Target Practice (DayZ)

This. I've played mainly on EU servers, and they don't seem to be quite as badly infested, although it's still an occasional problem. Like Biggles though, I struggle to find a Whitelisted server I actually want to join - I just want to play vanilla DayZ, I don't want to be swarmed by vehicles, dogs, crash sites etc - I just want a normal game!

With the screen-blurring, there needs to be some kind of middle ground - something that is significant and noticeable, but doesn't give the user a migraine and make the game borderline unplayable - perhaps if the screen blacks out at random for a few seconds once every minute or so? Something like that which is enough that you can't really ignore it, but on the same note doesn't utterly ruin the game. As for healing, yeah, but for me that's part of the fun of DayZ - at its very core, DayZ is about risk vs reward. In this instance, the risk is whether that person who's offering to heal you over side chat is a well-meaning survivor or an opportunistic bandit. The reward is a completely full health bar. The best bit of that particular problem? There's no easy way of finding out - you have to go on your gut instincts and tactical nous. If DayZ somehow lost that, it would be losing a HUGE part of what makes the game what it is. I don't get it - I have played mostly solo, and whilst the desaturation is a minor inconvenience, I wouldn't call it a 'big deal'. You have to concentrate a little more to pick out minor details - perhaps much like you would if you were actually low on blood.

I can see both sides of the story here - having recently started a game with a couple of friends and had the utter hell of all three of us spawning on utterly opposite ends of the map, I can sympathise with the frustration of people who want to be saved the hassle of having to do nothing but run for up to twenty minutes just to meet up with their friends. It's a multiplayer game, so it's natural that people are going to want to play together - particularly those that are introducing a newbie friend to the game. On the other hand, there's a balance issue here. Cherno and Elektro are already hellish enough for lone early-game survivors, without adding groups of 4-5 players who are likely going to shoot on sight anyone who isn't in their teamspeak. Chabowski also makes an excellent point regarding availability of loot - it's usually tough finding enough kit to tool up one person near the spawn points, let alone four. Maybe a possible solution might be a server-side variable that could be activated on Private Hives?

Some points I agree with, others I don't - whilst I do find some of the graphical effects irritating, particularly the blurring/waving of the screen when you reach critically low blood - generally in situations like that, the reason you're that low on blood is because you don't have the means to replentish it, and due to the size of the map, it's usually going to be a minimum of 30 minutes' travel before you can get to a hospital/medical tent/friendly player to recover - has anyone tried playing for 30 minutes with their screen like that? It's not much fun, and I don't mean the 'challenging but ultimately rewarding' not much fun, I mean the frustrating, give-you-a-headache kind. I understand why it's there, I just feel it's a step too far in the realism-vs-playability scale. I'm not sure why you're surprised that cars aren't at the possible spawn points on a persistent server with up to 50+ people on it - if you have a map with the possible spawn points, it's usually a safe bet that everyone else has one too, and cars are pretty sought-after - there's a reason that most people have to walk everywhere! I don't know quite where I stand on the 'player healing themselves' debate. On one hand, it forces players to interact with other players, and seeing as this is a multiplayer game, I don't see why that's something that people are having a hard time getting to grips with. If you don't want to play or interact with others, then don't play multiplayer games. The other side of the coin is that occasionally you can end up in a part of the map that's a long, long way from any other players (friendly or otherwise) and desperately low on blood. In situations like that, perhaps some way of restoring some health - even temporarily - would be a good idea. It would need to be finely balanced, though - it can't be something that can be relied on long-term, or suddenly lone wolves and bandits become too powerful.

I also see anything short of a £2000+ extreme gaming PC being brought to its knees by the 'hundreds of walkers' idea. There's only so much optimisation can do, and while certain games like Dead Rising have managed to work with hundreds of on-screen enemies, they're typically in enclosed/limited areas, not to mention the load that would be put on servers trying to tell 10 different people (rough guess of the maximum number of people likely to be in/around a city like Cherno/Elektro) exactly where several hundred zombies are... Hardware/technical issues aside, Zombies are already enough of a marginal threat as it is, being able to outrun them easily would make them even more redundant than they are already - even as runners, as long as you don't get caught unawares or stop, you've generally got to screw up pretty badly to get hit by them in a chase. Walkers, even in large crowds, would be almost zero threat unless you were somehow stupid enough to back yourself into a corner, in which case you're probably too stupid to live anyway. :P

So... You're expecting people to type out a tutorial for you, but you're not willing to share the file? Nice. Good luck with that. You might find people a little more willing to help if you're willing to play nicely with others.

