jovlon

At this point I just try to ignore the fanboys. I used to find it comical how normal gamers and fanboys feuded but now they're rather annoying. If anybody ever has a bit of a criticism against the sacred DayZ or God Dean then you can expect for at least one person to skim over your post and make a combative post essentially trying to bully you. It's either that... You joined the wrong server even if it was official You just don't understand that it's Alpha or You're whiny And when there's no other explanation they search until they find a statement made by the developers months and or years ago about what the developers planned to do.

Beyond the novices that hacked based on the first post or YT video that they saw, I personally feel like BattleEye has yet to be effective. I've been the victim of one of the prominent multi-hacks still out there. In both cases my character was transported on an entirely different part of the map (meaning that there's no way that it could have been desync). This last time I was transported from Electro to the NW Airfield. The guy that I was playing with was transported to his death and in the middle of an intense gun battle. Additionally, BattleEye (or at least the update) has negatively impacted performance for an abundance of players. I've literally yet to see a real return from having BattleEye. Yes it's Alpha and yes it will perhaps get better but I know from other player's post and players that I've talked to that Battle Eye isn't something that a lot of gamers trust and I now count my self as part of that group. There needs to be a more proactive approach to go with the reactive methods. Do you trust Battle Eye?

@Nik21 You obviously didn't read my post. And clearly you've never been a part of any game development team. Yet I don't know how things work eh? And yes I call not getting to the root of the problem ineffective. So let me explain to you how to be PROACTIVE when it comes to hackers with reactive measures to back it up. I'll try to keep it simple and quick. How To Significantly Reduce Hacking 1) Much like a security software firm, bring on a security breach team (hackers) to attack and pose threats to your product. 2) Once these hackers discover holes, patch them up until they are proven to be 95+% secured (nothing can be 100% as new updates can have unpredictable effects). 3) Have said hackers periodically release hacks that are deemed to be secure on targeted websites for download and or purchase. 4) This is where the reactive measures come in. Once a gamer attempts to play using measures that the anti-cheat client already has deemed unfair, they will instantly be perma-banned. You repeat this process and release what are thought to be new hacks until it becomes well known that the company themselves are releasing the hacks. This generally deters 85-90 percent of would be cheaters as they are usually the gamers that simply download (and often times purchase) the hacks. Yes there will remain a small percentage of gamers that can create their own hacks (I've found to be around 3-5 percent) but it becomes much easier to target those gamers... the root of the problem and eliminate them. You may say that the math doesn't add up and you're right. That's because once the gamers that would pay and download a hack are banned or stopped downloading, there becomes less incentive to continually attempt to work around the system. There's little to no monetary gain or gratification left in it. Besides the fact that I've personally experienced this method working, as an example lets look at Windows and Mac. There's this large myth that OS X is far harder to hack to Windows OS. This of course is false. The reason that Windows OS gets hacked far more often then OS X is because it has dominated the general market-share and the market-share for key demographics (business, school, etc). Basically there's a far greater incentive to hack Windows instead of OS X. There's more money to be made, more targets, and a higher chance of hacking a major organization (as most support Windows over OS X). This theory applies to multiplayer games as well. Most hackers are simply looking for the largest markets to hack for. If you greatly diminish the market, they'll move on the next game because there's actually incentive and profit to be made. And that's where my disappointment comes from Nik21. That there is no proactive approach but rather only a reactive approach which will always welcome hackers. So much more could be done, yet gamers like you accept that this is the best that a development team can do for some reason. But maybe you're right. Maybe I don't know anything about this at all in any way shape or form. I'm only speaking from experience and what has worked multiple times for the teams that I've been on in the past.

And this is my point exactly. Of course those that have never been hacked will feel safe and protected by any anti-(whatever) software. But those that have had issues multiple times realize how ineffective and (in my mind) inefficient this software really is. If my anti-virus software is going to be a constant pain I want to see returns from that. If Battle Eye is going to take away from my performance I want to see a return from that. Yes I understand the cycle of a hacker and the hack that they create but this isn't necessarily a new cheat. \ I think that the problem is that most people view anti-cheat software and protocols as something that can only react rather than something that can be proactive. People say that it's Alpha so just live with it or that the hackers will be banned soon enough. I know personally from A) Having worked on small development teams and B) having taken more proactive measures against hackers when on those teams that there's more (and I'd venture to say far more) that could be done. So to say that hacking can't be fixed when there are countless examples of other games that made a point to take a hard stance on hacking is to me absurd. And yes months and years ago the developers stated that anti-cheating is one of their top priorities (as any multiplayer developer must say) but would you say that at this point in the development that the actions have backed the words?

