Bororm

Quote from the status report: Are the devs crazy? Binoculars and scopes are extremely valuable. Binocs were even valuable in the mod which had a much higher zoom. Among all the people I play with (which has been a lot over the years) binoculars have nearly rivaled guns for loot. Scopes in the SA are almost a must with the reduced zoom from the mod. Seriously, this just seems like a crazy excuse by the devs to defend a bad idea. I have no clue how they came to this conclusion. The status report also mentioned putting aim down sights on middle mouse and having difficulty deciding what to do with it? What in the world is wrong with the current system of space bar to raise weapon, right click to aim down sights? Why do they want to change these fundamental aspects of the game to make them strangely convoluted or removed entirely? More than ever it seems like there's no clear goals among the dev team and they're just changing stuff to change stuff. If it's not broken, don't mess with it when there's already so many actual problems with the game to work on why create more?

The CLE is still a mess. All loot gets shoved to the other ends of the map. You're going to be hard pressed to find a trumpet in berezino, but hit a house on the west end of elektro and you can find 5 in a single room. When are they going to fix this shit so that the game is enjoyable. The CLE is a great system with huge potential but they don't use it. At this point I'd take the way loot spawned in the mod over this bullshit of having everything shoved away from the actual traffic. This isn't how you create incentive to travel, this is just buggy design. Fix it please.

I prefer old cherno, it was iconic. New cherno is a sprawling mess. It might feel more like an actual city now, but it has none of the charm of the old cherno. Same for most of the revamped towns. It used to be that I could tell a friend where they were by what they saw when they spawned in. Now every city has 50 of the same buildings and they all just blend together to be fairly generic.

I just don't know that I've ever even seen a post by players that was clamoring for more HUD before this, and you get a decent amount of feedback against it when it comes up. I think the majority of people simply don't care either way, and I apologize if I wrongly put you in that group and respect your opinion if you really do want more HUD, but I believe you share that same attitude along the lines of "why not? looks ok to me." Which I just don't find to be a great reason to devote time and energy into something, especially when it contradicts original goals and has wider implications. The environment becomes easier with a HUD btw, the one shown tells you how visible/audible you are to zombies and lets you know exactly how much stamina you have to avoid danger. Any ways, I don't want to clog this thread up any more. We have differing opinions obviously, and I was just hoping Hicks or the devs could address some of my concerns by elaborating on the reasons for some of these decisions.

If I'm honest, it's again more of the principle than the thing itself, though I think the stamina bar specifically has no place on the hud. It remains to be seen just how much information the rest will give you, but if I can judge roughly what % hp/blood I have left that's also fairly significant. But it again goes back to they have completely turned around on their original design philosophy, and for an incredibly lame reason. The stated reason being that players, especially new, some how need more information/help which is exactly the same as saying they are dumber than before. It's a common trend in all modern games, to dumb down the experience to appeal to a wider audience, and part of what made DayZ so appealing to me is that it broke away from that. It's the snowball effect I spoke of, where you start with something like this, add in a dynamic crosshair (again a complete flip on original design), do constant camera tweaks and the game starts to become something else entirely. If they can flip completely on those first 2 significant things, what's next? When does picking up a map give me a mini map, or a compass adds one to my hud? Even if still unlikely, it suddenly becomes not out of the question. I try to avoid being a crazy conspiracy theorist, but it's borderline that all these changes aren't also exactly the kind of thing you see in console games, which by default need simpler/easier interfaces due to the control scheme. We also know it's coming to console so it's hard not to draw some sort of connection. Regardless if that's true or not (I don't really believe it), it's still a matter of dumbing down the experience.

