Maj0r Payne

Obviously we both have strong opinions on this so please allow me (one last time) to clarify my position. 1. When I say classes I’m not talking about getting awarded the ability to do x, y or z. What I’m saying is everybody plays the way they want to with no restrictions on anything at all. The computer however will recognize different styles of play and after some amount of time makes it clear (when up close to others) what kind of player you are. So if you like to fly choppers all the time the computer will allow others to see you as a pilot (maybe with a pair goggles hanging on your character or something). That is not to say anyone else can’t try to fly a helicopter, of course everyone can but if you keep smacking it into the ground you will not be known to others as a pilot. So you see this is not career paths or the way EA does it. No one is grinding anything. It just allows players who have survived a long time to be recognized for their style of play, which will allow more cooperation. Also, there could be a switch to turn this feature on/off to your liking and it would not affect the game at all. 2. This is where you need to look at the game from the commercial side of things. Most people who will buy the finished game and who have no prior knowledge of it will get frustrated quickly. If there were some kind of identification/status they would be more likely to trust and cooperate with another player, especially one they don’t know in real life. The rewards/perks for surviving a long time and actually accomplishing something in the game would of course be minimal but enough that others may want to recruit them into their team. Without this there really is no reason to initially trust each other. For example if there is a group of people who all know each other in real life they will likely kill others on sight because they are just like everyone else. Also, a Hero, Medic, etc. may want to recruit a pilot because they don’t want to lose their own status as Hero, Medic, etc. This would help balance the overall game because there is a way to recognize how a person plays and that could be valuable to others. Plus other players could be seen as a potential friend or at least less of a threat. BTW - Sociopathic would be defined as someone who purposefully goes out of their way just to inflict harm on someone else without reason and lacks the capacity to feel/understand what they did was wrong. Fear (which nullifies being “sociopathic”) would be the main reason in which people would kill another player for no reason. Identification of another player as a certain type would at least give people pause long enough to try and communicate before they pull the trigger. Without a form of identification and a wide range of things to do (other than gunplay) I don’t feel the game can truly be taken to the next level. People will just kill on sight and/or try to go it alone/with their real friends. Lastly, I say again. You will not know what someone’s status is unless you are within Direct Communications distance with him! This open up all kinds of FUN with others that I don’t think you are taking into consideration. Thanks for listening.

I respect your opinion however DayZ is not about realism. It may have elements that are realistic but there are also some video game elements as well. Plus striving for total realism especially in a ZOMBIE game is not realistic. As far as Bandits/Heroes I agree with you as far as realism however some way of balancing the game needs to be introduced. Bandits are the bad guys in all this, they ambush other players, they snipe them from pre-marked ranges, etc. In other words they have the deck stacked in their favor. The Heroes are the good guys who hunt Bandits and as such they should get a bonus to help balance the to radically different styles of play. IRL penalties and rewards are how to affect another’s actions, so if you want the players to act a certain way the majority of time they play then give them a reward or penalty especially if they go way outside the norm. As far as cooperation, the main problem is the fact that people don’t trust each other unless they know each other in real life. If you meet someone new your natural instinct is to not trust them even if they tell you they are friendly. In other words you have no way to get a read on them. And many times things happen so fast that someone is lying on the ground before a trust can be built. All I’m saying is to have a system that would allow you to better gauge someone up close and get a sense if they are likely to just kill you even though they are telling you they are friendly. It’s just something to help you say to yourself “I trust this guy” especially on a split second decision. I don’t think this will change the current feel of DayZ as the person may want to change his character’s path and waste you even though he helped a 20 others before you to become a Bandit. Also I think that knowing someone is a pilot before you shoot him would be helpful particularly if you know where a chopper is. Lastly, Because of the steep learning curve players are developing their own skills in DayZ. Maybe your keyboard layout is better than mine and you got the drop on me, or maybe you know every crafting combo there is in the game, etc. My point is each player already has his own set of skills he brings to the table so why add skills that are not needed.

Hello everyone, I have read many of the posts on this topic and it seems everyone has a different take on the same idea. The very idea of earning exp. points to buy skills or picking a starting class is NOT WHAT DayZ IS ABOUT. Finding the appropriate piece of equipment to do those things is. I propose expanding the current class system that already exists in DayZ. The HERO & BANDIT classes. To do this, the game would have to keep track of certain types of “traits/actions” that you the real player has done while playing the game. For doing many of these specific types of actions the computer will award you with new "class" based on those actual actions that you have done in the past and your class will change as you play based on your style of play. For example: Action “Class” Start Game = Nothing (None) Bring Yourself to full Health = Survivor (Run Slightly faster) Kill Many Zeds = Zombie Hunter (Resistant to Infection) Kill Many Bandits On Site = Hero (Quicker Movement, Slower Bleed-out) Kill Many Players On Site = Bandit (Slower Movement, Slower Bleed-out) Heal Many Others = Medic (Quicker Healing) Land Many Choppers = Pilot (Better Gas Mileage in Chopper) Fix Many Cars = Mechanic (Better Repairs) Skins Many Animals = Hunter (Quieter Movement) Hold Up Many Players = Robber (You Show as Survivor) For each player the “class” could possibly be displayed as an article of clothing, a badge, or some other visual cue that cannot be messed with. (Maybe you only see it when you get within talking distance.) The BEST part of this is that DayZ already does this and it would be easy to expand and implement. Players would have a better way to understand what type of player they are dealing with when face to face. Which would greatly help with cooperation amongst strangers.