Inventory Damage

[puppetworx 474]

The Feature: Inventory damage - when a player is injured by an attack by a player or zombie they have a percentage chance of items in their inventory also being damaged (rendered unusable).

How it might work: Bullets, swinging axes and zombie punches to center mass will damage 5-10%* of items in your inventory - food, drink, weapons, ammo, backpacks, medical supplies, tools, everything is damageable. This would be easily implemented for food and drink: food tins would turn to empty tins, drink cans to empty cans. Other items would be added with the prefix 'Damaged [item name]', they wouldn't be usable and would basically become trash.

(*5-10% being an arbitrary range chosen for example purposes)

Permutations:

• Items have a chance of being dropped rather then damaged
  
• Complete damage of backpack and weapon would likely prove highly controversial, as such, partial damage (e.g. decreased accuracy, lost inventory slots) could be implemented
  
• Certain items could be made repairable (e.g. require toolbox + 2x damaged item for repair)
  
• ...
  

Future suggestions for permutations posted in this thread will be added to the above list along with accreditation of the suggester for the benefit of people new to the discussion.

[insitv 305]

I personally don't like this idea.

If you are careless and as a result of that get shot or hit by zombies you already get punished enough.

1) You lose blood, which if you are alone, is a mess to fill up again (eating over and over again).

2) You can get your leg broken, which results in death in many cases (if you are chased by a dozen zombies or hunted by a player).

3) You get unconcious and completely lose control of your character.

I know this game is difficult and always will be but there are enough punishments in the game to give you an incentive to stay careful of your surroundings. In my honest opinion, there don't need to be more.

[puppetworx 474]

there are enough punishments in the game to give you an incentive to stay careful of your surroundings. In my honest opinion, there don't need to be more.

Importantly this feature would punish experienced characters more then new spawns. Someone who spawned 15 minutes ago maybe only has 20 items total and stands to lose only a couple of items - which are common on the coast. Whereas someone who has been playing for sometime, has ventured inland from the coast, has either an automatic weapon or a high rate of fire one-shot-kill weapon has maybe 50 items in their inventory, many of which are rare, and they stand to lose up to 5 of those.

I disagree that the game is difficult enough, after attaining a military grade-weapon the challenge decreases rapidly. This feature addresses the lack of increasing and continued challenge in the game in a way that is realistic. It would also address the problem of 'cheating death' where a character dies and then runs back to retrieve all of their previous gear. I'm not against the looting of your previous character's body but ideally I think some items should be damaged and unusable when you suffer a violent death. Just as military weapons decrease the challenge of surviving zombie attacks and acquiring loot the challenges of death decrease significantly for players with well-armed friends to guard/loot your body for you. This feature increases challenge and risk to the well-equipped.

[insitv 305]

Who do you think would be more punished by this,

a) Player with high end gear who's got 3 weapons (1 side arm, 2 primary weapons)

or

B) A new player who finally managed to get a winchester or makarov?

a) A player who's got the experience to navigate without a map/compass

or

B) A new player who loses his map/compass and can't navigate anymore?

I completely agree with you that the game COULD be more challenging but i think you are focusing on the wrong part of the game. Being shot/hit by zombies is challenging players more than enough regardless of their progression. Losing a few items? You really think that will provide a challenge to experienced and fully decked out teams of players? No, it won't. It will only damage the newcomers.

I generally like the idea of decaying weapons and food/drinks but it should be predictable. Making it random like that destroys the purpose of planning your survival. The chaos factor is provided by other players who kill you.

[puppetworx 474]

Who do you think would be more punished by this,

a) Player with high end gear who's got 3 weapons (1 side arm, 2 primary weapons)

or

B) A new player who finally managed to get a winchester or makarov?

a) A player who's got the experience to navigate without a map/compass

or

B) A new player who loses his map/compass and can't navigate anymore?

I think you're right on the first one I don't think most people would want weapon damage to be possible for that reason, but I certainly would. On the second scenario you're also right but I was never talking about player experience, only character experience. Player experience will always give an unfair advantage.

You can come up with lots of unfair scenarios with this feature but that's life - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Personally I think there isn't enough loss in the game.

Being shot/hit by zombies is challenging players more than enough regardless of their progression. Losing a few items? You really think that will provide a challenge to experienced and fully decked out teams of players? No, it won't. It will only damage the newcomers.

I generally like the idea of decaying weapons and food/drinks but it should be predictable. Making it random like that destroys the purpose of planning your survival. The chaos factor is provided by other players who kill you.

I couldn't disagree more, zombies pose almost no challenge, to the new or experienced. Run around a corner or through a building and they're gone. I don't even remember the last time I was killed by zombies. Fully decked out teams of players currently have no challenge, zero. This feature would increase the challenge that they face. Raiding multiple barracks to regain lost NVGs or an AS50 is hardly an inconsequential challenge, it is far more challenging then getting chased by zombies. I'am amused that you think otherwise though.

I also disagree about predictable decay and your life always going to plan. I think that's boring. Loot spawns are chance based for a reason, if the loot that you want was always where you expected it to be it would be a dull game. If you can take a couple hundred hits from zombies, 5 or 10 bullets and always just heal yourself up with no damage to your gear over the course of your life (and beyond) then that's too predictable and too dull.

Edited August 14, 2012 by puppetworx