The Killing Joke

Hi Rocket, I know you and the Forum Mods have been busy. I know you guys have been working your collective asses off, and we all appreciate everything that you've done. I would like to ask for more direction, in two places. One, on the forums, and two, in what you perceive the game's direction will be. For the forums, we need some structure, and I believe we need more Mods to be able to help out. (I would happily throw my hat in the ring, if you're accepting resumes for Forum Moderator.) Right now, we could use more stickied posts, more merged posts, and more control over what is being posted. We have an insane number of threads on the same topic, and a little bit of Mod enforcement. I'm certain this is due to the overwhelming popularity of the mod, and this is why I'm not complaining. I've moderated a number of forums in the past, and I know how hard the job is. (Forum Mods, you are to be commended for your work! It sometimes seems like a thankless job, but there are a mass of us who appreciate what you are doing!) From the game aspect, we would like to know what you're working on, what your hopes and dreams are for the future, and just to know you're 'out there'. From my personal point of view, I would LOVE to see more activity on the forums, and I think it would be amazing if we had a "front page" post - or running blog post - from you on a regular basis. Let us know that you hear your thoughts, and give us some insight into where you think we're right and wrong. We, as players of your mod, want you to succeed as much as you do. For this to happen, I feel that we need MORE of you, directly. (Hell, I haven't seen this much love for a dev since Gabe Newell. It's amazing, and I can only imagine how you feel about it.) In a nutshell, feel free to ask for help on the forums - I'm sure there are others who, like myself, have skills and the initiative to help you out, where you need it. Help us to help you. If you have the bandwidth, please be more active in the community. We are craving this game like few others. We want to know what you think, too. Thank you. TKJ

No way! That negates your Vegan Superpowers!

I agree! I, for one, would like to continuously respawn on the top floor of the Cherno fire station.

"SWM seeks similar for night-time casual encounter. Must bring own protection." :D

Here's an idea: NO.

Yeah, because I feel bad for shooting your character in the back, in-game. Oh, wait.

That's what I was thinking. No' date=' actually, what I was [i']really thinking was, "why do people always seem to whine 'I quit!' and then post about how they're quitting the game?" And then I thought, "why the hell do I care?" And then, "why am I even wasting my time in responding?" Finally, I thought, "Yeah, I'm as big an idiot as the OP!" and then I bailed on your whiny whinefest.

While it may be true that there are some that still have side chat, that won't be around forever, if the devs continue status quo. If you're looking for communication outside of direct chat, you'll need third party software such as TeamSpeak. It's presently 'working as intended', imho. :D

I haven't installed it as yet, but also haven't played in a couple of days. (Offside, outside of 20 words: It's not because of dislike of the changes, nor proposed direction, nor anything. I've been too busy, sadly!) I like most of what's been proposed, and accept that which I don't like as alpha. Carry on.

Ah yes, the also known as "The Wilson Quotient". :D

Ok, I'm going to say it. IT IS YOUR FAULT. What am I reading here? I have read countless posts in a number of threads with players complaining that the arbitrarily assigned Bandit Skins are going away, and that this reduces their trust in their fellow players. Given. That is the case. They are going away. Trust may be diminished. If that is your hangup, I am here to let you know that it is your hangup and not necessarily anyone else's. But, here is what I have a problem with. The almost inevitable follow-up comment to, "I'm going to have trouble trusting other people..." seems to be, "SO, I'M JUST GOING TO START SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE." Well! Ain't that a big fucking kick in the ass? You, you and you. You're being all high and mighty, saying that because you don't know if the person you're looking at isn't going to shoot you first, that you're going to shoot them, first! If you have posted this, or thought this, then I put it to you that YOU, YOURSELF, ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM that you are complaining about. Things have not changed. The person holding the gun trained on you is the exact same as the person you looked at yesterday. He may shoot you, he may not. You may shoot him, you may not. Every situation you are in will give you the exact same question of "do I shoot this person or not?" The only difference is, now you do not know anything of this person's past experiences. So, if you choose to shoot first, the blood is on you. If you're crying about this becoming a "deathmatch, that just happens to contain zombies" in one breath, and then saying, "so I'll just shoot everybody first", then you are proving your own point. Your game will become a deathmatch. You'll be able to come onto the forums and post, "I told you so", and you will be responsible. Congratulations. I, for one, won't be choosing to play that way. I will choose to stand above that thinking, and work around those players who want to devolve, only to serve their own, sad little egos and to tell everybody else how 'right' they were. I know there are other players out there who share my way of thinking, and who try and play their game to a higher level. The ArmA 2 engine, and the DayZ Alpha mod affords everyone so much more by way of gameplay, and I will not be one who chooses to marginalize it. Take a harsh look at yourself, and your actions. We all wear the same skin, and all have to make the same tough choices. What makes you any better than him? Govern yourself accordingly.

P.S. This was meant to be the 'anti-thread', as are most of my posts. Inflammatory? Sometimes. I'll bet you dollars to donuts, however, that the high majority of my posts are responding to people's rude comments. I definitely do not try and jump on new players, or ones who may not be familiar with the game. That being said, the guy who jumps on with his first and only post and says, "THIS GAME IS AWFUL BECAUSE..." is likely going to get both barrels.

