Deathcall

Number of days alive could be somewhat "guessable" judging by the state of the person's hygene (facial hair for example). Though this would be really sketchy at best. Time dead could be easier. No way to tell how many murders a person comitted before dying, unless he's carrying out ears or something. Cause of death is somewhat already in the game, but it seems our guys can't tell infected scratches from bullet holes. Bet that's gonna get fixed eventually.

This is a very simple suggestion that I thought about today. You see, I was driving my bicycle through the dark, pretty unware of my surroundings except for the odd tree-shape against the sky, when I accidentally dumped it on the ocean (weird since I didn't get to hear the sound of the waves before I noticed I was "stuck"). Bikes are pretty cool in that they allow you to move fast from place to place without the need of much maintenance or fuel. Their obvious disadvantage is that they can't carry loot. Is the fact that they don't have lights intended? Or just a slip? If it's not, I think it could be made possible to attach one's flashlight to the bike (or a chemlight/flare at least) so it has some rudimentary lights. Can it be done?

Or we add the all-mighty duct-tape. God knows we can't survive the apocalypse without duct-tape.

Mmm... Yeah sure I guess it could work. But so would skateboards for the matter. Perhaps for the standalone... and I think it'd still be really low priority.

Make sure to add different "skins" to this camo's or people will just learn how they look really fast and they will actually make the vehicles easier to spot.

Removal, no. Anything that takes from the game should be avoided... You could make it so they require batteries to work... And not just any kind of battery. There it would actually make it so you have to choose when to use it, instead of just going around with them on all the time.

No the best way to phrase that Vit...

@ Wesker Damn, I had just made it to the building. Had I had my bike, I would have been able to help. Sorry man.

I'm on my way. ETA 5 mins plus login time. PD: Look for the big construction crane south east of cherno, behind the military camp.} PD2: Make that 10 mins, someone stole my bike.

@ Wesman Can you join US 219 and make your way to the construction site in Cherno?

Greetings fellow survivors. I used the search function and couldn't come up with a similar thread, my apologies if there is. The concept is pretty simple. Day Z has too many players spread across too many servers. Unlike other MMOs (though Day Z may not really qualify as an MMO, not sure) where you have a persistant player base which you can befriend or come to know somehow, normal players usually don't know anyone else in the server they are currently playing (less they are IRL friends). My proposition is that we make a list of the servers in which people who participate in the forums play. Since the forum community is much smaller than the overall player base, even with the population cap, it should be possible, for those who are interested, to share Day Z with like-minded people. For anyone who's thinks this is a good idea, and not limited by latency (I know I can't join several servers because my ping is too high), I'm currently based in US 530 - Atlanta, with ocassional hops to US 219 when I don't feel like playing during night-time. Guess we could make this a bit more organized... Say, follow this model if you will: Frecuented Servers US 530 - Atlanta US 219 Normal Gaming Hours 10.00 PM to 03.00 AM (GMT -3) (During the Week, varies during weekends) In-Game Name [AB] Deathcall PD: If we can collect enough data, then we can come up with a list of servers in which most people have no problems playing.

Damn that bandit must have been really terrible if he couldn't hit you with a sniper at a distance which would allow him to hear what you were saying.... But still, good laughs.

