Nalestom

I'm going to break the rules you set at the beginning of the thread and say it. It's an alpha of a mod. Not only functionally and mechanically, but conceptually as well. The overall premise of the game is evolving and will continue to evolve for months upon months to come. You're correct. Right now, there's no incentive to be friendly. There's no reason for players to be friendly towards one another, especially after you've gotten your NVGs and AS50s. It's up to Rocket to create a full-fledged game that gives players something to do OTHER than torture freshly-spawned players. And I'm confident that he will.

The two are the same. By spawning more loot, you're giving higher-quality items a higher chance to spawn.

I think it'd be a fantastic idea if the quality of the loot that spawns is proportional to the number of players on the server. It definitely rewards risk-takers and bandits alike.

Well, like I said, whether or not Rocket should listen to us depends entirely on what the issue is. Sometimes, it's necessary to look at the data, and sometimes, it's necessary to listen to people. Designing a game based entirely off of data is why games are shitty these days. If Rocket looks at the data and sees that 80% of all players die within 200-300 meters of the coast, he'll hopefully say, "Well, tough luck, welcome to DayZ." If a major gaming studio looks at the data and sees that 80% of all players die within 200-300 meters of the coast, they'll implement a massive spawn protection system and safe areas inside of cities, regardless of whether or not it's a good idea for the overall design of the game. Data is good for analyzing things such as item distribution and rarity throughout databases, average deaths by zombie, average session time per player, and so on. When it comes to tweaking key gameplay mechanics, such as whether or not third-person should be globally disabled, it would be best for Rocket to make his own decision based entirely off of how he wants DayZ to play and what he considers fair advantages over other players. When it comes to redesigning things such as tents and item storage, it would be best for Rocket to discuss it with the community and get the playerbase's input, since they're the ones who are playing the game. See what I mean? It all depends on what the mod developer sees his game becoming.

As I've said, the only difference between the private hive server I play on and the hive servers is the source of the database. Everything else (with the exception of a much more robust anti-cheat on the private server) is exactly the same. Because everything else is the same, I can effectively comment on flaws in gameplay mechanics and bugs. You're right about Rocket being unable to see who is and isn't Alt+F4ing in our servers, as well as a few other key statistics, but we take care of the Alt+F4ing and ghosting in our servers by ensuring that those people never play on the server again. Also, because I DO play on hive servers occasionally, I am serving as a data point. I don't play exclusively on non-hive servers.

Somebody in this thread posted a link to a post Rocket made where he essentially stated that he doesn't like the idea of "private servers" and that he claims it isn't helpful to the project in any shape or form, but that he can't do anything about it because nobody who plays DayZ has agreed to any EULA or Terms of Service in regards to the mod. I agree with you. I think that there are certain aspects of the mod that Rocket shouldn't listen to the community's opinions about, and I think that there are certain aspects where the community's opinion should play a major role in. I'll be honest. Do I think the idea of a private hive fits with Rocket's vision of DayZ? No, I don't think private hives are a good idea with DayZ. However, I do think that, at this point in the mod, private hives offer the sense of community and provide the proper environment to facilitate Rocket's vision for this mod. The challenge lies in how Rocket plans on porting that environment and community into the public hive. Private hives will end up creating a war between server communities. Server owners will be more concerned about how many unique players they have on a daily basis as opposed to the actual quality of their servers and databases. DayZ was most definitely created with a public hive in mind, and I think that a public hive would be an absolutely beautiful thing to have, provided that a community can be built among groups of players. For example, wouldn't it be absolutely fascinating if certain servers had factions and politics of their own? If large groups of players formed private armies of sorts and set up their own economy and conquered towns and countrysides, warring against other private armies? That would revolutionize the survival aspect of the game, especially if zombies are transformed into a real threat.

