Wolfguarde

Just one? I agree that a person should be more afraid of zombies than other people - but I think you're wrong about the number of people who would fire on sight. If we're looking at it realistically, any opportunist with more than a moderate advantage would do it. I would put that number at at least 30% of the total remaining survivors. Anyone needing to feed/support multiple people would have a good chance of doing it. Another 10%. Anyone terrible at looting who has no (perceivable) better options for surviving. 10%. Sadists, murderers, people trying to hide stash locations. 20%. Of the remaining 30%, I would say that at least 10% would rob you first, with an even on/off chance of shooting you depending on personal philosophy. 15% of the rest would run or hide, preferring not to engage due to the risk of dying or not having a good enough advantage to make the risk worth it. The very, very small minority would go out of their way to help you, and even then the quality of that help would probably not be up to ideal standards given the general atmosphere of any post-apocalyptic situation. Basically, I'm saying that rather than a 5% KoS rate, I think it's more likely you'd find 5% of the total remaining populace would actually be willing to engage you in a friendly manner. I'm not trying to pick on you here, but look at it this way: the people you're describing are the ones who have actually spent a fair bit of time playing the game, engaged with the mechanics, and learned how the game works. Nearly everyone starts out like you, looking for people who are willing to cooperate, and learns pretty quickly that it's naive at best to expect people to play as friendlies. We're not arguing with you because we think you're an idiot, or any such. Unless I'm missing the mark completely, you're pretty new to the game and therefore haven't really been broken into it yet. We're simply telling you how it is. I've posted this in a couple of other threads already, but here's how I go about finding friendlies when I start on a new server. I spend a dozen or so lives dying, in which I attach no value to my gear sets and make an effort to get to know the map if I don't already, and get to know the people playing on it. Usually, you'll find that anyone who is going to shoot you for your inventory will do so regardless of how much you have in it, and so won't play at being friendly beyond whatever point it is that they're safely able to kill you. It shouldn't take too long to find someone with half a brain who's actually willing to team with you. When you do, spend a few hours playing with them, get yourselves geared up, and if they haven't killed you by the end of the day, ask them for steam/TS/Skype details, or whatever platform you use to communicate, and keep in contact with them. Spending a day or so recruiting allies at the expense of a few lives will go a long way toward making your game experience smoother. Of course, there's the occasional douche who will play at being friendly for a while for shits and giggles, then turn on you when they get tired of it, but in my experience they're a significant minority.

Before the inevitable: This thread will turn into a flame thread. Trust me. It's nothing against you, but people are at each other's throats over this issue and will use any excuse to bitch about it with each other. There's going to be servers dedicated to first person, and servers with no restrictions. The latter are likely to be more popular, but the more hardcore players are likely to flock to the former. The merits and pitfalls of each and both could be waxed lyrical over for years and you'd never hear the end of it. Try playing with each, and if you find you prefer the immersion offered by solely playing in first person view, seek out a server without third person view.

In another game, I would be arguing the exact point you are. There's actually a couple I have done so for, simply because the developers were glued to the fence when it came to whether they should cater to the players who complaining about dying or to those playing the mechanics to the brutal extremes. In a lot of these cases the games were set up with some sort of progression chain, which was often set back or completely reset by a thorough mauling by a stronger player. In one respect, DayZ is the same - you're on a clean slate every time you reset unless you can get back to your (unlooted) corpse. The difference is that in DayZ, we're talking hours or days to get a passable or decent set of gear, as opposed to weeks or months, and no progression to speak of - until base building comes in, and even then I don't think it will matter overmuch. DayZ is a game in which you are expected to die. You plan for every possible eventuality, but understand that sooner or later, you're going to get killed by something or someone - more likely sooner than later. Yes, dying is inconvenient and, when you're a new player or just a new spawn on a PvP-heavy server, frustrating to the extreme when the deaths start piling up too quickly for your liking. However, short of having bandits camping most of a map's spawn points, you can't really lay the blame on PvPers for destroying server/game appeal by killing fresh players. There's a lot of incentive to go to the coastal cities to loot - they're set up the way they are for that exact purpose. If you're thinking on your feet as you play, you'll notice pretty early on that there's always someone camping Cherno, or Elektro. You'll realise that the coastal roads aren't safe. You'll come to understand that that awesome, high-yield industrial you keep coming back to is getting you killed because every man, his dog, and his dog's dog likes farming parts from it and doesn't care to share. A lot of the players I've seen complaining (ingame, rather than on the forums) have been people just throwing themselves repeatedly into the meatgrinder. You can't really do anything for someone who refuses to stop headbutting the brick wall in front of them instead of trying the door next to it. Basically: If people don't want to suffer from serial murder as a fresh spawn, they probably shouldn't keep going back to known hunting zones once they realise what they are. Play hero, then - back when I first started playing DayZ, I liked to try to sneak up on the Elektro snipers and take them out once I had something I could kill from range with. I remember spending forty minutes working my way toward, then into, an industrial/barracks complex on one server, just to find a bandit and kill him so I could loot the place. He was killing the fresh spawns coming in to gear, and any one of those would have killed me if they'd spotted me. It was part of the fun, and it turned a murder field back into a PvP zone. It was a lot of work, but it's one of the more memorable moments in my time playing the game. Partly because every other attempt has failed, but hey. Even as a terrible player, you can still get some entertainment from it. Just don't expect thanks or support.

