A Solution To The Current Boss Zombie Monopoly: A Concern Raised By Marco.

[TheAtrocity]

Welcome back for another round of nearly irrefutable arguments with Microsoft® Office 365. This post is in response to the recent changes (and subsequent reversions) to the ZS boss mechanic. I’ve discussed the rough idea with the GMOD divisional staff of ZS Harle and GMOD divisional leader ATB and they have expressed support for the idea. If you have any questions or concerns, you can send me a steam message, poke me on TS, or pm me through forums. For comments and others, please use the thread.

In conjunction with Marco’s explanation thread of his proposed test run with randomized ZS boss mechanics with the intention of wresting away the current boss monopoly, I present to you the Boss Token™ idea.

 

Let’s take a step back first: Marco has correctly observed a monopoly on bosses, where the regular top players will almost always earn their boss positions. The other skilled players (albeit small) are left with nothing. While randomizing bosses can only serve to weaken the horde, I believe there can be a system that:

 

1) can be integrated with both the current and future mechanic/point system(s)

2) gives all skilled players a chance to become boss

3) can serve as additional monetary income to HeLLsGamers (see point 1)

4) helps mitigate the excess points problem that Kigen has been concerned of

 

How does this work?

 

Instead of a random system (fuck CS:GO), we should have a boss token in which players can choose whether or not to use a “Boss Token†to become a boss that round. The damage values done should be kept the same i.e. damage as regular or boss are added. A token will automatically be used if a choice is not made within x amount of time, (probably only several seconds – 10-15). There should be a GUI of some sort, but I’m sure the coders can come up with something simplistic and user friendly. If the user hits “Noâ€, the next top zombie will be given the choice. This applies to all 3 boss spots simultaneously. In the event that (for example) 3-5 players all choose to abstain from being the boss zombie, then the next choice will be random but excludes those who abstained. This leaves us with a potential 15+ pool of players eligible to become boss every round.

 

It doesn’t end here.

 

Boss tokens are purchased by ZS points. (Or point 3 above integrated with point 1) There will be a maximum amount of purchasable tokens, estimated at a few/day (probably 7 per person per day? This could be fleshed out for a weekly total maximum amount instead of a daily cap. Play around.) These tokens should not be overly expensive, as bosses are a core part of the zombie team. I would price them at approximately 500 points each. The reason for a relatively high price tag is that the point of the boss is to have fun (considerably more so than a regular zombie) as well as to actually use points. That being said, there should be transactions where the player does NOT make a profit. An exceptional boss may still be profitable, however. We have far too many points and there needs to be a system in place to make points valuable again. Thus, this gives a player with expendable points to purchase multiple quantities (max) of the tokens to play as the boss. Taking this a step further, we now see players who do not wish to spend points OR those who do not want to use the tokens so casually, opening up boss slots for players who previously were not eligible for boss zombie. While this idea certainly places emphasis on the skilled player base, it also leaves possible room for those less experienced. Giving people a goal to work towards is by far a greater effective use of server resources to raise future prospects than mini senseless point-bleeding events and the boring map rotation of majority-objective (spawncamp) or escape maps. This is zombie survival so make it such.

 

If it wasn't evident from all this explanation, the lesser skilled players also have opportunities to increase their experience and skill level.

Edited September 30, 2016 by TheAtrocity

[Grim Raper]

Nice idea Atrocity, i like it! Hope the coders can somehow implement this... boss tokens is something i never thought would be a thing.