DISCLAIMER: This post is HUGE. If you "tldr-ed" it then dont comment on it. Just a list i came up with of stuff that i think could make the standalone better. Its pretty much just a bunch of ideas and mechanics. Lets jump right into it. Random Encounters This is just stuff that has a random chance to occur to the player(s) at any time and place, just as you randomly find crashed helis or cars. - NPC jets flying at high altitude. They wont fire on you, they are there purely for amibance and immersion. These aircraft are a reminder that there is still someone out there and that humans are still alive somewhere, untouched by the virus. - Abandoned camps/roadblocks These are places where refugees tried to setup camps or defenses but were eventually overrun. The camps have the same chance to spawn as crashed helis and cars. They will spawn completely empty of anyone except dead bodies and maybe zombies. You will be able to find basic supplies and a plethora of meds. The camps will consist of ruined tents, dead bodies, and maybe one operable car. They will vary in size and location and can spawn either in the middle of roads or just in the middle of nowhere (forests, plains, islands, etc.). -The Zombie Hoard These will be random groups of zombies that have a chance to spawn far away from survivors and will wander around the countryside looking for survivors to munch on. They should consist of groups of fifty and they ill be by far the scariest thing in the game. They will also have a chance to spawn near player built settlements (once those are in the game) and if they are killed off or they see a player, they will spawn more frequently. These zombies assure that the players are never safe at any given time. - Prepper maps You find maps all the time, but every map will have a 2% chance to spawn with markers already on it. These will be the maps that were left behind by people who prepped for a socio-economic disaster that would destroy society. The markers will lead to stashes where you can either find empty tin cans or a treasure trove of supplies/guns/ammo. Vehicle customization/crafting A crafting system that will allow you to modify vehicles and craft items. -Vehicles ( remember the bus from the dawn of the dead remake?) You will be able to add things such as plating on windows so no one can see into the car and so zombies cant pull you out. You cant cut a hole in the roof of the car where a survivor can stand up and shoot out of. You can fortify your bumper so you can ram things without damaging the engine block, maybe add spikes so you can ram other cars, thus impaling your car into them so they cant move. Perhaps you can also add 360 degree floodlights, you will be a beacon to survivors and zombies, but your situational awareness at night will improve drastically. Basically, cars should not only be tools for transportation but also defence. Your vehicle should be unique to you and losing it should make you ragequit and never want to play DayZ again. - Simple crafting I find a knife. I also have an Enfield and a bit of rope. Now my Enfield has a bayonet. I find a flashlight. My M4 has an RIS system. Now my M4 has a flashlight. I have a knife and find a metal pole. Now i have a spear. Just VERY simple stuff like this that will add to the gameplay. Improved Zombies and mechanics -Difficulty Zombies must become more of a threat. Survivors will have to team up or die, and should always be in a constant state of fighting for survival. Zombies should be able to break windows and pull you out of cars if the windows arent boarded up. Their bites should have some sort of lasting effect even hours after you recieved them. You should have to avoid any contact with zombies at all costs. Zombie bites should be locational. They wont just damage your player overall, but they can fracture an arm, break a rib, cause a concussion, all of which will have a different effect on the player. -Survivors that died from zombies will come back as them. Imagine your friend gets bitten, you dont have bandages. You load him into your UAZ and try to get the hell out of cherno. Right as your are approaching Nadhezino you notice your fellow survivor had died a few minutes earlier, but hes getting up. Your friend sinks his teeth into your neck, you freak out, crash into a tree, and the car explodes. Once a survivor dies to wounds from zombies his corpse will become controlled by the zombie AI and he will get up and attack what was his "friends" just a few minutes before. This is just a nice touch that could be very easily implemented and would add alot to the game, including a huge sense of irony For the love of god port some of ArmA 3's amazing new features. -The movement system In ArmA 3 there are many different ways to fight besides just pressing "q" and "e" to lean left and right. You can peak over walls while prone, duck lower when your crouched and even go into a last stand mode. This will add a whole new dimension to firefights and make them as great as they can possibly be. -Weapon and outfit customization While watching the ArmA 3 E3 presentation, i got a glimpse of the inventory system. There was an individual slot for your headgear and even your vest i think. You should be able to control what your character is wearing on his legs, feet, torso, and head. This ill become a huge part of the game in my opinion, i'll mention why later. Weapon customization is a very simple matter. I shouldnt have to find a silenced m4 just to have a silenced weapon. Maybe i have an m16 and i like its accuracy and barrel length more than the M4. This can be easily resolved by taking the silencer and putting it on my m16. Next, i find an AKS Kobra. Im really liking that holo sight so i take it and mount it on my m16. Keep some of that good old ArmAness -People dont realize what a huge impact ArmA has on DayZ, it determines how weapons handle, how your character moves, the bullet physics, etc. All those things i just mentioned should not change at all in DayZ standalone (except for maybe animations). I still