this.is.how.to.do.it

There have been a lot of things added that are annoying, but they dont make the core game any more difficult since there is always a strategy to avoid them. Since this is a round based survival game, it just seems obvious that surviving should become more difficult as rounds progress. It shouldn't get any easier. It shouldn't plateau. It should continue to increase in difficulty until we die because we cant survive. Adding more zombies perfectly achieves this goal. The method of increasing difficulty has to be fair to all playstyles and players, possible within the engine, and true to the core experience without making things annoying. This is that answer!

Yeh you're right about the early rounds. If it was implemented then it would be ruined. Thats why i think it should progressively increase from the mid to high rounds. That way, the early rounds that we establish ourselves on (and many randoms dont make it past) would be unaffected. Then as we progress to the rounds when we're set up and everything flatlines the difficult would increase as it should. As a result, the players that dont make it past, lets say round 30, would be unaffected. While the zombie players who are accustomed to dying from boredom would have the challenge. The whole idea of this is to greatly increase the difficulty. Reaching round 50 shouldn't be the same difficulty as round 40. Ultimately, as rounds progress, it should reach the point where survival is simply not possible or at least almost impossible. Otherwise surviving is not a matter of skill, its a matter of not getting bored. I want to be dying because i'm not skilled enough to survive any longer rather than killing myself because I'm bored.

Yeh, these should be free. Hopefully included in a patch.

The feedback of BO2 zombies has been quite mixed. Personally, I've liked it, however one major thing has been bugging me for a long time in zombies; the difficulty. Once a certain point is reached in this mode, the difficulty just doesn't change. Sure, more zombies come each round but surviving doesnt get any harder. It just takes more time. With treyarch moving zombies to the MP engine, we were promised on several occasions that this meant 'double the zombies'. I thought that this would mean that in any mode we would have twice as many zombies on a map at a time, so 48. Unfortunately, this has simply not been the case, (maybe with the exception of 8 player grief). Now, the reason this has been bugging me so much is that i thought this could be the answer to how zombies could be hard again. At the moment (with 24 zombies max at a time), we reach a point where it doesnt get any harder. But if the amount of zombies on the map at a time double, every strategy would be made more challenging. Camping would take more coordination, kiting would require immense skill, high rounds would mean more than 'you beat the boredom'. Now rather than this number being implemented to any round (as the current zombie max is), it could gradually increase as the rounds progressed along with the zombies health and the total zombies each round. This would be a great start as the game would instantly be more fun and challenging but i dont want to stop there. At the moment, it is my opinion that the bane of zombies is that it takes too long to increase in difficulty and when it reaches its max, it doesnt go anywhere. The game becomes tedious. The only way to fix this is to make the game more difficult. At low rounds, there are three ways the game progresses in difficulty; zombie health, speed, and numbers each round. At mid rounds, the speed of zombies maxes out and so it no longer impacts the progression of difficulty. Therefore, as ive previously stated the only progression of difficulty in zombies is through their health and numbers each round. I think this needs to change. Ive said that i think the number of zombies on the map at any time is one other way difficulty should progress. I also believe that the speed of zombies should continue to increase to a higher maximum possibly equal to that of the sprinters in verruckt and COTD. I want reaching say round 30 or 40 to be an achievement again, rather than being something you just go through the motions for. I honestly think that these suggestions would make zombies challenging again without dramatically altering the gameplay we all love. What do you guys think?

Grief! Grief! Grief! Its a shame that they already haven't made bus depot, nuketown, and certain regions of die rise playable for grief. Bus depot would be great as the challenge its designed to be (no perks), nuketown is the perfect size with ideal choke points to block enemies, and Die Rise seems like the a map made for unique griefing techniques with tight areas and great opportunities to hit people off the edges. The biggest problem with doing something like this at the moment is the current matchmaking system in zombies, where the player base is spread very thin with the allowance of picking both map and mode. This was a great method originally when zombies had one mode and people searched for a map. At the most the player base would be spread between 10 playlists; one for each map. Now in black ops 2 we already have 9 playlists when searching for a game due to the added modes. To add more maps for grief, survival, turned and whatever future modes they make, treyarch will have to take a more 'multiplayer like' standpoint with their matchmaking, otherwise the playerbase in each playlist will be so thin that its impossible to find a game. The best way to do this would be putting all maps of a particular mode into one playlist for versus modes like grief, turned etc. And maintaining the current structure for co-op modes survival, tranzit, die rise, etc. So ultimately, i think it would be best to have a playlist for each individual map in coop modes (because when people go to play survival on town they dont want to put on bus depot). Then for versus modes (including turned, grief, etc.), similar to the system in multiplayer, each mode would have its own playlist with multiple maps that could be voted on in a prematch lobby. Anyone agree?

If you look in the bottom left corner of the large overhead of Tranzit, there is a road that veers off the path of the bus. I was thinking, if Nuketown or future DLCs were to be an extension of Tranzit then this road could lead to them. Alternately this could be one of the benefits of taking the journey between areas by foot rather than on the bus. Thoughts?

