doctorbadsign

Also depends what else you have in your PC. I believe DayZ is pretty CPU dependent.

Not going to accuse you of anything, but it is very plausible that your friend was cheating, whether you knew it or not.

Shark launcher

Headed up to Green Mountain to see what I could find. Came across a fully geared guy looting something at the top of the stairs in the prison building. Without hesitating I blasted him into oblivion. I felt really bad for a long time afterwards, but I felt that there was a 80% chance I'd get killed if he turned around and saw me.

I don't know the answer to either question. The second question seems unlikely to be fair, but maybe.

Agreed, however, why even approach them? They have nothing to offer you.

Because the above statement is not correct as many people have discovered to their detriment. Of course killing them is a bit stupid as you have no reason to approach them at all, but to say they aren't a threat when they can punch you and rob your weapon is false.

I also think there is a lot to bear in mind when it comes to the current state of the game in Alpha. As it stands the game is pretty boring. Once you're geared up there is literally nothing to do. This has two consequences; the first being that people no longer care whether their character lives or dies as they are bored with them, and the second being that people go "hunting" for something to do. My character is pretty much fully geared at the moment, and I have found myself seeking out PvP just because it's super boring to just run around occasionally stopping to get some food out of my backpack. This is coming from someone who doesn't generally want to engage in PvP in DayZ. What am I getting at? Once more features are added, and people have other stuff to do such as fixing up a vehicle they will be less inclined to engage in PvP because they will not want to risk losing that engine part they are carrying and they also have a clear goal to keep them occupied. I think it is impossible to ascertain whether KoS will even be an issue once the game has more features and thus I think at it's current stage it should rightly be ignored. I agree that more zombies will make a huge difference too, but having more to do in game will also.

Or perhaps I was being sarcastic when I said I just thought of it. I was trying to make the obvious sound like a revelation in attempt to mock those who remain unaware of the obvious. I'm not a bandit nor am I new to the game :)

Caves

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those who thought that 1PP made me sick in DayZ or Arma 2 and people using the argument that it has made some people sick to further their opinion is a bit silly cause it is essentially a matter of opinion (unless of course they were one of those people [if they exist]) and in my opinion I just don't like the way 1PP feels and looks and wouldn't want to be forced to play it like that. I still don't think it would make good business sense to remove 3PP given the points you raise. And as you say it seems that Rocket knows this and is attempting to approach things via a different route---which basically proves my point.

If they forced bandits and heros to wear a certain skin what would be the point in having clothing items in the game? If they didn't remove them to enforce this proposed skin system then you'd just be able to disguise yourself. The only reason the skin system worked in the mod is cause you couldn't customize your clothing. I seriously doubt they will just remove the ability to do so after putting a lot of work into implementing it. I guess what I am getting at is, discussing/suggesting that they implement forced bandit/hero skins is pointless cause it won't happen given the direction that the game has already taken.

I just thought of a way to identify a bandit/hero. Stalk them, wait for them to encounter another player. Observe the results and formulate judgement based upon that. Perhaps it is just a case of people being too hasty and impatient when approaching players?

I think they just need to add clothing that would appeal more to the bandits among us, and other clothing items that would appeal more to the heroes among us. Black face rags for the bandits for example. Not that they should be forced to wear them, but they might be inclined to think 'this makes me look like a bad ass bandit'. A hero would likely think 'I won't wear this cause it makes me look like a bandit'. You catch my drift. Nothing should be forced, I think a system would simply arise just through having bandit/hero styled clothes.

Not really that simple considering it is the most popular way of playing the game. Or at least the 3rd person enabled servers are more popular than 1st person ones. From a business perspective that would be stupid. I would never have bought DayZ or played the mod or anything if it only had 1st person, it just looks and feels shit in that perspective *in my opinion*. I'm sure many other people play in third person for this reason. Taking away that feature is basically asking all those people to put their wallets away and not bother. Removing a preferred feature from a game is insane if you're thinking about it being a success. Rocket and the devs would have to be incalculably stupid to do that. Ergo we need a different solution, something that makes sense realistically.

Could they not make it so that other players, zombies and objects etc are not visible over the top of a wall whilst in 3rd person view? I'm not sure how complex this would be to do, but it would remove the advantage. The wall could have an invisible screen that extends beyond the top, and renders everything through it apart from players and zombies. I know this might be impossible to do, but it would work as a fix if it is doable.

