Lights Out

Updated my original post refining the feature and adding what I feel this feature will give the game. Let me know what you think.

Love it. From what I understand you're still allowing players to play however they want but your giving proper, realistic consequences. You can be a lone wolf, but doing everything alone will be a problem. It's good because you do what you want, have no one else to worry about and can take all the loot for yourself. You also don't have to worry about group members betraying you. No group decisions. However there's also alot to do to survive. It should be tough. Getting into sketchy situations with zombies will prove deadly for you. Groups of bandits will have a field day with you too. You're limited as far as location you can loot. Many are infested with large amounts of zombies but only one of you. You can be a bandit. Group up with other bandits even. Seems like you get the best of both worlds and you kind of do. However if you're surviving by just killing other players, well you're gunshots are going to get you into deadly situations with zombies quite often. Different guns have a varying sound radius. Every zombie within that radius may not come straight to you but they will be coming from every direction to investigate that sound. better hope you're not spotted. With zombies being more deadly, maybe even an X% chance of contracting the virus, you're going to get yourself in hot water often. Better have your tactics planned out carefully. You can group up with survivors.You tactfully survive. Maybe you go from city to city looting. Maybe you go hunting for animals. Killing players isn't really your style. When you're grouped up though, others players action affect you directly. Trust can be a dangerous thing. Furthermore, what happens when everyone is starving and you haven't found food in a long time. One can of beans is found. Who gets it? Do you share, there's only so much in a can. Maybe there's a lone player in the forest, ordinarily your friendly but he could have some precious food that you desperately need at this point. You going to kill him? Maybe surround him and make him drop his food? How long do you hold onto your morals? Maybe you're getting chased by a town full of zombies. Doesn't look like you're going to make it out alive. Do you persist anyway? Or are you thinking about capping one of your group members in the leg so the rest of you can get away while they eat up your friend. What happens when you disagree and or trusts are questioned or broken. Side note for standalone feature: I'd love to see this virus be contagious through attacks by the infected/zombies. Say you have an X% chance of contracting the virus during attacks by the infected. If infected, you would have X amount of time to get antibiotics to stop the virus. The body temperature mechanic can be put to use here. As the virus takes over, you get a fever and your body temperature increases. Maybe some visuals? Dizzyness? Blurred vision? Time until the virus takes over varies a bit so you don't know when you'll turn. Just an idea. Finally without notice you get a "you died" screen pop up. However it's not over for your group. Your body now turned into a reanimated infected NPC and without notice. Did you even tell your friends that you were running a fever and might be infected? You're reanimated infected body will attack them without notice. They may now also be infected. Do you trust a group member if he says he hasnt been infected after an attack from an infected or cast him out from the group? Would you tell your group you're infected? They may shoot you in the head for their own safety. Then you lose everything you've worked for with your character. You could suggest looting a hospital "for fun" hoping you'll find antibiotics and avoid the whole situation. They may find your request suspicious though. This will give your team an extra decision to make. A decision that really drags you into the game. you're making a decision that matters. If you know someones contracted the virus, how long do you wait and scavenge for antibiotics until you put a bullet in their head for your own safety. Maybe you have antibiotics. However you may need them later if you get the virus. Do you give your only bottle of antibiotics up? You just got attacked by a bunch of zombies, is someone infected and not telling you. This adds so much more depth to the game.

I understand what you're saying. I agree that many things have to be revamped including the bleeding and medical systems however this is not just a survival game but a ZOMBIE survival game. I feel it's very important to raise the threat level of zombies. Currently I feel there are of no threat. It's perfectly fine to make the damage they do realistic, I actually like the idea very much. I also think there should be an X% chance of contracting the virus during zombie attacks though. Will make zombies something to be feared in the game. After this you would have X amount of time to find antibiotics. This feature could utilize the body temperature mechanic by having your body temperature increase as the virus begins to take over your body. If after X amount of time you aren't treated, well you die like you do now, however your body now becomes an infected NPC.

If you're going to dumb down the amount of damage a zombie does then you have to put in the ability to get infected. The zombies are already entirely too easy.

Not really much he can add with the game in a MOD form. Hoping for a lot more features and things to do in the standalone. I hope it's much harder to scavenge and survive especially alone, zombies become more fluid/greater amount and of a higher threat (currently they are way to easy, and this is a ZOMBIE survival game after all), and just gives us more to work for and achieve so dying and losing everything is more devastating. I definitely agree that at this point, there isn't much to do and that contributes to everyone just killing. Not much else to do besides that. Hopefully the freedom that the standalone gives will allow for a lot more gameplay. Rocket personally has some ambitious ideas and I've seen a lot of great ideas floating around the forum.

I really just want him to get this MOD stable to please everyone complaining about having to pay for the standalone. Then just put everything at his disposal towards getting the standalone alpha out.

I want to see some random crazy storms as others have mentioned all over the forums.

