nashable

Nevermind, the ones that were teleport hacking were obvious. They are now banned.

No, nobody connect with the site or the server was involved. Please don't throw shit like that out there. As admin of the server if you can send me the names of those involved and a timeframe of when it occurred I'll do my best to track down and ban those on the server.

As Admin of that server I need names and a timeframe to check.

Hi all, Just wanted to spread the word that the server I run, US 546, will be closing over the next 10 days (approximately August 14). The community I'm part of are upgrading our operation and as a result are switching hosts. I just wanted to make sure anyone playing on the server had time to grab their stuff.

I think as a community what we're dealing with is people projecting their expectations as to what the game is. It's nothing more than a sandbox and when people start to 'expect' the game to be played in a certain way there will always be conflict.

http://www.armatechsquad.com/ArmA2Class151656165165341654165165165165f/A2/Weapons/rifles/full/M4A1_HWS_GL_SD_Camo.jpg That was the weapon being used.

As a veteran mission maker for Arma that is a *mission specific* value not a server-side one. DayZ seems to have this implemented.

I disagree, the game just needs more end-game content than it has now. I posted some suggestions previously over here: http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/18661-balancing-pvpbandits-end-game-goals/#entry184556 If players had more to do and could impact the world around them, or there were tougher challenges with hordes of zombies in areas you couldn't be saved within such as the airfields. Then we'll start to see players wanting to band together to complete higher goals. If you look at something like Maslow's hierarchy of needs (don't get too hung up on the specifc items within the diagram) you can see that DayZ only really offers the first two levels of the pyramid. As there are no higher levels within the game (and certain levels/needs will never apply to a computer game) once people are stable in their own security they become bored. PvP and Bandits are a must for DayZ, very few players are full time bandits but we end up with more and more banditry because players are quickly consuming the little amount of content available in the Alpha.

Tell that to Rocket. http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1154-gau-12/#entry12289

Admin of US 546 here. This player was shown in the logs for using a Thermal M4 SD (which I've never seen in the game, nor heard of being a legit weapon but in case I'm wrong its why I include the class name in the ban). Also a player with the same name was also shown in the logs as carrying a Thermal scope AS50 previously. To my understanding both weapons are not in DayZ. If a *Staff Member* wants to contact me to lift the ban or for me to share the log file to upgrade to global please do otherwise the ban will remain in place.

Changing the port is possible, but all you are doing now is creating more work for me as the admin. You're not actually preventing anything other than personally impacting me. I'd appreciate it if you removed that information from your post, sure other people could look it up but again it wouldn't be easily associated with this video. I spend a lot of time working with the regular groups playing on that server, I provide VOIP and a forum in an effort to build a community there. I actively monitor logs for signs that people are cheating and I ban them where I have proof. I feel that some people's short term need to hurt/grief other players (or to steal a few weapons) is losing site of a bigger picture here. This is just one case of a single youtube video, what if I went ahead and started a website that documented EVERY camp in the game on EVERY server? Would that be fun metagaming, no it would effectively stop people using camps/tents and overall kill any sense of achievement for organized group play.

Hi Zealot. As Admin of US 546 I've asked a Mod to review this thread (and the other one you started). The reason being this level of meta-gaming 'public naming' of a location of a map now basically makes that part of the map a no-go area on my server, which in turn makes my server less popular to play on and reduces the effective play area my regulars can build a camp in. Since your post we've already seen two large groups of already highly geared players rush the area. I've personally had to ban several players for running around with hacked weapons they felt they needed to bring to the party. You may have thought you were giving people a 'fair shake' but in fact you've compromised the experience for players on US 546. At this stage I may be forced to rename the server if the groups keep showing up to use that camp as a noob trap. I would appreciate if you removed your video and delete the two posts you've made on this subject. Thanks, Nashable - Admin of US 546.

Looking at your screenshot this is of server US 536 not 546. Sorry I can't help. Please amend the topic title.

As the admin of 546 I'm looking into this now.

