Dagwood

Currently there is no penalty for dying. Yes, if you have hard earned gear, death definitely stings. But if you are a fresh-ish spawn charging into elektro or cherno, what have you got to lose? In my opinion, the biggest problem with the mod right now is player concentration in the south. If you're a fresh spawn, you can head into elektro or cherno, check fire stations and other spawns for a weapon of some kind, and then try to kill another player that has done more looting than you. The alternative is to spend more time looting smaller towns to achieve the same ultimate goal. The only benefit to taking the latter route is a greater chance of survival. But the truth is that going into a bandit infested city is more exciting, and can be much more rewarding if you can kill one of these geared snipers/campers. So how do you get people out of the south? You make each player's life more valuable. This could be done with some kind of leveling mechanic, but the community and the developers have made it clear that the game will/should not go in this direction. What I would suggest is punishing players that get themselves killed over and over. Here is an EXAMPLE of a punishment that could be administered: John runs into elektro as a fresh spawn. He dies. 10 minutes later John runs back into elektro to get revenge upon his killer. John dies again. As John spawns in again (after his second death within a certain distance or certain time period or both perhaps), he has a decrease movement speed for a small period of time. This could be explained by being drugged or some other in game explanation. Or perhaps players have a finite number of spawns per day. Anyone else think player concentration in the south is an issue? And that punishing death should be a part of the game? Discussion and criticism is always appreciated

I just want more people to come up north with me :( Everyone is content with dicking around in elektro. I don't understand where all of this top tier weaponry is coming from if nobody is ever looting stary or NWAF on a full server....

I've got 1 m24, range finders and a ghillie. Looking for sa58 acog or m16acog and camo clothing. Also 1x sandbag if that's what you're in to...

Tick the hide unofficial box on the too left of the screen when you have dayz commander open. Only public hive servers will appear. You can carry one character over on all of these servers

Maybe nerfing the firehouse loot tables would help too. If only submachine guns, shotguns and pistols spawned here players would have less incentive to hang around these buildings (and draw in pvp seekers.

It also keeps them from picking up a book and learning proper syntax and basic writing skills

Computer games are lobotomizing the youth of the world. The future looks bleak

Have: M24 with one DMR mag (with rangefinders) Want: SA58ACOG and mags Note: public hive character

The size of the map wouldn't be such an issue if 3/4 of the server population wasn't packed into elektro and cherno. My public hive character at the moment is fully geared. I have been in the north for a few weeks and have only encounteted a half dozen other survivors/bandits. I can loot stary and NWAF and not see a soul. This is the problem. When you're afraid of another person making the trip from point B to point A while you go A to B, that 1k run becomes a task you must accomplish successfully. When you are all alone it is a running simulator. Get off of the coast!!!

And people ask why rocket is on reddit more often than these forums

I would recommend only using SD rounds from a non silenced weapon on infected at point blank range. If they are more than 10 meters away you need to aim for the heart and they should hit right on target. Firing any distance more than that and using SD rounds is a waste of ammunition. I've never used them in this way for pvp purposes but I'm sure you could get away with it if you're a complete savage.

If camps are not raidable there will be an over abundance of weapons and the careless pvp will persist. And killing infected is a great source of food and water. Especially since the 1.7.7 update. Much more reliable than looting cans.

When was the las time anyone saw/implemented an effective roadblock?

He's right. Never trust anyone. But that doesn't mean you can't cooperate. You just need to always keep an eye on players that haven't EARNED your trust. Getting killed for trusting a stranger is your own fault.

I'm sure it was just for the photo. Or on a privately owned server. Cool picture, man! A buddy and I once set up a roadblock on a taviana server with 2 cars and a half dozen tank traps. We also used campfires for dramatic effect ;)

M16ACOG is where it's at. Although I have an M4A3CCOGL atm and I'm falling in love with it. Got a double kill on some bandits in a castle that were bad mouthing me over sidechat. The GL gives you so much added firepower, and the smokes are really useful for drawing away infected before you get too close

Here's the bottom line: Killing players rather than interacting with them is EASIER, and tends to give you a better chance at survival (in the mod today) period. Just like when the first modern warfare came out way back when it was easier to attain a higher KD ratio with the M16 than it was with any other weapon. Telling people not to KOS is like trying to tell people not to use the OP COD4 M16: it's just not going to happen. To continue the same analogy, what separates the players that will use whatever weapon gives them the best advantage, even if the weapon is perceived as being over powered or balance breaking, and the players that won't? I'd say its a desire for credibility and recognition from the rest of the player base, and a greater sense of accomplishment. It feels great killing a guy in your traditional shooter that is using an "unfair" tactic (camping) or "OP" weapon (think noob-tube) when you are not doing the same. Some players don't care about using whatever tools the game gives them to optimize their effectiveness; whether its seen as OP or "for noobs". So what do you do as one of the players that looks down upon this kind of play style? You be the bigger person and outplay them regardless. You sneak up on that KOSer and hold him up. Or you survive his initial attack or ambush and you put him down. You adapt and you survive. And you get a sense of reward out of it. What you don't do is piss and moan to the developers to remove the noob tube or the ability to camp because it isn' going to happen. While it is true that players that kill on sight are not experiencing dayz to its fullest, it is up to them to pursue a different playstyle. Just keep your chin up and let your own pride get you through this game. Look down on KOSers all that you want, but pity them, don't try to force them to play your way (even if you know your style is more fulfilling). Months of stop KOS threads should have proven that it is never going to stop. So move on to the next step.