Why not? If everybody now automagically can hear their heart beat faster whenever they look at a bad guy' date=' the bad guys are going to be shot, which everybody else is not. My idea simply gives the bad guy a fighting chance. I couldn't recommend my hair going up on the back of my neck, so this seems logical to me. Actually, I was being serious, for the reasons above. If you don't like the idea, don't take it. It's certainly your prerogative. Edit: Wow. I feel pretty bad that you would think that my idea was some kind of troll post. I spent a good deal of time to try and NOT come off as an ass in under 20 words. I guess I didn't do a good enough job. 20 words though. That's pretty tough.

YES, but ONLY IF: If you're nerfing bad guys by giving everybody psychic abilities in 'line of sight', let bad guys have the psychic ability to hear ALL HEARTBEATS within a 20m radius. Think of it as "I'm so bad, I need super powers to survive", which will become true, anyway.

Girls' date=' girls! You're both [i']PRETTY!

Nothing wrong with speeding up the hovercow.

That's the thing. If you don't like it, go somewhere else. Seriously. I'm sure that once everything is said and done, communities are going to spring up everywhere, and you're going to have a lot more choice. There are presently thousands of gaming communities hosting tens of thousands of games, so worrying and complaining about one single server isn't going to make much difference in the long run. Once Rocket gets everything together, and everything transfers to the server admins, people will determine which servers are good and which aren't playable due to whatever reason. So that will fix the issue for both sides.

I'm happy to report that even weeks later, I'm still able to send people to this post. Let's hope people keep complaining about the deathmatch issue, or I'll be out of a job. :D

Zombies The zeds in DayZ should be a lot more menacing than they are today. They share a lot of the same characteristics as human players, but should be better in some regards, and worse in others. There are a few different types of zeds I've seen in-game. Runners/Walkers, Crawlers, and Hoppers. Each should have their own distinct abilities that make them a threat, and weaknesses that you can use to defeat them. Generic Rules Zeds should always, ALWAYS be two things. One, a threat to you until you put a bullet in their head and two, defeatable as a solo player if you play your cards right. The threat should be able to be minimized by repeatedly putting bullets into them - given - but they should be only able to be killed when they have a bullet through their brain. (Before you flame, read on.) Runners/Walkers (Offense): If they run, they should be able to outrun you. In a one-on-one foot race, you should be overtaken repeatedly, and they should be able to do minimal damage to your person. That being said, the blood loss from not defeating them will eventually cause you to pass out, and eventually die. Runners/Walkers (Defense): If they are the running type, you should have the option to shoot them in the leg and have it do something. If a player gets shot in the leg once, they go down. If they shoot a zed in the leg five times, he's still running. I propose that a few shots to the leg should do something to destroy the leg muscle, and turn them into a 'Crawler'. Crawlers (Offense): These guys should be a lot more powerful than they already are. You can usually outrun them pretty easily, so if you are around them, they need to have more power. If they crawl, they should be able to grab onto you, and either slow you down, or even knock you down. I'm not saying they knock you unconscious, but it gives them a definite advantage. Furthermore, I would see Crawlers as being quieter, and more stealthy, so I would remove their 'screaming' or alerting other zeds to your location. Why? Because you, yourself, will do that when you realize that the crawler you were neglecting has suddenly come closer to you and is actually grabbing you and doing damage. They should become almost invisible, and just start coming towards you, especially when you haven't noticed that they are coming. Their attacks should also incite more damage than a Runner would. Crawlers (Defense): Your defense against them is already built-in. They should not be able to get up and chase you. Ever. There's a reason they're crawling around in the grass, and that's because everything beneath their waist is useless. They are there to be a deterrent, and make YOU cause the other zeds to take notice, and join in on the meal. Hoppers (Offense/Defense): I'll be honest. I think these are the dumbest zeds I've ever seen. Are they bunnies? Like, wtf. Anyway, I would see that these guys are ... I'll be honest. I don't know. Make them the same as Runners/Walkers. If they see you, they can chase you. Modified Behaviours Zeds should not be primarily focused on sound. - If you are standing twenty feet in front of someone and shoot them, they're probably bleeding now. Zeds need to stop running in from behind them and attacking you, just because you shot this guy. (It's like they push the other guy out of the way and say, "excuse me, I realize you have a bleeding artery, but I need to munch on that guy with the Makarov for a minute.") Give them at least a bit of understanding to know that he's bleeding, and if there's a group of twenty zeds, I think he needs AT LEAST ten of them. If the other guy shoots you back, you should each get at least an equal amount of attention. If they don't, and they're close enough to the zeds and you, the other guy could effectively become cover, because they have the scent of blood, which should almost trump your scent. In summation I think I have covered off all of my thoughts on the zeds. I know a lot of the ideas have been covered in other threads, but this is the culmination of my thinking on the matter. I haven't discussed zed counts, spawning, or what-have-you, because I wanted to focus on what I see the AI could be.