A topic discussed about often but I'd like to give my thoughts on what changes ZMs could use.
One of the main concerns I hear from Bottiger is that buffing zombies would make people lose more as human, thus less people would want to play. But I feel that zombies are players first impression to ZE, and are played more than half the time by newer players. With half the classes with poorer abilities and constant suppression, it gives players a sense of hopelessness causing them to just leave.
These ideas may buff a lot of zombie abilities, but the ideas aim to give more variety to zombie gameplay rather than upping the zombie team as a whole.
Main things I think would be best to achieve in zombie enzymes would be:
The classes I won't go over will be Heavy, Sniper, and Spy, since their enzymes are in a fine position.
Scout
Soldier
Pyro
The pyro could also be highlighted the same way FF2 bosses are when hit with sniper rifles, that way players can easily see that the pyro is a priority to kill. This is also a sort of nerf to the Pyros enzyme I feel would help spice up gameplay interaction between ZMs and humans.
Demoman
Engineer
The current stunning on humans is fine though IMO
Medic
-Temporarily sets your HP to a very low amount (Go back to high HP afterwards possibly?)
-Slowly drain nearby humans health, 10-15 HP/s, stops when killed
-Highlighted just like Pyro to give humans a priority target
-Edit: Lasts about 6-10 seconds, maybe a 1-3 second startup time
Again, these ideas are more to give variety to the Zombie classes rather than people sticking to the few strong Enzymes (Heavy, Heavy, and Heavy).
Spicing up interactions between zombies and humans will make people enjoy the mode and stick around longer, and aim to reduce bozos leaving since they can't go anywhere as the first few zombies. New players start off as zombie for essentially 2 rounds, so for them to stick around longer, they should have try fun as zombie at least.
If these suggestions still seem too OP, then I also suggest reducing enzyme buildup from 8 enzyme per buildup down to 6 enzyme per buildup.
Basic summary since some people can't pay attention without subway surfers
Bonus QOL suggestion: Allow zombies to killbind so they can change class easier without the kill on change class
One of the main concerns I hear from Bottiger is that buffing zombies would make people lose more as human, thus less people would want to play. But I feel that zombies are players first impression to ZE, and are played more than half the time by newer players. With half the classes with poorer abilities and constant suppression, it gives players a sense of hopelessness causing them to just leave.
These ideas may buff a lot of zombie abilities, but the ideas aim to give more variety to zombie gameplay rather than upping the zombie team as a whole.
Main things I think would be best to achieve in zombie enzymes would be:
- Interactive, gives a feeling of actual usefulness, such as Snipers enzyme giving more room to kill humans
- Has some sort of counter play, such as Heavys enzyme able to be blocked with buildings or tanky classes
- Not OP when stacked with multiple zombies
- Not too difficult to implement since there's only 1 developer on ZM enzymes
The classes I won't go over will be Heavy, Sniper, and Spy, since their enzymes are in a fine position.
Scout
- Increase damage to above 100
- Return old enzyme but nerfed (optional)
Soldier
- Increase the self buff
- Minicrits + Battalions Backup Resistance + 10% speed boost (implement a way where it cannot be stacked with Scouts enzyme, constantly removing the speed boost condition through its duration)
- Minicrits + 20-35% extra melee range (Possibly OP though, and can feel less fun to fight against)
Pyro
- Set the bomb on a timer
The pyro could also be highlighted the same way FF2 bosses are when hit with sniper rifles, that way players can easily see that the pyro is a priority to kill. This is also a sort of nerf to the Pyros enzyme I feel would help spice up gameplay interaction between ZMs and humans.
- Set humans on fire with afterburn for 4-6 seconds
Demoman
- Increase non-sword damage to standard damage (208)
- Replace the enzyme with a caber (?) (Edit: Optional)
Engineer
- Sap buildings instead of stunning buildings
The current stunning on humans is fine though IMO
Medic
- Rework to a vampirism effect
-Temporarily sets your HP to a very low amount (Go back to high HP afterwards possibly?)
-Slowly drain nearby humans health, 10-15 HP/s, stops when killed
-Highlighted just like Pyro to give humans a priority target
-Edit: Lasts about 6-10 seconds, maybe a 1-3 second startup time
Again, these ideas are more to give variety to the Zombie classes rather than people sticking to the few strong Enzymes (Heavy, Heavy, and Heavy).
Spicing up interactions between zombies and humans will make people enjoy the mode and stick around longer, and aim to reduce bozos leaving since they can't go anywhere as the first few zombies. New players start off as zombie for essentially 2 rounds, so for them to stick around longer, they should have try fun as zombie at least.
If these suggestions still seem too OP, then I also suggest reducing enzyme buildup from 8 enzyme per buildup down to 6 enzyme per buildup.
Basic summary since some people can't pay attention without subway surfers
- Scout melee damage buff, possibly return old enzyme with speed boost nerf
- Soldier increased self buff (Battalions + 10% speed boost + minicrits)
- Pyro highlighted, enzyme change to be on a set timer, but can deal afterburn
- Demoman damage buff on non-sword weapons, replace enzyme with a caber
- Engineer enzyme to sap buildings
- Medic highlighted, enzyme to drain humans HP but can be killed
Bonus QOL suggestion: Allow zombies to killbind so they can change class easier without the kill on change class
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