Noctoras

will always be a PvP focussed experience. The game design doesn't really make for a good single player or builder survival game, I'd rather look into 7 days to 2 for that, which also is a lot of fun. DayZ is about realism and this realism is focused around guns, so I'd definitely think it is a PvP shooter. After 0.55 I have never ever died to anything but players or the odd bug. That said, I ook forward to testing 0.63 soon.

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.

If this is indeed the case, this game attracted a player base of a exeptionally sub standard IQ ....

To camp and to be camped :)))

As for misinformed and ill conceived, we shall see. I still doubt that modding will really benefit the community at the end of the day, since I am afraid it will just split whatever still remains of the community. I do have my own ideas about what survival games and other people have different opinions, that's alright. I don't feel the need to applaud the devs on every fart just because, but I can appreciate things like a good information policy nonetheless. But I agree with some things having frustrated me and thus I might sometimes have gone over the top when posting (and maybe still do so, that's for others to decide, I don't claim to be the grail of wisdom). Fanboy is not a nice term, I agree, but with some right you or others might have called me (insert different terms for negative person here), since a lot of what I posted constituted ciritism one way or another. Fanboy would then basically be the straigt opposite (basically they are the people often calling criticism trolling). There are also people who are basically posting "fascinating work devs" after every letter a dev is typing, no matter the content. There is surprisingly few people doing both actually, like having a middle ground. I guess the game and / or the community is polarising ;) Okay, that was very off topic and I shall leave it be at that. :)

That's the first time I get called a fanboy. Usually I get flamed from the guys I consider fanboys. Oh times are changing ...

Hm, is that post comedy or for real?? If it is in fact comedy, it is good!! If not you should know that this game has a lot of issues and a lot of content yet to be desired. And more guns are NOT what this game needs in its current state ... okay ... not comedy. too bad. But yeah, it makes a lot of difference in gameplay, if you are killed by an M4 or an AK74 ... or ... well, I rest my case. Some people...

before they didn't drop a word at all. Basically it was NON communication. Now they're telling us things as they are - I ABSOLUTELY love that. If your breaks are disfunctional, would you rather someone put a notice on your car telling you that or would you prefer just not to know and see what happens? Bad news are better than non news, almost all of the time.

if so, I wholeheartedly agree ... bugs can be fun as well ... (uh, how did the zombie run through the door? haha ^^) especially if they're gonna be fixed. But point taken, again thanks for keeping us updated. over n out :)

Now who is pissed? Actually you were the first and so far only person. I prefer having a - granted - negative news to no news. What I recently saw from the devs, especially Eugen and Baty is a HUGE improvement in communication. I prefer having news above hanging in a black hole, but hey, that's just me and it's okay to disagree. That said, is the tone necessary? @devs: if you consider whether posting news like that again, just look at how many people appreciate it and how many don't. There always will be people unhappy no matter what you do, but I think most of us will be pleased by the new style of communication! Even if I still think you could have rolled it out for us to crash it hehe ;)

news is appreciated. However, what is the pupose of experimental if not pushing experimental, potentially unstable builds? If a build really has to work properly, it could simply be pushed to stable imho, since it's alpha anyway? Granted, I can only speak for myself, but these bugs would not exactly cause major frustraion in me and, that aside, some bugs have also led to quite some fun. Nontheless, the information is of course appreciated.

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.