Amazing game takes dive. Player worries.

[benjamina 1]

Kinda aimed at rocket, but just general thoughts rly..

Like most of the peeps here I play in a larger group of people, spend way too much time playing, and take it too seriously! :D. And tend to hear a lot of opinions and whatnot over comms. So, this is what seems to be the consensus, at least within our little community. I'm not going to concentrate on the smaller things here, glitches and so on. Rather on the more serious, game shaping issues. Maybe a few people agree?.

The night time/lighting policy requires an entire re-think. Sending players out with flashlights is not a solution, it's going in completely the wrong direction, and glossing over a much bigger issue. The fact is that at night, with the current lighting and gamma settings, you can't see anything at-all. And carrying a torch around the middle of cherno isn't an option. So the server clears. Every time, night = dead server. It equals no players. No-one wants to walk around a black screen, it's as simple as that. I absolutely understand the desire for ambiance and claustrophobia, and fear!. And for the need to avoid allowing the game to turn into a massive gamma driven PvP event.. But it's really looking like this isn't the way to go about it. You can't force people to run around throwing flares. It feels unnatural, and stupidly dangerous, given the environment. And doesn't at all suit the more serious gamer!.. Please do something about it, because at 9pm GMT, Europe feels like it loses it's game.

PvP is important. There's such a fine balance with regards to PvP within a zombie/npc environment. And I feel that the onus is being shifted too far towards the role of one who is avoiding zombies, at the expense of an enjoyable co-op and PvP experience. We need a scary, serious game. But also a fun game. I don't want to have to prone all the way through a city. It's not fun, and it's not immerse. I want to be able to crouch walk, fairly close to zombies. Certainly at night. To have a freedom to pay lip service to the threat, but to ultimately be able to weave a line through them, and get on with whatever I'm doing (get on with the immersive task that's got me playing for 10 hours at a time)..

Line of sight is great. But again, we're glossing over an issue, rather than dealing with it and adding new and amazing things. Rein the sensitivity in dude.

Spawning with a bandage, painkillers and a torch...

. . I spawn at Elektro. Completely defenseless. I have a limited amount of time to find food and water. So I have to go into town, when really.. Who on earth wants to go into town?, I just died up north, all my friends are raiding the airfield. And you just added another 45 mins to my travel time!. Why would you do that to me? :[. Add to this it's pitch black, and I'm using a flashlight. Any player who got there, and got to the guns before me, kills me. If I get there first and find a gun, I have no choice but to kill anyone I see, because if I don't, they're gonna see me prancing about like a total noob with a flashlight in 5 mins time and blow me away. Anybody on the server coming south with NVG's is a god, and cannot be passed or beaten.

So I'm walking from the beach, and I'm annoyed. I'm looking at 45 mins of trying to stay a million miles away from a trillion very sensitive zombies, entering a town, no idea where I'm going because I can't dare use my flashlight, and I don't even have a crappy little makarov to defend myself :[. I have to switch to a daytime server, and make sure there aren't many people on. And that's not immersion :[, it's lots of sighing and many sads (and frankly, there aren't enough good servers to make the game playable in that way atm).

It feels like it's been included to add a little initial sense of atmosphere for the noobies, without really thinking about the impact on the more experienced players, who's survival game is a more long term affair, and who's spawn gear is a means to at least have a little chance of survival in the short term.. You nerfed hope, brother! :D.

Life has to be precious. Losing a life, and starting again from the shore with very little has to mean something. It has to be a pita. I really understand that, and it's one of the great balancing acts that makes the game so unique. But we need to remember too that for a large percentage of the player base, life is up north, it's playing with friends and exploring the landscape. The 1:30hr or so it took to get up north before the update was perfect. The way in which we navigated the first cities, with a little side arm and whatnot, pretty good!. It didn't need to be changed in this way.

Zombies. Too many spawns, too good at detecting players. And why am I bleeding from a zombie punch?. Makes no sense. Simply put.. Totally borked. Rein it all in.

Dem Suggestions!..

The night/light issue. Allow the gamma hack, but limit it (not severely!, we NEED to see where we're going to some degree, without the use of additional lighting . The other thing is, the way that you've dealt with it. there's just no detail whatsoever in most of the indirectly lit textures. They're part of a solid black block, 2/3 of the screen tall. Those textures need a little detail. I need to be able to tell a tree from a road (and either way, ultimately those few people who prefer the ultra dark have an option. They can join a quiet server, leave the gamma down low and play in a 'Fear' fashion). Include some level of ambient lighting in the dead of night, and those of us who want to get about can boost gamma and not have our experience hampered. I don't know of a way to limit gamma/lighting to within a set radius around the player. But that would be ideal.

Beach spawn items. Change them back. Maybe a single bandage and morphine, makarov with 2 clips, beans and soda. That would be a far better solution. I want what I have on me to give me a chance to get into the map a little ways. And compasses, and other more useful items, could be moved slightly further inland. I don't feel that such pressure and onus should be placed on the first line of cities. Chernarus is a big map with lots to explore.

Hackers.. Worry less about the gamma, item dupes and whatnot, and focus all the dev at this point on the guys crashing servers and spawning in cherno with rocket launcher and .50 cals. The dupes aren't ruining my game. The guys killing everyone in the server are.

