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Approaching a player to say "What's up, how are you doing?" represents a much greater risk than waiting in cover or an advantageous position to shoot the same player. You do have a greater chance to make allies and grow your numbers, but this is the only tangible in game benefit besides the skin and run speed. I wish people weren't so focused on gear, but the reality is that they are. Heroes have to work for gear, bandits just take it. And since the bandits have an easier time taking gear through murder, they are more willing to risk it in firefights. A lot of players are young and their brains are not fully formed and do not have a full comprehension of right and wrong or empathy. Without more tangible benefits for heroes, I cannot blame so many people for becoming bandits. The game as currently structured encourages banditry. I don't think this was intended, but I think it is just the way it is.

It's like when people have signs saying free car wash and then ask for donations. It's like when people get tax breaks for donating things. Making donations is supposed to be out of the kindness of an individuals heart. The idea of donations is just as broken outside of the world of DayZ. If you donate to the police brotherhood associations or whatever you get a sticker on the back of your car and people expect preferential treatment from the police. If you get ANYTHING in return for a donation, even a tote bag, it should called a purchase.

That's why I respect you, you are completely honest. I can understand the desire for the adrenaline rush and the thrill of the kill, especially if you have to stalk the player for great distance. I have respect for bandits who are true to their choice to murder and don't make BS excuses for why they do it. I agree that the current humanity system is somewhat broken. However, given a choice most people take the easy way out. Maybe the humanity system doesn't work as it is. But killing players is it's own reward, bandits do not need any in game rewards beyond the piles of gear available to them from their exploits. For the players who do want to take the hero route, there needs to be some incentive. I think having the cool looking hero skin and slightly faster running speed is a start, but if there are not any tangible rewards most players will never have the patience to live as heroes. I have found having positive interactions with strangers is quite rewarding, crazy things happen. This is enough of a reward for me. If I get shot in the face 9/10 times it is ok because that one time where it goes well is quite fun. But the bottom line is that most players do not have this level of patience, so without some sort of built in reward the majority of players will choose banditry.

I have respect for you KoS, but if playing as the hero is easier, then why do you make your friend do it for you? I play hero in public hives, bandit in private. I can tell you with 100% certainty that trying to have conversations with strangers takes a lot more effort than shooting them. I have found that I can only rely on my IRL friends when playing hero, because the people I meet online always run out of patience and want to murder out of boredom or as revenge for getting killed so much. The bandit's life is the easy life.

What is it about a zed apocalypse that drives this need for sniper rifles? The CZ550 is all the sniper I will ever need, even the Lee Enfield is a hell of a sniper weapon in the right hands. Currently the DMR, M24, and M14 are extremely deadly, what is the problem exactly?

I think one of the funniest things about this whole debacle is how everyone mods DayZ to be more like a mil sim. Damnit I know you all own ArmA2 and the combat in ArmA2 is so much more hardcore and difficult. Took a group of DayZ players into an ArmA2 game once, they refused to believe it was harder, and they all fell flat on their faces. STOP MAKING DAYZ INTO ARMA2! Go buy ArmA3 and get your jollies.

"Face98_Camo3" works great. Are there any other face camos built into the game? As these are not custom and should work on all servers.

I always attributed this to random number generators running off the clock so if they get the same time seed value they will produce the same "random" results. EDIT: grammar.

I think the problem here is the dynamic loot/zombie spawn. Not only have my frame rates been very low since the last patch, but because of the new system the double whammy is that I never get any loot to spawn. If other players come around I get loot and a few zeds. Something in the last patch has killed frame rates, and since my frame rates are low things will not spawn for me. You guys jumped all over this guy but there is a real issue. Applejaxc and Statik you should be ashamed of yourselves for derailing this topic into your own personal pissing contest. There is an issue here but they way the two of you approached it will leave the OP feeling flogged. Is this who we are now?