You'll realize FF being turned off takes a serious element out of the game. As far as making punishments for killing, well no. No play style should be punished.This would be a real life risk during an apocalypse when there is no law to hold you accountable. Whether someone kills you out of fear of your own intentions, just to get what you have in order to survive, or just killing because you're not all there in the head are all viable, real world reasons. Every encounter is a risk and that's the way it should be. Increases the overall tension and fear in the game. When zombies become a higher threat it will further change the way the games played. If anything they need to implement something that makes character more unique and differentiates them. This would make them an asset in a group setting which will make surviving not necessarily easy, but more manageable. There have been many threads talking about doing this in a variety of ways. One being making people better at certain survival situations after being alive for an X amount of time and doing an action X amount of times. NOT A SKILL TREES, POINTS, OR PVP ADVANTAGES. I can't stress that enough. Also limiting the number of things you can be good at to lets say 1 or 2 max. This would give a reason to team up as you would want to have people good at a variety of things to make surviving more manageable. Is this definitely the way to do it? Maybe not but you get the point I'm trying to make. Surviving also needs to be a lot tougher because currently it isn't hard enough but there's more room for progress in the standalone, so that's complete other story. Going solo wouldn't be punished but it would be much tougher as it should be. Teaming up wouldn't be easy by any means, just more manageable, especially if in a tight spot with zombies closing in on you. However I can't stress it enough, killing, despite the reason needs to stay as it is. It's a vital part of the game and is a realistic, real world issue. Especially in an apocalyptic setting. Also realize that in the standalone, when duping is taken care of, all these high powered weapons won't be an issue. This will make killing everyone on sight much more difficult. Not to mention zombies are expected to be of a much higher threat, so firing your weapon as you wish will be quite a risk.

How do you deal with player's friends who are sharing the bunker. Will all of their stuff that's there disappear? If not and they are now able to use that bunker, what stops the recently dead player from making a new character, meeting back up with them and just getting his stuff back? Would kind of take away from what permadeath is meant to be. There needs to be some kind of chance of losing stuff somehow even if it is to other players. Having something that is 100% secure isn't fun. It feels too "safe" for me. Bunkers can't be 100% safe, especially through death.

I also agree food/water intake should on be based on playtime. Whether your logged off for 1 day or 1 week, both players come back with their hunger/thirst bars equally depleted. To add to your post, I was on another post last week ( can't quite remember the OP) and he suggested delusions and hallucinations when your starvation/dehydration/blood loss got to a certain point. This would be in addition to random screen blurs as your character may get light headed. Basically once you hit this point you may start hearing things and or seeing things on the corner of you're screen and or in the distance. Thought it would be pretty realistic and it would make getting to that point of dehydration/starvation that much more terrible. Would be funny if there was water in a loot pile that you can't click over to your inventory hahaha well that would be cruel but I'm kidding about this last part anyway.

Just put bears in the stand alone. Running into a bear, in the middle of the woods, and at night would be a pretty deadly situation. If darkness is relatively the same, being unable to localize a position of a bear in the woods could be trouble. Bears are fast, strong and aggressive. It's realistic and fits the game.

1) Skin color 2) Age 3) Hairstyle 4) Face customization 5) Height and weight 6) Clothes (Only civilian clothes, anything else should have to be found in game.) Should also be layered so you can mix and match or wear nothing if you really want to be that douche running around in your underwear lol (Shoes, socks, pants, shirt, jacket, hat, gloves, etc. etc.) Some military stuff should be able to be worn over clothes. 7) Small clan badge for clothing would be cool as well

What rules would you implement? Rules against killing as one wishes would take away from the game. This is just something you'd have to deal with in a apocalyptic situation. I personally don't kill without reason but if I knew I'd never be killed, well it would take away that tense feeling i get when I see a player I don't know. You have to take a chance sometimes if you want to meet players and see what kind of intentions they have. You ,must decide if it is worth it. So what rules exactly do you wish to implement? Secondly, you must consider that even if you have positive intentions with this extra admin power, realize others may not and this is where the problem arises. It only takes a few bad apples to spoil a bunch.

As much as you don't want to wait forever to build a bunker it should not be easily obtainable. If it is then everyone is going to have one and it won't be anything special. You should have to build it slowly and put work into it including upkeep. This will make dying and losing a bunker that much more devastating. I feel this is a crucial element of the game, making permadeath horrible, you should really lose alot in death. I also question what will happen with the bunkers. Seems like sooner or later the whole map could be filled wall to wall with bunkers like apartments. Can they be looted and destroyed? Can I break into it? Blow the door off? Blow the walls in and get rid of the bunker?

I'm not saying I want this game to turn into every other mainstream game because I want it to stay hardcore. However, the game needs to evolve. This needs to start by giving players more to work towards and making permadeath in the game more devastating. You need to seriously lose SO MUCH by dying. This will in turn make encounters with anything you don't trust that much more tense which will add to the fear, immersiveness and depth of the game. Skill should aid survival (as mentioned in the OP only an X amount of skills can be learned and NO direct PvP advantage skills) and will give players more individuality. This will in turn make players assets in group settings. This will encourage team play to make surviving more manageable. Lone wolfs would have a tougher time as they should, however it's doable. Open your minds.

