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I am a little bit torn on the subject matter of crafting in Dayz. I really love doing it, but it seems to me, like it is too far apart from the gunplay you usually find in Dayz. I mean, it is fine to go out and hunt, craft your leather outfit and a pouch. Hunting could be fun with the different animal behaviour they are coding now (even though it is heavily WIP). Crafting just usually doesn't reward you, on the contrary, it puts you at a disadvantage. So you don't go doing a lot of stuff, like Prison Island and avoid the PvP areas in general, just because you feel at a disadvantage with the hunter gear. I think there have to be perks for living life the crafting way. You should get a health boost and possibly a bit more speed, so you can outrun enemies. You should be making less sound when wearing moccasins and generally attract the zombies less. I know these are some rpg-ish character traits, but I really think the hunter characters should be treated differently from all other characters in the game. I like the idea of making stuff available to them in the wilderness, like you suggest (bone needles), etc. I'd go even further and say: add plants and herbal medicine to it. However, you can see how I can spin on and on about this, and I think the whole hunting subsystem is a gigantic effort to complete and a game by itself. I don't really see how to get these two gameplay styles (looting vs crafting) together, as the looting just seems so easy, in comparison.

One question though (I haven't played Dayz for a while): how long do these regular, weekly updates take? I saw the Update for the new 0.54 patch took an entire day. Which is cool, because it is a big update. But these regular ones surely go down faster?! What are we talking about, 2 hours maybe? Thanks for enlightening me ;)!

Idk why, but on the same server we've had a tent up happily for the first four days. Then it disappeared after a loooong restart. And everytime we put up another tent now it seems to disappear after a day. Not sure why sometimes it stays, sometimes it goes. Also, I just logged on and my character is in his undies. No gear whatsoever. I was a fesh spawn after a zombie killed me in a server glitch.

When you extinguish a fire with the new leather pouch, it is gone afterwards.

I feel like a lot of things are IN Dayz that nobody uses that much, however. An example would be the bloodpacks. I've never used one. Sure we tried out the system, but I never used one in battle. One of the reasons was, I was always already dead and my buds couldn't revive me. If we stayed unconscious for longer, it could make a bit more sense, though. I guess the idea behind the whole medical part of the game is that you group one of your guys as medic - but who does that? Everyone loots and doesn't have space for medic stuff. It's bad to carry it around on the off-chance that you'll have an encounter that requires any of the stuff. It's also too hard to find everything; imho the stuff you need to give a transfusion should be bagged similarly to the medkits you find; so you can give a transfusion without further means (and save inventory space). -> so now the devs are tweaking health restoration to push us into using the bloodbags some more; at the same time they don't give incentive to do so. => this is an idea from soldiering: have a medic on your team! Not a bad idea, but certainly not a great choice for small groups or solo players. Another thing is the leather crafting and hunting. I really like a lot of the crafting and planting ideas of the game. But they don't correspond well with the mentality of the average Dayz player. Which is KOS. I have not had many friendly encounters and even then I often got shot while talking to the other guy (either buy himself or one of his friends). I see and understand that Dayz still has a competitive shooter game aspect for some (even though they have no leaderboards or other means to draw satisfaction from). But I could argue that people are playing the game wrong, by trying to apply game rules to Dayz. Dayz should be played with common sense - by "life" rules, if you want so. There is no compulsion to kill a crafter in leather clothing with a bit of game in his makeshift backpack, yet people do it. Just for fun. There is no Live and Let die in the game. We should be able to reward ourself in some way, by playing decent, but there is no way in Dayz. I like how in some of the mods your appearance changes according to your playstyle. Visually another player can determine the risk of you shooting him, by gauging the state of your equipment and looks. In a lot of ways there are brilliant systems in the game that strengthen the survival and simulation aspect. However, these aren't implemented very well because they are often in conflict with other systems of the game. Add to that the non-communicative and kill on sight way most people play the game + Dayz's general unreliability/bugs and you deal with a lot of penalties for chosing the crafting lifestyle over another. I think crafting and hunting should yield rewards you cannot simply pick up from the ground. There is no way to fix this, unless the game offers more choice for trading and hiding inventory on crafted gear (e.g. if he has the full leather set, you can't loot the hunter). The whole killing others, because they are less powerful must be turned into robbing or trading with other players, because they can be useful. There will still be a choice to kill someone, it will just be a bigger choice when that someone could be potentially useful.

Play Overpoch and it's worth it. Pretty cool mod with a lot of vehicles, including choppers and basebuilding + tons of weapons. It's not a lot like Dayz standalone, but can be fun . You can still get the standalone, they are different feeling games.