Another HFB customer that has had to shut their server down on a weekend. We definitely need a time frame on these upgrades otherwise we'll be forced to migrate in the next few days.

One thing they could add is handcuffs (its in ACE Mod) and Survivors who want to play Cop could capture Bandits and handcuff them. Now they have to find a Bandit friend willing to let them out of their cuffs or they're unable to shoot a gun. Though the Engine doesn't really let for non-lethal combat right now so it may be hard to subdue a Bandit to cuff them in the first place. What really needs to happen is a higher level set of goals to motivate players once they're tooled up other than PvP (but doesn't mess with PvP for those that like it). As I don't want to hijack this thread if anyone is interested in how that could work you can check it out here.

Why is this thread even still open, not like there is any 'discussion' going on in here.

It comes down to this. Rocket - If you want to control how the game is ran operationally you're going to need your own servers and that upkeep is probably going to need subs at some level. If you want the community to host and mod in the way ArmA has been then release it as a standalone game. You could get away with this if there were only a few 'Official' servers ran by BIS and then the community hosted more but it would need some incentive for server hosts as we're seeing some tension in just this alpha. Also the BF3 backlash after their botched launch of 'licensed' servers.

I posted this in the uber Bandit/Anti-PvP thread: http://www.dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=19935&pid=193707#pid193707 I wanted to break it out into its own thread in case people wanted to discuss in detail some of the ideas I outlined below. In my opinion the concept of Bandit and Survivor is very fluid in the reality of the game. Very rare you have players that are 100% Bandit or Survivor all of the time. For example when you spawn you have no offensive output so you're 100% survivor. When you get a handgun or lower tier weapon you may shoot at other armed Humans but you're not going out of your way to hunt Survivors, which to some make you a Bandit but most players would argue its what they need to do to survive. I feel its at this stage of the game (where most players can get to quite quickly) is where we're seeing this explosion in 'Bandits/PvP is over the top' feeling. Finally what I would consider true Bandits are the guys/girls that have advanced gear (NVGs, Sniper Rifles etc.) and go hunting for other players as they don't have much else to do. I would say you need to adjust the balance of the game in the following areas: * Make it easier in the early game for people to meet up/group (build that Teamwork element BEFORE people are armed) * Adjust the timing of when Players should enter larger cities such as Cherno and Elecktro * Add additional mechanics to Medium/Late game so that multiple people are needed to Survive. I feel if you can offer incentives to players that a (small) group is better than being solo always then you'll start to build balance around the feeling of *Factions* of Humans banding together vs the Zombies and other Human Factions. I'll explain in more detail below. *Early Game/Spawning* So once two armed people meet its over. The chances to build trust are so remote its just easier to take the other person out. What if a system was implemented to select your spawn point. While I like the vibe of spawning in a random location but with out of game maps and people respawning over and over to hit the spawn they want, I feel the meta game would be better served with a different dynamic. What I imagined is a list (not a map!) of all the available spawn points and all the players in the spawn area (or have the spawn selected but have yet to click through to spawn). Any armed player or bandit in the area show up in the list of players in red with a warning in the UI. Players are then encouraged to spawn together (spawning with extra gear perhaps?) and that trust can be built by playing the game together, watching each others backs and experiencing the game in a small group. So yes now we've moved from Solo players being killed by just as many solo players to have at least bands of 2-4 people roaming around (group play and larger more tactical firefights, yay!) Sure some people will just run off, others will betray at a later stage but at least it opens up more opportunities for 'spawn brothers' to at least form up per life. *Early to Mid game transition and Cherno/Elecktro* With either of the two large cities being close to the majority of spawn points it has produced an interesting dynamic and most experienced players will do runs on the Hospitals, if not the Supermarket and Fire stations to initially gear up. New/Green Players will get caught up in the cross fire of Part-Time Bandits and other players who are just trying to gear up quickly. As well as more advanced Full-Time Bandits who have come back south to hunt and/or quickly gather medical and food supplies. While this may be controversial I would adjust the spawn positions, I would have