Katana67

Somewhat related question, are gunshots reliable sounds these days? I just ask because occasionally I'll hear them (at varying distances, from right in front of me, to far off) and have yet to come across anyone when I investigate.

I agree that it'll take some work. I'm not entirely sure I agree with your characterization of BP though. I played the mod well after Bloodsuckers were introduced and noticed no distinguishable drop in server population until more competitive mods (like Overwatch) came to the forefront and SA was subsequently released. Bloodsuckers weren't the cause of BP's population drop by any stretch. They weren't even that common or annoying, in my experience. Regardless, I don't think anyone here is suggesting having an uber-zombie which requires mutiple mags of 7.62x39 to bring down, as would be the case with the Bloodsucker. This is actually an approach which I despise, having more powerful hyper-zombie types (a la L4D). However, as was done in DayZ+, simply upping the damage that zombies inflict to a more appropriate (and threatening) amount worked wonders in making zombies a threat. Couple that with larger numbers, respecting game boundaries, and variations in speed, I think zombies would become a force to reckon with. Rather than a passive non-issue or an occasional annoyance. It would obviously have to be offset with a revamped zombie aggro system (i.e. having zombies actually respect players who're prone OR an AI revamp which is similar to the way police work in GTA) that would allow the player to mitigate/manage zombie aggro. But, I certainly think it's worth the time they're spending on it just getting the zombies performing correctly (much less with regard to balance).

Well, the genre of DayZ sort of demands zombies in the game. Unless BI intends on rebranding DayZ, zombies will remain a core aspect of the game. Granted, we've NEVER had threatening zombies, ever. Not even with the mod. So it's still (unfortunately) a bit premature to dismiss them in favor of player interaction. Plus, it's not like player/non-scripted interaction would therefore be short-changed by more robust zombies. Either way, zombies are an active area of development, so they are being focused on whether we like it or not. I can't see a way in which player interaction would be degraded by the zombies getting a bit of love.

Unfortunately, when these things are a detriment to gameplay, it's sort of unwise to just roll over and accept it. I've never even heard of anyone trying to implement a TS-block of some sort in any game, so maybe it's worth trying. If they can mitigate hacking to a degree, I'd assume they could do the same for legitimate third-party programs. Granted, that won't happen, simply because it's pretty insignificant to the development process. But for the day-to-day happenings of DayZ, it's immensely significant. It's not cheating, no sir. But is it detrimental to the game? I'd say absolutely. I personally can't stop you from using TS or maps, but I can voice my disagreement with the practice all the same.

I swear to god I'll pistolwhip the guy who suggests that the controllers of consoles can't handle a game with a "complicated" control scheme like DayZ. I've played DayZ since April 2012 with an Xbox controller. It's been wonderful. If I could map (which I can, through Xpadder) the lean keys, inventory key, and a few others to the UNUSED buttons on the Xbox controller... I'd be 100%. It ain't rocket science.

I'm a fan of the north country myself, although it's a bit less scenic these days with the unfinished/WIP city layouts and random buildings. Not to mention the lack of a proper "Wilderness" now in Chernarus. I still think Myshkino is one of the more quaint areas of Chernarus. Just a small little village tucked into a little valley, hugged by the forest. Small standalone barn up north of it.

I personally frown upon using exterior maps and third-party communications software while playing DayZ. It's not "cheating" per se, but it's something that's detrimental to the game. Why scavenge for pieces of a map when you get a fully rendered map when you alt-tab? Why care about your life or scavenge for an in-game walkie-talkie when you can just chat with your squad on the other side of the map via TS? These things undercut what could be great in-game inclusions, like walkie-talkies. There's nothing "wrong" with any of these things as it stands, but they short change what would otherwise be contained and worthwhile mechanics. Same applies to forum trade boards, why do anything cool (like use the in-game pen/paper to set up a dead-drop trade) with regard to player interaction when you can just arrange a trade on a forum? But yeah, I memorized the map long ago. I have very little use for a map either way, so that part doesn't really bother me as much as the TS stuff.

I don't think it should be a punishment per se. But there has to be a consequence for killing folks. It doesn't necessarily have to be a negative one, as banditry/KoS is a part of DayZ. But, something should be done (in addition to all of the intended and upcoming inclusions to discourage one-dimensional KoS).

While you'll surely be jumped on for using the gamma bump, I think people need to realize that night time is unplayable for some. I have trouble telling if my TV is on or off sometimes when playing DayZ, it's THAT dark. Flashlights don't really help, and on cloudless nights it's still entirely too dark. I'm all for unforgiving mechanics and using in-game resources, but the nighttime lighting needs some serious work. Just a modest improvement would make a world of difference, whilst preserving all the scariness and tension that you get from a pitch-black night.

