Very Ape

Clothing and character customization is character progression. Not everything you can find or do to your character will be in the loading screen.

I don't understand why anyone could be upset. If done right, it could add a whole new dimension to the game. I could be a solo wanderer with a pooch, yes, but its the large bandit groups that own a few that will really strike fear into our hearts. Imagine hearing the aggressive barks of a pack of dogs set upon you by bandits. You run, but you can't hide.

I've visited a successful trading post. Granted, every morning they had to clear the squatters out. They had very specific instructions for approaching and moving about the trading post. Failure to comply resulted in being brained. Over ten people manned the defenses of this trading post, and most visitors gladly helped in defending the place. I exchanged NVGs for a DMR.

I dearly hope, with the damageable equipment, that more bandits will resort to holding people at gunpoint as opposed to killing them from afar. What they do after they rob their victims, I don't care.

Willow Lake was the holy sanctuary of the Justiciars, back when tents were all submarines.

I can appreciate the idea, and I agree with the sentiment, but I'm somewhat of a purist. Any form of leveling shouldn't exist. Proper equipment and actual knowledge of what you're doing (achievable by making "skills" such as medicine, driving, piloting, shooting difficult to learn.) However, I do agree with the organic growth portion of your suggestion. Over time, your character should gain some visual perks, but very subtle ones (pertaining to wear and tear in clothing, mostly.) The rest should be up to the player; the clothing he wears, the tattoos he risks hepatitis getting and the gun he totes. These subtle, authentic visual "perks" will make players more attached to their characters. And remember; items can be damaged in standalone. Not all gear can be saved, realistically, in the aftermath of a firefight (for example, a head-shot will damage night-vision goggles.) This will surely also apply to clothing and weapons, which are almost plugged with bullet-holes in a firefight (to no ill effect in the mod, but we'll see what happens in SA!)

'Twas a challenge that brought me here. I want more. People forget that the challenge of this game was what got a lot of people playing. There is a market for insane difficulty; take Demon Souls for example.

Soon, cholera beans.

At the very least, give us the option to shove zombies and players onto the ground or away from us.

People who say that this will lead to "stun-spamming" in the case of using blunt force trauma to the head clearly don't know how to think outside the box. Stunning someone by smashing him in the head with a baseball bat should only work once or twice on the same person. Yes, multiple blows to the head with a bat tend to kill people.

This will make shooting that much more difficult-- I'm all for it! Shooting needs to be a skill that's valued by other players (much like piloting, and first aid could be). Everyone should be a wailing, helpless infant until they can either learn how to do something useful or die.

In a game such as Gears of War, females do have a distinct advantage that will be exploited, given that it's a very hectic, close-quarters, arcade-like shooter. People don't tend to care about how they look, simply acting on whatever will help them achieve a higher score. DayZ isn't so-- the only advantage that females could have is the slightly smaller target they'd represent, and the male hormones of other survivors staying their guns. For the most part, male players will opt for male avatars, seeing as DayZ is a tad more role-play oriented, and will allow for customization. We'll all be too focused on mutinously grooming our characters, which we now care for that much more thanks to clothing customization, to bother with a slight advantage that would detract from our enjoyment of our beautiful avatars.

Shooting, hunting (as in, tracking your prey), piloting, scavenging and first-aid should all be very difficult. Then people will actually learn through trial and error, and people will specialize in what they're good at. That's real skill and experience.

The title is pretty self-explanatory, and there isn't much to this suggestion, although I think it could contribute to tense moments. Survivors should have the option to cook off their grenades, killing themselves if they so choose. I think this goes beyond just a novelty, or a way to troll other players, but would actually be something that could contribute to some very tense and exciting moments. Bandits would have to properly search their hostages, and captured or otherwise cornered survivors in possession of a hand grenade would have to make a difficult choice. And before anyone says that this will only lead to plenty of trolls making themselves explode around other survivors; 1) Hand grenades aren't that easy to acquire, especially on the coast. I don't see why someone would waste so much time getting a grenade, only to kill himself and lose all his gear. Granted, some people will troll, but it won't be frequent at all due to the simple fact that grenades are hard to find, and thus expensive in time. 2) If someone gets that close to you unnoticed with the intention of killing you, you deserve to die. That player could have as easily killed you from afar, guns being more easily-acquired than grenades.

1) remove humanity system.

Pulling out a map could switch you to first-person mode, much like it does when you aim down the sights.

With stealth being such a big part of the game, players should be able to do this.

What I hear, the zombies should hear.

Dormant zombies would be a very, very good way of having zombies spawn. This is, and I'm not joking, the best suggestion regarding zombie spawning my eyes have ever had the honor to glimpse. I love you, and I'd appreciate if you had my children in order to pass on your artistic and intellectual genes. To clarify; I'm joking, and it's the second image that really got me going. Beautiful work.

As much as I love this idea, the thought nags me; who would plow the roads?! Unless... Unless there were no roads to be plowed. Let the snow cover it all, and let the survivors deal with it. I myself really hope that characters are locked to one server. Keeping that in mind, 1-week seasons sound reasonable. A week is a long time. Love the idea, and fret not, I would love it as much if the seasons lasted years. (inb4gameofthrones)

I like how you think! What you're detailing could be suggested to the survivor via military maps plastered on the walls inside of makeshift briefing rooms. Imagine a huge map of Chernarus dotted with Russian flags, denoting Russian military positions, and overrun cities marked with the foreboding "Z". This would suggest that they were actively monitoring (or fighting) the Russians and the infected simultaneously. (edit: I realize the "Z" would be somewhat childish. But perhaps the symbol for biological hazard.) While adding less subtle plot elements such as documentation the player can read may be planned for standalone (I think, or something roughly equivalent), more subtle elements like those outlined above should be implemented first to add to the atmosphere and keep survivors guessing. Foreshadowing, if you will. Personally, I would prefer the mystery to any form of "campaign" which would lead you to discover what happened. I'd love to come across more scenes of carnage; towns ruined, with craters left by explosions and bullet-holes riddling the ruined walls, in what appear to have been firefights interrupted by zombies. The suggestion does have a practical use, beyond that of providing a darker atmosphere to the game, but it actually gives a good reason as to why the Americans were present, and adds some authenticity in finding NATO weaponry (and a place to actually go looking for some.)

Having US military outposts would be nice, and would be good for plot reasons, as well as providing the much-liked NATO weapons. When I say plot reasons, I'm referring to the fact that helping a small ex-Soviet country would be the least of America's concerns if they'd been dealing with the same pandemic-- which brings me to my point; this would hint to the fact that Chernarus was the source of the outbreak, and that the United States' military intervention failed utterly. Imagine a few scattered, hastily assembled US military bases and roadway checkpoints, all painting a very horrible picture. Toppled sandbags, machine gun nests littered with zombie and soldier corpses alike, and blood strewn across the walls (perhaps with cryptic, painted messages.)

Best one yet.

I never thought I'd see the emergence of zombie purists.

Imagine tying a bandit's arms around his back, and keeping him around just to turn him into zombie-bait when you need it most.