I feel that spawning without a weapon is fine. This is due to several reasons. Sure, spawning with a weapon allows you to defend yourself, but spawning without one gives more of a challenge. Players who yell about how horrible no-weapon spawns are, think about it like this: How many times have you been killed (As a fully geared up player with hours into your character) by a noob with a makarov. Not that many, but still a few times. A makarov isn't that powerful anyway. You'll see that most of the combat you'll get into with a makarov, you end up running from. Just man up, sprint to the nearest supermarket/firestation and get a gun. An example of this amazing, no-weapon spawning follows: My friend and I were making a long car trip from kamenka to the NE airfield. We drove through all the major coastal cities (Yeah, we knew of the danger, we liked it.) Many times we were shot at from far away, all the shots missed. We continued to drive, a lone noob stood at the road's edge. He had no gun. If he would have the old makarov, there would have been a large chance he would have ended our lives, took our car, and probably died himself. The old starting makarov should not be thought of as a starter zombie killer only, but instead a way for bandits to get their hands on geared up players' items.