I think a PVE only DZ is a dumb idea. The DZ is meant as a lawless place. The problem is, there is no actual balance to this. There's good reason why there is balancing in Skirmish and Last Stand, and the fact that that doesn't (and shouldn't exist) in the DZ means other changes need to be made. Also, there should be more variety in the DZ to make it more exciting and to entice players to join.
1) Fast Travel Options should be limited
It is utter nonsense that a non-rogue player can fast travel to any point in the DZ in attempt to steal loot by going Rogue upon arrival, or to corner manhunt players. The simple solution is to make only four fast travel points in the entirety of the DZ. The North most point, the South most point and one point East and West in the middle of the map. There should not be so much mobility involved on this map.
2) Limit Vision to the grid you are currently in/the girds directly adjacent of you.
It's called the Dark Zone for a reason. You're not supposed to know what the Hell is going on in it. It's absurd that you can essentially track player movement from DZ-1 to DZ-9 while anywhere in the map.
3) Increase Manhunt rewards.
A classified cache like the ones in the GE event should rewarded for completing these missions. And those same Caches should be rewarded for Incursions and Legendary missions as well. Not a guaranteed drop, but a 40% chance of classy gear would be great.
4) Hunters hunt Rogue agents and Hunter Events
Pretty simple, add Hunters to the DZ. They are in 3 other game modes, there's no reason they shouldn't be in the DZ as well. They will add more loot to the game and increase the challenge. Also add a separate event that spawns Hunters who hunt all players regardless of Rogue Status.
5) Increase the consequences and timers for Rogue Agents.
Along with increased rewards for going rogue there should be increased consequences. Right now there is literally no reason not to go Rogue, you lose nothing of value when dying as Rogue. With actual consequences attached to the Rogue system people will think harder about going Rogue.
6) Put Automated Turrets near the DZ entrances that kill Rogues
This will put an end to spawn camping .
7) Migrate players into servers more frequently
A lot of DZ servers are complete dead zones. This has to stop. Force migrations more often so people can't just avoid people. If you want to just PvE then go PvE. A lot of issues would be solved if a server was more populated.
Why?Originally Posted by revan_starkk Go to original post
And what is the purpose of the DZ?Originally Posted by revan_starkk Go to original post
The Dark Zone has ALREADY changed from how it worked off the start. In the beginning, going rogue had big penalties if killed. Now it has almost none - lose a few keys, lose some meaningless DZ experience.
And nobody is asking for PvE DZ to replace the PvEvP DZ, just to be given a choice of which one to enter.
So I don't see how it would affect the PvEvP one.
For the record, I would personally prefer a better LZ than we have now.
I would prefer both for a quite selfish reason: playing survival I had to come to terms with the fact that I don't know the layout of either the LZ or the DZ maps.Originally Posted by Sharpandpointy Go to original post
The first one because there is absolutely 0 reason to roam around in it, the latter because I don't like the PvP so I keep out :P
The purpose of the DZ is free for all content in that allows for players to engage with one another with little to no rules on an open map with NPC's present with no time limit. That's it's purpose. A strictly PvE DZ is just the LZ but better, so again, you should be asking for a better LZ, not a different DZ.Originally Posted by Sharpandpointy Go to original post
As for how it would affect it, it would ruin the population of the PvP DZ which already sucks. Just look at survival if you think I'm wrong.
The only way a PvE DZ would work is if this game had a much larger population. And even then, you'd have to make the PvP DZ offer much greater rewards because there are much greater risks involved with it so people would moan and groan about that.
The problem with this game isn't the DZ, it's the other areas of content lacking. You're asking for a PvE zone when there already exists a huge one in the LZ that is underwhelming. Make your signature and campaign about fixing that instead of trying to create a light version of a game mode that was never meant to be easy.
Which brings me around to another reason for a PvE DZ: if PvE players become familiar with the PvE Dz, they might be more likely to venture into the PvP one.Originally Posted by desrocchi Go to original post
And everyone wins again. More PvE, players going into the PvPvE Dz, and better longevity for the game.
And they also might hate the PvP DZ and stay in the PvE one. You're attempting to split up an already shrinking player base. Again, if you want more PvE the DZ isn't the place to be championing for it when the LZ is 3 times the size of the DZ and offers more variety in terms of landscape.Originally Posted by Sharpandpointy Go to original post
So the problem is not the PvE DZ, but that the PvP DZ is so bad noone wants to play in it.Originally Posted by revan_starkk Go to original post
EDIT: or better yet, people prefer PvE content to the PvP one, even in completely different modes like survival.