Could this be a link to Shangri La mountains? I have no idea how, but the devs made a big deal about that and I always wondered what these signs were for on Shangri La.

Based on just first looks, it seems like exactly what I've wanted to happen with zombies for a long time. The return to the eerie, world at war feel is brilliant. The bus looks like a great gameplay addition, and the scale of the map seems awesome. But above all else, the thing I was most impressed with was the speed of the zombies. If this has been done the way I'm hoping, it may just bring the challenge back to zombies that WaW had, but was taken away as gameplay in every single BO map boiled down to running around in circles. This combined with the increased number of zombies hopefully will result in more team work, a far greater challenge, many strategizing options, and will finally return the amazing replayability that zombies once had for me. I remember when it took a good month to come up with a way to make it to round 30 on a new map, and it looks like that may return in BO2. Keep up the great work guys.

By having a good look at this, some things seem consistent with the map being on a farm but others are quite the contrary. The main feature that screams farm to me is the crops (corn maybe?) which are clearly evident either side of the path. This reminded me of something I read back when Jimmy drew everyones attention to the Manhattan Project. One location that is frequently mentioned on its wiki page is the Hanford site. At this location, a large amount of land was acquired around a proposed plutonium production complex. This land was taken to remove population from the area in the event of a major nuclear accident. Ultimately 40000 acres of land were taken in the area. One man employed to scout for potential complex locations, Colonel Franklin T. Matthias, reported that Hanford was "ideal in virtually all respects," except for the farming towns of White Bluffs and Hanford. Now quoting directly from the Manhattan Project Wikipedia page: 'A dispute arose with farmers over compensation for crops, which had already been planted before the land was acquired. Where schedules allowed, the Army allowed the crops to be harvested, but this was not always possible.' This may be a long shot, but could this map be located in the farming towns of Hanford?

Originally I was going to post this on the Zombies suggestion thread but it ended up taking a lot longer and becoming a lot bigger than I first thought so I made my own thread. I’ll apologize in advance for the wall of text but please don’t skip over this as it has taken a lot of time and thought. INTRODUCTION Anyone who played zombies from the beginning in World at War would probably agree with me that zombies had a far higher re-playability then it does in Black Ops. There are numerous reasons for this. My suggestion is that Treyarch changes these things as IMO, zombies has lost its way in a sense. It has remained an incredible game, however the fun, challenge, and ongoing discovery in it has slightly diminished. I've recently spent hours switching between WAW and BO zombies in an attempt to understand the reasons for this. I have done this purely in the hope that the Treyarch devs will take notice and take onboard these suggestions. MOOD/FEELING The first difference that is clearly noticeable is the difference in mood of the two games. When starting a zombies game on any WAW map, there is an ever-present sense of doom. You know you are going to die. Ambient sounds are far creepier and the first few play-throughs on any map are terrifying. On BO, many maps have background music (i.e. Damned on Kino). This kills the mood. It has nowhere near the dooming feel that is evoked in WAW. Another thing that removes the feeling of fear is the style of gameplay that is encouraged and the difficulty (I'll get to this later). There is an excellent post that has already been created which elaborates on what I have written here. I think it is called 'Bring Back the Classic Feel'. GAMEPLAY/STRATEGY On every BO zombie map, the strategy at high levels is always the same. Find the most open area possible and run around in circles until you die. This is without doubt, the biggest problem with BO zombies. It discourages teamwork; it is incredibly easy and mind-numbingly boring. With the exception of the Comm room in Shi-No-Numa, WAW always encouraged teamwork. Sure, it was possible to kite on Der Reise in the Spawn Room, or the Power room, or even around teleporter C, but it was difficult and it wasn't something that could be done forever. I think a big part of this issue can be put down to the game engine, not just the map design. Hitting the gap between two zombies on WAW was quite difficult. Even, simply running around a zombie in a hallway was far riskier than on BO. On BO, it is far too easy to run around a zombie while averting his swinging arm. Another example of this is when dealing with dogs. In BO, you can simple step to the side while a dog attacks to escape unharmed, even just sprinting in a straight line will ensure you never get hit. Whereas, WAW dogs are a far more imposing threat, as if you don't kill them, they will keep hitting you. There is no running indefinitely; you have to deal with them. Furthermore, the BO engine made guns far less effective when shooting hordes of zombies. I think a big issue was the lack of bullet penetration. For example, on Der Reise, shooting a horde of zombies chasing you through the animal labs was on of the most satisfying things in zombies. Even on something like round 30-35, a clip of Barracuda would demolish the pack chasing you with ease. An upgraded PTRS could headshot 5 zombies with 1 bullet. Attempting the same with the BO equivalents simply doesn't work, they are far less powerful and on top of this they feel less powerful. The sound from BO guns (with the exception of wonder weapons) is a 'tinnier' sound to the deep powerful sound in WAW. Additionally, the gore in WAW made it feel more realistic and satisfying when shooting zombies. As a result of these things I found that there were only a few guns that were ever exciting to get from the box in BO. In