I've personally made a thread about this and I've seen it randomly mentioned throughout many topics. I've decided to make it into a poll to see what everything thinks is best. I also plan on updating the pros and cons to each type depending on what the DayZ community is posting. I'll try my best to weed through it all and find the best and most key points. Which route do you think the DayZ standalone should take as far as the type of zombies we're dealing with. I feel it can be broken down into two main categories: The Undead In a nutshell, this zombie was infected by a virus that killed them and reanimated them without cognitive abilities. They are now driven by a mindless urge to feast on flesh. (Ex. The Walking Dead) -This can add an interesting element to the game. You're previous dead player could be found lurking around the server. -Gives a realistic way of spawning new characters. -Players killed by zombies would reanimate as zombie NPCs after a given amount of time. -Could even take a "Walking Dead" route in which every player has the virus dormant in their body and when you die (unless you're shot in the head) you will be a reanimated NPC. -Zombies could have varying speed depending on how long the zombie has been alive and decomposition of the body. -It would take more shots or a more precise shot to the head to kill them. Some zombies would take a hit to their speed after a certain level of decomposition but every zombie now has stronger characteristics. -When you're friend is infected, how long do you look for antibiotics before you put a bullet in his head for you're own safety. The Infected This type of zombie was simply infected by a virus which caused intense sickness and fever which eventually over ran their body. They are now driven by a aggressive need to feed on flesh. These zombies tend to be of the faster, crazy sort. Decomposition is not an issue here as they are technically live humans, however the virus has taken over. They can be killed by conventional means however they are much quicker and aggressive. (Ex. I Am Legend and 28 Days Later) -Being that decomposition is not an issue, these zombies are fast and that isn't changing until they're living no more. -These zombies seem to be a bit more enraged rather that mindless. Would be more brutal being attacked by these and maybe be harder to escape.

Trust me, it won't go console. Just the sheer size of the map, amount of NPCs and amount of players per server just will not be playable on console. Get use to keyboard and mouse, if you try using a controller you'll get worked in a firefight.

Rocket said he's already implementing something like this.

Haha I just imagined running into a bunch of zombies in elektro doing the thriller dance.

Never played warz. I mean I could be completely wrong. Even something as minuscule as I suggested with the tiniest of skills may not work. I do agree in its current form, I still have a LOAD of fun with DayZ. But might as well voice your ideas and critique other's ideas and give your input. You could form a completely new idea that you never intended that actually works.

Not sure, I think we need more opinions on it and it would have to be play tested. No problem, just wanted to clarify that we both had the same idea. I wouldn't say you NEED the skill to completely stop the bleeding with a bandage but I would say there's an X% chance of needing more then one bandage to completely stop the bleeding right away. I would also make bandaging take longer for someone without the skill. This timing could prove crucial in certain situations. It's alright if they want to stay logged in to regenerate blood. They can't just leave their character there as they still have to worry about eating and drinking to stay alive. Also if Rocket implements weather changing they'll have to keep an eye on weather changes and their temperature. You may say weather doesn't change that quickly but when I said it regenerate slowly, I meant really SLOW. Realistically slow. And of course, zombies and other players could come along and kill them. There's a few things in place already that would stop them from just leaving their game running and not paying attention. But yes, the food definitely should not give you instant blood regeneration.

Using a gun in a very zombie populated area could bring along a similar effect. However instead of a wave, they would be drawn to the relative location of the shot from all directions with a certain radius.

Get your glowsticks ready! It is a great idea though, I'd bug out if I saw that. And I second shooting a survivor in the knee cap to survive despite never normally killing any.

Theres suppose to be a lot more features and more difficulty in the stand alone. Being that the game is currently only a MOD there are a load of limitations. I would wait to see what he does with the Standalone. The regular game itself may give you more then enough to satisfy the gameplay you're looking for. From interviews I've read, his ideas are pretty ambitious. Not to mention plans to implement ours as well. Maybe he can implement some server tweaks where you could increase zombie counts and or decrease loot to make it much more difficult for you. Item wise, I believe the stand alone is already going to add a plethora of items. Including guns and other tools/clothing.

No, as said, players would play differently to up their rank. It would influence their decisions which takes away from the game. DayZ already has what i would call an "unofficial ranking system". If you're someone who saves a lot of wounded players, players may mention you on the server as a known person who helps others. Or if you're killing everyone, they may say watch out for so and so because they shoot you on sight. Or this group of people have been held up at this location and have been surviving for a long time, we should try and join them because they have so much stuff at their base. That is our DayZ "ranking system". Word of mouth by other players based on your actions. And that's the way it should stay. Write your own story, don't dumb it down to a board of names with numbers by it.