Sensemann

I don't know if anybody here has ever participated in Alpha or Beta testing, but I believe not many have. Especially in Alpha testing, it's not really fun. What usually happens is small portions of a game are opened up for testers so that the focus lies on specific things, for example: see how much performance a system gets when a certain number of players is active. A next task could be as simple as: We loaded beans into car trunks and into cabinets, please, all testers, check out if there are any glitches when picking items up. Or let everybody run through a city and see if there are any problems with your FPS. By no means are Alphas at a stage where you can get a signficant picture on what's going to happen in the game. It's more like a giant puzzle from which single pieces are shown and tested. You need to first make the frame in order to complete the picture. The problem with releasing Alpha footage is that people usually will think this would be final (which is not, much can and will change until final release, in ANY game) and come up with conclusions like: "Oh jeez, they are ONLY at THIS stage so far?". It could be that the game's production stage is much much much further than the footage shown in the devblogs make you believe. It's just not yet put together to complete the picture. So I suggest everybody to calm down. Having said that, soon it's friday again and hopefully we will be poked with another devblog. I don't mind if it's a video or a text with screenies. What I am most interested in to see is the new inventory system (so far I think DayZ's current inventory system is better than Arma3's, probably because I am more used to it) and hopefully some more info on how diseases are influencing players, or even better: how the standalone will try to promote players cooperating with each other, rather than fighting against each other. I am looking forward to the new devblog, no need to mention, the game itself!

Yeah, or just use DayZCommander...

I am coming from the Red Orchestra series (tactical shooter, no CoD, mind you) and did play a lot of OFP, Arma and Arma 2. I love realism. In my eyes, the best games are those that make the players value their virtual lives. Like in Red ORchestra or Arma, I always try to survive first and THEN kill. What DayZ did more right than any other game before is the attachement from me as a person with me as the in-game avatar. After spawning in Kamenka, running to Cherno, making it in, I am like "Good, now loot." After getting all the basic stuff "Ok, get the hell out of here, you made it this far". Running up North there is much to do until you have your favorite gear, set a camp. If you were lucky, you got a car while in Cherno or Electro, if not, set up camp, save your gear in it and go back until you have it. If you die, well you have the backup plan. The longer you live, the more you value your life. HOWEVER, after dying over and over again, I can totally understand a huge amount of players (maybe even the majority considering stats of alive bandits and alive heros) saying "Fuck it, I am gonna get a Winchester, hide in Elektro or Cherno and shoot other players. I have nothing to lose anyway". This is in my eyes the problem with DayZ and that's why I am suggesting that teamwork should be more beneficial. NOT forced. Different diets required is a step into the right direction imho because it could make people trade food items with each other. Another idea that I would have to actually "penalize" shooting players (mind you, I have no problem with bandits, but with guys that go PvP only) could be that if you shoot another player, there is a high probability (maybe 50%), that you damage the stuff they have in their inventory. Like a guy with NV goggles get shot and there is a 50% chance that by killing him, the item gets damaged. Be honest, if you meet a stranger in Stary Sobor, do you try to team up with him? Approach him at all? Leave him alone? Or just shoot him while he didn't see you? I am certain that less than 30% of the players would try to approach somebody inland to ask to team up. Because currently, all players can do in the center and north of the map is looting high military gear or shooting people to acquire the exact same. The perfect form of DayZ to me would be to actually have tasks in the center and north of the map (like setting up a camp, strong point) for which I need help, or the opponent needs my help to accomplish the task.

Great devblog. What I am most interested in next is what will be done to change player behaviour to be more cooperative? In my eyes, it would be great if certain tasks can't be done alone. For example: repairing a completely destroyed engine. It would be great if it takes 2 guys to either lift it, or to completely run through the repairing animation. If the engine is not completely damaged (status orange) it should be manageable to repair alone with some scrap metal. I am sure there are many potential ideas on how to "force" people working together rather than shoot each other because that's the only thing you can do, once you have a great gun and don't have anything else to do alone other than shooting.

Does anybody have a link to the video other than youtube? I can't watch it, as youtube is blocked in China and all proxy servers I have are not working atm. Thanks

Could somebody please upload the dev video to another page than youtube? As odd as it sounds, but I am currently in a country that blocked youtube. And given the fact that I am barely alive since last week's devblog was not happening, I really would love to see the video. Thanks to anybody helping!