WAW any gun could be effective. Every time you got a gun from the box, it could be useful and it was exciting. The BO guns make holding down a position far more difficult than it was in WAW, and this altered the gameplay dramatically. Everything in BO, seemed to try and force people away from camping and team-based strategies, and this was a mistake. It took away from a lot of the fun. The maps were designed such that camping spots were practically non-existent. New frustrating enemies were added such as the Creepers (By far the stupidest addition) which IMO broke the zombies formula. Zombies could jump up 2 stories (e.g. The mine cart area in Shangri La was ruined by this) and spawned from the ground in places where it didn’t make sense (The swamp in Shi No Numa was perfect for this as it was meant to be a dangerous place to be but in other maps it hasn’t been implemented well). And, the weapons were too weak to hold back zombies. These things may have been done in the hope of increasing difficulty, however with the design of these maps it has only forced people to kite, essentially lowering the difficulty and deterring any form of classic zombies teamwork. Continuing on, the Boss rounds have to come back. They break it up, add in a challenge, and a reward. The round to round special zombies don't have the same effect. They do nothing to break up the rounds, there is very minimal reward once they are defeated and there is no real challenge to them, they are a mere annoyance. Boss rounds, offer an opportunity to make people alter their strategies mid game, they keep the game fresh and are an important inclusion in all zombie maps. On top of this traps need to make a return. Taking away buyable traps was one of the worst decisions made. Along with the traps, transportation utilities need to have a cost and be more essential to survival (similar to Der Reise’s teleporters. By adding these things, there is more of an economy at later rounds as you always have something that your money needs to be saved for. Also, it encourages people to use the entire map rather than, running in circles in the one spot. To conclude this section, I believe that zombies should encourage teamwork more as it did in WAW. Strategies should be more diverse than just kiting; its too easy and too boring in BO. We should have the ability to camp but also to move through the map as a team using the various traps and utilities. This was one of the things that made Der Reise such an incredible and re-playable map, along with the power that weapons had in comparison to BO. INNOVATION/VARIETY Since Der Reise, there has been a lot less innovation in the series. It introduced so many new features, which is another reason it is considered by many as their favourite. Every map in WAW moved up; they each added a new feature that was unique. However, it seemed in BO that the innovation, in a way went sideways. By this I mean, we got new versions of the same thing (which was still good) rather than something entirely new. In moon, the addition of hacker was a good idea, but became frustrating and disjointed in the way we were forced to use it (loosing the PES and only 1 person at a time). No Man’s Land was another good idea but once again it became disjointed and awkward as we were forced to return every time we wanted jug, speed cola, or PaP (with the whole team needed on the teleporter at the same time). Maps in BO came to have a generic layout/structure: 1. The starting room with 2 doors out of it. 2. These lead to Mystery Box, Power. 3. A few more paths that lead to perks, utilities, etc. 4. Complete a simple task to unlock PaP. What I’m getting at here is that there needs to be some innovation in the map layout and objectives (I’ve got some suggestions below for these things). The way you play and discover each map sets the tone for every time you return afterwards. By setting out maps differently, it makes it more exciting to discover, more challenging and adds another aspect of ‘individuality’ to the map. I agree with a lot of people that there needs to be some new features added in regards to perks, bosses, traps, and weapons, all of which I have some ideas for below. The best new feature added to zombies was doubtlessly PaP. It added an aspect of mystery, discovery and amazement that was both fun and useful. Innovations like this are very hard to come up with but I think, if a feature of this game changing magnitude could be created, it would be marvelous for zombies. Again, ideas for such things I will list later. EASTER EGGS/STORYLINE As a whole, BO excelled in this area. The addition of the major Easter eggs was a brilliant innovation (I probably should’ve noted this above but I’m tired so sorry). It would be foolish if this tradition weren’t continued in the future, since IMO it was the best thing in BO zombies. The only things I suggest regarding the major Easter eggs is: - Able to be completed with any number of people. This could be done by slightly altered the steps to account for fewer players. For example, the only reason the Shangri La Easter egg can’t be completed with less than 4 players is the buttons that allow you to travel back in time. To amend this, less buttons could be required to account for the number of players; i.e. in a 2-player game, 2 buttons need to be pressed. - Easter Eggs that are very difficult to figure out, but not too taxing to complete. I remember back in the days of Der Reise that people were convinced of another major Easter egg. There were all sorts of very elaborate ideas popping up as to how to solve it. I really hope that future Easter eggs are very difficult and cryptic when figuring them out. Something that will have people thinking of random things and will take longer than a week to figure out. Some ideas I remember are sacrificing the WW in PaP, as if the WW was a key and PaP was the keyhole. Linking teleporters on certain rounds according to ABC -> 935. -Varied rewards and processes (specific ideas below) Besides this, in the area of Easter Eggs, my only hope is that along with the major ones, we also have the little ones. They are a lot of fun to find and can lead us to research and try and