May have already been suggested (and yes, possibly a horrible idea), but is it possible that weapon rarity might be a configurable option when someone chooses to launch a server? General rarity of weapon categories (civilian sidearm, shotgun, military rifle, etc) would show up to players looking in the server list as a scrollover on the server's name.

I didn't know they'd mentioned a mechanic of some sort to address the issue... I haven't been keeping up with the news/announcements for the standalone. Unless they've said otherwise, though, I can't see a humanity system being the solution - too easy to cheat/exploit if you've got a couple of friends and at least one person on the other side of the karmic scale to farm with. Just out of curiosity, is there an existing version of the mod that makes use of the kinds of roles you're referring to? IJx, I've seen a few people asking for a larger dinner bell range, and my guess is it will make it into the game. I don't think it will discourage chronic bandits though. It just adds to the havoc if they can get their positioning right. Hell, I know I'd probably have more fun firing off a Lee Enfield when I know someone's camping in a building, then legging it off to somewhere safe and watching the zombies pile into the building than actually shooting them.

Actually, the game will (eventually, likely after enjoying a few years of fame and revenue) die due to people like yourself who hate the game, and buy into it simply to complain about why. A lot of the people buying into the alpha, I imagine, are veteran players who want to see what the game looks like with its own engine and a bit of polish. We understand that the finished product is a long way off. At the very least, save your outrage until the game's a bit closer to launch - and you have something legitimate to complain about. Longest I've tried was 1km on a moving vehicle... it did not end well. That being said, my aim is terrible even at 30-50m, so not really all that surprising.

Before this launches into the inevitable shitstorm of flaming and finger-pointing: Keep in mind that Rocket and co. had getting something playable out on the table as their top priority. Not features. Just the bare bones of the game. Of course there's nearly nothing to do. They wanted the skeleton in place, so people could test everything in the early stages and repairs could be made as they developed the game, from the ground up. The features they add aren't necessarily going to be added in coherent or logical order. Some of them will tie together in the code, others will be implementable on their own. The latter will likely make it in first, hence the spawn changes coming in early. It was something independent and easy that they could knock off the list pretty quickly. You're not wrong: There's stuff all content to the game. I'm just putting that into perspective. We're witnessing the ongoing development of the game, rather than buying into a mostly finished product and testing mostly polished features. It's going to be a different and probably inferior experience to anything else you've bought into, unless you're a regular alpha tester. Keep that in mind when you post your feedback.

Well, in reality... I would say aside from the brain-eating stereotype, most of us regular gamers could qualify for zombies :P

Was he conscious at the time? Not nitpicking, just thinking it might only be usable on someone if they aren't able to resist.

Personally I think it's awesome. If people are willing to pay you to do something you enjoy to entertain them, where's the problem? I mean, look at pop music. I think that is stupid, along with ethically corrupt and possibly dangerous to one's psychological wellbeing. But people are making quite a bit of money off it, so they have to be doing something right.

I can't see archetypal roles working in a game like this. The developers are striving for realism, and from what I've seen, steering well away from predetermined roles or incentives toward one or the other play style. The second style of play is viable if you scout out a server and find a few decent people first. You're going to waste a few lives doing this. It runs on the basic principle that if someone is going to kill you for your stuff, they will do it pretty early on regardless of how much you have. You can afford to be friendly if you have a couple of other players you've recruited and found trustworthy watching your back - if the player you're trying to help decides to turn on you, your teammates can put them down and reclaim your gear for you. In my experience, it doesn't take too long to find players you can play the game with, or for someone to decide they've had enough of playing along and trying to kill you. Allow for a few days starting on a server to recruit a group, get them on steam/TS/whatever communication platform you prefer, and stick with them. Strength in numbers. Friendly play suffers in this game because it is realistic - which is to say, the only elements that discourage you from playing bandit are ethical values. I don't see anything wrong with this.So long as you aren't overly attached to your first few sets of gear, it's not a great deal of effort to find like-minded people to run with.

