Knifeguy

I found this patch has made the game considerably less enjoyable. As a new spawn, gaining the attention of a zombie is pretty much a death sentence to me. I can't seem to get my frame rate above 15 in towns, so I have significant trouble keeping track of where the zombies are. And good lord, they hit 10x faster than I can swing. By the time I manage to land a couple of blows I've already been hit 10-20 times. The lack of loot has made stealth game play an impossibility. I starve to death before I can find enough food and water to sustain me, and if I go faster I come back around to the problem of being a zombie punching bag with no chance of surviving. I would love to see a more functional melee system before the zeds get buffed again.

I had two encounters the other day on one server in short succession. Once in the jail house in Zelenagorsk. He came upon me as I ate an orange with an AK pointed at my head. Not much I can do in close quarters with no weapon out, so I comply with his demands. He rooted through my stuff, took my AK mag, a compass, and some bandages, then let me go on my way. Overall a pleasant (even though I got a little robbed) experience. He was just being cautious. Not 10 minutes later a lady wearing a skirt and an SKS ran in on me in some barracks. I was a little more alert this time and already has a 1911 out, just in case. Turned out she just needed some help with a splint. I gave her some morphine, we went on our way, bumped into each other a few times before we left the base. Plenty of opportunity to off one another if we felt like it. There are decent people out there, but there are plenty of idiots who'd rather be a jerk than be friendly. I'm always cautious, but I give people the benefit of the doubt. I haven't been betrayed yet.

I think I can run from the NW airfield to Novo in about 20-25 minutes. That's about 4.5 miles. It seems like we can run roughly 5 minute miles in DayZ. That's not factoring in hills and stopping to make sure I'm going the right way.

The interesting thing is this demonstrates how easy it is to get turned around IRL. A little shift in direction to make the uphill easier, a subconscious tweak here to follow a particular line, and then before you know it you're going in completely the wrong direction. Landmarks and references are the best way to keep track. If you are new then it'll take a little time to find the recognizable points, but one you do you'll likely be able to figure out where you are.

I've always enjoyed playing as the sniper, primarily so I can provide Overwatch for my friends. I've been able to direct my squad to safely avoid people or surround them with as little risk to themselves as is feasible in a game like this. If I'm by myself I'm more likely to take a shot near someone if I want to scare them off. Getting blown away without any warning or provocation sucks, so I try to avoid doing it to people.

The very first people I ran into in DayZ, I have been good friends with now for almost a year. You just never know what will happens. I suppose that's what makes this game so interesting.

Isn't that what holding Shift while walking does?

Haha! Right now it's hiding in the grass, looking around cautiously and thinking "I should take a better look around.". You stand to attention, saluting with your eye enhancement devices, and nearly waving a flag going "LOOK AT MEEEE."

I look forward to when you can use the binoculars in crouch and prone position.

In my experience, Berenzino is the new Elektro.

Sniping that distance is very difficult. I find that even with pristine attachments when it gets to a certain distance there's a decent amount of luck involved, mostly at 700+ meters.

You're really just coming off as another whiner with no patience. Report the bugs, start over, and keep looking for more bugs. The only reason to get into early access is to help bug test, not to get early access to a finished product. My friend fell through a floor the other day and got beaten to death by 5 zombies. His response was "well that sucks, grab what you can off my corpse and I'll re-gear." NOT "this game is so broken I can't believe I paid money for this the devs are lying and are just sitting on our money waaaahhhh.". Be useful or don't be useful, just keep the whining to yourself.

I think you'd be surprised at how common that is.

I generally find that people who get fed up with the game not being complete turn completely against it. It very quickly turns into "this game is fucking stupid and anyone who supports it and believes the devs are morons and fanboys." It's not even voicing an opinion, it's just spewing vitriol. Congratulations, you ignored all warnings and purchased the game anyways! A game that should not be realistically released for another two years. If you're that unhappy with it then just leave and stop being a detriment to the community. On topic, I enjoy the new difficulty level of the zombies. The melee combat is pretty clunky, but it's manageable. There definitely are phantom hits and Dalsim zombies, though. My favorite was coming across a zombie standing still and throwing melee attacks at nothing. I got closer in behind it to look and I got hit. AOE zombie attacks, wheee!

Unless it's a head wound the odd of surviving a single gun shot are about 70% +/-. Especially from handguns.