discover more. It is these hidden notes, small interactive map elements, messages and images in WAW that lead to the research and theories that have been so much fun to find and discuss. SPECIFIC IDEAS/SUGGESTIONS (Note: Some of these I remember reading so not all are my ideas, all credit should go to appropriate people who thought of them) Map Locations -Egypt. Could work well with mummy zombies and desert effects. The pyramids provide a notable setting with a labyrinth of tunnels, tombs and monuments. Pharaoh/sphinx could be bosses. -Agartha. Entering middle Earth fighting zombified Vril-ya would be a lot of fun. It would be a unique and exciting setting. -Atlantis. So many possibilities exist with a setting like this, water based puzzles would be fun to figure out and the setting extraordinary. -Paris. I think a few classic type maps would be fun, steering away from the other possible exotic locales. More 935 bases would be awesome. -El Dorado. I’ll just say play uncharted. There’s a really creepy bit with zombie like creatures. -Amazon. I’ve wanted an all jungle map for a while now. The amazon is just an example of a possible place but there are numerous others. Not so much like Shangri La but a rainforest map where you are deep under the jungle canopy. Imagine an anaconda or zombie chimp boss round. -Tunguska. It’s been in the zombie story since the start, yet we’ve never had a map there. -Area 51. A proper Area 51 map, full of machines that play up to the controversy surrounding this place. -A full mine map. Again Shangri-La had a mine area but it didn’t do it completely. Starting in darkness with a flashlight, lantern lit tunnels; it would have an eerie feel. Mine carts that go on numerous terrifying routes, and a pickaxe melee weapon. These are just some ideas. - A map set on an entire island where the map is bordered by water. This could be a great map as long as the beach areas weren’t to openly laid out. It would be awesome if it felt like ‘Lost’ with secret bases on the island. Layout Ideas: Obviously, it is pointless to go too specific here but these are just some very general ideas on features of map layout: - Something I’ve hoped for a long time is more than 2 doors from the starting room. It would add a feeling of being lost to a degree. Imagine 4 doors from the beginning, it would take longer to discover and the result would be a variety of ways to start the game. - More doors that lead to dead ends. - I’ve always wanted maps that are more of a labyrinth. Areas that feel like a maze and take a long time to know your way around. - Multiple story maps (I mean more than just 2 or 3), would add a unique opportunity for various transportation and gameplay elements. - Underground tunnels are awesome. - I liked in Shi No Numa, that there were various buildings, each with their own benefits and uses. We need more maps that change from the generalized layout. -I think that all maps, in general should be a lot ‘tighter’ (as in Shangri La), this makes it more challenging and exciting. Steering away from these ridiculously easy kiting areas would be a major improvement from BO, back to the WAW days. Map Objectives/Elements - More dynamic weather/environments. I think a map in the rain could work well, especially in the setting of a rainforest for example. A sandstorm element could work well in a desert themed map, similar to the mission in the MW3 campaign. I’ve also thought that a map with lightening would be very exciting and add to the mood. I don’t mean the kind in COTD, but rather chain lightening that could randomly strike anywhere on the map. - A map in the dark. Pitch black dark. I honestly thought Treyarch would do this in BO zombies after playing the Project Nova mission in the campaign where you enter the U-boat with a flashlight. This would be very scary, a lot of fun, and would provide added incentive to getting the power on. Additionally, if this was done, boss rounds could include the lights spontaneously turning off, requiring the player to search in the dark (with their flashlight) and find the power switch again, adding to the fear factor. - Separated at the start. This is yet another thing that would intensify the mood and add some variety to the way we start. I know this was done in Verruckt, but I think that being separated into single player rooms would be really exciting. Imagine, four different starting areas where every player has pressure on them to reunite with their friends. Another effect that could be added to this is voice chat could be disabled until you are united. This not only adds the sense of desperation but also makes the player feel alone, adding a greater motivation to find your team. - This is a bit out there but maybe a wall or door that could only be opened by either taking a lot of damage from explosives and being broken through. Or possibly there could be a switch out of the map the needed to be shot/pressed by a zombie (using monkey bomb to attract them, as a result when swarming the monkey they could hit the switch). - Another objective besides the power would be nice, but I’m drawing a blank for specific ideas. I thought in Shangri La that there might be more objectives with the movement of water; something like this could be cool. I like the way that PaP always has a different objective, so keep this up and possibly extend it. Bosses Coming up with specific ideas for this is difficult as the bosses for maps is very much dependent on the setting and map elements. Here are a few anyway: - For a jungle map, a Chimp round could work well. They could swing directly into you from above, with very strong hits. There ability to climb would make it very interesting as they could attack from practically anywhere. - We’ve had a boss that stole guns, monkeys that stole perks, how about something that steals points? It could work by squeezing you or if you want to make it very interesting, they could spawn from anywhere (similar to hellhounds), be super fast, not very strong, and literally pick pocket you. - The max ammo is needed at the end of every boss round; it is part of what makes them so good. But bosses that give a little extra something add to the fun, like