the player takes.

Edited July 19, 2012 by Ske7ch23

[unclegus 21]

So what happens when they have returned to normailty? They run around talking to other players and trading Magic Cards? Nah, the risks need to increase over time, not decrease.

[Quaby 93]

Most people don't camp in the woods after they reach stability. The fun part is runnin' 'round the city getting gear and fighting your way into the airfield. It really wouldn't make the game any better if this was added. It would just annoy people who had been alive for awhile. With someone who has been alive for 48 hours, they can probably handle a few zombies thrown their way ;)