Xianyu

Because of how ridiculously overpowering they were in all ranges from 5 metres to 5000. They are literally better than every other weapon at every range. The AS50 can be used as a short-range, single-shot, hip-firing assault rifle. That is NOT okay.

Outside of alt+F4? Yeah, you're not surviving taking a 7.62 shot. Have you ever nailed a guy with a DMR round? He's pretty much fucked. On the ground, bleeding, unconscious. An easy follow-up shot to take him down. Same as the M24, or the FAL, or any other of the really hard-hitting rifles. Just don't miss that first shot. We just need a functionality that, even if the little fucker alt + F4's, his body, loot, and game 'existence' stays in the server until the unconsciousness wears off. Or maybe even longer. or we could learn to shoot people in the head. I know that's gonna be my new 'go to' method.

Yes. Fucking. YES. Have any of the previous conversations permeated your skull yet? This is a game, sure. But it's meant to simulate real life. It's meant to be difficult and hard and there aren't meant to be any easy-mode bullshit handholding that is so prevalent in every other game. BF3, CoD, CS, and every other game included. If you want to be able to kill someone at 1000 metres, it should require more training than just 'hey, press Page Up until that reader says '1000' and then put the crosshairs right on their chest for a sure kill! :D ' That is fucking terrible. And that is the bullshit that the 50 cal weapons brought to this game in force. In real life, sniping requires mathematics and trigonometry to accomplish at extreme ranges. Bullet speed, air pressure, temperature, the Coriolis effect, the curvature of the earth, the rotation of the earth, the relative differences in height between you and your target. All of these things start to come into effect at extreme ranges. So not only do you have to be aware of the wind (which can change three or more times between you and your target), the temperature, the distance, how fast your bullet travels, how fast your target is moving if at all, the relative height distance, and all that other shit, you even have to figure out where you are on the earth, and where your target is on the earth, so that you can account for how far the earth will turn and the effect it will have on the bullet's flight path between you and your target. That is a frighteningly, insanely complicated procedure that requires the use of computers and/or charts for you to figure out in enough time to be able to make the shot. It is a process that is reduced down to 'press page up or page down until you get the right distance and fire' in Arma 2. And if it went 'truly authentic' I would cheer. Sniping in DayZ is actually easier than BF3, and that's saying something. Even just adding wind to a bullet's flight path would be enough to have a massive effect on the game. And if you knew anything about the game, you would know that the 50's weren't removed because they were too good at close range. They were too good at any range. From 5 metres, to 5000. The 50 cal sniper rifles were the best in every single situation except if you were surrounded by ten thousand zombies and none of them had noticed you yet. And even then, I'd take the 50 and the chance I could outrun them all. And at that point, it's not a case of being 'op'. It's not a case of 'whining'. It's a case of being a broken mechanic. Unless you think that a 50 sniper rifle should be able to be used as well as an MP5 at close range? Even with the removal of the 50's, it's only a stop-gap. The DMR, M24, and CZ550 can fulfill the same role with less ridiculously powerful results. The DMR can be used at close range as a spray weapon. But none of them can be used at close range to contend with assault rifles and SMG's with barely any contest. The two 'top tier' weapons that are always above and beyond every single other gun in the game in all situations simply won't be there any more. Your choice of weapon will be situational instead of 'I'll take this until I find a 50'. And in terms of a GAME, that's much, much better. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/23-10/ch32.htm#s2p3 Educate yourself.

