Katana67

Yeah well, I sort of expected that to happen. Though it's nice to know that there are some die-hard nuts around (all the crazies in the "Round-Up" threads like us). But that can all be fixed by adopting the old forum adage of "drinking tears". But yeah, the release has been surprisingly smooth. I fully expected it to be an absolute clusterfuck, every step (downloading, booting up, getting into the server, character saving, not to mention just regular in-game bugs). I even downloaded the 5GB file in 15 minutes... I don't think I've had such an effortless first day with a game in recent memory. I'm actually kind of wierded out, just playing waiting for my game to finally crash is freaking me out. But good to know that it's pretty damn stable and dependable. The insta-join on the server interface is a godsend as well, takes like 5 seconds to join a server.

Yep! They all look great though, save for the shotgun which I have yet to see. There'll be more added, as others and Rocket have noted. There's also an old screen of a Mauser, though it could've been taken out for various reasons (i.e. placeholder, not configured, etc.) Same applies to the AK-74M we saw way back when. I wouldn't worry, there'll be more weapons to come. I'd enjoy the readily spawning M4's while it lasts. I've found more M4's than I've found Mosins, by a ratio of 5:1.

Sure! I get that. Just my impressions, I've spoken about these things before the release as well. Just now they're more relevant and I've actually got my hands on the Standalone to make more concrete calls on certain issues. I'm not satisfied with these things any more than I'm sure the developers are. Me too, I like the roadmap and the fact that they've got a patch in the pipes that is more reminiscent of (pre-community and post-community developed) mod patches that take months to finish. Rather than just a post-release hotfix. EDIT - And I think that the release has been pretty smooth compared to other games, and DayZ mod. I haven't had any issues getting into a server, not one single crash as of yet, and haven't been killed by any doors. Really think the smoothness of the release has gone unnoticed by some.

I'm sort of with you, but I'm reserving judgment until I see what they've got in-store for their "ambient" notification system (i.e. stomach grumbling, etc.) While I do think the old icons are better than the vague notifications we're getting now, I want to see them try the more organic method before reverting back to the old tried-and-true precision of the icons.

Solid.

The "You are thirsty", "Your head hurts", stuff is completely useless. I get so many contradictory/repeating messages, vague ones at that, it's just silly. And I'm flooded with messages constantly. I'd prefer if they'd revert back to the eating/drinking/blood system from the mod until they've really got this down.

I haven't actually seen that many whining threads, so I'm not sure what the deal is. People have an obligation, as testers/players of an Alpha, like you say, to report problems. Just because it's an Alpha, doesn't mean it's above critique. Dismissing criticism just because it's an Alpha is just as ludicrous as whining incessantly.

I agree that it's too easy to find decent loot, but meh, it's not that bad (and probably that way so we can test stuff out). It's nowhere near as easy as in the mod, which is a good thing. But, granted, there are only four or so ranged weapons in the game at the moment anyhow. I've found 3 M4A1's, 2 RIS handguards, tactical shirt(s), UK chest rigs, FNX45, 20rd PMAG, bunch of ATLAS bipods, flashlight for my M4, MICH helmets, all that jazz. Still only found 20 rounds of 5.56 though, haven't seen any more. Also never found any mags for my FNX. No optics (besides a broken PU scope) either. I'm not sure if I'm cool with a few things... One, the fact that barracks are still the high-density loot centers that they were in the mod. Two, that they've now just added more barracks to the game (I've found a cluster of them near Kabanino/Dichina, as well as some at Balota). Dunno how that'll play out if they keep having them be super "high-end" loot spawns.