No, no, I get it. I would just try to keep the "Why isn't it as polished as the mod?" comparisons to a minimum in favor of your well-reasoned critique in the OP.

The "less zombies" deal is being worked on, they intend on having thousands of zombies spawned at one time. Sorting out how they spawn is what's holding them up I believe. It's very WIP, check out the roadmap (wherever it is). Zombies are nowhere near "working as intended". The pathing is pretty much why they're acting as such (i.e. clipping through buildings, etc.) They weren't much better in the mod in my opinion, so the discrepancy isn't that huge. Although, the lack of zombies is noticeable. I'm really glad they got away from the client-spawned paradigm of the mod, I hated going into towns because people could tell I was in there just by the fact that zombies spawned near the player.

For one, the community and "userbase" is already there. No need to worry about that. They've sold a ton, they're not clamoring for more players. There are a ton of players. DayZ has NEVER, EVER, been about catering to casual players. Dean himself has stated as much. It isn't within the auspices of the game to cater to casuals or new players. It's part of what makes DayZ unique. No, I will not "get off" the fact that this was built on a military simulator. ARMA is great, and the realistic/authentic feel of ARMA is at the core of DayZ. Not to mention the VERY EXISTENCE of DayZ is owed to ARMA. Nobody's saying we need heat/motion detection, we never had the latter. There will be military stuff in DayZ.

No thank you. It ruined the game. Everybody felt entitled to rides. It was abused to no end. And it caused people to not care about their lives if one could just arrange for a pick-up at the drop of a hat (not that this wasn't already possible with TS, but hardly something that can be countered). Side-chat was the worst thing in the mod for me. I hated it. Making it toggleable isn't a good solution either, as EVERYONE kept it on and people migrated to servers with side-chat. One of those things that was just dumb, no matter how many people loved it.

Another issue with the zombies, that I've tried many a time to explain, is HOW they deal damage. Right now, and in the mod, zombies just sort of lunge at you vaguely and damage is inflicted. It's possibly one of the most consistent criticisms of DayZ that I have, how vaguely two items interact with one another. Often times, especially when moving about, zombies are just lunging (and making no actual visible contact with your character) yet they inflict "damage". The animation sync needs to be better, coupled with zombie hits feeling more visceral. I think, eventually, they need to implement knockdowns again (if they haven't already, I don't experience them in SA, but remember them being a thing in earlier videos) but they need to have the zombie actually latch onto the player to some degree. Not to mention the clipping through walls deal, which I gather is being sorted out actively. Interested to see what Dean and the developers will call "final" for zombies.

ARMA III has a wonderful method of making gamma adjustments not translate into pseudo-NVGs. The same method could be applied to DayZ. I have no idea what constitutes that method, as I'm not as tech-savvy as some. But there were some screens floating around demonstrating what could be done. Take a look at this http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/139346-remove-gamma-and-brightness-settings/

New players should NEVER be catered to. DayZ has always been unforgiving. And he's concerned with the LACK OF OPTIONS in the wilderness. He (and I) want more threats, not deathmatching. Willfully seeking out action is simple. Always being under threat, no matter where you are, isn't. That is the point, tension, no matter where you are.

I'm saying that the distinction between cheating/exploit is irrelevant. Whether or not a particular action has a detriment to the game, is relevant. Distinguishing between the two is a subjective action dependent on the perspective of the individual. For instance, a hacker/exploiter can make the argument that "The developers allowed this to happen, therefore, there's nothing wrong with it". I don't agree with the argument at all, but I'm placing a premium on whether or not something harms the game... rather than making distinctions which are ultimately up to the individual to make. I do make those distinctions on a personal level, but I care less about what constitutes cheating/exploiting than I do how we can address these problems (whether they be cheating or exploiting) in-game to make a better experience. Getting stuck up on definitions doesn't translate into solving the issues.