I may very well be lighting up a huge flame war here but I hope we can at least remain civil and have a good in depth discussion about the pros and cons of the Arma engine. Do you think DayZ could be done better on a different engine? I don't really know much about the technological side of things such as game engines however I have heard a lot of negatives about the Arma engine such as terrible optimization problems, clunkiness and inability to handle zombies that well etc. I know there are also pros such as the ballistics and map size etc. I guess the gist of what I'm saying is, do you think it is possible (or perhaps inevitable) that a larger/another game developer will create a DayZ clone using a different or new engine that will eliminate some of the problems that seem ingrained within the Arma Engine? If so will it be a better game, or will DayZ always be the best? Just to be clear I am not attempting to throw any shit on DayZ itself, I adore the game, but this question arose purely out of speculation. Personally I embrace DayZ with all the flaws that come with the engine and do so happily despite the low fps I get on a very capable pc...

I agree with everyone about BI not being familiar with a new engine, and it totally not being feasible to switch to a new one etc. This was not my suggestion. I guess what I am asking is, if a company with millions to throw around decides (in a totally hypothetical non "hey they'll never do it cause it isn't profitable enough" kind of way) to use an existing engine or build a new one to create a game with all the elements of DayZ, could they do it better? And if so would you abandon DayZ and play that instead? Its more to do with whether you as a fan of DayZ enjoy it because or inspite of the clunky engine that can't do zombies very well etc. I must admit that there is something about the engine that I like, and it is because of it's clunkiness (if that is not a word, it should be). It creates intense situations, like when you've got a shit load of zombies after you and you can't find that exact position you need to be in to open a gate. I guess it indirectly simulates those moments that most other games would do with a 'mash E to open the gate' except in a much less reliable and formulaic way and because of things like this I have been in many a panic stricken scenario. I think it would be hard to recreate this in a slicker engine that instantly recognizes and responds when you are near a gate or a door etc. It is important to include the panic stricken fumbling that DayZ so often requires of us, but because this is so often induced by the clunkiness of the engine it would be hard to recreate in something that is mega slick. Having said that I do wish it was better optimized. I shouldn't have to edit the config file to get the maximum fps. I've never had to do that with any other game in order to get it running smoothly and I never expect to have to. Things like that are really going to put people off the game. BI do not seem like they are too bothered about changing that any time soon though.

Fuck grenades I want to be able to make car bombs and time bombs

What do you enjoy doing in the mod? The chances are that it is not in the standalone yet. Keep playing the mod for a while :)

I wasn't saying anyone should change the engine, nor did I imply that the current engine is not up to the task. I simply am aware that many people appear to have a few issues with the engine and was wondering if it could be achieved using a different one. In a hypothetical scenario. Engine choice is not a matter for us in that we cannot decide which engine developers use, but we can form opinions on the results and discuss them. I am merely curious to know what people think, I want to make it emphatically clear that I do not suggest that the development team suddenly switch to a different engine or anything of the sort. I just know that there are problems with the RV engine that have carried through from Arma 2 to Arma 3 and that BI do not seem to be capable or willing to sort out. Namely people with extremely capable PCs getting terrible performance for one. I get pretty poor performance from DayZ with the settings optimized as much as possible for performance on a PC that can handle most things I throw at it. This suggests that it is a matter of the engine being used, which raises the question of whether some other engine could handle it better. I am not saying there is one out there that can, just throwing it out there.

Think of it this way You're a new spawn and someone holds you up. You have very little to lose in death, and a lot to gain if you manage to knock the person out and steal some of their gear. It makes sense to try your luck as a new spawn.

Well I wasn't suggesting that. I was asking the question to generate discussion about the engine and its limitations etc. I'm not talking about a cash-in that is bungled together quickly by a bunch of con artists. I'm talking about if a big developer with millions to throw around decides to create a game in the survival zombie genre....

I like the idea of leaving random clues like an easter egg hunt and then waiting at the end patiently for someone to come along so I can either reward them or kill them as I see fit.

I don't like any suggestions involving the game telling us how to respond emotionally to the game. When I kill people in DayZ I feel bad and it bugs me afterwards. This is enough.