Dynamic Wave Boosts System

[Snowyamur]

One of the greatest weaknesses for zombies in Zombie Survival is how easily killable they are. I know that killing zombies before they reach a barricade is an essential gameplay element for the human team because that’s what helps them win.

 

If a zombie couldn’t land a hit through all its time spent running at a barricade, then those are precious seconds wasted, and more time bought for the humans to survive.

 

There is nothing wrong with this considering how barricades work in the game, but with the Reforge system and all the new powerful weapons humans can craft, zombies are being instantly killed the moment they show themselves, and much faster, with nothing from the system giving them an edge. The Rebirther system has NOT made this any better.

 

Some people don’t like playing zombie because of the game loop for zombies, which is this:

 

spawn --> run at barricade --> deal damage (or not) --> die --> repeat

 

Nothing will ever permanently change this loop because it has existed since Zombie Survival was created, but I don’t remember zombies being instantly destroyed the moment they show their hitbox every time they show themselves. I remember zombies having at least 3-5 seconds to hit a barricade before going down. At most, it was 8-9 seconds.

 

If zombie players can’t even reach a barricade before dying, they leave, because it isn’t fun dying over and over when nothing is being accomplished.

 

Time and time again, I keep suggesting on updating old systems, and what I have in-mind is a simple rework to how the old wave system works by giving stat boosts to zombies on higher waves. Before I explain that, I want to briefly touch on the point of a wave system just so the point I’m initially trying to make is clear to the developers.

 

The Point of a Wave System

Spoiler

Every wave, zombies should be getting stronger, but the only thing that’s being boosted for them every wave is their damage through unlocked zombie bosses and variants and the difficulty system. That does NOT make them stronger. Why? Because there are two things zombies need to be effective in this game:

 

1. The ability to take more damage and survive to inflict it back.
2. The ability to reach a barricade.

 

To ask for more mechanically varied zombie bosses and variants is another discussion. To ask for better-designed maps is another discussion. The point I’m trying to make with this discussion is zombies don’t get any stronger as the waves increase, and this is primarily because of how waves work right now.

Every wave, humans get higher tier weapons, and these weapons have stronger base stats. All zombies get are new zombie variants that deal more damage, or give them more offensive abilities, which are useless if zombies are still instantly killed right when they show themselves. They are given little to no survivability bonuses other than increased health, and even with increased health, they still die too quickly.

 

The way waves are designed in Zombie Survival NOW (not before) with the new systems is so human-sided it’s disgusting.

 

Waves should be making both teams stronger IN DIFFERENT WAYS to keep the flow of gameplay going. By the time it hits Wave 4, zombies drop like flies on most maps, and some human players wonder if they gave up. To alleviate this, for zombies, by the time Wave 4 arrives, they should be harder to kill to encourage humans to buy those T4 weapons to have a fair chance against them. That’s how zombies should be affected by increasing waves.

 

The Dynamic Wave Boosts System

Spoiler

My change to the wave system is simple, and this is one of many changes to help improve how zombies fare in the late-game waves.

Every wave, zombies should get a boost to three important stats that matter to them most:

 

• + Damage resistance
• + Maximum health
• + Movement speed

 

These stats not only give zombies a better chance at reaching a barricade, but it will give them a greater window of time to attack, which is the intent. If humans can’t repel them back, that’s on them, not the system, because they could be purchasing and using stronger weapons to even the odds.

Increased attack damage and DPS will make the wave system incredibly zombie-sided, which is not what I want, and is why that has been left out. Humans can’t do anything against zombies that deal boosted damage, but they can still do something against zombies who have more health and damage resistances.

Is this system a power creep? No, this is something that should have been added to waves a long time ago, but wasn’t, and still isn’t. This is a rework on a system that will help the zombies match up against the humans, who are already, and have been, benefitting from the wave system tremendously.

 

Wave increases can go like this:

 

• Wave 1: No bonuses given; all zombies have their base stats unaffected.
• Wave 2: +7% damage resistance, +25% maximum health, +3% movement speed.
• Wave 3: +14% damage resistance, +50% maximum health, +6% movement speed.
• Wave 4: +21% damage resistance, +75% maximum health, +9% movement speed.
• Wave 5: +28% damage resistance, +100% maximum health, +12% movement speed.
• Wave 6: +35% damage resistance, +125% maximum health, +15% movement speed.

 

And these boosts are on-top of the zombie bosses that get unlocked, and they would affect the zombie bosses as well as the unlocked variants. These boosts can also be changed easily to balance out the wave intensity for the humans, as there will always be the chance that this system makes the zombies become too overpowered.

 

If this system gets added, I can ensure a steady increase in people wanting to play zombie if they notice how they can still do something as a zombie in higher waves and not be completely obliterated upon walking into open fire. And if this system should be added in, there are a few systems that will need to be removed/changed.

 

Systems to be Removed/Changed

Spoiler

Remove the Group Resistance Meter

Zombie players rarely work together, even on low population hours. The only time they do is when someone’s leading them on through voice chat, but I don’t see that happen uncommonly. Teamwork is what the group resistance meter encourages because of the damage resistance on stacking, but rarely do I see players stack anymore due to the some of the new reforge weapons having better piercing than regular tier weapons.

Also, trying to get players to stack just doesn’t work anymore because players want to play as they like. There’s nothing wrong with that if they are still helping the zombie team in some way, but the group resistance mechanic suffers tremendously because of this.

The system itself is old and needs to go. The only use it has is to show when a ghoul or fleshbeast can place a spawn. Other than that, it no longer has any use.

 

Update the Difficulty System

If dynamic wave boosts will give zombies boosted movement speed, the difficulty system should no longer give movement speed boosts, and should instead focus on boosting the base damage and overall DPS zombies can deal.

That way, the new wave system and difficulty system can work synergistically to make zombies not only take more damage, but inflict more back, which is one of the core aspects zombies need right now.

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by Snowyamur

[Zia.]

One of my biggest annoyances (especially in DH) is the reforged Wonder Ray Gun ( think it's that one) and the fact the lightning can just jump its way ALL the way to the zombie spawn if lined up right. You're dead before you even start walking. 

[Optiic001]

I really do like the idea of stat boosts for the zombies as waves go by, but the stat boosts you proposed seem way over the top for me. Can you imagine 5 regular Nightmares on wave 2 with  +7% damage resistance, +25% maximum health, +3% movement speed? I don't think a few Ender shotguns or Akbars are going to be able to take care of that.

As I see things currently, humans have extremely strong weapons at their disposal, and don't have that much of a hard time figuring out which weapons are worth getting. On the other hand, zombies also have very strong options they can choose from once they have enough BP. A lot of times I've seen zombies going all out on wave 1 because they know they'll have the time to get the right traits and the right amount of bp for later waves when humans get stronger weapons. Basically, they feel confident and know they have a chance.

But, I've had games where I joined wave 4-5 where the top zombie players couldn't carry the team because they either lacked the bp or the knowledge about the mechanics(bp/bosses/rebirth) of being a zombie. Those games just aren't worth playing as zombie because of how far up ahead humans are with the weapons they've got at that point.

As I said, I do like the idea of stat boosts for zombies as waves go by, but overdoing this could really unbalance things. The stat boosts can be adjusted, but even then, I feel like they should only apply under the right circumstances. Applying the same stat boosts during low pop hours as high pop hours seems like a wrong move to me. Making both the Difficulty system, and this new system work together is going to be a hard time too when it comes to balancing the damage boost zombies get.