Armas

Once duping is fixed, better gear = more paranoia. Having something like NVGs in the game actually add to the depth of the game. Also when the game gets harder and people actually start grouping up as well as using flashlights/flares/chemlights more the actual edge of NVGs narrows down while at the same time people will be less willing to risk losing their NVGs if they have actually managed to find a pair. I agree that flares need to mess up NVGs though.

You obviously didn't read http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/6487-wtf-is-happening-to-the-server-community/page__st__40#entry67159 that was linked before in this thread. Since I don't trust you to do that this time either... "...the fact is, they operate under the same rules and restrictions as you guys and if anything, they have MORE to loose than you. When you spawn you have everything you need to survive, but you can't PK too easy."

I've played foer almost a month now and I haven't seen a single hacker on the server I play on yet.. Server does insta kick when you open the script interface tho... So that might have something to do with it?

I forgot to mention that considering how easy duping is right now, there's alot of people who ruin the game for themselves and most likely end up hunting new characters at the coast in a lack of anything better to do since gearing is no longer an issue. In any regard, you are judging a book by its covers. We are just alpha testers and all of the things you have brought up are things that have been announced to be under developement and coming out once the test hits that phase. I also recommend reading through what rocket's posts. It's a good thing that threads like this exist. I just wish they had a different tone to them so the discussion would be more constructive.

I didn't get any of that stuff when I started and I thought that was awesome..

So.. your problem isn't really bandits (against whom you either get outplayed or you outplay them, it's that simple), but rather the fact that people assume that everyone is hostile/trying to get their stuff and thus prefer to shoot instead of risking it? There is no gear in this game that makes you bullet proof. I'm just as pumped up if I'm going against a guy with a lee enfield as against someone with a higher tier weapon and I've never had a problem when I'm the one who has lower tier gear nor does it bother me that they might get a slight advantage from it which I can overcome by playing smarter than them. So then there are cases where the other guy might be new to the game and I outplay him so hard it makes me feel a bit bad, but then again how could I know it beforehand? How are they supposed to learn the game if not through trial and error? Your post makes you look like you've never had to learn anything the hard way. You are right about endgame. There is none except PvP. But then again there's no game either, just a testing platform? If we want to speculate, adding more endgame content to the finished product (which has been already confirmed to be under developement) will deter all byt the most hardcore of griefers away from preying on those who are new to the game. Regardless of that, there will always be a point when a newer player will get stomped on by someone more experienced. That can never be avoided since everyone wants to progress in the game. Endgame content will also not take away the fact that new spawns will still be fighting over loot at the coast and the same "shoot them before they shoot me" -mentality is sure to stay in the game. All of the choices are made by people. The game is a sandbox. There are many good examples on this forum of how people have changed their way of playing (I know, I should use the world "testing" at the moment) the mod to counter the problems you are have listed and are enjoying it. Why don't you give it a try as well?

Honestly spawns could be bigger still.. just to give more incentive for group play. Zombies are currently ridiculously easy to run away from. If you are having problems with it, I suggest you take a moment to study how their line of sight and aggro works (or go back and think about what you did wrong). EDIT: Also wanted to add that imo at some point Rocket should look in to making helicopter crashes harder from the Zed perspective because atm they are way too easy for a solo player like me, considering you get pretty much the best loot from them. Perhaps not indefinitely, but just to test it out. Maybe faster spawn rate or something.. so you would need someone to cover when looting.

I'm repeating a bit here, nut anyway... Get: hatchet, hunting knife, matches. * so that you can get food without having to go to towns. also carry meat in excess and drop it if you need to loot something, because you get 800 blood out of a single piece of meat and sometimes a firefight can leave you in a bad situation unless you are able to stack your blood back up. More morphine, bandages and painkillers. *I tend to carry 3 morph, 4 bandages and 3 painkillers, but it's up to your personal preference. Water bottles * Get 2-4 depending on your usual routines when running around Chernarus (= how often you run to water locations). Fill the bottles at safe ponds if possible, again enabling you to avoid towns completely. Although I wrote about avoiding towns, it's more about not having to make zombies spawn. You can still hunt for players around towns, but you get an advantage when they don't see you coming. The easiest way to spot players is by the zombies their presence spawns in. I don't really see the need for a smoke if solo.. regular grenades are ok for those rare oh shit -moments.

All you need to do is spot 1 guy in a ghillie suit up north and kill him to get loaded. So much duping going on that about half the people I kill are stacked with the best gear around. Ofc some of those kills are me killing the same guy more than once and they keep coming back with their duped gear, but I do my best to upset the balance until it's unbearable (=everyone has the best gear) and leave the bodies for the less fortunate to loot. Only real moral problem of the story is that I've become a bit paranoid about items being duped unless I've actually found them myself so I can't be arsed to loot bodies that are completely stacked out.

Considering that the game is still in developement stages, all gear will eventually be wiped anyway. So what does it matter to anyone when that happens? There will be a point when testing will focus on droprates etc and people seem to be very efficient at forgetting that we are actually TESTING the game and helping with developement at the moment. A wipe after fixing dupe problems would also actually make it more rewarding when you find stuff that is actually rare. And then there will be a wipe at some point again (atleast at launch).

funny how some people think it must be fake because "nobody would be that stupid". I'd go for that ride. So what if I lost my gear? There's so much potential for having fun in that scenario.. And we're talking about a GAME. why would you disconnect when you find out it's a trap if you think the situation is fun? You can clearly hear the guy laughing out loud when the others "roleplay" in the bus and when it turns out to be something else instead.

You learn to recognize the most lethal bugs and then just avoid them.. having an inventory full of meat also helps to survive what you haven't figured out yet.

I've been alive for 8 days so far and been helicopter hunting for a few days now. About a couple of hours ago I was passing Vybor from the South, going westwards. I was feeling a bit lazy myself (I'm usually extremely paranoid, sprinting from bush to bush and doing a 360 after each sprint) and got spotted by a guy in a ghillie suit who had started hunting me. He was basically running into me and I saw him for the first time about 60 meters in front of me when he was crossing the road and I instantly noticed he had an L85A2 AWS, a gun I also carry as my secondary. So I saw him set up in the line of bushes ahead of me and from experience I knew that the human psyche makes you rely too much on the thermal scope of that gun, even during daytime, if you know there's a guy at a certain direction, but you can see him. So.. I proceeded to make a quick crwaling flank to the right and ended his life with my silenced M4A1 CCO SD before he managed to ALT+F4. Had the last stuff I needed.. rangefinder, NVG, coyote PB. Anyway.. just thought I'd share because I got the exact same feeling as you did.. my heart was pounding so freakin' fast as I was silently hoping he wouldn't turn his thermal scope on me before I had the flank. Also a good lesson about a ghillie and all that other high end gear not making you bullet proof.. movement is the enemy of stealth! ;)

Since when has it been bad publicity when people make a video about how great the sandbox experience in this game can be? :/ Seen this vid a while back and I still think it's the best Day Z video out there.

I've only done solo so far, but I run with: 4x water bottles 3x painkillers 3x morphine 4x bandage After that I fill the rest of my slots (after ammo and 2nd weapon in backpack) with as much meat as I can carry for those instant 1k->12k blood moments when shit hits the fan. Toss meat out when I need room for loot. Yeah.. I'm a bit paranoid I guess