Earlier, I made a post stating that I was looking for a regular group to play with but without all the hassle of being a 'clan' - and then a thought struck me - why not have an informal gathering of like-minded folks who just like to play with others once in a while - there's no command structure, no commitment, no hassle, no 'recruitment' or any of that rubbish - if you want to play with the group, just find one of them and ask if they want some company. Seems logical to me. So, here it is. I'm Jason, I'm EU-based and I like long walks in the forest and stealing poorly-hidden vehicles. I'll play with more or less anyone, but I do prefer someone who doesn't take things deadly serious. Want to play sometime? Swing me an add on Steam (Jason051984) or PM me on here if you're not on Steam. Anyone else feels like this is something they'd want to be a part of, get in touch or post something here. :)

Added! :) Replied! :)

Awesomesauce. First blood! :D

Oh yeah, nothing beats a regular server, but meeting someone 'in-game' is always different to playing with someone you know from outside that specific server - you're far less likely to be shot and left for dead, for one. :P

Okay, here's the deal, folks. I'm Jason, I'm UK-based and I've been playing videogames of some sort since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I recently bought a new gaming PC and have dived into DayZ, and am loving it, but wouldn't mind a little more interaction and banter - preferably a group or something. I'm a pretty laid-back guy who's not above the occasional practical joke and messing around, but knows that when you're all running for your lives from a mob of twenty zombies, that's not really the time to start goofing around. Bottom line, I know how to have fun whilst not ruining the fun for others. What I'm looking for: Ideally, a small group or clan who have players on most nights (due to my job, the nights/days I'm available to play vary pretty wildly). I'd be willing to consider a good server, but I'd have to ask that the server be as vanilla as possible - I like DayZ the way it is, I'm not really looking to download loads of extra mods/maps just to play. I'd also prefer it if most of the players were 18+ - I have no ideological problem with playing with younger players, but there's only so much you can talk to someone about with an age gap of 15 years+! I'm NOT looking for a large, multi-game clan, or anything remotely 'serious business' - I'm 28 years old, and I feel like I'm past the point in my life where I need to be treating games as life/death. I have a job, I have a girlfriend. Those are going to take priority. As a rough guide, if your group/clan has more than 5 rules, one of which isn't along the lines of "don't be a twat", then I'm probably not going to be interested. :) Anyway, hope I haven't come across as too negative - I'm a gamer through and through, and I'm just looking for a group of like-minded folk to share that enthusiasm with!

Thanks H0tSh0t, but I'm not really sure your clan is for me. Appreciate your interest, though - happy gaming! :)

If we came face to face and you raised your weapon (even in self-defence) I'd probably shoot just to be sure. Sadly the odds are that if you come across a guy with a gun like that, he's probably not looking to hunt zombies. Having said that, if I'm watching you through sights and you're not a direct threat to me just yet, I probably wouldn't shoot based just on your loadout.

Pride has killed a lot of people over the years. Can't recall it saving too many, though. If I get held up, you can be damn sure I'll be doing what the guy holding the gun tells me to do, Rather a live coward than a dead hero.

Yeah, thanks, but I took a look at your Day-Z factions page before I posted this (saw one of your posts in another thread) and it all looks a little too formal for me - appreciate your offer though! :) EDIT: I've not got a problem with large groups/networks of players - I just don't feel like that particular demographic is going to cater to what I'm looking for - I'm looking to play with a handful of people who are on regularly, rather than a large pool of people but never with the same folks twice.

I attempted this just once and got it spectacularly wrong. Was just North of Stary Sobor in the treeline planning my route into the military camp, when I heard footsteps run past me. I saw a guy in a ghillie suit creep past, so I aimed for his head and clicked on my mic - "Stop right there or I'll shoot". Unfortunately, in my haste, I'd forgotten to click off the Side Channel, so the guy (and no doubt just about everyone else on the server) spun round to see whether the idiot in side chat was talking to them. I saw him swinging round, so decided it was better not to take the chance, and put found M1014 slugs into his head and chest. After the initial confusion over what happened and why, he saw the funny side of it. Worst part of it all? The gunshots attracted zombies, and I had to run before I had chance to loot his ghillie suit - five minutes later the server restarted and his body disappeared, so I didn't even get anything out of it! Theoretically, though, as I play alone, I don't think I'd ever walk right up to someone when holding them up until I was sure that A) they were alone, and B) they were unarmed. I'd look to either stay hidden until they'd put down their weapon or if they look/act like someone who's going to try and run or attack, just shoot first and ask questions later - maybe a shot in the legs with the promise of morphine if they co-operate, else they'll be left to die slowly.

