Heiduk

Rocket has mentioned that when standalone arrives server settings will probably be fixed to a few specific difficulty settings and characters will not be able to move between servers with different settings. I think this will be a good improvement over the free-for-all we have now as these setting significantly influence the feel of the game. I'm wondering what people think these settings should be? If it were up to me I would have two types of servers, call them Hardcore and Softcore for lack of better labels. Things like spawn rates and zombie behavior would probably be controlled by these settings as well but I'll ignore those for the moment. Hardcore Auto Aim: Off Armor: Off Players on Map: Off Crosshairs: Off Third Person: Off Peripheral Dots: Off Death Messages: Off Scoreboard: Off Softcore Auto Aim: Off Armor: Off Players on Map: Off Crosshairs: On Third Person: On Peripheral Dots: On Death Messages: On Scoreboard: On I didn't list Waypoints and Nametags because I'm hoping their implementations will eventually be reworked. With their current implementations I would say off on both server types. I would like to see Waypoints available on all servers, but only if the player has a functional GPS. There have also been good discussions in this forum about some sort of selective Nametag system where you could only identify players you have gotten to know in game. I think something like this would be good as long as it doesn't have a major impact on stealth, e.g. no giant "Unknown Player" tags floating above everyones head. How would you partition the difficulty settings?

Something like this could be very important for standalone. Presumably the mission editor and armory will be gone so having an area for bambies to mess around in before going online would definitely help with the learning curve. Maybe it could use a small map like Utes that isn't part of the main multiplayer area? I can even see the end of the mission. You've gathered some supplies and made it to the quarantine zone and boarded a ferry off the island. The boat is packed and steaming away from port. You start to relax but the sense of safety only lasts for a moment. One of the infected managed to get through the medical checkpoints and is starting to turn. The whole ship descends into chaos. Cut to waking up alone on the beach with nothing left but your trusty flashlight and a bandage.

Before continuing with the medical nerd fest. From a gameplay perspective, I still dispute the assertion that there needs to be a way to stop bleeding in less than 10 seconds while on the run. I much prefer the somewhat methodical, relatively authentic feel of ARMA combat compared to your typical run-and-gun deathmatch. I think this risk gets overstated. The US Military has gained a huge amount of experience with them in the past decade with very few complications. The papers I remember reading have looked at hundreds of cases and found no evidence of any limbs being lost because of the application of a tourniquet, even when improperly applied or left on for several hours. A friend who recently came back was told application for 24 hours was fine, although I'm not sure how current or scientifically grounded that recommendation is. That's probably true if you're rolling up on a bus and pulling it out of your bag but combat tourniquets are often pre-applied. The idea being that when hit you can tighten it one-handed before bleeding out. This can probably be done faster than you can: expose the wound, dig a packet of Celox out of your pouch/bag, tear it open, and dump it on the wound. Of course applying a tourniquet also renders the limb pretty much useless so maybe in game you apply one then have to hop away from the Zeds on one leg at half speed. A disclaimer, my limited experience is with wilderness rather than combat medicine so most of the above is second hand information.

This is pretty much only true of American severs. The best European servers with 3DP: Off have just as large of a population as the 3DP: On servers. This observation makes me think the dislike for first person here has more to do with cultural differences than the quality of BIS's 1st person game.

+1 Embrace the fear, let the pressure mold you. Don't let life become cheap, not other's and especially not your own. As long as you aren't to scared to log in you are doing just fine.

No thanks. I'm all for a more sophisticated medical system but bandaging is already plenty fast enough (10 seconds) and completely stops bleeding. Unless normal bandages were made less effective I can't see much of an argument for adding clotting agents if the goal is authenticity. The real advantage of most of these products are that they control bleeding better, not that they are faster to apply. In fact, the current generation products are usually delivered as impregnated sponges and bandages because they're easier to apply than powders. How easy do you think it is to get a powder to stay on a vertical wound surface or one that is hemorrhaging blood? If 10 seconds is really to long to take cover and slap on a bandage maybe there could be combat tourniquets that players preemptively apply to their extremities and pull tight after getting hit? Of course, in real life tourniquets aren't nearly as effective as DayZ bandages either, especially when applied by laymen.

Exactly, also see Slashdot. Good luck getting your post noticed if there are already 200 posts in a thread. No matter how great the post is almost no one will see it because everyone is only reading the top 50 posts that have already been upvoted.

It depends entirely on the tactical situation. I regularly use night time to raid or travel through areas that are more dangerous during daylight, I don't think I've ever been to Cherno or Electro during the day. However, like Wargunner, I have no problem calling it a night if I'm not prepared to be stumbling around in the dark surrounded by zombies and psychopaths that I can't see. A weapon with a flashlight and ideally NVGs are literally the first things I start looking for after hunting gear.

