Lyesalot

Nothing. They have found a chopper and you have not. Shoot from cover and you might get lucky or otherwise hide. (and stop winging)

Yes remove the items. It's the easy mode for PVP. I use it all the time and feel like i'm cheating.

The crafting I'm not sure about. I don't want to judge too early so i will wait till i've given it a good go. The survivor camps sounds great. More events like the helicopter crash site the better! Bats sound perfect. I'm going to change my player name to the Bear Jew and go on a rampage.

Pobeda Dam. Sure there's only a barn there but it has to be the nicest looking place. (at least when i've been there, usually when the sun is going down)

I agree that zombies need to be harder but with their moving path and weird running I don't think it's a good idea. I at least want to have a good chance of shooting the zombie when I do happen to agro it. At the moment I usually wait until it stops in front of me so i can get a proper shot.