bfisher

You need the PvP otherwise it wouldn't be rewarding when you encounter a player who isn't a total douche.

Obviously the PvP aspect of the game gets a lot of complaints. Yeah, it's frustrating, but I don't think it's that much of a departure from the zombie apocalypse mythos seen in The Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, and the George A Romero "Dead" films or other post apocalypse films like Mad Max, Book of Eli, The Road, The Postman and so on. The end of the world tends to be filled with jerks. But what SHOULD the world of DayZ feel like? Do people want to be Dr Robert Neville, eeking out a solitary existence as the last man on earth, constantly shoring up his defenses against a siege of zombies? Should it feel like Mad Max, ect where the player is a lone drifter, avoiding bandit gangs and occasionally helping the less fortunate? Should it be MORE Walking Dead where players would be forced somehow into tight-knit bands? Or maybe like 28 Days Later, the War Z or the Dawn of the Dead remake where it's just a chaotic mad scramble of trying to get away from hoards of zombies? So what do you think? What should the experience surviving in Cherno feel like? Personally, I think the game feels like all of the above at different times. Sometimes you are just living by yourself for days in a cabin overlooking Pobeda Reservoir, living off beans and old goat steaks. Other times you might be trying to get the heck out of Elecro with some medical supplies while helicopters and snipers and firefights create a madhouse of zombies and bullets. Sometimes it's just a tense encounter with another armed player in the middle of the woods somewhere. Why sometimes when I'm hiking on Black Mountain or overlooking the beauty of Guba Bay at sunrise, I almost forget there's a zombie apocalypse at all! Honestly, if you are one of these bambis who gets pissed off because you are running down the road from Kamarova and you just got run over by a Ural, shot by a sniper or otherwise manhandled, here is my advice. Be Mad Max, Snake Pliskin, Eli, Shane or even Rick on a good day. Don't be the hapless unnamed character in the post apocalyptic film who gets chased down by the motorcycle gang and then raped, tortured and killed (not necessarily in that order).

They say being eaten by zombies feels a lot like falling asleep...in a cage full of starving enraged chimpanzees.

If I'm ever badly injured, don't take me to a hospital. Take me to the nearest Smith & Wollensky so I can eat an entire cow.

I'll tell you one thing I like about the new patch. I've seen cars driving through major towns and the noise creates a trail of 50 angry zombies in their wake. I want to go back to the good ole dayz where firing an Enfield in Cherno unleashed a hoard from out of the woodwork. I mean they do need to clean up the AI a bit though. Sort of takes the fun out of it if the zombies are telepathic and can warp through walls. Which reminds me. One thing I've been saying I'd like to see in the SA is the ability to fortify or at least seal up buildings more effectively. Sort of Night of the Living Dead style. You know, to turn a building or house or maybe even a couple city blocks into a save haven for a bit, until you run out of food, drink and ammo.

Do people even build camps anymore? I thought everyone just PvP in the twin cities of death?

You still use MAPS? LOL :D

Chernerus is a former Soviet republic so it's post 1980s. The AS50 was designed in 2007. Everything looks old as fuck because it's a former Soviet republic. They tend to be a bit behind the times.

I love the pvp aspect as well. Not necessarily killing everyone I see on sight. But how you never know how an encounter is going to go down. I don't play "as" anything. But I do tend to get the bandit skin more often than not since I find myself forced to kill other players from time to time.

Actually I think the non-ATV vehicles have gotten better. I can run over fences and hit small obstacles without getting stuck or exploding.

It's hit or miss. The thing is, there isn't really much reason to trade. It's not that hard to find supplies. I mean has anyone actually ever died by starving or dehydrating?

Running through electro at night with naught but my trusty ax. I see a sniper on the roof of the firehouse thanks to a roadflare someone must have tossed before he died. I get hit but manage to find cover. With almost no blood left I approach the firehouse from a blind spot and accend the stairs for some payback. I get to the roof level and start tossing flares to agrivate the sniper while drawing in a sea of zombies. Staying just out of his los I furiously swing my hatchet through the window until he finally makes a fatal mistake and approaches too close. I hear the sweet sound of bone snapping and down he goes. After a few minutes of crawling around vainly trying to get a shot at me, with nowhere to go and no way to heal his legs he roll off the edge of the roof to his death.

