Gea

Well, I didn't actually try it out (wanna life too much when playing) but I read it in the update news somewhere. Could be that it's already outdated though. But try that: prone in a city, wait for a z too come near you(without seeing you though) and then start typing. Or press capslock and babble into your mic, I don't now if that matters. @roy: You're welcome. Anytime again! @chazbeau: thx ;D

I got this not too long ago too, but at that time, is VERY low on blood, so I thought that was just blurry vision caused by blood loss. Is one of you having any problems with a lack of blood? Maybe under 2000?

DayZ is persistent, so whenever you lose connection (may it be voluntarily or forced) your char will be automatically saved with your equipment and your location. You will keep those no matter what server you want to play, so server hopping is possible. So as long as your mate doesn't stray too far from your logout point, you will be able to keep company next time again. And loot is the stuff you find that is placeable in your inventory. Simple as that. FYI, when you log out and have a car, the car stays on the server. So it's possible it's vanished when you relog. Though that's not a problem you will encounter so soon.

It's actually not even THAT hard to shake them off, you just need to know what you're doing, which most people don't (me too not too long ago). I don't know much about mumble, can't give you much advice about that. I like skype better, is more my style, but that's just personal preference. One last tip for z's: in buildings, all they can do is waddle. In the open they might be fast as shit, but in buildings they're slower than snails, so don't panic when a z enters the room, just slowly guide him around so you don't have to run into him. And when a z saw you, don't jump up into full sprint, just slowly crouch around some corners so he loses sight of you. After that, he will after you behind the last corner he saw you at, so you should already be around another corner. Strangely they don't seem to be affected by doors though. It's damn creepy to find a shed, lock yourself in thinking you finally somewhat safe when suddenly a whole flock starts shifting through the door. Like damn ghosts. Damn ghosts who gnaw you to death.

It's really disappointing to prone around a whole village, only to find out that nearly none of the houses are entereable and THEN get killed because a z saw you through a fence. But a little note at the beginning of each spawn, like 'for help/advice and tutorials, visit the dayZ forums' would be a great addition actually. Not because I need it (ha) but because it makes clear for new players where to look for little guides/tutorials. Or a note somewhere 'it's advised to play the tutorial of arma2 to learn the basic controls', which is what I did before actually starting the mod (especially after watching a few let's plays where the player seemed to despair over a fence). I'm not asking for anything big, just little hints here and there.

What do you mean with server? Mumble server or dayz-server? Both would cost money, so you should probably rethink that. And about the spawning: you could, of course, determine one point at the coast and if you spawn far away, you just get yourself killed by some z's to spawn again somewhere else. Though that's a bit stupid, at least for me, as I need hours to get on a server and finally spawn again. So yup, you have to find each other. But before at least one of you has a gun, you wouldn't benefit from it too much anyway since there's not much to lose/gain when one dies. Just use the distance to get some loot on the way, that way you can actually help each other out when z's or bandits go for you.

As I'm also pretty new, I can understand your confusion. I hope my answers provide proper information though. 1:They can't hear you. For most servers, global chat was disabled (as well as sidechat, which was global too) to heighten the realism. The direct chat however has a very short range and will only let people hear you if they are 20-40 within your range. So it's more a 'say' or 'shout' channel. Btw, direct chat attracts z's. 2:Get to know people beforehand. Currently, it's extremely hard to form any sort of bond between strangers, as the current chat doesn't allow warnings from safe distances. So most people would shoot you in question, rather than letting you come close. It's simple survival tactics. 3:If you have a friend, then I would advise you to use a map like this one: http://dayzmap.info/ When you spawn, you get a little text in the bottom right corner of the screen, informing you where you are or what city is near. Using that information, you could plan a meeting point where you can meet up, preferally not at the coast, as that is a very dangerous area. 4:I would advise you to use mumble or ts or skype as that makes you undependant on writing in the ingame chat. You won't want to shout around: "Look out, zombie hoard! Don't make a sound!" when they're right in front of you, as that attracts their attention. Hope I could help you out. Gea out.