What We Are Up To – Don’t Panic

You may have seen us mention some upcoming changes for Killing Floor 2, specifically around the Firebug panic incapacitation mechanic. Today we wanted to take some time to talk about what we are changing and why.

First up, we are making it harder to panic the big zeds. Don’t “panic” just yet! Our goal here is so players who want to panic one of the Pounds or Scrakes can do so, but not accidentally and wrecking the rest of the team’s cohesion in a “heated” moment. This applies both to direct fire (damage streams such as the Flamethrower), as well as Zeds that are taking burn over time damage.

To support this change we’ve also made it easier for the Husk Cannon and Spitfires to cause panic. Previously these weapons had substantially lower fire panic values compared to other firebug weaponry and combined with the above change, these weapons should still be able to trigger the incap before the target zed dies (with the players intent to do so!).

The final change we are making around fire panic is how the two states of enrage and panic work together. Currently in the live game, Zeds that are in both the panicked and enraged states will have the enrage take priority which can cause them to charge off quickly in a sporadic manner, which generally isn’t helpful to the team. Moving ahead the panicked state will take priority which should make the target zeds easier to track and damage.

Tangential to the panic changes, the team is looking at some firebug weapon tweaks (Firebugs should no longer kill themselves with the Husk Cannon at close range) and fixes! We’ll have more details on those changes and more in the weeks ahead.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on these systems once they are in players hands as our full goal is to make sure the Firebug (and other perks) complement each other. With the above changes, we believe Firebugs out there will more easily only panic the Zeds they want to and have a better experience with most of their weapons. If need be we’ll take a look at further tweaks and adjustments as we continue on this years roadmap!