Heyo, I wanted to shed some light on this issue that's been in the game for a few years now.

I don't remember exactly when, but a couple years ago the devs added the ability for thrown objects to attract the attention of zeds.

Currently from what I know, the zeds have 3 states of aggro.

State #1 - non aggro

In this state, the zeds are just chilling, this is when they are least sensitive to picking up on player movement and noise

State #2 - semi aggro

In this state, the zeds have been semi alerted to some kind of noise or movement, they will start to jog towards the last known point of attention (such as a thrown object). In this state they are also much more sensitive to picking up on movement or noises, they will hear and see things from a much farther range. Sometimes even if you are not moving at all they will start moving towards you.

State #3 - Full aggro

In this state, the zed is fully aware of your location and they are coming to smack the shit out of you.

So, currently in game at the moment when you throw an item near a zed. It will attract their attention...

However it will also set them into agro state #2. Which means that they become much more aware and sensitive to player movement and noises. This essentially means that throwing objects to distract zeds is very counter intuitive. It makes them more aware of your location and basically makes it impossible to move around them after distracting them as they will basically just full agro towards you as soon as you try to move.

This is a really big missed opportunity imo because actually being able to use thrown objects to properly lure the infected out of the area could be a really cool stealth dynamic within the game.

What I would propose is this :

When you throw an object near a zed, have the zed chase towards where the object was thrown...BUT...keep them in agro state #1 instead of aggro state #2...This way means that they will chase the object, but will NOT become hyper sensitive. This would allow you to throw objects, distract them, and move around them or move up behind them for a stealth kill without being insta spotted by them.

This would be a really nice change imo and really promote the stealthy approach much more.

Thanks again for taking the time to read more of my random shenanigans, Much love <3