Hmm, ok. Thank you for the headsup. Having the hotkey function still in the game makes things a bit confusing.

I think you'll probably find the players who prefer first person view will congregate on a few servers. They won't die out, they just won't be all that common. That's basically the point I'm arguing. No matter whether the developers keep third person view in the game or not, sooner or later someone's going to mod it in. Everyone gets what they want. It really just looks like people are arguing over this for the sake of slugging it out. I don't see the point.

Agreed. VSS is far and away my favourite weapon out of those I've seen so far. I like the idea of booby traps, but unless they're planning on adding clan bases (ie. bases big enough to warrant these kinds of traps), I don't see them making it into the game. Bear traps were in one version of the mod at some point, but never worked properly. I'm hoping they, at least, make it in. I like the idea, and I'd like to see craftable (makeshift) weapons like bows and knives be added. Find a decent-length stick and a strong enough line? You can make a bow. Not a very good bow, but in a world where quality resources are at a premium you have to make do with what's on hand. Find a sharp stone? Fix it to a handle or broomstick to make a pointed/edged weapon. Need a hammer? Go find a blunt stone and lash it onto a bit of wood. Stuff like that. We're not quite back in the stone age in the zombie apocalypse, but we've got a foot on the line and it's not a far stretch to assume people would start falling back on primitive technology to get by. Could even go so far as to make animals skinnable/harvestable for materials to make clothing, harnesses, and parts for other items. Bones for handles. Furs for clothes. Skins to tan for leather to make harnesses and improve/repair weapon grips. Hell, even just sharpening a stick with a knife to make a pointed weapon.

1: You're participating in an alpha. Features are going to be added as the game develops, not necessarily in logical order. Not necessarily immediately contributing to gameplay. Some might even make your gameplay worse until their complementaries are added. You're going to have to live with it. 2: You have unlimited sprint. You can essentially move at 3/4 the speed of the average bike in the mod, forever. Getting from one end of the map to the other doesn't really take all that long if you move in a straight line.

Found four medkits thus far, none of them have contained saline bags. All found in residential loot nodes.

This game throws you in the deep end - you're probably going to have a fair bit of difficulty in the first few hours of play getting your bearings. Spend a lot of time running around, looking for landmarks. Familiarise yourself with the landscape. Look up a couple of online maps (Chernarus is the name of the map we're currently playing on). It'll take time, but you'll gradually become familiar with the layouts of the towns and areas you spawn in. You can find maps, but I've yet to work out how they work in the standalone... they don't seem to synch with your map button =S

If they lock out third person, someone's just going to wind up making a mod for it when mod compatibility comes out anyway. Hardcores get their full-throttle immersion, everyone else gets the game they want to play. Problem?

I think the angle's a bit low on the new one. Very much preferred the mod's version of viewing the compass, but I could live with this one if it was angled to be a bit easier to see when you've got it up in front of you. Possibly have the character actually hold it up and to one side of the face when you hit space?

Yet here you are. Complaining. And probably playing, to boot.

I go by the philosopher of a certain crazy bastard found in a church in L4D2. Better safe than sorry. That being said, you can usually tell when someone is fresh to the game. I've never been shot/stabbed in the back after leaving someone alive deliberately since I started favouring KoS tactics.

Done. Would like to see a decent selection of civilian-grade sidearms. A decent range of automatic weapons would be interesting as well. Probably a long stretch, but is it possible stuff like empty (or full) cans and other trash/misc items might be usable as thrown weapons? Love the idea of knocking out a fully armed and armoured bandit with a brick dropped from a rooftop and robbing him blind :D

Well, that massive empty space up the north end of the map explains how I managed to run for two hours, consume all of my supplies and somehow not hit a single interesting feature. Followed the roads expecting to wind up in Stary, wound up looking out over the edge of the map >.>

There's cuffs as well, I'm assuming it can be used to tie people up. Get a friend into the game with you and try testing it on them if you can meet up without dying.

Haven't viewed the clip, but I assume to get the DayZ 101 across that little bit more quickly: Come into the endtimes expecting people to behave in a civilised manner and you're going to have a bad time.