aaronlands

As I said the large sound radius was an objectively impressive accomplishment. The classic "don't fix it if it ain't broke" is certainly coming to mind on this change.

I think the response to the changes with the gun shots has been met with criticism. And the confirmation on the feedback tracker that it has been purposefully changed in the name of game balance raises some more questions. I wonder if there is any technical rationale behind the decision. Does it somehow improve server performance to have a smaller sound radius? It has always been an objectively impressive part of the dayz sound system for gunshots to have realistic travel sounds. I wonder if this change has denigrated that achievement. The infected have certainly changed in this patch. They are more difficult 1v1 although it's easy enough to change your rhythm to still be effective at killing them. I admit there was something satisfying about 1 hitting infected pre-1.12 but I think it was a bit ridiculous to be punching them to death on the regular. In 1.12 facing more than 1 infected becomes a big problem which is generally a good thing. I think the infected spawning is wonky. A lot more zeds spawning on roofs in this patch. I also think that if the developers have decided to increase the difficulty of zeds it should be balanced with more "area persistence" meaning that when an area is "cleared" it should stay so for a longer period of time. It is immersion breaking to clear an area, cross over to the next street and then return to the previous area and have zeds spawned in again. Maybe this is challenging from a technical perspective. I have no qualms with the increased zed difficulty if it is coupled with smarter and more intuitive zed spawning. I don't like that the infected stop attacking you when unconscious. It just doesn't make sense. Shouldn't infected stop attacking you if you stop moving then? Playing dead would be the logical "meta" in a world where they stop attacking you when you stop moving. Imagine how silly it would be to be chased by zeds and then just plop to the ground leading them to give up the pursuit. I have yet to experience the ballistics changes but more unconscious states is a good thing and we can only hope that the medical systems become more complex with respect to injuries.

Admittedly, they "say" a lot less than they used to.

What kind of changes are coming to DayZ in the coming year? Fortifying houses? Fixed cars? More realistic wounds?

I think there are three 'states': 1. wandering around, 2. investigating a sound or movement, and 3. chasing a target. I am wondering if it would be good to have the thunder activate the infected into state 2. Also I really like that the rain and thunder affect their perception.

Also what do you all think of thunder (if close enough in proximity) triggering the 'search mode' in infected? I thought it would be interesting if loud thunder bangs caused infected to start looking around.

I had the drill kit in mind when thinking about the ability to shave bark with a hatchet. I've had moments where I hunted an animal but couldn't find a knife for ages in order to collect bark and some of meat went rotten.

So, does anyone have any thoughts on collecting bark? Now with cold temperatures being more of a threat and fires more of a necessity I found it quite frustrating that I am not able to harvest bark from trees with a hatchet or axe. I understand that there are reasons for keeping specializations between items limited (you do not want every item to be a multitool) but surely there must be some way to implement collecting bark with items other than a knife.

Wait, so are bears spawning in Chernarus now? I thought they weren't when the patch first released.

This is a farcical appeal to 'authenticity' and is not a very solid argument.

Yes this has to be the DayZ equivalent of "A Modest Proposal" (A satirical essay from the 1700s where the author suggests that poor people sell their young as food).

I suspect they went the way of character transferability between the two maps because it wouldn't work with how official servers are set up on DayZ. This is just a guess! Still, I'm not defending this decision as it was a lot of fun on the experimental to have a completely separate and siloed experience. I usually defend this game but I am not a fan of this choice.

Yeah I think the night light is still a less than desirable 'solution'. I think I preferred it when it was just punishingly dark.

Gotta go with @William Sternritter on this one, at least in terms of general strategic methods. It's a careful balance when dealing with players. If you insult players too much (and that unfortunately can mean asking them to put their hands up or as my brother does, yelling: "Strip!") it can activate a sort of kamikaze mode. I find often it is best to establish communication but keep distance and objects and buildings in between. I've definitely had encounters which started out with both having their guns drawn. I never really get angry at KoS because I understand that people will respond in such different ways that I have to account for that when approaching anyone. This is an aside but, really DayZ is the embodiment of the Hobbesian state of nature where no one has laid down their absolute rights in return for a social contract. In other words, I know that you know that you can kill me at any moment's notice to get your way. Hobbes said it best: "In such condition [state of nature], there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Vigilante Gamer, which was recommended to me by another user on this forum, has a collection of YouTube videos that while old still stand the test of time. He has a video series on approaching other dangerous players (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q51PFEBlKDw) and one where he applies Sun Tzu's Art of War to DayZ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn9gcOOjnvA

@Greensek Thank you for your responses in this thread. I am not sure if it is appropriate to ask in this thread but I am curious to know if there are any planned changes to the handheld transceivers in the game? As far as I can tell they have remained unchanged since release yet not many players seem to find any incentive to use them. Perhaps the static noise in the game could be adjusted lower to make the sound less abrasive to the player and other surrounding players or maybe the sound level of a pristine or worn walkie talkie could be lowered?