11-10-2009, 02:22 PM
Also, I think slower paced combat contributes to zerging -- especially slow paced combat with healing.
Zerging/clumping works because it's easy to take a few hits and melt back into the crowd, get healed, move to the front again, and everyone in the zerg is trying to do this. It starts off as 5 vs 5 but two minutes later it's 10 vs 10 and 20 vs 20 and 50 vs 50 because combat pace, healing and resurrection are causing players to build up rather than killing them off and working towards a resolution.
If combat tends to be shorter (e.g., just about any FPS game ever) then it becomes more profitable to find an alternate route of attack than to keep trying to cram in with the hordes. The hordes get mowed down.
Zerging/clumping works because it's easy to take a few hits and melt back into the crowd, get healed, move to the front again, and everyone in the zerg is trying to do this. It starts off as 5 vs 5 but two minutes later it's 10 vs 10 and 20 vs 20 and 50 vs 50 because combat pace, healing and resurrection are causing players to build up rather than killing them off and working towards a resolution.
If combat tends to be shorter (e.g., just about any FPS game ever) then it becomes more profitable to find an alternate route of attack than to keep trying to cram in with the hordes. The hordes get mowed down.