You could try making the zombies start with something else and make them pick up 'fixed' swords, then survivors couldnt pick the swords up again.? Sounds crazy.
That idea was brought up before - that means they would have to start off with some other weapon at the beginning, meaning they wouldn't have to get close. As for the rotating safe havens, I think that would only make things much more confusing. Does anyone think that this conversation would decrease the frequency of the problem: More ammo around the map, faster zombies, and more zombie damage resistance?
Have humans not able to pick up weapons by general settings. then make a instantly spawning custom powerup that only the humans can get to by each weapon cache. Now just set the CP to give humans weapon pickup for like 5 sec, and your set
Depending on how much damage they do, Hammers or Golf Clubs could be an effective starting weapon. Still a melee weapon, but less precise than Swords. Of course, the splash damage would be a major ***** to control... Whether that conversion would work would depend on how your map is designed and how it already plays when balanced. I can tell you something from personal experience, though. In my map, The Factory... I've been working on a patch for it, and I've played it extensively. The way it's balanced, Humans will always have a large number of entrances to control if they wish to stay safe. (The roof of the map's central and only structure is the safest place to hold out as a group... But it also has five different entrances, all easily accessible to a Zombie.) Zombies are extremely weak, but lines of sight and open spaces are both limited. If a Zombie sees you first, your chances of survival are already cut severely. Because of this, an Energy Sword isn't really much better than a Shotgun unless you run completely out of ammo; in fact, it's worse, since it has a slightly longer cooldown between uses and you can't potentially weaken/kill multiple Zombies with one blast. When I test, I often include friends who've played the map several times. (I'd love to see several newbie-only tests, but it's hard to find enough newbies.) Most of these experienced players avoid using Swords if they can. (They haven't exactly analyzed and fully fleshed out that dynamic, I assume; they just remember that Swords don't confer a big advantage.) I can hear you beaming the question "Your point?" into my face with your mindbrain. My point is that if the element of surprise plays a major role in the success of a Zombie attack (or if the map and gametype are sufficiently altered to make this so), then use of the Energy Sword may not provide a substantial enough advantage to warrant its use by Humans when other weapons are available.
Would lowering the melee damage for the humans help? I have no idea if the melee damage affects melee weapons, but it's worth a shot.
I think you should at least try the rotating safe heavens idea. It's the only solution come up with so far that could actually work and doesn't require much effort to set up. If, during testing, people complain it's too complicated then yeah scrap it, but I think you should at least try it out first.
it's quite simple all you have to to is place a custom powerup the does nothing but allows you to pick up weapons but have a kill boundry that only effects zombies set to blue team and have a soft kill boundry set to red team/humans so thay can't camp there thats all you have to do.
Reduce human melee damage drastically, and give them high damage and zombies high resistance? Humans should not beat zombies in close quarters anyway, and I'm pretty sure swords take both weapon and melee damage into account when they are modified. Aside from that, what everyone said above, though I know what problems you're having since I have helped you test similar journey maps. I dunno, I'd play around with the damages and resistances until you find something that works.
Locked...If this map idea didn't die already...he figured something out. No need to further suggestions.