Zombies are getting annoying.

[phillo74 1]

This is my first post here, so go easy on me. I've been playing DayZ for a few months now and it's an epic game, no doubt!! But, given the few serious drawbacks it has, I'm now finding myself researching The WarZ a little more...

Reason being, DAYZ can be a HEADWRECK at times, and here's why...IMO:

1) Zombies are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast, and not only that but they can spot you from miles off!!!

2) Since the latest fix (1.7.1.4, i think it is) when one zombie starts chasing you, at least 5 more start following from out of nowhere!! Major drawback.

3) 2 or 3 slaps from a zombie, and your bones get broken. This needs to be fixed too.

Other than that, the game is perfect! I may be imagining things but - on regular level - there is a lot more loot around this time, and i love this. The reason i was getting so aggravated before was because it would take me nearly 45 mins before i found so much as an axe. Then, after 6 hours, when i finally scavenge some nice gear....and i get killed....i'm super p**sed! At least, when you're able to stock up early, its not as much of a kick in the n*ts if you die early. Annoying still....sure....but not half as bad.

Cheers, and good work!!

[Sgt.Asshat 607]

Man up and gun up! pewpewpewpew

[Blakorr 77]

from miles off!!!

heaven forbid that the game actually be challenging.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Blakorr

[phillo74 1]

from miles off!!!

an exageration...i know

[hds02115 2]

It's a survival game, if you could just out run them then where would the challenge be? Find a gun and unload.

[Robolord 11]

From miles of? Maybe you shouldn't jump around on the road anymore with 2 bright red lights in your hands, might make it a bit easier. Go into houses when zombies are chasing you, and you can kill 'm of with a axe easily.

[phillo74 1]

It's a survival game, if you could just out run them then where would the challenge be? Find a gun and unload.

I get what your saying....and thats the whole buzz of the game, don't get me wrong. But, for example, i was playing earlier for about an hour and a half. I had a nice build up of stuff. Next thing i know, i'm creeping through the grass (there's a zombie about 30-40 metres away) and then the thing runs for me. I tried to escape uphill coz i was low on ammo, but when i trurn around there are 5 zombies after me....wherever they came from. Then i take 3 slaps and my leg gets broken. Just annoying. Feel kinda cheated. But i get what ur saying.

[phillo74 1]

I get what your saying....and thats the whole buzz of the game, don't get me wrong. But, for example, i was playing earlier for about an hour and a half. I had a nice build up of stuff. Next thing i know, i'm creeping through the grass (there's a zombie about 30-40 metres away) and then the thing runs for me. I tried to escape uphill coz i was low on ammo, but when i trurn around there are 5 zombies after me....wherever they came from. Then i take 3 slaps and my leg gets broken. Just annoying. Feel kinda cheated. But i get what ur saying.

By the way, in know where there is one zombie...there are 10. but i really didnt c any in the vicinity aside form this one..

[@ndreas 15]

... nothing against a good challenge, but the erractic and aprupt behaviour most zeds show after you got their aggro is just looking ridiculous laggy and zig-zaggy and does in no ways resemble any enemy approach in any FPS game I ever played (even fast games like the original Quake series have at least trackable line of movements and not that cartoon-like cross-hopping).

In addition with a somewhat unresponsive FPS-perspective (I'd play in 1st person-view the whole time if the shaking would not annoy my sense of balance while traversing through miles of forest) it get's mostly a matter of luck to hit them often enough before they eat your brains.

So having a bunch of them charging after you is serious pain, I agree.

I understand why lots of players just shoot survivors. They are easier loot and less dangerous (not that I would say I like that, but I can understand).

Edited July 29, 2012 by @ndreas

[phillo74 1]

... nothing against a good challenge, but the erractic and aprupt behaviour most zeds show after you got their aggro is just looking ridiculous laggy and zig-zaggy and does in no ways resemble any enemy approach in any FPS game I ever played (even fast games like the original Quake series have at least trackable line of movements and not that cartoon-like cross-hopping).

In addition with a somewhat unresponsive FPS-perspective (I'd play in 1st person-view the whole time if the shaking would not annoy my sense of balance while traversing through miles of forest) it get's mostly a matter of luck to hit them often enough before they eat your brains.

So having a bunch of them charging after you is serious pain, I agree.

I understand why lots of players just shoot survivors. They are easier loot and less dangerous (not that I would say I like that, but I can understand).

Couldn't agree more. But, as you say, nothing against a good challenge. just gets my goat sometimes. but with loot more common (in regular mode) its not half as bad as it was.

[adadav48 0]

Whaddya mean you can't find so much as an axe? Every time I enter a barn there's at least 3 or 4, they're far too common. If I were you, I'd suggest learning which buildings are capable of being entered. Stay around the outside of towns, and scan for those enter-able buildings. Don't shoot until you need to, and always have a building you can double back to if needed and an an accompanying plan. Always have at least one morphine auto-injector on you so that if your leg is broken you can escape. The zombies in this game really aren't too much trouble if you stay stealthy.

[starwarsfan@gmx.de 450]

I'd still prefer slower but harder to kill zombies. It's not like they have to be walking but you should still be able to easily outrun them at short distances.

