TOPMO3

I have found the best way is to go melee and hope for the best. I agree, playing with the new Zeds was actually this weekend. The only thing I don't like is them randomly spawning around your radius. You can even catch them popping into your area. Kind of breaks the immersion.

I would be happy with being able to jump in/out of open/smashed windows. This would be a great feature. I would also just be happy if I can lock zombies inside buildings. This would be a handy defense vs zombies if you're unarmed.

Hi there. Before I go into my thoughts and feelings on the current build of the game (0.34.115106), I'd like to give a quick introduction to myself, how I've contributed to the DayZ community, why I play DayZ, and why I feel so strongly about this game, and it's current state. My name is TOPMO3, and I've been playing the early Mod of DayZ for Arma 2 since May 2012. Being a 3D artist, and an avid enthusiast of games in general, I lent my skills to create custom textures for the DayZ mod. The Forum topic received over 40K views, and still remains one of the top 5 most viewed topics on the Suggestions Sub-Forum on forums.dayzgame.com. My hope was that the textures would be put into the game by the devs, but they never were. Oh well :) Although it may not matter, I should also mention that I work as an FX Artist in the video game industry for one of the more successful MMO companies, and I have had lots of discussions on DayZ with some of our most senior game designers, who all agree about DayZ's potential. I play DayZ because I think it's one of the most original and exciting games I have played in a long, long time. It's hard for me to be truly excited about games (mostly because everything is a copy of a copy now a days), and DayZ really has a freshness to it that is second to none. At least that's how I felt about the mod, when I started playing it. As with any new game, once the first week or so is over, and you become more and more familiar with the mechanics, some of the "magic" seems to go away. DayZ was no different, but it somehow still kept being interesting through it's persistent game-play, and it's constant level of "threat" that the player would feel. Either from the very scary (back in the early days) Zombies, other players, or just the foreboding environment (remember the really dark nights?) I eventually stopped playing the mod because of the Hackers, and waited patiently for the Standalone to come out, hoping this would be the game I was hoping it could be. After playing the stand-alone with my friends for about a week, I wanted to come here and offer my views on the direction of the new game, and hopefully have a conversation with some of you, to see how everyone else feels about it. I am currently playing on a full Hardcore server. I feel like Hardcore lends itself better to the tension of the game by removing the 3rd person camera. Yes, I am strongly against the 3rd person camera and it's for a good reason. 1st person prevents cute "cheats" like peeking around corners, or looking into rooms with the floating camera. It completely removes any sense of tension by making you feel like you're a ghost floating around your character. I also chose HC server because I was hoping the "threat" (more on this later) would feel more significant in Hardcore mode. I'll start with my biggest complaint at the moment. This "Survival" game, doesn't feel very much like a survival game at all. Let me be clear. The only sense of survival you feel currently, is in the first 15-30 minutes of a fresh play through. Either after you're dead, or if you started a new character, etc. When you have no food, no water, and no way of defending yourself, it truly feels pretty interesting in the "Survival" sense. Zombies can be somewhat of a problem, however, after acquiring any semblance of a weapon (hammer, machete, axe), zombies become a complete joke, and are easily disposed of. Even on the hardcore server, the only thing you have to worry about at the moment is another player, finding something sharp to open cans with, and finding water. I don't feel threatened, and the tension in the current build is almost non-existent, if you disregard PvP, which has always been great in DayZ. At the moment, the average game play feels roughly like this: 30 minutes of initial looting for food/water/weapon. Next 2-3 hours moving "north". Looting all the cool "stuff" you need. Spending a few days running around looking for action/loot. Eventually either dying to another player, or becoming so disinterested in empty towns, and your full backpack of useless stuff, that you move back to the coast, and kill new players. There is nothing for me to feel scared of outside of town. There is nothing stopping me from sitting in the woods all day, and moving into town only for food/water (when Hunting comes, this will eliminate that all together), and eventually, there will be no reason for me to play at all. Camps will help, so will vehicles, but eventually, those will just be hoarded into the woods by groups of players (as they were in the Mod), and there they will sit. Again, there is nothing "threatening" in the current build of the game, and I am confused why in the alpha (when the features of the game are being implemented), these core game