I definitely sympathize, and won't blindly raise the "ALPHA BROSEPH" non-critique of your points... but it would be fair to say that most of the flaws which you highlight (which I would certainly also highlight as well) will be/are being addressed. With regard to your suggestions... 1 - Yes! Couldn't agree more! Zombies need to be more powerful (in terms of damage inflicted), faster (some of them can be shamblers, but I prefer sprinters), and more numerous. The latter is being addressed. However, I will caveat this with several things. One, zombies need not be omniscient as they are now. I crawl like a snail and make little noise, yet they still aggro me from a mile off. There's no tension raised through stealth with regard to zombies. That, and they have 100% ACCURATE ACCESS TO YOUR EXACT POSITION. Ideally, I'd like to have it be like the police in GTA, whereby they're triggered to a stimulus and would venture to a specific area, look around, and if they don't detect you, they go back to loitering. So it's a combination of making them more powerful, AND less of a guided missile. 2 - This is a really big issue, and I agree totally. I am a lone-wolf player, I like being in the woods. I can count on my hand (since April of 2012) how many times I've been into Cherno/Elektro. But, it's a pretty boring life. There's nothing to do and no real threats (aside from the occasional camp of players, which cannot occur in SA until persistent storage is implemented). Offensive animals, roaming hordes of zombies, coupled with player storage would go a long way methinks. Likewise, I'd love to be able to do more in a non-combat role such as foraging, hunting, farming, fishing, camping, building, etc. I would love to be able to plant a persistent garden (with a little fence) in the woods and have to tend to it for food. 3 - While I agree that NVGs and Thermal Optics shouldn't necessarily be in the game, two things. One, night needs to be made playable. I'm not saying I should be able to see across a field with perfect sight at night, but sometimes I have trouble even telling if my screen is on or off when playing DayZ because it's unplayably dark. They just need to rework the lighting so that nighttime is both playable and tense. Two, I wouldn't necessarily be against NVGs if they were suitably rare, difficult to maintain, and required suitably rare batteries to power. It was silly in the mod because you just got NVGs, period. The only way for them to stop being available after that is if you died.

I did prior to posting, in foresight of the challenge that I "hadn't read your posts". And only one or two of your posts refer directly to the ACOG or BUIS option. The others raise the issues (such as weapon properties/accuracy, and weapon inclusions). Which is fine, but it's sort of hypocritical when you're calling folks out for being off-topic, when they're discussing issues raised in your own posts. Not questioning the validity of your assertion. Merely the contradictions raised by it. I will! Have a nice St. Patty's Day as well! :D

Weapons remain unaffected in my experience. Can anyone confirm this? Do the weapons have to be hit directly or is it just bugged/not implemented yet?

Cheating and doing things which are problematic to gameplay aren't the same thing. Cheating, to me, is intentionally manipulating a system in a manner in which it was not designed (i.e. hacking). Things that are problematic to gameplay, to me, are things that have not yet been addressed by developers (i.e. exploits) which people can use to the overall detriment of everyone else. Cheating, as with most everything, is subjective. Ultimately, you're thinking on a spectrum of legitimacy wherein cheating is somehow less legitimate than exploits. I prefer to think of it in terms of how detrimental it is to gameplay, not whether it's right/wrong. Server hopping and raising your gamma aren't cheating, per-se, as they're functions of the game (with one being fully endorsed/ignored and the other tacitly discouraged). However, that doesn't mean that they're not problematic and do not need addressing. Point being, think of the consequences that occur with what you consider to be cheating/exploiting rather than the act itself. For the record, here are some things I consider to be problematic (with a truncated reasoning for why I think that)... - Using TS. It undercuts any in-game communication method and allows meta-gaming in groups. Why care about your life when you can consequence-less-ly radio for a pickup on TS? - Gamma. Nights are intended to be dark. But, they also need to be playable. Rather than having gamma give psuedo-NVG effects, why not just have night be a smidge brighter as to be playable (and still make use of a flashlight)? - Server hopping. Pretty self-explanatory, allows people to farm loot even in a loot-controlled environment and gain specific tactical advantages on the battlefield. It undercuts any potential construction mechanic to be included in DayZ as well. - Out-of-game item trading. Undercuts a lot of in-game interaction. Why make use of the included pen/paper to leave a dead-drop trade when you can just hop on the forums?

Funny then, that the majority of your subsequent posts in this thread aren't discussing the ACOG or 2nd sight option and you're in fact raising the off-topic points which people are then commenting on, which you consider to be off-topic. Hyper on-topic - Yes, I want a BUIS option on my ACOG. Information has been relayed. Powering down.

No thanks. The war on decent weapons soldiers on.

With most weapons having a fixed "zoom" when ADS unlike ARMA II, and the amount of recon needed just to enter an area safely, I think that binoculars are even more useful nowadays. Yes please.

I'd just rather have going prone and slow actually make a difference to zombie aggro. They aggro me regardless of how fast/slow, or visible I am. Zombie aggros themselves need revamping before I'd consider putting in "imitation" camouflage, which I'd assume would be more to fool players than zombies. Used to do this in RDR a lot with mixed results, throw a low profile shotgun over my shoulder and a common "townie" skin, walk around like the AI would and fool PvPers riding into town unawares. But, in RDR, once targeted your name shows up... hence the mixed results.