Death By Crowbar

I don't see why any reports would be needed at all - it could/should be automated to at least somewhat correct cases where people were wiped but never died and clearly should not be naked. The only time it would make sense for people to be wiped would be when a global wipe was announced. Today from what I've experienced and seen on the forums it seems to be fairly random - those random cases I would have to imagine could be at least detected via a simple litmus test and if not corrected in whole at least corrected in spirit by giving the player the benefit of the doubt via a minimal (possibly random) outfitting of food/drink and meelee/firearm. My preaching here is that there is a very large difference between an alpha/beta where everyone are merely testers and not paid customers. DayZ SA has a rather unique scenario where they have paid customers who have already supported the product and are wishing / hoping their monetary support is appreciated and not ignored. An opinion of "the customer is always right, give them the benefit of the doubt" would go a long way for people who've paid for the product already, alpha or not. That's just good business sense.

This is all database and log driven, is it not? There must be a way to detect if someone did not die and has no gear but HAD certain gear before that *something* couldn't be done. You don't need to give them exactly what they had before, but something to "make good" and not leave them naked and starving. An example, if it's possible to detect someone had a certain level of gear but didn't die, outfit them in a standard way - such as with a splitting ax, a 45 magnum with 6 bullets, and something to eat & drink. Databases support things such as cursors, queries, and triggers - surely it *must* be possible and not overly difficult to, while we're in this sensitive alpha period, identify when someone had "something" that took them time to obtain and simply make good via minimally re-outfitting them. That is simply software and databases and what they are intended to do in the first place, I would struggle to grasp that's at all difficult or problematic. A simple proc with a rule that states, "Is this person completely naked? Yes? Well did they die? No? Well did they have something of the following nature? Yes? Ok, they shouldn't be naked, give them this basic outfit package, because although it's not what they had before, it's better than nothing."

I looked around for a better soap box to preach my opinion on this and found the "Suggestions" area of the forums, and deposited a new thread there. There simply must be a better way...

There's a key factor for certain players here though - with my schedule, if I log in and my gear is gone, I'm going to log back about and probably not log back in for several days until I know I have time to make the necessary runs to get "something" that will roughly outfit me with an acceptable meelee weapon and firearm. Depending on where you spawn and which server you're on (assuming you're not dbagging it and logging into unpopulated servers to gear up) can literally take hours, and if you attempt so on a populated server may take serveral attempts to avoid zeds, not starve/dehydrate, and capture gear or overtake someone to gather the most basic gear. The issue the original poster brought up with logging in and gear being gone is actually a massive one - for users like me it makes the experience prohibitive and overly cumbersome. Or put another way, an hour of my time is worth far more than the ~$30 I paid for the game in the first place, rather than playing and logging any issues I find and voting on issues that mean things to me it's de-motivating and pushes me to either play something else or play nothing at all. As a developer or anyone with stake in a company I would imagine that should be taken as a major issue that should get priority. However, based on responses I typically see on the forums one would think the opposite, granted the responses that give me that opinion seem to come from nooone of any consequence and certainly noone who is either an active developer or forum admin.

I really don't think I'm complaining though Geckofrog7. In the past I think I've had a poor approach at making my any points here late at night after running into issues, but in this thread where the original poster had a point that I appreciate and have experienced I'm simply now trying to make the point that I think those issues are by in large avoidable, if not detectable/correctable. The age of working in game alphas where the users were constantly stripped naked should be a thing of the past - there's better ways to give them the benefit of the doubt and make good (via re-gear or equivalent gear up), especially if they've paid to participate (that's wildly different that the common open alpha/beta which is unpaid/free). That's something I would very much like to see addressed, and my gut is that it's well within the realm of possibility and would be extremely well received by the user base.

Perfect, very helpful. Reported Caboose187.

Inception - I've now read that, that is helpful. Somehow in my ignorance I missed that post even existed, after reading it I'm feeling a little less helpless, appreciate the direction.

