Kain Phalanx

I'm back to playing after a few months hiatus and I notice that high difficulty servers are pretty much empty. I'm not sure if the introduction of new maps, which I don't care about at all, thinned out the playerbase or if it was always this way, but we need more people on these servers. Is it the first person lock that's keeping people away? I don't see why people prefer third person. It doesn't give you an advantage unless you're a camping bandit. What other game would you play where the other side gets an unfair advantage like that? It's also a pain to micro-manage in that capacity and in general as it's hard to switch on the fly. I watch people play with it and they actually have worse spatial awareness and aiming because of the clunky game engine. It's pretty ridiculous to see people shimmy backwards around corners with their gun in the wall to see around it, that's the purpose of the Q and E keys. Waypoints turn maps into GPSs. The smart menu cursor makes the rangefinder, rangefinding techniques, and to some extent camoflouge obsolete. The aiming cursor suggests it's the result of aiming down the sights, but then why can you also actually aim down the sights? It's hipfiring, it shouldn't be accurate. This is all information you shouldn't have.

Vehicles shouldn't explode.

Right now, the radius from player that zombies spawn is too short. It's too easy to tell where people are because all people have to do is look where zombies are. Also, zombies really need to stop spawning anywhere near the player. I'm talking the size of a small or medium town. If you go through the trouble of actually killing all the zombies you should be able to loot while not still being harassed by an infinite stream of them, it's just silly. So the radius should be much larger, but very thin, like a bicycle tire instead of a doughnut. I realize it's where it's at because of performance issues, but this is something that just needs to be done.

I disagree, hunting humans or being hunted doesn't get old. Zombies aren't much of a threat, so why would I team up with someone just to kill zombies? Getting shot in the back and playing half an hour of running simulator is far more boring.

Ever notice those blue vehicles with wheels? Are those mobile generators? I had the idea of them lighting up the street lamps in their towns if you add fuel to them.

I've never even seen one in all my time playing. I've found every other weapon besides the rocket launcher.

DayZ has a terrible retention rate, so the number is probably highly misleading.

No. It's how I play anyways. I don't necessarily think it's a good idea, but I wish more people would have the presence of mind to be okay with limiting themselves and choosing first-person servers if that's what keeping them back. Limits are what makes a game; more is not always better.

If you use steam, there's a trick you can do with the steam overlay. It remembers what buttons you were pushing when you bring it up, so you can use it to effectively auto-sprint. People also use weighted items on the keys. Ratchet sockets are good for that I think.

A wooded area? Like a random forest? I auto-sprint and go afk. Pretty low chance of danger.

Third person driving seems like it would be really awkward in this game, but I haven't tried it yet. I've spent a great deal of time in vehicles in first person and I find it quite enjoyable aside from ATVs constantly shaking your screen and being deathtraps in general, and not being able to look back in the Ural. Saying that's not immersive is shocking though. Looking out a window on a sunny cruise, lit up dashes at night, the wheel turning while you look to the side during a turn, these seem better to me than watching your car from above and behind. Much like in real life, not being able to tell exactly how wide your car is isn't that big a problem. I'm not sure if you do this in third person, but I double-tap alt to lock freelook when I enter vehicles and tap it to recenter. It's not that big a hassle. I play on US 3279 Las Vegas. No people and it updates beta faster than DayZ commander recognizes. I doubt I'll play today, but there's probably a hatchback at 035033 south of the road if you want to cruise around. It's not exactly mine but the camp seems abandoned. You'll need a jerry, there seems to be a bug where all fuel drains while vehicles are off.

But it makes perfect sense. You play on daytime servers to get NVGs, then you switch to nighttime servers where everyone else...is doing the same thing!

And towards that convincing, another argument: As I've stated, third person provides an advantage to bandits, so naturally, there are less of them on expert servers. This actually makes higher difficulty servers easier in a way, especially combined with the lower population, ha. Of course I'm trying to change this, but it's true for the short term atleast. Four people on the server, I park my Ural at NW AF, the other three people roll up in a bus and start checking out my ural, I shoot one with an M14 and then (!!)... we call a truce and I slowly drive away in my Ural that in retrospect they probably needed a more than me even though they had a helicopter the previous day, as I had plenty of other vehicles. More often though I'm the only one of the server. Point is, I'm bored people.

Your rationalization regarding focus is superfluous for two reasons. One, it is already implented in that you, the person, are applying focus to sections of your screen. Two, right-click zoom; seeing as we don't have zoom vision, I assume that's representative of focus. I wouldn't mind enlarging first person FoV if that's the problem. I'm not sure what other content is enhanced by third person. I can look over and appreciate the scenery, or understand what few emotes I'm doing just fine in first person. I'm rarely ever confused about where I am, and I can always just look down. Third person gives you more information, like how well you're camoflaged with just a glance, but again, is that information you should really have? Unlike the other thread, I'm not talking about taking away your ability to enjoy the game that way. I'm merely trying to convince you and other people to play on high difficulty servers more.

A scenario I see people wanting to switch to first person is when a zombie or player is really close. Aiming down the sights isn't optimal in that situation, and having another key to press while you're panicking and dealing with the other clunky controls makes them really sloppy. It has nothing to do with me thinking this game is just a FPS. I want it to be the simulator that it is. Traditionally simulators have a third person option, but that's because they are also usually technical showcases. It makes sense in an aircraft simulator with good graphics to want to be able to see your shiny airplane, but in Arma as a human with the goofy animations? The two ideas are not joined at the hip.

If both can use it effectively then it's not an advantage. However, an advantage does actually go to those who can use it to grant a large vantage while not being exposed at all, like over a crest or on a roof, in other words, camping bandits. What's the problem with using alt to look around? It's what you're supposed to do from what I gather, using the look key when you want to look around. Third person's the same, just with a larger FOV. I spend more time holding alt than not.

Maybe I'm slowpoke here but are helicopter's back in game? One just flew over me and then the lag warping began. I basically can't move because I keep getting brought back to the same spot. Also found an ammo can at a helicopter crash site with 20 stanag mags in it. Legit?

From other threads it seems like it's the newest beta 94945 that's causing the problem.

Also stuck on Waiting for Host. Just got the newest beta. Updated dayz manually first, then with dayzupdater. Can't connect to any servers 1.7.2.3 or not, high or low traffic.

Losing progress far too often. I guess I'm disconnecting while the servers are desynced, the notifier being useless. And zombie sight range is too far.

Isn't Novy in the middle of the map? Could that be a factor somehow?

I currently have 3 different characters depending on which server I join. I imagine it's because of all the desyncing. Zombie visual aggro needs to be toned down.

What about places like Pabeda Dam that are off the map but still detailed areas?

Haha, no.

I had the exact same thing happen in that same building. I, however, accidentally threw a flare, so I figured that explained it even if it was daytime.