Darkwater (DayZ)

I haven't read through all the posts so I dunno what has already been said, but I'm just gonna go ahead and say what I feel about the current state of things. For me, I wouldn't want to play the DayZ that was shown at E3. The Zeds look just as glitchy or even more so on the SA than they do in the Mod, the syncing is completely off and the animations really make very little sense in the way the Zeds attack. They lunge at you, then slide back to the original position, they move very jittery and near impossible to hit, they glitch through walls. It's basically DayZ just with moderate modifications that could've been done in the mod and with worse but more diverse Zeds (Like female ones). I'd rather wait until the Zeds have been fixed and synced up. I'm sure there are more issues that hold it back, but there is no point in releasing a game that is worse off than the mod is. With that being said, I would greatly desire Dean to actually say something definite and shows that he is far more in charge of the situation. If he had said that they will announce the date when they feel the game is ready and that we will just have to wait for it I would be far more grateful than those "Very imminent" messages or "Not before two weeks, but not later than two months" ones. Though the last one is yet to expire, so to speak, so he still has a chance to come through on that one. But generally, I would respect a simple "When it's ready" and patiently wait for the arguably most anticipated game of the year on my part. Basically, I will wait through any message he gives, hope for the best and hope that DayZ Alpha will be released when it's ready and that it is soon. Take your time but don't tease us with messages that can be interpeted incorrectly, be clear and precise.

I'm not much fond of the idea of playing the game as a nomad. I need a sense of progress in my games, and just surviving would not give me the satisfaction I need to continuing playing the game.. nor do I get any pleasure out of doing the other thing which is banditry. It doesn't take you long to stock up and your character would be fit for survival for weeks... what then? Are you supposed to seek out danger only to survive it to get a rush? Why would you even think of approaching any town if you have a full toolbelt, a tent full of food and drink, a relatively powerful automatic rifle with plenty ammo and no illnesses to speak of? DayZ, at that point, degrades to a pure PVP game. Zombies don't present any threat to you and the excitment is gone. The only rush you get is when you see other survivors. Whom you will either want to kill or avoid. Furthermore, the only times you would actually MEET said players is if you venture close to towns for that spesific reason. (There is the occational bump-in in the middle of nowhere, yes.. but the chances of that are slim to none). Stock up, survive, kill players for shits, giggles and kicks, die. Rinse repeat. That is all DayZ is to me in a gameplay sense. And I loathe it. I love the game idea, but I despise the excecution of it. You get bored if you have nothing to occupy yourself with, and then you start either being a vigilante or bandit, both in a sense being EXACTLY the same. You spawn, stock up, store it and begin your spree of killing either bandits or anyone that is not you or your friends and in the end you die. There is the occational players that play supporting roles like medic too, but it's not enough for me. I want to play the game as a trader. I want to build a smaller settlement. A settlement anyone and everyone can know of. Hidden nicely away, but not a danger to approach with honorable intentions. Not even if you have dishonest ones. A place of safety and trade. Gamble and games. Wanter posters for bounty hunters. The list could go on, if DayZ supported it, it would be there. But most importantly, it is a place of prosperity in a world ruined by Zeds and Bandits on killing sprees. It could be done with tents, but they would hardly provide any kind of shelter. It would take houses made from wood, stone or scrap metal. Power generated by generators. Walls made of anything solid. Guards patroling the area. And all this would be done by players, no NPC's. The only residents would be the ones that actually work for the community, the rest would be visitors. It's a stretch to hope for something like that, but that's what I would want to do myself if presented with the opportunity to. If not.. well.. DayZ will quickly fade away for me.

Definately not narcissitic at all. And by the off chance that you make it successfull, I'm sure you wouldn't be above claiming all the glory for yourself and ditch that person who actually carried your sorry ass up to that point. If you want to become the next Frankie or Frags, do it with the sweat of your own brow. Prove that you deserve it by making that mark yourself. Record and edit it yourself and when you atleast make a "pilot" showing off what you can do, THEN come asking for a partner.

In my opinion it seems like you've misunderstood the ones that "whine about PvP" in DayZ. Personally, I welcome it. I love it. It adds more to the experience when I know I could die at any moment. However, DayZ should NOT become a deathmatch game, which in turn is what those said "whiners" are worried about. People have started treating the game as just that, deathmatch, with no worry or care about their own safety beyond either not shooting before it's "safe" and they can kill the opponent within seconds or from sniping far, far away. If you want to bring "reality" into the discussion, would you start to SEEK out other surviving humans just to kill them? Would you go to a army base with the sole purpose of killing others that might be there for supplies? Would you not even think for a second that they might be important to someone? Maybe they have children and family that they need to support and protect. Of course, that's not an issue in a game like DayZ, but before you even think about saying something ludicrous like "In reality... blah blah" and defend random killings, just imagine how you would feel yourself if someone killed your brother, sister, father, mother, daughter or son and so on in real life JUST for the sport of it and racking up kill counts. Luckily this is a game, but again stay well away from even comparing it to real life and scenarios where you start to defend killing anyone that is not a real threat to you.

