abysmal

Many people have expressed this before, but I think knockdown is literally the most frustrating lapse of game design in the entire mod. The game is already highly punishing to solo players, but this seems really excessive in every sense. There is nothing enjoyable about a routine encounter with a zombie randomly forcing you to watch for half a minute as you die with literally no chance of recourse. It turns close quarters engagements with the Zeds into non-gameplay where your skill and your equipment are absolutely meaningless, and it almost always seems to spell certain, unavoidable death when it happens. I'm not a 'carebear' player who wants to dumb down the game in any way, and I am all for widespread PvP and ultralethal zombies, but I think this mechanic needs a serious overhaul if not outright removal. What does everyone else think?

I think 3rd person and crosshairs are at best debatable, and at worst unnecessary, but we NEED a system of identifying other players. There is nothing more immersion destroying than not being able to tell my group members apart from each other, or recognize another player. Please don't remove ID's. The servers without them are massively less enjoyable for me (they discourage ad hoc grouping), and in almost no way better.

I really don't want to see the playerbase become fractured. I really like the interaction of different playstyles in a single environment, and if we make PvE severs, the others are going to become more or less dedicated PvP.

Yes, scrap them. It makes the mod feel too 'gamey' (like a Gmod RPG) for my tastes, has not served to eliminate PvP in the slightest. The fact that it is taking your attention away from more pressing matters is reason enough, especially when there are a lot of features I think that almost all of the players can agree we want. The fact it is so polarizing and divisive is proof enough that it isn't working as it should.

Can you elaborate on where to find these deer stands?

It seems really odd that .45 rounds are more damaging than 5.56, considering that the former has a net energy of around 475 joules and the latter's net energy is around 1660, not to mention it has a unique tendency to 'tumble' inside one's body and cause massive trauma. I think I speak for everyone when I say I would rather take a bullet from a 1911 than an M249. 9x19mm is also comparable to .45 in terms of net energy, and should probably do the same damage.

Here is what I feel about PvP: people obviously like the game as it is, as is visible in the meteoric growth in player numbers and perpetually full servers. Any compromise or removal of the PvP system would massively alter the gameplay. I think the worst thing we could do is totally change the game through feature creep, and break something that people obviously love.

What needs to be accounted for in the evaluation of what happens when we are offline is the fact that it is difficult enough right now to even get in a server. Therefore, even if the player wants to log-in to avert this, they are unable. Like I am right now.

I am in total agreement..

Armory mode is a sandbox mode that comes with Vanilla Arma, wherein you periodically get missions in a manner very similar to how you suggested. I really think discovering what you can do in game is most of the fun, and I'm not sure I like the game 'condoning' certain activities. It takes the fun away, for me at least.

This is just what we need to put the focus of the game back on fighting zombies, and make it competitive with PvP in terms of the loot yields

I really don't think this game should turn into Armory mode.

I agree with you in thinking that some more variation might definitely be nice. I was thinking about installing this replacement pack, and it might be preferable to the default skins. http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=13097 However, I still think the variation should be 'natural', and not an incentive for the player. Nobody with a 4 hours life expectancy should be worrying about what they are wearing, and especially what they will be wearing after they 'die'. Instilling a sense of persistence across lives would really destroy the atmosphere and be a turn-off to new players I think. All in all, I think whatever gameplay incentives there are should serve to keep the gameplay centered around survival, not collection.

Can we please let this not turn into hat fortress 2? The game shouldn't be about vanity and collecting clothes, it should be about survival. I feel that preoccupation with appearance has no place, and will only detract from the serious tone that the game should have. Just because unlocks have become ubiquitous in FPSs and WoW doesn't mean we should adopt them. DayZ should be a counterpoint to the current Xynga/CoD gameplay trend of obsessive collection. The last thing I want to see is a refreshingly original, uncompromisingly challenging gameplay experience become its own antithesis.

This reminds me of that part in The Road when the man forces a thief to surrender his possessions and tries to convince the boy that sparing his life made them better than the roaming murderers they faced, only for the boy to later remark "But we did kill him." In short, this would be a good way for people to effectively murder each other, but dodge the humanity effects of doing such a thing.

So the 'right' way to play this zombie apocalypse mod is never encountering zombies ever? Is that what the Devs wanted, because that isn't at all the kind of game I want to play. I'd rather fight zombies in the zombie apocalypse than constantly hide, and the knockdown effect motivates players even more to completely avoid them and spend their time player killing instead.

I think we can agree that making cars easily acquired would destroy the game in numerous ways, but how about spawning some of the mountain bikes that are already in Arma? It seems pretty realistic in regards to the setting, (it would be more odd if they were absent from the environment) and I think it would make travelling across the map a lot more bearable without unbalancing the game at all.

I really think that bolts should stack to some extent in your inventory. In the same slot that holds a single bolt, I can carry 30 STANAG rounds, each of them more effective. As it stands, no player could engage more than a couple zombies without running completely dry.

Else: could we perhaps have a text equivalent? Rather than judge on colour, I'd really appreciate phrases describing how hungry/thirsty/injured I was. It would give me more information to base my current status on and help new players understand what the icons actually mean in the first place. That is a really cool idea. It would be nice to be able to see the status of your friends as well, in regards to their health/blood/pain, so as to know when to administer healing.

I think these are all questions that should deliberately never be answered.

I too have thought about this. Encounters with the military could be a huge "risk vs. reward" situation in terms of the danger they pose, but also the loot you have to gain.

As one of the players in the first 50%' date=' I don't think the game would be fun without the element of unpredictability and danger the other 50% brings. Some of the most fun I have had is getting ambushed by PKs. People come into this game with an MMO attitude about getting the best loot and then rage when they lose it, but that is totally out of place for the gameplay experience. Remember: "LOSING IS FUN" If you keep that in mind, that you will have a lot more fun than if you camp for hours to horde up NVGs in a tent and never encounter danger. The stories you create are what makes this game fun time after time, and player killers are part what makes them all so different and exciting.