Strategos (DayZ)

Watch the video in the OP it already neutralises the spatial awareness argument, Arma has MORE spacial awareness than 99% of FPS games as it allows you to turn your head independently. And no it isn't just a shooter, it's as I already said a game about tension and fear, all of which is enhanced with first person only, again watch the video in the OP and listen to what he says about risk versus reward. Lying the the grass dodging zombies is MUCH more immersive when lying down restricts your vision. The whole game becomes more tense. There is NO valid argument for third person. As for it not being a shooter, well you may have noticed that Dayz has guns, is based on a hardcore military shooter and has more realistic gunplay than any other game out there. Also that the main danger is other players, with guns. So it's a fundamental part of the game. Screwing it up with third person fundamentally breaks one of the key points of the game. A guy camping on the roof of the firestation with third person is invisible, a guy poking his head up over the top of the firestation roof is a lovely target, or at least easily avoided. One can end your game in an inherently unfair way (all that fun looting and surviving you have done) just by hiding until your back is turned. The other has to poke his head up to see if victims are coming. It's chalk and cheese.

The video in the first post sums it up perfectly. There are simply no arguments for third person that stand up to that analysis. You also can't allow the option. Dayz is tough, it's supposed to be tough, if you enforce 1st person some people will whine about it , but they will still play it, and they will come to love it after a transitional period. If you took a game everyone loved and suddenly added perma death, people would freak out, but because that feature has been in Dayz from the start with no option there is no discussion about it. The very harshness of it is what attracted everyone. Dayz is about fear, stress and immersion. 1st person amplifies these things and simply makes the game better. Other arguments: You can't see your character - now you can in the character screen. Sorted. It makes me sick - turn off head bob, becomes exactly the same. Increased FOV - the OP video shows that there is no FOV increase.

Gibonez, exactly what I was just saying Actually lol not exactly what I was saying, your talking about player spawns not loot spawns. http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/157702-i-was-thinking-about-loot/

No it really shouldn't. If you have it as an option, all the servers turn it on and you get the same problem we had in the mod. Server owners want players so they have to make things as easy as possible to get more people in. And you end up with 3rd person, 24/7 daylight 10,000 vehicles. It needs to just be off.

So I was mulling over some of the issues as I see them, yeah I should be working but hey. There are a couple of problems as things stand. Server hopping, availability of military gear and camping. I think the issues boil down to one thing, predictability. Disclaimer - I know it's alpha and the loot will be rebalanced. This is NOT what I'm discussing. So predictability. Everyone KNOWS where the loot is going to be. This encourages the above behaviour. Go to good loot spot, profit. No loot? Change servers. Want to grief some newbs? Camp the doorway to the barracks. Loot is what drives player movement. So the place to go to solve these issues is the loot distribution system. My solution? NO predictable loot spawning. You can justify the system no problem in terms of "Lore" as well. Let's imagine that the shit storm has happened , we don't know how long ago mind you but the super markets are empty and there are no people left alive except for a few survivors (us). There are rusted out cars so we could safely assume it's been a while since the infection struck. So basically everything has been looted already, prior to the time Dayz is set. (Like the Road for example) This means that anything useful has been removed from its location and moved somewhere else probably somewhere safe already. How would this manifest? 1: Better hidden loot. You still get loot in houses but it requires a bit more searching to find. Inside cupboards etc. 2: Random loot. So you might find the body of a survivor who still has some loot on him. Or the remnants of a campfire in the woods with what's left of some supplies. 3: Stashes. Really random, better loot. Well hidden stashes that could be anywhere, from a locked room in a house, a hidden trapdoor , buried in the garden who knows, but you'd have to search pretty hard for them. May need a shovel or crowbar to gain access to it. Inside you would find whatever some early survivor had squirrelled away to keep safe. Obviously you would still find things in the current system, just not high end stuff, more like junk, tools, clothes, crafting parts. Not things like medical kits, guns, etc. This would also mean that places like military bases and airfields actually had very little in them, which I think is a good thing. Obviously the places that would get picked clean first, a nice addition to the scenery and the feel of the the game, but currently just camping server hopping hot spots. One of the interesting side effects of the current system where loot does not respawn (assuming your playing properly) is that people have to spread out and search less obvious places to find loot that hasn't already been taken.

Which is exactly what everyone would have thought when the infection hit, which is why it would have been picked clean. It breaks my immersion knowing exactly where to go to find a given type of loot, I don't think thats a "realistic" post apocalypse scenario at all. And it causes a whole bunch of problems. I keep seeing this "argument" and I find it totally invalid. People seem to want everything to stay the way it has been because people are suddenly going to leave in droves. The only reason you saw empty servers in the Mod was people were given the option. If they can take the easy route they can, which is why the game needs to be standardised . A big part of the excitement of Dayz is finding good loot. Which is removed by knowing where it is. "Oh man the barracks are empty, no problem I have a 0.5% chance of getting a sniper rifle, Ill just have to keep trying different servers". If you have food, there is no point in looking through houses because you know exactly what type of loot will be in them. It would be much more immersive and interesting to take away that predictability.

You can see your character in the inventory screen now, so people can admire their outfits there.

Dayz has physics?

Im firmly in the Thris person off , for the love of god turn it off. Camp. And you def should NOT listen to the people that complain about it. The video linked on page one sums it up perfectly . The game is better without third person.

I had the same thing, some new spawn started following me around, after a bit of annoying me he ran at me in a straight line with his fists up, I put a whole clip from the M4 into him pretty much point blank , he finally got close enough punch me once, unconscious.

This a million times this.

Losers. Man up and explore.

Oh dear. >:(

Good luck doing that without vehicles.

I want to see low end weapons, melee, civilian weapons, crafted / makeshift weapons. NO consistent military spawns. And military guns only as VERY VERY rare occurrence.

Yeah Balota should be a civilian airfield. No military stuff at all.

I had to drink about 30 times from a pond to get a message saying my stomach was full. I almost gave up, but its still there apparently. This was long after the indicators had disappeared. The indicators only seem to show up when you enter the "hungry state" they do not show how far you are into the "full state" they just disappear.

I'm enjoying the way the medical system is going, already finding that teaming up to solve medical problems has become necessary sometimes. Handcuffing people and draining their blood is also strangely rewarding. On the flip side, im looking forward to more disease / infection type stuff which will add risk to all this stuff.

Terrible idea, was discussed to death on the suggestions forum ages ago, which incidently is where this post should be.

You lost me at WarZ.

Night time is fine, good in fact. I love being able to sneak around in the dark and it really pisses me off that there are people with their gamma ramped up that might be able to see me when I'm hidden. The whole risk / reward mechanic with torches is great.

Epi pen, blood transfusion , De-fib, dont seem to do anything for unconscious players. Only saline works.

I've been playing without 3rd party maps and really enjoying it, when I find new stuff it's much more exciting. Of course it's a bit embarrassing how well I know my way around, I sort of wish they had change the map more tbh.

The obvious reply is.... It's alpha so yes, we aren't playing the game we are testing.

I seem to be having issues with direct chat. The last two encounters have ended with me having to kill people because there has been no reply to voice or text chat. Does direct chat sometimes not work ?