LackofCertainty

OP, would you like to know the real reason why zombies and not anything else? Zombies make a good backdrop for this game, because: They are simple. (The AI for them is as simple as "Run at detected player. Attack. Repeat") Very little additional modelling. (devs just need to make a couple skins and a couple shambling animations and attach them onto normal player models) They are non-threatening enough that the focus of the game is on player interaction. (as has been mentioned, after a few days of experience, you should almost never die to zombies) Programming in thick fog and Lovecraftian horrors would be great, but the problem with Lovecraftian Horrors are: I will never be scared of something I've seen hundreds of times. (so it doesn't matter how terrifying it is, because I will see it a lot because of how this game works) Much higher amount of dev work. (entire new models and more complicated AI means a lot more work needed) The focus of the game is on Player interaction. (so complex/intelligent monsters just mean more wasted dev time) The core concept of the game is a "what would you do during the apocalypse." A pandemic of rabies is more believable to me than a cross-dimensional god-beast that devours my very pysche. I'm a bit like you, in that I've been a zombie maniac for a while, but I differ from you in that I still love zombies. More zombies is never a bad thing. If you're to the point where you don't want zombies anymore, then just start limiting yourself to only playing/reading/watching the cream of the crop. Just pretend all the mediocre zombie stuff doesn't exist and enjoy the good stuff. P.S. The reason why you don't see Missing limb zombies, or half-rotten zombies in DayZ, is because we aren't dealing with the living dead. The "Zombies" in DayZ are actually just "infected" living people. That's why they die when you put a couple rounds into their bellies. They're basically living people infected with a super-strain of rabies. If you cut off one of their arms with a hatchet, they'd bleed to death. :)

Okay, for everyone who hates the words "endgame content" use your imagination and everytime someone types out "endgame content" replace those words with, "Content for people who already have access to vehicles, high end military loot, and who routinely raid crashed heli's and military barracks." Personally, I don't have a stick so far up my ass that I can't admit that "endgame content" is a handier summation than the 22 word alternative I suggested, but if you're that anal about it be my guest. Anyway, the very fact that "endgame content" exists in DayZ means that more can always be added. I like the idea of more dynamic spawns like the heli's, and fewer static spawns so that you have people exploring the map more instead of farming known hotspots. I also like the idea of basebuilding that rocket suggests, although It'd fall kinda flat for me unless player built strongholds get zombie spawns the same way as towns currently do.

What ridiculous generalisations you're making. I agree. Whoever told you those stereotypes about North America probably told you that every Irishman is an alcoholic too? I live in northern Wisconsin (which is very rural) and of the people I know maybe two carry pocket knives on them. (Note: most Pocket knives are basically useless as a weapon, and are hardly comparable to fixed-blade hunting knives) Both of them happen to use said knives on a daily basis at their work. Expecting the average citizen to be carrying a hunting knife is like expecting the average citizen to be carrying a gun or to have a bug-out bag. Sure, a few people might have those things, but the majority? No.

(did not read the thread up until this point) To the OP: If you don't want to play with people who shoot on sight, then you need to find a group to play with. There are a lot of DayZ communities and clans springing up so it's not too hard to do. If you refuse to join a clan/community or If you want to play a solo survivor, then don't try to party with people. Especially not when you have gear. Either stealth away from them, or shoot on sight. You don't have any other options, because you have too much to lose, and they have too much to gain from killing you.

I've only died before spawning in once, which happened because I logged off in the middle of a high value when I was abruptly invited to see a the new spiderman movie. Logged back in and died before I finished loading. In every single other login, though, I've never died. Make sure you're in the woods, inside a bushy tree when you log out and you won't have any issues.

Nope. In fact, if you make an entire new profile and use it in DayZ, you'll still have the same character.

Sure, why not. Or better yet, remove the respawn button entirely.

But my character isn't a trained military marksman. He's just a jackass with a hunting rifle. (joking. I actually play a survivor, not a bandit.:P)

I was referring to server bans, which is why I mentioned server admins and buddies of server admins. Exploiting is an offense that admins are allowed to ban for. Also, if a server admin bans you without a good reason, (like you suggest) they can get their server's blacklisted. As I said, it is a hard to punish exploit, and one that's easy enough to do that most people aren't being punished for it at the moment. If you want to be a dick and do it, then do it. If you happen to get unlucky and get caught doing it and receive a ban, don't complain. Either way, the log out timer will be added to the game sooner or later, and that'll cut down on this.

1. there is another thread open about this. http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=21807 2. I'll post the same thing here that I did there. The biggest issue with barbed wire will be gone when 1.7.2 hits. Deep breaths people. Barbed wire is silly now, because there are two exploits open that are letting people get/use nearly unlimited amounts of wire.

