septuscap

Players already band together. I *rarely* run into a solo player anymore unless it's on the coast. But there is a point of diminishing returns for grouping (and in fact, having too many people can start becoming a PROBLEM; it's better to split your group into sub-groups and run different missions if you have, say, 10 people). Not only that, it's just too risky to trust a random into your group -- why take that risk when you can meta the game and pre-make your group with people you trust (or come to trust) on forums/irc/irl/whatever. If you want to have friendly, social behavior in DayZ, then there needs to be goals that require 30+ people, where the group is always happy to have another helping hand. Base building is a start where players may be able to make trade cities (city owners/guards can then live off trade commissions instead of having to farm more dangerous areas). Maybe add various crafting skills (that you lose on death) -- maybe a bullet smith can trade ammo for meds from a doctor, but to make ammo he needs to trade some of the meds to the explosives guy who makes the gun powder. With the expected life spans, many players might actually choose to just specialize as it would take too long to raise every skill only to die and lose it all. Other players might help shuttle the goods around from base to base, server to server (hopefully just ONE server a la EVE when rocket is finished). In short, let's just wait and see how base building affects the equation.

You're 50/50 with the headshots because YOU suck.

You just suck. The point to using a silenced weapon is to silently headshot zeds without aggro (or alerting other players). the m9sd lets you do this while keeping a high powered primary for pvp (the bizon does WAY too little damage, especially post-patch, the m4sd is pretty good, but rarer IME).

Chris Grizzly should diaf

Usually those vehicles are being used by many players who have banded together to form a clan/tribe/etc. Seems kind of "realistic" to me. You need to stop sucking and play the game.

I don't see how that's any different than saying you should feel guilty for beating some one in a sports tournament. They've invested a year (or YEARS depending on whether it's their last year in highschool to win state or whatever), to get to some point in the tournament like semi's or finals, and you beat them. I've never felt guilt beating some one. You're consensual players in a competitive game.

I think they just have to realize that PvE can COMPLIMENT PvP (and vice versa), and that's what a sandbox game should aim to do.

guys guys, I've got it. Just have loot spawn in only one city. Now the game's harder!

unless there's a stackable item of some sort, it seems kind of pointless to try and make any sort of currency. I suppose something like NVG's or mountain dews would be easier to store than 10 slot weapons, but that's about it. And I assume most trades would be for ammo anyway, so a slot is a slot is a slot.

It's not "useless" per se, I've definitely ran into a couple vehicles at spawn points; the hard part is actually repairing it and getting it AWAY from the spawn, which I've never actually managed to do. All the vehicles I've used were stolen from some one else's camp. (let those big clans do the heavy lifting, it'd take me 9 hours to fix up a vehicle by myself) Pro-tip though, you can still use a vehicle even if the engine indicator is red (not sure about hull, or wheel indicators though, and I believe damaged fueltank will make the vehicle leak fuel, not positive), so if all the vehicle needs is engine parts, just go hide it somewhere first before looking for engine parts.

Honestly, the way you describe it doesn't sound like a sniper. I'm *assuming* you can tell the difference in sounds. Back when there was side chat, I killed a lot of people who then cried in global about a "sniper" when I just stalked them and waited for the opportune moment, usually killing them from sub-100m. I can't help but feel many "wahh sniper" posts suffer from this mistake. ie. just being completely outplayed and then crying sniper. With regards to the role of sniping in-game, I think overwatch is a huge part of any group, and group PvP as well. It adds a dynamic to positioning (and strategy/tactics in general) that just wouldn't be there without it. One of the *best* ways to practice is to try to kill the campers in Elektro/Cherno. Sniping isn't OP, and snipers are generally sitting ducks.

Completely speculative; it's just as likely that people would splinter off into numerous "tribes" and be extremely xenophobic. I honestly wouldn't feel comfortable staying somewhere once a stranger found out I lived there. Would *I* kill, rape, and pillage? No, that's not who I am -- but the thing about an RPG is I don't have to be who I am IRL. Only ~17% of players are bandits, and only ~15% of player deaths are due to murder. That's not a completely unrealistic scenario. I'm sorry the kids in the playground won't let you into their group, but it's perfectly reasonable. I don't trust you, I don't like you, I don't need you. Three strikes. Would you be more afraid of an animal or a human being that wanted to do you harm? Aside from the initial hysteria, zombies are just animals in large numbers. They are nowhere near as dangerous as human beings. And I think many post-apocalyptic stories stress this fact; that the scariest part of the apocalypse is the breakdown of civilization (ie. HUMAN RELATIONS). Imagine any of those stories with the caveat that the stores were still open, and people all communicated with each other using CB radios, trading what they needed with each other. Not so scary. I think most people have atrocious aim as is. In most fire fights, I see bullets landing AROUND me more often than not, it's actually pretty hilarious. I usually can run from cover to cover and expect NOT to be shot. I'm going to assume you've not even tried sniping past 300m in DayZ, just judging by your attitude. Say what you will about the cowardice of sniping, it takes a lot of skill to land some of those shots. If it's an easy shot, it's usually the MARK'S fault.