Just fell unconscious. I have no idea why, and not sure if one can come back from it. Been staring at the screen for five minutes. The whole "You feel thirsty", "Your head hurts", "You feel hungry" thing is completely useless. I spend all day eating and drinking like a fatass only five seconds later to get the "You feel like having a drink" message. I sort of knew this might happen. I thought they might've gone overboard with the survival stuff (in terms of its annoying qualities). Hopefully it gets dialed down and/or fixed. I am constantly bombarded with paragraphs of unintelligible status updates that often repeat/contradict each other. The can opener is a pretty useful item when it comes to eating, yet it's the smallest and hardest to see item in the game. What happened to smashing shit open with a rock? Or a knife? Just made it up north of NWAF, some interesting stuff up there. But it's clear that it's a WIP. A lot of roads which lead to nowhere, cement surfaces in the middle of fields. The landscapes are beautiful, just feels like they've still got a lot to add.

One thing that I think people underestimate, the SA released with no major hiccups (for me anyway, and seemingly most as I've not heard of any widespread problems). I haven't had one crash or anything of the sort. Smooth install, smooth gameplay. I really am liking it. Managed to find some pretty awesome gear, though I'm still a bit bummed that the barracks are still the place to be (even though there's more of them). Pustoshka and Myshkino are masterpieces. They look wonderful. Kind of bummed about the barracks near Dichina, but whatever. I'm liking the inventory a lot as well. My biggest gripe (besides the alpha-state zombies) is the loot. It's insanely hard to see the loot, especially when most of it is clipped through the floor and/or floating. That needs to be addressed ASAP. I find myself relying on the "Vicinity" function with a healthy dose of "running around like an idiot", rather than actually seeing something and taking it. Some of the buildings don't seem configured properly for loot yet. The huge apartment buildings are one of them, I couldn't find a single item in the three blocs that I searched.

I will admit, I was a bit curious as to how I made it from Balota to Vishnoye so quickly. I don't think the map has shrunk though. If anything, I feel that I walk slower.

Never apologize for that! Glad it's out and people can shut up about release.

I never understood what monitoring servers and hanging on the heels of every tweet did for people. It'll be out sometime. They'll tell us when it's out.

I definitely like the spooky aspect of DayZ, well, DayZ before it got tainted (1000 car servers, full loadouts, pay-to-win, self-bloodbag, 24/7 daytime, etc.) That and before people really were used to the sights, sounds, and activities of DayZ. I remember folks talking about the "Hatchet man" at the Vybor bridge as well, that creeped me out. Same thing with the random "ghost" characters that would follow people around and I also remember seeing some screens of someone who found some randomly spawned priests in the woods. Again, this is another thing that might be cheapened by cross-server characters (noticing a theme here?). Imagine finding a note saying "Watched the bridge at Vybor for a few hours from afar. Noticed an odd fellow hiding underneath with nothing but a hatchet and a creepy mask on. Some other survivors went past and he followed them, never saw the other two again. But later, the man with the hatchet returned to his spot under the bridge. Beware." If that note was fixed to the server, along with your character, it'd be relevant to you. Rather than with cross-server characters, you can say "Oh, hatchet man's on US 4550, let's not log on there". Or, "Oh, hatchet man's on US 4550, let's log out of this server and check it out... or camp the spot with M249s and kill the sumbitch". When I wrote the "Myshkino Lights" story way back last year, it was plausible (at least to me, being patently false, hence why it's in the "Urban Legends" thread) because there were so many unknowns in DayZ. I'd love to see some rare "odd happenings" being implemented in-game later on in addition to the natural craziness of having a lot of player freedom. Nothing too over the top, no ghosts in sheets or vampires. I dunno, maybe like some objects mysteriously move on their own. Odd bells chiming in towns which are supposedly abandoned. Loud unexplainable moans and howls echoing across the fields of Chernarus. Menacing black dogs that stay just at the horizon tracking you. Some of this stuff sounds a bit artificial, but it could help buttress the already robust creepiness in interacting with other players. I always felt DayZ was more stressful than it was outright creepy or scary, if that makes any sense. This sort of goes along with my discussion way back about making the game more atmospheric. A lot of it has to do with the weather as well, looking forward to seeing if the ARMA 3 fog is doable.

Muahahaha... AND a keyboard/mouse at the same time.

Myshkino Lights for the win! http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/22703-day-z-urban-legends/?p=312509

Sure, distances are ARMA's strong-suit. But short-range visuals ain't.

