milkjuggernogs

So this may be too early to start thinking about, but what will the DLC be like for this. Are we going to get this whole 4 survival maps in one gigantic map type of thing again? If so, think of the possibilities. We could have a boat instead of a bus, and it could take us from island to island. Or an airplane. Or really anything. A teleporter could take us across planets. This whole bus thing really opens up the door for anything to happen. I want to look at each individual section of this huge map before making complete judgement, but I already like the concept for survival mode as we already have 4 unique play spaces right out of the box, instead of 2. If they treat the Tranzit thing as 1 map, then for DLC we could possibly get 4 mp maps and 1 transit map, which could be up to 4 survival spaces in 1, giving us a huge bang for our buck. And who says it has to be 4 areas? What if it's 5? 10? But that's an optimistic point of view, and it's one that really doesn't suggest that this could be the only Tranzit map. I mean, imagine how much time went into this one map. Is it too much to expect a map this size for every DLC pack? I fear it might be. But if they go the DLC route that they did for MW3, then 1 tranzit map could be an entire month's content. Just some food for thought.

It should be noted that I am a huge fan of zombies, and have been playing since the WaW days. Around the beginning of Black Ops, I started to become bored with zombies. I couldn't quite put my finger on why I became less into zombies, but nonetheless, I was losing interest. The answer came to me while I was playing some Halo multiplayer (I know, traitor). I wasn't being challenged anymore. With each new map pack release, I would get hyped, but then end up disappointed. It wasn't that Treyarch was doing a bad job making the maps, it was just that they were so easy to master, I wasn't having fun playing anymore. I'm the type of person that likes to excel at everything I do, so naturally a lot of thought goes into how I can perform a task the best that it can possibly be done. The thing was, on a map like Ascension, I had it figured out in less than a day. Get thundergun, get raygun/mustang and sally, buy flopper and jug, run trains. I hit the skill ceiling of zombies so quickly and easily that it stopped becoming fun. Bunch the zombies up, blast them with the thundergun, rinse and repeat. Point management, playing safe, and all the other things I thought were meaningful really weren't because that was the strategy on every map. Even on Moon, the biggest map yet, the game devolves to the same old running circles in the dome, although you can basically have unlimited ammo with hacking powerups. 90% of the map is unused space, and to me, that seems wrong. Why not just make the map a circle if that's all the game is going to be? Each room and section of the map should, IMO, be unique and offer different and versatile strategies that teams can set up on. This way the meta-game never stops evolving and new rounds are constantly being reached. Now, you're probably wondering, how can zombies possibly be altered to be made more skillful? Well, the AI can't really be changed at this point as I feel that would change the feel of zombies too much, and it would all together play like a different game that would turn people off. One idea I've always had was a gamemode called Competition Mode. It would just be standard zombies, but at the bottom of your screen would be a timer that counts down from 1 hour. The goal would be to get as far as possible in 1 hour. Now you're most likely thinking, how will this possibly make the game more skillful. Well, it won't necessarily make the game harder to play, but what it will do is put pressure on players to not sit back and breeze through rounds running trains, but play zombies aggressively and get up in the faces of the zombies. If the objective is to get as far as possible in an hour, you not only can't take breaks for things like crawlers, but you'll need to have team communication and really use teamwork to end rounds as quickly as possible. Think of all the possible strategies that could come from this. Is it most advantageous to sit in the spawn room and try and kill them quickly while you only have one window to worry about? What happens when you get to a high round and it is now taking too long to kill the zombies? Should you keep certain areas of the map closed, so that zombie spawns won't be so spread out? When should you buy perks? What perks do you need? The limitless possibilities of this gamemode is what excites me the most about it. Now the game doesn't devolve into running circles, as that wouldn't be conducive of getting to a high round in a short amount of time. Before, you had all the time in the world, now you have to go out and get it done quick. What do you think? P.S. Sorry for any grammar errors I may have made, I didn't proofread any of this, and it was kind of made on a whim.

As zombies evolved, many new features and abilities were added. I enjoyed all of them, yet the way that some of the abilities were implemented in the last couple maps, mainly Shangri and Moon, makes me nervous for the future of zombies. The biggest thing I had a problem with was this: Overdependence on teammates. Let me give you a couple examples. On Shangri, you couldn't pack a punch without all 4 of your teammates cooperation. That means that if you had a teammate on your team that wanted to be a dick and not help anyone, the game allowed him to do that. That is only possible in Shangri and moon. In moon, the problem was made worse, and you couldn't even start the game without them. Even if you managed to get to the moon, you couldn't get jug or speed by yourself, which as most of us know, are two of the most important pieces of any zombie game. Now, you might be saying, those things force teamwork to be used! They make everyone be a team player! Everyone has to work together! Well, those things are true, but I have a theory about teamwork. Teamwork in zombies is something that came naturally. It was never forced in any map before Shangri, yet no one here is ignorant enough to say that the maps before Shangri took any less teamwork. Shangri and Moon took the individual aspect of zombies and tried to put less emphasis on it. But that's not a good thing. Zombies has always allowed a good player to survive simply because he's good, not because of his teammates. Combine 4 good players that are willing to work together, and you are going to get to a high round. Treyarch definately went in the wrong direction with their last few zombie maps. They put an overemphasis on teamwork, and took a lot of the individual aspects of zombies. A player should always be able to get jug and pack a punch by themselves, and forcing team apsects on players is something that shouldn't be done. Teamwork is something that comes naturally when players start to understand things like strategy and point management, and forcing the team aspects in Shangri and Moon didn't really make the maps any more teamwork based, just more frustrating for skilled individual zombie players.