The most difficult part of bug-fixing isn't diagnosing what's causing the bug; the most difficult part is combing through hundreds upon hundreds of lines of code to find the one misplaced parenthesis that is screwing everything up. My participation in the main hive servers would do nothing but add a single additional player for hackers to toy with. Also, my participation in the main hive servers does not help Rocket catch hackers at all, nor does my lack of participation hinder it. There is no logical basis behind that argument. I am completely okay with the idea of the game being buggy, laggy, glitchy, and downright frustrating to get working at times. I understand that the mod is not yet a polished presentation, and I understand that the mod was not prepared for the huge boom of popularity that was thrown at it (a boom in popularity that you and I are both contributing to, I might add!) However, if there is an alternate route that saves me from the frustration of dealing with a mod that is filled with hackers and players who shamelessly exploit in order to get the jump on you in firefights, I am most definitely going to take that route - not in an act of selfishness, but simply because I wish to experience a style of gameplay that is completely unhindered by lag and exploiters. And boy, is that style of gameplay amazing. You also assume that I'm a lone wolf. Trust me, I'm not. I have a number of close friends I can trust to play with, and the vast majority of them play on the same non-hive server that I do. Everybody is also assuming that I play exclusively on non-hive servers. I play on both hive and non-hive, and I play both quite regularly. However, I much prefer playing on the non-hive server because I simply don't have to fight latency and exploits when I play there. I have fun either way, but I have considerably more fun when I don't have to deal with the issues. In the end, we're all playing, enjoying, and bug-testing the same mod. It's just that I prefer to be connected to a different database.

All I'm saying is that I think it would be bad form on Rocket's part to force all players to use his hive when his hive is, at times, flawed. When the hive performs well and the public servers are safe from hackers and ghosters, I would have absolutely no problem with switching to the public hive (provided that Rocket also implements updates that would help build a communal feel among servers, which he's already announced that he would do.)

There shouldn't be a need for server owners to report statistics to Rocket. You can tell how many people enjoy certain server configurations simply by looking at how many people are playing servers of that ruleset.

The private server I frequent the most has an anti-cheat that compliments the security offered by BattleEye. This anti-cheat is a script written by the owner himself, and so far, the only encounter with hackers we've had is when BattleEye glitched. Our solution to combat the hackers was simply to put a password on the server and display the password in the description of the server. Not all private hive servers are illegitimate. And don't even begin to talk about "not encountering hackers on official servers." Hackers currently have official servers practically in their back pocket.

Actually, the majority of the private hive owners don't even play on their own server. They're usually too busy actually running their own server to so much as fight in Elektro. If you're a good, competent server owner, then you know that at times, running a server is practically a full-time job. Until Rocket publicly announces that he dislikes private hives because he wants his hive to be tested, I will continue to play on private hive servers. They're simply better, in every sense of the word.

They spawn at helicopter crash sites, and it's not always STANAG ammo. I found SVD ammo, DMR mags, and a few M107 mags as well. I wouldn't be surprised if they're a rare spawn in barracks, too.

You're extremely lucky that It decided not to show itself. Unfortunately, you've doomed yourself. When It next thirsts for blood, It will find it in you.

Sadly, it's impossible to do on the public hive without a high risk of death and destruction. Let's say our current group of 10+ decided to set up a trading post on a public hive server. For one, we don't have any resources whatsoever to set up a trading post, but I'll play your game and say that we've gathered them. After we set up the trading post, we would be forced to advertise it. If we advertised it on the official forums, a group of bandits would read it and would server-hop past our defenses, then proceed to kill us all. All in the name of 10 additional kills. If we chose not to advertise it, we'd end up with no business whatsoever unless we placed it in a major city. If we placed it in a major city, we'd only run into the same problem: bandits abusing the system to kill us all. In its current state, the mod and its players simply are not friendly to any attempts of peaceful gathering on the public hive. If we tried to bring our game-changing ways to the public hive, we'd end up dying to the point of us losing motivation - which changed absolutely nothing in the game.