the progression of the game be East to West rather than South to North. This would put Cherno/Elecktro behind one or two towns (if you spawned on the South East of the coast). Yes this would need a loot re-balance and sure Berenzino could become the next Cherno but at least players would have more choice in terms of pathing they could go and may have some gear to defend themselves with by the time they hit the larger cities. *More Group activities in the Mid/End Game* So once a player has gathered good gear, maybe a tent, repaired some vehicles then the level of progression abruptly ends. While this is a game of having great stories to tell the only way to make your own content is really to keep personally challenging yourself/group. There is no better way to do this than to hunt and kill other players. Though as Gamers we all (mostly) play to win, so you've spent a lot of time building a character, so why lose all of that by hunting other heavily armed players. Which is where the full-time Bandits come into play. While this is still Alpha I wouldn't expect to see this soon but I feel the more large scale/group objectives could be added to the game. Especially objectives that could influence the world at a server (or even hive) level or be competitive across the hive. As an example of a lower tier 'end-game goal' what if Power Stations could be repaired, it would require a lot of materials to be gathered, Toolboxes, small group of players working on a few objects at the same time to bring power back online. Then power could be controlled to certain cities (or other parts of the grid could require restoration) and players would have a common goal to work towards. Factions could try owning or even destroying the newly repaired power station/grid. What about certain areas of the map becoming end game raiding zones. Perhaps one of the airfields could spawn a high volume of zombies when players enter the surrounding area. Too many for a small group to take out but perhaps a group of ~15 with awesome loots inside (also make it impossible to be saved inside that area so if anyone tries to server hop they'll be kicked out of the zone). Finally as a controversial idea what about the idea of escape. Have a goal to repair a Helicopter and fly it off the south/east end of the map (Perhaps use the Aircraft Carrier to land on?) players are scored with certain multipliers for number of fellow players rescued at the same time, gear collected/saved against their character, Time spent alive, distance traveled, number of zombie kills and a negative score for Murders as well as number of Bandits in the group. Then after rescue the player is reset, anything stored against the character (if possible vehicles/tens as well) would be despawned and be added to the final score. The player is then dropped back as a newbie along the coast. The score is then saved to a leaderboard (along with server names to help promote community, so you can have local as well as hive wide heroes!) Now on that last suggestion I bet a few of you are thinking 'This is about surviving, I can go play Left4Dead if I want to shoot zombies and escape'. I understand that but the idea of leaving the area and despawning all the collective items/gear offers item deflation. Right now the 1% (aka Full-Time Bandits) are gathering more and more gear while shooting/using said gear way less. Some people are just focused on collecting/farming gear. Without any mechanics to take items out of the game then 'haves' are relatively getting way more powerful than the 'have-nots'. To offer an incentive to leave and give up your game, while still maintaining a strategic timing element in terms of scoring, leave too early and score too low or stay too long and get killed/lose everything. Also scoring by leaving would always be optional, if you wanted to stay and help friends or keep that Helicopter then by all means this doesn't impact you in any way (other than people hunting those Choppers for themselves). Thanks for reading this far, appreciate your comments.

Yeah not sure why a few people are seeing Turk as the OP, also not sure why he posted his own suggestion thread inside of this topic. Though does give us an alternative view to debate and at least he is offering solutions to his perceived issues than complaining for Rocket to 'Fix it'. Personally I like the PvP in this game (I played 1000+ hours of Arma 2, mostly in PvP), I just want to think of ideas of offering Late game players more to do than hunt other players.

Sure, which is why in my OP I mention incentives rather than nerfs to expand team play. For the game to continue to grow and be successful we need opportunities for random players to meet before it's too late (before either one of them becomes armed) Less spawn locations and the incentive to spawn in a group helps build trust between players who know right off they aren't a threat. As for those with groups already, we need to give you something to do to incentivize you to expand that group either as a clan or temporarily to tackle an event.

Were you guys all doing cocaine right before it happened? Haha that's how I read it also :D