Rags!

In an actual zombie apocalypse, there would be loot in every single building.

They aren't done, that's basically how the zombies and most things in this game are. So an honest answer may not be applicable in a little bit when 0.56 is out.

It's good to come back to this place and be greeted with the same thoughtful and insightful community commentary as ever.

Bitch, I'm fabulous.

It's worth picking up, not hunting for. Like lots of guns in this game, as it seems...

I shoot new players 99% of the time on sight. No questions asked. They are dead. I've seen too many Bambis try stupid shit or try and rush me or wait until they can try and bash be from behind with a shovel. They die, simple as that.

I believe the correct term is "Jerusalem Cruisers".

There has been debate and discussion in the past, and to this day, concerning the usage of online maps such as the DayZ DB map and so forth. The more I read about it, the more I think that people are foolish to think that the problem lies with the ability to have a map on hand at all times. Having a map on you at all times isn't a problem. It's a feature that Bohemia Interactive, if they haven't already, should fully accept as a gameplay feature that is brought about by the fact that there are people who want to know where they are going and who simultaneously have an online connection. Want to try and make the idea of personal maps relevant to the story? Just consider online maps that are accessible through a second monitor or through the Steam in-game browser as a travel map that the character owns of Chernarus. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that a map would be a basic tool that a person new to Chernarus would have. Even maps have translations of the Russian names of the towns in Chernarus. It basically is a travel-map like some Berlitz handbook with useful Russian phrases like "Hello" or "Nice to meet you" or "Tell your pet bear to pass me the vodka". The key to "combating" this problem that isn't a problem isn't to try and encourage people not to use these obviously very useful tools...but to make the in-game alternative worth looking at. The maps that are scattered around Chernarus belong to the now deceased residents of it. They aren't yours or the players'. So how do we make the in-game maps more than kindling for fire or emergency toilet paper? And don't bring up the "You should have to poop" topic. I will cut you. 1) Maps should be able to be written on, scribbled upon, and left for other players to find. Want to lure people to NWAF? Then circle it on a map and write "MLG Clan at the NWAF" or "NWAF is protected by MLG Clan" or something like that. Players can circle, draw routes, put arrows, inscribe warnings...all these things to other players that might look at the map. Similarly, if you have a stash of goodies, you can draw the location on the map, and then give it to a friend so he can find the way there. Or screenshot it and put it on Imgur. Whatever. 2) I think this would be the most interesting idea...have maps that are found in-game hint or point to the locations of the soon to be implemented dynamic events. Maybe a pile up of military trucks along a lonely stretch of highway, maybe a couple crashed police cars, a downed helicopter, or simply, maybe have the map point to a rare item spawn for a certain amount of time without telling you just what it is. Finding a map that has a big X right over a castle or a farmhouse or someplace a player might not go to often would give them incentive to travel there...or to set a trap for others who might make their way thinking they can take that item. With persistence, map marking could change over time as loot is spawned and despawned from the world. It would be important that maps are not always written upon, and that the same map won't tell you where a goody or a dynamic event is over and over so finding a map would be hoarded and taken advantage of. This way, for some amount of time, an area could have X number of maps in Chernarus pointing towards it, which would be like having a player magnet pop up in the game that would cause people to move towards with the promise of either loot or players. The way that maps in the game could be combined should be taken into effect as well. For instance, you might have to combine a set number of map pieces before a map's inscription could be "seen" or before it would show itself. I simply think that having you or your friends work towards assembling a map together, then combining the pieces to reveal a possibly point of interest or good loot spawn would add to the idea that people should cooperate towards a goal. I'm actually tired of typing now, so I'll leave it at that. I just think this would be an idea at making the maps in the game actually useful. Give me beans, bring back Firefly, and stop making LRS spawns so damn common.

No, "as realistic as possible" doesn't mean "as realistic as possible without the game being bad". You're adding words where there was none so your meaning fits the sentence. That's adding an extra six words to a sentence that weren't there. Just because something is more realistic, that doesn't mean that its realism trumps having it be good game design. That's why you do respawn. Because even though it's not realistic it would be a crap game without it. The realism of a mechanic cannot be the greatest sole factor as to whether or not it must be in the game. So adding some random accuracy to a "pristine" weapon that a player cannot compensate for because it's random is not a good game mechanic. There has to be a set pattern or an intuitive level of dispersal that can be countered by planning or by resourcefulness. Unless a player fires a whole bunch of bullets from the gun, then he will never be able to know what the real random spread of the weapon is, and as a result, cannot compensate for using the weapon for the precision isn't meant for. It would be better to have Pristine weapons be the only condition that never has inaccuracy or deviation to them, but make them transfer do Worn status faster as a result so that players constantly look to replenish weapons or to upkeep theirs as good as possible. If a Pristine weapons still is inaccurate, then there's no point in looking for another since any weapon you find like the one you already have will never perform better.

