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Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*
Posted By: Someone	Date: 8/6/11 6:14 p.m.
In Response To: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long* (NsU Soldier) : I Love Infection. I Can’t Stand Living Dead. : I want to start off by saying that Infection is an amazing game type. I’ve : played countless matches of it since Halo 2, and have loved every second : of it. The moments of feeling your impending doom as a Human, or the : frenzied mindset of being a Zombie were so very unique to these games. : But, unfortunately, the games of Infection I’m referring to were all either : custom games or H3 matchmaking games. Reach’s Living Dead playlist is a : hollow shell of the Infection experience. : Living Dead seems like it was barely playtested at all. The problems are : numerous and varied, ranging from the somewhat obscure to the glaringly : obvious, and many of them have been there since Reach’s launch. : Why the Wall of Text? : It’s simple. I have felt a rising frustration after each foray into the : playlist. : Rampant camping, broken maps, messed up game types, this is not the Infection : I know and love. Yet after a while, I always end up going back (usually : after a playlist update) and desperately hope that many of the major : problems were addressed. Each and every time I am dumbstruck with how : awful it still is, and how many problems are STILL THERE. : I want to enjoy this playlist so badly, but I cannot. I’m at the point where : I can no longer go into that playlist and have fun. I now feel obligated : to bring up my many concerns with the playlist, before I abandon it for : good. : Alright, let’s get started. (For brevity’s sake, I’ve narrowed it down to the : four biggest problems.) : The Big Four : Problem One - The 'base experience' of Living Dead is off. Waaaay off. : The Zombies should always have the advantage over the Humans. Period. This : makes for games that don’t last forever and stagnate, and tend to keep the : gameplay interesting and tense. It also encourages teamwork on both sides, : and leads to less frustrating games. This needs to be the golden rule of : any Infection game type. : Reach, however, does the exact opposite. : It gives advantage after advantage to the Humans. Maps with long lines of : sight (and loads of ‘fortresses’), lots of ammo for Reach’s beast of a : pistol, few starting Zombies, motion tracker for the Humans, and sword : block to name a few. Oh yeah, and the Humans have RANGED WEAPONS and can : keep killing the same guy over and over again. Those should be the only : advantages that they have, as they're huge ones. : This has produced matches that usually end up with a Zombie massacre. Great : news if you’re a Human, not so much if you’re a Zombie. In fact, if you’re : a Zombie just be prepared to be farmed for kills over and over again. : Problem Two - An inconsistent split of the action. : There are three rounds. You can spawn as one side all three rounds. Are you : kidding me? : Have you ever spawned as Cannon Fodde-, er, I mean, a Zombie three times in a : row? Six times? More? If you haven’t let me tell you, it’s hell . Pure : and simple. : Here are some good examples on how to fix this: * For standard Infection : games (which should have 50% of the players spawning as Zombies) there : needs to be an even number of rounds. Four seems ideal as two is far too : short. Each player should start on either side an even amount of times in : one game. : * For Alpha Zombies variants (25% of the players spawning as powerful Alpha : Zombies) have each person spawn as an alpha Zombie only once per game. : Again this is assuming that there are four rounds. : Problem Three - The maps. Oh God, the maps. : Every map that I have come across in Living Dead has at least one critical : flaw. And by ‘critical flaw’ I mean ‘fortress’. Combine that with the : Human’s motion tracker, and things become a camper’s paradise. It is good : to give Humans some good defensible zones (usually a room, short hallway, : or cover laden field), but said defenses should never be nigh impregnable. : As a rule of thumb each ‘defensible zone’ should have at least two easily : accessible ways to get inside it (bonus points for less ways out). This is : to allow ease of access for the Zombies. And when I said, ‘easily : accessible ways to get inside’ I meant for the Zombies. Remember, you’re : trying to favor them, and the biggest way to do this is with the terrain. : Ideally, even the ‘defensible zones’ should be Human death traps waiting : to happen. : And if you absolutely have to have a hallway with one entrance be sure to : keep it short (with poor sight lines) to prevent tons of humans crowding : inside. : *Cough* Swordbase Red Lift Room*Cough* : Problem Four – Provide support for the dang thing. : One of the biggest sins is without a doubt the lack of love this playlist : receives. Really bad map breaks and exploits go unchecked for months at a : time. I now fear that the exploits that still remain will never be fixed. : The worst part about it is that some of these maps can be (by and large) : fixed by adding a few soft kills and blocking off some rooms. Work that : would take around 30 minutes per map to do. : But there are some maps that are beyond help. *Quickly glances at The Cage : and Pinnacle* : Another way to support the Living Dead playlist would be to include Forge : maps that encourage the type of Infection gameplay I have been talking : about. (After revamping the matchmaking game types) Hold some contests and : get a couple of nice, moody Forge maps that work with these new : Zombie-favoring game types. : Finale : So, there you have it. I’m glad I finally got this post out in the open for : people to see. : A funny thing happened to me as I was typing this. : I started daydreaming about what the Living Dead playlist could be. Reach has : a beautifully smooth engine and a deeply customizable Forge mode. Now with : 343i rolling out a title update which may add more options to tweak the : game type itself, Reach has the potential to be the home of the most : amazing Infection games to date. : It’s just a shame, a crying shame that, at least for now, we have to settle : for this… : : Thoughts? Couldn't agree more with you on almost all of your points. Most of all the fact that all of the maps that are used are not customized for Infection at all... I remember in Halo 3 all of the cool Infection-specific maps they had that worked so well for it. Guess I'm going to have to continue using custom matches...

Message Index

Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	NsU Soldier	8/6/11 9:53 a.m.
Re: 100% agree	pete_the_duck	8/6/11 10:17 a.m.
Re: 100% agree	INSANEdrive	8/6/11 10:21 a.m.
Re: 100% agree	NsU Soldier	8/6/11 10:36 a.m.
Re: 100% agree	NsU Soldier	8/6/11 10:43 a.m.
One more thing...	INSANEdrive	8/6/11 10:49 a.m.
Re: 100% agree	pete_the_duck	8/6/11 12:41 p.m.
Back in Halo 3	Azo 'Galvat	8/6/11 10:48 a.m.
Re: Back in Halo 3	NsU Soldier	8/6/11 10:52 a.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	DEEP NNN	8/6/11 10:53 a.m.
All true	RC Master	8/6/11 11:02 a.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	8/6/11 11:21 a.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	BanditORR	8/6/11 1:00 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	8/6/11 1:06 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	SonofMacPhisto	8/6/11 1:42 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	Stephen L. (SoundEffect)	8/6/11 1:58 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	SonofMacPhisto	8/6/11 3:21 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	RC Master	8/6/11 2:02 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	SIX min WHISTLE	8/6/11 1:27 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	FyreWulff	8/6/11 2:39 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	SonGoharotto	8/6/11 2:47 p.m.
Infection should always end with every human dead	SonGoharotto	8/6/11 2:51 p.m.
Re: Infection should always end with every human d	Lurono	8/6/11 8:55 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	General Vagueness	8/6/11 3:29 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	Hyokin	8/6/11 4:02 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	General Vagueness	8/6/11 4:10 p.m.
Yes Please	ZaneZavin	8/6/11 4:17 p.m.
Get out of my head, Mr. Soldier	iMonkey777	8/6/11 5:02 p.m.
Re: Living Dead needs to be revived. *Long*	Someone	8/6/11 6:14 p.m.
Variety is the key!	padraig08	8/6/11 8:31 p.m.