Zombie Apocalypse - zombies not spawning

[legendaryjman]

I feel like I am doing something wrong, but I don't know what.

 

I have spent an hour trying to fight zombies in a zombie apocalypse. I am level 23. The event is announced in event chat. "zombies are attacking x zone." i stand around not near police drones, and nothing happens.

 

I have been to Boomtown, Perez Park, First Ward, Founders Falls, Skyway City, Nova Pretoria, I can't get them to come get me. So far this event the only time I have gotten to fight zombies in the apocalypse is in Talos Island when there was a group of masterminds standing on the hill near the train. They weren't spawning for me, they were spawning for the masterminds.

 

The wiki does not give me any information on what I am supposed to be doing. According to everything I read, and everyone I have asked in Help chat it is supposed to just work, but my experience is that it does not.

 

Do I need a minimum group number?

Is it level gated like trick or treat where I can only do it in a zone in my level range?

Do the costume temporary powers keep me hidden?

 

I don't get it. I don't remember it being his difficult to participate in the original game.

 

 

[Greycat]

I don't believe the costume powers will do anything about the zombies, and there's not a minimum size - they'll spawn if you're standing around solo. And I'm pretty sure they don't care about level range, but I'm not sure on that 100%.

 

Edit: Zombies alert came up for Crey's Folly. Took a solo character in, 42 so they'd outleveled the zone, and the zombies started spawning almost as soon as I'd exited the portal. Didn't hae a costume on though.

 

Edited October 9 by Greycat

[UltraAlt]

1 hour ago, legendaryjman said:

Do I need a minimum group number?

Is it level gated like trick or treat where I can only do it in a zone in my level range?

Do the costume temporary powers keep me hidden?

 

If there is a zone event and you are in that zone, they should spawn around you.

It seems to me that is more likely for them to spawn if you are standing on grass, but that doesn't alway seem to be the case at this point (the area in the parking lot in front of portal corps in Peregrine Island for instance).

 

I have had them spawn around my character - solo - on a rooftop in First Ward this year, so I really don't know what is going on before.

 

It never seemed like it was level related to me before. I don't play 50's all that often and tend to play lower to mid-range characters most of the time at this point.

[Marine X]

According to The Wiki, Zombies use the Rikti Invasion Mechanics, which are as follows:

 

Rikti Invasion Mechanics

 

Developer The Dark Watcher on specifics of a Rikti World Invasion: 1

"During the second phase of the invasion, the Rikti check to see if more of their Invaders are required every 6 seconds.

The Rikti find out how many Invaders are currently on the ground. If that number is less than 100 and less than 3 times the number of players in the zone, the drop ships look for likely places to teleport more Invaders.

To find likely targets for the Invaders, the Rikti pick a hero or villain at random from all those in the zone. If that person is not moving faster than a sprint, at more than 20% health, are not under cover, within 100ft of the ground and are not within 300ft of the hospital, this person is a good target. The invaders will pick up to 5 unique player targets in each search period.

When a good target has been located, the Rikti count the number of their Invaders within 30ft of the target and assign a threat rating to each Invader. Minions Rikti are worth 0.33 point, Lieutenants are worth 0.75 points, Bosses are worth 1.5 points and Heavies are worth 3 points. The threat ratings of all the Rikti Invaders within 30ft of the target are added together to get the current Invader Threat in the area for this target.

Then they count the number of players within 30ft of the target and this number is used as the current Human Threat in the area for this target.

If the Rikti Threat is less than the Human Threat, Rikti Invader reinforcements are sent to the area around the target.

If the Human Threat is greater than 6 times the Invader Threat and there are already some Invaders in the area, the Rikti will send in Heavy Assault suits. They will send one suit if the Invader Threat is less than 1 suit, otherwise, they will send 2 suits.

If they did not send Heavies, they will check to see if the Human Threat is greater than 4 times the Invader Threat. In this case, they will send an amount equal to the difference between the Human Threat and the Invader Threat divided by two up to a max of 4 units. These units may be Chief Soldiers, Chief Mesmerists, Rikti Priests, Rikti Monkeys, Drones, Conscripts, Infantry, Guardians, Headman Gunman or Chief Mentalists.

If they still have not sent troops, they will send an amount equal to the difference between the Human Threat and the Invader Threat up to a max of 8 units. These units may be Rikti Monkeys, Drones, Infantry, Conscripts, Guardians, Headman Gunman or Chief Mentalists. "

[High_Beam]

That is some Grade A useful data @Marine X, thank you

[Snarky]

17 hours ago, legendaryjman said:

I feel like I am doing something wrong, but I don't know what.

 

I have spent an hour trying to fight zombies in a zombie apocalypse. I am level 23. The event is announced in event chat. "zombies are attacking x zone." i stand around not near police drones, and nothing happens.

 

I have been to Boomtown, Perez Park, First Ward, Founders Falls, Skyway City, Nova Pretoria, I can't get them to come get me. So far this event the only time I have gotten to fight zombies in the apocalypse is in Talos Island when there was a group of masterminds standing on the hill near the train. They weren't spawning for me, they were spawning for the masterminds.

