Icus

I love Day Z, I really do. I love wandering for hours in the wilderness, hunting for loot in houses, deer stands, military tents, etc. I love the thrill of wondering if a player is stalking the same area as me, fearing a sniper is watching over the military spawn I'm looting, or finding a vehicle in some nonsensical part of the map. I love looting some poor sap's tents of his rare guns, killing pigs for meat, and looting stores and the thrill of finding that uber rare piece of gear. I found my own pair of NVGs, my own M107, my own Coyote Backpack, my own silenced M4, Silenced M9, etc. So with all this to love, why have I stopped playing Day Z? Well, you might say the latest patch, 1.7.2.5, a "hot-fix" intended to fix some graphical issues, was the last straw for me. The way this patch fundamentally broke tents and vehicles has crippled any enjoyment I can find in the game. I say broke as opposed to buggy because they simply don't work. So what if I looted some sap's tent? His stuff will just re-spawn tomorrow. Hell, I can just keep going back there day after day and gear up my friends too. It cheapens the game, and I cannot handle this cheapness. Sure, you're sitting there, saying "well, then don't use the uber loot duping tents, duh!" and you'd be right. But the way tents are broken also makes it incredibly risky to store my gear before going off adventuring. This means I can't store my extra food, ammo, my day/night weapons and more, without fearing a re-set. What if the server crashes while I'm playing at night, or re-sets suddenly? My day/night guns will be gone. I'll have to find that ammo again. It means that if I wander across the map, I have to wander back before I log out or all my things will vanish, and this turns playing into a chore. Then there's the helicopter my friends and I fixed up. Gone in less than five hours. Did the server reset and despawn it/return it to the island I found it on? Or was it stolen? I don't know, and because of that uncertainty (which should not be), I can't be bothered to play. The real reason I've given up isn't any of the above reasons, really. I guess what was truly the last straw is how Rocket and co have basically thrown the community to the wolves in order to promote the standalone at various conventions. I don't blame them of course, I can't wait for the standalone, but I was also looking forward to enjoying Day Z the mod in the meantime. A simple tweet, a forum post, a reddit comment, anything that says, "we know tents and vehicles are broken, news soon" or something along those lines is all I need. I'm sure there are others who fell the same.

Just because there's a higher chance of finding better loot there doesn't mean there should always be good loot there.

Rocket and co should wipe all tents and vehicles. All characters while they're at it. The mod has gotten out of control with an inflation of gear via duping and vehicle hording that has gone beyond levels of reason. However, they should only implement this kind of radical action when/if they get duping and hacking in weapons under control.

The guns themselves are fine, as is. The trouble comes from things like duping, hacking, etc. Spawn-wise, they're pretty rare but thanks to tent duping, duping in general, and the clip refill bug the guns are not balanced by what should be very rare (and risky to obtain) ammunition. I found a camp with over twenty tents and it was full of AS50s (one, or more, per tent). There were over 20 clips of ammo+. No way was that legit and it kind of took the fun out of finding it. I got more of a thrill when I found an MP5SD on a random tent with nothing else but food and med supplies because I knew I had raided someone's stash. The AS50 camp was more like stealing a grain of sand from the beach.

At approximately 10 p.m. Eastern time I encountered a hacker on two occassions on US 416. The first time I was procuring a bicycle and out of nowhere a UAZ appeared honking at me attempting to run me down. I dismounted and killed the driver. His name was [saH] WalkingDead and his GUID is 09fa7512e2ed8d50278a7edcc1176dbf. Now, I had no reason to suspect him of hacking at this point, until.... Some friends were helping me find some parts for the UAZ, as its engine and tires were damaged. One of them was at the Northeast Airfield (not far from where I killed WalkingDead), when a tractor appeared. Turning around, I found the UAZ had vanished. As I approached the airfield my friends were killed one by one. I gave chase when the tractor drove away, but suddenly, in the middle of a random field I noticed a player appear, then go prone, face my immediate direction and fire a DMR. I fired back, and while his shot missed, mine was a headshot and [saH] WalkingDead died again, from friendly fire this time? Why I KNOW he was a hacker: -2 vehicles within 10-15 minutes -Regained NVGs, and GPS within 10-15 minutes -Systematically wiped out my friends, when only one of them had fired at him and all three had ghillie suits and were prone inside trees around the North East Airfield -Blatantly teleporting in front of me. Fortunately he was a terribad shot. Admins feel free to PM me with any questions.

So you're playing one of the most epic, hardcore, and exciting zombie games out there. But are you prepared for the unforgiving world of Chernarus? The first thing you need to do to prepare yourself is realize DayZ is in ALPHA right now. There's a reason very few games have open Alphas. You know how Betas are often buggy, unstable and prone to rapid iteration (ie quick changes/fixes/nerfs/buffs)? Well, Alphas, by virtue of the game not yet being ready for beta, are worse. There's a reason a simple hotfix breaks tents. It's because it's Alpha. When people complain about fixing bugs before implementing new features, they are failing to understand the purpose of Alpha. The point of Alpha is not to get the game playable, it's to assemble its skeleton. Stabilization etc. comes in Beta. Day Z is remarkably stable, and fun, at present (for an Alpha) so it's easy to get spoiled. Just remember when something breaks, the devs know, and they will get to fixing it, but shouting at them about how "fixing all bugs should come before implementing anything new!!!!" is not what they need to hear. Besides, even if they did do that, implementing a new feature could very well introduce just as many bugs as before. This would slow development to a crawl, and while you might be happy with your tent city in the middle of nowhere with more duped guns than anyone could possibly ever use, I can't wait to see how they expand this harsh, unforgiving world.

