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It would be wise to experiment with certain restrictions regarding spawnlocation when switching servers before aboveground bases are implemented. For the time being, we could pretend high-tier-loot-spawn-locations are player bases that need to be protected from ghosting.

It would not nullify the timers at all. It would actually make them more crucial as this is essentially making ghosting a function of the game. I have also heard some suggest that what about when a survivor gets disconnected, but is with a group. The solution, imho, is more about making it so that players choose, with their own free-will, not to log off in these places (sometimes it cannot be helped, d/c or rl situations), because it is in the best interest of their survival.

Hello guys, first of all I have to say sorry to everyone that will read this for my bad english, I'll try my best. I will try to explain what i mean without doing a WOT. I am grateful that the devs listen to the community, implementing a sort of system to prevent server hopping, ghosting and camping, with the penalties of the 30 secs CD on logout and the CD for the server switches. The number of people that does this is reduced and i'm happy but i think that there can be a very easy system to definitely put an end to this, the solution i was wondering about is to move out the people that log out into towns and airport zones. If they log out and then log in before a CD of 30 minutes, they will be teleported in a random place close to the city but outside of it, so they can't camp the buildings where weapons spawns or places like roofs and so. I think that if this feature can be implemented will give a great improvement to the gameplay and there aren't any bad aftereffects when this will work properly without bugs !! Also this could make useless the CD timer for switching between servers, or you can still put it on, it's the same, it's up to you, but really, this is needed. I hope that devs will look into this and will use this idea as a prevention system !! Thank You for your consideration !!

I think we can all agree to the 5 min cd fixing ghosting. What if we were not allowed to pick up any item for 15 mins after a server switch? You can still switch servers after the 5 min cd and use the 15 mins "item pickup cd" to relocate, meet up with friends, etc. The anti-hopper buffer is now 20 mins, but only 5 of those consist of twiddling thumbs. imo the "Item Pickup" cd should start running after the "anti ghosting" cd, so that if you prefer to twiddle thumbs for 20 mins instead of 5, it is an option. Combining this measure with randomized loot spawns will further reduce hopping efficiency. Another measure that crossed my mind is no spawn zones around all high tier spawnlocations. This measure is more annoying because players wont like the uncertainty of randomly spawning somewhere outside the (presumably safe) place they just came from, and making fixed spawnpoints for players that try to spawn within a no-spawn zone, will lead to spawn camping. Regarding the idea to make server switching players spawn on the coast; how about the complete opposite: Have them spawn on the northern or western parts of the map. (still quite far from anything useful, i assure you). An idea for the far far future: Link up servers in a massive world and switch servers by walking into the proper direction. Nodes can be reinforced if necessary to allow for high player concentrations. Howmany Z would there be in Moscow?

yeah hopping is something that will always exist is my opinion, but I have noticed the timers seems to be doing a decent job of eliminating combat logging/ghosting. Ghosting is still somewhat possible but difficult to do, and combat logging is often suicide. In my opinion, these were much greater issues than server hopping, because without respawning loot, server hopping is very high right now.

The building-reinforcement-thing would have to be coded in that fashion that "ghosting-in" via server-change would be impossible...

A game is a game, for you it might be retarded, for me it might not be. Really. He wouldn't be shooting at a bambi, but a geared relocated player. Bambi hunters hunt bambis because it's safe. It wouldn't be any more. Sorry, don't understand you here... Are you implying that you like ghosting and support a flawed game mechanic because it gives you and advantage since you can't play?

I don't seem to see any difference in server hopper behaviour with or without that rejoin cooldown timer. I play on 2h restart servers and most military bases/houses are picked clean within 15 min after restart. I even stayed near the NEAF and watched what was going on from the hill - 3 instances within first 15 min after restart where some player spawned in one of the barracks run through all the buildings to the other barracks and didn't come out (logged out). I assume this is what happens everywhere else on the map. My opinion - the timer doesn't help shit. Or maybe it does, but the impact is just too small. Why not increase it to 30 min? Or an hour? Hell, Infestation (aka WarZ) had an hour cooldown if you died, why DayZ can't have an hour cooldown when you switch servers? Or give the player 3 options: 1. Wait an hour and spawn where you logged out. 2. Relocate (not respawn) to the coast and try to make it back. 3. Just rejoin the last played server without any consequences. There you go! Server hopping and ghosting killed with one stone. :P

This has been discussed and it is the price we pay to prevent server hopping/ghosting.

i am convinced that the reason it was implemented at this stage was not because it was on the development manifest for now. it was added to respond to the extreme dissatisfaction of the community with the undesired behaviour of a number of players. one of the advantages of agile development is being able to react to challenges on short notice. so despite the fact that most of the gameplay isnt even implemented, and despite the fact that the undesired behaviour of logging and ghosting had no detrimental effect on testing in general, a significant and vocal part of the community chose to focus on this issue. while irrelevant to the game at this stage, it was given a "fix" to accomodate the community. was it right to give in to the demands of the community and commit ressources to fix it at this stage? thats up for debate. but did it negatively impact the development, did it withdraw a significant amount of resources from the core roadmap? i doubt it. it was added because it could be added, at a affordable resource cost of man-hours. it is quite amazing how people with no insight into the project jump to assumptions and want to tell others how to set priorities. i would assume your experience as project manager is quite extensive, as you can extrapolate such knowledge from publicly available information? or rather none at all, and it is all based on the infamous 'gut feeling'?

