Prophet

A progression system in any game kills the fun stone dead. If it had one I wouldn't buy it.

- Anyone with a gun that has seen me. - I make a point of killing people who run about as if they own the place with their silenced weapons and ghillie suits even if I can't loot them. Their arrogance makes me mad. Today there were 5 dudes in ghillie suits running around Elektro shooting at zombies for no reason, I dropped 2 of them with me lee enfield and then got killed. Stupid, yes, but that will teach them not to be that arrogant again. Another time today I got the drop on a guy with an AS50 and ghillie (because he had been firing at fresh spawners on the beach for about a minute with no regard to the amount of ammo he used), I hit him in the chest with my g17 from 15 metres, he still had time to turn around and fill me with holes because I had the gaul to use iron sights and he just no-scoped it. (Seriously get rid of the crosshair Rocket, it's far too good for sniper rifles >:( ) Arrogance is my main reason for opening up on someone. - If you are unarmed or have an axe, i'll stay away because there's just no point, you get what? a bandage and a pepsi sometimes? You sacrifice ammo and your position for bugger all.

The first time I ever spawned in I went into a building in Elektro, I heard someone coming up the stairs and aimed my Makarov at the door, not knowing anything at all about the mod but having played ARMA II for almost 2 years (it only had 30k players according to the website at this time) and a guy using a crossbow and wearing a bandit skin came in and I dropped him instantly. First life and I was already a murderer.

How did I get good at ARMA II firefights.... 3 years of ARMA II... 600 hours of ARMA II Project Reality. That really, REALLY makes you think about ARMA II in a whole new way as if you don't think about what you're doing, your entire squad can be wiped out in 10 seconds by a man in a window with an AK-47. However, most effective tactics require vast amounts of ammo to execute so it becomes more difficult in DayZ, but I can safely say that I tend to come out on top most of the time in DayZ. Ammo, covering fire, ammo and flanking. In ARMA II Project Reality to move without cover fire is basically suicide. Going it alone... stealth, try to not be seen in the first place. Being the first to see your enemy counts for a lot when by yourself. Take a look around you before and after you do anything, that rule has saved me many times. The other thing is, there is this mentality that you need to hit every shot you take, while this is true for close quarters battles, in open fields from my personal experience, weight of fire is far more effective and many bandits/carebares have fallen to my M4 because they didn't want to "waste" ammo. This one time I caught 2 guys in the open and i clipped one of them with the first shot of my M4, but they both made it to cover behind a humvee in the road. First I threw 2 smoke grenades to cover what I was doing (I always make a note of wind direction when I spawn so I can throw them in good places), then I kept them pinned behind that car with 3 mags of M4 while I flanked them. Before they knew what had happened, they were both dead and they barely had a chance to peek their nose out from that car... Much ammo was used, but they were both dead and I was alive, and that's what counts most in DayZ. 300m With an M16 is tough and probably not worth it. I would just run for it if I was being shot from that distance. They already know where you are, they already have you in their sights with a gun that can kill you. Standing/crouching still and shooting will probably get you killed. Another important thing is to know when to run away :), some fights can not be won unless you get very lucky. Another great story is when I was chased roughly 5km through the forest by a fully armed squad that had a helicopter, AT NIGHT. That was tough to survive. In the end I managed to lose em and I managed to kill two of them with a double barreled shotty. A perfect example of just running for your life when you are outmatched.

I have this crazy idea that you did not buy DayZ, you bought ARMA 2 and use it to play a MOD that ONE MAN was kind enough to allow you to play FREE OF CHARGE while it is still in an ALPHA STATE, and therefore cannot be expected to be very stable. Crazy idea I know.

The more stuff you get, the more boring the experience becomes. You are constantly checking, murdering, observing, managing inventory etc. It's just not fun once you get good stuff. The other day I had just looted the NW airfield and it suddenly hit me... that i'd have to run for 45 mins to get back to anything interesting. I proceded to run onto the airfield throwing flares and lighting glowsticks and shooting off my M4 and G17 at anything that moved. The whole place was lit up like a christmas tree and I called for someone to put a bullet through my head. For some reason on a 50 player server, no one did. So I looted some more guns 'n ammo and just shot at stuff for another half hour in the full light of flares until a zombie knocked me over. You know what I felt after I died with an M4, a G17, cyote pack and a CZ and ALL the equipment save NVGs. Relief. This was a 35 hour character with 15 murders mind you :huh: I respawned and I admit it, i'm now the guy taking your head off in cherno/electro with a CZ i found 5 mins ago at 600m for the "lulz" In a split second I somehow lost the will to survive in a survival game and suddenly didn't care what happened to me.