I can understand why some people will not like this. The random element adds to the intensity of the mod in general. Despite this loss of the feeling of washing up on the shore randomly, I heavily support this. When I started playing DayZ with my friends, who are less patient people than I wish they were, we would spend hours trying to meet up. Sometimes within a two hour game session we couldn't get together. Now that I am much more familiar with the game in general, it is easier for me to figure out where they are and meet up. However, when you just want to meet up and play with your friends, who may have jobs and lives and reasons to go to bed, the current spawn system is a hindrance. With this new spawn system playing with your friends will not be the chore it was before. I can understand why people feel that the current system is fine and that the work of finding your friends makes it much more valuable when you finally do. This is a stance that heavily benefits seasoned players. Part of the reason I have always been against MMOs is the way character leveling and item hoarding gives people with the most time a very large advantage over the uninitiated. I understand that no matter what experienced players will still have an advantage, but it will be because of what they know, not an arbitrary player level number, skill level, etc. With this new system at least new players will be able to gather their friends and allies more easily to face the cruel world. Being able to get into the game with your friends in a reasonable amount of time will make the mod much more accessible to new users, and will make it easier for me to get my friends into this game. Kudos for the devs for being willing to try this out. It can always be removed if it is determined to be a bad thing. Though I think it will be appreciated by most and will likely stay. It can be tweaked as needed going forward. EDIT: completed an incomplete idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadism Yeah, you guys are totally sane.

If that were true the VA in the USA wouldn't be so busy treating PTSD. The macho man culture expects these men to not be affected by what they do, but the reality is something different. Sure it does not phase some people, but I have talked to enough vets to know that your statement above is quite cavalier.

Anyone who tells you "you can't trust anyone" has just identified themselves as an untrustworthy person. People often make the mistake of thinking everyone else in this world thinks like they do, when in reality the variance of the human brain is vast and obviously the resultant variance in personalities will be equally vast. I have heard so many people blame their sadistic murders on those who murdered them first. They say they tried to be good guys but got killed so much they just had to start murdering too. It's a cop out. They should take responsibility for their choice to become murderers. Sure I did a round of banditry on a private hive where I knew my public character would not be sullied. I wanted to see the other side, it was incredibly boring and rather easy. Get the drop, kill the guy, profit. But then you had no idea what kind of guy you just murdered. Even some of the hoods are good guys. Given a choice most people will take the easy route, they lack the fortitude to take their licks and not let it change who they are. You have to be willing to take risks to build trust with strangers, it is downright hard to meet random people in this game and get more out of it than a firefight. Not all of us have given up though, and the moment you are too scared to take that chance you lose your humanity. You now operate on animal instinct. Furthermore, if you read the posts from the more active members of the "community" (which most players don't participate in and are not a part of, they are useless users who don't contribute feedback to improve development) you will find a lot of great people who are in it for the right reasons. As I have seen Orlok point out before, it is the saber rattling which gets the most attention, so it is understandable you would think this was a hostile community. But it isn't.

I beaned 'em for ya. Yeah the forums on the phone are tough. It always starts you at the end of a topic, which can be hell if it is 20 pages long and you were just trying to get a clue what the big idea is. Glad you wasted 'em with the M203. Had so many good things I never got the chance to use...

First you need to have the gun switched to grenade fire mode with the "F" key, then you roll the mouse wheel and it will give you the option to load any other M203 rounds you may have. Seriously though, if there is any part of this game you feel you don't know how it works or are not used to, play some ArmA2. I found nothing improved my DayZ combat skills more than just getting into an all-out war in ArmA. Lets face it, the controls are complicated and quite cumbersome to the uninitiated (if not the heavily practiced...). When playing DayZ the player encounters are not frequent enough for one to become proficient in combat. I recommend playing the Warfare game mode, lots to do easy to get heavily armed and great practice for the mechanics of the game. When an apocalypse is upon us, those already tested in heavy combat will have a measurable advantage over the uninitiated. Grenade launchers are best used to clear rooms/buildings. Firing at a guy running in a field makes scoring a hit quite hard. Pegging a player holed up in a corner is very easy by contrast.

Roll mouse wheel, reload different kind of ammo.

Tzu applies to all instances of conflict in the human experience. Also, "common sense" is actually a rather rare thing, it's a misnomer. People who think critically on the fly seem to be in the minority in this world, then again I am in Texas. This chart is a step at making sense more common at any rate, well done.

Prove you are a badass by giving it away and telling whoever you give it to "I don't need it, all I need is this trusy Lee Enfield." Or you can let the military weaponry compensate for something...

