BeefBacon

Gameplay should always trump realism, but the gameplay should strive to be as realistic as possible. For all the talk of DayZ being this hard-as-nails survival anti-game, it is still a game, and games should be fun. Also, yes, RO-style death/KO would be nice. You should fall to the ground and bleed out over the course of a few seconds -all while it fades to black. If you get shot or hit in the head, the blackout should be instant.

Ah that's true. Okay, provided that all the food that grows across the map isn't totally healthy and just ready to eat, I could see that working. The odd exception (apples, certain berries) is fine, I'd just be concerned about these sorts of food sources being absolutely everywhere. But, as you say, many of them could have major drawbacks. I think I'd just prefer the kaleidoscope colours and general dizziness, making it very difficult to defend yourself for several minutes. It should only kill you if your character is already a bit beaten up. A healthy player should be able to survive the poison. Of course if you've been hit by a couple of arrows, odds are pretty good that you'll be a bit worse for wear at that point anyway.

I don't know. Reading through his comments he's clearly ignorant, but I don't take much issue with what he's saying. He bought the game, decided he didn't like it and found he couldn't refund it. I think he's well within his rights to suggest improvements to a game that is now stuck in his Steam library. I would say to him, though, that it's important to understand the topic before you start complaining. You don't buy into an early access game that says, in all caps, "THIS GAME IS INCOMPLETE, DO NOT BUY IT IF THAT IS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM," and then say you have a problem because the game is incomplete. I guess that's for the other thread, though. Anyway, nightshade. I could get behind that. Poison-tipped arrows is a neat idea, though without knowing anything about the subject I don't know if that's in any way realistic. Assuming it is realistic, however, I'd like to see it. It shouldn't be totally lethal, but it should make whatever you hit pretty unwell after a few minutes. Poisoning melee weapons would be good too but, again, only if it's something that you could actually do with nightshade. As for the other fruits and veg - this comes up a lot and I'm of two minds. On one hand, yes, if you're starving you should be able to eat pretty much whatever. On the other hand, that would result in an overabundance of food, which wouldn't make for a very challenging survival game.

Check it out:

Night is enjoyable for PvE. However, knowing that people use the gamma exploit means that I feel like I also have to use the gamma exploit, which sort of defeats the purpose of night time. It's also only enjoyable for a short period of time. It eventually gets to the point where you just want it to be day. It really drags on. Short nights and long days - even if that isn't realistic - would be ideal. Think of the short nights as simulating sleep, or something. As had already been pointed out, most people would't do anything at night in a survival situation anyway, and since there's no sleep it does make sense to compromise by simply making nights shorter. Even better, let servers dictate the length of days and nights independently. By fixing the gamma exploit and reducing the length of nighttime, I think players would be much more willing to play at night. Night is an important part of survival games, after all. Playing Misery and seeing the sun set, and then being plunged into near pitch-black is super scary and atmospheric - but it works in Misery because you can skip the night by sleeping. You don't have to sit through two hours of being blind. Ultimately it's an issue of what is fun to play. Currently, for most people, night time isn't enjoyable even from an anti-game perspective.

I'd prefer it if players spawned with ruined clothing, making it important to find new clothing as soon as possible. They could even spawn damp, meaning they'd have to dry off too.

Yes, that fucking footstep noise. I'm not sure what exactly it is or what it's supposed to be, but it sounds like a couple of footsteps and it always wigs me out. I hope they remove it.

I'd be surprised if they didn't add more heads. I'm sure they will eventually.

A permadeath mod would be neat. Maybe if your character dies you can't log back on to that server for a week or something. Interesting ideas here. I hope to see more mod ideas as we approach beta.

Could somebody post a link to this livestream? Did they say anything else, or was it just the devs playing around?

The early success of DayZ led the devs to increase the scope of the game. They had originally planned to release it in 2015 (I think) but when they decided to rebuild the game from the ground up, a 2015 release obviously wasn't feasible. Frankly, I'm happy that they made this decision. In an alternate reality, there's a DayZ that was released in 2015 because the devs decided against a redesign. That version of DayZ is inferior to the version we are going to get. I'm sure the devs wish that they had endeavoured to create the game they are making now way back when they first started development, but I don't think there's much that they could, or should, have done differently. Also remember that DayZ was among the first high-profile Early Access games. The devs are effectively pathfinders for what not to do in Early Access. Considering that, I think they've handled Early Access quite well. Time between updates is a funny one. When DayZ first entered EA we got regular small updates. When they went with the redesign, we still got frequent updates, but we also got the occasional big update. But what did people do? They complained because the small updates were mostly just adding clothing and other items. The reality (I believe) is that they were releasing these smaller updates in order to stop people from complaining about the lack of updates. All it did was cause people to complain about the updates themselves. You can't win. Ultimately they settled with just releasing the big tech updates, which is fine by me. I expect that when all the major tech is implemented, we'll see more frequent updates that have a major effect on gameplay. For now we just have to be patient. The devs did hire a bigger team. Having more people doesn't necessarily mean development proceeds at a faster rate, however. You also have to consider the long-term sustainability of having so many new employees. That's my take on it anyway. Could be that they just prefer having a smaller team than a larger team, which is understandable. The devs might regret the road map, however. That's been the source of a lot of grief. It's good that they're no longer declaring release dates because when they miss them it's hugely disappointing. I think they know this, so they've learned not to promise things that they're not certain they can deliver. Again, the devs were in new territory when it comes to game development. Can't blame them too much.

