FrostDMG

Thanks for the news, didn't know you worked on it man!

Why port to an outdated engine instead of using the brand spanking new one, the one everyone is drooling over? The graphic style is nowhere near Arma 3 and no matter how much you upgrade your Nissan Micra, it's still a bloody Micra. Edit: This also doesn't make sense. A mod comes along that shifts more A2+OA in 3 months than you've sold in couple of years, so seeing you've got this extremely successful mod you buy the rights and then... Assign one or two extra guys to work on it?! Wtf?!

I'm pretty sure Dean did sell "DayZ" to BIS. They seem to be involved in the dev twitter posting stuff about their Mars game... Forgot to add, Arma 3s engine has x2882999 better sound design than Arma 2. Shots can be heard a kilometer away - it's so awesome!

Sorry for the hijack, but anyone know why Podagorsk has been delayed? I was really looking forward to playing it... T_T

I'm really surprised it's been taking so long to be honest. When BIS bought DayZ, I though it'd be full speed ahead smooth sailing from then on... But it looks like the DayZ team is consisting of a couple of guys it seems - either that, or a horribly inefficient team that's working at snail's pace. Anyway, I think it'd be much easier to live with the long development process if they switched to ARMA 3s engine. And it's not just for the graphics... A3 already has the attachment system, clothing and pouch system... So why the hell would you want to shoehorn Arma3 features into essentially Arma2. Now I know it's the TOH engine, but to the uninitiated it looks the same. Hell, even to me the screenshots aren't at all impressive. Sure there are high res textures, but what else did you expect? Thing is when DayZ eventually releases and isn't polished as hell then people will bitch - and rightfully so. Anyway, I think that once the talented modders of A2 switch to 3 and put their heads together, they could seriously make something that will be more attractive than the standalone...

Rare loot is a good idea. Stop the ez mode

I've been enjoying the mod for a good while (not quite since launch but almost) and all the while I've been thinking what could make DayZ even more awesome. My primary concern regarding DayZ and the standalone is that the game has become much less about playing tactically to survive, instead it turned into zerging towns and villages for loot. Now, I understand that the game becomes more "figured out" the more people play it, new and more efficient tactics are born, but right now the game is abused far too much, For example: when I started playing, I used to sneak around, go prone around zombies, trying to do everything possible not to be seen or aggro. The game was very tense as you never really knew when the zombies might decide to turn around and see you... But after a while, you figure out that instead of sneaking around and "wasting time" you could be much more efficient by simply running past zombies, getting in and out of buildings without a scratch, looting and leaving the town in a matter of seconds. I've been reading posts reacting to the recent patch which introduced high risk of infection from zombies and from what I gather this is a rather pointless update - allow me to explain. You can only get infected if you get hit... Problem is, any player worth his salt will be able to stay out of zombie's range at all times - running in and out of buildings, zig-zagging through trees, never getting surrounded etc. Now I know you could make the game artificially difficult for yourself, but that's not the point. The game is currently far too easy. I would suggest increasing the speed of zombies to be a little bit faster than player's default running speed - however, player's sprinting should be faster than zombie's speed. If you simply can't get away and lose zombies - i.e around a corner - you would have to play much more tactical and this will do far more than simply increasing zombie's damage or increasing infection rate. My other idea is the aquisition of "skill" over time from doing basic tasks such as cleaning a gun or applying bandages. I haven't got the entire thing figured out, but I'll try to explain with an example as I feel it will be easier to understand: Everyone would start with 0 base stats - and the stats would be hidden at all time. When you try to clean your weapon for the first time, the risk of breaking it or being unsuccessful is quite high (but on the other hand, the weapon would break anyhow if it wasn't cleaned, so it's not something that can be avoided). After managing to clean a basic weapon i.e a Makarov a number of times you gain said "skill" in weapon cleaning, This will increase the efficiency with which you clean your gun and allow you to successfully clean a sub machine gun such as a PPsH. The said skill would eventually allow you to be a very efficient and be able to maintain high-end weapons such as a sniper rifle or a light machine gun. A side perk of "gunsmith" skill should for example be home-made gun modifications - i.e extended mag. This could also apply to vehicles, starting with basic screen and wheel repairs allowing you to build up your skill until you can ultimately use scrap metal and other parts to improve your vehicle by plating windows (leaving tiny slits for the driver) to protect the car crew from medium machine gun fire. For a medic stat the "ultimate" level of skill would allow you to craft wooden support for a broken leg allowing limping in case of a broken leg and lack of morphine. These are just rough ideas that would need to be looked into further by the dev team, but they are something that I myself would love to see in-game. I would also like to add that while "boosting" for skill is possible, the game would have to require a large amount of skill points for each tier to unlock each "tier". My next suggestion is regarding loot spawns. MAKE THEM RARE! Especially guns. In mods such as "breaking point" guns are plentyful. This is not good. Having a Makarov should feel like it is your day, and finding and AKM perhaps means you're the chosen one. Rare spawns = good! And onto my final point - make the coast an undesirable location to be in. Elektro and Cherno should have little loot spawns - medical supplies MAX! People should not be able to get armed to the teeth and pvp in those location. Also, big cities need to have A LOT of zombies. The combination of little loot and large zombie hores will lead to a huge decrease in coast pvp and motivate players to get the hell off the coast and explore. Anyway that's my two cents.