Seeing which direction they headed off in is key. If they kill you you're not going to have any luck unless they are camping an area and you can return to find them there. The only times I have ever been able to actually "track" or "stalk" a player is when shot(s) are exchanged and they run off in a general direction. Then it's a guessing game and you head to where you think they are heading nearby on that heading. A week ago a buddy and I luckily went to the same castle as the bandits I'd fired at earlier. Even more fortunately they were using direct chat and were talking about us so there was little doubt as to who they were. It takes some intuition and even more luck. When the SA is released, players will have unique clothing for the most part and identification at range will be possible without exchanging words or names. Until then I would suggest not getting shot in the first place ;)

Tick the "hide unofficial" box on the left side of commander near the top. Then it will only show you public hive servers. And there aren't actually that many that are populated =\

It's a balance and authenticity issue. If the 9mm does realistic damage then so does every other gun. Which means a 5.56 will knock you out or at least stun you with one shot and very round larger than that would nearly kill you or at least incapacitate you. At which point every gun would feel like the fifties did and we'd all be getting killed in the opening shots of every fire fight. All shooters right now for the most part underpower firearms in comparison to their real world counterparts to compensate for how much easier it is to aim in a videogame vs in real life. We will likely never see this fixed in analog shooters.

People play non-vanilla, non-public servers because they are easier and more conducive to team play and clan warfare. It's easier and quicker to get everyone equipped with military weaponry and when there are 50+ choppers they can even hunt down their prey in style. I think a lot of people just love the feel of a military sim and dayz happened to be their first exposure to that kind of game(as it was mine). Vanilla dayz wants and needs to get away from where it came from. At the moment most mods are wasteland with training wheels (zombie motion sensors). I'm a firm believer that the portion of the community sticking to vanilla, public servers will be better prepared for the pace and mentality required to survive in the SA. If 90% of players want to play other mods, more power to them. Like Blake said, as long as there are enough players to fill one server of the version I prefer that's all I need.

Kind of a basic idea, but it would dramatically affect how the game is played. Imagine it's 10 years from now and the completed, post-beta stand alone game is preparing for launch. By this point the size of the release would be substantial (I'm guessing) and hopefully more information related to the release and how the game will play would be available. The idea is that when the game releases and everyone is on fresh characters, the loot spawns would reflect the type and amount of loot that would be available right after the outbreak occurs (first few days/weeks.) this means that military weapons and ammo are prevalent at military installations and helicopter crashes are more common and better equipped (better loot). It also means that supermarkets are still stocked with supplies and hospitals are teeming with meds. As the game is played and time passes, the devs would alter the loot tables and aforementioned types of loot would become more scarce. Barracks are no longer stocked with weapons and ammo, (or at least not as obviously) and supermarkets and hospitals in cities have been picked clean. At the same time, survivor made substitutes would become loot/craftable (think lee enfield with bayonet, homemade pain killers, etc). I think this would not only prevent gameplay from becoming stale, but it would also add a significant amount of authenticity to the game. As an added bonus it might even curb some of the "shoot everything with 2 legs that blinks at me" mentality. If ammo drop rates get to the point where you might never find a dmr mag in 2 weeks of playing (thing GPS/rangefinder status), stashing those 5 DMR mags in a base becomes more attractive than using that ammo to massacre fresh spawns in the south. Just a sleep deprived idea at 8 am on a Monday. Any feedback or ideas about probable imbalances this might create (or just a nice thumbs up) are always appreciated.

I've found that reluctant sounding threats are much more effective than yelling friendly; which essentially tells the other person that they can take the first shot

Who said anything about not interacting with anyone? You're not going to talk to someone at 100+ meters through direct chat so don't expose yourself at that distance. The key is making contact when YOU are the one with their finger on the kill switch. Then their options are comply or die. I wasn't around early enough to experience an environment where you could trust more people than not. So I had to learn that controlling the situation is the key to successful player interactions. I'm sure the stark contrast between your average player a year ago and now is disillusioning. But player interaction is still possible. It's just a new scene with a more aggressive crowd.

Never been killed as a freshspawn in all 9 months I've been playing.... And I exclusively play high pop servers. But almost always vanilla. This must be more common on other mods that generally have a larger focus on pvp (origins, BP, overwatch, etc). Let me ask you this: how many times have you been KOS'd when you were the one initiating contact via direct chat? My guess is that the majority of people that get shot out of the blue are in the open or in high value areas and are seen as a threat (NWAF, elektro, etc.).