But they're like six inches apart from one another. It doesn't look right. I get that it's probably just a hold-over/placeholder, but it looks awful. In fact, I'd submit that almost everything that hasn't been touched from ARMA 2 (i.e. a lot of textures, bleeding, grass, etc.) now looks like shit compared to the stuff they've added. ARMA 2 has really shown its age, I'd love to see some modest work devoted to textures and the like later on.

Would be cool like in Skyrim where you can block with a melee weapon. Ultimately, that's where I'd like to see melee end up in DayZ. Simple slash and whack, but visceral. I think they've got the first part down, just not the second (a lot will be improved with a different "whack/slash" sound I'm sure). I get that zombies are WIP, but I'm just trying to offer ways in which they can progress/improve. The idea of development in a vacuum is dangerous, not that anyone from the dev team cares about what I say haha. I also think they need to rework the bleeding and/or breathing animations/effects/whatever. Sort of silly to have a fountain, consisting of red snowflakes, flowing through the air as you run. I'd like to see a "soak" texture akin to Red Dead Redemption. I'm not sure why they can't make the "breath" effect one big puff of smoke rather than several snowflakes.

Even that is a bit much. Some of it should be pretty self-explanatory (i.e. a pristine fire axe will have more "slash" damage than a baseball bat). With that said, I think they shouldn't go overboard with the amount of "gamey" stuff we have to keep track of. Even the "You feel tired", "You feel dizzy", "You feel sick", "You feel thirsty", "You feel hungry" stuff. That's a lot of intangible stuff to keep track of! Even in text form, that's a ton of variables (which is great) that can affect you. I just wonder how practical/annoying it will be in-game when your stomach is grumbling, your mouth is dry, and you're falling asleep whilst running. I thought a shaking screen and broken bones were annoying, but great ways of adding consequence when you really fuck up. I just think that (for the purposes of development/demonstration perhaps) we've seen a lot of the stuff that should be the result of some pretty significant fuck-ups. I'm sure this'll get balanced (and fixed) further on down the line, but I really don't want to be bandaging and getting some sort of complex disease after every single (poorly implemented, nebulous, unpredictable, and disjointed from the animation) zombie attack. And yes, I get that clothing will have a mitigating effect on damage. Likewise, I've seen that Rocket doesn't bleed every time he gets hit. But it's pretty effing frequent that you have to bandage. You can't really have a good damage model without decent zombies in my mind. One needs to know when he/she will be taking damage in order to weigh the risk of combat. Right now, the zombies just rush you, run through animations regardless of where you are, and occasionally impart damage on you. I still really do not like how the zombies are doing damage, I think they should implement some of the surface colliding stuff that they've implemented with the baseball bat to zombie attacks. Zombie attacks need to be active objects in the world, not just disconnected animations resulting in "damage". That and not all "damage" should result in "bleeding", what happened to sprained ankles and broken bones? If they're going to have a big focus on melee, then they have to be a bit more forgiving with zombies damaging the player (not in terms of their overall damage, but in the effects imparted on the player). Did I see a "Block" animation in the last stream? Or did I make that up?

That and I've lived in/been in places which have sparse light, on a night with no moon, and there's still a measure of ambient light. That and your eyes get used to it. It's certainly much different than in the city or a populated area, but it's not a black hole. I've used this anecdote before, but there have been times where I was unsure of whether my TV was on or not when playing DayZ.

I remember that, gamma and ATOC are two of the big things that I think need addressing. Nights need to be made within reason though, I think they're still a bit too pitch black in that latest stream. But glad to see they're working.

I'd be cool if the quickbar faded away. That'd be a cool way of keeping the interface clean while allowing for some functionality. Wait... Did you say no side chat in alpha?

Of course, they had said they planned on doing away with it eventually. Just hadn't heard much about it lately.

They still plan on doing away with the highly visible quickbar right? And I assume side-chat is included just for development purposes... right? *grumbles*