Inception - I think what I'm trying to verbalize is that every time I see someone approach the forums with an issue related to something that is clearly related to alpha state and / or various data resets there is little sympathy and in fact typically a "deal with it, it's pre-alpha, LOL @ U!" mentality. Since we've paid to participate in this experience, I would instead hope/expect an alternative where such paid customers aren't simply generally laughed at and left out to dry. The lack of that and the ridicule folks who seek that receive I find disappointing.

Command and Conquer, really? /facepalm

Yes yes, Assassin's Creed. I've played since the original.

What is it with the Halo stuff? Last time I played Halo was over 10 years ago bro.

Paid customers deserve customer service.

True. The point I've been trying to make I still maintain - DayZ could easily be identifying and "making good" for paid customers when these things happen, early alpha or not. That's what good companies attempt to do.

Wat?

Do you work corrections or are you still in high school? Literally.

Like 6The6Count6's attitude. Still looking for a response from someone who is someone and not merely someone looking to troll. Tuesday nights are slow but I didn't think it would be this slow...

Have you logged a single bug, or voted on one? Just curious, I'm guessing not. Your gear disappears and you run around like a naked clown happy to have the new zed spawn rate rape you in the anooz while you hope for a fire axe and a long range scope and some beans - am I wrong? How long does that take you now? I'm sure you are fully amuse when zeds are behind you knee deep in the floor hitting you making you bleed out of some area of your rear as you tried frantically to pick up that can of sardines that wouldn't show up when you hit TAB but only shows up when you directly mouse over it and have to hit the "F" key to pick it up, and as you run out of the building bleeding out your rectum ripping up your tee-shirt you found the whole thing completely worth while and enjoyable. I'm sure that is accurate and there's no contestation. Am I wrong?

I've provided references. Until someone else provides any references I maintain that I predate any trools and would like to be taken seriously since I have experience in this, and I would like to once again take an opportunity to slap down the "this is alpha deal with it LOLZ @ U" crowd for their youthful ignorance. Paid customers should receive support that justifies their support and keeps them engaged. That is simple economics which should be totally achievable by a software company that is dedicated to the cause. I reiterate gear wipes with nothing but a "LOL @ U!" with no customer service make good interaction for a paid customer is totally, completely, and incredibly inappropriate, even in an alpha phase.

I ask - who are you? If you are noone but a troll - buzz off, or prove you're someone in the gaming community that should be taken seriously. That's going to take some work unfortunately...

Ok - http://www.graffe.com/forums/showthread.php?3461-How-amp-Where-to-Quad-Levels-34-45-By-Bicrius-of-Luclin... or log into EQ and go to Township Rebellion (anyone who knows EQ knows who that is) and ask Adetia, who's been the GL forever and was once upon a time the forum admin with Milynna. Fandiien is a member of TR as well, he and I used to be guilded. Who are you again?

This was nearly 13 years ago - when I give feedback it's not to whine needlessly - it's to point out major problems or to point our major opportunities. Granted, those are based on my opinion of what a major problem or major opportunity are but I even managed the entire Luclin community which the social/forum aspect of which was an order of magnitued larger than what's present for DayZ SA currently. I'm used to trolls, it was part of the job. Smedley, GM's, and others from Sony reached out to me on a regular basis. The point I'm trying to make is clear and valid - paid customers really don't need to and shouldn't deal with certain types of issues. Gear wipes are detectable and fixable, hell, if you can't give them what they had previously just upgrade them or give them a full load out. What's the harm in making good vs leaving them high and dry? Making good seems like an option that would be received with rave reviews vs raving rants. It just makes sense.

Fine, I'll bite. My credentials - I was Bicrius of Luclin in Everquest - the wizard who essentially wrote the book on quad kiting. Any wizard playing EQ previously to this day knows my name. I also participated in the EQ beta way back in the day. I participated in the DAoC beta, along with other MMORPG's such as Anarchy Online and DAoC. I was also a member of the HL2 Cyco admins and subsequently MIA servers in HL2. I also have a degree in computer science and co-founded a software company since, I would say I have credentials and experience to speak and leeway to call out trolls quite simply. Questions comments concerns suggestions? Shove them where the sun doesn't shine, I predate you.