Nothin stoping you from trading now. Honestly dayz isn't real life. You don't die for real and you log off when u want. Irl people would be forced to band together for protection. A lone jerk with a sniper rifle wouldn't last long. But since you can't build and defend safe zones in dayz, its just non stop banditry

I can handle the bandits, snipers, KOS douches and assorted other jerks. Seriously...have you even WATCHED a post-apocalypse film or The Walking Dead? The buginess of the zombie AI is tolerable. It is a alpha version of a mod after all. I don't have a problem with the custom private hives. Sometimes I want to practice my PvP self defense so I'll go on one where you spawn fully armed. And while some people want to play DayZ as Dr Robert Neville, the last man on Earth, I prefer to play as Mad Max. That's why I like servers with about 300 vehicles. Common enough to turn the coastal road into a white line nightmare without being over the top. The single biggest problem is HACKERS. Not just the jerks who nuke the server or instakill people for no reason. But the ones who you don't see who give themselves all the gear and ruin the balance of the game. Dead body with ALICE pack, GPS, NVG, range finder, silenced weapons with 10 STANAG clips, and ALL the gear? That guy either hacked it in or took it from a tent or another dead body of someone else who hacked it in. Some of that stuff is so rare I've maybe encountered at a natural loot spawn ONCE in months of actual play. IMHO, even if you have been playing for weeks, you should have to ration your food and count your shells to the shotgun you were lucky to find. Within 20 minutes, everyone is geared up like they are playing the Recon or Assault class from Battlefield 3.

Ok, first of all I hate that the game is on a real-time 24 hour day night cycle. Why not make it an hour or two like other games? I want to be like "oh shit it's getting dark. I better find someplace secure for the night." Not "oh shit it's getting dark. I guess I'm done playing for today since I don't have NVGs." That said, for those of you who aren't scared of the dark, don't have NV Goggles and refuse to turn up the gamma on your monitor as a cheat, let's discuss tactics, strategies and experiences.

Look, zombie AI is the easiest thing in the world. They don't have "tactics". They don't use "strategy". They just wander around aimlessly until something grabs their attention. Then they should go apeshit and try to kill it. The only variables are how many zombies and how frequently they respawn. I like that there are more of them, they spawn while you are in a vehicle and can get you in the car. A swarm of zombies descending on some idiot firing at me in Cherno has save my ass a couple of times. But the warping, glitching and smashing through walls are bugs, plain and simple. Zombies randomly going agro and making a bee-line for me from 300 m away when I'm crawling and under cover is a bug too. I don't mind more aggressive zombies and more of them. I just don't want them literally appearing out of the woodwork.

I have to agree. I've had a lot of really cool scary shit go down at night. But it's not for the faint of heart or the unprepared. Don't be that guy on side chat all like "uh...how do I use my flashlight?"

I actually didn't know that about the chemlights. Usually I just toss a flare to light up an area (and maybe a few others as diversions). I believe the hissing of the roadflares attracts zombies too.

Oh sure! It's easy once you already have chem lights, flares, maps and a compass! :D

Well..new to me at least: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-05-dayz-standalone-the-first-and-extended-gameplay-video-footage. Some pretty cool stuff about clothes, loot spawning and new building interiors.

So lets talk about tactics. How do you play? The most obvious challenge is that it is pitch black at night. Running around an industrial park with no lights would be dangerous even if there were no zombies! The other most obvious challenge is that light from road flares, vehicle headlights, flashlights and chem lights can be seen for miles by people who probably will kill you. The third most frustrating challenge is that other than a few guns with built in tactical lights, you either get flashlight or weapon...not both. I find I can't do any serious looting at night unless I have a car. I'll drive up to a supermarket or apartment and illuminate the building. Run out. Grab what I can. Run back to the car and get the heck out. Obviously this has it's fair share of risks. I did luck out on one server where some idiot crashed a helicopter into the Cherno town square. The fire lit up the whole town.

I agree that players in the north are much more geared up. But other than NWAF, it's so big up there, I barely run into other players. The Twin Cities of Death, OTOH, everyone makes a bee-line there to gear up or kill those trying to gear up. It always feels like a running gauntlet of gunfire.

I think the empty cans thing is cool. Just one more way to track my prey! The crazy zombie agro is a good thing IMHO. Some jerk took a shot at me from outside the Cherno Supermarket and he was instantly set upon by a half dozen zombies.

My favorite servers have been the ZUST hive where they have bikes at the remote spawn points, 300 working vehicles (with weapons) scattered about and a couple helos at each of the air bases. It's just enough vehicles that you can typically find one when you need it but don't want to be too careless with them. It really makes the roads a dangerous place to be. I've had more than my fair share of Mad Max bandit encounters.

This link has some good tips http://www.dayzpvp.com/ultimate-dayz-graphics-settings-and-tweaks-guide/ Sadly, I was only able to increase my frame rate permenantly by upgrading my 7 year old PC :(