Azophi

How about we split the difference between those who want to test what no NVGs are like for a bit and those who don't want to lose their pair by adding the battery-for-power mechanic - but not putting in any batteries for the length of testing? That way nobody can use their NVGs but they get to keep them in their inventories. Personally, my very first session on Day Z a couple of months back was night time. Lots of flares, lots of camaraderie as people tried to find other people and where they were, and who was throwing down light sources. It was a really cool introduction to the mod, and maybe such a thing can't be replicated now that there has been such a proliferation of high-tech weaponry and bandits have become de rigeur, but it was very interesting to see how gameplay changed at night. I say give it a go. The same people who shout at new players for not liking the dark - telling them to "l2flashlight" and use flares and chemlights - are now the ones saying playing without NVGs will make the night not viable because it is too dark. If the argument is "I don't want to play in the dark with flashlights because I'll be lit up like a christmas tree for everyone" then you know how it feels to play in the dark without NVGs against anyone with NVGs, ever. Not to mention it is still more difficult for a bandit to kill someone throwing flares strategically than it is for her to just press 'N'.

Zelenogorsk is quite a good place to wander to from Kamenka but it's a push (if not impossible) to get there from other spawns like Kamy or Cap Golova. Ditto with Berezino. Is there even a spawn near Berezino? There needs to be more value in going to the inland villages like Staroye or Pavlovo (I'd love a good pavlova, now that I think about it) again. They seem less like loot spots and more like landmarks to orientate yourself on the way to Stary, which is a shame. Lots of zombies, lots of time spent getting into them, not a lot of anything to eat or drink. I find more crossbow bolts in villages than I do tinned food. Before the apocalypse there must have been a lot of very hungry, violent people in Chernarus.

That's interesting, I've tended to ignore tents because I don't really have a home server and I'm acutely aware of the ability for servers to just wipe everything without notice, but if they are so valuable then I might have to go and find one. That being said, I can't remember the last time I ever came across one.

I think the number of zeds is satisfactory for lone wolf players without military equipment but something could be done about the LOS being too easy to lose pursuers - I haven't been spotted by a zed recently but I think they investigate the area now, which may well have fixed it to some extent. I also think making the capital city part of the new game experience devalues the life of our characters - so many are sniped or killed in Elektro that it makes that first hour experience about charging in, not playing safe. It is worth being gung-ho into Elektro because if you die, you'll be back in the city ten minutes from now. If Elektro became a second or third port of call you'd feel a little more nervous about taking the chance, knowing the character you've spent a couple of hours on could be killed.

I'm a little bit leery of just adding more zeds to solve the problem - I think Elektro is fine the way it is but the small towns need to be a bit more reliable. Not good, just reliable. As it is right now, every time I spawn I think of where I am relative to Elektro or Cherno because they are the only reliable places to get food and water. Things which you need immediately. Can't count how many times I've trekked inland, turned over entire towns and found either no food or no water, or neither. Having to get to the town, then stealth around it usually puts the player at the point where they can't really afford to go looking for another town because they'll starve or dehydrate first. I personally think a can of beans and an empty water bottle would be good to add to the starting equipment. That way, you have something to eat if you don't find anything immediately, but you still need to go into a town or inland to get water quickly. Either from a water pump or a lake or what have you. I'm not sure if it is just the loot spawns acting up, but it is very hard to find both food and water in any small town, or even across several small towns. Whatever it is, I think searching for these is a complete crapshoot right now unless you are in Elektro and that is frustrating.

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. As a long time Arma player, and a DayZ player for a couple of months, I really enjoy the way this mod is turning out, and the direction it is headed. However, I do have a concern with the way recent patches have indirectly affected the early game through several changes. As a lone wolf survivor I used to avoid Cherno and Elektro at all costs, instead heading inland to the smaller villages or the smaller towns on the coast to grab some supplies before heading north proper. This seems to me to be the "smart" way of going through a zombie apocalypse - you'd have to be crazy to head to the big cities with the bandits and zombie infestation, surely? Now though, such a playstyle isn't really viable for the early game - I've seen as much in forum recommendations for new characters ("run into Elektro and grab equipment" etc) - because of the very low likelihood of finding food and water in the smaller villages which may have only one enterable building or a barn swarming with zeds. In every situation it seems just running into Elektro or Cherno is the best idea. In small villages, if a zed sees you when you have no weapon (again, a very likely possibility since small villages rarely spawn weapons) there is no way to break contact because the only building - typically the brown residential - has only one exit so you can't kite with it. Don't say you can lose zeds in the trees, I've tried and it is basically impossible. In Elektro, there are plenty of opportunities to LOS kite. Risk is arguably lower in Elektro while the rewards are much better. The latter is as it should be, the former is not. Have I got this wrong somehow? I've been playing for ages, and it appears that now running straight into Elektro is the "smart" choice for new spawns because they are the only places you're likely to find weapons, food and water at the beginning - unless you think you can turn over three small villages without starving in the interim. If this is the way the game is supposed to work now, then fine, adapt and overcome... but I don't think it is supposed to. It looks like a great way to make the big cities a meat grinder for newbies, picked off again and again by bandits until they either get lucky or give up. Should it really be that new players are basically required to go to the big city first, in the face of all better judgement? Thoughts?