I'm in a different position to many here, as I've only just started playing since 1.7.5.1 landed, so it's pretty much all I've ever known. There's only been a couple of times in the 24-36 hours I've spent in-game where I've muttered 'bullshit' to myself: Zombies walking through walls/doors at will. I have no problem with Zombies being sneaky, hiding round corners, chasing me for miles, that's fine - part of the experience. However, being hit by a zombie that's phased through a wall is utterly frustrating and demoralising, especially in a survival game where a single hit can have dire consequences. If that zombie gets a lucky hit and breaks my leg, I'm pretty much dead unless I happen to be armed with a quiet gun in a very low-population area and also have some morphine. In a 'death is final' game, it's imperative that cheap deaths like that can't happen, or players will get frustrated and give up. For me, fixing this should be the biggest priority right now (assuming it's not already fixed in the standalone). Spawning levels in isolated villages. This one's a bit situational. I happened to be driving my SUV through an small village (can't even remember which one now, but it was one of the ones South of Stary Sobor), and I happened to just nudge a wrecked car. Boom. Two blown tires. Now, that's a bit annoying, but not entirely impossible, I guess. Either way, not a big issue. Unfortunately, I'd attracted the attention of a couple of zeds, so before hopping out and changing the wheels (the previous owner had the foresight to carry two spare wheels, for which I was very grateful!), I figured I'd run round the town and lose the zeds. Of course, my luck dictates that I somehow manage to run across another four or five zeds, and before you know it, I'm being chased out of the village (and it really was a small village - only about 10-12 buildings) into a field by a mob of about eight. Fortunately, I had an M16A2 with a couple of clips, and a M1911 with plenty of ammo, so I figured I'd run into the middle of the field where I had a nice clear line of sight and just pick them off before losing any stragglers in the nearby woods and going round into the village from the other side - if the gunshots attracted any more, I'd have plenty of ammo to deal with it. An hour later, I was still being chased by mobs of 8-9 zombies every time I tried to go anywhere near the town. I'd checked on the map, and there were no other buildings/towns or likely population centres nearby, so presumably all these zombies were living in a handful of buildings! I tried everything - when it became obvious that the 'field' tactic wasn't going to work, I tried the 'distraction' tactic - stood on the edge of the town near a nice fir-lined forest, fired off a few rounds to get the aggro, then lead them on a merry chase through the woods before sneaking back round into town - only to be met by another batch of zombies fresh and ready to chase me. I don't have a problem with gunshots attracting zombies, and I'm aware that the very nature of DayZ requires zombies to be spawned instantaneously to avoid groups of players just walking into cities and playing Call of Duty then picking the loot from an empty city, but there also needs to be some kind of sane upper limit to the number of zombies that can spawn in a given area and within a certain time period (not including high-activity areas like Cherno, Elektro, NWAF etc - high player count means zombies are going to be needed more or less constantly) - it took me upwards of two hours to finally grab enough time to retrieve both wheels from the trunk of the car and fit them, and even then I took some nasty hits as I drove away. That seems excessive to me.

Has anyone else noticed that infections seem to be pretty buggy? I was unfortunate enough to catch an infection not tremendously long after spawning (don't entirely know how - my Temp gauge hasn't been anything other than red for days, hadn't come across any survivors, drank any water or taken any damage from infected), and after not finding any of those rare-as-rocking-horse-poop antibiotics at Cherno or Elektro's hospitals, I figured it'd be something I'd just have to live with. However, slowly but surely, over the next hour or so, my blood dropped lower and lower. I definitely wasn't bleeding, hungry or thirsty, but eventually my blood dropped to the level where my vision started to give out. At that point, realising I was screwed, I aggroed a couple of zeds and found somewhere safe to die so I could come back for my gear. Point is, I thought the infection was only supposed to drag your blood down to about 50% and then stop? If not, and I've imagined that, then there might be a balance issue with Antibiotics being so rare, as that would make getting an infection all but a death sentence for most players. Either way, something wasn't quite right about that whole situation. On a vaguely related note, is it just me, or does body temp not seem to be dropping at all? Maybe I'm just not paying attention, but I've been caught out in the rain for extended periods of time and not seen that HUD indicator change at all.