lodestar

That's not true. I'm on day 221 and I certainly played at least 1 hour in 150 or more of those. I certainly don't do exciting things like raiding the NWAF on a daily basis, but I also don't sit in a corner all the time. Private hives contributed a lot, since I can use them for more exciting and risky gameplay if I get bored, but I enjoy just being alive for as long as I can on the official. 1. The obvious, I don't play crowded servers, and if there are more than 10 players I am extra careful. Your chances of getting killed increase dramatically on servers with more than 10 players. Also, hackers intending to do anything silly to kill all players often target crowded servers. 2. Also obvious, I don't go to big cities, and when I need to go into towns, I do it during the night and avoid buildings with a single entrance, like churches and the dark wooden houses. I usually only go into cities and towns when I need a new tent or blood bags. 3. I avoid making noises as much as I can, even silenced weapons, since they can be heard pretty well. Vehicles are an obvious no-no. 4. I got all my military gear and ammo from deer stands. Sounds boring, but I have a route where I can go to about a dozen of them within 1 hour while avoiding open fields. 5. I avoid making enemies. That sounds silly, considering most bandits will kill you for no reason at all, but it's a lot easier to stay alive if you're not a jerk. I don't kill players unless I really have to, I don't steal cars or stuff from tents, I don't go for loot someone has just fought for, like heli crashes. Yes, Chernarus is big, there are many servers, and without labels people are unlikely to go hunting you for revenge, but I've seen more than once someone who just got killed resorting to hacks to do that. 6. I realized that almost every single time I died, it was because I joined a team that decided to do something stupid, like going after a rival team or raiding the NWAF, and I was like, "ok, I think it's too risky, but let's do it". Since I'm focused on survival, I only play solo now, and I'm very, very careful when I help someone. That means stripping myself of gear that might tempt them, asking them to put their gun away before they can see me (and I really mean away, in a backpack or on the floor, not just putting it down). Finally, I think a lot before doing anything, and I think that's part of the joy of playing DayZ. A lot of it happens in your head. Yesterday I heard silenced shots and went prone, while looking around for the shooter. I noticed a heli crash after crawling for a while and figured it was someone clearing the zombies. The guy then opened fire with an M14 on the zombies a few meters away, completely careless, and I gave it a lot of thought if I should kill him or not. I hailed him, while very well hidden, and when I realized he was a bandit, moved away and ignored the heli crash completely. I still think I should've killed him, but I just got the hero skin.

I've been away from DayZ for a while but decided to come back. I'd like to join your server too.

I don't know how many people have seen the 2010 Predators movie or know the Predator movie franchise, so this might seem a weird idea at first, but I think I have a point. For people who don't know it. In the fictional universe of the franchise, the Predators are an extraterretrial race characterized by its very advanced technology and their hunting of other species for sport. The first movie plot circles around one of them hunting a group of elite soldiers in a south-american jungle. The second movie is about another one hunting criminals and policemen in LA. On the 2010 Predators movie, the plot was twisted a little. Instead of coming to Earth for hunting, the predators captured soldiers, criminals and other skilled individuals from Earth and released them in another planet, like a game reserve. They didn't knew each other, and soon realized they were being hunted. Honestly, the movie is not very good, but when I finished watching it I had one thing in mind: what a great game this could be. I am a software developer and I had an idea of how the game could be, but it never got past the brainstorming stage, mainly for the lack of an engine that could be used for it and that I could work on my spare time. So far DayZ achieved a lot of what I was thinking about for that hypothetical game. First of all, there's the whole concept of survival and being hunted, but you are in a situation where you don't know if the other survivors you meet aren't more of an immediate threat. Then, besides the whole survivalist stuff, the tactical gameplay, resource gathering and other things DayZ already has, there are many other things that could be plausibly inserted based on the Predators plot. For instance, it would be plausible to have weapons and equipments from any epoch and place, since the predators have been doing that for centuries, and every once in a while they get killed and their high-tech equipment looted by the survivors. So, I recommend watching the movie, just to get the idea. One point that is particularly appealing is related to the whole debate of different game rules or mechanics for survivors and bandits, and the claims that the game became a DM or TDM without them (which I disagree, but that's irrelevant here). I thought about that issue for the hypothetical Predators game, and the solution is obvious in that context. The Predators get a lot more excited with the hunt when their prey fight, and bored when they do nothing and just work together to survive and avoid them. They keep trying to disrupt the team. If someone betrays the other survivors, kill them and loot the equipment, the Predators become very excited with that guy and start hunting him, specifically, since it seems like he's a real badass and will put up a good fight. Also, they despise those who are scavengers and only cowardly kill the other survivors, loot and hide for survival, and give them a gruesome death if the chance happens. So, rather than an enforced game rule, it's a plot device that actually makes sense. I was glad to hear that DayZ is becoming a standalone game. It's the start of something new, and I think some other great games may emerge if they also come from someone who feels safe with breaking many assumptions in the gaming industry. Maybe I'll even see this Predators game one day.

You obviously don't get the idea. I'd be glad to hear a little more constructive opinion.

But it still sucks and it's the kind of political argument a game like this shouldn't pose to players. I play as a survivor for months, I never killed other players except in self-defense, and I agree with your idea that vanity can play a role in this, but even thought I'd probably be eligible for it, I'd quit the game before getting a UN peacekeeper skin.