True but you can use a hatchet. @OP: every item you get adds another dimension to the game, good times in store for you :D

I think you're ignoring a pretty major factor; zombies are a huge part of *PvP* as well as PvE. You could be ready to unload on a group from a concealed position, but if you have zombies near you, that becomes an issue. Also, many (maybe even most) PvP encounters start with some one killing a zed only to have a player hear the shot. As far as zombie fixes go, it'd be nice if they ran at you like you'd expect; I'd also reeeallly like to see zombie hordes outside of cities pseudo-randomly like heli crash sites, just to add the "oh shit" factor when you aggro 40 zombies you had no idea were there. Spawning zeds only by buildings makes them a tad too predictable for my tastes.

Yea, why should there be an in-game object that people actually fight over, creating actual territories and rivalries?! Use your brain for a second. I have a hatchback, van, bus, pickup, and 2 atv's. Didn't get a single one from its actual spawn. Also dying in Elektro and taking 2 hours to find supplies both indicate you have no idea what you're doing.

I think "lulz" is just a bad descriptor for the poll. I definitely want the loot, and spend almost no time on the coast, but my motivator for PvP isn't just loot. For example, if rocket destroyed player loot instead of letting us loot our kills, I'd still be PvP'ing. But yes, PvP is far more interesting than proning around zombies and looting buildings; in fact the only reason looting buildings is interesting at all is the fact that there MIGHT be hostile players around.

lulz is probably not a good description, but I do mostly kill strictly for the enjoyment of PvP -- just out-thinking other players, figuring out what they're doing, remaining hidden until the opportune moment, positioning yourself for that shot without being seen, etc. And on the flip side, the excitement of not knowing when you're going to be ambushed, trying to have a plan for every possible scenario on a given "mission" (ie. might get ambushed in this clearing, send out one or two guys first and have the rest on standby at the treeline to counter-attack any enemies).

It's no less authentic than the fact that you carry knowledge from your previous life into your next one. If anything, direct chat needs a MUCH larger radius, this game would be fucking WORTHLESS without 3rd party voip.

L4D isn't a zombie game, you could just replace zombies with aliens and it'd be the same game! /sarcasm Zombies are just ONE part of the apocalypse. There's also supplies, territory, bandits, betrayal, etc. Just what have you actually DONE in DayZ? Because the complaints tend to come from players who have done jack shit in-game. "wahhh I was in cherno and some one shot me this isn't a zombie game!"

no DayZ is actually more like Asteroids. Stuff comes onto your screen and you point and shoot at it. Seriously though, I doubt you've done even 1% of the stuff there is to do in the game. Comparing dragging a fallen friend to cover and giving him a transfusion to running over a health powerup is a stretch, as is everything else you said (thus the asteroids analogy).

I'm assuming the algorithm will track for things like whether you're looting buildings in between server hops, sniping people and picking up murders, etc.

Yes that was just an example. The point would be to be able to put unique identifiers of some kind on players you've seen so you can recognize them again. Something differentiable that doesn't highlight from behind trees/bushes/terrain/etc like tags.

I think the issue is tags in general completely ruin this game. At the very least I still want to be able to make a group and at least have tags enabled for my own group (simulate ability to recognize your friends). It would be pretty cool if you could have unique skins that you could apply to players and mark them that way. So if you see a bandit you can give his skin a reddish hue or whatever (again, simulate recognition without ruining the game with tags).

I think the problem is you're only seeing one side of the story (in particular, the side of the victim that is just walking along and then suddenly headshot with no clue what happened). There is a LOT going on in the game. Building tent cities, acquiring vehicles & high end loot, defending your territory/tents/vehicles from other players, etc. I saw a heli crash and camped it till a pretty van pulled up, then slaughtered them, packed the loot into the van and took off. Some guy on a tractor was going off into the wilderness, I followed him and he immediately pulled a 180 once he saw us; we dispatched him (lost the tractor unfortunately), then followed his PREVIOUS trajectory to find a pickup truck with FN FAL, Bizon, etc. I've come across camps only to have our overwatch spot the owners and fought furiously over the loot. Moved our loot while defending our camp from people who found OUR stash. Yes the game is centered around PvP, but sandbox PvP is VERY dynamic; the goals of any player you come across differ drastically, and if you were the one SPOTTING instead of BEING spotted (and thus oblivious and suddenly domed), you'd see how rich the game ALREADY is. That said, obviously there's more to come; base building will hopefully make it easier to indulge in other aspects of the game like trade, post-apocalyptic/wild-west style civilization, etc.

server isn't coming up after an scheduled reset. HALP.