You can't compensate for inaccuracy when the Pristine weapon is inaccurate to a degree you cannot intuitively measure. If inaccuracy of a Pristine weapon is something that is randomized, then the skill becomes simply hoping luck goes your way when you pull the trigger. That's not skill. Now, if you have a rifle that is inaccurate that shoots consistently inaccurate...that's a whole different story. That's something a player can actually intuitively counter and compensate for. But if the inaccuracy of the weapon is some randomly generated deviation from where you aim...that's something that should be left on the cutting room floor.

Okay.

Bohemia Interactive doesn't want to make a game that is as realistic as possible. If they say they do, then they don't really mean it. They mean that they will favor a great deal of realistic game mechanics in development, but they won't make the game as realistic as possible. They can't. The tech isn't there yet and some aspects of realism are just really shitty. They have already clearly done things that are not realistic, like zombie respawning, player respawning, where and how loot can spawn...but these decisions make sense from a gameplay perspective and are believable. Most of the design choices that are made instead of realism come from the came of suspension of disbelief. A good example is how a Kalashnikov rifle just spawns underneath a bunkbed in a barracks. It makes no real sense why somebody would just leave it there like that, but you can believe it and just roll with it because it's a military building so it will have military loot.

Because there's a difference between intuitive randomness and punishing randomness, obviously. Walking down a road and randomly spraining your ankle is punishing, but a player knows the possibilities of the randomness of the loot system. Plus, lots of the examples you listed are not completed mechanics, like zombie respawning and other survival elements. Some of the examples you mentioned aren't even random at all, so I have no idea why you mentioned them. Zombies hitting you, searching for food and drink, lighting a fire, truck spawning...these examples have elements of randomness in them, but every one of them can be combated by a player's actions in some way. That's why adding random bullshit into a game like this in which the player has literally no control over is stupid, even if it is realistic. DayZ can be challenging and difficult without the player being fucked over by some random condition that he had no chance at avoiding because the computer rolled the dice and he got the short end of the stick because the computer said so.

That's my point.

I don't see your petition to remove respawning as a game mechanic under the basis of realism. If you have one, point me to it.

If this is implemented correctly, then I could be in support of it, but I can go both ways on it. I like an idea that attempts to combat clan hoarding with personal loot-up servers. Then again, maybe I'm just excited to see a forum noob be constructive instead of bitching about the lack of .50 cal Barrets not spawning in people's closets.

I think I sense a backstory to this topic's creation...

This is why I don't play Public servers. Cowards like you.

I wish it were like Resident Evil 4 and grenades would pop out of the little cluckers.

Stop calling it the "SVD Dragunov". SVD means: Snayperskaya Vintovka Dragunova That shit's redundant. You may proceed with your day now.

I can imagine a bunch of noobs running around with poles in their hands, frantically staking their claim around Chernarus like this is the Eastern Bloc version of Manifest Destiny or some shit.

Damaged ones, yes. Pristine/worn weapons and ammunition should never jam, as this give the player the incentive to keep his gear in as optimal a state he can.

Guess what? It's a video game. Real life isn't a video game. Not everything in real life belongs in a video game, and having rifles of the same condition and make vary greatly in accuracy is not a real life truth that should make its way into Chernarus. You can try and dress up shitty mechanics all you'd like under a pretense of "realism" but at the end of the day to have somebody simply happen to grab the short end of the stick without even telling them until it's too late is just bad game design. Let us hope that you never aspire to the career of a video game designer or producer. Or perhaps there is a market for games where there is a dice roll with every step you take that could cause you to fall and break your character's leg. You could make that game. Every step you take, dice roll for ankle damage. Your character might just be wandering around and catch malaria because they got bit by a mosquito. Dice roll every ten seconds for malaria mosquitos. Let's have another random dice roll for if you have diabetes and require insulin as well. Diabetics won't be too well off in the apocalypse. Dice roll for diabetes upon spawning. The game isn't real enough, yet. No, we have to go further. There's a dice roll every single time you fire a weapon as well. Guns can jam in real life. Even pristine ones. Dice roll for weapon malfunction. That is...assuming your ammunition even works. You know sometimes those pesky things just won't fire off. Dice roll for ammunition malfunction. So really, it's not about who's the overall better player. The other guy killed you because his gun randomly was better than your identical gun. He just got the better dice roll. He wins. You lose. That's life. Too bad. It's not about who is sneakier, smarter, more skilled, more intuitive, more clever...it's really about who has the luckiest dice.

The idea that you can find two identical weapons in the game and have one of them perform randomly greatly worse than the other one is a shitty game mechanic that has no place in DayZ.

Yesterday I said that having characters spawn with random allergies to foods was the stupidest idea I have heard in a long time. This is ten times more stupid.