As zombies evolved, many new features and abilities were added. I enjoyed all of them, yet the way that some of the abilities were implemented in the last couple maps, mainly Shangri and Moon, makes me nervous for the future of zombies. The biggest thing I had a problem with was this: Overdependence on teammates. Let me give you a couple examples. On Shangri, you couldn't pack a punch without all 4 of your teammates cooperation. That means that if you had a teammate on your team that wanted to be a dick and not help anyone, the game allowed him to do that. That is only possible in Shangri and moon. In moon, the problem was made worse, and you couldn't even start the game without them. Even if you managed to get to the moon, you couldn't get jug or speed by yourself, which as most of us know, are two of the most important pieces of any zombie game. Now, you might be saying, those things force teamwork to be used! They make everyone be a team player! Everyone has to work together! Well, those things are true, but I have a theory about teamwork. Teamwork in zombies is something that came naturally. It was never forced in any map before Shangri, yet no one here is ignorant enough to say that the maps before Shangri took any less teamwork. Shangri and Moon took the individual aspect of zombies and tried to put less emphasis on it. But that's not a good thing. Zombies has always allowed a good player to survive simply because he's good, not because of his teammates. Combine 4 good players that are willing to work together, and you are going to get to a high round. Treyarch definately went in the wrong direction with their last few zombie maps. They put an overemphasis on teamwork, and took a lot of the individual aspects of zombies. A player should always be able to get jug and pack a punch by themselves, and forcing team apsects on players is something that shouldn't be done. Teamwork is something that comes naturally when players start to understand things like strategy and point management, and forcing the team aspects in Shangri and Moon didn't really make the maps any more teamwork based, just more frustrating for skilled individual zombie players.

I've been thinking about this for a while now. Game length. Have 4 player zombie games become dragged out? I understand this is one of the base fundamental features of zombies, is that you go until you die, but should the game get harder earlier on? Let's look at all the things that have made zombies easier to play since Nacht: Perks Traps Pack A Punch Weapons with infinite damage Now, I absolutely love every one of these changes, but doesn't it seem like with all these changes, something could have been done to make the game harder as well? Zombies still (I believe) have the same base speed as they did in Nacht (except those ones on Verruckt, yet I mysteriously haven't seen any that fast since) and they also never get any more damaging. Obvioulsy they gain more health, and that makes the game more challenging, but that also makes games take longer as the game becomes more reliant on kiting, which takes longer than holding a position. That brings me to my question. Currently, I'd say the average finishing rounds for a 4 player game are rounds 25-30 .(obviously slightly higher or lower depending on the map) Is there a way to bring that average down to 20-25? Would it ruin the zombie fundamentals that have already been established, and that we all love? Is game length more dependant on map design, or the fact that the teen rounds have become a breeze with all the new additions from Black Ops DLC maps? What do you guys think? Is there a way to make the average game shorter, without killing established zombie fundamentals, and still allowing us to have all the fun things we love about the modern zombie maps?

I've been thinking about this for a while now. Game length. Have 4 player zombie games become dragged out? I understand this is one of the base fundamental features of zombies, is that you go until you die, but should the game get harder earlier on? Let's look at all the things that have made zombies easier to play since Nacht: Perks Traps Pack A Punch Weapons with infinite damage Now, I absolutely love every one of these changes, but doesn't it seem like with all these changes, something could have been done to make the game harder as well? Zombies still (I believe) have the same base speed as they did in Nacht (except those ones on Verruckt, yet I mysteriously haven't seen any that fast since) and they also never get any more damaging. Obvioulsy they gain more health, and that makes the game more challenging, but that also makes games take longer as the game becomes more reliant on kiting, which takes longer than holding a position. That brings me to my question. Currently, I'd say the average finishing rounds for a 4 player game are rounds 25-30 .(obviously slightly higher or lower depending on the map) Is there a way to bring that average down to 20-25? Would it ruin the zombie fundamentals that have already been established, and that we all love? Is game length more dependant on map design, or the fact that the teen rounds have become a breeze with all the new additions from Black Ops DLC maps? What do you guys think? Is there a way to make the average game shorter, without killing established zombie fundamentals, and still allowing us to have all the fun things we love about the modern zombie maps?

I'm sure you've all seen it, but at times there is a power up that flashes around the launch pads, and at the very last second, it changes to a perk bottle. Has anyone been able to get it? Is there a pattern to when the power ups appear, or is it all random?