I think you're always going to need some UI, but the current system of keeping it mainly in the inventory screen is a lot better imo and the limited information provided also adds to the immersion. I realize the new one is pretty similar to the mod, but what's really wrong with the current situation besides spammed texts, which is an easy fix of just not spamming the messages so much? Sure the artwork for the statuses in the inventory screen could be slightly improved, but to put the information up constant and more in depth on your HUD just really starts to turn the game arcadey. I also just find it disheartening because of what a reversal it is on their original design philosophy. Small changes that individually you can cope with, but when they begin to snowball is where things get screwy which is very much what is worrying me. I guess I often forget that you couldn't constantly sprint at your very top speed in the mod, but there is at least another example of how it was done better. Without a stamina bar, and the subtle difference of speed, it was hardly even noticeable. As for "only one speed," maybe I wasn't quite clear. The speeds would be essentially the same to what they are now (well after some potential nerfs), you'd still be able to walk/jog/sprint, but your sprint would be affected by your weight. The differences wouldn't be terribly significant so you don't have people running at ridiculous speeds, but it would be enough that there would be incentive for scenarios like dumping your bag/gear if you're running for your life. I know it's not a perfect idea, but I just think stamina bars are the laziest way to implement stamina ever. And experience from arma 3 koth and other mods (I think exile?) just proves how incredibly awful it makes gameplay feel, when you're running kilometers with no real threat, but having to stop and lay down constantly to refill your bar or else jog at an awful pace. I want the game to slow down, I really hate the current state of pvp because of the constant sprinting, but I just think the team can be more creative than that. It's super disappointing.

I love DayZ, I have 1500+ hours into it. I've bought copies for friends, it's my favorite game since Ultima Online but some of these changes worry me. These are serious questions, I am not trying to be snarky so apologies if they come off that way at all. Why did the design team decide to do a 180 on the "no UI" goal? Toggling it on/off isn't really a great compromise because you'll always be at somewhat of a disadvantage for disabling it. Especially if it includes sound/sprint/blood notifiers, which it seems to. One of the status reports said it was to be more friendly to new users, but what has changed in players over the past few years to warrant that sort of decision? It seems to essentially say people are too dumb to figure it out and DayZ isn't about hand holding. Similarly, why was so much effort put into the dynamic crosshair, which really dumbs down the experience significantly? Most people aim from the hip now, even in your own/dev team videos you guys are using it. How can complaints/tweaks to the third person camera be justified when this is as much, if not more of an issue (after all it affects first person just as much)? Were no other options considered besides the stamina bar, which is an extremely annoying mechanic in these types of games (personal experience from multiple arma mods)? In a game where so much running is necessary, stamina bars just don't feel good at all. Personally I think a baseline constant speed, affected by weight would be a much better system. With side effects of sway/breathing and other penalties for sustained sprinting. Surely there are other alternatives as well than a straight stamina bar that are being considered?

Where do the SAWs, pk machine guns, drum mags, helicopters, RPGs, grenade launchers, land mines, range finders, nvgs and ammo crates fit into that game? I think you should tell the devs if you know, because they clearly have no idea either. Here's two more 40 slot military backpacks for you, since you're supposed to be having a hard time looting.

Completely agree, which is why it irks me so much that people even have to defend their preferred playstyle. It's like if people who preferred pvp always answered those who prefer pve's posts with "go play the long dark" or something similar. DayZ is meant to be a sandbox. No that is your false definition. Survival isn't limited to eating worms in nature, especially not in this day and age. Such a narrow definition is really limiting. You could make a game entirely based in an urban setting collecting nothing but cans of food and it would be survival. Again the devs have said players will always be the main threat, they acknowledge this fact. Sorry but you seem rather inexperienced. You can farm pumpkins in under 20 minutes, and you not only have more than enough food to feed multiple people, but the pumpkins are also persistent. So are the farm plots, so are the seeds, so is the plant material, so you have enough food for your next respawn too. Spamming apples is also easy without aggroing any zombies, since there's apple trees literally every where. Rushing to a mil base rewards you with tons of food spawning in the abundant military gear. Making a fishing pole is as easy as cutting up 2 dresses and killing a chicken. Oh, speaking of chickens, they are every where too, and eating them only involves crafting a stone knife and making a quick fire. Water is a joke of course. This stuff isn't difficult at all, survival in that sense is easy. As for traffic on the map, spend some time around altar/old fields this patch and tell me how many fresh spawns you see just B-lining straight from north/east berezino spawns to the NW. Most barely have gear, because the most efficient thing to do this patch is run straight to either NWAF or Tisy. It's an even narrower pathway than it was in previous patches, especially because they removed the furthest north spawns. You can deny pvp was the appeal all you want but it's not true. Why do you think all those pvp focused mods became more popular than the vanilla mod? Why do you think nearly every server devolved into goofy 1000 vehicle spawn with weapons, buy bases/kits mods? Don't be blind. There's room for all playstyles but pretending DayZ isn't what it is because people like to shoot each other doesn't help anyone. It doesn't need to be the main focus of the game, but it's always going to be a huge part of it. To add one more point, people are always so closed minded about why people like the pvp in DayZ over games like battlefield or cod or whatever other asinine examples you wanna throw out. The extra layers of investment into pvp are a huge draw, which again is why a pve side is necessary. Gearing up and the risk involved in losing it, as well as the other obstacles to overcome are what make the pvp appealing to many people, and the knowledge that you're taking that away from others. PvP has weight. Hmmmmmm almost like it's part of the survival aspect.

