tarquinbb

i keep making the same mistake of murdering someone near stary or the airport, loot their body, then get hunted down and killed within the hour. presumably by one (or more) of their clan mates. haven't survived longer than 2 days.

i couldn't disagree more with the OP... can you name a 'survival' game which does 'survival' better than dayz? because i certainly cannot. of course, it's more about surviving hostile players than the zombies. and what is 'horror'? because the paranoia, anxiety and tension caused by encounters with other survivors is far more stirring than any horror game that i can recall. i can't think of any game which makes you 'feel' as much as dayz, the anxiety is gripping. i feel like all of the suggestions in the OP would take away the anxiety and it wouldn't be the same game. if you're alone and careless - yes... getting knocked unconscious at 8000 blood and you will probably die to 1-2 zombies before you wake up. not to mention they have a small chance to break your legs, which eventually means you'll have to risk encountering hostile players during your hospital raid.

earlier today i was trying and failing to lose 3 zombies in one of those small industrial shacks, near a supermarket which i wanted to loot (too stubborn to fire my lee enfield because i noticed a couple of survivors in there from distance). totally underestimating the zombies, i got mauled down to 8000 and then knocked unconscious, woke up bleeding with 600 blood and luckily managed to scramble to the supermarket without falling unconscious and killed the pursuing zombies. then i'm totally stuffed... stuck in a supermarket falling unconscious all the time and hoping another survivor will come along to help. after picking up the junk loot in the supermarket in hope to cycle the loot spawns a bit (there was no food at all when i got there), maybe 20 minutes went by before someone caught me totally by surprise and we were in a duel stalemate situation on opposite sides of a shelving unit, i quickly explain that i'm friendly and need help etc over direct channel... then i hear what can only be described as the voice of mother teresa, she explains that she has raw meat and she'll be back soon - 10 mins later she comes back with a load of cooked meat which tops me up to about 5000 blood. i give her my thanks and a couple of m16 mags which i found at a deerstand (my character was pretty broke and new otherwise), i warn her about the group which headed north from the supermarket not so long ago and then we went our seperate ways. (in the unlikely chance mother teresa is reading this - you're awesome, and i only wish there was some way in the game i could tell you from the rest so i don't accidentally shoot you in a moment of confusion)

in general, yes, there are helpful survivors... you just have to use voice comms on the direct channel.

imo the alt+f4 guys aren't so much of a problem... you bossed them off the server, you won. obviously they exploited the game to cheat death, but the ghosting on another server and then reconnecting to ambush is a whole different level of cheating. both problems need fixing, but the reconnecting issue has to take priority imo. if you force a logout, can't the exploiting party just alt+f4 then immediately join a new server - bypassing the logout-timer entirely? (okay they'll probably be bugged out in game for the duration, but still able to hop into a new server and setting themselves up for an ambush)

if you get murdered it's because you were careless, unlucky or dumb. punishment for murdering careless, unlucky or dumb players will turn the game into a carebear newbie-fest. the solution to bandits is to play smart and/or play in a smart group. i.e. don't be dumb, don't be careless and curse the lord for your ill luck.

imo the majority of whiners are playing with the wrong mindset. you're not advised to barge into a town, blasting away the zombies with your lee enfield then loot the entire place. you're advised to approach from a hill or forest and survey the area for a while, looking for other players. imagine yourself in a hypothetical real life zombie apocalypse, if you come accross a total stranger with a gun - you're certainly not going to trust him. he probably won't have a massive sign around his neck reading "i'm a murderer!". if you see he's in a group or well equipped then you'd be wise to hide and avoid confrontation (unless you're desperately low on supplies perhaps). if you're cornered then you might be forced to shoot him, in fear for your own life. yes, it is paranoia... but that is what makes dayz so unique and thrilling... the times i've been alone and spotted a group of 2-3 guys, followed them and waited for an opportunity to strike, then deciding that it wasn't worth it and turning away. those guys totally unaware that they were possibly moments away from a shower of bullets. i totally understand the pvp frustration, but a great piece of advice is to just explore the northern airfields until you find a base camp of a massive group (they often farm those airfields/barracks and therefore need tents to stash nearby) - then every time you die just head there and steal their stuff. amazing equipment at your fingertips - after about 30 minutes of navigating through wilderness.

imo this is the biggest issue in the game... cross server meta-gaming. it's cheating, plain and simple. the best solution i can think of would be to put your character into a 'pacifist mode' for ~2 minutes after logging in. the pacifist mode would basically disable your weapons for the duration. if you're a legit player, you're also going to be effected - but 99% of the time you won't need to use weapons in that time period. you have your camp and vehicles on your home server as mass storage... your suggestion means you could farm on other servers and just server bounce to instantly 'bank' your loot. that's probably even more detrimental to the game than 'ghosting'.