play issues haven't been addressed. I have seen that Dean has mentioned the complete lack of zombies in level, and that they are trying to optimize the zombie to loot spawn ratio, making sure the servers can handle the loads, but what happened to the scary zombies in DayZ mod, that would swarm you, break your legs, and leave you for dead? Am I missing something? Did anyone remember crawling around zombies, as not to startle them, because that meant your immediate death? Right now I run past them with a "lol" and just cut the corner, and that's it. Zombies are currently a joke to me (sorry for the emotional response, but it's sad to see the state of the zombie in this game become what it has after a much more interesting version of them in the mod, which was 2 years ago!) Please allow me now to be much more constructive with my thread. What I think would greatly help make this game a truly unique experience and incredibly challenging, fun, and original? Please reconsider the "Threat" mechanic in the game. I don't mean the LoS for zombies, or aggro here. I mean the feeling a player has of impending "threat" to his life/safety/survival. Currently, this only happens during PvP, and outside of cities, there is ZERO threat from anything else. Here are some suggestions I have for this 1) Bring back scary zombies. They have to be fast, they have to be plenty, they have to 2-3 hit break your legs, and 5-6 hit kill you. Make them hear you again (seems like only LoS agro right now), and make them chase you and keep track of you for longer. The player has to feel like there is a constant "threat" of zombies in the world. This is absolutely crucial. The zombies must be the mechanic in this game that is constant, and terrifying. With the right implementation, I honestly feel like it's this mechanic that can actually get players to work more together, instead of KOS each other. If the zombies are such a threat, that players have a hard time surviving solo encounters with several of them. Group survival should be more successful. I am honestly hoping this is the end goal for the devs, I just really rather see more talk in the Dev blogs about this, than cooking. Because cooking is a neat "feature" that I can live without. Having zombies that don't work, or are a lol-factor, is game-breaking for me, in a zombie apocalypse simulator. 2) Threat in the wild. Dean has mentioned wandering zombie packs in the woods, and I think this is %100 must happen. Currently there is no threat at all in the woods, and that takes away from the overall tension the player feels. If you have a gun, food/water/meds, you can live in the woods indefinitely and see zero action. Zero action gives way to only one direction, heading into town and killing other players. There is nothign else to really "survive" against. You live long enough to become the villain. Which is why I think with the addition of Hunting, wild aggressive animals are a MUST. How would you feel about being ambushed in the night by a charging boar (it's eyes glinting from your flashlight), or a pack of wolves, or a bear? Even a harmless skunk or badger might scare the crap out of you. The feeling of "threat" in the woods would be significantly higher. Right now woods = safety. This should NOT be the case. Again, while seeing the devs work on cool new features, I think the sense of tension is much more important to the shelf-life of this game, than say, a physics system that lets you throw your beans at zombies. 3) No Night Vision Goggles, or Thermal Optics. Not now, not ever, please remove these mechanics from the game. As someone who has owned every item in the mod, I have to tell you that these items break the game, and break it badly. Players stop playing at night because they are terrified of someone on this server who has these items (even if anyone actually does or not). Full servers become empty, and the player with the NVG is forced to hop servers. Bring back the flares, bring back the glow sticks, and keep the flashlights. Those things create tension and fun. NVGs create irrational fear, and take the challenge out of the game. Remember when you first started playing, and you'd see those red flare glows in a town? Or active glow sticks on the ground in your area, that created tons of tension. Getting 1-shotted at night by a NVG sniper doesn't create any tension, just poor gameplay. I have lots of other complaints at the moment but I think everyone does, and they are getting sorted out by the Devs. Speaking of which, huge respect to the whole team, and the people working on making this game great. It can be a one-of-a-kind game, I truly feel that way. I am hoping that the core mechanics that really make this game new and interesting are what get the most attention from the community and the devs. I will continue to play this game, and hope for the great changes, but I feel that unless the game addresses the issues I brought up, it will still suffer from the same problems the Mod suffered from. As my friend put it "I just looted the airfield, what do I do now?" syndrome. This game is best when you're threatened, and you have to survive. Please bring back the threat that made me fall in love with this game. Thank you for reading the wall of text. Feel free to discuss/comment/flame. TOPMO3