Except survival is such a general term as to mean anything, pvp or pve. Survival could be construed to mean the primary focus is survival from other players. The devs themselves have always stated players are the biggest threat. The game from inception has been pvp focused, whether intentional or not. And yes, that was the appeal, even from the start of the mod. It doesn't mean it was every player's focus, but anyone who pretends the threat of being killed by another player wasn't what created the atmosphere and tension of the game is insane. To ignore that is absurd. The elitist attitude of telling people to go play a different game because they enjoy the strongest aspect of this one is completely asinine. If you don't see the problems with current map flow you're not paying enough attention. Finding food and water is also completely trivial. Survival in the sense that you're talking about is as easy as ever.

Please adjust the CLE. It's 100x easier to B-line to either mil base and grab an m4 and mags than any civilian weapons. You can spend an hour+ looting cities to not find matching ammo/weapons or you can spend 20 minutes from a good spawn to the bases and have a working m4 or other assault rifle. I encounter more M4s than any other weapon currently, even on the coast. I want to use double barrels, mosins, pistols and other civ weps. Fix the CLE, it's adjustable on the fly, it doesn't interfere with development. Tweak drop rates to spawn more civ weapons/ammo combos. **Gonna edit and expand this: There are a number of problems currently with the way loot spawns, creating the above situation. I'm just going to list them as I see it, to try to keep things relatively concise as I have a tendency to ramble: -There are less military structures than civilian. This creates a situation of loot density. It is much easier to find assault rifles than any other weapon in the game, because they are concentrated in fewer areas. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it makes sense, and military bases should be rewarding. The issue is less with the general idea, and more with the implementation of loot spawning/quantities. The following points will tie into this. -I'm not 100% on how loot respawns, but I don't think my understanding is entirely inaccurate. You loot an item and another item from that group is spawned some where else on the map with the next wave. Example: loot can of beans in a house in cherno, 15 minutes later an item of the same group (lets just say food) spawns some where else. The issue with this ties with the first point, as there are a set number of military buildings these items essentially ping pong between structures like the tent cities, where as civilian loot is wide spread across the map. -Item quantities. Civilian structures have been increased nearly every patch. Cherno about doubled in size with the last patch. Items also now spawn in clothing. I don't think global item population was increased enough to reflect this. A very large portion of houses are completely devoid of loot, because there's simply not enough to go around. This feels bad, it is much more satisfying to loot structures and find things you don't want/need, than to loot empty buildings and feel like you're just wasting your time. 1. A side note on this when it comes to coastal towns. The mentality of getting players off the coast and adjusting loot to encourage this seems counter intuitive to increasing the amount of structures. What is the point of doubling the size of cherno and greatly expanding elektro if loot is intended to be scarce there? I personally disagree with the mentality of forcing players off the coast through such blunt means as reducing loot. The mod had amazing map flow and it wasn't achieved in this way, it was achieved by putting the best items inland. There are differences in the SA compared to the mod but in general a sandbox should seek to encourage movement through subtle means. -I'd really like to see civilian structures more specialized. I should seek out specific house/building types for higher chances of specific weapons, such as barns/cabins for shotguns or particular houses for certain pistols or rifles. This is only very loosely true currently with some houses spawning guns in general more often. -Ammo/mags. Assault rifles mags by their nature are going to be capable of spawning with more ammo than something like a pistol mag. Boxes of ammo come in stacks of 20-30. It's possible to find full drum or 60 round mags. There is also the issue of heli crashes spawning full ammo boxes of 5.56. One more detail is that ammo in mags spawns pristine, while loose/boxed rounds potentially spawn damaged. The end result is there is way more assault rifle ammo than any other type, furthering the gap between using these weapons. -Most "civilian" ammunition types are also actually more common in military bases than else where. .357, .45 acp, 7.62x54, .308 and shotgun shells are all much more reliably found in places like the myshkino tents base.