If they added ACE-mod levels of sniping realism to this game, I'd be the first to ask for the 50's to be added back in, OHK and all. I would also be the first person to dance in place when I get fired on from over 500 metres by some twelve year old. Because they wouldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I'm sorry, but what? Have you ever watched me play BF3? Were you there when I was trolling a guy using the Mavevator by headshotting him WHILE he was ascending on top of his stupid little machine? I was recon/sniper because that's what I love to do. I'm the guy with the laser designator copping shit from enemy helicopters because I'm an asshole. And I played as part of a squad where my role was accepted AND useful. If they needed a target down that was causing them shit, I was the guy that did it. But hey, you know heaps of other BF3 players. Furthermore, your arguments are pure bullshit. 'made yourself an easy target'? Uh... huh. So let me get this straight. Because I crawled/walk/ran into a town where some sniper is sitting watching, from 500+ metres away, I made myself an 'easy target'? I'm afraid that EVERYONE is an easy target when you have a 50 cal sniper rifle. I should know, I've been the one watching more often than not. I think you'll find that a stationary sniper, laying down on his stomach, in the grass, is pretty much fucking impossible to spot from beyond 300 metres. Unless he's moving. And only stupid people turn their entire character's body instead of just moving their head with the ctrl key. And that's if the sniper is just laying down. If he's in a tree, it's even worse. So I'm supposed to have 'situational awareness' over the entire map at all times? Uh... huh. Tell you what. Pick a server. Get a friend (or make one, somehow), give this friend an AS50 and a ghillie suit, and have him camp SOMEWHERE on the map. Now try find him. Good fucking luck. By your logic, he should show up with a giant red bullseye the moment we get within 500 metres of him. I KNOW where snipers camp and a lot of times I have trouble finding them. No amount of 'tactics and brains' will beat a sniper laying in the grass with an AS50. Not in this mod. And if you think it does, then you are an incredibly, incredibly stupid person. Why? Because snipers can be on any hill, anywhere. Sure, there are some favorite spots. But they're not the be-all, end-all of sniping points. On top of buildings. On top of hills. The smart ones don't lay on the crests. The smart ones lay in the fields where they aren't silhouetted against the backdrop of the horizon or the sky. The smart snipers are what we should be worried about. The smart players should be the ones that beat us. You should be thinking 'There's a guy out with there a .50 cal and he knows how to use it! I'm gonna DIE!' Not 'there's a guy out there with a 50 cal, I'm gonna die!' It's a subtle difference, and one I don't expect you to get through your skull any time soon, or even ever. But it makes all the difference in the world to the people who play the game as it's meant to be, and not as a dumbed-down sniping simulation. And you're right, playing a videogame for X amount of hours doesn't entitle me to shit. But it sure as fuck will make me better at it than someone who didn't play it that often. But you seem to think that that's an 'unfair advantage'. You talk about the slippery slope of 'weapon removal' like 'OMFG THEY'RE GONNA REMOVE EVERYTHING AND WE WON'T HAVE ANY MORE GUNS ANY MORE WAAAAH' But to be perfectly honest, I'm not bothered with that argument. Because it's fucking stupid. I'm far more frightened of people like you that think that all game mechanics should be dumbed down so that people who practise and hone their abilities are on the same footing as someone who only played for an hour. That is fucking frightening.

I love sniping. I hate easy sniping. I hate that a twelve year old kid can pick up a virtual AS50 and kill me from over 500 metres away without more than a minute's training in the system. I hate that the same twelve year old can destroy a helicopter, or a vehicle, with a single round from up to 1000 metres away with no practise. That isn't skill. That's pointing and clicking your fucking mouse. I played BF3 for damn near 200 hours. The marksman role accounts for a third of that. So basically, 65 hours of sniping gameplay. I got to the point with the M98B, that I could headshot guys from any position, at any range. Sprinting, camping, sniping from a bunker. It didn't matter where they were, I could hit them. I could kill helicopter pilots with it. I was an absolute menace with it. And why was I such a bastard with my M98B? Because I spent over fifty hours honing my skills with it to where I didn't even have to knowingly judge distances any more. I just eyeballed it, aimed above them, and took them out. Is that an unfair advantage? Fuck no. That was ability. That was practice. That was a learned skill. Now you try and tell me that using a one-shot-kill weapon with ridiculously accurate zeroing is in any way skillful. You can't. Because it's fucking not. It removed all skill and takes it down to a game mechanic that can be abused relentlessly by range finders and the map system itself. Combine that with the fact that the weapon is rapid-fire semi automatic, and you've got a recipe for a gun that makes it hard for you to miss your target. And that's why I won't miss the AS50. That's why I relish the thought of it being gone from the mod forever. Especially if everyone switches to the DMR and has to learn to actually aim their weapons instead of having the game do it all for them. And if wind is added, I'll be even happier. The more difficult, the better. DayZ is about survival, not sitting on a hill and picking off survivors to get your jollies. If you want to be a sniper, it should be a skill that you learn. It should be a talent that is honed and practiced, and not a fucking dumbed-down game mechanic that is handed to you on a silver platter. Within 300 metres? Fine. Have your easy shot. But beyond that it gets exponentially harder to hit anything smaller than a barn. That's realism. That's good game design. If you want to pick people off with a sniper rifle, that's your prerogative. Fuck knows that I'll be doing the same to bandits. Because I love sniping. And I sure as hell love sniper rifles. But it shouldn't be easy. And the 50 cals make it ridiculously easy. Hell, any of the zeroed sniper rifles make it easy. The 50's were just the most abusable of the lot.