the bonfire sale in five, and the perk bottle from monkeys. If we had something that stole points, maybe if we didn’t get any money stolen that round we could get one of those bonus points power-ups that you get from the QED. - As I said before, in a map with the darkness element, we could have a boss round where the power is switched off and players are stuck in the dark until it is fixed. As for the boss that would go with this, a lot of cool things could be done all stemming from the darkness, making it very scary and challenging. Traps - More traps that vary from the electric fields would be good. Things like the flogger in Shi No Numa would be awesome. Basically anything that is effective but is also a joy to watch. - Create the traps on the boards in Der Reise. It’s disappointing that they weren’t created in BO, so please make them. - The sonic fence thing from Lost would be an awesome addition to zombies. It is first seen in the episode “Par Avion”, if you want to know where to look. Basically, anything that walks past the fence is subject to a high-powered ultrasonic that kills them within a few seconds. Perks - There have been a lot of other ideas for pro perks so I won’t post that here, the only thing I’ll say about them is that Juggernaut Pro could potentially be very overpowered depending on how it was implemented. Remember, we don’t want the game to become ridiculously easy. - I have an idea myself as to how Treyarch could update the perk system, so I’ll try to explain it briefly. Assuming that the maps maintain the current 8 perks, the first update would be to have 8 slots allowing people to buy all 8 perks. This wouldn’t be overpowered due to the cost of doing so, and the risk of losing everything when getting downed. Now the major update I was thinking is adding the ability to buy the perk again as in a lot of the pro perk ideas. However rather than adding another ability to the perk, my idea is that this perk would not be lost when you die/bleed out, similar to the ability of the focusing stone but only for the perk you have bought twice. Now buying a perk twice would take up two of the 8 perk slots the player has available. As a result, the maximum number of permanent perks a player could have would be 4. Additionally, buying a perk the second time should cost 3 or 4 times the original cost of the perk. These would give players a lot of options in the way they have perks, and the cost/risks associated would ensure that it isn’t overpowered. For example, to attain juggernaut permanently, would cost 2500 for the original perk, then an extra 10000 (2500*4) to make it permanent. Additionally, doing so would take up 2 of your 8 perk slots meaning you couldn’t have all 8 perks. Also, this wouldn’t take the spotlight away from an Easter Egg reward of all perks because of the cost, and the fact that only 4 perks can be obtained permanently using this system. To give another example as to how it would work, I’ll explain what I would do: Firstly, permanent juggernaut is a must so that’s 12500 and 2 perk slots taken. Then I can’t play without speed cola so another 2 slots gone and 15000 points. Mule Kick is awesome, but I wouldn’t want to lose my 3rd gun so 20000 points and 2 more slots are taken. With the last two slots I would buy PHD flopper and quick revive so another 3500. That adds up to a total of 51500 points, giving people who often go to high rounds something useful to spend all that cash on. Obviously, the only other precaution that needs to be taken is altering the system for solo players buying quick revive, so they cant live forever. Utilities I don’t have many ideas for this but here’s a couple: - Mine carts. More elaborate than the one on Shangri La. Similar to the ones in movies with broken tracks, little jumps, the ability to change direction at forks in the tracks, and sections hanging just above deep canyons. - Swinging on vines could be fun on a jungle themed map. It could work similarly to the zip lines in call of the dead. - Bringing the original style teleporters back would be excellent. It would be nice on a big map if there were more than 3 that we could link however we liked (i.e link A to B and C to mainframe if it were in Der Reise). - Ladders could also be a fun addition as long as they couldn’t be exploited. Weapons - I’ve talked a lot about this before so I’ll try to briefly add on a couple points. In BO, ultimately there are only a few guns that are useful at higher rounds. In WaW practically any gun can be used effectively. Once again this is partly due to the engine but I’ll give some more examples of what I mean. An upgraded trench gun or Double Barrel in WaW, could be used for 1-hit kills easily until about round 25 with ammo not being a problem at all. In BO, upgrading guns such as the stakeout, Olympia, HS-10, and Spas not only result in problems with ammo, but have last nowhere near as long for 1-hit kills. This is a problem. After all, shotguns are meant to be powerful guns; they are meant to be useful things to obtain. But if I ever get a shotgun in BO, I am disappointed. This is also the case for practically every other gun comparison. I’d choose a PTRS over a Dragunov or L96A1. I’d take any WaW wall weapon over their BO equivalents. I’d take a glorious MG42 over that disgusting HK, or even a Browning (which I hate) over the RPK. The python is useless compared to the mighty 357 magnum. Launchers are better in WaW (i.e. the grenade launcher that comes with the M1 Garand), and machine guns have longer clips, far better ammo capacities, and seem to have higher damage (despite the fact that many BO weapons have supposedly higher hit points on COD wiki). And the Reaper, with the exclusion of wonder weapons, is the most fun and useful weapon to use in the entire zombies franchise. One of the most annoying things is the difference in Ray Gun power. Although technically they are meant to have the same hit points, it definitely doesn’t feel that way. The WaW Ray gun feels far more powerful not only when shooting zombies but also with the splash damage. On something like Round 35, I’ve had a Ray gun take 5 shots to kill a crawler in BO. For something that is meant to