Tisy and the NWAF have a lot of loot, and they're pretty much the closest to the NE spawns. I'll admit I exaggerate a little bit, and they actually have seemingly reduced rifles in .61, but I can still come out with some sort of working weapon and ammo in a lot less time than it would take me to search every corner of every house on the way. The other night 3 of us came out of Tisy with 2 M4s and an AK101, with about 250 rounds each. That was on a private server, not server hopping, looting the base twice. Not limited to weapons too of course, you come out with food and the "best" clothing. Vybor seems nearly devoid of loot every time I've gone, which is also bad because soon there will be little incentive to go there. Stary is also underwhelming lately, but because of its location is still en route to the NW from most spawns. I used a bow against a guy with a gun the other day near Stary, because of course it's the only weapon I had by the time I got there. You can guess how that went, and I actually like using shit like the bow or even swords against geared players regularly. But lets be real, the bow is a mess even with its recent buffs and they've put all this effort into multiple weapons. Just dismissing a large portion (arguably the most prolific portion) of the game since its inception in the mod, of yes, shooting people, is not realistic. How can anyone with a straight face suggest that the bow should be the primary weapon when the devs are showing us screenshots of RPGs and SAWs. I play in a group and our primary intent is pvp. So taking a spawn close to my friends and close to the action is what makes sense. We also have a base, so choosing a spawn close to it makes most sense to us. As for dieing, it's inevitable. I'll admit I'm not a terribly cautious player, I also enjoy only using things like magnums or izh rifles and making a challenge for myself. The game is supposed to be a sand box and dealing with the consequences of my playstyle is fine, but every time they try to curve behavior with their loot adjustments it just ends up making the mil bases that much more lucrative and basically punishing everyone else. That said, I don't limit my activities to pvp, my group farms and hunts and does that side of things as well. It's actually also an issue imo, that I can farm some pumpkins and have more than enough food for my entire group in less time than it would take me to loot a town for an equivalent amount. Pumpkins are also seemingly persistent btw, so I can even leave extras on the ground for that next run through. I understand things are constantly changing. To be fair, .61 is better than .60 loot wise. I just think some of the decisions being made are being done for the wrong reasons. Some of it is obviously to try to promote certain behavior, but players are always going to find the most efficient way to do things no matter what you do. If you try to force a certain playstyle to be less/more lucrative, others are going to suffer for it. I think they should take a more hands off approach and just let things go. Stop trying to limit loot so much in high traffic areas/the coast and instead create incentives to move in land that are more subtle. The mod had great map flow, and it had way easier to get loot than the SA every where. You could grab assault rifles on the coast, but people still moved to the NWAF (which only had two barracks) because you had a chance at some cool gear.

Nothing in that quote you linked says its primarily a pve game. The game should be a balance of pve and pvp, but pretending that pvp isn't what made the game popular to begin with and isn't the main appeal hurts it in every way. The horrible stance a lot of people in dayz's community take of going "it's survival, go play cod" doesn't help anything. It's why we end up with situations like .5x where no loot was spawning and a vocal minority said it's great, when in fact it was a bug. Similarly we've now got a situation developing with shit map flow and people skipping entire towns to b-line to mil bases because it's not worth while. Spamming apples and grabbing m4s isn't a good pve experience either.