***This isn't a thread to discuss how to minimize player habits (DON'T POST ABOUT KOS, BANDITRY, ETC.). This is a thread to discuss what features we feel should operate better and be more stable.*** I want to begin by noting that I've worked on small game dev teams and so I truly understand what Alpha and the other stages of game development mean. Therefore, I'd like for this to be a discussion about the features that are currently in game that we as players feel needs a larger devotion of focus and resources. While I'd prefer to steer the topic towards core gameplay rather than player's features (the things that we love, gun models and mechanics, military loot, etc.), I'm open to discussing these elements as well. I also want to note that I understand that the developers have stated that they intend to focus on these features (albeit a while ago). I don't want to be jumped on by the fanboys for attempting to have a straightforward and legitimate discussion. And lastly I'm speaking from the perspective of a newer player than what many of you may be (didn't play the mods). List of Things That Need Focus Zombies/Infected * Even in their diminished AI state, zombies/infected shouldn't be able to go through walls In-Game Immersion Street Signs * After a recent death I decided to attempt to reduce my reliance on external maps. I didn't play the mod so SA is my first time getting to know the world. In doing this, I've noticed that some of the street signs that give directions are inaccurate. Some have stated that a town was in the opposite direction of it's actual location. Obviously this makes the external maps almost a necessity if simply for route planning. Cheating This is more for those who feel that they've encountered perceived hackers even after the latest implementations. I'd love to hear your experiences. * I understand that this is alpha and a hacker's task is to always be ahead of and find ways around current implementations that deter and eliminate unfair player advantages. And I've been told that this was somewhat common in the mod. I've even watched YT videos where a player will spot another player from an impossibly far distance away. And I'm sure that every patch from here until the game's end will update anti-hack measures. I've noticed that some players are still using multi-hacks on a frequent basis. Glitching Again I understand that this is Alpha Glitch Deaths * I've noticed that there's a tendency to glitch off of tall structures to a player's death (even structures that should only break bones) and from the inside to the outside of a barrack to a military base. Essentially as of now based on this and the zombie glitch, solid structures aren't solid. Rubber Banding * I've experience two occasions where in different circumstances a player would have an extremely unfair advantage. 1) A friend went inside of a building. Quite a few seconds later his character model began to stealthily creep on the street before me and towards the building with their gun out. Of course assuming it was another player a took a shot. Apparently the friend was still inside of the building sitting still. 2) After reaching a rendezvous point before two other gamers I noticed what I thought to be a player looting two buildings. I sat for a few minutes watching this character model do what I assumed was looting. Once it appeared that the model had a friend with him I took the shot. The gamers that I was to meet up with informed me that they were taking fire but that it wasn't extremely close. Eventually we pieced together that it was extreme rubber banding and that they'd actually been crouching in one location for a few minutes waiting for me as their character models appeared (from my limited view) to be looting the two buildings. Neither of them looted the buildings. In both cases if it were a hostile I'd be dead. If a hostile was nearby I'd likely be dead. Again I understand that this is Alpha. I'd like to hear your take on my opinions, your opinions and experiences, things that you feel should be reworked and or stabilized, etc.

This post isn't to make a features suggestion. It is rather to suggest that the game design team shift their development philosophy during the Alpha phase. I want to first say that I understand the need to balance exciting "player" features (guns, cooking, vehicles) with core gameplay mechanics (zombies, anti-cheating, etc). By increasing the player's features you keep the players excited and happy while gaining other long-term players. That being said I think that it's time to shift the primary focus from player's features to core gameplay mechanics. Because this game has a history (DayZ Mod) I believe that players know that more exciting features such as vehicles are around the corner. This should eliminate the pressure of making it a primary focus. I would instead use Alpha and the next several updates to rework: Zombies * The walking through walls glitch needs to be fixed * Combat needs to reworked as a zombie that appears to be far away from a character can still get a hit on a character Player Glitching * Players often glitch through "solid" objects such as building walls or railings off of tall structures * Ghost running has become an issue Anti-Cheating * This seems to have been taken care of but it needs to be as near to perfection as possible * Combat Logging falls into this category. Adding a logout timer or other fix Character Wiping * Even reputable servers can wipe a character putting a player at a disadvantage Item Maximization * Items that are already in the game should have maximum returns on their usability (i.e. sunglasses should diminish the glare of the sun) There are many more examples of core gameplay mechanics that should be improved upon, stabilized, and perfected before moving towards more complex features. I'm sure that most players (and certainly the development team) are aware of these issues. Feel free to add-on your suggestions. And of course I fully expect to hear both sides of the debate. Ultimately the point is that players should be able to do these basic things without fear of repercussion.