aspekx

very good points. i think deep down what appeals to players of 'apocalypse' and 'survival' scenario games is not only the challenge of getting by, but the whole idea of a fresh start. if i were to start a new survival game i would base it on a plague that wiped most of humanity out, or some other global natural catastrophe. from there i would want to see basic crafting from hunting and gathering to gardening and farming and finally the building of settlements. i think an added element might be to replace traders with high level craftsman. so, not everyone can craft a steel plough, but an npc metalsmith could for the right gathered materials and something extra as payment. this way the game could keep a cap on tech advancement as well as in the broader sense the player economy and relations. completely unrelated rabbit trail, education rant follows: on a sidenote one of the more troubling things i hear repeatedly in reference to the free for all killing is that it's 'evolution' and 'survival of the fittest'. what bothers me is that these interpretations of evolutionary biology are over a century out of date. the fact is we find that species spend less time killing each other and fighting each other over resources as they do in cooperation. why? because having only one member of the species survive is not the survival of the species at all. and there are even more pertinent reasons than just that as well: the wider the diversity of genetics, even genetics deemed at the time as 'weak' or unnecessary can at some point come to the fore as a prominent trait that leads to a species survival. ie., the more the merrier as far as genes seem to be concerned. it's just depressing that the most basic concepts in why a species survives as a whole and not as individuals appears to be completely uknown to the larger community.

i think in general kichilron is right in that Epoch is not DayZ. i think, that like Sovetsky, i was expecting a progressive move from DayZ, not an evolutionary leap or new species. let me add this however, i do think that what Epoch offers, as it stands now, is something that a lot of players are looking for: FFA PvP, looting, raiding, and base building. in another year i would think that even the zombies will be gone from Epoch so that the above items become the focus of Epoch. that isn't a bad thing to me. i love diversity of game play and mechanics. i just would also like to see some more diversity in actual survival gameplay, perhaps as suggested by both Red Scare and Sovetsky a game w/o traders at all or incredibly limited ones. perhaps a completely player run economy with a trader safe zone with the only traders being players. anyways, just thoughts of mine. and i do appreciate the other input here. it helps me figure out what i find lacking or even desirable in the game mechanics available.

FIRSTOFF: i don't care how you play on your server or any other i spose. some ppl really enjoy one thing, some another. if i have ever been for *any* game mechanic it has always been diversity of playstyle. so when read the following, please don't assume i hate helis, vods, w/e your personal pet is, cuz i truly and honestly don't and can say that i have enjoyed a number of these myself. curmudgeon follows: but really i do think it's more than being old and cranky (i hope). in the past i have really enjoyed hitching a ride on a heli, heli drops, vodniks even unarmed can be so much fun. however, im beginning to have my doubts. it seems more and more like the race to endgame in an mmorpg then a survival experience. add in purchasing most weapons and vehicles and it seems to go down a notch further for me. it really struck me today when someone had been apparently camping an airfield (duh), but they announced they were done when they had enough guns to buy their heli and i thought ... is that it? i mean you gotta get the cash first of course, which can be a fair challenge. but once you're there ... what? just fly over all opposition land directly on top of the loot shoot your way thru some zeds or unsuspecting freshies rinse and repeat? just seems like travel has lost all of it's power or cost. sure there's the server with the armored vehicle and it's AA guns ... or w/e and there's the occasional AI threat. all of these depending on the server. i dunno, it seems that flight as a generic game mechanic, not specific to this game, but to any game with an overland travel mechanic, removes much of the player encounter and becomes just an easy way to hop around and grab loot. i get that phatlootz is a big part of this game. it's why so many ppl still play oldschool Diablo -- kill monster grab loot! it is a fun mechanic. but even there you had inventory limits, choices had to be made, things left behind maybe. and it's not just flight, but have you ever ridden in a well armed armored vehicle through the center of zombie central? it's hilarious fun. and at times makes you wonder how the zed could have ever come close to winning. still i kinda wonder where the struggle to survive in that is? maybe, folks are tired of survival as a main game mechanic. i have thought a few times that the evolution for Epoch and other ARMA mods would move more towards an FFA PvP game because frankly a lot of time the zeds are just background noise, esp if you have one of these vehicles. which makes it pricey for someone with few resources to strike, but a no brainer for someone with a blackhawk/vod and enough ammo to fund a small war. okay, again, please dont take any of this as an attack on playstyles. frankly, i hope none of these options go away. i dont want them to, but i am wondering about game mechanics in general and how their presence or absence might impact player experiences.

thanks for the patience and continued help. it's made this a lot easier than i was afraid it would be. as of now it all runs well.

im a bit confused over whether i need to have both ARMA 2 OA and ARMA 2 OA:beta installed or just ARMA 2 OA. any help appreciated.

as of today i have uninstalled all ARMA games via Steam and then reinstalled the following: Arma 2 Arma 2 BAF Arma 2 PMC and Arma 2 OA (not the beta) now i am currently awaiting the download/install via DayZCommander of Arma 2 OA patch 1.62. i am still quite unclear as to what happened to cause this particular fumble, but i would appreciate any explanations or theories concerning this so i can keep my eye open to prevent it happening again, or something similar.

admittedly Playke has a better grasp on what you are trying to communicate here than i do. i don't know which local files he means when he says he deleted the beta folder there. nor do i know which previous version he is reinstalling, nor where he is installing it. my apologies for being a bit slower here, i still hope i can get some help. thanks.

okay, same issues here, clearly something got updated or some settings preference changed with an update to have people with this issue. i tried to follow your instructions exactly, but this was not possible, here's what i did do: 1. to delete OA2 beta from your Steam library requires the deletion of the installation files. once i did this the instructions became confusing so i reinstalled OA2 beta and began again. 2. skipping the delete from Steam noted above, i went to browse the local files in the install and deleted the beta folder located inside the Expansion folder: E:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead\Expansion\beta 3. i then proceeded to C:\Users\MyUserName\My Documents\ however i did not find ARMA 2 OA: Other Profiles. i did find C:\Users\MyUserName\My Documents\ARMA2 Other Profiles\ yet no Expansion folder. above that was C:\Users\MyUserName\My Documents\ARMA2\expansion and inside there was a folder entitled beta which i deleted. 4. i then unzipped the download linked above into the expansion folder C:\Users\MyUserName\My Documents\ARMA2\expansion\ARMA2_OA_Build_103718.exe and then attempted to run the install as Admin, but received the same message that DayZCommander is giving me: "The version of ArmA2 OA (1.63) is more recent than this patch version (1.62)." i then close that window message and receive a final message window stating "Wrong CD key."