Thought moving the tents across the map would help the situation, was hopeful. Nope. Still a case of the mil bases being so much more attractive than bothering with any towns. In fact, I find that it's even more appealing to sprint straight to a base than .60 because of the spawn changes. Before .61, I would take western spawns and make my way either west towards zeleno or north towards pogorevka, and then move west/north. Now the best course of action is to take a berezino spawn and run straight west through gorka to nwaf or tisy. I'm not alone in this, the traffic on the server I've been playing around altar is ridiculous, people are constantly taking this most direct route to the NWAF. I can get to the NWAF and find tons of cans of food in the clothing, weapons with actual ammo etc. If I spend time looting the towns on the way (berezino, gorka, novy, even Stary) I end up with a mediocre amount of ammo and a weapon if I'm lucky. More often than not I reach the middle of the map with no weapon at all. I get it, the devs want people to spend an hour in every little fucken town, looting every corner of every house. But if some one just did that before you, good luck. I shouldn't come up on Gorka and think "this isn't worth my time" which is exactly how I feel, because I know 5 people have probably been through there in the last 30 minutes any ways. I want to use civilian weapons, I don't want to have to spend longer finding them than it takes me to run to NWAF or Tisy and grab an m4 and mags. Which is still the case, 5.56 is still the most common fucken ammo in the game. Cans of food abundant in mil gear. Military clothing has the highest capacity and best weather stats (I refuse to wear it still). I get the last bit, it's realistic, but it makes everyone look the fucken same and boring. There should be a shallower discrepancy. I get hypothermic wearing hunting clothes in like 20 minutes, when I could be sitting in full gorka gear and fine. That's boring gameplay. It shouldn't take me longer to find a repeater or a carbine or a magnum than to run to a base and grab an assault rifle. Also the eastern spawns are shit and don't help the situation. Why am I going to go from a NE spawn to some where like zelenogorsk when it's quicker to hit the nwaf or tisy. At least with western spawns you could go west then north, hitting all the shit on your way. Who is going to go to the best shit first then go south unless you are really bored? It's bad flow. When are the devs gonna wake up and realize how tons of people actually play their game? Stop trying to force behaviors and let shit progress naturally, that's what made the mod such a success. Scarce loot becomes no loot when an area is high traffic, and with a shit respawn system we end up with a situation where all the loot is just on some corner of the map. Go to the new base with the 100 crashed cars north of myshkino and see what I mean. It's just so frustrating because I love the SA for so many reasons and the loot situation holds it back so much. This isn't about easy loot, it's already easy loot. It's about distributing and respawning loot in a way that doesn't make you feel like "why bother" when passing a major town. Why the fuck bother spending 30 minutes there when I can be at a base in 30 minutes with all the "best" shit. End Rant

I hope you realize they actually do significant bone damage. Even though the blood/health damage they do is not a lot, they will out right kill you before either of those stats gets low because they do bone damage. It takes maybe 8 hits, which is not a lot considering they are in packs.

Thanks for the video but that's my point. I think they should change their attitude because their attitude is "we want to get it done, we don't care about the players in the mean time." I think that attitude was more valid very early on, when the game was in its infancy. I think 2+ years in, it's time to realize, like I've said, the majority of players (consoles aside) have already bought the game and are playing it. The game is not going to be drastically different for us participating between each patch and 1.0. Hicks himself repeats the arbitrary nature of patch release numbers. So I think the attitude should change, or like I've said above, the game will just spark and wither with each update until fewer and fewer people return. The only reason for the current development strategy is from a business standpoint. They want to get 1.0 done so they can 1) use the engine for future projects 2) release to consoles 3) spike sales one more time. The only saving grace there will be that modders will fill the gap and reinvigorate DayZ SA itself. I personally feel that's a shit goal if they actually care about the game and want it to succeed on its own and not just become a platform for other projects. What's the point of this statement, because it doesn't apply to me. This is the response I often get when I bring up this topic, and it doesn't make sense. Those people who didn't want content were wrong. Largely the developers responsible for creating content are separate from the core programmers working on the major changes. Artists aren't programmers by and large. I also again think the attitude should change, and it is worth taking some programmers off the large changes for a short period to bang out that side of something like adding new weapons or items. The other thing to note is that we get those content changes with the large updates. The work is being done on them regardless, so why not release them in the interim. The trello is a current backlog of unimplemented content.