Antonov AN-2 Oh wait they said they were useless. :( Then the stupid little bird. I want the challenge of landing the AN-2 in the fields of Chenarus, but will settle for the easy helis I guess.

Make no promises, tell no lies. I know someone who used to be an executive producer for a subsidiary of Disney. From the stories I have heard, once release dates are set it often triggers all kinds of things in the industry that are non-conducive to quality software production. As a car mechanic I was constantly hounded about when the work would be finished. The problem is when you give an estimate, people forget its an estimate and start to build expectation. In a perfect world filled with reasonable people what you ask for would makes sense. In the real world we live in, applying pressure to get a release date (by starting a poll based around your annoyance) is tantamount to rushing them by expressing your dissatisfaction with the lack of a release date. The dev team is being honest when they say they do not know when it will be finished. I learned from practice that most people do not want that truth, they cannot handle it. All they want to know is... When will my game be ready for me to pick up? I am much more annoyed by all the complaining and sense of entitlement in the DayZ community than any lack of a release date. Thankfully this poll, like many others, seems to show that the elements of the community which engage in said behavior are in the minority.

The same people who wish to rush the development will likely be the ones who make the most noise when the released product doesn't meet their expectations. There is no good reason to be annoyed at the lack of a release date. Please for the love of god learn some patience. He who sows hurry reaps indigestion. Robert Louis Stevenson

Are you not asking the direction of the mod to change to serve your own personal desires? You didn't come here to discuss it, you came to berate the dev team for changes you do not like. Are you not describing yourself with this quote? You are saying you are not willing to adjust to the changes, and you have not provided any solutions, only complaints. How exactly are the more difficult zeds making the game easier or more friendly to new players? I was also frustrated with the new infection mechanic as well as the knock-down mechanic. But I have adjusted, and have come to love both. They make the game much more interesting. It is true that zeds will always be less of a threat than other players. However, even with 100 people on the map there is a good chance you can cross large areas without contact. Making the zeds more of a threat improves the game overall. Do the bugs make it worse? Yes, but it is a work in progress and a privilege to participate in it's development. The changes are far from game breaking, and we are not to the bug fixing stage of development yet really. In conclusion I respect your right to disagree with the direction of the mod, but the execution of your disgust leaves much to be desired.

Based on the response to this poll the majority was satisfied with 1.7.7, but there were only approx. 100 responses. Not quite enough to be a good sample, but still it looks like the majority of respondents were satisfied with the new difficulty. People claim there are majorities and minorities of opinion but it has been poorly measured. http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/139993-whats-your-opinion-on-the-177-patch-poll/ I also noticed it became quite a bit easier and the fun fearful ride of 1.7.7 is now over. :facepalm:

Tell your friends about this poll, get them to respond, regardless of their feelings. Balancing the difficulty of a simulator and the fun of an arcade game is no easy task. I love flying planes and playing games where I fly planes. But I do find Microsoft Flight Simulator to be way too tedious. I flew a lot of planes in Battlefield 1942 and it was great fun, but once you got past the initial difficulty it became too easy, which lead to players like me being labeled "plane whores," and with good reason. Balance has to be achieved and it is not something one person or even an army of people can easily decide. As this game is set to be a survival simulation game, finding the balance between fun and simulation is the hardest design task. It takes a great deal of testing and trying new things. We need polls like this and more users responding to them so the development team of both the mod and the standalone have some useful feedback on how their changes are affecting the game. I have thrown my hat in for saying that I like the changes these patch bring to the table. If you do not you deserve to have your opinion. If the poll continues in this direction I think it would show the community is behind these changes, at the same time there seems to be a significant section that is not. What this would mean is that overall the changes are appreciated and some tweaks are what are needed to smooth the transition. Unfortunately there hasn't really been enough responses to this poll to get a real read on the community. Tell your friends, for the good of the mod!

Whether for the good or the bad, a flood of topics means a great deal of interest. You can never make everybody happy, but progress on the mod is a good thing regardless. It is good that so many players take the time to come onto the forums. Even if they only joined to complain, hopefully over time they will come to understand how this whole thing works and become more valuable testers over time. Maybe I am too optimistic... Job well done sir.