Celt (DayZ)

Well, apparently with the AKM that has been added in experimental, adding a folding stock increases accuracy to a great degree, while with the wood stock you can't hit shit at long range. I had really hoped this shit would stop, but apparently we're just going to have to get used to ridiculous RPGish weaponry and attachments.

So, what's the news? Any changes or rebalances, or is everything still awful? I still haven't heard anything from the devs addressing this issue. I'd love to hear at least something confirming that they've heard our complaints.

Well, it can definitely be lethal... but when 5.56 takes 5 shots to the chest to kill, what's the point in arguing? The current ballistics and damage system makes no sense. IMO, the game should have a sort of damage system similar to Red Orchestra, with vitals very vulnerable to damage. Not sure how hardcore this should be, there would likely be a lot of argument on that. Also, despite what some people say, .22 LR is not going to be really accurate after 100 yards. It slows down significantly and spreads everywhere. The main thing is that .22 LR will kill if it hits a vital area, but so should everything else. If it was balanced according to current game mechanics it would take 10 shots to the chest to incapacitate anyone, because damage is so screwy.

Another funny thing I keep seeing is people arguing over the lethality of .22 LR, due to the 10/22 that will be added soon. Some people say that it can and will kill at close range, others are arguing that it isn't powerful enough. Well, it can definitely be lethal... but when 5.56 takes 5 shots to the chest to kill, what's the point in arguing? The current ballistics and damage system makes no sense. IMO, the game should have a sort of damage system similar to Red Orchestra, with vitals very vulnerable to damage. Not sure how hardcore this should be, there would likely be a lot of argument on that.

Depending on quality, a Mosin can range from pretty accurate to... not so much. They're pretty old rifles and they were built to outfit armies, not a handful of elite snipers. The Russians handpicked the most accurate of what they made for their snipers, but the vast majority were only battle rifles.

I'm not so sure about that... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfiXFyIbOZw

If they used sway/recoil, they wouldn't have to. Set the gun to semi auto and recover your aim after each shot and you're set. Full auto... well, you're going to be all over the place, but it's good for suppressive fire or panicked close-quarters fighting. The M4 should definitely be a better weapon. It's got a decent effective range, and though its round isn't the most powerful, it can still do some damage. It's useful in almost every situation; close-quarters, it can be used like a submachinegun. At longer ranges, it can hold its own against full-size assault rifles. It should be a lot rarer, though, and if you have one you should have to clean it and care for it thoroughly and frequently so it doesn't jam. It should be a high-maintenance, but potentially very useful, weapon. Same goes for most NATO weapons, honestly. It forces you to make the choice: do you want a good-enough, low-maintenance durable weapon with relatively common ammo, or do you want to invest some time and effort into getting ammo for your high-tech military weapon and into cleaning it up after every fight? The AK is the best of both worlds, really. I think that if durability was factored in, I'd choose the AKM over any other weapon. But it's all a personal choice; do you want to hunt players or just protect yourself from the hordes? Do you have the resources to keep your gun working?

I feel like they got really excited about having the attachment system fleshed out, so figured they needed to have a ton of attachments to showcase it. The only real difference with the stocks and handguards was cosmetic, though, so I guess they made them into magic accuracy generators. Honestly I wouldn't care about what handguard or stock I had on my rifle if it didn't have such a huge gameplay effect. Makes more sense to just have stuff like flashlights and different sights, but since they already have the parts in... If a Magpul stock changed accuracy so much, then why the hell would the military outfit their troops with the awful standard parts?

Maybe not remove it entirely, but make it pretty rare as other weapons are added to the game. I'd like to see a large variety of weapons, so AK74 and AKM make sense. Having a bunch of military weapons is fine as long as there are a lot of civilian weapons too, and the military ones are much rarer. A lot of different ammo types would be great too, but I think some ammo should always spawn with a weapon or at least nearby. It makes sense that it would be stored near the weapon, right? And it allows ammo in general to be much rarer so that you have to ration what little you got with the gun. Remember when having an AK74 in the mod was thought of as being pretty much geared? I'd like to return to those days. An assault rifle is a great practical weapon, large magazine and decent range so it fits a lot of situations. Shouldn't be too common.

Well, it's a step forward. I just hope they flesh out the system a bit more.

I think another big problem is that they're trying to balance the Mosin with the M4. One is a surplus rifle from the World War era, and the other is a high-grade military weapon. The Mosin shouldn't be equal; it's not a precise sniper rifle, just an ordinary battle rifle. It may pack more punch per bullet, but it can't compete with the M4's rate of fire and utility. The main problem is that the M4 was almost as common as the Mosin for the first month or so of the SA. The M4 should be a rare, useful military weapon, not a hopelessly nerfed close-quarters-only weapon.

Don't think a .22 is going to be very effective in terms of damage at 300 meters, or that it can be used to hunt deer (at least, not easily or quickly). Otherwise, great guide! Thanks

I don't think it's that everyone just wants to play it as a deathmatch, but that people want to defend themselves and their gear. The safest way to deal with another player right now is to kill them outright and not risk letting them react at all. I almost never KOS, but I try to avoid conflict in general so usually I don't have to. I do know that if I see someone in full military gear and they don't see me, I'm probably not going to risk doing anything other than sneaking away or killing them.

I still haven't really heard any response from the devs about what was intended and what their future plan is. I'd like to know that they've heard about this issue, at least.

It's an AK74 that they're adding, so it uses 5.45x39.