doctorbadsign

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.

I agree. Some games feel like they are designed to play in first person. Neither Arma 2 nor DayZ feel like this. Again this term 'feel' is kinda subjective and I cannot really argue against someone who says the opposite. Once I go into 3rd person the game feels like it was meant to be played like that in my opinion. If they removed it without making 1st person feel better I doubt I'd want to play it as much.

I get the arguments in favour of first person, and I don't really have anything objective to use against them. My quibble with it is a personal one. I like my games to look and feel nice. Personally playing DayZ in first person looks bad and feels awful. If they could get the game to look and feel right in first person I'd play it like that, but to me third person is the more visually pleasing and seemingly less clunky way to play it, and to be perfectly honest I'm not going to play a game in a way that makes me dislike how it feels and looks just because other players don't like the advantages it gives. I realize this is not a good argument for third person, its more of a personal thing, but I thought I'd give it my justification anyway, and I don't care if you disagree. I understand the problem though, it does give an advantage over someone in first person. Thus I think separate servers is the fair thing to do. Either that or implement some kind of system where by players, loot and zombies cannot be seen over a wall when in 3rd person. I don't want the option for 3rd person removed however, at least not until it feel better to play in first person.

No. Can you imagine the whining you'd get on here about people getting killed whilst asleep? Its bad enough as it is with KOS... Also some people don't play for weeks (I haven't been on in ages) the longer you don't play the higher the change that you will be robbed and killed, so its not really fair on people that don't/can't play often.

I've killed on sight because it seems like the best option in those split second decisions. You get the jump on a guy with a gun, and you have but a few moments to decide whether to shoot them or not. The likelihood is that they will shoot you so, you do what you have to in order to survive. Killing on sight is fine and justifiable under such conditions. Thus it is an important part of the game. I try to keep it down to a minimum however.

I think people who want to play PvE are entitled to do so on their own private hives. In the current system, however, it is not workable. People will be able to use them to gear up safely, then hop onto different servers. People will use them as safe servers for their ghosting maneuvers and so on. I'm sure there are other reasons why PvE servers are not workable until there are private hives. As for not getting a refund, it does seem harsh, but then if there are conditions upon being able to receive a refund, and setting up a server that kicks people for killing violates those conditions then one cannot really complain.

I don't like the idea of giving players hints as to the nature of other players at all. You need to be able to judge people for yourself. Holding the players hand and saying "this guy is bad, kill them, or run away" is stupid. You can use your real intuition when interacting with a player, why do you need to simulate it?

I am sure they will implement a temperature system whereby players without adequate protection will get extremely cold when it rains. However I think there should also be a new state of degradation that applies for certain objects. These states could range from 'damp' to 'saturated'. For example a player is wearing a hoodie and carrying a box of matches. It rains and the player does not get in shelter. Their clothing becomes saturated meaning even if the rain stops they will suffer from cold until they dry out or die, but what's more their matches will be soaked too and thus unusable---meaning it will make it very difficult for them to warm up and get dry (especially at night). In a real survival situation, getting rained on and cold without adequate protection, and without taking appropriate action would be a death sentence. I think adding this level of depth to the weather system could create some incredibly tense gameplay. Players will have to pay attention to the skies and you might find yourself in a situation where you need to find or steal a raincoat before it starts raining, or get to shelter. With all players heading to the nearest buildings to get out of the rain you would also be forced to defend and stake out the building you occupy. I think it would be cool, if rain wasn't an inconvenience, but something that required us to change what we are doing in order to come out the other end unscathed.

Well you could get items such as bin liners which you could choose to line your bag with perhaps, then you could also find a waterproof backpack.

What are my thoughts? They probably just got fully geared out and wanted to give their guns a go. Balota is a high traffic area, so they thought it would be a good place to wait for someone. When I high traffic area, I make sure that I do so very very carefully. For example I went to Balota last night, and I didn't run straight through the usual way, I went to the hills around the back, waited for a while to see if there was any movement around any of the buildings, or any snipers nearby (as the hill is the kind of place they would camp). I then proceeded cautiously making sure if at any moment I did see a player I could get into a good position to defend myself. Whenever I go across open ground I run in a zig-zig pattern and take cover in trees when going from point A to point B. Sure there may not be any threat in some random field that is miles away from any high traffic area, but it is good to get into the habit of always doing it. I try to ask myself at all times whether there are any positions that people might be able to kill me from easily, if there are I move to a better position. I think people are too impatient and thoughtless whilst playing DayZ. They don't spend any time looking to see if other players are around before they sprint in wearing a bright orange backpack and loot the place. Then they come here and make a thread when they inevitably die. You can cut out a huge percent of the times you get killed just by thinking about what you are doing and being a bit patient. Don't just rush into a place looking for loot. Keep a good eye out and make sure you're not going to get caught with your pants down. Edit: Also, my tip of the day is setting your default character to be wearing green jeans and the beige or green t-shirt. If you want to survive don't go for the aesthetically pleasing look, go for what keeps you less visible.

Not to be one of those annoying people that instantly shouts 'Alpha' But I imagine that once more weapons are added, it will be easier to get this kind of stuff in cities. I mean I already found a few revolvers in the office/school building, so I should think once the full range of weapons are added, going to a military base to get kitted up won't be so necessary. On a side note, being able to craft armour would be wicked. Maybe a really crude vest that you make from sheets of scrap metal that makes you hard as fuck, but really slow.

You made a mistake, why not learn from it instead of moaning about others for capitalizing on it? (I highlighted your mistake in bold)

Really? How is that a great idea? I don't understand. If you're in the harsh world of the apocalypse, do you have some magical sixth sense that goes 'watch out dude there is bad guys around'? No you don't. What you have to do is get to a safe vantage point and observe for as long as it takes to ascertain whether someone is in the area. If you can't bring yourself to do this in the game, you deserve to die, over and over again until you learn. DayZ is not, nor should it ever be a game that holds a players hand. You just need to get better at it. Jeez...