be a wonder weapon, that is a little ridiculous. The only comparison BO wins is Mustang and Sally vs. C30000 b1ac-ch35. These things are a big problem and have had a detrimental effect on the fun and replayability of BO zombies (again a lot of this is due to the engine). The weapons are a major part of the game, so this is something that needs to be fixed in order for zombies to be as awesome as it was and should be. - Every weapon should be obtainable from the box, including the starting pistol and all wall weapons. This decreases the probability of getting Wonder weapons and forces people to use weapons that they otherwise wouldn’t try. Also upgrading the starting weapon is a lot of fun, this allows people to do so if they accidently traded it in earlier. - I can understand that there are limits to the number of weapons that can be on one map due to hardware restrictions, however there were many guns in both Black Ops and WaW that should’ve been in the box in place of other things. In future, guns such as the M60, Grim Reaper, Ak47, or the Type 99 should be in the box rather than something like the China Lake or two different forms of the CZ75. - Bring back the flamethrower, or something with a similar ammo scheme. - If anyone has watched Fringe, I think a weapon similar to the one the observers carry could be fun. It is first seen in the fourth episode entitled ‘The Arrival’. This weapon could be similar to the ray gun with high ammo capacity but only working on 1 zombie at a time. - Another weapon idea is a high intensity laser that cuts straight through anything in the line of sight. It could work in a few ways; one could be a 1-time thing to get you out of sticky situations. This could work similar to the laser at the end of Iron Man 2, where he spins around and it slices everything around him in half. If the weapon was to work this way it could take up a special weapon slot where pressing both analogue sticks at the same time used it. It would only be replenished by max ammo and would be perfect for situations where someone is surrounded in a corner. The other way this could work is as an actual wonder weapon. The ammo capacity should be similar to that of the average WW, but it would work in its own unique way. Again, the primary use is to literally slice zombies up. One ‘bullet’ could be a laser beam lasting lets say 0.5 seconds. The beam would be directed in whatever direction the player is aiming. So moving their aim in a particular direction would move the beam potential creating a slicing action that could be used in numerous ways. It could be used on massive hordes effectively. It could decapitate, cut off arms or legs, slice zombies in half horizontally or vertically, or simply create a gaping hole in their body. This would allow players to have a lot of fun killing the zombies however they like. Another fun thing to do would be creating crawlers with this weapon, by slicing off their legs. Upgrading could have the useful effect of increasing the beam time allowing for a wider spread slice. Please do this. - One thing that has bugged me for a while now is that lethal grenades aren’t really very lethal. In fact they are practically useless compared to any special grenades. I’d like to see lethal grenades receive some more love. Originally, I thought that matryoshka dolls were going to become the first useful lethal grenades but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. There needs to be something in this slot that is more effective. - A fun addition could be the tomahawk as a 1-hit kill weapon forever. It wouldn’t be overpowered and would be very fun to play around with. Additionally, it would be great if it could be upgraded and used to revive downed teammates similar to the Krauss Refibrillator. - I know a lot of people say this but it would be fun to have some more powerful melee weapons. Even the ability to upgrade the bowie knife would be a big improvement. - One very far-fetched idea I’ve had for a new wonder weapon is something similar to the Portal gun. Obviously there would be numerous problems with copyright and the ability for the COD engine to process it without lag or graphic degradation, however it would be weapon with a variety of uses. It could be used for transportation, puzzle solving in Easter eggs, and could be used to kill zombies with enough creativity. Also restrictions on the weapon’s abilities could be placed to ensure that it isn’t overpowered including a limitation on the time in which a portal can be open, and an ammo capacity limiting how many portals can be created. Again this would be difficult to add but would be incredibly fun to use. - A time travelling based special grenade that either freezes time for everything on the map or takes everything on the map back about a minute or so in time. This would be useful if someone goes down, or if you make a mistake. Equipment The Equipment scheme was shaken up a bit in Moon, however as I previously stated, I believe this was implemented a little awkwardly. One major idea I have is the addition of various equipment slots similar to our grenade slots. As always the lethal equipment should take up the right arrow slot. Then for something that your survival is dependent upon (e.g. PES on Moon), I think it should either automatically activate upon necessity, or it should take up a survival slot (down arrow slot) meaning players have to activate it. Of course the player would have to find and obtain this equipment before using it. Finally, special equipment like the hacker could utilize the up arrow slot. Something like this should be possible for all players to obtain either by means of the box, off the wall at a high cost, or finding it hidden somewhere as in Moon. Using this set up and adding a few options to each slot would expand the player’s load-out options, and add another level of customization. Some ideas for each equipment slot are below: - C4 (lethal). On top of claymores (which are useless compared to betties in WaW), it would be nice to have the option to use C4. With this, players could set traps and do a lot of other fun things that Claymores don’t allow you to do. Additionally, a lot of very