When you go to WSP, one thing that stands out from the rest of the game is, how frequently and how easily you are attacked by yet another group of AI. Like you can barely often just finish a one fight just to land in jet another one just seconds latter. Sometimes its impossible to even open an inventory to change an item. Even in DZ it feels safer to change gear or browse inventory. But in WSP, AI will simply give you no breathing room or no time to rest. You feel like you are some kind of target for some big hunting game and all the criminals, mercenaries and terrorists are all united to just come and get you. Thats because the game developers assumed, that place "happens" after the events of the main story. That is why WSP trailer said "our enemies are regrouping. And worse - they are working together". All faction leaders are dead and its members want revenge.
Now enter the DZ of TD1, you notice complete opposite. You immediately see how passive the AI is. NPCs for a most part only fight you if you basically walk into them and step on their toes. They barely even notice you. Its so damn easy to just ignore all PvE elements in DZ and just run around from one end of DZ and back with no serious consequences. There is no same sense of "factions wanting a revenge for what you did to their leaders", that you have in WSP. I would say most players have finished the story or at least most of it by the time they hit DZ the first time, so it would be safe to assume, that DZ should also take place after campaign.
By making DZ part of a "post campaign world" means, that we can now turn the PvE far aggressive and far more unforgiving. So to make sure that PvP is not the only "unpredictable element" in the area. DZ should be more than a mere "farming location with added PvP elements". Why not a place, where it feels as if a mayor bounty was set on your head and make it feel like every single faction member in the area wants it? We could even push this to a whole new level and add some kind of an "open season" events, where huge groups of AI relentlessly chase down players, sometimes turning random locations into some kind of improvised "horde mode". PvE needs to be more intrusive and a lot less avoidable.
We should also have a ways of severely limiting player movement. So to make it really hard to get from one area to another without a fight. Or at least make it really dangerous to just run past all the roadblocks and landmarks. Like by limiting stamina, so you can´t just run forever. And by improving the situational awareness of all AI, so they actually do pay attention to their surroundings and communicate about it to their fellow team mates. And by adding roadblocks, that usually spot any uncauctious player and gun them down with relative ease. Meaning there are a lot of AI held areas you either kind of a sneak past of fight past, but never just mindlessly run past and live to tell the tales. That way you create a bigger sense of isolation in DZ, where you feel like you are "behind enemy lines" and not paying attention gets you killed really fast. Even without the rogues.
In other words - DZ needs to feel like a place you feel isolated and cut from the rest of the world, not place where you can just randomly run around all over the place, all the while AI is acting, like they are sleepwalkers for the most part.
Maybe. But we could substitute that with better situational awareness of all AI and make them able to call reinforcements at times. The point is, that AI is too fractured and too passive in current DZ. We need more intrusive PvE and more isolated players, who can´t just run trough entire DZ like its some kind of Boston marathon.Originally Posted by Merphee Go to original post
Not the DZ, no.
The DZ should be waaaay more cut-throat.
The LZ will be more like WSP if you ask me. The spawning mechanic, further refined to cater for the ebb and flow of the 'capture, attempt to hold and lose checkpoints' by differing factions will be (I at the very least hope so) the mainstay of the LZ.
Currently the DZ feels like its PvP arena with AI being a sideshow to all of this. Its not this "hostile and unpredictable land" they talked about before the release of the original game. The only "unpredictable" element is if someone is gonna go rogue or not. AI is just same old sleepwalking idiots, they do nothing like as if Division agents never hunted down their leaders or destroyed their bases.Originally Posted by Jello-Shake Go to original post
The LZ or DZ made like WSP? If they do that I'm out and they lost a player. I stopped going into WSP after I completed my commendations, the spawning is ridiculous. You can stand in the street, wait few seconds and poof... there is another mob, instantly shooting at you without notice. They don't even walk towards you, they are just there right in your face. I did like the stronger enemies but at times you simply run at of ammo because they keep on spawning, or you die because of the rushers with their shotguns. And they do some magical tricks when camera is looking other way, no thanks for that.
I do agree that the AI is not that smart and you can even stand next to one without being attacked, as goes for JTF. It would be nice to see AI becoming a bit more intelligent and actually use cover, not rushing in like they are having a death wish. When they make LZ like DZ with stronger enemies at world tier 5 I would be very happy. If they can put them in random places on the map, use underground and buildings even better. The element of surprise is what can make the game more immersive when not knowing were the AI is all the time.
And DZ they might as well make it DLC I don't care. Since PVP in this game is just as broken as in others I probably won't play it in next release. Hope they put loads of solo and co-op contents.
You want a WSP with Rogues while solo? That would end the whole PvP vs PvE debate. Everyone one would be dead before we could find each other and if we did we would be out of bullets.Originally Posted by orchunter88 Go to original post
I'd like the whole game to be more like WSP. I like the challenge of dynamic spawns. I don't need breathing room. Just give me more ammo boxes so I can keep pumping them full of hot lead.
If anything, make the spawns more clever. Like have NPCs crawl out of sewers, parked cars, trailers, and doorways. Make them jump through windows. When I walk through DC I want to look at every dark corner and expect to be ambushed.
Can't say that I share this view. Pacing is incredibly important if you want to convey any kind of a meaningful, impactful narrative. Sure, there can (and should) be moments of intense action, mowing down enemies against seemingly insurmountable odds, but it needs to be balanced with slow moments, either for reflection on what's just happened, or to build anticipation for what's to come.Originally Posted by Elevenfingerfrk Go to original post
Make it a case of nonstop bullet hoses 24/7, and the game turns into Smash TV. (Going back a ways, but you get my point.)
In the context of the Dark Zone, actual narrative story may not be terribly important (I'm talking actual moment to moment gameplay), but I believe pacing is still equally important. Non-stop action is boring...you need breaks or lulls (as opposed to lulz) in the action to change things up and keep people on their toes.
Now that, I can get behind. I've always felt like that's how spawns should have worked in The Division, and especially in WSP, Resistance in particular. None of this magically appearing 2 feet away from you when the camera is turned in a different direction nonsense. Make the spawns believable, and it'll up the player's immersion level even higher.Originally Posted by Elevenfingerfrk Go to original post