Ehem... not all of us who use it defend it to the death. What we point out is that it is UNENFORCABLE to disallow it. Even with ingame systems there is no way to prevent third party communication from being used. I can run skype/Mumble/TS on my tablet and use that with my headphones and no software on my computer will every pick it up so there is no way you can enforce the "no TeamSpeak" system. Look at the community playing who server hop for items and to ghost in behind someone. There is no way they won't abuse third party communication if the rest of us don't. That being said when in a community that is self enforcing and closed having things like the ACRE system for communication is excellent and fun. What is cheating. I would say it runs hand in hand with "Exploits". Now, exploits are using something in the game in a manner not intended by the game designers. What does that mean? Well, Gamma slider was intended to help you set your graphics to a comfortable viewing level. It was not intended to make nights less dark. So is sliding Gamma all the way up cheating? Yes. The Hive was not intended for people to farm loot, it was so that you could switch to another server if the one you wanted to log into was full or down or something else was going on. It was not intended for people to log out in one spot on one server near loot so they could quickly grab that loot on several other servers or to log out, move around someone, then log back into the first server and shoot them. So both Server Hopping and Ghosting are cheating. Same thing with modifying your files so the game doesn't draw certain textures fully and gives you a "Wallhack". Same with spawning in items.

Considering combat logging and ghosting/hopping has been an issue since the beginning of the mod, yes "fixing" it or at least implementing what was done was important. To someone coming in "cold" without having experienced the mod it may seem like it's a minor issue, if even one. Since all servers are enforced to be public the ability to have either have a passworded or a private hive aren't options. A major exploit (temp?) patch is good for the health of the players and testing. As for "priorities", we simply do not know what they are, how often they change, and who is working on want to assume any real knowledge of their priorites. What information we've got about any aspect must be taken as a "grain of salt". As more builds come, much more will be implemented and with that we will begin to see the fruits of their labors and can then make conjecture about where their priorities were.

I only get the timer when I try to log into a server that I just logged out of. I can switch servers without experiencing it. I think, now you have me questioning my sanity because I thought that feature was implemented to prevent ghosting. EDIT: Also, just from following rocket on twitter, reddit, twitch streams, and here, it seems the main priorities at the moment are zombie and loot respawning. While they work on these larger issues, they are fixing bugs, adding items, and making improvements to the mechanics where they can. Honestly, I play a lot of alpha games and this one is rolling along much better than most.

Combat logging, server hopping & ghosting are IMO game breaking exploits. And need to be addressed from the get go. So i'm surprised they are only approaching a system to combat it now. IMO it should have been in place before the alpha went public.

I've noticed it as well, but figure, only way to stop the loot farming server hoping is to require a character to only play on the server it was created on, not cross to another server once geared. If your character could not jump to another server, you'd play on selected servers more often, rather than jump, because if you select a different server, you start with a newb. Even if you have a character on every server out there, you will eventually come to use a selected few, as main gameplay. It would also stop ghosting, if your character restarted in same exact place as he logged off, on same exact server. Ghosting is totally not stopped yet, ghosting just takes longer to do now. I don't mind too bad when my character dies. I feel the struggle at the start is half the fun. Because I'm not a player killer just for shats and giggles, I tend to get more bored with the fully geared one, that I know, is doomed to die at a certain point, because of the KOS crowd. (yes, I too know it's alpha, and things will change) @ OP Semper Fi

I think their primary goal was preventing combat loggers and ghosting. You have to keep in mind that with an Alpha release there's a million and one ways to lose connection with a server, so extensive punishments would be unjust to people who are legitimately having difficulty staying connected or have legitimate reasons to leave briefly. The 5 for <30 penalty is merely a way to slow down the hopping, but no matter what there's no way to eliminate it entirely. Try this: only play in servers with >5 people. Hoppers looking for gear will likely hang around airfields, thus a populated server exponentially increases their likelihood of earning a lead injection. This way you'll be in servers that will/may have been 'legitimately' raided, and you can barter or scrounge like the devs intended.