I think what you are saying is the accessibility of certain items is too high. I halfway agree on that. Superficially it looks like it. But I for one never understood why we can't find a single loaded pistol in the world. If we went your way about scarcity of items, we would have bambis in fistfights over a can of beans. A very much "the Road" kind of game, which could be really interesting by itself. However, what I always imagined Dayz would be, is a reflection of how the world could still function after a global catastrophic event. Managing survival in a world that is threatening in itself and forcing you to seek companionship or flexing out your own skills. I found it somewhat cute that you can build small houses in some of the mods, but that is entirely not the way it should be imagined. The Dayz devs luckily don't do that! Yet, they should look into tribe cultures to get an idea of how we'll survive. Instead they look into military organisation types, which is why the best thing we can expect in the game right now is a decent face-off. With a solo or no survivor. It doesn't really push that "cling to life" aspect I would like to feel. You do feel that though. The best part is coming out of a fight victorious, hands shaking and heart pumping. I admit as much as that. There is fun to be had. But it is smaller than it could be potentially! I do agree on the loot being plentyful, but what bothers me about it is the uniform distribution. Imho there should be more regional differences. There should be stuff I can only get in the south/north. The weather should be regional and seasonal (if at some point possible). Possibly when the game is more complete we will finally get the trade posts that had been planned at the beginning. I realize this is a difficult thing to balance, as you don't want people to treat this as an ingame shop, but rather a means to survival; something that would most definiately exist in a post-apo world. It's not so much about spawning many items or zombies in the same place to me. it's about making the ones that do spawn meaningful, which is sorely lacking at the moment. Most of all, Dayz is a looting game. Looting and shooting at people looting. I lose more gear to glitches and crashes than to other players anyway, so I'm not bothered about all the dying or starting over. I have my tent, I come prepared. I am bothered by the repetitiveness of it all. I played Chernarus Life when someone in the chat said that "this zombie mod" was done. So I started playing the mod(s) and played them for years. I didn't like how the chopper was the ultimate goal in the mods, but I did like some of the hilarious encounters I've had. There was some real fun, and I can't point my finger on where that came from. Dayz standalone is much more grim. It's harder to survive, which is good, but there are fewer zombies, which makes it more of a Deathmatch map with looting than a zombie survival game. I definitely agree that the game needs more zombies. I guess it has been said before, but if the zombies are the biggest thread on the map (because of their numbers, not their abilities), we will stop killing each other on sight. Maybe that should be something the development should focus on. We need tons of zombies ^^

Do you realize it rains inside the V3S? Which is really brilliant, because you get wet and cold at the same time... if that is your kind of thing. Yesterday my tent along with all backpacks around it disappeared. On another server, my vest and backpack were gone after a restart (I had put them on the ground to organize inventory with a friend, the server restarted and they were gone) The main problem with Dayz is its unreliability. Something works on one server that doesn't work on another (on one server I played, every tent I pitched disappeared for no reason, after several restarts/overnight). Sometimes you may lose your gear when you just put it on the ground and the server restarts. Most times you wont. It's a lot of guesswork and keeping fingers crossed. I'm gonna have to wait the next updates out and see if it gets better, but you devs are maybe a bit over your head, don't you think? I doubt that a new game engine can save this game. It will bring along its own set of problems and here is a game that has more problems than the mods ever had - and it's been developed professionally for over two years. Also - admins: what's they problem about giving us a restart warning ("restart in 30 minutes")? Would it break my immersion in the game to know when I'm potentially gonna be crushed by bugs and bad coding? NO! Please start giving restart warnings on servers!

Hi! I love Namalsk. I played 99% regular Dayz. Tried Lingor, but found the island doesn't make too much sense, the way its shaped and plays. Then I tried Namalsk and didn't go back to regular Chernarus Dayz, since. Why is it cool? - Because it has a focus on survival. If you play Namalsk you need to keep warm. You have to keep fires going and find warm clothes and antibiotics to survive. Especially at night it may require you to group with at least one other person, in order to keep safe and warm. It feels great, has some real mountains and an awesome underground bunker. There is a lot of loot, but it's hard to hang on to it + you cannot hide everything miles off in debug country; an island definitely has some advantages. Namalsk also has three choppers. You won't actually need them, considering it's the smallest Dayz map yet, but it's fun just getting them in the air and finding out how long you can survive. I hope an island like this will be added. Despite the issues I usally have with starting gear, I think it's also nice you get matches and a hatchet on some of the servers. I found they all have side channel too and it doesn't spoil the game, yet it may break the immersion quite a bit. There are pros and cons for everything. Overall, I think Namalsk is the way to go for at least some of the future Dayz landmass. They should make the whole of Chernarus an island and have several smaller ones around, one of them being akin to Namalsk. I think the island thing is actually planned for the retail version. Awesome! I want more survival in Dayz, more hunting and preserving foods, storing, setting up traps and generally a survival themed game. On Namalsk only the idiots shoot right away, because you actually want to team up on the map and give each other some backup. I've had some of my beeste Dayz playing it!