want it to be hard to hit something at 200 meters, i still want to have to zero my gun, and i still want players to die with one well placed shot to the head. BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD FIX ATV PHYSICS. Being that DayZ will be built on the same engine all these features should be relatively easy to carry over. Clothing -Clothing, armor, and weather system Clothing should be a very important part of the game and you should have to adapt it based on what you're doing and how the weather is. If its raining, a raincoat will prevent you from getting cold. If its cold, a jacket will prevent you from getting sick BUT it will slow you down, making you more vulnerable. But because the jacket is thick, zombies will have a hard time biting you. If you have a leather vest, you become more resistant to zombie bites and you will seldom bleed from the torso. If youre in a fire fight a kevlar vest could save your life. If youre fighting zombies a right shield could help push them back. A helmet will protect you from shrapnel and ricochets. Steel toed boots will make it possible to kick down doors but will also increase how loud you are. The possibilities are endless! Everything will have a pro and a con. Overhauled medical system -This will create an entirely new plethora of problems that survivors have to deal with. Bandages only SLOW bleeding until it stops. Breaking a leg will take time to heal, you'll be slower, but with a splint you'll at least be able to walk and drive. An electric shock will take a person out off unconsciosness but will also take time to execute. All medical actions should have custom animations of course. There should be alot of consequences for all damage taken. EX: you get shot in the arm but luckily your buddy kills the assailant. You have to pull the led out of your arm with some pliers (farcry 2 anyone?). Afterwards, you have to bandage it to slow the bleeding, which will eventually stop on its own. If you dont have antiseptic, you have a 30% chance of your arm becoming infected. But you dont have any antiseptic. You must search for antibiotics before the infection slowly worsens. You find some but your blood is at 7000 by the time you do. THANKFULLY blood cells multiply and you will slowly regenerate blood over hours of play. Heres the awesome part: You bled from your arm and put a bandage on it. A bloody bandage will now be displayed on your characters arm. Wherever your character gets injured, it should look like he actually got hurt. GORE :D Damage should be locational, and will affect the body parts where the damage occurs. If i shoot a survivor with an AS50 i want to see that survivor be obliterated by a .50 caliber round. If i headshot a zombie with an axe, that head should come clean off. If the dude with the AS50 misses and hits your leg, your leg gets obliterated and the wound is fatal. You will be able to crawl around and still shoot in the last 30 seconds before your fatal wound renders you totall useless. You get shot in the torso and live? Your bloody shirt will be a reminder of what happened both to you and to survivors you meet. Basebuilding -Underground bases shouldnt be the only option, but they should be the most safe. Building them will take alot of time and planning but itll be worth it because, well, its underground lol. These should take alot of manpower, time, and supplies to construct. Undeground bases should only be one option. Additionally, you should also be able to explore like a subway or something, and build a base there. -Above ground You can modify already existing structures. Board up thier windows, add lighting, put up a perimeter fence, add sandbags to the roof, put up floodlights. The idea is to erect a fortified position similar to the one in 28 days later, when the soldiers are hiding out. You can also build an above ground base from scratch if you want, but it will take more manpower, more supplies, and some cars. When imagining these bases, think about the favelas made up of tin houses in poorer regions of the world. These should look like they were built out of desperation, and they can be gradually be improved up by adding more fortification and stuff. Capturing Areas -many people have already suggested this. Basically, if a group of survivors can take and hold a certain section of a city or a town, Zombies will stop respawing as long as people remain there, or some sort of fortifications are built. New Areas to loot Subways and military bunkers, that is all. Both locations will always be dark and require nightvision or flashlights. Also: -Government buildings (think about fortifying the white house or a prime ministers home) these give a glimpse of the political infastructure that once existed. -Police stations will function as "firestations" function now. Loot Spawning - loot should spawn in a matter of different ways. On shelves, in drawers, in lockers, in refrigerators, in safes. Think of the way you loot buildings in skyrim. Guns and combat -Variety All weapons should make sense. That means, that i should have a very slim chance of finding an m4 in a former soviet republic. I'm talking about being able to find like 8 different ak variants, mosin nagants, eastern european weapons. -More low tier weapons Pistols should play a much bigger role in the game and be much more common. Having a rifle should be a luxury and having a military rifle should be even more so. Military weapons should be exclusive to military instalations like police stations, airfields, road blocks, etc. Everywhere else, you will find mostly pistols with some scattered hunting rifles and a wide variety of shotguns. Also, melee weapons should be literally EVERYWHERE, as pretty much anything can function as a blugeon. Crafting will also affect weapons as well. Well thats basically it. This is the result of playing 400hrs of DayZ and me wanting the standalone to be the best game it could possibly be. Cheers. EDIT: Almost forgot, make the game modable. Allow things like texture packs and graphical mods.

