How to get back into DayZ?

[vodkaa 12]

I haven't played DayZ in about a month or two, and here are some of the reasons and hopefully someone could offer some assistance, whenever I play, I have THE worst luck, I mean, not just breaking a leg now and again, more like getting killed 5 times in the space of 20 minutes, breaking my leg, fixing it, breaking it again and then bleeding out, not finding a gun for an hour, finding one, then sniped by a player, ect, ect. But I don't know what it is, I mean, I get that feel now that if I go on, I'm going to wander for ages, find a decent gun, get all stocked up and then get killed, which makes me not play, I know, don't get attached to your gear, but I hardly even have any gear, I don't know if it's my play-style, I play solo, literally none of my friends have ARMA 2 OA and I don't ever team up on Skype or Teamspeak, nor will I, but I just don't know. The mod feels really.. pointless at times, even though I love it, I have no reason, but need one, to play it. If anyone could possibly offer any advice on how to get back into DayZ or how to make it exciting and fun again, it'd be much appreciated, so uh, yeah, welp.

TL;DR Bored of DayZ, need to get back into it, how, halp.

[The_Man 393]

I haven't played this game for months now. This is simply because playing alone is probably the most unrewarding experience. The game has recieved so much hype in these past months that is has attract so many people. This is good and bad. I am hoping that a lot of those players who play just to grief others (killing someone is not griefing in my opinion) are bored of it now. Anyway, it sounds like you need a partner or a group to play with. My suggestion is to find a group that isn't into hording items and simply goes on missions just for item searching. That becomes very boring quickly. Try to find a group that tries to find other people, build new outposts, help others, or maybe even kill others if that is your thing. Sounds like you need an objective and having a group is a great way to find one.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

If you haven't played for a while why not start fresh on a new map. I've been playing on Namalsk the last few days and it's great. It freshens up the whole experience.

[simasz 15]

I had a break as well. The main thing that dragged me back into the game was the new maps. The thrill of exploring new places and making opinions about how dangerous is one place or another.

So I would say try new maps, kind of a incentive to try out new stuff :)

[Inception. 9443]

NAMALSK

It's an awesome map. Play it.

[vodkaa 12]

Yeah, I might just do that. Yeah, I do need a group, but I'd prefer it with people I've known for a while and trust. Beans to you, The_Man, very true. Solo is extremely tedious and, like you said, unrewarding. A new map, yeah, I guess I could try that, after reading Urban legends of DayZ the vanilla map seems.. creepy, as hell :P. Also, playing with 30-40 FPS is a struggle, the game feels sluggish and slow. Luckily I'm getting an upgrade soon, thanks for the suggestions, really helpful.

Also, Keep those suggestions rolling in, it's great to get replies that are helpful.

Edited October 26, 2012 by VodkaCrads

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

This might sound strange, but ignore the guns for a while. Try playing with just a hatchet and flashlight (keeping your flashlight out at all times, using hatchet if you get cornered by zombies) it's actually amazing how much people respond to someone who poses little or no threat to them. Toggle direct chat on at all times, and don't be afraid to make noise, before you enter a building, call out, if you see someone, tell them you're friendly ASAP. If you want to spice things up, find a really nice primary weapon and give it a new spawn and see if they kill you with it. Or fill your backpack with hatchets and hand them out.

One thing I didn't like after playing DayZ for a while was the "mission" feeling I always had when playing. I had to get this, I had to get that, then I had to stay hidden, had to stay away from this or that, couldn't approach people for fear of death, etc, etc. I felt like my goals in the game were too artificial and forced. These days I let the DayZ world carry me wherever it wants. I go with the flow and accept whatever comes of it. I still act like the world is real, I run from danger and do what I need to survive. But, I've forced myself to stop doing things because I know it's a game. Like when I started playing, running around Cherno/Elecktro in daylight was my worst nightmare, these days it's my daily routine. Or when I started I would HAVE to find a decent weapon before I would feel like my game had begun. It was stupid, I was sabotaging my own fun by expecting certain things to happen. I've now learned to have fun by just letting things happen on their own.

[vodkaa 12]

This might sound strange, but ignore the guns for a while. Try playing with just a hatchet and flashlight (keeping your flashlight out at all times, using hatchet if you get cornered by zombies) it's actually amazing how much people respond to someone who poses little or no threat to them. Toggle direct chat on at all times, and don't be afraid to make noise, before you enter a building, call out, if you see someone, tell them you're friendly ASAP. If you want to spice things up, find a really nice primary weapon and give it a new spawn and see if they kill you with it. Or fill your backpack with hatchets and hand them out.