I've been playing for nearly a month. Have never shot anyone on sight. Of all my encounters with other players, there has been only two or three where I came out alive. Only once did I manage to kill two other players who happened to run in front of me. I yelled "friendly or I'll shoot!" several times but they wouldn't say anything, just kept trying to find me (I'm sure I was in range for comms), so I killed them. I left their loot there so they or some other player could benefit from it. I think that the true challenge of this game is actually getting people to trust you. Today, for example, I kept spawning on Electrozavodsk (or nearby). I was trying to befriend a pair of survivors who were scavenging the town. I threw flares at them (when I could have shot) several times, but they just panicked and kept moving from building to building. Eventually I climbed to the top of the school building (or offices, who knows) and threw a flare right on my feet. I put my weapon down and saluted in their direction. Only got myself killed. I spawned again and came back, saw them enter the firestation. I got close and tried to talk, they shot me again. Respawned once more, I made sure they saw me get in the school again. I went to where my body was and looted back my handgun. I waited there and told them there was no point in killing me, I just wanted to join up with someone. They came up and asked me to put down my gun. I did. We talked for some time (while they aimed their guns at me), but in the end, they said they were sorry but that they had to kill me. Clean shot to the head at least. Is there truly so much backstabbing in this game that people have grown this distrustful? I have never been backstabbed myself. But then again, I have only managed to team up a handful of times, and most people seem to lose interest in the game quite fast. For me, going north and getting awesome weapons is just a secondary objective. There's no point in JUST getting geared, and I'm no fan of going around killing people just because. The true challenge, and the most rewarding thing you can do in Day Z, is getting people to play with... At least that's what I believe today.

Sounds like you had a pretty good run to me. Dunno why you are complaining, you got further than most while traveling solo. Seems to me you could have fixed your entire problem by telling your brother to log in and hook you up with some morphine... which, btw, also spawn in the military barracks at the Northern Airfield (just a bit rare). What you have yet to understand about Day Z (in my opinion) is that every adventure ends in death, from bandits, glitches or zombies. It doesn't really matter. You WILL die, just try to enjoy the ride until you do. PD: I'm not sure this post should be in suggestions...

Further additions to the game could add "traits" to cities that might make them more interesting. For example, a city with a construction company in it could be the only source of building materials in Chernarus, while another city with an automobile company could become a better spot to scout for parts than random industrial areas. Similarly, country side areas which had been developed previous to spread of the infection could yield agricultural loot. And so on. Overall, I agree with you. North military loot shouldn't be the only thing survivors long for.

I was thinking you guys might want protection when you go around healing people, after all, lone medics are likely to get killed just because they carry supplies which are hard to find up-north. I'm a bit tired of going around solo or being shot while trying to make friends. If you need someone to watch your back while you go help someone, I'm more than willing to help. I'll be on in about 2 hours, if you'd like to team up, send a PM! PD: Sorry if I'm missing something here (like a separate post for this kind of proposals), but the thread is QUITE long for me to read through all of it at work!

Remember that factions are coming Claymore, it might help with the problem you mention.

I'll give you beans just because you presented the topic so tidely. Overall, it's a great idea, but yeah, it'll have to wait for the standalone. The current engine will make it hell for the devs to apply this.

Construction is definetely something the devs should look into (or keep looking if they already are). My main concern is how durable and permanent these buildings will be. It has already been said that the devs are working on sub-terranean bases for the survivors, how these will work I'm not entirely sure, but we are talking about on-surface things. I do not believe these can be "instanced" so what worries me the most is going through all the effort of constructing a nice fortress (alone or with friends) and then having the server restart (or some other nefarious event) and losing all of it. Another problem could be that people will start looking for these fortifications as zombie-free high-yield loot spots. Even a big clan will have problems manning the wall all day. This is, of course, unavoidable, but perhaps some new elements like land-mines or more crude defenses like trip-wire activated traps (or the famous bear traps I can't seem to find anywhere) can be included along with the construction patch so our forts can be protected in our absence. Watch dogs could also work, not only to defend the fortress but perhaps even track any would-be thieves back to their hideout. However, given the possibility of server hopping and/or logging it might be a useless meassure unless there's some sort of mechanic that binds you to the server once you interact with the construction (if only for some amount of time). Absence may also become permanent so a "taken back by nature" mechanic should also be included to prevent the over-abundance of these fortifications. Perhaps different stages of neglect can be stated, meaning that a fort (or whatever we are able to build) will start to decay without regular care up to the point it just becomes an unsable ruin (which could or could not be frecuented by feral dogs who are angry at their former masters for not coming back to feed them). Another aproach to this subject could be similar to the way Helicopter Crashes and Vehicles work. There could be damaged fortifications randomly spawned around Chernarus (hopefully not in plain sight) which can be repaired. All in all, it's a good idea, so good that the devs have been mulling over it for a while. I think it's just a matter of time before they figure out how to implement it properly.