The biggest issue with barbed wire will be gone when 1.7.2 hits. Deep breaths people. Barbed wire is silly now, because there are two exploits open that are letting people get/use nearly unlimited amounts of wire.

Yeah, it's not "wait five seconds before you're allowed to disconnect." It's "Your character sits in game with their thumb up their ass for 5 seconds after you alt+f4" Generally five seconds of standing still should be enough for your character to either take some significant zombie damage (plus possible bleeding) or just enough time for the player you DC'ed from to shoot you in the head.

To the OP: Yeah, rocket's specifically said that DC'ing to avoid death is an exploit, so I'd stop doing that if I were you. Or not, whatever. I'm sure he'll close the exploit sooner or later, so if you want to keep doing it till then, knock yourself out.

You can store 5 backpacks and 10 weapons/tools and 50 general items in one tent, for a total of 65 things in one tent.

I would like some mechanics to downplay alt+f4/server hopping. 1: When a person logs out, all the zombies that were chasing them disappear. I'd like the server to remember that number and spawn them in when the player joins a new server, and have them agro on the person when they spawn. 2: I'd like a login noise to prevent surprise deaths from behind. Make it as simple as when a player logs in, they make the loud coughing noise that you make when you're infected. Would be enough to alert people in the area that someone appeared like magic, while not super punishing people who's internet crapped out, or had to log for RL reasons. 3: When a person logs in, make no loot appear for them for 5-10 minutes. Other people in the area could trigger loot to spawn normally, but if one person's by themselves in a barn and no one's nearby, nothing would come to them when they popped in. (and I'd wave this if the person had just made a new character, so you wouldn't punish noobs joining for their first time)

Not everyone shoots on sight, but in my personal experience the split is about 25% friendly to 75% hostile. As has been said before, if you come across an armed person who doesn't notice you, you can try asking them if they're friendly. If they don't immediately freeze and type/chat friendly back, you should shoot them. I've had a few deaths from me asking friendly letting the other guy look around, and as soon as they spot me they put a round in my head. The sad part is that even if the person responds with a "friendly" you can't really trust them. I've heard far too many horror stories of people who played with and helped out another survivor, and right when they were about to quit for the night, the other person blew their head off and took their stuff. Personally, I've started just yelling "FREEZE!" into my mic when I see people instead of asking their intentions, and then just forcing them to leave under gunpoint, or slowly backing away from them while keeping the crosshairs on. Much safer imo. (and yeah, the situation is totally different if you join a group, but I like lone wolfing it... for now at least)

One of the ideas mentioned that I like the most is limiting the tool slots, and increasing the number of tools available. (I'd also make tools either not fit in backpacks, or take up a lot of room [6 slots+] so that people can't easily switch loadouts) I like the idea that Player A only has enough tool slots to carry his cooking gear. Player B only has enough tool slots to carry his medic gear. and Player C only has enough tool slots to carry his engineer gear. Players B and C need player A to cook for them/make campfires to keep them warm, so they don't get crippled by hypothermia and starvation. Players A and C need player B to patch them up properly, because if they do it themselves it's half-assed and doesn't bring them back up to full capacity. You'd rather have a doc patch you up when you break your leg to get you to 100%, instead of fix it yourself and run with a limp that slows you down. Players A and B need player C, because they can't break down wire/barriers/traps other players have set in towns, and vehicles are actually very important now, because just travelling the wilderness is dangerous. The lone wolves (like myself) would still be able to make it work solo, but they'd just have to be damned careful, because one mistake could end them. Bandits would still work, because if everything is harder to get, then everything they steal is that much more valuable to them. The only issue I see is that it could make the game too difficult for players just starting out. Even as is, the life expectancy for new players is pretty short till they figure out zombie agro and what lootable buildings look like. With these changes I could see it being so harsh that most people would quit before getting over the hump.

Honestly, who cares if people hack now and then? All it proves is that they are the type of people who would kick over sandcastles on the beach, but don't because they're too big of pansies to put themselves out in the open like that. So instead, they do the same thing digitally and use the anonymity of the internet to protect themselves. *shrug* My longest living character was killed when a hacker carpet bombed half the server, but that doesn't really matter. DayZ is most interesting to me when I've just started out and I'm forced into dangerous situations to get my gear, so really it doesn't bother me at all. To go back to the sandcastle analogy, once you've built a sandcastle it's not that much fun anymore, so if someone kicks it over on you to be a dick, who cares? It just gives you an excuse to build another one. :P

Yeah, also try not to log out near stairs. I logged out at the top of an industrial building when my friend prodded me to go play some diablo 3 with him, and when I logged back in my guy fell through all the stairs and took 13k damage. :D P.S. I had all of the survival gear, including a gps, when it happened! P.P.S. But oh well, part of the fun of playing the game is starting over and getting stuff again, and it is an alpha, so bugs happen.