interesting Easter Egg steps could be created with C4 in mind. - Gamma ray specs (special). Now I know this was on the loading screen for Moon, which gave me this idea. Imagine something that was like Batman’s detective mode in zombies. I thought this would make an awesome addition to the special equipment slot. They could give hints to various Easter Eggs like where radios are and interactive map elements. They could reveal footsteps on the ground that lead to EEs/box/power/other objectives. Potentially they could employ some kind of X-ray vision similar to detective mode. On top of this, I think it would be cool if they had a ‘zombies remaining’ counter as some other people have suggested. There are numerous other things that could be added but I can’t think of any right now. - SCUBA gear (automatic/survival). A lot of people have suggested an Atlantis map, so SCUBA gear would go well with this. - Flash light (automatic/survival). As in the idea above for a dark map, a flashlight would go very well with this equipment scheme. - Night Vision Goggles (survival/special) Again this would go well with the dark map. I think this would probably go better in the special slot than the survival slot but it would have to be harder to obtain than the flashlight; maybe through the box. New/Upgraded Machines - The PaP fusion and PaP bloodlines ideas are about the best I’ve seen anywhere. The guy who came up with them has put in a lot of effort and really deserves some credit for it. Have a look at the thread called “Pack 'a Punch: BLOODLINE”. It is the most thought out and original idea anywhere regarding zombies. - One idea I’ve had is that the PaP machine could begin to evolve with each new map. This could be integrated into the story using an Easter egg in possibly the first map of BO2: Given the magnitude of the threat, the heroes should realize that they would need a lot more firepower if they were to have any chance at fighting Richtofen and the zombie horde. So the first purpose of the first Easter Egg would be to ‘beef up’ the PaP machine. After this, the PaP machine could become a little more technologically advanced; something like a computer with a degree of artificial intelligence. As the maps progress from then on the machine would evolve allowing some guns to be PaPed twice (it would be fun discovering which ones), and even equipment, knives, and grenades to be PaPed. With progressing maps, more and more guns could be PaPed twice until eventually every gun and equipment would have a second tier of PaP. Attempting a 2nd Tier PaP could cost double the original cost. Also, on maps where not all guns can be PaPed twice, attempting the 2nd tier PaP on an incompatible gun would revert it to the unPaPed form with full ammo Alternately, if Treyarch didn’t want to do it this way (with double PaP), my other idea is for the evolving machine to have different effects in subsequent maps; so different mag size, damage, fire rate, accuracy, attachments, ammo capacity, skin and name. Essentially, each map would have its own unique versions of PaPed weapons making every new map a lot more exciting. Easter Egg Rewards Before I list these ideas I thought I’d say that with the integration of Elite there could be some fantastic opportunities for competitions in BO2 zombies. One of the best would be a race to complete the Easter egg with the release of a new map. - The Easter egg reward I’m hoping for more than anything is another zombie map. This would be the best way to release the game with multiple zombie maps at launch. Given that with each game, Treyarch have their tradition of beating their last efforts, I’m hoping that BO2 will release with at least 3 zombie maps (not counting dead ops as it is a different game mode IMO). The first zombie map would be instantly playable. Then upon completing the major Easter egg in this map, there would be some in game reward as well as unlocking the next zombie map to play. This same process would work to unlock the third map. Doing it this way would allow the story to progress naturally as well as giving a great incentive to complete the Easter egg. For those that don’t usually complete the side quests, the maps could be unlocked later similar to the manor in which ‘Five’ was unlocked. - Wonder Weapon Wheel. I would love for the reward to be the chance to get any previous wonder weapon. It could work by allowing each player 1 spin upon completing the Easter egg. The weapon that the wheel lands on can be taken by swapping out one of their own. - A secret room containing a new machine/secret teleporter/Wonder Weapon Wheel (as above) that is also a good camping spot. If not this, I like the idea of the Easter egg altering the map in some way. - The upgraded PaP machine detailed above. - A death machine that actually takes up a weapon slot with limited ammo (similar to multiplayer version) and can also be upgraded. - A new gun that is in the box every game from then on. - Things that change every game afterwards similar to WW in COTD and the idea above. - A separate mystery box with fan favourite weapons from WaW/BO i.e. PPSH, MG42 etc. Novelty Ideas - Some different EE song ideas. I can understand the inclination to keep the songs going in the fashion that they have been created thus far (even though its really not my thing), however it would be nice if there was more than one song in each map. It would be nice to have some novelty songs. These could include songs from the zombie Christmas album or songs that fit the map like ‘In the Jungle’ for Shangri-La. Doing this would add variety and satisfy more than one sub-group within your audience. Another addition that could be fun would be a jukebox that included previous zombie songs allowing people to replay songs at a cost. - In a similar fashion to COTD, with the horror movie actors it would be nice to have a novelty map (unrelated to the story) that featured playable comedy actors. I hadn’t even heard of half of the COTD characters and didn’t really find their lines very funny, but imagine playing as someone like Will Ferrell. It would be absolutely hilarious and ridiculously fun. With a map like this the fear factor wouldn’t be an issue as