thievery

Couldn't agree more about endurance and food and water. Going by a DayZ eating and drinking schedule I'd be pissing every five minutes and I'd weigh 600lbs. It makes even less sense you have to eat and drink that much when the lengths of days in DayZ are the same length as days in real life. By the same token I wouldn't mind if food and water were more rare. It would make planning ahead as far as food and water much more important. As it stands now I can be in the middle of nowhere without any food or water with both meters turning red and still find a way to survive.

So part of the reason I'm making this post is because I'm confused as to why I now randomly spawn on the coast whenever I rejoin DayZ with my same character. Another part of the reason is that I'm currently STUCK on a loading screen, and I've heard in passing that the cause is when you altf4 on a black loading screen that is the cause of the game spawning you on the coast. Basically the game starts you off in the debug plains or forest before it puts you back where you logged out and when you quit on the loading screen instead of putting you in the debug plains or forest it puts you on the coast. I guess this is kinda of a QQ post but I'm more trying to understand why this was changed. I have never spawned in the debug plains or forest before, at least in the month I've been playing DayZ, so now this coast spawning is just another thing on top of the artifacting which was never actually fixed. Is this really the cause of this? Was the debug spawning really that widespread that it needed a fix? And does anyone out there have some kind of fix or workaround for this? Or am I just going to have to deal with it for the time being? It kinda of ruins the team play aspect so I think it needs to be addressed quickly. Server is still loading... Too scared to quit...

Totally agree. I usually stick to low population servers though, rather die of boredom than by a hacker. But since zombies are basically never a threat I only ever die when I am taken completely and utterly by surprise. On those rare occasions I'll usually spawn into a high population server and have some fun with my new very expendable character. Last time I was going for axe murders only and had some pretty exciting pvp. That's how I keep the thrill of Dayz alive: in between my serious characters.

Every time I go to the barracks at the NW Airfield. Shit's always been looted before I get there.

You'll find that dying isn't so bad when you've gotten geared up this much. 90% of the fun is getting to this point and once you're there the other ten percent comes from challenging yourself to create your own endgame content. Personally, if I were you I would challenge myself to get a quieter second primary. Gonna be tough to find just lying around somewhere, but get into some pvp up north and if you're successful there you have a good chance at an M4 CCO SD. Better yet, try to form a group of three to four people you trust. You'll find that you have a much wider variety of options available to you when you're with a group and get geared up than you do when you're solo. A good mic doesn't necessarily have to be an expensive mic, and teamspeak is free.

That's not even close to the worst I've seen. Don't think there is anything that can be done to fix it at this point though. I set my video memory to default and that helped tremendously though.

DMR. Powerful. Fast. Scoped. Night Vision. Common Ammo.

I've only had DayZ for about two weeks now and today I had by far my most epic day. Before I start the story it's worth pointing out that one member in our group of three is a little more reckless than the other two of us. While we're crouch running through the treeline he's sprinting around in the middle of the field next to us. In this case his behavior, well... I won't ruin it for you. Anyway, that was exactly what was happening at the start of this story. My friend and I were hugging the treeline crouch running and the third member of our group is out running across the field to the next treeline we plan on hopping over to. No sooner is he halfway across the field than we hear him say, "Shit, I hear a helicopter." My friend and I still in the treeline immediately drop into prone and hold completely still. My other friend, with no other viable option makes straight for the other treeline. Our hearts stop when the helicopter starts to lower its altitude over our position. At this point I'm readying my DMR, thinking that I may be able to snipe out the pilot or hit the gunners before they even touch down. I decide to wait for a better shot. My close-by friend has an AK74 Kobra and my more reckless buddy has an M4A1 CCO. This is where things start getting a little weird. First of all because the players flying the chopper seem to have a little trouble landing. And second of all because we didn't know that our reckless friend was at the other parallel treeline across the field (we thought he was still in ours.) Of course our friend was just over the crest of a small hill, so we couldn't see him, and this was where the helicopter landed as well. The three other players all climbed out of the chopper and told our reckless friend that they were friendly. He takes this time to inform us that they are all wearing ghillie suits and surrounding him. My other friend and I take this as our cue because we realize they have not seen us yet, so we start moving to try to get a better shot, moving very carefully in prone as we go. By the time it clicks in my head that there is no chance in hell that these guys are friendly given their equipment and helicopter, not to mention their sudden urge to land upon sighting a seemingly alone player, they shoot my friend that they had surrounded. He's pretty upset because we've all had our characters alive for almost a week, but my other friend and I are ready avenge him. About two minutes pass and I have a much better position, which includes a full view of their chopper. I decide at this moment that they are only getting that chopper back in the air over my dead body. I see that one guy is sitting in the gunner seat closest to me and my trigger finger gets the better of me. One loud bang, and one glorious gush of blood from that bush head of his. Now the other guys know that it is on. I hold my position while they try and rally from their confusion. My friend meanwhile has pushed up very far and has one of them in his sights. He sounds confident that he is going to take him out through teamspeak so my heart, which was pounding ravenously at this point, begins to warm. Another gunshot rings out and I am promptly informed that a second attacker is dead. The final one in his desperation makes a break for the chopper and unfortunately I have no view of the pilot seat, so I start taking pot shots at him to try to scare him out. It's no good and the rotors are beginning to go faster. Neither my friend or I are sure if we can damage the chopper in any way with my DMR or his AK74 Kobra, but we continue shooting nonetheless. Either we had done significant damage to the chopper as it got into the air or we had killed their only pilot earlier in the fight. The chopper begins to swerve around violently and eventually crashes to the resounding sound of the most glorious explosion I've ever seen. The attack being thwarted, we move in to loot the bodies and these guys are loaded. I'm talking NVGs, silenced M9s, and rangefinders on all of them. One for each us ;). There was even an AS50 on the guy I shot (Glad I killed him first.) Anyway I'm not sure if these guys are duping or what, that kind of equipment on one character is still believable but on all three? I don't know, I wont judge. Regardless, we now all got our NVGs legitimately :). We eventually leave the server when I start to suspect that they are cheating. And when I say that I suspected they were cheating I mean that not long after this fight is over we hear another helicopter coming our way. We got lucky enough the first time, not going to continue to kick the hornet's nest if these guys were cheating... tl;dr - Epic tactical skirmish. Ends with epic helicopter crash.