Yeah, you can fly it in Arma II :) The only airplane I think would fit with Dayz are Microlight, which you would have to find and repair. Would be nice to fiend a pair on a field and take off with your best friends. Also, they are slow enough to not ruin the map progression.

Haha yeah, I had a fight for a chopper with another guy yesterday and I stole it from him first and he later stole it back and I found the wreck int the forest later and knew it would respawn somewhere. Found it used it and got blown up by that same guy on one of the cities roofs. You simply cannot have that kind of vendetta game on Chernarus, because people are impossible to find. We actually complimented each other on the excellent fight we put up, even though it was 2:1 for him in the end. Curse to him for having a frag grenade:)! A lot of other players also benefitted from that, since we tried to make alliances on the fly. I just wish there was something like a "white flag" option, so you could trust people, who wanna fly with you not to shoot at the chopper. Their gunning should be disabled while waving the flag, so you can pick them up safely. This map is so epic, I see no reason to go backto Chernarus for now. Important, as always, is to find a good server and I thank the admin of my fav server for his great work and subtle help to newbs.

So much has been removed from Dayz and it always led to an outcry. I am happy the side chat has been removed, because neither I nor anyone else can keep on a rant for half an hour. Or they can, but nobody must read it. They have taken a lot from the game to make it better, I guess whitelist is the way to play now. I still play public servers, where the game's purpose is very much defeated. The hackers still are Dayz's worst desease and there seems to be nothing against them. Average survival on public servers is a few hours for me. Almost always killed by hackers. I'm gonna keep playing Dayz and I will watch the standalone. I want to be able to play Dayz without having to a) get on Skype to find people to play with, B) play on public servers, c) keep hackers out of the game. Peace

I think Arma II already handles 100 people on some servers. I'm not looking forward to meeting MORE people in Dayz, since that just means more deathmatching. I'm looking for a more diverse map, which is not only meadows and forest. Namalsk can really get you killed without even seeing a single infected. It takes care of the survival aspects of the game, which are far more interesting to me than shooting someone. I still don't get why people enjoy playing as bandits, honestly. It's too easy. In order to make life harder, survival should be pushed in some map areas. So it's unlikely you will see that many lone bandits in the "north", because it's cold and they need to trust someone to survive. I'm talking about a map that has areas suited better for survivalists and other, more risky areas for hoarders and areas that are more interesting for the PVP. Chernarus already has some of it, but a little more Namalsk would be a welcome addition for me.

That may be so, but "regular" Daz isn't that unforgiving considering survival and the Chernarus map has a completely different pace, making you walk for miles without anything to fear or do on the way.

Yes, it's so blatantly ripped of the Walking Dead that it lacks any originality. The Walking Dead and Dayz should be kept separate, imho. Just because it's Zombies doesn't mean it's all the same. Made an update. Imagine we had sewers :) https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10191409/2012_10_31_underground_02.jpg

I made a speed drawing today. I really want to get started on a fan-fiction cartoon with 2 ghillie suit characters! I have tons of dialog for them, and I'm sure you could easily come up with our own fun stuff to inspire me to more. Dayz is easily one of the most inspiring games I know, with all the fun shit happening. I still need to figure out a style that will be somewhat abstract and allow me to bring my story across without wasting hours painting. In other words: these cartoons will be more about the word than about the image. I also tried making this "life action" with screenshots taken from Dayz, but it's kinda hard to find people to act out what I need of them. Kinda funny though to roleplay like that ingame. I'll keep you posted. This is just a beginning. https://dl.dropbox.c...illie_cover.jpg

My character gotshot by a hacker yesterday. The way you can tell is when you are on a server with 4 people and they are all with you :) Then, another player joins, teleports to your location, is invincible to bullets and spawns into your back to headdie you. The beautiful VAN burned out too... but I wasn't unhappy. The game gets easier with friends. Dayz is hardto play alone, but as soon as you have one friend, on one server, you can meet up and get bandaged, hitch a ride in his car, etc. It's much more fun! The issue of shooting. Yes, I spend more time north than south. South is usually all about starting gear and Ghillies, whereas north is about vehicles and chopper crashes. Fewer people in north means less shooting.. However, at the hotspots (Stary Sobor, Airfield, Vybor) you will most likely meet someone. Happened to me. I had a car and copy-pasted "Don't shoot! I can take you to an offroader!". Needless to say they shot anyway - or one of them did. I stopped the car at the hangar, got into cover and talked to them on local. It all worked out. We repped the 4x4, drove on to find awesome gear and have played many good hours, since. Unfortunately, yesterday was the hacker attack, but for 4 days it's been good. Now we have a camp and vehicles with our found gear in it. I can feel your anger and frustration, since it's been the same with me. But once you get the hang of looting and moving stealthy. yet fast, in Dayz it becomes a lot easier to get equipped. Now I can even just take the most basic equipment and head for or camp or wait for pickup.

