Blaise

Me and a friend also have FPS issues in cities. There is something seriously wrong in the DayZ code if CPU is limiting FPS. 1.7.1.5 should address some of these issues, looking at the release notes.

It's an alpha, OP is giving feedback about new features and directions. That's what you do as a user when a game is in alpha. You play the game and you give feedback. Offtopic: I hate all these little kids on this forum, screaming in agony and polluting threads with short replies as "GAME IS IN ALPHA". Yes we know. This is a forum, it's meant for discussing topics. Now please take a look at the arguments that were mentioned by OP. Because no one cares about your all-caps one liners, we're trying to figure out how to improve this game.

Stealth is too risky as of 1.7, as zombies can see you from really far. This works well for me: Run around like a headless chicken, aggro all the zombies. Run into a barn or house with two or more doors and make sure most or all zombies follow you inside, where they will be slow. Make sure they follow you to the middle. Run to another building, loot it. If you're lucky, zombies didn't find you in the new building.

Friendliness is also different per server. I mostly play on European veteran servers, and my experience is that players on these servers are less hostile than on US and Russian servers. Although you will still get shot occasionally.

I like 1.7.1 so far. People are teaming up again!

I think this is a good idea! Headshot should always be a one-shot-kill though.

(Red Alert 1 voice) REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED

Thanks Dallas! Now I safely can continue walking :)

Add -cpuCount=3 to the launch options. Sometimes after I respawn, I have huge FPS issues. I can only solves this by restarting ARMA.

How could that nononono guy have survived all the time? His loot wasn't that bad!

The other day I found a tent and the dude had makarov mags which I needed badly, in return I left him nothing.

That's possible. You were killed by a player or zombie just before or just after you left the previous session. Your character will stay in the server for a limited time after you leave to prevent people from quitting when a situation gets hairy.

I think adding some kind of motivation and back story helps you identify with your character, but that's probably only for a limited amount of time. Also, it doesn't do anything for the people already playing this game like it's Battlefield. I wrote a post that touches the issue of grouping up, in a thread about meta elements that could be added to stimulate group forming. Maybe you find it interesting to read. http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=10859&pid=114421#pid114421

I'm against punishing banditism and player killing. The things you mention create small annoyances to bandits. It does not fix the reason why people are killing people. I wrote a post that raises the question why people are likely to choose to play as a bandit: http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=12106&pid=112788#pid112788 If we can pinpoint the root problem, we can find real solutions.

I think adding some meta elements to establish groups is a good thing. In DayZ / Arma II, you're limited to a game, represented by an avatar that is very limited in what it can do and express. For example: you cannot easily identify a friend, because everyone wears the same clothes. Also you cannot easily recognize a face because you have to stand in front of them, pointing your gun at his face as you look. You cannot shake hands with another person, looking the other person in the eyes to see if it's honest. You can salute, sit and lower your gun, but nobody knows this exists or what button to press. So you need some kind of meta element to replace physical behavior that people use IRL to recognize people and to perform acts that represent trust. Joining a group by adding your name to a team list would be a good way to do this (does Arma II have any squad forming?). You should be able to see player names within ~ 200 meters for the people in your team. Backstabbing team mates should be allowed (trololol), but at least you have a chance to know who did it so it can be dealt with. This will also aid bandits forming groups, but so be it. I think that's realistic.

I agree with the problem you're describing, but I don't agree with the solution. Summarized, your solution is making zombies a bigger problem for bandits and to remove the incentive to spawn-kill new players by changing your start inventory. I agree that you should start with next-to-nothing, but the reason for me is not that bandits won't spawnkill you (because they will anyway). I think it adds more realism AND it will take you longer to get your base inventory, thus preventing you from getting bored and start hoarding or shooting other players. But changing zombie behavior is not a solution to the problems you're describing. Zombies are just there for decoration and to add some challenge to getting things done. Changing the behavior of zombies is just patching human behavior and doesn't touch the root problem. This game is about player-to-player contact, both positive and negative. If we want people to work together instead of shooting each other, we should add incentives for that. I don't know any quick solutions, but I think we can learn from the real world and from zombie fiction like The Walking Dead for inspiration. What motivates people to group together, not to kill strangers on sight? I wrote a post about that here, in case you're interested: http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=12106&pid=112788#pid112788