DayZ is definately not a kill or be killed game. It is a likely outcome out of many situations, but you can always flee the scene of crime at any time if you want to. You never have to return fire, but it is often the wise thing to do if you cannot get in contact with them through voice. But then again, you can also use the weapon to lay down supressive fire while you back out. There are many ways to play the game, killing and destroying is but one style. I prefer to actually build and support it.

Agreed. It is an immensely unsatisfying feeling when you spawn in with ANYTHING more than one simple bandage. Even starting with backpack feels like sort of an easy mode for me. Not neccessarily because I'm "good", but because I am the type that always puts a game on the hardest difficulty setting straight off the bat. It is the only way for me to feel I actually achieved something. DayZ should be all about scavenging, picking off the useful tools that remain in the world and using it for your benefit. Any boost you get at the start, the most crucial and vulnerable time of all, is in a way easy mode. And to start with a weapon is ultra, easy mode with deathmatch all over the shore.

What really, REALLY ruined it for me was the usage of the DayzDB maps, showing all the loot, towns and spawns. I wish I could go back and slap myself silly for ever even opening one of those. I used to be afraid and frightened to play this game before I realized what tards the Zeds actually were.. it just lost itself for me when everything was figured out. I wish I could go back to day one and experience the whole game all over again, of course WITH music. Nowadays you have it turned off because you have to hear any sound around you and it kinda pisses me off.

Good story and no matter how you look upon it, you played the game well and you represent all "good guy/girl gamers" everywhere here. I've been in the same situation as you countless times, though usually with less story behind it. It's most commonly just something simple or silly behind it, but still something that the other person deems important enough to kill another player. Anyway, because of that I've had exactly the same thoughts as you have right now. "Should I treat them the same way?" The answer I typically come up with is; No. While I am vary and careful around any and all bandits or camo/ghillie wearing players, I do try to not open fire first. I always think that often there's alot of effort and time behind a character and cannot bring myself to just take potshots at unsuspecting players, and if I had done that to a Survivor/Hero skinned character I'd feel bloody awful. So because of this, I choose to be a solution rather than part of the problem, I choose to be a "Nice guy" 99% of the time. If I can help them, I do it. But only if I decide to approach them myself. And if we seem to be going for the same thing, I usually let them get it as I'll have plenty of time to get whatever I'm after later. I just reason with the fact that it's a game. I would say that while I don't lack the "Killer instinct" in video games, I do lack it in DayZ. I just don't get the same pleasure out of it as many players do. And ESPECIALLY not if done through trickery and fooling someone. I've been subject to that myself, but I always go in acknowledging the risk and accepting the fact that I might die if I do whatever they want me to. Usually it's because I've been held at gunpoint earlier anyway and have already bought myself some time and if I play my cards right I have a shot at survival. As for fighting back.. I don't know if you could've done too much to three players circling around the building. You were in a pretty bad shape there and would likely have died. But I would likely just have made a straight (zigzag as hell) line towards the treeline and that's what I really think you should've done aswell. Use smoke to get out of tight spots if you have to. It's not the most effective of things, but it buys you a second or two of cover. And yes, Makarovs are weak. Very, very weak.

While I wouldn't want it to be -that- realistic, I wouldn't mind it if the projectiles or shrapnel from grenades got lodged in your character and needed removal for him/her to function fully without need for morphine, painkillers and bandages. But just imagine your character lying down and writhing in pain everytime he/she got shot by a makarov anywhere on the body. That's what would happen if absolute realism got involved and it really wouldn't make for a very entertaining game.. especially not for the ones getting shot. You gotta draw the line somewhere when it comes to realism in games and bulletwounds are typically the ones that come up short for obvious reasons.

Weeeell.. yeah. The 16/8 was more of a example, really. It was more meant as in the character gets a steady day/night cycle with sleep, meaning that if you one day had longer times to be up, your character would not be ready for something like that and then "nerf" you down greatly. It was a "nay to realism" thing, and I don't think your character would be sleeping for 24 hours in that sense if you were logged off, so you might log on an hour or two before his/her usual bedtime.That would be a shame to see.

If it had been the other way around, the answer would've been soooo much easier. I want EVERYTHING to be realistic about this game. But since that's not the question.. I guess that the one thing that I really wouldn't be to hyped up about would be sleep requirement for your character.. like 16 hours awake needs 8 hours sleep and that jazz. I would tolerate a toned down version of it, though.

Oh, so that WAS you? I'm down by Norinsk

It really was :P Surviving hordes of zeds together.. and we fall off a edge together. Poetic! And oki, I'll head back to Norinsk.

Ah gotcha. Do send me a PM when and if you wanna play some later then

As is always the case when trying to get somewhere :P I'm still at the railway station.