You get the UN Peacekeeper skin when your humanity increases? And you call this realistic? I guess you've been watching too much Captain Planet and the Planeteers...

Large caliber handguns were designed for the explicit purpose of incapacitating charging enemies through hydrostatic shock. It doesn't matter how much adrenaline is in your body if you take 3-4 shots in the chest that liquify your heart and lungs. Sorry, but you are absolutely wrong in everything you said. First, hydrostatic shock is supposed to happen when the kinetic energy from a high speed projectile is transferred to the body, and ammo designed to improve this effect are actually lighter and faster. Large caliber handguns are advocated by those who disagree with the hydrostatic shock theory of incapacitation, since larger bullets cause larger wounds, more chance of hitting the central nervous system and larger bleeding leading to faster loss of blood pressure. That's the main reason why the FBI replaced the .357 with the 10mm and then the .40 S&W, following events after the 1986 Miami shootout. Second, hydrostatic shock is mostly a myth, exploited by ammo manufacters (the name Hydra Shock rings a bell?), and has no serious basis on reality. There are some therapeutic techniques which use much higher pressure waves than those created by bullets, with no noticeable effect ocurring, and nothing even remotely resembling the so called hydrostatic shock. The closest thing to hydrostatic shock that actually happens on terminal ballistics is when a high speed bullet hits an organ with low elasticity and the temporary cavity formed by the bullet passage can stretch that organ beyond its limits. The only way to guarantee immediate incapacitation is to cause damage to the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). Other than that, incapacitation is subject to psychological factors and unsconsciousness due to loss of blood pressure. Third, even if it was the case and a bullet could "liquify" someone's heart and lungs, that doesn't guarantee immediate incapacitation. Even if heart and lungs are completely desintegrated by some magical weapon, if that person is high or very excited, he can react for a few seconds and there are a number of cases where that happened. There are countless cases where a person is hit with more than a dozen bullets on the chest, and still reacts and even puts up a fight. There was a case where a 18 year old guy high on marijuana fighting 3 FBI agents on a 20 feet range was hit 17 times by 5.56mm rounds from an M4 and .40S&W from a Glock 22 and not only returned fire for a few minutes, but also put up a fight when was finally subdued and handcuffed! So, you wanna shoot someone with a gun or a melee weapon and not risk getting shot back at? Either a headshot, or don't stop shooting him on the chest until you are sure he's not moving. In DayZ and in real life too.

I did that twice, and it wasn't a pleasant experience but was a nice part of the game. Something absolutely new and unexpected from a game to put you in that position and don't make things any easier at all. I learned a lot from it. Removing that from the game will just make the experience more like other games and less like a new thing.

So... I respawned a few days ago after an accidental suicide with a grenade (by the way, if you are the guy who was inside the church in Pustoshka, congratulations) and run my usual start up route. After getting a weapon I started looting stores and houses for the basic equipment: compass, watch, map, hatchet, matches, etc. So far I've been to over a dozen stores and countless houses, been to the military camp in Stary twice and found three crash sites, not to mention looting tens of deer stands. Right now I have great gear (camo and ghillie suit, M14, FN FAL with night vision, 9 DMR mags and 4 FAL mags) and all basic equipment but the damn compass! I've been looting cities specifically looking for it for two days and it doesn't spawn anywhere. It looks like they were replaced by watches on the loot tables because I found countless of them. Almost 90% of the time a loot pile in a house or store has a green bag, it's a watch. Is anyone else having the same problem? First I considered I was just being unlucky, but now it's too consistent. Looks like an error.

I doubt that.

It's alpha. Period. You are not playing the game, you are helping test and improve it. If you no longer wish to be a part of it, fine.

Install the beta patch and that bug shouldn't happen.

Well... yesterday I logged out near Stary, but I moved a little north to avoid being killed as a hopper. Then when I logged back in there was a chopper wreck right next to me. Got a nv scope FAL and M14 :)

What I usually do is drop some item on the ground to create a loot pile and use that to swap, first from backpack to ground, then from primary weapon to backpack and last from ground to primary weapon. I also swap the ammo manually before swapping the weapon.

1. You saved the vehicles when you arrived at your camp? If not, they probably respawned back where you stole them. 2. The tent is destroyed, but I believe the gear inside it stays on the ground for a while then despawns. Before the recent patch, levelled tents would respawn back intact, but I think that's fixed now.

Adding classes means adding stereotypes, and this will make the game experience poorer. I understand the appeal in having a background related to the class, for instance, someone who was a medic, but things aren't that black and white. I had a good friend who was a medic and a hobbyist mechanic. He used to work only a few days a week as an intern and would spend all his spare time refurbishing old cars in his garage. How that story fits into the class concept? It makes sense for the equipment and tools be rare and demanding enough that someone has to put some time into achieving that. For instance, instead of finding a ready toolbox, different tools could be available and you needed a particular set before being able to repair something.

1. You can't pick up the tent, but you (and anyone else) can loot it. 2. Yes, although I'm not 100% sure about the mechanics. Maybe the tent despawns and the loot stays on the ground for a while and eventually goes too. 3. Nope, vehicles stay. There's a new rule that if a vehicle is unused for a while (like a week) it will respawn, but I don't know if it's already implemented.

Classes are emerging naturally in DayZ. Having them hardcoded is a bad idea. A better idea is to have more specialized items such that people can play that 'class' as it pleases them.