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.

surplus post

Fun fact, that was in 2014, if that's in line with your registration here, and most of this stuff doesn't even work come 2017 either.

Skill system in its planned form looks like another opportunity lost. I though the skill system as planned was bad already. Now they give an update and make bad matters worse. But yeah, new gun #1,283 will come and definitely change gameplay a lot...

Takes away some of the all too obvious king of the hill development. a step in the right direction in my opinion. I have't really played any 0.61, though, so I cannot tell the practical effect of these changes. Positive, though!

True. However, the very civil cirtics thread by another poster has been deleted by a mod without comment. So don't be surprised to only see the "yay BI" here. And yet people wonder why the official forums haven't been able to attract more posters than its peers ...

Not sure if I'll make it till 1.0, but I am inclined to assume that modding will be the nail in the coffin. The player numbers are already dwindling and only time will tell, if they do themselves a favor with heavy PvP leaning (people might well prefer Arma, Battlefield or other games for that) and modding (splitting the remaining community). I am actually pretty curious, if it will work out the way people have in mind. Will def keep track of development. Safe travels, survivors

Well, they have been roughly stating what is to come in this week's status report. This includes base building, electricity, character life span, new vehicles and - god help it - even more guns. That's what got me disheartened at that point and thus I quit believing in a major rework of survival aspects.

I know I am not the person adressed with this post, yet, given the new status report and the basic roadmap on what there is to come (and more important it basically says what is NOT to come), I think I want to elaborate on PvP / PvE as well, I hope this is okay. As I just posted under the status report, I think they are neglecting the survival aspect and are not that interested in it. Hicks comes from Arma, so that might explain why under him the game revolves around guns ("havin no gun is boring") and has little room for other stuff. As the status report touched what's still to come, I think I can state that I am disheartened / disappointed to some extent. Electricity could be used in a civil way, but I see much of it going into base defence etc. Other than that the "feature backlog" is related to Pew Pew directly or indirectly. The neglect shows best in the medical system, which is incredibly barren, yet would hold lots of potential. Food and drink as well as the char system (in the way it is implemented) look like wasted opportunities as well. I mean, character skills will allow you to do some things quicker, but not have unique skills? Books are just junk items ... instead of making them items for the acquisition of skills or give them another purpose. Sometimes it looks like Dean had plans for a survival game and with Hicks taking over, guns, guns and more guns and vehicles seemed to get priority. Of course that also has its merits and there is the Arma audience for it, but it's not what I would call a good survival game. Not even the sandbox aspect remains. Loot is reshuffled in a way that everyone is lured to the North West PvP arena (encompassing NWAF, Myshkino, Tisy, Heli crashes). So it's no more the "roam whereever you want to roam and do what you want to do" .... rather "you can go wherever you want, but if you want to have decent stuff, go north west). Sort of a king-of-the-NW concept without explicitly restricting the area to the North West. As for the zombies, they are shaping out quite well and Iappreciate that, giving the game more of a challenge. Together with wolves I really can see that getting to a good point, albeit I wish a lone zed would also roam the woods every once in a while. It just doesn't feel right that a city limit is a zombie cage. (I know, there is wolves, but this doesn't make the point void). Yet the zombie situation might well come out good. The graphics are no doubt the strong side of the game and they will sure be helpful for the immersion. The game might just not exactly be my cup of tea, as it will not be a survival game most likely. It has its audience and its reason to exist. Yet it is an example on why to be careful with buying early access. You do not know what you get. you might buy into a survival sandbox game and wake up with a PvP shooter. Noone is forced to buy into early acces. Me neither. I had my hours of fun. I want no refund. I do not bash the devs as such. Yet I feel entitled to state my personal opinion on the game's development. The last sentence being very personal and subjective: If I want a mere PvP shooter, I don't want to jog and gear fo 45 minutes before I can have my first shot. That's not immersive for me, but a waste of time - thus I currently play BF1 to get this part of me satisfied. If I want a survival game, I want more than an alibi sickness and medical system, unique skills instead of everyone being a master sniper, medic and car mechanic and more challenges in the food/drink sector. You can easily add to that list. Sorry for the long rand and please noone take it personally. I will try not to post that much on the topic in the future, since I know that I have posted it more than once. Just felt I wanted to summarize it now that the status report has given an outlook on what there is to come yet. Best regards and safe travels

A bit disheartened that the feature backlog seems to encompass mostly combat related stuff again. Survival (related to civilian items, like the med system) seems to become a neglected sidekick. But no hard feelings here, the new graphics look good and a game obviously can't satisfy everyone.

interesting post, Pilgrim.