Some suggestions that will make some underlying improvements to gameplay.

[KEEPCARLM 146]

Last night, for the first time I played this game with a friend. It was probably the most intense gaming experience I have ever taken part in, in total I got shot down to near death twice, I killed 7 people and I didn’t even get out of Elektro. However, a few things happened that although didn’t ruin the experience, they didn’t exactly help it either.

First of all. I found an ATV in Kamyshovo. “GET IN!” I thought. It looked to be in working order, there was no damage, the wheels were still on it. So, I sit on it, thinking I could go pick up my friend who was stuck in Elektro, then head towards our other guy coming from Cherno. This is the first time I have driven an ATV (although I did once find one on top of a mountain that I sat on but it was stuck on a rock) and when I tried to go forwards, the ATV started driving vertically into the sky, then it flipped over on its side. Annnnnnnnnd… that was that. Either I am dumb and I somehow drove an ATV wrong (although I don’t care how wrong you ride an ATV in real life, you won’t defy gravity :P) or a bug caused it to flip over. It was now unusable. I had no way of flipping it over. I’m not saying these ATVs are feathers… but I’m pretty sure a single man could muster up the strength to force it back onto its wheels.

So I propose a vehicle flipping mechanism, but within reason of course. I, along with the next 900,000 people don’t want to see one guy flip over an entire bus. Maybe a CIV car could be flipped with 2-3 guys and the ATV flipped by 1 guy. (please bear in mind I am basing this suggestion on the basis that I don’t think this is already in the game, if it is already there please inform me how I do it and forget this part of the thread).

The second occurrence that struck me as bizarre… Me and my friend went into the Church in Elektro, shut the door and had a snoop around for some ammo etc. My friend was guarding the door, and I was at the back towards the alter picking up some .45 rounds for my M1911, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere I was downed, bleeding and in dire need of painkillers. The door was shut, the windows are stained glass (and high up anyway), there was no one else in the room, I didn’t hear a gunshot, but I had been shot. There isn’t really a suggestion here, but I just wanted to put this out there as to why this may have happened?

The third thing, we was in the fire station. I had to take out 2 guys just to get in there, and even so I knew there was a guy at the top of the tower. So, we shut all the doors and headed towards the stairs. I go up the stairs and he’s waiting at the top of the stairs with his hatchet, perched over waiting to get a hit on the top of my head. His hatchet was no match for my AK-74. Upon killing that fool, I noticed he possessed an Alice backpack. So, I informed my mate and he proceeded to collect this backpack while I moved down to the bottom of the building to watch the doors and make sure no one can get in.

Turns out, some guy spawned right next to my mate and he thought it was me (as in, my mate thought the newly spawned guy was me). He stood there for ages just watching my mate try and pick up a backpack (he’s new to the game) and the whole time I didn’t know he was there, and my mate thought it was me. So you can imagine my friends confusion when he started getting axed to death. Of course, I went up the stairs again and avenged his death (this actually counted as a bandit kill so I feel no remorse). It’s kind of disappointing that my friend finally had all the stuff we needed before heading out, but was then killed because some guy spawned between us both. I have two suggestions on how to prevent this sort of thing happening, well 3 actually but one of them is a suggestion in its own right.

a ) When a player spawns into the level, there should be a pointer that they just spawned, not something saying “AXEBANDIT HAS SPAWNED IN FIRESTATION” but a visual aid, I’m not sure what exactly, maybe their name shows up with them for 3-5 seconds when they spawn (thus influencing people to log out in safe places) or maybe they spawn greyed out for a few seconds.

b ) Don’t allow people to spawn inside buildings. (although I’m fairly sure this has been suggested in the past).

When you think about it, in real life everyone looks different and people don’t magically spawn in from nowhere. So this is a unique problem to a game (this game, rather), unfortunately it is difficult to fix a game’s problem without adding a ‘non-realistic’ feature to counter it.

The fourth suggestion is all about recognition. I would like to see some kind of system that shows other players in the world just how long your character has survived and what they have been through. Those nice clean civ clothes? Well, they should be getting blood stained. The character should be growing a beard, getting bruised, clothes being torn, bandages showing, mud around the bottom of their trousers from the storms. Imagine, seeing your character battered up after a long and rewarding play through? There is a reason in just about all movies the characters are always battered and bruised by the end, it adds authenticity. If I scramble away from being attacked and bleeding by a horde of zombies, I am not going to be in pristine condition. If this existed, players would be more likely to recognise their friends. Of course, finding a new set of clothing such as camo would clean up the character.

I think that should just about do it for now.

PS. The other guy I mentioned who was coming from Cherno, I asked “where are you anyway?” He replies… “Berezino”. He just ran across the entire map whilst me and the other guy where in Elektro lol.

(TL;DR - Flipping vehicles, dying from a magic bullet, killed by a teleporting axe murderer and visible damage to character)

Edited July 24, 2012 by keepcarlm

[Twosheds 22]

i love the clothes get worn down, bandages showing, bloody bodies. Be great for recognition!

the spawning in buildings is trickier, my mate spawned in a building after a few days away, and there were two guys who happened to be there, and they shot the shit outta him before he fully spawned. It goes bother ways, and if you annouced it, people would wait and kill you as you spawn. I like the idea of having an exclusion zone for spawning, so you can't log out in buildings.

[KEEPCARLM 146]

Yeah I don't want it to be announced, but something subtle so you spawn and for a few seconds after you spawn, if another player aims at you your identity appears (like on regular servers) so they they know who you are, or, you spawn greyed out so players know you have literally just spawned so if your in a situation like what happened to me and my friend you will immediately know that is not the case.