 

The wiki does not give me any information on what I am supposed to be doing. According to everything I read, and everyone I have asked in Help chat it is supposed to just work, but my experience is that it does not.

 

Do I need a minimum group number?

Is it level gated like trick or treat where I can only do it in a zone in my level range?

Do the costume temporary powers keep me hidden?

 

I don't get it. I don't remember it being his difficult to participate in the original game.

 

 

wait?  my book is working?  i sold that thing just to make quick cash!

 

[mechahamham]

My personal, anecdotal evidence, is that  having any kind of stealth on dramatically cuts the number of zombies (or Rikti or Nemesis for that matter) that spawn for you during invasions. So if you're using something like Hide, Steamy Mist or any other, it's going to reduce what you see. A way to get around this while not removing the power is to attack other regular zone enemies. It suppresses your stealth a bit and event enemies will start spawning in while you're fighting.

Edited October 10 by mechahamham

[Greycat]

Trying to recall if it was MSR mobs or those and invasion/zombie mobs that stealth actually had no effect on.

[Lunar Ronin]

5 hours ago, mechahamham said:

My personal, anecdotal evidence, is that  having any kind of stealth on dramatically cuts the number of zombies (or Rikti or Nemesis for that matter) that spawn for you during invasions. So if you're using something like Hide, Steamy Mist or any other, it's going to reduce what you see. A way to get around this while not removing the power is to attack other regular zone enemies. It suppresses your stealth a bit and event enemies will start spawning in while you're fighting.

 

That is 110% objectively false.  Stealth has nothing to do with spawn size.  That's just one of many myths from live that refuse to die.

 

Also, OP, you need to be level 25+ for invading mobs to come to you.  Invasions are level-gated.

Edited October 10 by Lunar Ronin

[Lunar Ronin]

1 hour ago, Greycat said:

Trying to recall if it was MSR mobs or those and invasion/zombie mobs that stealth actually had no effect on.

 

It's neither.  Stealth has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a mob spawns in the MSR nor a zone invasion.  It's just an old myth from live that absolutely refuses to die.

[Hedgefund]

When I go afk with a Stalker and a zombie invasion happens, and I'm talking about afk in a villain zone like Nerva far away from any other players, I invariably have a few new friends around when I return to the game.  They don't attack because they don't see me, but, and this is the important part, they do spawn, because the invasion mechanic doesn't need to see me to spawn mobs.

 

This particular myth is frustrating to still deal with.  Fortunately I don't see it as much, I haven't seen anyone say to turn off Arctic Fog in an MSR in a long time so there's hope.

[Snarky]

1 hour ago, Lunar Ronin said:

 

That is 110% objectively false.  Stealth has nothing to do with spawn size.  That's just one of many myths from live that refuse to die.

 

Also, OP, you need to be level 25+ for invading mobs to come to you.  Invasions are level-gated.

So you are saying Stealth reduces spawn rates and sizes?

Edited October 10 by Snarky

[High_Beam]

Stopping Todd McFarlane reduces spawns as well.

[srmalloy]

13 hours ago, Greycat said:

Trying to recall if it was MSR mobs or those and invasion/zombie mobs that stealth actually had no effect on.

IIRC, it was the ongoing "turn off your AoE stealth powers" complaints/demands by the people who, lacking an accurate understanding of how aggro worked, believed that running into an AoE stealth area while having already-established aggro would cause tanks to lose aggro, reducing their ability to pull mobs down into the bowl during MSRs.

[Lunar Ronin]

1 hour ago, srmalloy said:

IIRC, it was the ongoing "turn off your AoE stealth powers" complaints/demands by the people who, lacking an accurate understanding of how aggro worked, believed that running into an AoE stealth area while having already-established aggro would cause tanks to lose aggro, reducing their ability to pull mobs down into the bowl during MSRs.

 

That's how it started, over fifteen years ago.  Then it was that stealth auras was causing Rikti not to spawn, period (not just lose aggro), when in fact the lack of Rikti in the bowl was because people were fighting Rikti on the mothership's ramps instead of letting them come to the bowl.  Then it somehow spread to invasion mobs.

[legendaryjman]

The invasion is long over, we are a month later, but I wanted to update to let everyone know ... it never worked. No matter what I did the zombies never spawned for me.

 

A little upsetting, but nothing to be done except wait for next year.

[Techwright]

8 hours ago, legendaryjman said:

The invasion is long over, we are a month later, but I wanted to update to let everyone know ... it never worked. No matter what I did the zombies never spawned for me.

 

A little upsetting, but nothing to be done except wait for next year.

I read through this and never noticed a comment related to your player group size.  Were you always soloing it, or did you try to team up or at least move near other players' characters?  If I recall correctly, zombies can spawn at the completion of a Katie Hannon Task Force, so there may yet be chances to test variables before October.

[The Chairman]

On 10/10/2024 at 8:32 AM, Lunar Ronin said:

Also, OP, you need to be level 25+ for invading mobs to come to you.  Invasions are level-gated.

 

@legendaryjman, Did you get past L23? According to the quotation above, invasions are level gated to L25+.