Considering the danger zones as their own content (just as RP and Events would be considered a content category), it feels like there has been some neglect to what the zone offers, which can be seen in the recent decline of activity, specifically varied activity in the danger zones.
By design, the danger zone accounts for all different forms of PvP, however as the game has evolved and the players' understanding with it, it feels like there is only one way to play inside these zones effectively, which at the moment is to bring as many numbers as possible (or not go out at all if you don't need to) and camp map swaps (which is by far the most effective strategy for winning fights). Personally I've played Nin for ~8 months actively, and during that time, played all kinds of content in the DZ (Solo hunting buffed/unbuffed, outnumbered fights, village raids, PvE, and missions to name a few).
The problem:
Gameplay is frustrating as it rewards clumped high numbers and mapswap camping, leaving other forms of DZ content neglected
Current danger zones have very little incentive (I want to emphasise this, as it is different from the point below and will expand on it later) to go into
There is no punishment or sense or urgency to push danger zones (players can effectively wait as long as they like before heading out)
I will expand on each of these points, and offer a glossary of suggestions. Please note, this is not a criticism of dangers zones, it is more of a forum to suggest improvements to bring life to them. Please keep discussions on topic and take an objective viewpoint rather than a personal one so we can get points across
Problem 1: High numbers (Clumped) + Mapswap camping
Part 1: High numbers (Clumped)
High numbers on their own are not an issue, infact they bring a more interesting outlook on the game. The problem is when large numbers are clumped. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is the 60 second death timer. The timer feels way too long considering the DZ maps are so small. A player can run from Dark spiders to South Tigers (a very significant coverage of the whole danger zone) in under 60 seconds.
This becomes even more of a problem while fighting groups as once you are outnumbered, it does not matter how many people you kill as your kills can be revived with relative ease. Focusing medics is a viable strategy, however the punishment for running high medics in groups has no drawback since all groups are encouraged to have as many numbers as possible.
Proposed solution: Reduce respawn timer in Danger zones from 60 seconds to 30 seconds. Safezone timers can stay 60 seconds.
Part 2: Mapswap camping
Mapswap camping is by far the most efficient strategy to kill any sized groups. For clarity, mapswap camping is when you are waiting on the edge of a narrow map, ready to unload all your jutsus when the enemy swaps into the map. The reason this works is because the enemy coming in cannot react while they swap in and many jutsus have no AoE limit.
This inherently is not a problem, as it means with proper flanking, you can also corner the people camping the mapswap, if pushed from the other side, as shown below:
The problem develops when you consider how dangers zones are layed out - there is a presence of corridors. A corridor is a map where once you have passed it, you cannot get back into any map above or below it until you pass it again. These are absolutely terrible for the danger zones and what facilitate mapswap camping as a viable strategy.The diagram below shows how corridors work:
Each square represents a map in the danger zone. The red squares indicate corridors, and as shown, once you are holding one of these corridors, you cannot be flanked, and can effectively mapswap camp indefinitely, which leads to frustration and a stalemate from both sides.
Proposed solution: Remove all corridors from DZ with the introduction of new maps. This would not only allow for outplay opportunity with big factions flanking one another, it would also allow for smaller hunting parties to use creative use of maps to evade opponents and bigger groups. IMO this is the single biggest change DZ's currently NEED. The diagram below shows an example of how new maps can be introduced to remove corridors:
The full list of narrow corridors (these are the ones especially viable to be camped):
Tanzaku Valley
Leaf Tigers
Mini
Bottom CF
Dark bridge
Mist Bears 3
Mist Bears 4
Mist Foxes
Mist Dragonflies
Bears 2
Bandit Caves
Bounty House (mainland)
KB
North Coyotes
South Coyotes
Takumi Tigers
Takumi danger zone
Problem 2: Current danger zones have very little incentive to go into
Outside of missions (which become basically irrelevant once a player hits max level), bounty and the pure enjoyment for fighting, there is no incentive for the average player to enter a danger zone. This one I think can be fixed relatively quickly by offering more ryo incentives of going into danger zones without the requirement of players being in there.
Proposed solution 1:@Ichika has already made a great post about this, I will link it here
Proposed solution 2: Introduce a new mob map (suggestion would be the map left of snow wolves, but any new map equidistant from villages can suffice) where a relatively easy mob to kill (compare difficulty to between bears and hosts level). This mob drops an item exclusively used to sell to the shop for ryo (between 20-40 ryo) and commonly drops it (same way as hosts drop DNA). This would encourage players to actively leave the safezones to get consistent ryo rewards, at a higher risk - I use the word consistent because drops like DNA are not consistent, they must be sold to another player to make money.
Problem 3: There is no punishment or sense or urgency to push danger zones (players can effectively wait as long as they like before heading out)
There is no urgency at all to push danger zones. Compare this with for example raid points located at GD entrances, there is a sense of urgency where you must push, or lose something as a village. This applies to absolutely nothing inside the DZ (except gaining ground so they are not mapswap camped by another village :rofl:).
Proposed solution: Honestly, I'm not sure. I would suggest something like raidpoints, but I'd like the community help on this suggestion.
Conclusion
The points mentioned above are in order of priority. I want to emphasise that these changes are very important to keep danger zones as enjoyable content. Many players enjoy nin specifically for content in danger zones and it's pretty much a part of every players gameplay. I hope you can give feedback on this forum post objectively and that relevant people like Rory and Erox as well as the other admin team not only see this, but give feedback on their thoughts about this, as well as the rest of the community.