I'm happy with an MP5SD6 if it is the only silenced weapon available. I like its sights better than the Bizon's and it doesn't have the muzzle flash like the Bizon. I would only take a MP5A5 if I don't have a better rifle and a good 9 mm sidearm.

Pfft, you are clearly a weak westerner, if you were a Russian you would have no trouble doing this. For example see Leonid Rogozov.

Don't make it to streamlined. Someone recently made the excellent point that as clunky as the current system is it adds an important element of additional pressure to situations where you are already time limited. I don't want to loose my rifle because I didn't have space for it in my bag but I also don't want to be able to field strip it and attach the holo sight, M203, and suppressor that I just picked-up in 10 seconds while zombies are streaming through the door.

Exactly, players should not expect to be some love child of Jeremiah Johnson and Rambo who can go anywhere and achieve anything within a few hours unaided. I play solo almost exclusively and looting Cherno during daylight should be almost certain death rather than a brisk jog with only a couple of shots fired.

I think your post just made my eyes bleed. Seriously, I had to copy and paste it into MS Word just to get past the first paragraph.

I suspect the reason society doesn't descend into an everyman for himself and damn the neighbors slaughter-fest every time there is a slight disruption has little to do with how "civilized" any particular group of people is and a lot to do with the fact that we actually need each other. I don't care how much of a badass you are you still need to sleep and having someone to watch your back is a good way to stay alive. Not to mention knowing people is helpful if you ever want to have sex again. In DayZ we don't need anyone and as sostronk said other players may even be a liability, add to this that there is little incentive to keep your character alive. Currently in DayZ a decent solo player can spend 90% of their time running combat ops with the remaining 10% dedicated to handling the logistics to support those ops. If you don't care about making any preparations for your death you can probably push that close to 100%. That is a deathmatch game. Perhaps a more realistic survival game where you spend 90% of your time handling logistics wouldn't be as fun but if this game is supposed to be about survival players should have to do more than just shoot each other.

Good question, Rocket has certainly said repeatedly that it is about survival but as you point out some of his design decisions certainly have seemed to favor deathmatch and even griefing. I've also realized that most of the fun I've had with the survival aspects has been as much from self-imposed restrictions as from the game's mechanics. I'm hoping that standalone will make a definitive move towards survival. I suspect how he decides to handle the hygiene aspects will say a lot about what this game is intended to become. Is this a survival game with PvP or a post-apocalyptic griefing simulator for douchebags (Now with human shit!!!).

:( Are the people who are willing to work for hours to get a "good" gun like an M4 CCO also the same people who refuse to play with 3rd person off?

One other bit of advise: Deer stands are your friend. They are probably the safest place to get a weapon. They are usually located along tree lines and zombies don't like trees. If you approach carefully from the forest side you can almost always loot them without agroing any zombies.

Have you seen this poll? How old is the DayZ fanbase? [POLL, please put in your age!] Yes! I don't have any problem with players choosing to murder each other, but if you want to play the role of lone psychopath killing everything that moves, or lone saint for that matter, your path through the game should be authentically hard.

Not really relevant but I always thought the description of the Bell 212 as "A little more Detroit." was a particularly good description by one of the helo pilots I've flown with. He was comparing it to the AStars we were also using but the description is still apt. I'm not a big fan of fuel and fly helos in a post-apocalyptic game but if they are going to be in, workhorses like the UH-1H or Mi-8 seem a lot more appropriate than hotrods like Littlebirds or even Eurocopter models.

Pretty much the same way you would find yourself if you went for a hike in the woods with a physical map and compass. For example: http://www.backcount...ap_compass.html

This is exactly why death messages and the debug monitor should both be off. Not sure if you killed someone? Tough luck either walk over and check, taking the risk that he or his buddies are still alive, or live with the doubt.

"This is my rifle. There are many others like it, but this one is mine."

I like this, perhaps also add a status effect like slower or no running for hungry players so healthy players don't completely ignore food. People can live an awfully long time without food and getting food should be relatively low on the list of priorities in most survival situations. It would also produce a more authentic response to being badly injured. Instead of just finding a cow to eat you would need to find a way to provide for your basic needs while hunkering down and healing up. Thinking along these same lines maybe blood bags wouldn't heal you instantly they would simply let you regenerate health more rapidly for a period of time. Solo players could still recover from injuries but it would be much easier to recover if you're part of group that can take care of you.

How does a 24 hour day/night cycle prevent players from experiencing all aspects of the game?

Recently, I've been following a similar code with regard to camps. All AS50s, M107s, and associated ammo go on the ground. If there are any hacked items or duping is blatantly obvious, everything goes on the ground. If vehicles are being hoarded they get driven to the coast and abandoned. If I need something from your tent I'll exchange it for something I don't need. If I have extra gear I may donate it. Fortunately hacking and duping don't seem to be as common on most of the Hardcore servers I play on, so I don't have to destroy camps very often. Doing my little part certainly won't fix the Hive but it might improve my little corner of it. If nothing else it gives me something to do.