The Gray Zone Warfare closed test has shown that the hype around the game is not unwarranted and that it could end up being something special. However, after playing it for a few more hours a major issue has started to appear that has made me want to stop playing at times, and it needs to be fixed before the early access launch arrives.
The opening hours of Gray Zone Warfare are mostly a PvE experience, with limited or no run-ins with enemy players. However, once it starts to take you into PvP areas, a major issue has started to present itself and I think it will only get worse once the game is opened up to everyone.
When you leave your base you take a helicopter to your chosen landing zone, there are lots of landing zones around the map, but each key location only has two or three in its immediate vicinity. Obviously, being a landing zone it’s an open area devoid of cover, otherwise, the helicopter wouldn’t be able to land, but this means that as soon as you get off the chopper you are a sitting duck, and people have figured this out.
Out of my last three trips outside of the safety of my base, all three have featured some kind of combat at the landing zone. One ended within seconds of landing, with fire coming in the moment my feet hit the ground from a popular streamer who had been camping near the landing zone waiting for players to land there. The next, where I went to the town’s other landing zone, I was given a few moments of false hope after jumping off before being lit up by what was at least two different players watching me from the trees on the edge of the town.
On the third run, I went to a different location and actually got off the chopper and into the area without running into anyone. As I was sneaking around trying to locate the loot I heard another voice talking to someone. I snuck out, rounded a corner and lit them up, narrowly killing them before they took me down, but I was hurt and needed to get out.
I called in the heli but it was five minutes away, so I headed to the LZ, found a bush and waited. Another helicopter landed before mine, and I hoped that they weren’t going to camp there, but they did and as I ran towards my exfil I was lit up by them. I just managed to make it onto the chopper, where you are immune to bullets and got out. I can’t be sure, but I’d bet that it was the player I killed looking to get their gear back.
Of the three, the last one I don’t mind as much, as it was a tense and stressful experience running to the chopper under a load of fire. But it emphasizes that if you are just looking to get some better gear, the best option is to camp next to a landing zone and kill whatever poor players decide to land there before they have a chance to fight back.
It’s also worth considering that this is in a streamer test, where a lot of the content creators are going to want to play in an entertaining way for their viewers. So when the game opens up to more players I’d bet it will become an even more common occurrence.
There really needs to be some kind of way to protect yourself when you land, otherwise a significant portion of your time in Gray Zone Warfare is going to be on helicopter journeys that result in death as soon as you hit the ground. One solution could be to have the option to leave with the chopper without being forced off it when you land if you hear gunfire coming your way. Or there could be a grace period of say 20 seconds after you land where you can still die but any gear you have is transported back to base with the helicopter so other players can’t take it.
It’s an annoying part of the game that has made me quit on the spot more than a few times, especially after a helicopter ride that can take multiple minutes. Fortunately, when you can get off the chopper the game is so good that it, so far, has always pulled me back to playing. With the devs seemingly taking feedback from players seriously based on early changes they have made already, I hope that they will come up with some way to stop players camping every landing zone, but it is, without question, something that needs to be changed before launch.