But he's right. In fact that's exactly what I do. I don't want to play DayZ right now because it isn't finished, and there's not that much of an enjoyable game at the moment after a couple of hundred hours playing (since 2013). I gave 0.62 a whirl, looked at the trees, listened to the new audio, explored a bit and all that good stuff, but there's no new actual content to keep me interested. I'm not going to play DayZ, so I'm probably going to play Fallout 4, or CSGO, or Empire at War, or maybe pick up The Witcher again, or something. I don't like it so I'm going to play something else. I'll probably play the shit out of 0.63 though. Early Access is not for everyone. Hell, it's barely for me, but I accept that DayZ is still in development.

This. Exactly that. I'm almost certain I've suggested it in the past - but that is exactly what I would like to see. It has the added benefit of players in the distance not being followed by a strange patch of grass, because the grass itself is invisible and only, effectively, serves as an alpha channel. I'm not sure if players sinking into the ground is supposed to simulate grass, or if it's a terrain LOD thing, where terrain loses definition at a distance and raises above where the "actual" terrain is. If it's the former then I'm certain a better solution can be found. If it's the latter then that's fine, I suppose. Perhaps certain items should also have this grass layer, since they'll stick out like a sore thumb at a distance.

That's a good idea. With survival becoming more difficult in future, players will want to carry around more food and water, rather than simply relying on water pumps and apple trees. However, having layered sounds would actually incentivise carrying less, not more, in order to remain stealthy.

I think it probably goes without saying that it'll be fixed. No doubt it'll be fixed automatically by the new player controller, since that handles interactions, but even if it isn't I'm sure the devs are aware of it.

Spoopy zeds yelling at you in the night seems kind of arbitrary, but it'd be neat if their behaviour changed at night, somehow - perhaps a select few (the more 'aware' ones) could go into a sort of hunter mode where they actively stalk players and animals. It'd certainly add extra tension to night time since it's usually pretty safe to loot at night considering the zombies (whoops, I mean infected) are pretty much blind. Then again, I suppose part of the meta is that looting at night is easier in regards to PvE, so maybe that shouldn't be messed with too much. I'd like to see a greater range of weather types. Heavy fog inland would be nice. Drizzle would be cool as a mild alternative to either full-on rain or thunder storms. Sleet as well - that'd be super dangerous. Roaming groups of zeds would be great too, as well as zeds spawning inside of buildings. I don't want to see forced spookiness. As an aside, I'd really like to see way more animals - particularly small animals like rabbits, foxes and birds. Maybe even something like a muntjac if they're region-appropriate. Chernarus always feels so dead - wildlife should be everywhere. Deer and cows, being fairly easy to kill and yielding a lot of meat and other resources, should still be fairly rare, however.

I suppose DayZ is in what could be more accurately called a pre-alpha, and is about to move into a traditional alpha with .63 when they actually start adding gameplay features. I've a feeling that the move to "beta" is more of a marketing thing, because they can't really say "now after 3 years of development, DayZ is finally ready to enter alpha!" People would lose their shit, but it would be hilarious. It is, obviously, a new stage of development however and it deserves a new name to reflect that progress. Beta works. I'll treat .62 like I've treated every patch. Play it every now and then for a couple of weeks, then give it a rest. I wish development was faster, but it isn't. I know that the final product is going to be great, but I'm not desperate to play it. I'm happy to patiently wait and play other games in the mean time.

Chernarus is great, but can we expect to see any other maps? It's thought that certain maps that were popular in the mod might make a reappearance, but might we also see a completely new map some time in the future as well? If so, what sort of theme might it have? If not, what sort of maps would you like to see developed by the community? What is your most and least favourite aspect of Chernarus? How will the map border be addressed? Will we ever see running water?

I don't know. Even if I knew how to make gunpowder, I don't think my first response in any survival situation would be "I should make an arquebus." But then I suppose I don't have anything against it being in the game so long as it's purely crafted or, perhaps, can be found in a museum building. I'd actually love a museum. Would be a great place for the great helmet and the sword to spawn, as well as the Mosin and any other outdated weapons or items... I mean, sure, I doubt that realistically those weapons would actually still function, and the sword wouldn't be exactly sharp, but eh. Would still be cool.