Wow man. Thanks for the flashback! I remember this was one of the first videos I watched, and I was hooked! Remember when you'd just get rushed by a zombie, shoot back, and then you'd be running for your life? Good times... Amen sir. That's the idea, make the player feel like he needs to survive every minute of DayZ. Not just the moments he has to go into town, or loot the airfield, or cross open terrain.

Skolko tebe let malysh? Ne vremya tebe spat' lozhytsa? Shkolu prospish.

Dis dude was cave-trolling my post too. I think we're dealing with one of them "holier-than-thou" types. And we don't take KINDLY to yer types 'round HEA!!!

That's my biggest issue, is that the alpha doesn't feel like a designed game yet. Aside from "Let's just kill each other", there really isn't a "Direction" to the game yet. That worries, me, especially since next is Beta, and that's too late to rework the design/direction of a game.

Yet another reason to put in ruthless zombies, and lots of them. And yes, I don't understand the idea of empty servers "till we're full military". On a scale from 1 (not at all) to 10 (completely agree), who much do you agree with the following statement? "I wish I could respawn with full military gear."

Gotta agree with both of these. Protip #1: never..oooh fuck it just read my other thread. I should make these my sig.

It's "perfect" in how rotten it is.

It was on a Hardcore server. It was getting dark. I had just finished looting the NE Airfield, and things went well. Quiet. I moved immediately south of the Airfield to the small industrial area. Checked the warehouse, the large house, then ran out. I saw you crouching in the shed. Your gun wasn't drawn, so I drew on you. But I didn't fire. "Friendly!!!" I yelled. No response. I do a quick strafe across the open door. You're still in there. Still no gun drawn. "I'm friendly! Are you???" I fought my first instinct to KoS this far up north. Especially after staying alive for almost a week. You didn't answer. I charged in, and closed all doors, and had you sighted in. "You need to answer now man. Stand up if you're friendly!" You sat there, turning your head at me. You were decked out. Had full camo, helmet, M4A1 with all the trimmings: Silencer, Bipod, ACOG, Butt-stock. I waited 30 seconds for you to give me a sign. "He's lagging." "Or maybe he's buying time..." "Or maybe he's not alone..." Bang!!! My SKS shuttered from the shot. It didn't expect to be woken up this late at night, especially since I've let it rest for almost 3 days. I had your gear, and I was out of there in 45 seconds. Sprinting for the tree-line, I thought about the chances of every one of your six M4A1 attachments being in Pristine condition. Along with 2 ammo boxes completely filled with ammo. How long were you alive collecting this stuff? Or did you use "magic"? You had your chance to talk, and this far north, you had to understand. It's either you or me. Next time, I might not be so patient.

Now Skeeter, he ain't hurtin' nobody...

I know what you mean. There is no bounce from the illuminated part of the room, to the other parts of the room. Although, if it's really dark, most of that light would get absorbed and diffused very quickly. I think what you're talking about is your eyes dilating to a great degree while sitting in pitch-black, so when you fill the area with light again (same amount as before) your dilated pupils allow in twice as much light, making things appear twice as bright. There's REALLY poor fall-off from the flashlight cone of light too now that you mention it...

Amen brother.

Not being defensive in the slightest, and I can see your point completely. I wish I hard recorded it, so it was clearer. When I came across the shed, I stepped out in front of it, and saw a character crouching, looking straight at me. I immediately drew, and said "Friendly!" Now... that's not KOS, that's me trying to show that I can kill you, but I haven't, and I'm open to dialogue. No reply, checked again, no reply. At this point I'm in the shed with him, doors closed, I don't know if he went AFK and his buddies left him to go to the airfield. Again, this wasn't a guy with a t-shirt and a baseball cap on. This was a fully decked out player with military gear. I asked for communication, didn't get it. If I would have left him, and been shot in the back, and posted this story, I would have received a bunch of "Welcome to DAYZ breh." I've played DayZ long enough to know that if I am to offer peace, and it's either not accepted, or not returned, it's assumed war.

If I remember correctly... Headshot, he collapsed and bled. Checked pulse, dead, warm body. Looted. GTFO.

This isn't a fact. This is opinion. KOS stands for Kill on Sight. No questions, no warning. You see another player, you shoot. Simple. I saw another player, didn't fire, but drew on him. I attempted to make contact, no reply. At that point the combination of variables skyrockets. They can be logging, they can be lagging, they can be sitting still as not to startle me. They didn't have their gun drawn, so any attempt to do so would be seen by me as hostile, and I would most likely fire. I told them I was friendly, but I will shoot if they draw. They could be on TS or Mumble with an entire OUTFIT of guys (I play on a full hardcore server) who are taking positions in the airfield. Judging by his gear, he was NOT a new player, in fact he was either a hacker, or someone who has been alive for weeks. Which means he's not a stupid player, and would probably shoot me in the back if I let him. There was no communication from a threatening player. I don't know one way or the other if that's true, but in DayZ, there are more threats up north than friends. So I took no chances. Nothing is as black and white as you make it, this game is about the shades in between, and how we interpret them. Pew pew pew! You proved my point. Don't sit in a shed, even if you're AFK. You wouldn't, I wouldn't. Neither should he have. It's not friendly, but it's not KOS or Banditry either. It's leaving nothing to chance, which I think constitute survival. I offered an olive branch, no reply, better safe than sorry.

ALPHA--oh wait... Nice post!

If you would have been in that shed, and answered "friendly", you would have had a different outcome. We probably would have ran out of there together. :) I'm a nice guy believe it or not, and prefer to make friends, unless you're an obvious threat.

I check everything that has a roof. For loot, or for players.

Exactly. It was about 1-2 minutes. Protip #1. Never go AFK in DayZ. Protip #2. Never go AFK in DayZ in a BUILDING. Protip #3. Never go AFK in DayZ in a building, near one of the most high-traffic locations in the game.

You go AFK this far up north, fully decked out, in a building that players check for loot? Thanks for the beans. >:(