This post took a lot of effort to create, so please give me the same respect by keeping discussions on topic.
HITSPARK
Question
Elegy
Considering the danger zones as their own content (just as RP and Events would be considered a content category), it feels like there has been some neglect to what the zone offers, which can be seen in the recent decline of activity, specifically varied activity in the danger zones.
By design, the danger zone accounts for all different forms of PvP, however as the game has evolved and the players' understanding with it, it feels like there is only one way to play inside these zones effectively, which at the moment is to bring as many numbers as possible (or not go out at all if you don't need to) and camp map swaps (which is by far the most effective strategy for winning fights). Personally I've played Nin for ~8 months actively, and during that time, played all kinds of content in the DZ (Solo hunting buffed/unbuffed, outnumbered fights, village raids, PvE, and missions to name a few).
The problem:
I will expand on each of these points, and offer a glossary of suggestions. Please note, this is not a criticism of dangers zones, it is more of a forum to suggest improvements to bring life to them. Please keep discussions on topic and take an objective viewpoint rather than a personal one so we can get points across
Problem 1: High numbers (Clumped) + Mapswap camping
Part 1: High numbers (Clumped)
High numbers on their own are not an issue, infact they bring a more interesting outlook on the game. The problem is when large numbers are clumped. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is the 60 second death timer. The timer feels way too long considering the DZ maps are so small. A player can run from Dark spiders to South Tigers (a very significant coverage of the whole danger zone) in under 60 seconds.
This becomes even more of a problem while fighting groups as once you are outnumbered, it does not matter how many people you kill as your kills can be revived with relative ease. Focusing medics is a viable strategy, however the punishment for running high medics in groups has no drawback since all groups are encouraged to have as many numbers as possible.
Proposed solution: Reduce respawn timer in Danger zones from 60 seconds to 30 seconds. Safezone timers can stay 60 seconds.
Part 2: Mapswap camping
Mapswap camping is by far the most efficient strategy to kill any sized groups. For clarity, mapswap camping is when you are waiting on the edge of a narrow map, ready to unload all your jutsus when the enemy swaps into the map. The reason this works is because the enemy coming in cannot react while they swap in and many jutsus have no AoE limit.
This inherently is not a problem, as it means with proper flanking, you can also corner the people camping the mapswap, if pushed from the other side, as shown below:
The problem develops when you consider how dangers zones are layed out - there is a presence of corridors. A corridor is a map where once you have passed it, you cannot get back into any map above or below it until you pass it again. These are absolutely terrible for the danger zones and what facilitate mapswap camping as a viable strategy. The diagram below shows how corridors work:
Each square represents a map in the danger zone. The red squares indicate corridors, and as shown, once you are holding one of these corridors, you cannot be flanked, and can effectively mapswap camp indefinitely, which leads to frustration and a stalemate from both sides.
Proposed solution: Remove all corridors from DZ with the introduction of new maps. This would not only allow for outplay opportunity with big factions flanking one another, it would also allow for smaller hunting parties to use creative use of maps to evade opponents and bigger groups. IMO this is the single biggest change DZ's currently NEED. The diagram below shows an example of how new maps can be introduced to remove corridors:
The full list of narrow corridors (these are the ones especially viable to be camped):
Tanzaku Valley
Leaf Tigers
Mini
Bottom CF
Dark bridge
Mist Bears 3
Mist Bears 4
Mist Foxes
Mist Dragonflies
Bears 2
Bandit Caves
Bounty House (mainland)
KB
North Coyotes
South Coyotes
Takumi Tigers
Takumi danger zone
Problem 2: Current danger zones have very little incentive to go into
Outside of missions (which become basically irrelevant once a player hits max level), bounty and the pure enjoyment for fighting, there is no incentive for the average player to enter a danger zone. This one I think can be fixed relatively quickly by offering more ryo incentives of going into danger zones without the requirement of players being in there.
Proposed solution 1: @Ichika has already made a great post about this, I will link it here
Proposed solution 2: Introduce a new mob map (suggestion would be the map left of snow wolves, but any new map equidistant from villages can suffice) where a relatively easy mob to kill (compare difficulty to between bears and hosts level). This mob drops an item exclusively used to sell to the shop for ryo (between 20-40 ryo) and commonly drops it (same way as hosts drop DNA). This would encourage players to actively leave the safezones to get consistent ryo rewards, at a higher risk - I use the word consistent because drops like DNA are not consistent, they must be sold to another player to make money.
Problem 3: There is no punishment or sense or urgency to push danger zones (players can effectively wait as long as they like before heading out)
There is no urgency at all to push danger zones. Compare this with for example raid points located at GD entrances, there is a sense of urgency where you must push, or lose something as a village. This applies to absolutely nothing inside the DZ (except gaining ground so they are not mapswap camped by another village :rofl:).
Proposed solution: Honestly, I'm not sure. I would suggest something like raidpoints, but I'd like the community help on this suggestion.
Conclusion
The points mentioned above are in order of priority. I want to emphasise that these changes are very important to keep danger zones as enjoyable content. Many players enjoy nin specifically for content in danger zones and it's pretty much a part of every players gameplay. I hope you can give feedback on this forum post objectively and that relevant people like Rory and Erox as well as the other admin team not only see this, but give feedback on their thoughts about this, as well as the rest of the community.
This post took a lot of effort to create, so please give me the same respect by keeping discussions on topic.
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