I backed the game.

[Xant]

Then how do you simulate people being in fear of dying? I understand and agree that a dumb message or a bar lowering to zero would be kinda lame, but that suicidal lemming rambo behaviour has to stop in order to create a proper battle.

You punish dying. People in DayZ fear (feared) death, because if they died it meant a lot of running and the loss of their carefully scavenged gear, so it's very possible to do that in a video game. The problem with stuff like that is that the only real punishment you can use in cRPG and MBG is boredom, i.e forcing people to wait 4 minutes before respawning. It definitely works, people do play more careful in Battle than Deathmatch. But you can only make it so severe before people stop playing.

That is the only real option, making the player fear dying. Making the character fear dying would be, again, really gay. Forcing psychological reactions on people is an awful idea, always. "Your warrior who has seen 10 years of combat is totes super scared right now, and unable to do anything!" Not only is it gay, it's unrealistic. I don't want to play a coward.

"Lemming rambo behavior" is punished already. Lone players are easy targets for archers, cavalry and squads of players working together.

[Aldaron]

Then how do you simulate people being in fear of dying? I understand and agree that a dumb message or a bar lowering to zero would be kinda lame, but that suicidal lemming rambo behaviour has to stop in order to create a proper battle.

I wholeheartedly agree. While I love cRPG, and am quite good in lemming rambo charging, I'd like a different take on medieval combat.

You punish dying. People in DayZ fear (feared) death, because if they died it meant a lot of running and the loss of their carefully scavenged gear, so it's very possible to do that in a video game. The problem with stuff like that is that the only real punishment you can use in cRPG and MBG is boredom, i.e forcing people to wait 4 minutes before respawning. It definitely works, people do play more careful in Battle than Deathmatch. But you can only make it so severe before people stop playing.

I very much disagree. There are already other mechanics in place, such as the speed bonus. You already get a penalty for walking backward, you could also get a penalty for being outnumbered - or maybe a penalty for swings but a boost for blocks. The latter would simulate "your seasoned warrior wants to live".

Another possibility would be to add stamina effects in the game. If you do lots of rambo lemming stuff, the character becomes tired, and gets a speed penalty in everything. This would encourage slower group action and discourage wild spamfests and kamikaze-dashes (which are nowadays the best way to have most fun = action in cRPG, because your remaining lifetime on battlefield can't be increased much, and the archers will kill you soon anyway).

I'd be excited about relevant changes in gear: perhaps (some) armor could be weaker from behind, or perhaps damage could be increased if the target doesn't see the swings (ie. can't prepare for them). Perhaps heavy plate mail could survive almost infinite "bad" hits (bows, melee weapons that hit a strong point in the armor) but make its wearer tired more quickly.

Also, what's wrong with losing gear when you die alone in a hopeless place? ;).

And then, changing the respawn time (OR distance) based on what the character "morale" was would be ok for me too.

There are many more options than any of us *can* realise.