It's in the announcement page, right at the top 'rolling changelog'.

A poll showed that 50% or more of all players that responded had the AS50 with them at the time. The other 50% wanted one. There are massive issues with the AS50, like the fact that you can use it as a semi-automatic rifle at close range, with a one-hit-kill functionality. There were simply no flaws to the weapon. From five metres, to five thousand, it was the best weapon for every situation. And that's simply terrible game design on top of being horribly unrealistic. I would like to see a super-rare anti materiel rifle replace them though, for taking down vehicles. As for helicopters, yeah. Fuck helicopters. They should be transport only without weapons. If they're used as a weapon's platform, they should have to have the gunner sitting in the side door. Like, give two gunners M240's and have them in the side door, instead of the current mounted weapons which are a littler bit stupid to add to a flight vehicle. DayZ is supposed to be hard, so I'm against any sort of 'easy mode' button. Which is what helicopter guns and AS50's certainly are.

It was a rub at the utter stupidity of the rationale bandits use for shooting unarmed survivors. 'He might take loot I need'. It is literally the stupidest argument I've ever heard. And how they say it, the situation I posited is exactly how it must happen.

Can they accurately hit at over 1000 metres though? Hueys don't generally get all that close.

I once shot a guy in Cherno with my AS50, looking through my nightvision scope, with my silenced M4 in my backpack, enough food and water for a small army, and my car parked nearby, because I thought the unarmed survivor might take loot that I need.

I'm willing to bet it was probably your first spawn, too. I think is a strong enough examination of the game in the first place.

I think this is the biggest gripe I have with the Chernarus map. I've been thinking about it for a while, and couldn't quite put my finger on why it was so terrible. But I dun figured it out. There's no shrubbery. Or at least, the shrubbery is way, way, way, way, way, way - [sometime later] - WAY too sparse. Look at this way. If you stood on a building in any single town, there is literally nowhere that a player can go to creep up on you outside of line of site. There's no cover. The native shrubbery just upped and pissed off one day. In the forests, this is especially true. If you removed all the trees from Chernarus, you would become very acutely aware of just how open the entire world is. In the real world, bushes play a major part of any scene. Even where I live, in the middle of buttf- nowhere, Australia. We have more trees, more shrubbery, and more foliage than Chernarus, and I live in a pretty damn arid place. The sheer rarity of bushes in Chernarus lends itself more to some kind of forest that's covered six months out of every year in three foot of snow. So what I'm suggesting is, just blanket Chernarus in bushes. Put them everywhere. On all the fields. In the forests. Let's go from this: To this: The reasons why are many. For a start, it's more realistic. It occludes your vision. A good vantage point will be one with a commanding view of the entire field without being obstructed, instead of any point in the world higher than the other points. There should be places in the world that are sparse of vegetation, but these should definitely be the uncommon occurrence. The lack of vegetation also attributes to the current state of the game: Sniper-range engagements with no CQB unless you literally stumble into someone. The only way to get within 300-400 metres of someone without being seen is to either use the geography to your advantage (creeping up behind a hill sniper noob) or sprinting into a town while said person is also in the town. With shrubbery and bushes and little trees everywhere, you'd see a shift in the whole way the game is played. Instead of running across Giant Open Field #52123 or, if you're particularly cautious, running through the line of trees beside Giant Open Field #52123, you could run across said field, using shrubbery as cover. Move from cover to cover instead of saying 'I can run across the giant open field and everyone sees me, or, I can zig-zag through the trees, and when everyone see's me anyway, I can hide behind a tree! :D' So basically, give us trees and shrubbery everywhere. It'll bring us all closer together. And then maybe the engagement range of the game won't be 'hey, shoot at that shape in the distance!'