One thing I didn't like after playing DayZ for a while was the "mission" feeling I always had when playing. I had to get this, I had to get that, then I had to stay hidden, had to stay away from this or that, couldn't approach people for fear of death, etc, etc. I felt like my goals in the game were too artificial and forced. These days I let the DayZ world carry me wherever it wants. I go with the flow and accept whatever comes of it. I still act like the world is real, I run from danger and do what I need to survive. But, I've forced myself to stop doing things because I know it's a game. Like when I started playing, running around Cherno/Elecktro in daylight was my worst nightmare, these days it's my daily routine. Or when I started I would HAVE to find a decent weapon before I would feel like my game had begun. It was stupid, I was sabotaging my own fun by expecting certain things to happen. I've now learned to have fun by just letting things happen on their own.

Props to you. Very interesting idea indeed, yeah, that's what I feel like too, get this gun, get that, run to NWAF, run away from players, stay away from the cities, ect. But I like your idea more, the giving out idea is a pretty cool thing to do, but I can see being backstabbed by the players later on.

[vukster@gmail.com 75]

I haven't played DayZ in about a month or two, and here are some of the reasons and hopefully someone could offer some assistance, whenever I play, I have THE worst luck, I mean, not just breaking a leg now and again, more like getting killed 5 times in the space of 20 minutes, breaking my leg, fixing it, breaking it again and then bleeding out, not finding a gun for an hour, finding one, then sniped by a player, ect, ect. But I don't know what it is, I mean, I get that feel now that if I go on, I'm going to wander for ages, find a decent gun, get all stocked up and then get killed, which makes me not play, I know, don't get attached to your gear, but I hardly even have any gear, I don't know if it's my play-style, I play solo, literally none of my friends have ARMA 2 OA and I don't ever team up on Skype or Teamspeak, nor will I, but I just don't know. The mod feels really.. pointless at times, even though I love it, I have no reason, but need one, to play it. If anyone could possibly offer any advice on how to get back into DayZ or how to make it exciting and fun again, it'd be much appreciated, so uh, yeah, welp.

TL;DR Bored of DayZ, need to get back into it, how, halp.

Sounds like you should download the solo, single player mod just google it , it does exist and you can practice there before joining multiplayer. The single player is literally TWO files you have to copy and it works with 1.7.6.8, save your old files, dont overwrite the dayz_code.bpo, simply rename it to MP_dayz_code.bpo then copy the single player file, when you are ready to play again, rename the dayz code to sp_dayz_code.bpo and rename the MP back to just dayz_code.bpo..

This way you can enjoy dayz with or without any other players, plus in single player you can actually SAVE your game, so if you mess up you don't lose everything. Plus you can spawn gear and train how to use guns.

[vodkaa 12]

Sounds like you should download the solo, single player mod just google it , it does exist and you can practice there before joining multiplayer. The single player is literally TWO files you have to copy and it works with 1.7.6.8, save your old files, dont overwrite the dayz_code.bpo, simply rename it to MP_dayz_code.bpo then copy the single player file, when you are ready to play again, rename the dayz code to sp_dayz_code.bpo and rename the MP back to just dayz_code.bpo..

This way you can enjoy dayz with or without any other players, plus in single player you can actually SAVE your game, so if you mess up you don't lose everything. Plus you can spawn gear and train how to use guns.

Oh, wow. Didn't know that, I might give it a go. Bit creepy a huge world, one person and loads of zombies, though. I could imagine shitting my pants if I saw something move in the distance, ha.

[svenbreakfast 231]

Play on low pop servers or a private hive. That saves you from the bullshit or mouth breathers who get online and decide they will grief fresh spawns.

When I started DayZ my goal was to survive. On only a couple occasions did the game get as good as it got during the first few play sessions of a given life. A few times I survived for weeks only to die to a glitch. I realized that the only way to survive was to avoid danger. Which is boring.

So I decided to live along the coast, and eventually ended up in a series of encounters with another player on my low pop server which ended in me walking away almost dead and him dead. That was pretty much the "game over" screen for me.

I bugged out into the mountains for a long time.

After that I decided I would leave my tents and interact with people. I hung out in Berezino and killed lots and lots of zombies, trying out different weapons. I never shot another player (oddly never ran into bandits there, which I KOS). However, I did scare a lot of people. Nothing will mess with somebody more than them coming into a room and being told "freeze". I got a few people to drop their weapons and thank me for not killing them. Honestly giving them a scare was more rewarding than just killing them. It's probably a little more sadistic because the fear in their voices was often evident.

