froggan

Ok, I understand that point now. I am just afraid, in the absence of a clear cut announcement of how the server systems will look like in the future, that it will be just like the server hopping hell of WarZ and the current state of SA alpha. Hence my question on the clarification of "Eventually, we would like to see these different communities on their own db running their own variations of DayZ". Does this mean, if we choose to play on a server with its own database, that our characters will be "locked" to that particular server? God, I hope so! :)

Ok, then I must have missed this information. The articles I have read about renting servers and the like, which I find by googling "DayZ Standalone will private hives be implemented" and similar queries, all state that private hives are not available. I haven't found this resource where Rocket states that private hives will be available. If anything just people stating they have read this somewhere. The devblog doesn't state it anywhere, which I guess would be the best resource for this kind of announcement. No? Could you please give me the source of that information? (first-hand from Rocket or BI preferably) -edit Do you guys mean this announcement? Running on its own database = private hive in the sense that your character is "locked" to one server and cant jump from it and then back? Is that what he means? "Server Management Options Target Delivery: Ongoing Additional options for those hosting servers will be rolled out as soon as we can. We want to encourage a "hardcore" mode that will operate on a separate database, featuring things like first person only, no hide body, etc... In addition, we also want to provide passworded servers that will operate on their own shard of the database. This shard could be grouped, so that a group of passworded servers could operate on their own database. Eventually, we would like to see these different communities on their own db running their own variations of DayZ to meet specific communities needs."

The reason we went from DayZero to Origins, is that we weren't satisfied with the endgame in DayZero, and also what I guess was the same in Vanilla. With the ability of being able to build bases etc, the game became so much more exhilirating, and there was so much more to do! I want to add a link to an article you can all see in Steam - http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/02/19/dayz-diaries-the-one-where-andy-wonders-whats-next/?ns_campaign=article-feed&ns_mchannel=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0. It highlights what most people feel about which direction this game should take. Maybe you just want to wander around the map being in random firefights, but most of us wants something else. Just look at the migration from the vanilla mod to the other mods with more features.

I have only played DayZero as the closest thing to vanilla, and they seemed to have private hives. The only place I have encountered public hives was in WarZ, and see what happened to that? Yes, and my only argument about that was that you would face the same kind of issues of your stuff being on one particular server, if the server would cease to exist etc..

They (and also you) must have learnt by now that this "feature" is just dumb and not great at all. Everything else about a survival game in this genre is great, but not that "feature". You make it sound like this "feature" is the core of this type of game. Wake up, it actually only brings down the experience.

Do you mean going down temporarily due to some technical problem or whatever, or permanently? In both cases, as i mentioned, it has almost never happened to me. I have however chosen my servers with utmost care and meticulousness..

I am also thinking about some of the content Rocket and his team have stated that they plan to add. What about player crafted and built structures? With the current public system, are said structures going to exist on any server you join, or only on the server you built it on? If the latter is the case, then even with a public hive system, the problems of servers going down permanently is still apparent! The only thing is that the immersion would suffer even more since it would be weird if you had, say for example, an underground base at one specific spot on one server, but when you played the same character on a different server the underground bunker wouldn't be there.. Rocket! I am not feeling immersed!! Wasn't that one of the most important things for you, while you developed this? I am not talking about the current state of the game as it is in alpha, I am just curious to how the SA team plans to go forward with the discernable problems their architecture faces in mind.

I now understand that Wartzilla meant that the server may go down permanently, however, I think solutions exist for this issue as well. First, it can be player-exercised. Make sure the server you start out on seems reliable and have a system for YOU being able to pitch in for the monthly server costs. Second, there could be a system at hand that backups the servers' databases, so if the unfortunate would happen that a server and its content would disappear, there are ways to recover the data if anyone has the interest of continuing with the server. Third, and I don't know how feasible this is since I dont know the cost-structure for owning datacenters, but that BI stands behind all servers, instead of players paying for them as well as maintaining them. They have already turned over approximately 35 m euro. I just hope BI aren't looking to have the same profit margins on this game as Blizzard had/has for WoW of about 40-50%. Then of course it wouldn't be feasible with their own servers. I just hope they aren't as greedy as AAA producers..

Twice, during my 500 hours of Origins last summer, the server was down for about 4 hours due to DDOS to the server provider. Jeez, you don't have to, and maybe shouldnt, play a game for 55 hours straight like i did..? The break wasn't that unwelcomed. :) The point is that I never experienced any major problem of my server being down. And please do not use the term persistent in the context you are, since server hopping makes my experience if anything non persistent. In a private hive system, my character persists until I die inside that specific world. That is persistence for you.

It doesnt have to be so complicated to make things work. As I just wrote in another post, the issues of private hive server systems are easily fixable by exercising control of admin powers. (reference to the Origins mod in the state it was during the summer of 2013) This is something Rocket and BI could obviously have control over, just like the guys at gamersplatoon have. So the issues of admin abuse, custom loadouts etc could be non existant The issues of public hive server systems are not fixable at all since they are inherent! You will never be able to solve the hopping since that's the nature of having a public hive system. Even with your proposed solution, you would still hop, and the immersion would suffer. Why even keep the public hive system? The technical bits of updates, databases for loot spawns and player saving etc must be solveable. As I mentioned, I really don't understand the route of public hives that Rocket chosed. Very strange lack of judgment, since he should be the expert on this genre of games.

One thing you guys doesn't seem to understand is that the problems and issues you mention of admin abuse, custom loadouts etc. are easily fixable. The issue of public hives destroying the immersion and challenge of a survival game like this, are inherent to public hives and fixes doesn't exist. Even if you put a 30 min penalty timer for server hopping, you can still do it, hence the issue still remains. However, for the issues you address, you could just limit the admin powers, voila! Look for example at the Origins mod. I have played hundreds of hours, and before they added additional admin tools, I didnt see one case of abuse, or custom lootspawns etc. Were those servers private (i.e. one character per server)? Yes they were! So all you guys trying to argue against private hives, pls stop, because your arguments are not valid if you can control the amount of power an admin should have. Something Bohemia and Rocket obviously could do, just like the Origins team can.

I can't believe the dev team chose to go the route of public hives. I understand the development issues, where a public hive system makes it easier for certain updates to the game and control of it. I however think that this is an easy way out, or even lazy way of doing it, since I think you can still get the same control with a private hive system. The current system of public hives and being able to server hop destroys the immersion in such a blatant way, that me and most of my friends have given up hope for standalone. Lots of us played the scam game WarZ, and the hive system Rocket has chosen for his standalone, just brings all the bad memories from WarZ back. At the time of us switching from WarZ, to try some of the mods for ARMA2 for the first time, we were in such a joy because of all the positive things of having one server per character (ie. private hive system). Haven't Rocket also gone through the process of playing on public hive servers, and then trying private hive servers? If so he should be able to see the advantages to player immersion. Something he has talked about a lot during the last year when SA was in development. And as I see many people are trying to argue that admin abuse, custom loadout etc would make a private hive server system hell, they don't understand that it would also be possible to limit the admin's powers (just like many mods have done). So this is not a valid argument for not making it so that one's character is tied to one specific server. Join another server? You start fresh with a new character. We are thouroughly disappointed with the public hive system, and has made most of us stop playing and bugtesting Rocket's Alpha. (feedback from a group of about 10 Swedish players)