As long as it attracts zombies too, I like the idea. Might become kinda obsolete if they add radios, since there will probably be a "common channel". But still, I like it.

A sad story. I logged on at my camp west of the IAF to find my Toyota Hilux, Sedan and UAZ gone. Four of my tents have been raided. One was spared, most likely because they flattened it when stealing my vehicles. Lucky for me, that's where I kept my weapons. Without any friends around or coming any time soon, cut-off from the world and low on medical supplies, I decided to grab my Dragunov (camo) and head south to restock and try to find someone to befriend. It was a long run through Lopatino, Pustoshka and Zelenogorsk. Only on the latter I found signs of another survivor. Sadly, he was dead. I inspected the body and noticed that he had died recently (spotted his name a bit before entering the town). I regretted not being there earlier so I could help (seems he was killed by zombies) and grabbed some supplies from the market before heading further south. Eventually I turned east and came to one of my secondary camps near Chernogosk. From there, I looted the north-west hospital for meds and climbed atop the silos to check out the town (night had fallen by now). I stayed there for nearly twenty minutes trying to spot other survivors scavanging, and just as I was about to leave for Electrozavodsk I saw a couple flares near the International Hotel. Whoever was down there wasn't being wise. I tracked the flares across trown all the way to the market. After switching to a better vantage point I saw that there were actually three survivors . I studied their movements for a few minutes as they scavanged and started to consider joining them. Still, it was night-time and they were three, I was reluctant to just go running up to them and yelling friendly. Instead, I shadowed them as they left Chernogosk due west. I did some thinking and imagined that since they had low-grade gear they'd hit Balota Airfield, so I got down from the silos and went to the forest north-east of Cherno, following the tree lines due-west as well. I was expecting to get to the Airport after them, but after going through the broken fence behind the ATC tower I noticed flares at the Red Cross Camp in front of the strip. I climbed to the top of the tower and looked down my scope. Thanks to the flares and the full moon, I could see their movements pretty clearly. I even saw one of them blow himself up with a grenade. By now I had figured out these people weren't really experienced (or at least they didn't behave as such) and decided to link-up with them. It would be great, I could teach them the ropes and I'd get new people to hang out with. Eventually they (the two left alive) left the Camp and came to the Airfield. I saw them kneeling down by the edge and using binoculars to scout the area. They didn't see me. They started by the hangars, once they got to the one closest to the tower, I started typing. I explained I was friendly. I told them that the fact they were still alive was proof that I was, since I could have sniped them a dozen times. I narrated them their own trip to the Airport so they could see that I wasn't bluffing. I expressed my wishes for joining up with them and even help them re-link with their friend. I believe most of you already know how this ended. After some more talking, I told them I was coming down from the tower. I had seen one of them entering it, but I was hoping he was just using caution. When I started walking down the stars, he ran into me and broke my legs (head-butted them). When I was down, he shot me. I wasn't really angry. Being killed was part of my gamble. Still, it bothered me that they wouldn't even try working together. This called for payback. I respawned at Chernogosk (sheer luck or divine intervention). Grabbed and enfield, a can of food and water and rushed to the Airfield. As I was almost there, I saw one of them (recognized their names from the little chat we had) got killed. I did not hear any shots. When I finally came into the base, I spotted the body, but no signs of his "friend". I like to think that he got killed by his friend while they were arguing who would take my Dragunov (and other supplies). The truth is that I don't know. In any case, I grabbed my ALICE pack and an AKM and decided to head back to the city, hoping that next time I choose to gamble with my life, it actually pays off.

