Noctoras

DayZ's main problem is not microtransactions, but that it apparently regards itself as no more tha a shooter right now. And Pubg does this better. If they went along with survival and shooter as two core mechanics, DayZ would have a selling point. Let's face it. Weapon sway, more realistic gun drawing animations, ambient sounds for gunshots ... yeah, that's something for Hicks and gun fetishists. Basically the game needs to be MORE than run and gun. Instead it has more and more developed into yet another shooter, albeit the on of the most realistic ones. Fetishists, nerds and old school players will be pleased, but it's not a way to reach the masses. Loot and shoot is realised in PubG in a more compact, more action filled title. Community feedback is also part of the problem. The masses never populated the board, the masses just played. On boards and from streamers you get a nerd input, not the input needed to make the product attractive to the masses.

I am even tempted to ask to spend precious resources on development instead of event after event, each of them requiring a specific preparation. But that's just me and not up to me.

I really appreciate Eugen's contributions. Always giving insight and always being straight forward, even regarding mishaps or things not going according to plan. With communication like this noone will complain about missed deadlines/milestones, internal or external or just simple delays (as obvious by noone mentioning it in their replies). I just wanted to leave this bit of appreciation here. People do love Eugen's contributions, technical or anectodical for what he writes. My thanks also.

True enough, yes, I agree with all you state above.

Then the whole survival exercise is pointless. It's like publishing a book and declaring the first 45 out of 50 pages pointless. Nonetheless the title of the book refers to the pointless pages 1-30. Sounds weird, doesn't it`? In this case, Hicks would state: "Guys, this is a survival game, but survival is not the challenge". If I ONLY want PvP to be the single challenge, I play Battlefield, not DayZ, since in the time I meet 1 DayZ player I meet hundreds of players in BF. In addition to that not only snipers from some hill, but also planes, tanks, mortars ... in short: More challenges, more options. As just another PvP shooter, DayZ would be a sorry example. DayZ is the mixture of survival, interaction and PvP.

Easy, beause these games are designed for PvP ... no running around for half an hour to finally spot someone, go in, shoot, have fun. As a mere PvP shooter, DayZ indeed is far from a good product ... this is why I consider the neglect of survival aspects a huge problem for DayZ. It is not gun number 329 the game desperately needs ....

That. There is not even a single reason to let yourself take captiva apart from "want to try it". KOS frenzy has nothing to do with realism either. Humans have individual skills and bonding up offers advantages in survival. Since characters in DayZ are just shells with no skills or any use apart from another trigger button ... well, you get the picture. No reward for and no point in interaction. Killing is most efficient and most profitable. And last but not least the incredible shitload of weapons and lack of other items sort of gives you an idea of what you are supposed to do. There are more different weapons than different food items available (realism :P )

I really had to laugh reading this and imagining this situation :)

I am on page two now and thats account number 2 obviously only created for this thread. I am tempted to ask, if you are one of the legendary join/kick admins, since you are amongst the only people defending the "rented public" with verve ... Edit, 2 posts later there is the THIRD account registered only for this thread asking to keep the servers. Well, seems your loot&kick farms are gettin unpopular ...

This join=kick lootfarms seem to be the main purpose of these hives, not any high pop thingy. I'd ask the dev to join 20 random rented public servers anonymously, no matter the title or the pop, and try to play 10 minutes on each ... then see from how many servers you are kicked within these 10 minutes. This should deliver an interesting experience....

Very very good point. A survival game should allow for more ways to rise to power than just your average search a gun and shoot what moves.

I don't want to go into individual games here, but I wholeheartedly agree. Early access is a dangerous road to go down from a consumer perspective.

The topic closure and removal has been a bit disturbing lately, there is not even a graveyard anymore, so it's all subject to the eyes of the mod, which contribution is desired and which is to be deleted. I know, there is forum rules and such, but a "negative" thread will sooner or later attract some jerk, who just ignores the forum rules - this in turn can be taken as a welcome invitation to delete undesired content. Sounds like tin foil hat, but apparently has some truth to it. This in itself is a reason for the steam reviews, negative or positive, since they are not as filtered as contributions on official forums. Sure, many positive and negative comments on Steam are not well backed up, I see that point. Nonetheless, I prefer having a rather representative breakdown of opinions to having a pre-moderated filter bubble.

Pointless exercise - if I go fishing / sewing / whatever I try to pick a relatively safe environment. Couldn't care less, if I am 10 or 20% faster. Doesn't affect the outcome either. (and in real life it's pointless as well. I want someone who does the job BETTER, not quicker) .... yeah, I know that was the initial dev idea, but it was bad enough - the devs just made it even worse, so maybe it's time to drop the skill stuff entirely, as they want to push the game to release anyway. No point wasting time on it, if it's implemented in a rather useless way.

See the OPs point, updates mostly only cover combat related stuff, PvP is a neglected side kick at best. Now they announce that they will not bother with an eloborated skill system either. Haven't touched 0.61 for more than 10 minutes and don't feel like there is a reason at present either. I think DayZ was the rise and fall of the survival genre in one game. big expectations, big shortcomings, as we will have a loot -> jog -> shoot -> die simulator. As for PvP I am with the OP as well, I do play games where I don't need to search the map for an hour to find some action or yet better a bullet to my back. Adrenaline can't make up for everything. I know, negative post, sorry for that.