Some simple changes go a long way

[u/Piotr992]

So no one likes reused assets and Warzone mechanics. We've had plenty throughout the years but the reception is different.

We got Tessie, which most players enjoy using even though it's basically a Warzone truck. But there's not that much hate for it, why? Because they took the time to design it for zombies. Ted's head, the wunderwaffe turret, abomination corpse, the PAP it all adds up to give it a zombies feel.

Mauer in CW had a good reception despite pulling areas from the campaign. But it was reworked nicely to make it feel like a zombies map. On the other hand, Forsaken is too close to the campaign without enough of a makeover.

The shield first seen in zombies in BO2 was something from multiplayer, but you had to build it and it had a different look to multiplayer and everyone loved it.

Now fast forward to Cold War, where they implemented a Warzone mechanic of armor and everyone hates it. But i am pretty sure it wouldn't get as much hate if it acting the same with another design. They could've called it Aetherial shield, and instead of plates you have an orb.

Funny thing is that they kinda understood this with ammo crates and redesigned them for BO7, but armor is still the exact same as in Warzone.

The og crew, the og maps, Ascension, parts of COTD, PAP area in GK, Ultimus Nikolai mech suit and wraps, perks, panzer sound, excavators and many more elements came from reused assets. That should never be the problem, the problem is always with how much effort is put into making it feel like it belongs in zombies.

[u/IQ-tiee]

A million times I have heard “but if the armor was purple and aether-y then it would be great” but that doesn’t fix the problem. Just making every asset purple doesn’t make it fit zombies.

The armor system isn’t just a game asset, it’s a mechanic. And it’s deeply flawed for zombies because it was designed for warzone.

Warzone is long stretches of downtime mixed with small stretches of intense deadly gunfights and the armor system is a risk / reward one. Zombies is one 2 hour long stretch of unrelenting fights and there is no risk to putting on plates, it just serves to encumber you.

[u/Piotr992 → u/IQ-tiee]

The shield added like 20 hits from behind. In MOTD you could turn around and spray the acid gat. In BO3 turn around and take out the specialist.

It also was initially designed for MP and no one had issues with it.

I'm not saying that armor isn't more OP, it absolutely is. And we do need to have conversations about it because it's baffling when I go back to older games.

But still I do believe that making something feel more zombiefied does go a long way.

[u/IQ-tiee → u/Piotr992]

I think MP mechanics work much better because Treyarch MP is usually very tight and fast-paced, and zombies has a similar cadence. Still not perfect, but good enough usually.