I like that idea Skat3rat, but it would have to be balanced so that the game doesn't become too cheesy

I think there should be loot - little medical from hospital and mostly canned food/clothes. Surely big cities would've been raided first in the outbreak? Also would decrease number of players on the coast

The skills idea is a controversial one, I know. However it would encourage people to have a greater attachment to their character than just loot. But I see why such system is disliked.

What?

Alright guys, first of all I don't want to start any flamewar or controversy, but I just wanna get my opinion out there and hear what everyone else thinks about this... Basically, what I'm referring to is the lack of updates we're getting from DayZ devs. I don't mean to sound like a dick, I mean I love hiking and climbing and shit, but c'mon guys... You release video of the dev talking - that's cool - but what would be cooler would be to see some screenshots or even better, gameplay videos... Why? Because that keeps the interest up. If we're not getting any new screenies and are just given a lack luster interview (sorry to be blunt) the interest for the game will rapidly decline. I know there are a LOT of dedicated DayZ fans such as myself that will follow the game regardless, but even we would love to see how the game progresses. I made a similar post back in the "mod" days, where I basically the dev-community interaction was almost non-existent. I don't think the DayZ devs realize how much of a difference releasing one or two screenshots a week will make and how much interest that will generate! Sure, release the screens with a big "THIS IS STILL WORK IN PROGRESS" watermark, go ahead, but we just wanna see how the game looks. Anyone agree? I was reading through the comments the youtube video and there were a lot of angry viewers...

I don't feel entitled to shit, but I can judge all I god damn want to. And let me tell you, when I see devs going on a "trip of a lifetime" during game development, I think they're not taking their job seriously, and I'm not the only one who thinks this. Not sure why not sucking dev's balls and agreeing with everything they say means you're being self entitled.

Nope, don't think I was moaning... But here's a good one: "Taking time out of development"... And yet they're off climbing mountains?...

Right, so wishing that there were more updates means I'm being self entitled? Seems you don't even understand the meaning of the word, so instead of trying to throw insults, just stop posting

So, will they go ahead with the "minecraft" model and release the game in alpha?

Yeah, obviously screenshots and video would be IDEAL, but any sort of signs of the game progressing would be welcomed with open arms.

To be honest I can't decipher what he was trying to tell us EDIT: Good point. I wonder how they're gonna pull that off

Because writing a small post, or hell, even 140 character twitter update would take hours out of their working schedule?

And how do you know that it's over a year from release? That wouldn't make any sense since by then there will surely be another company that will come out with a similar game (ala WarZ) but without the nonsense

"World of the net noobs". No. First of all, nobody said it was confirmed, people said ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival. You make your conclusions very quickly and they're wrong, also it doesn't help that your posts are riddled with spelling mistakes

Wow, really? I never said we "deserve" updates. I want the game to be successful because I had so much fun on the mod and in order for that to happen a game has to sell. A game only sells if people ACTUALLY KNOW ABOUT IT. Look how the DayZ playerbase exploded when people actually heard about the game on popular youtube channels. This wouldn't have happend if people were't aware of the game. This is why keeping players' interest in the game should concern the devs.

Yeah true, but getting screenshots to see how the game is progressing would also be nice, you know. Also, I remember the ETA being Xmas 2012, then Spring 2013 and now? I know it's better not to set a release date and rush the game making it crappy, but on the other hand if the devs gave us a ballpark date of when they expect a beta release (ala Minecraft) to come out

Yeah, but do you not agree that we're not really getting enough info from the devs?

Arma 2 was also very CPU heavy, not just dayz...