It's because all the greifing/bandit videos on youtube highlighting the minute of firefights and not mentioning the three hours of buildup to it, has attracted a massive fanbase of fucking retards cod kiddies seeking instant gratification. To put it perfectly bluntly, they don't have the attention span to play 'true' DayZ, they vastly outnumber the amount of people who actually liked the original DayZ concept, and so they get the lions share of the attention. Thankfully, it doesn't seem as though Rocket will pander to masses and give them the mainstream, watered down, bullshit version of DayZ that is now so prevalent in the mod. So fingers crossed for the standalone, when the source of all these shite servers will get a terribly wonderful culture shock.

Long title, I know. So, what's the problem with sniping in DayZ? The two top sniper rifles are semi-automatic, 10/5 round magazines, and require no skill to use at long range due to zeroing, coupled with high-powered scopes and a single-shot kill to any region of the body at any range. Every sniper rifle below the anti-material threshold require two shots to kill at least, and require more skill to use, in general. Less scope zoom/damage etc etc. The main argument against removing the AS50 and M107 is 'realism' hurrdurr they exist so they should be in the game', and 'what will we use to take out helicopters?' I at least concur with the helicopter issue. But I don't believe a semi-automatic rifle that can kill at extreme ranges and trumps everything in the game is the answer. I suggest this: http://world.guns.ru...rov-ptrd-e.html This is the russian-made Degtyarov PTRD anti-tank rifle. It fires a 14.5 millimetre projectile (a .50 cal is only 12.5mm), and is single-shot, bolt action. If this weapon replaced the AS50/M107 as the premier anti-material rifle, it would fit the setting better, as it is a russian weapon, and would improve weapon balance immensely. As a large-round rifle, it would still kill in one shot, but being a single shot weapon firing such a large round, it would require large amounts of space for ammunition (think crossbow bolts), and as a bolt-action, would have a much slower fire rate, allowing targets who were not hit with the first round to find cover. As there is no scope (possibly as an attachment?), it would be used primarily against vehicles, as an anti-material weapon should be. This would create a more balanced weapon lineup. The M24 wouldn't be immediately tossed aside in favor of the anti-material rifle, and the SVD would be the best possible sniper rifle for anti-personnel fire. Sniper rifle choice would come down to capabilities rather than straight-up power. Trade power for range/usefulness. Trade anti-vehicle ability for anti-personnel capabilities. Now bring on the arguments. For those who say 'DayZ shouldn't be about balance!' I say kindly shut up, as it is a game. All games observe balance. Otherwise we'd have tanks and APC's sitting on the beaches tearing up new spawns. Because they EXIST in the world and they SHOULD exist in the game, right? DayZ is supposed to be a hard, harsh world. The AS50, and M107 to a lesser extent, is easy mode.

So there've been a bunch of suggestions for adding NPC 'quarantine squads' to the standalone. That's just silly, because not everyone agrees with the idea. But what I'm thinking is, for the private hives, when they're introduced to the standalone, we can have an optional 'Early DayZ' version of the game set during the 'early days' of the outbreak, when the military was full-force fighting against the infection. It could have armed civilians and military personnel, the armed civilians being the group that your characters neatly slot into. You start as a civilian, no weapons or training, you've heard about the outbreak getting close over the radio or something, and decide that it's time to get the fuck out of dodge. It would also add interesting dynamics in the sense of NPC civilians and military personnel. You might be wandering along, and stumble into the middle of a firefight between civvies and military. Maybe you hear the gunfire and wait a while, before crawling out of a hidey hole to go pick the remains over before the infected move in to eat the dead. Maybe you'll creep along behind an NPC death squad to avoid the infected, seeing as they'll be actively combating the infected threat? Maybe team up with another player to try and take down a death squad. Maybe you'll hunt your fellow civilians? That is, until they figure out you've been killing off fellow civilians and start shooting you on sight. There's a lot of very different, very interesting gameplay options that open up when you add NPC's, and adding two very different sets of NPC's on opposite sides of a war, with the infected thrown in for flavour, that's just double the fun. And if it's an optional 'gametype' to the SA, you won't even have to look at it unless you choose to. It'd also add a lot more 'end game' content. Even once you're fully geared, a death squad would be a scary prospect. Especially if you're looting a building and suddenly hear the telltale automatic fire of a military rifle nearby. Anyone who's actually played a mission in Arma knows how deadly and utterly scary NPC enemies can be. This way, you've got the whole playerbase covered. The guys who want to play against/with other players, and the guys who like the open world nature of the zombie apocalypse but don't necessarily want the entirety of the 'endgame' or the major content of it in general, to be based around other players/pvp. Even in 'Early DayZ', PvP would be a constant threat, but it wouldn't be the be-all, end-all of the gametype. And it wouldn't affect 'vanilla' DayZ at all.