As far as I'm aware, there's nothing that Rocket can do that would punish users for either running or playing on a non-hive server. It might be possible for him to implement something in the standalone that would require all users to connect to the public database, but for right now, I would say it's legal. I would still like a member of the DayZ staff to confirm it, however. Just in case I'm wrong. =)

You think that private servers are going to detract from the overall growth of the game, yet the majority of players who participate in a private hive are working towards establishing a strong sense of community through factions, bases, trading posts, and so on. The overall growth of DayZ, given by 95% of the posts I've seen by users of its official forums, can only be determined by the content that Rocket pushes into DayZ. If Rocket encourages players to build bases and group up with other players to fight over high-value targets, then he will have to design the game around that philosophy (and I'm sure he will!) However, at the moment, the majority of the public hive community is more concerned about gearing themselves out with high-caliber sniper rifles, ghillie suits, and nightvision goggles, then using that equipment to tally as many kills as possible onto their debug monitor, then posting screenshots in the hopes that their e-peen will stretch. So please, tell me: which game would you rather play? I think I'll opt for the private hive experience now, then switch to public when the community - and DayZ - has properly matured to fit the archetype we all covet.

Have you ever considered that perhaps, by "isolating" ourselves from the public hive, we're contributing our own balance to the game? Right now, I'm happy in my private hive. I can reliably connect to a server and load into it within a few seconds and play DayZ without worrying about whether I'll be teleported and killed by a hacker. I can play DayZ without worrying about a server hopper or a ghoster ruining my day. I can play DayZ without worrying about the server randomly going offline, disconnecting from the hive, or any other number of performance issues that the occasional hive server will encounter. AND, if I do encounter any of these issues, I can easily contact the owner of the private database and resolve the issue quickly with little to no hassle on my part. Not only that, but the development of factions and the construction of bases is encouraged by the community because you see familiar faces often. Listen to some of Rocket's interviews. He's stated multiple times that he wants something extremely similar to the environment that we've created in this non-hive server. By not restricting players to a single server, you end up dooming any possibility of a sense of community - at least, with the game in its current state. Without a sense of community, without creating a group of reliable friends that you have fought and died with, you're not going to foster any motivation to set up trading posts, shelters, or any other fortification that requires defense.

Oh, I play on both hive and in my non-hive server, depending on what I feel like. Just keep in mind...People are just as trigger-happy in private databases as they are in the public one. It's just that there are usually larger groups of people that are banded together, fighting other groups of people. It's difficult to explain, but if you stick with it, you'll learn to love it.

You're a clever one, you are.

You mock us for playing in our "private bubble," as you say, but you offer no logical reasons for your dissent. I'm having fun in my private bubble. So is everybody else in the server. Is that so bad? It's not affecting you at all, in any way.

And, as we've all seen, sometimes Rocket's hive is a laggy sonofabitch that is unbearable to play on. And I know that the mod is in alpha, and we should expect latency and performance issues. But at the end of the day, I want to play DayZ, and I can't play DayZ if it takes me a solid 20 seconds to see gear that I'm looting actually enter my inventory. Private hives perform better most of the time and build a sense of community among a group of players. The public hive simply doesn't do that - you have to go out of your way (or get extremely lucky while looting and stumble upon a friendly survivor) to find a group of people to play with. In a private hive, groups of people come together naturally to fight a common enemy.

The M24 utilizes a mildot system, allowing a sniper to properly measure the distance of their target and, therefore, measure approximate bullet drop. Essentially, to a trained killer, the M24 is much more user-friendly and allows more accurate shots. The CZ550 isn't a bad sniper rifle at all - I've killed plenty of people with it. It's just not as good as the M24.

It's something that could possibly be implemented. The thing about falling from heights is that the engine handles it very clumsily - hell, I'm scared to run near the edges of roofs for fear of tumbling over. Hopefully the ArmA 3 engine will handle fall damage a little bit better. Perhaps we'll even see the ability to jump.

I never claimed that hive servers are too hard to play on. In essence, there's no difference between the two - on a non-hive server, I still have to constantly watch my ass when I raid Cherno hospital. There are still plenty of people out there who want to see my dead, survival is just as difficult as it is on a non-hive server. The major difference between a private database and the public database is that the private database creates a sense of community.

Precisely. For the past few weeks, the group I've aligned myself with has been fighting a massive vehicle war with another group of bandits. Because I know everybody's name (including my enemy's!) I feel a lot more motivated to find and kill them. The war became personal. I'm not killing them for the loot, nor am I killing them to tally up more murders on my current life; I'm killing them because I want to see them dead.