Really? Distrust is actually the easiest thing to implement, or do you trust strangers by default? Well, maybe it was not implemented because distrust is natural. But the distrusting feeling and nature towards strangers, that works really well for me. DayZ would not be this fun if you could just approach other people without fear. However, the level of distrust might be too much in DayZ because people are often playing immorally. (There, I used the word Rocket didn't want to use! I don't think using this word forces people to play a certain style. I think we can agree that killing innocent people is the wrong thing to do, even if it's for your own survival)

I think it is interesting to compare DayZ with The Walking Dead, regarding the incentive/turn-offs to kill/trust people. (wall of text incoming) Comparison 1, Distrust If you look at The Walking Dead, you see that protagonists try to protect their own group. Not just against zombies, but also against other groups and individuals. In both The Walking Dead and DayZ, other people cannot be trusted, which is a motivation to either avoid or kill other people. I think distrust is very well implemented well in DayZ. Comparison 2: Perception of Bandits In The Walking Dead, protagonists may have a gut feeling about other players they're encountering. perceived "bandits" in The Walking Dead talk and act a certain way, often doing or saying things that we think is immoral in a non-zombified world. We judge them and tell ourselves: "I can kill this person, because he is bad". This is missing in DayZ. Some kind of spider-sense is being implemented, and I think this is a good implementation for now, but there might be better ways to do this, that holds regard more for all the subtleties involved. In The Walking Dead, protagonists (and sometimes the viewers as well) are often proven wrong when applying the bandit label. Comparison 3, Recklessness In The Walking Dead, there are loved ones to protect; the children and women. These loved ones give the stronger protagonists a will to survive and an incentive to act carefully and diplomatically, because they're needed for the survival of others. It also prevents some of the men from 'going rogue'. This is also missing in DayZ. I'm don't think we should protect a CPU character, but maybe this could be implemented some other way. Because if you're only surviving for yourself and you are able to respawn when dead, what incentive is there not to take risks? Only the loss of items. Comparison 4, Morale and accountability In The Walking Death, even though killing is sometimes necessary, killing other people is still considered immoral. The children learn from their parents that killing is bad. Even though the world is fucked up, and killing might be a save thing to do, they still learn to do the "right" thing. This is occasionally holding back the grown-ups from killing. Also missing in DayZ. There's no reason whatsoever to the right thing. This is a game, people know they're playing a game. Even though there's some immersion, not much is holding you back shooting other players. You don't have to account for your actions to anybody, except to yourself. And that is not working, because it is a game, you know you didn't really end someone's live permanently: people can respawn. --- You cannot easily make people stop doing immoral things. Maybe a back story would help a little, or if the moms of players would sit next to them while they play the game ;) (that would certainly stop me...) I think this needs a lot of thought because it could lead to interesting things. Punishing bandits vigilante-style should not be the only solution. There should be some factor of shame involved. With the current setup, it will always be a computer game where other people will keep playing Battlefield style, collecting all the cars and weapons, killing other people. Because once you know how to survive, you need challenges. DayZ cultivates murderous and immoral players. The more you get shot, the more your trust in other players dissolves. After a while you start shooting first and join the Cherno DeathMatch. Alternatively, you can choose to avoid all player contact, but that gets boring quickly, because zombies themselves are not really a threat. --- TLDR; I think we can make this game more interesting for everybody if DayZ implements factors that affect player's killing and trusting, looking at The Walking Dead for inspiration. I don't know how exactly, but it's food for thought.

I vote for instant-destroy of any person, vehicle or animal going outside the map for more than 10 seconds.

If I'm not mistaken, it should be in the mousewheel menu when standing next to a repairable car.

Yes, being a bandit is a LOT easier than being a friendly survivor! Even more when you always play with the same group of bandit friends, because: 1. It is currently very rewarding to loot other players 2. It's safer to shoot someone than to run away or attempt contact 3. You're already teamed up, so you don't need to risk trusting unknown players 4. You can always choose to avoid contact when you encounter a group of people