Wep0n

I see what many people want... I never thought about dayZ that way. For me, chernarus was always an alienated place. after a while you knew the buildings and the landscape, but you never knew the people. and for my part i liked to fill in the blanks with my own imagination. if i saw that guy in the car, i want him to be a mystery to me, and not someone i can have a connection with. If you already explain some of the characters/corpses in cherno, you automatically make the place feel more familiar. and i for my part do not want to feel familiar with the corpses. I love the fact that there are no recognizable photos, faces or names in cherno. this really helps to make the place feel alot more scary, and not filled with some horror clichés, as realistic as they may be. And the biggest reason why i do not want to see any story elements including people's fate in cherno: it feels artificial. seriously, as soon as you put single story bits into an open world game where ALL of the content comes from the people, you just make it look alot more artificial, and it destroys the illusion. sure, i'd love to find some notes around cherno, but not by story characters, but from real survivors. Because these notes are real. i feel an emotional connection to that person. that person was real with real experiences. Alright, i see your point and agree on that one. some news reports, secret files, a virologist's documents, why not. actually this might add authenticity to the game aslong as they do not introduce any story characters into the chernarus map itself. aslong as the chernarus map stays faceless and doesnt feel artificially set up, i'm okay with it. but alot of bad "stories" can break an illusion. As a virologist, Dean's brother will surely come up with something authentic. A scientific report adds alot more to chernarus than a unbelievable story of some corpse in cherno noone cares about after a while.

indeed. we should be able to see the effects of the apocalypse all over the place, and permanently wonder what might have happened... i do not want to see the exact process of what happened. because it is the players who make the story. i do not want to see a whole wikipage telling a generic stupid zombie story what happened exactly... i want to be thrown into that city, in constant wonder what could have happened by looking at destroyed buildings, vehicles, corpses... even if i find a note in a building which says something like: "we are surrounded by zombies and try to survive in this room aslong as possible" goes too far for my taste. it is artificial and spoils the fantasies. i dont want to see a building and say: "oh thats the building where that family was and tried to survive, because it was on a note" rather i want to see a rusty children's bed, a ruined kitchen, clothing on the floor, and only guess the gruesome fate the people had. That building is alot more mysterious if there is nothing specific to tell about, only filled with signs of destruction so that one can only guess what happened. One's own imagination is alot more frightening if the exact cause of evil is never revealed. less information means more mystery. there are so many movies/games which are doing it right: not showing the exact cause of things. giving input to one's own imagination which is alot more frightening than a stupid story. Leaving vital information out will cause the world you are in to become alot more immersive and exciting when you fill it with your own imagination. why is sauron in lord of the rings not just a dude with a mace running around killing guys? why is he just represented with such a "lame" ghostly tower thingy? because the evil which remains in the shadows is a shitload more scary than the evil we know about. i do not want to know any details on the zombies, except the fact that it is presented believable. you find so many good examples in games and movies, which create these brilliant worlds full of mysteries by NOT spoiling you like a baby. Please, if you make a back story make it good. it should bring up more questions than answers. if you have to make one, make it like STALKER for example. you see all that destruction and people in the zone, and a shitload of mysterious things, but you never know exactly what the heck was going on. you find alot of mysterious projects in underground labs where you can only guess what they tried to achieve, but the full truth never gets revealed. or play trough half life with the editor's notes. i promise that this is going to explain you how to create a scary ennemy like the combine. you only get hints what happened, but you never learn the exact motive or plan of the combine, no "center of evil" to focus on, because you do not see the clear structure of "evil". and still, the half life universe seems alot more wide and interesting than the WOW universe, eventhough WOW has like hundred times more backstory an lore than HL2 does. stuff remains in the shadows, and that is a good thing. Edit: here the as a reference. a dayZ backstory similar to that, maby even more reduced would be appropriate. keeping the the story parts and individuals away, just tell the events... catastrophy, evacuation... military made an operation... no one came back... exact causes remain unknown.... mysterious stuff is going on, noone can tell what is causing it, and it is never going to be fully revealed... (and even that might be too much... i still prefer no backstory at all, but if it must be, it has to be as vague as possible)

it shoud not be specific about what happened. we already see destroyed military places and piles of corpses, so i think we will be able to guess what might have happened, but never with certainty. i want to keep the mystery alive. i want to go to a place and be like: "maby this and this happend." but i will never know, and that is good.

i seriously recommend looking at this thread: http://dayzmod.com/f...-an-arma-2-mod/ most of the stuff suggested in this topic are already existent there, and much more. 90% of the good suggestions are there. it is a compilation of all epic things i personally wanna see in the future in standalone.