You are making some assumptions there. Ghosting has been reduced. A person could, once in a while if on the same server, ghost once in a fire fight. But to say that it hasn't improved doesn't really make sense. I have played quite a lot lately and I haven't had a case of ghosting yet.

I've gotten ghosted like crazy over the past few days, nothing's changed on my end. I'm cooped up at someplace with shots firing around me, I can't go out the front door because it's clear suicide, so I lean out a window or door and return fire. After a while no one's shooting. Great! He's either 1) ghosting me or 2) just there lying in wait. I'll go outside and take my chances. Well, I got shot in the face. Rewind. I'll stay there and wait for some more time. Well, I got shot in the back. All of this assuming I'm fighting ONE person. If you've been on the server for a while, you can just log out and log back in without waiting too much. So no, it hasn't been fixed. It's more difficult, or more precisely, more situational, but it's still very doable and very much a threat to the wellbeing of any character.

You think it isn't almost entirely solved? That is hilarious. The real issue with combat loggers was that they would vanish in the middle of being shot. Now, there is a risk. 30 seconds is a long time unless you have put yourself in an incredibly safe area and fired enough rounds to discourage people from sprinting to your position to kill you. Ghosting is very difficult unless it is a crazy long fire fight. Logging out and then having to log in a minute or five later to try and ghost is difficult and dangerous.

Love DayZ, but I have to admit I wouldn't recommend it to anyone until loot and zombie respawning are in place (and ideally some zombie AI/collision detection). So in that sense it's a "No". Do I still play it? On and off, I played it pretty regularly when it first came out as it was such a departure to the mod, but as there is no zombie/loot respawning I think there is a limit to the fun to be had and your enjoyment is primarily linked to how recently the server has been restarted and I have tailed off quite a bit. At least the ghosting and server hopping has been resolved to an extent. Thing is, it's all fine and well for me to say "No" because I have played it, for those who haven't the temptation will be just too great.

I'm sorry, you think combat logging and ghosting are fixed now? That's hilarious.

Who are you talking to? ME? Server hoping was NOT fixed. Combat logging and ghosting was. I "bitched" about nothing. Merely commented on my own personal observations of recent events. I knew this was going to happen. I hoped it would take a little longer, but here it is. Why is it that whenever someone tries to talk about or discuss something in an intelligent and thoughtful manner around here, someone feels the need to enter into it in a manner that is either trollish, insulting, or both? Ignoring for a moment the manner in which you seem to be rudely attacking my views on the matter, NO. I do not have EMPIRICAL evidence. I didn't record anything, or take notes, or make any videos. NO, it is not an OPINION, but an observation of events and an assumption formed thereof, and NO, it is not just my experience (others have stated in this very thread that they share, to some extent, my experiences. If my "analysis" seems "simplistic", as you so rudely point out, its because I DONT have any empirical data to quote. You agree with me that server hoping is a problem, yet in the same sentence shoot down my views on why it is happening. Why? You failed to mention YOUR views on the matter, but have no problem in telling me that I am wrong, and in a manner which is somewhat snarky. Unless you have something to contribute yourself, don't agree with me then insult me and tell me Im wrong. It is uncalled for and unnecessary. If you don't agree with something i have said, there is a proper way to tell me so.

To be honest, I don't mind the 300 second ban a bit. Got dropped from servers, changed it myself, got kicked... 300 Seconds to wait? Okay, cool, time to "use the bathroom", turn around and watch the TV or alt-tab out and plan the next route to go. Seriously, I know it is a pain in the ass to get kicked from a server twice and have to wait... but then again: You wander around in this game for hours and hours and nothing happens till you get shot from nowhere and start all over and run around for hours and hours till you get shot from nowhere and start all over... And you still are mad about wating 5 Minutes to join a server, even though this prevents other players from killing you with cheap tricks like ghosting? Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to mock you, but you should think about it this way. :)

I'm sure the Devs would ultimately like as many people as possible playing their game. It will after all be a product to be sold, so it seems they wouldn't want to drive away players / potential players. But.... there's an awful lot of people, when they read the thousandth "some people starting to loose [sic] interest", think "Good". And go on to think "I hope you tire of it because your attention span is so poor, your commitment to supporting an alpha through it's development stages until full release is so lacking, your impatient 'never happy with anything' attitude is so tied to sucking the life out of other people's patient tolerance of you and your complaints". It makes some people want to say "Good, good, good, I hope by the time this game is fully realised you and all of the KoS, ghosting, combat logging, CoD minded, whiny, moany, immature, barely literate dipsticks have been purged from the game. Forever." I wouldn't say anything like that myself of course, perish the thought. But some might.

Trust me when I say this: "Combat Logging, Loot Hopping, Ghosting" are not the main problems during the test phase. These are merely symptoms of far greater problems that need fixing, problems that need fixing before anyone even thinks this is a game worth releasing on the retail market.