For me the magic of DayZ has always been that unnerving level of paranoia which I've not encountered in other games. So that was my present when I decided to give back to the community. I was surprised that I didn't get shot before I got bored.

All that said, I've chilled out a lot since my home server vanished and my tents with it. I generally stay up north, and have survived for months. I still have fun logging on, but now that I feel like my fate is in my own hands I'm just surviving until the stand-alone. I feel no need to head to a dangerous place and kill people.

DayZ is an emergent gaming experience. Adversity is best when it is un-looked for. It's a roleplaying game from my point of view, and a test of just how crafty you really are.

Play on low pop or private hive is my best advice. Beyond that overcome adversity, try some stuff out, and maybe be part of the environment to make other players lives more interesting. Honestly it sounds like your experiences are pretty interesting and I'm jealous in a way. I've been alive too long and had too many close calls to put myself in any serious danger anymore.

[sostronk 334]

Go play on a low population, or no population server. Simply run around Cherno and Elektro farming loot. Once you get a weapon and a few ammo clips go farm zombie kills. Rinse and Repeat. I did this ages ago and felt like I learnt alot from the game in doing so. I learnt how to deal with the Zombie mechanics and I know the two most populated areas, Cherno and Elektro, like the back of my hand. Farming zombies was also how I learnt to aim properly and a number of the mechanics associated with it. I know alot of people hate the whole "single player" concept, but it really helps with that early learning curve this game has that alot of people struggle with. Once you have done that go do the same in other places as it will give you a better idea of the map and give you some good experience before playing "multiplayer".

Edited October 27, 2012 by sostronk

[vodkaa 12]

Play on low pop servers or a private hive. That saves you from the bullshit or mouth breathers who get online and decide they will grief fresh spawns.

When I started DayZ my goal was to survive. On only a couple occasions did the game get as good as it got during the first few play sessions of a given life. A few times I survived for weeks only to die to a glitch. I realized that the only way to survive was to avoid danger. Which is boring.

So I decided to live along the coast, and eventually ended up in a series of encounters with another player on my low pop server which ended in me walking away almost dead and him dead. That was pretty much the "game over" screen for me.

I bugged out into the mountains for a long time.

After that I decided I would leave my tents and interact with people. I hung out in Berezino and killed lots and lots of zombies, trying out different weapons. I never shot another player (oddly never ran into bandits there, which I KOS). However, I did scare a lot of people. Nothing will mess with somebody more than them coming into a room and being told "freeze". I got a few people to drop their weapons and thank me for not killing them. Honestly giving them a scare was more rewarding than just killing them. It's probably a little more sadistic because the fear in their voices was often evident.

For me the magic of DayZ has always been that unnerving level of paranoia which I've not encountered in other games. So that was my present when I decided to give back to the community. I was surprised that I didn't get shot before I got bored.

All that said, I've chilled out a lot since my home server vanished and my tents with it. I generally stay up north, and have survived for months. I still have fun logging on, but now that I feel like my fate is in my own hands I'm just surviving until the stand-alone. I feel no need to head to a dangerous place and kill people.

DayZ is an emergent gaming experience. Adversity is best when it is un-looked for. It's a roleplaying game from my point of view, and a test of just how crafty you really are.

Play on low pop or private hive is my best advice. Beyond that overcome adversity, try some stuff out, and maybe be part of the environment to make other players lives more interesting. Honestly it sounds like your experiences are pretty interesting and I'm jealous in a way. I've been alive too long and had too many close calls to put myself in any serious danger anymore.

Funny thing, I do play on Low pop servers, never played a private hive (to my knowing) But I think the solo experience isn't all that rewarding, having a group of 3 would feel more natural to me, repairing cars, helicopters, ect. I've seen FrankieOnPC do that, "Hey buddy, drop your weapons, don't turn towards me or I'll shoot" it's a pretty good tactic, actually, and I haven't seen him die from it, even if they do turn, they die instantly. The friendly approach to players seems better, but it's hard to get used to, every single player I've come across has shot me and either ended in their death, then me bleeding out on the floor.

As for the paranoia, I totally agree. I was checking my back every minute in Cherno and the forests, but mainly in the big cities, I always feel like I'm achieving nothing. I'll say the best gun I've had in the game is an AK. I'm terrible at looting, well, I have the worst luck at loot. It may be my play-style, I'm not sure. But the excitement and magic hasn't been in DayZ after a couple of months. I mean, the first time I played, I got chased by a player with an axe and got killed, fresh spawn, too. I don't know what it is, to be honest.

[vodkaa 12]

Hopping on Namalsk now, hopefully it's refreshing and gets me back into DayZ - Wish me luck!