latster@gmail.com

Should we remove barbed wire in the next update? No

Hasn't the delay in the current patch been mainly due to dogs being included in it and they require a lot of testing?

I haven't played for a couple of weeks because I can't stand the hacking right now. Come fight me fairly (I include sniping me from a mile away without me ever seeing you in that, it's part of the game), don't teleport behind me and shove a grenade down my pants. Between that and the absolutely awful graphical glitches, which seem to get progressively worse as the days go by (seen people getting pure white blocks now, not even coloured textures, which threaten to give people seizures!). Seeing as absolutely no progress has been made in trying to combat them (Rocket has said it's a priority, but this shits been going on for weeks and weeks), it looks like we won't see any fix until the standalone version, so I am just going to leave it until that comes out. God forbid there is any hacking issues with the standalone...

Getting basic gear is more down to luck than the difficulty setting of the game. Sure, Zombies are a hassle and will catch you out if you're not extremely careful and patient, but you're more at the mercy of the server/DayZ code than anything. I know where to find things, i'm not a noob, but on several occasions the game has screwed me over by spawning nothing but tin cans or being beaten to the punch by someone else who has just left cans. It's pure chance either way. Fix the loot spawns and getting a starter weapon and food won't be so hard. Zombies need a lot of tweaking to get right, once they've stopped being able to walk through walls, then the 'difficulty' of the game can be addressed. I personally don't think it needs to get any harder than it currently is. If you think the game is too easy, try setting up a camp in the middle of Cherno or NW Airfield to challenge yourself!

The relentlessness, the perma-death, the fact a sniper bullet could burst your head open from any angle at any time, the free open world, the paranoia and some of the most random shit you encounter out of nowhere.

I find it funny when people bust out the "This is a free mod, you didn't pay for it" line, because from looking at the skyrocketing sales for ArmA2, it seems that most people only bought it to play DayZ. If only the people who already had ArmA2 played this mod, I imagine it would definitely not have been as popular. Telling people they didn't pay for DayZ is almost like saying "Even though buying Arma2 has supported DayZ a great deal, you shouldn't have bothered". That's before we even get on to the people who just simply don't understand (for whatever reason) that this mod is free and not the responsibility of Bohemia, or the concept of an Alpha build. Rocket does work for BI, he might not earn direct money from DayZ (yet), but he is getting a wage from them. Everyone else is a volunteer/friend helping out for free, which i'm cool with, it's nice of them, but that fact should not be used against people as an excuse for certain behaviour/comments. Similarly, no normal member has any excuse for being a douche. The DayZ community is pretty disappointing. I've been around a few message boards and this is definitely one of the worst for overall atmosphere. No one can say anything at all about anything to anyone, as it'll only ever be met with open hostility. Sure, no one is holding a gun to this guys head and forcing him to play, but no one is holding a gun to your head telling you to read this thread and post a useless reply. It certainly doesn't help the "Oh this thread again" cause if you keep responding to each of them. Alphas are testing grounds, but I do agree that each subsequent version should improve, not make things worse, that's how development should work (should, but doesn't always, I understand). Adding new variables, like recently bear traps, can re-break the mod, but there should be some degree of testing whether or not the community is complaining. If Rocket wants the standalone to follow the 'Minecraft Model' and have it be a success, he can't keep taking 2 steps forward, 10 steps back on each patch, regardless of the size of 'team'. We're doing virtually all the alpha testing as players, which I am sure provides tonnes of data and feedback for them to work with, but the development really needs to step up to ensure a quality first standalone release. When a patch breaks the mod, I take a break, I haven't played it in almost a fortnight because of recent problems/hackers. That's cool with me, I have other games I can play in the mean time so I don't sit around and feel like i've paid for something I can't play. If you are desperate to play, then you'll have to grin and bear it unfortunately. If you can stand to take a break like me, then find something else to do. If you can't stand it anymore, you know what to do, but I won't berate you for any of your choices, nor will I deny you a moan thread. What use is there in arguing (not debating) and fighting? Save it for the NW Airfield! tl;dr: Stay chill. *Awaits negative/disagreement/don't tell me what to do responses with a nice, cold beer* B)

A++++++++ Would lol again

I assume when you say STOP HACKING you're talking about your axe that you can't put away?

There will most likely come a time when DayZ has to shut down, for X amount of time. Whether it's for a major update, or in prep for going standalone, but that time is not now. DayZ is too big now and despite most people understanding it's a free mod for ArmA2, I daren't even imagine the shitstorm that would follow from people complaining they can't play DayZ and wasted 30 bucks on Combined Ops just to play it.Whether their 'customer complaints' are legit or not, they will go nuts, guaranteed. We just have to grin and bear it for now until the team can put an end to it (which isn't likely to be 100% until standalone and even then...).

Pro-tip: Posting a 'Goodbye' thread here, for whatever reason you have for leaving, will result in "DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOUR ASS ON THE WAY OUT!" messages from the atypical citizens of this forum. You've probably noticed these already. So in future, remember to just not post anything, ever, anywhere, it's the best way to avoid being flamed/trolled. I totally get why you're giving the game a break, I'm doing the same until things become more stable and less hack-central.

Rocket - can you please explain why the ArmA2 singleplayer mode will be disabled when DayZ is loaded?

Ugh, so i have to fiddle about with settings and what not if I fancy playing normal ArmA2? What is the point of this exactly?

In the two months i've been playing DayZ, I have not been able to place one single tent! I'd like to be able to do that before I start thinking about being able to sleep in them/take shelter from rain.

Rocket told me at Rezzed that he'll be removing brand name products and replacing them with generic 'soda' and 'beans' etc in the future, so he doesn't get sued. Whether this includes Mountain Dew or not is yet to be seen.

I'd assume after getting back home, Rocket would want to recover (I think Matt said they'd had almost no sleep in the run up to and during Rezzed), I assume Rocket wants to iron out anything that cropped up over the weekend and do one more test before it goes live. I'm gonna guess it'll be up later tonight.