Suggestion:20081124 Flashlights

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20081124 Flashlights

D4rkness 04:33, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Suggestion type
Item

Suggestion scope
Survivors in darkened buildings

Suggestion description
Add a new item, the flashlight. These would be found in Mall Tech stores (5-8% chance to find), Power Stations (up to 10%), and Warehouses (2-4%). It is used to temporarily negate the effects of darkness in a building. While carrying a working flashlight, a survivor's search, barricade and attack % rates in a darkened building are only reduced by one-quarter instead of the normal one-half.

However, since flashlights run on batteries, the item wouldn't last forever. Instead, the flashlight would have 20 hit points (or whatever you want to call them) representing its remaining battery life. Whenever the survivor takes an action (besides talking) inside a dark building, the flashlight's hp is reduced by 1 (Note: This hp value would be invisible to the owner of the item, so they would not know how much longer their flashlight is going to last). When the flashlight runs out (hp is reduced to 0), the item is automatically discarded, and they would get a message like this:

Your flashlight flickers and dies. It looks like the batteries have died. You discard it, as it is no longer useful.

The reason I suggest this is because it makes sense to me that survivors stuck in the dark would seek alternate means of light than a powered generator. While full lighting is the ideal, generators are hard to find, and they can only be used in a single building. The flashlight would offer a compromise between having to search forever for a generator and fuel or just sit in the dark and twiddle their thumbs. Plus, unlike a generator, the flashlight is portable, so they are not restricted to a single building.

Voting Section

Voting Rules

Votes must be numbered, justified, signed, and timestamped. # justification ~~~~ Votes that do not conform to the above may be struck by any user.

The only valid votes are Keep, Kill, Spam or Dupe. If you wish to abstain from voting, do not vote.

Keep Votes

1. Keep- Author vote. Hope I'm not the only one. -D4rkness 04:37, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
2. Keep - A nice alternative to having to find a generator in a suburb that's overrun.--Grigori 05:13, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
3. Keep - Something needs to be done for survivors. Every single change in the last year or so has been pro-Zombie. Unlit buildings often disrupt free-running corridors and no one wants to waste a Genny on them. This game has become BADLY unbalanced as of late.--Lucas Black 04:03, 24 November 2008 (EST)
4. Keep - Yes why not! --mo ヽ(´ー｀)ﾉ 04:18, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
5. keep - it is one sided but that's not always a bad thing. It does need a little more detail but as those are ultimately for Kevan to decide anyway its not a big deal that you didn't include them. My biggest concern is that the battery life is too short and that once turned on you should not be able to turn them off again, I know thats unrealistic but it would maintain balance if you then showed up in a building description as something to indicate the presence of light inside.--Honestmistake 08:04, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
6. Keep - Needs revision though. Encumbrance values (2%?), and perhaps a findable 'Battery' item that can 'recharge' a Flashlight for 1 AP rather than making these things outright disposable should be added to the concept. Should also probably be released in tandem with a Zombie ability that negates some darkness penalties. --The God Emperor 13:41, 4 December 2008 (EST)
7. Keep but needs to be revised... the only way i see this working is if it was a one use flashlight that take up 1% of inventory. --Ltpotter 20:57, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
8. Keep - its a good idea but to make it fair it helps zombies see you when you start attacking them. --Andy25100 20:26,7 December 2008
9. Keep - as Lucas Black. - Conner Martel 02:01, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Kill Votes

1. I like this, but there is something...off that I can't quite put my finger on it. Linkthewindow has a point about starting this on the discussion, but he is WRONG about it being dupe. Not only have circumstances changed, but having the name "flashlight" in both suggestions does NOT automatically qualify it to be a dupe.--Pesatyel 07:30, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
2. Kill - Not a complete suggestion - doesn't state if flashlight is turned on automatically, or if it needs to be activated. It's stuff like this that Developing Suggestions is useful for. -- Galaxy125 08:12, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
3. Kill - I liked this idea, but as everyone else has said it is not compleate, so unfourtunatly I am going to have to kill this one --Michaleson ^CAPD 16:15, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
4. Kill/Change - It sounds pretty groovy, I'm mean come on, how man times have we found a zombies smugly sitting in a darkened building, confident it will survive. It's just really unfair though; zombies come into the same predicament, they find survivors in a dark building, an fail to kill them. I just find it unbalanced, find some way of letting zombies have the same thing...head light maybe? --Angusburger 18:02, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Spam/Dupe Votes

1. Spam - Very unbalanced, as Wan. This could work with a zombie counterpart, but Nubis really hits the nail on the head over at Frequently Suggested. Having the flashlight die isn't a good balance-people can just search for new ones. You also don't mention if this only affects the sole survivor, or if it affects the whole group, or if it makes the building appear lit from outside. Linkthewindow  Talk  09:37, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

   Since I changed my vote, the old vote is now on the talk page. By the way, that Frequently Suggested entry was only added today (after a short discussion), so don't scream "It's on Frequently Suggested" just yet. Linkthewindow  Talk  09:37, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

2. Dupe - As above, and here's another. Just because your suggestion isn't exactly like these doesn't mean it's not a dupe, D4rkness. Also note my specific vote on that page.--Jiangyingzi 07:50, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
3. Spam - Overpowered survivor buff. And incomplete. First of all, survivors get to negate the penalties, but zombies remain helpless. And seeing as dark hurts zombies more than it hurts survivors... How lame is that? And, what's the encumbrance? Incomplete. In any event, why would you want to negate dark penalties? There's nothing to find in these buildings. And leaving them unbarricaded doesn't really hurt anyone: in fact, presto, instant, easy-to-masintain entry point! The only reason to light one up usually is to PK someone.... Just say NO to one-sided, overpowered survivor buffs. --WanYao 07:51, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
   • oh... and all the benefits of a genny for a fraction of the trouble. Broken. Though not a dupe. --WanYao07:52, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
   • I just want to add that I think I agree with the poster who said the game has become VERY hard for survivors of late. FAKs are harder to come by (which is a GREAT thing, don't get me wrong)... powerful 'cade blocking takes the challenge and fun in sieges away from EVERYONE... and syringe search rates are atrocious: I manufacture now, it's better. Survivors need some kind of a break. Not a big one, but something. However, this suggestion is NOT the way. --WanYao 23:08, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
4. Same as WanYao - Those are some of the reasons I liked my glowstick idea better. At least that had the penalty of making you a bigger target when you used it. --Blake Firedancer ^{T E RNL? P.I.S.I.T.} 08:14, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
5. Spam - As WanYao. Also, not a dupe (at least not of the links provided here). --Midianian ^{Big Brother Diary Room: [510,24]} 10:42, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
6. Spam - As above... although "Suggestion: Flashlights, by D4rkness" was kinda funny. Still, WanYao nailed it. --Pestolence^(talk) 21:59, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
7. Dupe - As the other dupe voters. --ZsL 22:02, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
8. Spam - As above. --Papa Moloch 02:27, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
9. Dupe - As above, plus the three thousand others that haven't been linked to.--William Told 23:50, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Dupe - Why hasn't this been cycled? -- . . <== DDR Approved Editor 13:43, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Dupe – Link(s) provided. ᚱᛁᚹᛖᚾᚨᚾᛏ 02:09, 9 December 2008 (UTC) _{Voting closed 4:33 December 8-those two voters were too late Linkthewindow  Talk  20:39, 9 December 2008 (UTC)}