I have a character that has been alive fairly long, and I find myself in the odd situation of being really attached to it, now. Since I play solo it takes some time to find my current gear, and I am happy to have survived some encounters with other players and didn't get to meet any hackers. Actually that is the most amazing part of it. So I was very busy last week and didn't play at all, and now I'm actually a bit worried about jumping back in the game. I am out of practice. Hackers probably got worse, my dude might respawn in the debug area, etc. Have you ever been in a similar situation? I know it's wrong to get attached to stuff, but I don't wanna restart and start another cycle, because this current dude is unique and has been through some stuff. I wish I could put him to rest for a while and chose another character, until I feel fit in the game again. So, are you? Afraid to die

While I understand what you're saying it's also what I don't like that much about Dayz, atm. It caters to that specific way of playing and you are rewarded for going full risk and eventually getting away with it. Since you have nothing to lose, you might win a lot and the other guy lost everything. I am far less attracted by distant gunfire when I'm well-stoked. When I had nothing on me, I'd rush to every fight. I would be more cautious in rl and I have fun strategizing my way through an area and plotting my waypoints through it. That's how I survived, I don't just walk around to check out stuff and gun down people. I really want to feel like there is a life at stake here, and I'm doing my best to preserve it. Oh - and of course - the thing that creeps me out the most and what I'm really afraid of are hackers. it's just so disappointing when you can't do anything against the henchmen of death.

Barn is a good place to find a crosbow. I often pick up a lot of bolts, while running around with the rifle. I sometimes get fed of my rifle and exchange it for a cb, so I think this is legit, too.

You can try the Arma demo and see for yourself. Nearly every button is mapped, but I find it alright to play. What turns the mod down are the graphical glitches and the hackers, so if you wanna support Rocket more than Bohemia you can wait a little and buy yourself into the Beta of the future retail game. Better graphics and hoperfully an optimized engine will await you. Personally, I bought it, because one of my friends raved about it, after playing for two days. I then started playing and raved about it to some other friends and later found out that there is a lot that doesn't work and a lack of incentive to really keep me going on the long run. I think Dayz is a cool experience, but with the retail Beta only a few weeks/months away, I'd say get that instead. In the meantime play some Zombie Panic Source or No More Room in Hell. These are good games on their own and the developers of these mods actually have created something stable and fun to play. Though not as unique as Dayz.

Lol, okay. So the two options for solo players are to sit in bushes and play on low frequency servers. I started doing that now too, since I got teleported to Cherno after the debug plains glitch. I think it would only be fair, if there was a radio you could find to talk to other survivors and if the radio would reflect on the time you have been alive. So someone who's been alive for 7 weeks would find a radio with the channel set to other players who survived 1 week or more. The other channels would be scrambled and you'd have to group with a lower "age" character to use more than one channel. Bandits should have their own channel on a radio, rest is scrambled to them. It would be a nice little way to find other people, who have too much to lose to attack you and who just wanna meet up and pass through some difficult spot/raid a town together.

Shiat - and you had nice gear, too! I sometimes really get a laugh out of how creative some people are with hacking this game. So far, I've seen police cars, dogs, players losing their weapons and turning into sheep... what's next? Maybe someone can turn me into a chopper, so I can fly around. Of course it sucks and I really hate when it happens, but reading about all this stuff is mildly amusing to me. I just wish it wouldn't happen nearly as often. One hack a week I could stand, but usually it's getting hacked all the time. There should be an emergency global chat, so you can warn others. I usually get really suspicious, when I see a lot of people die in short time. But that's not evidence enough to make me change the server, because changing means waiting.

One thing I do when out of town is run close to the smaller trees/bushes. For some reason the infected reset their pathfinding there and if you have the balls you can lay down in a little distance from them. However, if they still come running at you, get the fuck up and ruuuuuuun. Also great are the mentioned houses and using v to get across fences, changing direction over another fence and then into a house. I lost whole hordes with that little trick. Best is o.c. not to aggro them.

What? That doesn't make sense. Humanity goes down for killing zombies? In a game that is in large parts about... killing zombies? You should get a medal for that. Only bad thing is pvp (though it can also be fun), so I think negative humanity for killing zombie should be removed or better, turned into positive.