PorkNBeans (DayZ)

3rd person compensates for peripheral vision. I don't care how many tweaks you make to 1st person, it's still like looking at the world through a restricting visor. You can get to 90 degrees in 1st person before you get the fisheye effect. That's less than half of our actual field of view (which is about 190 degrees). For a game that relies so heavily on situational awareness, 3rd person is essential imho.

Heroes get two of the shittiest perks ever conceived of by game designers in the history of perks, plus a much harder playstyle, and you have a problem with that? FYI you can also get the 9mm protection from the camo outfit.

I know 1&2 have already been suggested and discussed. No reason I can't add my voice to others. As for zombies with guns, you say no but why not? As infected they already behave like they still have some semblance of former memeories by hanging around their old haunts. Soldiers would have the muscle memory of pulling a trigger. The roving NPCs I am suggesting would be living, un-infected quasi-military (just like the NPCs in ARMA II). Maybe they are government forces sent in to sterilize the area, killing everything they see. Much more dangerous and rare than zombies, but also potentially packing good loot. I'm not against nameplates, but the way they are currently implemented breaks immersion. I do think we need them, since without them I can't tell if another survivor is my buddy on teamspeak even if I am five feet away from him. On the other hand waving my crosshair wildly over some bushes to reveal the ghillie guy's nameplate is not a good thing.

Actually it's about double. See here. The other side of the coin is to make ammo more scarce. Also I think the infected should be ranked in terms of difficulty. Military>Hunters>Civilians and a select few military infected should still have guns and shoot at you, albeit with piss-poor aim and only one clip in the gun.

Someone else has mentioned adding handcars (aka pump trolley, pump car, jigger, Kalamazoo, or draisine). They would be easier to fix than a train and the ones in the north would gradually de-spawn to re-appear back south. When operated by one player they would travel at 35 kph, and by two players they could get to 60 kph. If players leave one on the tracks between Berezino and Electro, it could be destroyed to get it off the tracks. That said, bicycles serve pretty much the same function, and they can go off the tracks.

I like this idea. Stage three could also involve the player randomly talking to themselves as opposed to just screaming. With good voice talent they could say some truly disturbing and/or hilarious things. However killing other players should not have such a large impact. For some players it's their core playstyle and that would penalize them too much. Also (cB)the_tr00per has a really good point. I already find my own mental health affected by this game, and that has much more meaning.

Having played and enjoyed this game for about three weeks now, I'm hitting a wall. I knew my time in DayZ was nearing an end when I willingly jumped off Zub castle just to have some fun again as a fresh spawn. Zeds are no longer a threat. Most of the time I just ignore them or lose them. Bottom line is that PvE holds no more excitement. I've legitimately earned all the gear, fixed up a few vehicles, etc. From an rpg perspective there is not much left to do. Now that the rpg and survival mechanics have faded, at this point the game has devolved into a simple FPS. As someone who's played FPS games since, well, they were invented, I am a bit jaded here. If I'm going to play an FPS it has to bring something new to the table. Here are the available playstyles at this point: 1. Become a bandit - This is the easy route, since you just shoot anything that moves. This does not appeal to me as a player. I do like the fact that there are bandits, and I have no problems with those who want to play like that. Unfortunately the alternatives are not fully supported by the game mechanics. 2. Hunt bandits - The bandit/hero/survivor ID system does not function well. If you want to keep your humanity you can't shoot at people in camo or ghillie, since you can't be sure of their status unless you have the time to observe them killing multiple players (rare). Bandits know this of course, and this creates a very wierd dynamic. Firstly it means that if you want to be identified as a hero/survivor you can't wear the camo or ghillie suits, which is not a good play mechanic imho. It also means that the easiest way to ID bandits is to see them when they first spawn, and haven't had time to get new clothes. So wannabe bandit hunters are actually driven to do something distasteful and unsportsmanlike: shoot fresh spawns. Bandit hunting is also more difficult because bandits only represent about 15% of players, so your available targets are fewer. On a server with 25 players there may be only 4 bandits. Good luck finding them. 3. Become a medic - Some players enjoy this playstyle, and I respect them for it. I would bodyguard for a medic but I don't want to be one. Another problem is that medics get shot in the face too often. Medics really need some way to be identified as medics. 4. Escort/protect noobs - This might appeal to some people I suppose, but it's not my favored playstyle. Even if the above-mentioned player ID problems are resolved, it's still just an FPS, albeit one with long down-times and a huge death penalty. That is a point of distinction, but not enough to keep me playing. Suggestions to increase the play longevity: 1. More rpg elements - Make gear harder to get or more rare in order to lengthen the aquisition time. Add more survival elements like cooking, crafting, weapon customization, etc. The more players feel that they are really struggling to survive in a zombie apocalypse, the better. Add more placeables and allow players to build meaningful encampments or even take over or fortify some buildings. 2. More PvW (player vs. world) difficulty - Food and water are way to common. I am never in danger of dying from thirst or starvation. That game mechanic holds no meaning. Neither does the heat system. I don't even pick up heat packs since they serve no purpose. Survival should be a bitch. I should be forced to go into towns just to eat. Finding an animal in the wilderness should be very rare. I should be truly motivated to shoot other players for their beans or to band with them to increase our survival chances. Also, solo players shouldn't have to eat meat to heal. That's just stupid and it breaks immersion. Add some kind of med kit for the single player, available at hospitals. It shouldn't be as effective as a transfusion. 3. More PvE difficulty - Rank the infected. Soldiers>Hunters>Civilians in terms of toughness and damage. Maybe even add some military infected with guns, like the ones in STALKER. They can't shoot for shit but the bullets are deadly. Consider also adding small roving groups of quasi-military NPC survivors in the north that are hostile to all players. 4. Fix the player ID system. It's been suggested before that if you hover your crosshairs over another player for 2-3 seconds they will be identified. That might work. I may still fire up DayZ now and then for a quick zombie fix but for the most part I'm done. I'll be keeping an eye on the Standalone. And for all the idiots on these forums who will inevitably interpret this as a QQ thread, I hope a zombie eats your face.

