I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about endgame blandness and lack of challenge, and I think I have an idea that might help solve this problem.
We already have dynamic spawn mode, which consistently spawns z’s wherever the player goes, but my idea would be a more realistic version of that, applicable to static spawn mode, as a toggle-able option for worlds.
Herds, zombie herds. They could start immediately, or only after a few months, depending on what the developers feel is best.
This would function differently from dynamic spawn mode in that the herds would appear randomly and without warning, not consistently. A player could go weeks without encountering one, and then, in the middle of the night, be awakened to a group of 30 or so zombies moving in on him from the street.
Another consideration is that the herds would be able to be avoided by hiding or being quiet, as they move directionally from one location to another. At night, it would be possible to be passed up by one entirely and never know it was there, if the player is hidden and quiet in their shelter.
During the day, the player could see the herd coming ahead of time as they appeared on-screen and decide to run, hide, or fight them to death.
As a random event, this would make the endgame more difficult and keep players on their toes, as they would be liable at any time to either need to run, hide, or expend a great deal of resources fighting the approaching horde.
Furthermore, the herds would appear in random locations, meaning that a player could stumble upon them in a town, a field, a forest, swamp, ect., instead of simply in specific locations (static spawn) or always constantly fighting at every turn (dynamic spawn).
I think it would be a good idea to either make these herds grouped by the type of zombie they are, (i.e. all military, all scientists, all brutes, feral hunters, ect.) or simply have zombie herds always be civilian zombies without special abilities or characteristics.
Personally, I think this would immensely improve gameplay and game-replayability, especially for later-game characters with solid resources. This mode would be both equally applicable and challenging for nomadic and base-oriented characters and present interesting and exciting situations regardless of the player’s motivations.