Arent they already affected by bullet drop? or is my understanding of "a bullet which hits lower the further it flies" just completly false? but i'm not so sure about the wind... and yes, i am pretty sure they will make sniper rifles harder to use... it's all in the forums if you check it out.....

@joe_mcentire "running out of matches 9%chanche" now thats most defenitely just a simplification because the mechanics are alot more complicated, and they didnt figure it out yet how to do it properly ^^ its the same as "a mag has a 3% chanche to be depleted after each shot" completly ridiculous. a chanche system can make sense though. the chanche for getting sick was implemented long ago, and i dont see a connection to a skill system.

this stuff is not going to be implemented right away, it is more a suggestion for the future, so that they know what to focus on after the SA is out. they sure have priorities, you should not worry too much.

your first piss after drinking normal water should regenerate a part of your thirst, but the following pisses will be too "thick" to actually fight dehydration. for some people this goes too far, but.... why not? we already got shitting and pissing, so thats not a big deal and it is realistic. i already can imagine a situation like this: "hey dude, i have nothing to drink, do you have some spare water?" me: "well i just drank my last cantine... but you know what you can drink? wait a second i will be right back...." Edit: added some more text

allright, i totally agree on everything EXCEPT that you do not need gameplaychanges to show your progress. you do not need a certain boost on something. you should indeed get a visible information on your progress/behavior/backstory. it is the details that count! did you get immensely hurt by a zombie once? you get a permanent scar, and a story to tell have you crawled on the mud during a rainy day? you are dirty now have you survived out there for several gaming days? you grow yourself a beard have you looted a player? you get bloody hands are you sick? you become pale all these visual things which make your character distinct from others help to form your original self. and the best of all: it is not only a small factor which makes you chop wood quicker, but it is something other people can see aswell and talk about it. i think we got a similar goal, but different ways to achieve it. but i really like the discussion, and the arguments by most of the people are well done.

that indeed is true. i hope that as soon as they make ragdolls you can hide bodies in bushes or something, or as you already mentioned, burying him properly. looting bodies will become difficult anyway, as they will be infested with sicknesses. so you will not have the usual "loot and hide body" tactics, you might not want to come close to him anyways, so that will solve the problem partially. for now, aslong as they do not have a proper burial or ragdoll system, they should disable "hide body" and rather focus on the disease system on dead bodies.

well skyrim is the total opposite of what i meant. Skyrim is a scripted game, with a level-up skill system, both elements i do not want to see anywhere near dayZ. I was talking about player generated content. sandbox mode! skyrim is the complete opposite. have you never been on a decent minecraft/gmod roleplay server? its about the players who create the depth of the game, and not some scripted NPC's, events, skill trees, or bullshit like that. it is just pure player interaction, and thats what i want DayZ to be*. an open sandbox world, giving the tools for the players to create unique experiences. Edit: *Also harsh, realistic and survival based

well making a character permanently crippled will cause most people to commit suicide, i do not think many people would appreciate such an approach. but i certainly appreciate factors which make the character unique and give him a history. it should not affect the gameplay in the longterm though. the broken leg should be fixed after a while (lets say some hours) just for the sake of gameplay. but having a permanent scar after such an event defenitely could add something to the game, as it is only cosmetic and a sign what the character has been trough.(most people do not want to exploit getting scars, because that means getting wounded and maby die) getting passive "skills" that affect gameplay on the other hand does not seem to be the right approach, for the sake of exploitability and the reasons i already mentioned above. Edit: corrected some grammar/additions

