Mookie (original)

This was "DayZ UK 5-71 hosted by GamingDeluxe.com". It's one of a series of these servers, and (depending on your definition of 'official') seems no less official than your impression of an official server. I mean this in the sense that they are not (as far as I can tell) player-hosted.

Curiosity isn't 'peaked' btw. It's 'piqued'.

Ah, good idea. I might give that a try.

Yep, sounds just like what I had (have?). I think vomiting in moderation can be a help... My 'healthy' status has disappeared again, although everything remains colourful and my hydration seems normal. If I get worse again, I'll probably kill myself and be done with it. Antibiotics, vials and syringes do seem a helluva lot harder to find these days btw.

I'm pretty sure you can put a Kashtan on a 74 (you certainly could in .57, anyway).

I certainly think they're less rare than the M4 - and they do actually spawn at Mi-8 heli crashes (friend of mine found two recently). Crash site running is hard, remorseless work. But at least if you're looking for an SVD you know that they do actually spawn. Oh, and SVD with a UMP is one of the best gun combinations in the game if you can spare the space.

Well, it's been touch and go all night. I got through all my oral antibiotics and found a water pump near the hospital (I'm in Severograd, not Svetlo, sorry, I'm a western-half-of-the-map guy). The 'sick' status went away. Then my hydration collapsed. I kept drinking, threw up a few times. It wasn't helping, things were getting very greyed out. The hospital was pretty crap - scrubs everywhere, but no antibiotics. Running through a house, I found an innocent looking water bottle (standing upright, at 40%), so drank from it. Then the 'sick' status came back. I didn't think I'd survive another bout. Things were completely grey now. In my desperation I found a barrel and took a northern road out of town to stash my best gear. I thought I could become unconscious at any moment. Then I went back to the pump and just laid down to die. I was managing to keep my hydration and energy levels high. After a while the grey began to be replaced by colour, and then, finally, I started healing. Now I'm healthy and have just recovered the stashed gear. But - I'm still getting 'I am tired' and 'I am worn out' messages. Perhaps this is just the convalescence. In any case, I won't be drinking from ponds again for a while.

Good God, you're posting in a forum about video games.

I'm headed towards Svetlo hospital to source some more antibiotics - will try the bottle/syringe route. Also lots of water pumps there. My real priority though (having just found an M4, goddammit) is to find a barrel and stash everything... Thanks for the intel all.

Yes. I think there is a very small chance of catching it from pond water if you're healthy, but it's still a chance...

Having given up looking for an M4, I bumped into a lootsplurge at officer tent last night (looked the result of some well-organised cycling) and found a worn one. So perhaps this is the statistically most likely option....

Having essentially given up on my Quest For the M4 (part 32), the second law of DayZ came into full effect when I popped down to Myshkino to find a Kashtan for my AK101 last night. Stuck my head round the door of the officer tent just on the off-chance. Well, hello there....

I'm much less (ok, a bit less...) worried about losing gear to KOS since persistence came back. You can run around in random kit with a half-decent gun and interact. If you get KOS'd, so what? All you have to do is respawn and get back to your stash...

I think you're better off with a 101 tbh. Am about to test bipod on a 101, having had a mildly frustrating half an hour before remembering to, like the man said 'paint it black', etc, etc.

PM'd. Although I think you may be toying with me :blush:

1. I think I agree. Certainly I haven't seen one, but others claim they have. 2. Again, if my recent experience is true, I agree. But also again, more than one poster says "loot cycle, four splurgespawn at once!" 3. Indeed. 4. I'm looking...

I think I have twice that, and a pristine version of every single M4 attachment, three times over.... I'm giving up on looking for one for the time being, while I patiently await the arrival of the FN-FAL (or 'SLR' as I'll insist on calling it).

Very good post - difficult things, subtly put. There have been builds in the past where I thought we were really getting close to a combination of persistence and other features (animals, trucks, crashsites, etc) that were my ideal of the game. But the need to solve the conundrum of persistence (while it's almost certainly the right thing to do) seems to constantly subvert that. As my recent overbearing whine about a wipe will have demonstrated, I'm not sure I'd be ready for EA games again. My expectations (right or wrong) about some degree of consistency inevitably can't be satisfied - and the tension that sets up with how hooked on the game I've become is very serious.

So the step-by-step guide for the hard-of-understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is: 1. Find and paint a rail guard. (Black or green? Does it matter?) 2. Take old guard off by putting gun on your back, hands free, double click on guard icon in inventory (this def works with AK101 btw.) 3. Put new, painted rail guard on by moving its inventory icon to gun inventory icon. 4. Then same for bipod. 5. Discard or keep old guard. 6. Stop looking for an M4... :P

Agreed. It's actually damn hard work (if you're solo), in risky circumstances, with a dubious mechanic, which admins like to kick to exploit, and which favours clans/groups over individuals (I think). I suggest it would be nice if the odds of finding one at a crash site were improved.

Seeking: Well, predictably enough, an M4. Any condition other than ruined, no furniture or mags needed. Offering: Barrels x2 (P, W). These are in the far north, but could deliver. AUG, with 60rnd mag and NATO suppressor (P) UMP45 (P), with four mags (full, P), RVI sight (P)and pistol suppressor (W) Thanks

OP, in my recent experience these are the available options, other than PvP: 1. Run crash sites. Apparently M4s do spawn at crash sites, but, having found a lot of what seem like unlooted American crash sites in 0.58 (probably over 100), I have yet to see an M4 - just UMPs and AUGs. 2. Farm the officer tents at Myshkino or NWAF. There is a technique to this, and lots of people are doing it. I feel pretty dubious about it, but have tried it once or twice. Again all I get is UMPs or AUGs, but statistically the probabilities seem higher than running crash sites. As these are high-traffic areas, your chances of running into other players are high. 3. Loot hop at the officer tents. Even if this was not a dubious and frowned-upon tactic, you chances of success are slim, and the risks of bumping into someone specifically camping to ward off hoppers are high. 3. Trade for it. Find something else that M4 owners might want. Suggestions are SMERSH vests, barrels, SVDs, Winchesters. This is probably my preferred route right now. But, as others have said, there is so much more to DayZ than the acquisition of an M4. SVDs and UMPs, either together or separately, are better than an M4 in some circumstances, and either is definitely easier to find.

IME this is worse in 0.58 because of the obvious concentration of high end mil loot at three (or really two...) locations. These are being heavily farmed (whatever one thinks of that) by server owners, and the consequent proportion of kicking seems higher than in previous patches. The fundamental problem, as others say, is that the basic incentive structure is wrong here. If servers are closed, the server providers lose the income.

I'd formed the impression that it was 8am, but servers seem pretty random in this respect. Presumably admins can vary the time?

So, um, those of us who have paid for and been playing this game for 18 months have no right to reply? I warn you BI, if/when I detect your PR firms playing here, like the sorry post above, I will play it up.