It is starting to feel like the team forgot the "access" part of early access. I understand the major reworks take time, and I get the concept of not wanting to branch the build too many times. However, I think the team should really recognize what they're doing to the longevity of the game and its player base. The majority of people who are going to play DayZ have bought the SA already. There will be a bit of an influx when 1.0 releases, but up to this point I think the game has gotten the majority of its sales. Perhaps console release will be a different story, but I hope development isn't based around trying to get a console version out asap simply for sales. With that said, I think the team could do better to realize we are essentially playing the released version. There will be no drastic difference for us between .99 and 1.0. Let's not forget the team has said multiple times that development will continue past 1.0 as well. Hicks has said himself they are just numbers. Large changes obviously take time and cause unforeseen consequences, but why can't we get minor content updates (clothing, food etc) and begin some balance tweaks (pvp is a mess. the CLE is out of wack) in the interim to make everyone's life better as we wait? Even if it extends that wait for the major updates. Otherwise you're just going to have spikes in population with each major update which quickly dwindle, which will become less and less large as time goes on and people realize they waited 6-12 months for something that doesn't actually change gameplay drastically. On that last point, it's not a complaint about engine upgrades, it's just that things like the renderer are fantastic for performance (extremely important obviously) but at the end of the day nothing really changes in terms of how the game is played and players become bored.

Yeah I could have sworn there was a persistence wipe this patch at one point? Or maybe it was an older patch, but there was a very noticeable influx again of these types of weapons spawning.

I should have generalized that my issue is with assault rifles more. I do think m4s are the most commonly used, but the various AKs make up a chunk of it. That was largely my point, that it is easier/quicker to sprint to a base and get any sort of assault rifle up and running than it is to find matching ammo for a civilian weapon. I can't remember the last time I died to a non military weapon. Out of curiosity, do you play a private hive? You're absolutely right that at the start of the patch there was a larger number of m4s. Again, I'm not 100% on the way the CLE works, but I believe it factors in items in barrels/tents towards global item counts. I believe eventually less of these items spawn as players start stock piling them. Those weapons don't spawn at heli crashes but their spawns were moved over to the mil bases according to Hicks. It's a bit difficult to say whether that means more or less are spawning, without actual stats.

That's a supermarket in Japan in the radiation zone. How does it feel to have zero imagination? It could be everyone was just immediately evacuated. There, you have a plausible scenario to make gameplay more interesting instead of just having useless buildings completely devoid of any loot. Hilarious that you talk about magical restocking, when that is exactly the mechanic being discussed. Then again as I recall you're the guy who argued that nail bats shouldn't be a thing because of air drag. You're going back on ignore I think.

I don't hop either and every time I hit the tents at myshkino I find some sort of assault rifle. Every player you encounter on the coast is using an m4. You can blame duping to a fair extent for the coast, but the m4 is far and away the most commonly used weapon in the game right now. Finding m4 mags/ammo is incredibly common. SVDs and FALs are a lot less common. Civilian weapons/ammo might be easy to find inland, but then you are faced with the issue I'm addressing. You're already there, why bother when the mil bases are just a few more minutes away? The last few days I've spent my time on the coast, using a bow to fight people with m4s. I haven't been killed a single time by a non assault rifle. Every other fresh spawn, with a single exception who had a double barrel, is running around empty handed or using a confiscated assault rifle. It's an issue, unless you think military gear should be the most common stuff on the map. I very much doubt it. All AI has been easily exploitable and I don't see that changing. Players are always going to find the most efficient way to do things. PVE aspects of the game have been by and large untouched for over 2 years now. I think it's wishful thinking to expect things to change drastically.

To clarify since people seem hung up on the concept of specific house loot, I'm not talking in guarantees. As it stands, it is already a case that houses like the yellow/blue trimmed house have a higher chance of spawning guns than many others. It doesn't necessarily mean you skip every other structure, but it gives you a better idea of where to look. It makes sense from an immersive stand point that I'm going to be more likely to find a double barrel or hunting rifle in a cabin, lodge, or barn than in an apartment or market. That doesn't mean there should be one in there every time, and it doesn't mean the apartment and market should have zero chance. This system is already roughly in place actually, according to the devs. You have a slight chance to even find something like an m4 in a house currently (or at least that's the goal, maybe it's not implemented yet). The mod by nature of having fewer structures actually worked this way itself. To use this quote, in the mod you knew markets were going to have a higher amount of food than something like a barn. I think that's very reasonable. I like Arthur's idea as well.