It must be so frustrating for the devs to see negative comments about DayZ's development. I've long held the belief that the only real mistake made in DayZ's development so far has been the decision to go into Early Access so early. Even then, it wasn't necessarily a mistake at the time because the scope for what DayZ would become was a lot smaller. It only became a mistake when the devs decided they wanted to create something better, at which point they realised that they'd pretty much have to start from scratch. Most games that enter early access don't do so before development on the game has properly begun. So of course development feels slow. I think people also forget that DayZ was among the first big Early Access games. It was pioneering. In hindsight, it was a great decision and a poor decision. EA provided the funding and momentum necessary to make the standalone even better than originally planned, but it led directly to the issues we see today with people complaining about development speed. If they'd never entered EA, we would probably have gotten DayZ at the end of 2014... but it wouldn't have had all the new tech the devs are working on now. So I suppose it's a bit of a Catch 22, but ultimately I'm happy with the decisions the devs have made. Some people have complained about being blocked on Twitter and banned from forums, however. If they're just trolling and generally being assholes then fair enough, but some have claimed that they've had constructive criticism and have been banned anyway. I don't know if this is true, but I'm hoping it isn't. I guess an emerging issue is PR - but then it's clear that the devs are addressing that. More little updates in between status reports would be nice. I don't know what form those updates should take, but just something to fill in the two week gap between status reports. Also, can we expect the new HUD in .62? new audio? Or is it purely new forests and terrain textures?

I don't really want to see mods until DayZ hits 1.0, but I'm super keen on seeing new maps. I hope the devs release mapping tools soon - maybe with an early version of the beta.

Incentivising cooperation is always better than arbitrary penalties for killing - especially when the variables in play are too many to count. If someone runs at you with an axe and you shoot them in self defence, should you suffer penalties because you've killed another player? The game can't register the intent of players, and so any variables you could include to make the game recognise whether a player is behaving aggressively and is therefore okay to kill can be circumvented. As such, as I said, it's better to incentivise cooperation than to implement arbitrary punishments - not only from a programming perspective but also from a gameplay perspective. So maybe the discussion should lean more towards how we can make cooperating with other players an attractive prospect. When soft skills and stamina is introduced it's possible we'll see a reduction in KoS. People are less likely to want to engage when there's a possibility that they'll lose their high level character, and the stamina system will make it much more difficult to simply sprint back to your body and continue the fight. Alternatively, players might become even more aggressive, knowing that if the other player shoots first then they'll lose their character and won't be able to recover their gear. Hard to say either way, but I'm against punishing players for taking part in a fundamental aspect of DayZ... even though I'm often a victim of it, and my attempts to KoS almost always fail miserably. I'm bad at DayZ.

Or... slightly lower the prevalence of weapons, but make it so that the vast majority of weapons are "worn" or worse, making the weapons themselves less reliable, and weapon maintenance necessary. Finding a gun shouldn't be hard. improving a gun to pristine should.

Yup, I remember that too. Seems fair to assume that eventually internally loaded weapons will be able to spawn with ammo eventually.

I recently got back into DayZ. Don't know why, just sort of had a hankering for it - I'll probably play for a few more days and then give it a rest again. I last played a couple of months ago and I'm just as big of a babby now as I was then. I hate going to military locations. They're fucking stressful. Every now and then I'll suck it up and go for one - usually because I just happened to wander near it (or, on a couple of occasions, actually accidentally stumbled into one) so I figure I'll take the risk and go looting. What do I find? Fuck all. A green sweatshirt, a pen, a stripped-down AK-74 and a pair of badly damaged boots. Every time. Every base I visit. Nada. I went to the Zelenogorsk base last night and came across a warzone - I was smart enough not to go into the one building that had the doors shut, the other guy wasn't, and got turned into paste as a result. Got away from that altercation with the satisfaction that I had seen an empty 30rnd AK magazine on the floor - that was good. Despite that, right now my character is pretty geared. How? Those tent checkpoints the devs added in .61. I have consistently found better loot at those tents than I have at any big military base. It's pretty much exclusively clothes - but it's good clothes. I even found an assault vest and an M65 jacket. No guns, but I have a Winchester and an MP5 so I'm not even really looking for guns. Hunting stands are great too, and I found the MP5 in one of those green guard houses in some village somewhere. Had a magazine in it too. Most people do a loot run that hits as many military bases as possible in as short a time as possible. I loot all the hunting stands and random out of the way villages. So I give up on military bases. They're shit and they're not worth the risk. Give me a deer stand and a backwater hamlet any day.