you are absolutely right about that one. but aquiring skills passively is not adding alot of long-term motivation either. i understand you and the appeal of such a system, but i do not think that this is going to add much to the game.... when you die, you will be like: "ugh, now i need to get all that stuff back" with skills, you will be like "ugh, this is going to take a loong time until i'm back to normal" so i really do not see a revolutionary way to deal with that issue. Long term motivation really is a key, and once exploring will become boring (unless they add new maps like atleast 1-2 a year) Rocket once mentioned group created underground bunkers eve/minecraft style with almost endless potential. now i do not know if that was a vision far away which might not even come true, but giving the tools for a community or group on a server to create their own experience/content will add alot of motivation. if you extend the possibilities a character can make in a sandboxy-manner such as minecraft/gmod/eve online, you get alot of content which will keep the game fresh for a long time. Edit: @GodOfGrain: while you certainly might be right at some points, having a extensive medical equipment will be bound to the character aswell. first: looting people will be alot more difficult, so dont expect someone to just steal the medic stuff and become one himself. second: finding all that equipment will take a shitload of time and space inside of the backpack. there is an extended amount of rare items to become a proper medic, and you will build up your character slowly and steadily, but this will be active, instead of passively aquiring skills. its just more authentic that way, than having that "magical hand" in the background which just lets you progress.

@joe_mcentire: well driving a helicopter is going to be alot more difficult and realistic. it requires alot of skill, and only a few people are able to navigate it. now this might be considered "unfair" aswell, but it will cause people to be skilled in a section where not many others are. same thing will be for the infection system: if you know the symptoms, you may find out the kind of sickness the person has (maby also by looking at the person's face) and the "medic" will be able to find the correct medecine for the disease. to be a medic you first need the knowledge, and a good assortment of medecine which will take up alot of space in your backpack. you should be able to specialize in one thing, so you can help others. and accept a trade-off between the professions, you can not be everything at once. most of the things can be looked at the wiki, and the car repair interface i mentioned can be simplified, but still require some knowledge, and materials. and if you lack knowledge by not reading the wiki, you might be able to find some kinda handbook which explains it to you. people should be able to contribute to something, and if you want to achieve something, you NEED help, you cannot reach everything alone. people need to help eachother to survive alot more, and the focus on PVP is just too high at the moment. a skill system is just a bit dull. it is just a cheap mechanic making someone a medic, whitout the guy knowing anything about medicinal stuff. DayZ is a sophisticated game, and requires people to learn something if they want to be good at it. if they are not interested in learning it, well then they will most certainly accept the fact that the will need others to do it for them. (like driving helicopters, which exists already and is ultra hard in the standalone) sure, as a lone wulf you can go hunting and pretty much live by yourself, aslong as you can do basic maintaining of guns, and take care not to get sick. but if you want to get vehicles, get cured from a serious illness, or drive a helicopter, you will need some knowledge and materials which you probably might not have, so a basic interaction with people might be required.

i want to see exactly such a functionality in the standalone... while the stats can be discussed, i think the general idea is brilliant (and was mentioned by rocket aswell). people should think about what they wear, and what their focus is. they can wear a brown T-shirt which makes them stealthier than a yellow jacket for example, but will catch a flu more easily.

such stuff adds great flavor, and as "disorder" already mentioned, extending it to card games and such... i want to see how survivors play poker in a bunker for loot/bullets!

really love most of the suggestions! great thread, the forum needs more of these.

As much as i hate the general idea of a skill system, the way it is presented seems to be pretty interesting. i must say it has defenitely some potential. for my part, i like the idea that the character progresses the longer he survives. while i still think your own skills should play the biggest role in the game (reading maps/stars, flying helicopters, repairing stuff) I defenitely agree that the "gear" of a guy should not define his worth. but i still think that instead of a skill system, the usual mechanics should be extended in a way that you need to learn it by yourself. for example instead having a repair car skill, there should be a more challenging and complicated way to repair the car. if you can repair a car in real life, you should be able to do it in the game. there should be some kinda interface of the engine for example, and a skilled player can tell you what is broken and how it can be fixed. Also if a character dies it is already very frustrating, especially when the gear will not be so easily retrievable in the standalone. loosing your skills is just double frustrating. I still must decide if i want to vote yes or no for this poll, because i think that it defenitely is a good way to implement a skill system. i still think that there are better ways to enhance the experience by making most mechanisms dependent on the skill and knowledge of the player, and not the character... for example clothing. you will customize your character heavily by choosing what clothing you wear, in terms of survival, stealth, mobility, encumbrance... this should affect your character alot more than "the time your character ran around in the world"

yep. this is my clear favorite. i can really see this being the standalone track. whitout the vocals it would fit perfectly for the "bandit" part of the game, but the lack of drama really doesnt fit for the generic survivor. while i dont think it should be the intro of the standalone, this should DEFENITELY be available to listen to in the game itself. imagine a bunker or bar or something... then you walk in and hear this... cant be more atmospheric/authentic than that. Edit: i found in a dayZ video, it doesnt fit as a standalone soundrack, but the lyrics and sound kinda define dayZ... this is the thing a survivor might sing on the campfire with a guitar, fully aware that he will die one day, and respawn some day...

