Suggestion:20081124 Flashlights

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)

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)

Spam/Dupe Votes

1. Dupe, and it's not the only one. You really should take stuff like this to Developing Suggestions. Linkthewindow  Talk  05:13, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
   • Not to say I don't value your opinion, but don't you think a flashlight suggestion from a year and a half before dark buildings were implemented is kind of covering different territory? As for the other one, it only affected attack rates, not searching and barricading, and there was no mechanic for battery life. It may be the same in spirit, but it's not a duplicate if you ask me. -D4rkness 05:26, 24 November 2008 (UTC)
     • First off, thanks for being polite. It's not often that you see that around here. Secondly, although my two are borderline, the poster below me has a much better dupe (oxymoron?) Linkthewindow  Talk  08:18, 24 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)

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VOTING EXAMPLES Keep Votes Keep - I am the author and I am allowed to vote once on my own suggestions. --MrSuggester 05:01, 11 Nov 2005 (GMT) Keep - Best. Suggestion. Evar. --Bob_Zombie 04:01, 11 Nov 2005 (GMT) Keep - Good sugestion. no signature --FakeSuggester 07:39, 15 Nov 2005 (GMT) Kill Votes Kill - This is a terrible idea, but you can totally fix it up. --NegativeGal 06:01, 12 Nov 2005 (GMT) Re - Please be more specific about how to fix it on the discussion page. --MrSuggester 14:01, 12 Nov 2005 (GMT) Re - Sure, I have detailed my proposed fixes here. --NegativeGal 23:38, 12 Nov 2005 (GMT) Kill - You will eat my poopie and love it! --PooEater 11:12, 13 Nov 2005 (GMT) Note - Inane vote removed. Defend in discussion. --DaModerator 11:13, 13 Nov 2005 (GMT) Spam/Dupe Votes Spam - Kung Fu CB Mama on Wheels is an inappropriate Survivor Class. --NoFunAtAll 09:01, 12 Nov 2005 (GMT) Dupe - Duplicate Suggestion --AnotherSuggester 05:01, 14 Nov 2005 (GMT)