I know this thread and this post in particular is a bit old at this point but in off chance you actually read this Hicks, I'm going to reiterate what I've said in a million other places, to a million other people before. Camera perspective doesn't give you an advantage, position does. Everyone is playing with the same tools in either scenario, the tactics just change. It is not "much easier" to get the upper hand in 3pp, any more than it is in certain scenarios in 1pp. It's about playing smart in either case. What 3pp does is it pushes you to have to think an extra step ahead. Ironically, most people who prefer 1pp seem to have tunnel vision and try to play 3pp in the same way as they do 1pp. As a result, they suffer for it then blame the mechanic. Let's take the typical situation of a guy on a roof vs a guy on the ground. I think we're all probably familiar with the elektro hospital days from the mod, so try to visualize that. The player on the roof prones behind the ledge and uses the camera to look over, he has a pretty large FOV and isn't exposed to anyone immediately in front and below him. However, he can't see straight down without crouching or even standing, and he is also completely exposed to anyone with higher elevation. Continuing the elektro example, the school roof, the hills. It's not the omnipresent eyeball people make it out to be, and he can't see in every direction at once. However, there is also the issue that he must crouch or stand to fire on anyone, so anyone on the ground can stay behind a corner/cover and peek back at the roof top. They can't see him, he can't see them, the first to expose themself potentially loses. DayZ is not played in a vacuum, the player on the ground only needs to do one thing to completely negate the other player's initial advantage, assume he is there. With experience you learn the most likely places for players to be, and you act accordingly. Just as you don't blindly run into high risk buildings in 1pp. The player below can try to gain elevation, or even climb one of the ladders and now he is peeking on the roof top player, waiting for his chance. Almost every elevated position in the game has another which offers a vantage point, the map is actually very well designed. Even if there wasn't, the player below can still just wait behind cover and peek back. It becomes a matter of patience. Yes the elevated player has the advantage of not needing to worry about other approaching threats, but again, that is because he initially chose the better location. Just as a player in 1pp who chooses a choke point (let's say a room with 1 entrance) has an "advantage." There is always the other option to consider as well, you don't need to engage and end every single fight. The player who is not camping has the option to leave. The problem everyone who claims 3pp is unfair, or offers an "advantage" or is "easy" has is that they view the situation always from that of the victim. Ignoring that it goes both ways. It just pushes you to think around an extra corner. There is that video people love to show by Dyslexcia which also completely misses this point. It shows multiple scenarios, all from one perspective (again, ironically) and doesn't show the opposite. It shows a player seeing others over a wall, ignoring that those players can see them back. It shows a player peeking around a corner at others, ignoring that the other players could shift behind their own corner and do the exact same thing back. Are RTS games played in 1pp? Is chess? Checkers? Dismissing the strategy and tactical changes that come about as being unbalanced or unfair is a disservice to your own intellect. It's blaming a mechanic because you won't adapt. Claiming you've lost simply because your opponent had it "easier" because he made better use of the tools you are both working with. 1pp offers its own "easier" scenarios itself. You can sit around a corner, waiting for foot steps, just to blast some one as they blindly run into a room. I play a decent amount of arma and when I want to do long range sniping I almost always choose a 1pp server, because I can sit in an obscure place, a very long way out from a town/city and be sure that every opponent who is actually engaging is going to be on a roof or in a window, making them easy targets. I can see a wide range of movement while they are forced to look for a single stationary dot. On a 3pp server, a city becomes a huge cluster of cover with potentially numerous enemies peeking back to find me, regardless of if I am peeking myself. Because again, you must expose yourself to fire. It just shifts what is more advantageous in different scenarios. And to reiterate one last time, the advantage comes from the position you chose whether it's 1pp or 3pp. Your own decision, not your enemy's. Oh and one final note, because I can't resist ;) if you wanna talk about making things "easy" let's talk about the third person crosshair, specifically the SA dynamic crosshair, in both 1pp and 3pp Hicks. When can we get that to at least be an official functioning server option?

I agree, 3 is a bit extreme. Nice work though.

Giving the IZH another go, to practice my aim mainly. The 7.62x39 round is really weak. I shot a dude in the head and he just shrugged it off and ran. He had a gorka helmet on, but that was pretty disappointing. I was only about 50m away. Shot another guy in the leg first, then his head. Killed him (no helmet). I think going for leg shots is the way to go, which is kinda true of every gun imo. People are just too tanky and too mobile. Headshots are unreliable, and chest shots even more so. A final note: The reload is really fucked for this gun. Half the time it won't play the animation. I had a strange animation bug while running with it as well, where my character was stuttering.