it would be purely for fun. People that would be awesome for this that I can think of are Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (which would work well with the zombies), Ricky Gervais, Chris Tucker, Ben Stiller (preferably in a character like ‘White Goodman’), Jonah Hill, Will Ferrell (more than anyone else), Zach Galifianakis (in a character like Alan), Eddie Murphy, Charlie Day, Michael Cera, Chris Rock, Vince Vaughn, there are numerous other possibilities but this is all I can come up with off the top of my head. - A Christmas themed map that was released about a week before Christmas would be incredible. Again this wouldn’t be serious but it would be so much fun fighting zombies at the North Pole around Christmas. It could either be playing as Santa, Mrs. Claus, Head Elf and maybe Fred Claus, or we could just be the usual crew. This would give a great opportunity to use the zombie Christmas album as well. The box could be Santa’s sack (don’t think sus), we could ride the sleigh, fight zombified elves/ Reindeer bosses . . . There’s a lot of fun things that could be done. OTHER ISSUES AND WAYS TO ADDRESS THEM Problem: Losing hours of gameplay due to lag out Solution: Host Migration or something that allows games to be recovered from the last round before lag out (i.e. saves your game and allows you to continue once your party is back together). Problem: Ridiculously long winded for 4 player games. This discourages people from playing with 4 people and is the reason every high round is with the minimum number of players possible. Having more players should be an advantage but unfortunately it isn’t. Solution: A new, simple zombie per round formula for more than 1 player that is far more balanced than the exponential difference model that is currently utilized. I think the single player formula doesn’t need to be changed, however the multiplayer formula for a particular round should simply be a scalar multiple of the single player number depending on how many people are on your team. I.e. for 2 players there should always be 2 times the number of zombies for 1 player, for 3 players there should always be 3 times the number of zombies for 1 player, for 4 players there should always be 4 times the number of zombies for 1 player. This would mean that the number of zombies per round is directly proportional to the number of players in the game. Hence if the number of zombies for a particular round (‘n’) in a 1 player game is ‘ x’, and if the number of players in a game is ‘a’, then the number of zombies in round 'n' for 'a' players is simply a*x. Problem: Leaderboards don’t recognize solo efforts, nor do they accurately distinguish the difference between a 2,3 and 4-player game. Solution: Separate leaderboards for solo and co-op. Additionally, if the above problem (zombies per round) isn’t resolved, there should be separate leaderboards for 2,3 and 4 player games. Problem: No Stat keeping for zombies since the COD HQ for WaW. Solution: Comprehensive stat keeping could easily be added as it clearly doesn’t have negative impacts on game quality (since it was successfully introduced for WaW). Cod Elite could do something here. Problem: No-one ever hears the epic loading screen music as most people only play co-op zombies online. It really does pump you up, especially Shangri-La’s. Solution: Add loading screen music to online co-op games. Problem: The inability to pause/save just for a couple of minutes can very frustrating as you are more or less stuck in the game until it ends. Solution: Either host can pause, or if all players pause then the game completely pauses. Additionally, it would be great if there was an option to save your place and continue later as some zombie games take a little too long for one sitting. Problem: No WaW style trailers in BO. They were great at building up anticipation and pumping people up for the next zombie map. Solution: Bring back the WaW style trailers. Problem: Getting killed because zombies aren’t attracted to Monkey bombs/Gersch Device. Solution: This problem never happened with monkeys on WaW, so simply fix it so this doesn’t happen. Ok, I think that’s about it for me then. This took a lot of time and thought so I am very appreciative if you’ve read this much. Please leave some feedback as to what you think and I really hope that Treyarch takes on board some of the suggestions in which I’ve discussed. Zombies has become something very special from its humble beginnings and I think if these ideas are implemented it could become the best.

This is by far the best and most original idea I have seen anywhere regarding zombies. You deserve a lot more credit for your ideas and I really hope Treyarch takes notice. If this was implemented, zombies would also become a game of creation, as people come up with their own unique weapons. Additionally, there would be an added element of discovery as people attempt to find the unique combinations. Since the addition of PaP, weapon advancement has become somewhat stagnant. As such, this idea or some other innovation that evolves the concept of PaP should be added to spice up the weapons of zombies. I think you should post this in the zombie suggestions thread so hopefully someone at Treyarch will see.

I'm so glad someone has said this. It is so true. I've been following CODZ since right back in the exciting times of WAW, but since I now know that the developers, in particular Collin Ayers is closely watching this forum, I decided to make an account just recently to have some input on what I feel needs to be changed in order for the zombies experience to be as amazing as it can be. They all do lack the eerie feeling of WAW but I think there is a lot more to it than that. There were a lot of things that were changed from World at War to Black Ops which I think have been detrimental to the zombies experience as a whole. This is one, but there are numerous others, many of which I believe stem from the Black Ops engine changes from WAW. I have been working on an extensive list which I will post very soon on the zombies suggestions post. I hope that I can get enough support so that these suggestions are taken seriously by Treyarch.