Interesting to hear both sides. At first I wanted meaningful rewards for killing Zeds, but those who don't want rewards for killing Zeds have made some good points. Now I'm on the fence with this one.

1. M9 SD for silent Zed death. Hands down the best choice. Ammo a bit scarce. You should be taking headshots but you can take down 3 Zeds on a full clip with body shots only. 2. PDW for large mag size and accepts a lot of ammo. You can take down roughly 8 Zeds with a full clip and body shots only. Sights are a bit crap but with so many bullets who needs 'em? 3. G17 also has a large mag, good sights, and a flashlight. You can take down roughly 4 Zeds with a full clip and body shots. Ammo a bit scarce. 4. M1911 - You can take down 2 Zeds with a full clip and body shots. Decent sights. Common ammo. Almost a tie with the revolver but the extra bullet in the mag pushes it over the edge. 5. Revolver - You can take down 2 Zeds with a full clip and body shots (but don't miss a shot!). Good sights and slightly farther range than M1911. Common ammo. 6. M9 - You can take down 3 Zeds with a full clip and body shots. Ammo is not so common which pushes it below the M1911 and revolver. 7. Makarov - Crapola. You can take down just one Zed with body shots. Okay sights. Common ammo.

I see your point about the sandbox but DayZ is full of rewards for other activities. Whether it's killing other players for their gear, healing others for the hero skin and the advantages that come with it, finding and fixing up vehicles to get around better, hunting animals for better food, etc., they all have incentives. Killing infected on the other hand usually serves no practical purpose and is something to be avoided, which is exactly the opposite of what it should be, imho.

I want to kill Zeds. By the truckload. I'm tired of running from Zeds for no other reason than there's just no point in killing them. I want to murdalize them. I want to funnel them into elaborate sandbag creations on the edge of town while I and my fellow survivors mow them down with M249s, M240s, Mk 48 Mod 0s, and even grenades by the dozens, hundreds, or thousands. We'll be cackling with glee as they go down in a deadly hail of bullets and shrapnel. Sure, the noise of all this massive gunfire and explosions will attract other players. Sure, it will be a dangerous endeavor with the constant risk of being overrun by Zeds. But there will be a reward. A reward that you, the game designer, have created to be balanced and worth the risk. A reason for me to kill.

Yes this seems very likely. After a few weeks playing, Zeds and other natural causes are no longer a threat. Frankly I see this as one of the problems with this game in terms of long-term play styles. Without the world providing any survival challenge and all the high-end gear secured, players are steered towards pvp as the only other end-game activity. (Aside from trying to be a hero or a medic, which the game does not really give the player much incentive or even the proper tools to do.) At that point DayZ degenerates into every other FPS, albeit one with a larger-than-average death penalty and a whole lot of down time. I'm not sure what the solution is to this problem, and I'm still playing and enjoying the game, but that's how I'm beginning to see it.

Breaking down the numbers from today's (9/10/2012) front page paints an interesting picture. There are a lot of assumptions here so feel free to correct any mistakes. In the absence of better info, prepare for a whole lot of pure speculation. Survival attempts: 34,080,009 - Interpreted as the total number of fresh spawns. Alive Characters: 973,057 - The number of survivors, both bandit, hero, and otherwise, that still have a pulse. Murders: 8,283,363 - The number of deaths caused by one character (either bandit or otherwise) killing a non-bandit character. Bandits killed: 1,423,818 - Assuming these are player-on-player kills and not all other reasons for death Bandits alive: 149,607 - Number of living players with the bandit skin Zombies killed: 2,147,483,647 So what can be gleaned from this small amount of info? 1. Most deaths are not caused by other players: 34,080,009 - 973,057 = 33,106,952 total deaths (8,283,363 + 1,423,818)/33,106,952 = 29% of deaths were player-caused This means that most of the time (71% of the time), death is caused by other means: zeds, falling, hackers, suicide, crashes in vehicles, hackers, thirst, starvation, exposure, eating bad beans, hackers, etc. No idea how that breaks down since there is no info. 2. For the average life, 63 zombies are killed. Suicide and death by hacker probably skew this down from the real number. 2,147,483,647/34,080,009 = 63 3. Bandits (players wearing the bandit skin) make up a minority of players at 15%. 149,607/973,057 = 15% 4. Of all the murders committed, 15% of the victims are bandits. 1,423,818/(1,423,818 + 8,283,363) = 15% The last two stats imply that bandits are just about as likely to get killed by other players as non-bandits. Thoughts? Additional conclusions? Does my math suck?