I'll ramble on for a bit here, sorry if I'm repeating things already mentioned in other posts... The Bandit / Survivor dicotomy doesn't really exist. There's no such thing as a differentiation between suvivors. There are people who kill others and there are people who... kill others. Yes, it's true. Even if you were to picture yourself as a "friendly survivor", you'll eventually kill other survivors. Is the reason for that truly important? You killed to survive, so do "bandits". If they (or you) want to survive so they can keep enjoying the game (or anti-game as some poeple like to call it), what makes these two "groups" different? Survivors (meaning the entire player base now) gather resources to survive. Those who chose to kill others do the same. We could argue that murderers not always loot their victims, but neither do common survivors loot every empty tin can in a building. Killing So we all kill. Why? Survival Instinct: We want to remain alive. What survivors do with their lives is what usually splits them. Some will rather be friendly with most people and try to cooperate. Others will be friendly to those they know and the rest will kill pretty much everyone they come across. Motivations for playing in a particular way (be it just being a nice person, getting a kick out of popping people from a mile away, etc) aren't truly important because, ultimately, everyone is just trying to survive to keep playing the game ("living") in the way they want. PVP It doesn't matter if only less than 20% of the players get killed by other players. Nobody (or near that) will come to the forums to complain about an NPC killing them, unless it was a bug or something of the sort. In my experience, I actually welcome it when the game is able to best me and I die in the hands of the infected. The problem is that most poeple expect some kind of social interaction (other than bullets to the head) from a multiplayer game, and Day Z is a deathmatch. Sometimes it's a team-deathmatch, but in the end, it's the same. Groups facing other groups are more likely to shoot each-other rather than pooling forces. That kind of behaviour is standard, and it's actually pretty natural. In a game with no end-game objectives, it's pretty much a certain thing that this is the kind of behaviour you'll encounter. Groups will form, and they'll either mingle, leave each other alone or shoot at each other. It's exactly like the real world, and I can't really see it as a bad thing. In all fairness, it's pretty much the same with all multiplayer games. The only thing affecting this "natural order" is the fact that due to the lack of a "persistent" world and static player base, there's no sense of "order". This translates into "lone" players joining a server and being afraid of dying because they don't know if X area is safe to enter or if that survivor he spotted looting a building is going to be friendly or not (when it should be mainly the zombies and murderers he should worry about). In a server where you actually know who you are playing with, it's much easier to interact with others, but when you are constantly unware of who is sharing the world with you, fear takes place, and fear leads to murder and banditry. Bottom-Line If you want this game to be more "friendly" you need to give the players more time to meet and come to know each other. You also need more "persistent" worlds. Many attempts at making "safe-heavens" failed because it's too easy to bypass "security" in player-controlled areas. As long as there is no trust, the KOS mentality will continue. Adding "police-effects" to the game, such as NPCs, skins, or other penalties or bonuses for playing a certain way is clearny not the objective of the devs, so it's unlikely to become reality. I'm an always friendly player. I'm most likely going to lose my FN-FAL with NV scope when trying to talk to someone in a town. I'm okay with that. Wish it wasn't so, but it is. I'll do my best to check if the player is friendly or not, but in the end, it's a lottery. That's the game we have, and that's life in a post-apocalyptic world.

This seems to be a great problem with the game nowadays. I think we should just come up with a way to fix it "for now" until better options become available. Hell, even games like WoW have a 30 second log-out timer unless you are in safe areas. What if we make it so you have to interact with something (fireplace, tent, car, whatever) to log instantaneously? If you don't, your character remains in place for an X amount of time. Or we could just go all the way and make it so it always take times to log off. Or leave it as it is now and figure out another way of circumventing this problem. What are the developer's takes on this btw? I read somewhere that he knew how to stop the server-hopping, but this is a bit different.

TWD did this, as pretty much everyone has said before. One thing though... if infected handle like in the walking dead (they tend to form herds), being able to disguise yourself and move among them might actually allow you to start a "snowball" effect which could end in catastrophic (if totally fun) ways. Interesting idea to play with, but overall, there are more pressing matters at hand.

Rubber bullets or riot-gear. Frankly, non-lethal melee weapons will get you killed more often than not. Anyone who sees you approaching them with those in hand will most likely know you are a bandit. Unless it's some kind of hidden pepper-spray. Rubber bullets could do the trick. Of course, or stun-guns. though those are short-ranged too. I'd like to see Harley Quinn's cork-revolver, just for kicks.