I was referring to your post, which I clearly read, when I said you were holding the game back. You were referring to my gameplay, which you've clearly never seen, when you said I was holding the game back. I obviously can't have in intelligent conversation with you, even through premeditated and typed words. So I'll have to close by agreeing with you again. We are indeed done here.

I didn't like it when I was axe murdered while I had and M16, and was almost ALMOST able to turn around and blow the other player away. I was very, very angry. But I didn't blame the mechanics of the game. After every death I ask what I did wrong (after the ranting and raving of course) and what the other player did right. Sometimes I chalk it up to dumb luck and in that case I just needed to be more careful, but every time I've kept my player alive longer than I did the last time. Just learn from the death from your death op and remember it's just a game. And if they just got lucky then shit happens. As far as getting knocked unconscious is concerned, yes I hate it but I don't want it to go just for the sake of realism. And no I'm not a realism freak who thinks there needs to be a piss, shit, and masturbation meter, but some games need more realism than others and I think DayZ has struck a perfect chord for this type of game. I'm not sure about the whole 9,000 12,000 blood dilemma but I don't see a reason any perfectly healthy person (a person with 12,000 blood in this case) wouldn't be knocked out by a well placed bullet or punch. If it's zombie you can usually recover in time before dying anyways so I don't see why getting knocked out at 12,000 blood would be a big deal. Personally, I think the pistols are wayyyyy too weak as far as this instance is concerned.

What you just said makes about me holding the game back is either: a. completely conjectured because you have never seen me play DayZ. b. creepy because you have been stalking me in real life watching me play, and false because I do use all the tools I have at my disposal in Dayz. c. slightly odd because you have been stalking my group for days and we haven't killed you yet. I'm going to go with a. Other than your wild conjectures and inferences about me as a player I completely agree with you. I disprove of hacking and aborting to gain advantage, and I think the alpha is going great. Not sure what you have against me though.

Haha, I agree with you completely but you can't make the same arguments about DayZ that you can about life. In life you can't find a new server to be born in. But you do make a point. People just have to be extra cautious of more well armed players. There's always a bigger fish though, it's just a matter of knowing when you're outmatched. Even though I have a DMR with a ton of rounds I'm not going to try to engage a guy with an AS50 who is over 800 meters away.

I'm missing the part of my post where I said I wasn't having fun with the game or interacting with other players. I'm even missing the part where I said I WANTED incentives to be friendly. Even though you can clearly read my mind and infer that I do want incentives. Maybe the opening parts of my post were poorly conveyed. I wouldn't complain if the game added the things I mentioned. I just feel that in order to become a more complete game and ever advance past alpha and beta it needs to track and report on all play styles, not just the murdering and killing aspect. The game is about killing, but it's not just about killing so why only track those things in game. It's also about survival, player interaction, and even teamwork. Personally, I'm fine with the game the way it is. My only complaints are very, very minor and mostly technically. I play with friends from outside of DayZ so I don't ever have to worry about them betraying me, and it also means we get to have a ton of fun with lone wolfs. I'm merely pointing out to the people who complain that there aren't enough friendly people (like the op) in the game why there aren't enough friendly people in the game. On a side note, a lot of developers are going to be watching DayZ very closely and taking notes. If DayZ wants to own this seemingly new genre it's created it's going to have to adapt and give players more that what it currently is. Otherwise other developers will (one already is), and in five years DayZ will just be a passing thought. People like you hold the game back with closed-mindedness and the assumption that you're playing a finished product. You're not. Better get used to the fact that this game and others like it will change dramatically over the next few years.

Those of you saying this game needs incentive to be friendly are exactly right. I shoot everyone I see on sight for this exact reason. Games that track your statistics are all on some level about our egos and self improvement. The major stats that this game tracks are zombies killed, murders, and bandits killed. These are not "friendly" stats. If the game tracked friendlier things (or was even able to) then we'd probably see a lot more friendliness in DayZ. Sure it could track things like transfusions given, morphine administered etc. but there's no way of knowing that they weren't just giving transfusions to there bandit partners. The game can't tell you how many players someone has spared or how many groups that player has formed with other random players simply because that's not within the realm of possibility for this game's engine (correct me if I'm wrong.) Until there is some incentive to play friendly DayZ will continue to be the harsh and unforgiving game that it is, and if you refuse to adapt and rather come here to complain you're just ruining the game for yourself. Nobody can ruin a game for you that is about adapting and surviving other than yourself (and hackers.) Even with incentives like this though, you can never truly trust anybody in this game.

Interesting and surprising results from some of those surveys. Obviously some people weren't taking it seriously but it seems like the vast majority were. You have my beans sir.