I got killed by a teleporting hacker after he offered me weapons and I refused. Got it all on video, too. Probably deleted it by now though.

yeah, hiding zomie bodies is about as effective as pissing on their corses and setting them on fire. Other players know where you are by looking for zombies. Not dead ones. LIVE ones.

For the forseeable future? No. Hence why I'm making a suggestion for this new 'game type'. No one will be able to add this through mods to the standalone. Not for a long time.

The suggestion is more for multiplayer than anything. Single player DayZ will still be like an arma 2 mission with zombies. It's always the other players that makes it exciting.

I'd prefer that you 'toggle' it on or off, and when it's toggled on, you can't run. Holding down a specific key, and then aiming down sights, and then zooming in..... It just over-complicates the simple act of firing.

So basically, you won't have any 500+ vehicle servers and therefore you think the standalone will fail?... uh... huh... You realise that the fans of the game actually avoid those servers, right? A proper vanilla server is gold these days. It's only the little CoD kiddie wankers who go to the 'omg start with sniper rifles and a fully repaired humvee 24/7 daylight custom weapons!' servers.

Did you look UNDER the helicopter? Things spawn under them, you know.

Do, death doesn't matter in DayZ. Items are getting durability for the standalone. Why not make it so that, when you die, all items you are carrying take a durability hit equal to half of their max durability? Effects are as follows: Death is scary. No more running back to your body for your pristine gear. Everything you have on you is damaged, and a lot of items may be destroyed if they go below their minimum durability. Trading for gear is more attractive versus just shooting them. I.E. see someone with NVG's? Well fuck, just shoot them. That's how it operates in the current state of DayZ. But if there's a durability hit, you'll want to TRADE with them, because by killing them, those NVG's lose durability and might be rendered broken and thereby worthless. Rare loot doesn't change hands. Kill someone for his high-end sniper rifle? Well make the most of it. Because if you die again, that thing is definitely gonna break. And even more so if that person killed someone for his primary: it'll just be broken when you get to him to loot his corpse. This also has the side effect of removing a lot of 'grandfathered' gear. No more massive stockpile of AS50s. Every time you die, you lose shit. Even clan-running is affected. Die in a clan, they protect your body until you get back... but not if it all takes a durability hit. Sure, this might seem 'harsh' and 'unfair'. That M4 you spent all those hours customising, you die and it's just gone. Fucking GONE. And to the person that points out harsh and unfair this is... Isn't that the point of DayZ?

Seriously? Name someone who ever washed up on a beach and immediately knew where someone with a lot of gear died a few minutes beforehand and exactly how to get to there.

I have been up and down Chernarus. I have looted every deer stand. I have been inside every town. I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt. But never before have I come across the most publicized of all unfortunate incidents. I was on the AU 500 server, kicking it with my brand new british assault pack (the first I'd ever gotten), an enfield, and my M1911. I'd just killed zombies, gotten supplies, and was on my way out. I (Stupidly) decided to check the sheds on my way out of town. I go in there, loot the place, and go to leave. Open door. Crunch. Dead with a broken leg, shock, and 9000 blood. Apparently, the door opened with such incredible force that it crushed me into the opposite wall, choking the life from me with its inescapable, inexorable scripted force. I have now died to every glitch I can think of. It took me over a hundred hours of gameplay, but I did it!