I kind of agree. I think shock should only apply if you get shot. I get the realism element, but I don't think I should be punished if I log out when I randomly break a leg in the middle of nowhere (proning too close to a tree lolololo) and want to wait for my friends to log in and bring me morphine. Another idea is to introduce a new debuff to penalize alt+f4/logging out and alter shock,

Dictating how the mod is supposed to be played is precisely how it ISN'T meant to be played.

It amuses me that, in a real zombie apocalypse, many on the forums seem to think everyone would hold hands, sing Kumbaya, and work together in a world full of monsters ready to eat them at every turn. That's not the case. Ever see what happens in a city during a mass evacuation? Here's a hint: It's not cooperation. Sure, many people do the right thing and flee with their families, but many also stay behind and pilfer what was left behind. They smash open stores, homes, etc and loot whatever they can because at the end of the day, humans are opportunists. Sniping a lone player in a field is an opportunity in this game. An opportunity for rare loot, or basic supplies, that enhance your ability to survive. Believe it or not, there is already a great incentive for group play: It's more fun. I usually play solo but also often manage to get friends together once or twice a week to go on loot runs, hunt for players or vehicles, etc. You can't trust someone you just met, that's the way of the world. A false, videogamey reward for group play like bonus damage against zombies or a higher chance for loot or whatever it is you think the game should do to force players to play how you want would undermine everything this game does so well: the freedom to do what you want.

Goren, I just wanted to commend you for not Alt+F4ing last night when I engaged you at the Berezino tents on US 44. Kudos to you, sir.

Set up camp in cherno. Crack shot AI NPC pwns fresh spawned players. Bathe in noob tears. In all seriousness, it would be nice to have a crack shot elite NPC guarding your loot while you are away. But how is that realistic? How many discarded tents come with a spare human being armed to the teeth ready to fight and die to protect your loot? The vulnerability of tents/camps/vehicles left behind is one of the most realistic, and rewarding, elements of Day Z. Have you ever seen a hard to reach area and thought "maybe there's a tent up there" and figured out how to get there then found a treasure trove of silenced guns? Because it's awesome. Have you ever had a spare set of NVGs looted off your tent? That sucks. But you just set up camp elsewhere.

Since alot of people are misreading, or not bothering to read, Rocket's reply, here's a rewording (as I understand it): Clicking abort to log out counts as "logging out" and CARRIES NO NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES. What this means is if you log in to a server, decide its laggy, and log out, you should have nothing to worry about. Now whether the game will have any systems in place that detect if you fired a weapon etc. before logging out...I don't know. But you will have a 5 second "still in world" ghost to worry about too if you should log in/log out somewhere in danger, or trafficked by many players (ie server hopping in NWA). However, hitting alt+f4, or having your client crash, counts as a "disconnect" and lowers your reptutation with the Hive (a too low rep and you will be banned, with the ability to appeal).

Also for people lamenting about taking a half hour to run to friends...you can spend a half an hour trying to find the "perfect" respawn to be close to your friends. Like, if your pals are in Berezino, and you want to spawn in Solnichny, you could spend an hour trying to get the "right" spawn, overloading the server all the while.

I for one like the new respawning mechanic (or lack thereof). For those lamenting spawning at Kamenka, you do know it's a hop skip and a jump away from Balota airfield, home of 4 deer stands, 2 hangars and an ATC? That's a pretty solid source of loot and weaponry. Or, you could head north for Stary/Novy and try your luck. It does suck to link up with your friends, but it does no matter where you can spawn. Implementing a choose where you spawn mechanic would require tweaking. Otherwise, everyone will choose Novy to get to Stary and that place will become a graveyard of noob corpses, either as people rush the 15 military tents or head to the NW Airfield.

I think the real issue with DCing is how cheapening it is for the DCer. Danger? DC. Well, if you want that kind of hand-holding, just load up any other shooter where you can spam F6 to quick save every step. The fun of Day Z is in the threat of losing everything you've earned. Found NVGs in the barracks? Well, now you have to survive getting out of the airfield. Got a treasure trove of loot? Now you have to hide it. Your tent will be found, your vehicles stolen, but you know what? You'll find other people's tents too, and steal their vehicles, so it evens out. That's the fun. I admit, it took me awhile to realize that. I used to sprint everywhere, picking up a zombie train, then log in/log out to despawn them. But the game got boring quick. Now when a bullet hits near my feet, I try to find the attacker and decide if fight or flight is the best decision. The tension I feel in moments like this does not exist in any other game, period--and that's what makes Day Z special. If you hack, DC to avoid death or re position, you aren't playing the game, you're cheapening it for yourself and others. I died the other day and lost everything. Coyote backpack. NVGs. Silenced m9+m4. But you know what? The moments before I died were epic. A 2v3 gunfight over a vehicle, blood spouting from the jeep as it drove before the passengers jumped out and died. They all had similar, maybe even better gear, than myself. In the end, my friend managed to escape with the vehicle and reclaim my NVGs, so I'm not naked again (and have regeared almost completely in under a day). Day Z is fun, and it sucks to lose loot, but when you know where to go and have backup, it's not too hard to re-gear.