Rocket wants the community to decide what its willing to pay so lets decide right now! Rocket has given us an excellent game so far, but soon we're going to have to pay for it. Rocket has said that he would like to charge 10-15 euro for the standalone while it is in alpha. As for me, i would pay 40 US dollars or anything under that for the standalone product. I will pay as much as Rocket needs the consumer to pay in order for him to make DayZ the BEST game it is capable of being. What do you guys think? So rocket:

my only problem with it being on consoles is that it will hold back what can be done on PC because of the shitty hardware that consoles have. if you want to make DayZ the PC game and then tone it down for consoles like they did Crysis 1, then thats fine by me.

i think rocket's plans are to release the alpha as a sort of pre purchase for the actual product. Perhaps you will buy the alpha and then pay a discounted price for the standalone once it is released OR you could buy the Alpha and then get the standalone for free as it gradually updates itself to that point.

keep in mind that the minecraft ALPHA cost $13 US. DayZ standalone (finished) is worth at least $30

Of course I'm not suggesting you'd have to pay for it three times. It'll work like minecraft, what stage the game is in when you buy it will determine how much you pay. So basically, if you buy the alpha for $20 you're essentially getting the finished standalone for $20 once the game gets to that point. Keep in mind that i don't work for Bohemia and i cant speak for their products. Also, wether you like it or not, you bought a $30 game to play a FREE mod. You in no way payed for DayZ. Maybe you should try playing ArmA. I had the same way of thinking that you did until i gave the editor a quick run through and was amazed at what the engine/game is capable of. I don't see why people cant wrap their head around this idea. YOU bought ArmA 2. DayZ happens to be a mod for ArmA and so you played it. Your purchase of ArmA 2 does not entitle you to a free copy of DayZ which is an entirely different game.

I dont think the minecraft Alpha was even 5 euro. It should be at least 10 dollars. We have to remember that BI is actually a business with money making being its main interest and purpose.

I agree with icomrad, but i like both.

Your thumbnail tells me that you are a homeless man. You should have other priorities before you consider paying for video games,

Even if the idea tanks in develpment, you'll still have some guy out there or some studio out there willing to clone DayZ and do it right ASSUMING that is that DayZ doesnt happen or isnt succesful. In that unprecedented instance someone else would pick it up because it'll make them a shitton of money and because thats how people work. If things keep going the way they are, and Rocket is kept project lead there is only a miniscule chance that the project would fail, but even if it does, someone out there will create the DayZ we've all dreamt of.

Wanna kill alot of zeds? The Bizon is your best friend.

I agree. Most of us payed 30$ just to play the alpha version, and in doing so, decided that the alpha was worth $30 to us. If Rocket is going to charge $60 for the standalone, it better be worth our money.That means: No bugs, no hackers, better graphics, better servers, etc. I myself, will be dropping what i hope to be 100$ US for the collectors edition. i just hope it comes with NVGs lol.

Thats alot of extra character data to store my friend, and when youre dealing with say 4 million players (DayZ will grow to that size I promise you) and each player plays on an average of 7 different servers or more that is ALOT of data to store. The cost will add up and just be insane. I've never been in game design but i just dont think that'll work. Someone prove me wrong please.

well you might not get what you want and the standalone alpha might not be worth your money then. DayZ will be on an updated version of the same engine and, because its in alpha, will have plenty of bugs that we need to tell the Devs about. We are here so that they dont have to pay testers. If thats the way you feel, then save your $$$$ for the beta dude.

Totally agree. We need to expand loot and add many more low tier items. We also need just much more items in general so that it takes longer to attain those top tier items like NVGs and M4 SDs. The devs have to find a way to make those low/mid tier items valuable as well though.

My thoughts exactly bro!

Thats an insta-buy for me. I just hope rocket gets to see some of the money

^THIS Everyone read and understand what this man is saying. This will now be part of the OP.

My fault, I'm an ignorant 'Merican that doesn't know his ****

WHOA forget that man, try 35 euros Just googled it. 50 euro= 61.666 US dollars, something i'd be fine with paying for the final product.

Hmmm not a bad idea at all. I just think that the kiddies that are like "OMGWTFBBQ I BOUGHT ARMA FOR DAYZ I WANT IT FOR FREE" are asking for a bit much. BI is a business ffs, people tend to forget that.

Well i didnt play minecraft, but i think the way it worked was that if you bought the beta or the alpha for its original price, you get the final game for free. Seeing the amount of copies of ArmA that DayZ has sold for BI, i dont think they'll need any more help paying for the development of the alpha and beta and that the sales from those two will pay for the rest of the development. As long as they come out with the triple A zombie survival title that i hope they will, i will pay anything they want.

Wrong bro. Rocket was an employee of BI working on coding for multiplayer (i think) when DayZ was released and even before that.

Yeah monthly subs would be a total turnoff but i dont think this is gonna turn into an mmo type deal. I'll happily purchase a collectors edition just to give rocket my money

hahaha... NO Hackers will be a thing of the past in standalone. Rocket has already said that. Rocket does not treat us like walking wallets. How much did you pay for DayZ? oh right, it was free only BECAUSE rocket made it free for you. He has made 0$ of of this so far. Also, Alphas are SUPPOSED to have glitches otherwise they would just be finished products. Ever play the battlefield 3 open beta? You spent more time walking inside the ground than you did actually shooting people.