I was really hoping for Zombies more of the Romero kind than from the whole 'Infected' scene that has come up in the past ten years or so. After all the mod's called 'DayZ' and not 'DayInfected', but I realise that Rocket has already said that these are 'Infected' and not 'true Zombies'. IMO they should seriously consider changing the Name for the Standalone game.

[subvision 14]

I have a nice story to tell. When I was in a barn in a small village these days, I got my legs broken. As we know, you can stand up with broken bones, but if you try to walk you go prone. So far, so good. I wanted to get killed by a zombie, but the one in the barn was still hitting my dead pal and did nothing else. OK, I thought, and I crawled out in front of a zombie standing there. I stood up in front of him and he did... nothing. Then he scratched me one time and again did nothing. I wasn't bleeding, so I couldn't get killed. So I had to crawl to the next zombie and this one at last killed me.

And when you don't want to get killed, a zed spots you from half a mile away and runs right in front of you, as the OP is telling. Very annoying. When this happened to me I had to stand up and when I did this, ten other zombies spotted me, and I could swear, some spawned out of nowhere in my back.

Edited July 29, 2012 by subvision

[Robolord 11]

I have a nice story to tell. When I was in a barn in a small village these days, I got my legs broken. As we know, you can stand up with broken bones, but if you try to walk you go prone. So far, so good. I wanted to get killed by a zombie, but the one in the barn was still hitting my dead pal and did nothing else. OK, I thought, and I crawled out in front of a zombie standing there. I stood up in front of him and he did... nothing. Then he scratched me one time and again did nothing. I wasn't bleeding, so I couldn't get killed. So I had to crawl to the next zombie and this one at last killed me.

And when you don't want to get killed, a zed spots you from half a mile away and runs right in front of you, as the OP is telling. Very annoying. When this happened to me I had to stand up and when I did this, ten other zombies spotted me, and I could swear, some spawned out of nowhere in my back.

It was just a friendly zombie who wasn't hungry anymore.

And if zombies can spot you from half a mile away, you are doing something seriously wrong....zombies dont even see me when i'm 10 meters in front of them...

[zeu77455 5]

I dont think people understand this but zombies cant catch you they dont run faster then you once they catch up

[Zetal 90]

Just don't get hit...Zeds need more of a buff atm, they're just jokes.

If you keep running, they can't do damage.

[dra6o0n 15]

Well for DayZ's development, slower tougher shamblers are impossible because this means you need to amp up the numbers to a larger amount to make them more threatening, and that means multiplying the zombie count to 10x it's current amount, which means servers will have issues and cannot support more than 64 players at once in all spawn locations.

0-3 zombies per loot, becomes 0-30 zombies per loot.

In a city with 20-50 looting spots, this is basically ~200~500 zombies in a city.

That's a rather thick zombie horde.

In any case, because DayZ utilizes fast zombie as a cheap fix over traditional zombies, and does it badly, I'm sure that there in itself is the limiting factor because it's a mod, and Arma II engine is the engine that handles 'NPCs', and DayZ cannot override it (thus Zombies drain resources on servers a lot more because you can't touch the buttons and switches to how the mechanic works).

Edited July 29, 2012 by dra6o0n

[The Alphabeat. 16]

I say we remove the zombies.

[subvision 14]

And if zombies can spot you from half a mile away, you are doing something seriously wrong....zombies dont even see me when i'm 10 meters in front of them...

The zed spotted me from half a mile away when I was prone, pal. I didn't say I was running around. This happens not very often, but it happens. Must be the last patch causing this. It didn't happen to me before.

[Mallissin 7]

I say we remove the zombies.

But...but, what would we do with the Z?

[guirc 6]

But...but, what would we do with the Z?

Change to I.

[indominator 95]

people in the forum are more annoying than the zombies, grow some balls, also they run very fast, too fast, we need that zombie hunger stuff

[Fenro 0]

The zombies do actually have some weird properties regarding their detection range.

They are supposed to have low eyesight, but still manage to sometimes spot you from miles away, even if you were lying on ground without moving.

might be a random proc chance, or just plain bad scripting.

regarding high places and uphills

I have noticed that zombies have a huge detection bonus when you are going down/up a hill or at a roof top, try to avoid these.

I think it has something to do with ARMA II normal NPC detections values, as standing on a roof or a hill would be a very bad idea against a normal human enemies. my guess is that they havent implemented the reduced eyesight for elevated areas for the zombies.

The mod is still on development so these kind of things are acceptable.

As a counter measures

1: Run inside houses (zombies have to walk inside so are easy to ditch or kill)

2: Use wooden harbors (zombies cant walk into them and thus are easy to ditch)

[antiskub2.0 17]

Zombies behavior is glitchy and unpredictable. Something that I'm sure will be worked on with the stand alone. Once they get into the source code, gut it out, and retool it to what it is they are doing it will be a lot easier to take a methodical approach to increasing difficulty in increments untill it feels right. If we make the game too difficult at this point it would just be that more frustrating when some bug breaks my legs or kills me.

If they do a good enough job smoothing out the hitches, I don't see it as an impossiblity of switching to higher volumes of slower moving zombies.