It's so hard to get this into peoples' heads. THERE ARE NO SAFE ZONES. DEAL WITH IT

I grew too attatched to my character. 35+ hours of survival will make you paranoid and shake with the fear of losing your stuff after all the time you put into it. It's perfectly normal. I died through my own carelessness by forgetting to look around for once before I started typing. Next thing I know BLAM BLAM BLAM goes a makarov 3 feet away. It was liberating, just as completing Amnesia felt like.

Serves you goody-two-shoes survivors right: My first time at the NW airfield, i hear a lot of DMR and AK fire so i come in through the north grabbing some pretty good loot. I decide to go and loot the other side of the airfield after I discover that other people had been coming from the south and cleaning the hangars out, yet somehow we missed each other. On the way over to the other side I manage to agro 4-5 crawler zombies but i decide to ignore them rather than fire my revolver, i might aswell put a big sign over my head telling the guy with the DMR to shoot me. However as I approached the clustered buildings I see two survivors coming my way although as I hit the deck they hadn't seen me, however they noticed the zombies following me and they typed into the chat: "There's a player here" Naturally I crap my pants as I notice one has an M4 and I presumed my Winchester to be no match at that range as I was outnumbered. I get up without firing a shot and zig zag for my life as bullets hit the ground all around me and both survivors start chasing me across the airfield. After about 300 meters, one M4 bullets clips me in the shoulder and I keel over bleeding badly. However as they fired some pretty loud weapons the crawlers zombies bought me some time for the timer to tick down. As soon as i'm conscious again I load the pellets into my Winchester instead of the slugs as I had no idea how close they were, then just stood up to see them running towards me about 50m away and I drop one of them with the first shot and finish off the other one quickly through spam of shotgun pellets. I bandage myself and leave the airfield with a shiny new M4 and 1900 blood cackling to myself. Why they even bothered chasing me i'll never know but those survivors got what they deserved for trying to hunt down a bandit who was trying to run for it.

The best idea is to stay out of sight at all costs. Most of the time this is very easy and i've been able to stalk people for up to an hour before I see the perfect oppertunity to get in close for a guaranteed kill. If i'm spotted, usually I won't risk it and i'll run in the opposite direction and try to get myself lost in some forests. Getting into a firefight with people who know where you are is always too dangerous and unpredictable. Sometimes thing go balls up and you don't have much choice and that's usually when my deaths occur.

I am a bandit, but my first experience of PvP was my first life in the game. I was in a building and I heard someone sneaking up the stairs so as soon as he peeped round the doorway I took his head off because I didn't know any better. It was just aswell as he had a bandit skin on, not that I knew what that was at the time. Several deaths and betrayals later I decided that I would study each of my deaths to avoid it repeating itself. I view each and EVERY one of my deaths as a fault with MY play and never put it down to random shootings as I KNOW being shot randomly can be completely avoided no matter the situation. So what has happened now? 35 hours of straight up bandit survival with approximately 30 murders to my name. You hear that forum? Every single death of mine I put down to MYSELF and bad decision making, not random shooters running around. Random guys running around killing are pathetically easy to evade or kill in droves. Most of the time they aren't even worth a crossbow bolt to the head for their painkillers.

Since i'm a bandit and enjoy hunting, whether it be other bandits, survivors or animals: Not really ambient but awesome. If only I could take the skulls from those I have slain. I kill with absurd patience and so have only averaged about 1 kill per 2 hours of play time, but that's 30 hours spent alive...

Serves them right :D

The server died at a very inconvenient time and I was unable to get back on for another half an hour. It was a very strange experience actually helping people and not being shot in the back for once. I assure you it was a moment of weakness and I shall resume my lone bandit wanderings tonight. Was it worth the 40 shells, the blood pack, the painkillers and the morphine? Maybe, but because of this foolishness i'm now stranded on top of a building in electro with just a revolver and some beans. Good show last night.