I just dont get it... the whole appeal of killing people who waited so long to spawn, and just kill them. how can people have fun in ruining people's game? I mean they got all that high gear... and all they can think about is killing new spawned guys? seriously? in what way is this amusing? It is the same kind of amusement cheaters have when they decide to kill everyone on the server. is this some kinda sick masochism? killing a new spawner is one thing, but uploading it on youtube, POSTING IT ON THE FORUM and being "proud" of something like that is just low. what do you expect people to react like? "cool dude, you totally humiliated that guy, because you have such cool gear, i wish i'd be in your position so i could show these idiots whos boss" I think this are just some kiddies with inferiority complexes... go back playing COD or someting... please...

I do not know how it is in your place, but such stuff is not even too rare, and may very well exist on places like cherno. in a museum atleast. and this is a very reasonable way to come to a crappy weapon or decent meele weapon. but it should be very rare and it is defenitely not the primary choiche for a player to use it. everything is better than a musket, although it defenitely may serve as a good alternative meele weapon. reloading takes forever, so if you see your target, you better not miss, because there is no time to reload. if you miss only option left is to run straight at it and kill it with the bayonet. I think the weapons main purpose is more for the sake of variety than usefulness, although if weapons are generally as rare as they should be, and you havent got anything else, and you HAPPEN to be in a museum, well then you atleast got that thing. better than nothing. most people who find it will be amazed to find such a rare item and tell everyone about it, but defenitely not carry it around, because it is just useless and cumbersome for the most part. teamspeak: "hey wow, look what i found! a musket!" "woah dude, great... put it in your backpack, maby some friendly newbie would like to have it" "nah man, i cant carry that stuff, but let me put it somewhere safe so no bandit can get his filthy fingers on that thing" I really hope weapons become alot more rare so that even something like a musket might be considered to take with you.

how about that: if there is a server with language restriction, it should ask you some simple questions in that language. (rather random, like a captcha) and you should be able to answer this with one word, to be able to enter the server. once you solved that captcha, you are free to enter that server from this day forward, as you are prooven to know the language. you should have only some seconds time to answer that, to restrict people from using translation programs. and even then some people may sneak into the server which dont know english, but this is only a small percentage, and thats what admins are here for. and it is a way better solution than to automatically ban entire countries.

well you should not be automatically kicked for being from another country, instead kicked for talking another language in side channel if the server has another language in its description. I personally dont mind other languages in sidechat (adds authenticity!), but i understand why admins kick people who use different languages. If a russian knows english, i dont see any reason why he should be automatically kicked from english speaking servers. also, if a russian doesnt speak english, but doesnt use chat either, it should be no problem either.

I must disappoint you, third person will not be removed anywhere in the future so it seems. while yes, options are server sided, and that is very good against hacking, the server will be able to decide if third or first person will be available. now here some facts as a proof: In an Interview with Matthew Lightfoot he clearly pointed out that there will be a third person option http://dayzmod.com/f...40#entry1102050 Also rocket mentioned alot more options being available in the future http://dayzmod.com/f...20#entry1106882 and these facts do not interfere with the fact that there is alot going to change, clunkiness will go away, and alot of unneeded stuff will be removed. but servers will be very well customizable, and this is good. everyone is going to be happy, there is no reason to remove one or the other if both have their fanbase and their advantages. although i must agree heavily that third (and first person aswell for my part) need defenitely some change, or atleast some other servers which support other versions of third/first person.

very good post be4st... totally forgot that there are third person crosshairs... i always played on servers whith crosshairs disabled, feels alot better and realistic ^^ oh crap... can i fix this somehow? is this a common issue or just the problem of one person?