Zombie interactions.. Crouch walking at 12-15 meters from zombies at night should be 1 bar noise and sight (soft ground). In the day, 2 bars. Anything more is annoying, time consuming (not in a positive way, we all spend plenty of time prone, this doesn't need to be increased) and works against my immersion. Line of sight and hiding are fantastic additions to a well functioning system (one which we all invested in when we purchased the game!, we like it, it doesn't need to be borked!. Zombies are far too sensitive at this point!). I you want to increase zombie risk/interactions overall, add small pockets of them at random spawn points in forests or some such. The sad thing is that as of the time of posting, it would be a better game if there were no zombies at-all :[.

Forced server restarts. Somehow, we need to force all servers to restart regularly. It gets unplayable very quickly on most of the bigger servers. And gets confused with client side gfx issues.

I'll add more to this thread as I think of it. But after playing for another 10+ hours today, those are my feels. Tis beta after all, so this is constructive criticism, not me having a go :]. I don't think rocket is particularly good at balancing the game. And again, I'm being constructive. it's an amazing mod, my favorite game for a long long time; and I have lots of admiration. I just wish more people were involved in the overall game-defining decisions.

[Imbalanxd 59]

If you're arguing that the night time visibility isn't realistic, then I disagree. If you're not arguing that, then ask yourself, if it was pitch black outside, would you venture out into a zombie infested environment?

Only the brave/stupid and the well equipped play at night. Working as intended in my opinion.

[gizm0 96]

a hour and a half just to go north, what is taking you so long?

[Max Planck 7174]

It's sounds to me like your main priorities in the game is to do coordinated raids with your group and that the whole 'sneaking about in the dark being scared thing' is secondary.

I'm not trying to be snarky or anything, but wouldn't the base game be more suited to your taste?

As a solo player I love the new changes.

[DangerosoDavo 0]

Too long... but i read about half and from what i gather you don't like the dark, well dont play in the dark. Also Losing a life just became more precious as you don't want to spawn with nothing again, meaning it means alot more to you to stay alive.

DayZ jut got hardcore, about time and its awesome.

[pogoman979 4]

the lighting problem isn't a DayZ issue, it is to do with the beta patches.

And if you go into coastal towns looking for a loot you deserve to die. Play smart. As soon as you spawn head inland, and loot those towns.

[PintOfBass 0]

Some nights are dark some aren't. If the sky is clear and the moon is out at half or more then you don't need a torch or a flare, this "the night is too dark" and "nah I have NVG's stop bitching n00b" has always been an unbalanced and poorly articulated argument.

[benjamina 1]

It's sounds to me like your main priorities in the game is to do coordinated raids with your group and that the whole 'sneaking about in the dark being scared thing' is secondary.

I'm not trying to be snarky or anything' date=' but wouldn't the base game be more suited to your taste?

As a solo player I love the new changes.

[/quote']

My priorities are coordinated gameplay. mulitplayer, team based gameplay. Visiting the airfield, breaking off into teams and whatnot, and exploring. yes I play with other people, I don't see how that invalidates anything I've mentioned?. This is a multiplayer game.

Too long... but i read about half and from what i gather you don't like the dark' date=' well dont play in the dark. Also Losing a life just became more precious as you don't want to spawn with nothing again, meaning it means alot more to you to stay alive.

DayZ jut got hardcore, about time and its awesome.

[/quote']

Hardcore I don't mind. But when it starts to get retarded and boring to play a game that was immersive and fun a few hours ago, and seems to be going in the wrong direction overall - it's not really a matter of how hard the game is to play..

Yes, it's too dark. It's absolutely and utterly too dark. Do you want a game where you see fuck all all night, then bump into the only guy you'll see in 9 hours and got shot by his Winchester and die, all because you had to light up a room to find your way down some stairs because the developer fucked up the lighting?. Or do you want a game where you still have a reason to go into town, you can do so with limited risk, and have fun sneaking about. It's not a shitty jump-scare game, it's about survival across days!. :[

[Charu 0]

I don't know if you experienced this now, but I had the unfortunate dismay of dying and had to do a new character with these new rules in place.

Let me tell you, not once did I get shot by some random dude, even when I met some dudes too, WITH GUNS! Guess what they did when they saw me with nothing but a flashlight? They went away since they know you don't have anything.

You might just be getting unlucky with people who are just absolute jerks and still kill you even though they clearly know you have nothing of value.

[benjamina 1]

I don't know if you experienced this now' date=' but I had the unfortunate dismay of dying and had to do a new character with these new rules in place.

Let me tell you, not once did I get shot by some random dude, even when I met some dudes too, WITH GUNS! Guess what they did when they saw me with nothing but a flashlight? They went away since they know you don't have anything.

You might just be getting unlucky with people who are just absolute jerks and still kill you even though they clearly know you have nothing of value.

[/quote']

You mean player killers right?. The same player killers who kill people on sight, enjoy killing nubs and gun-less people for the sport?. Having no gun does absolutely nothing to deter a guy from shooting you. Believe me. I just shot a guy with no gun.

[underscore 12]

I don't want to have to prone all the way through a city. It's not fun' date=' and it's not immerse.

[/quote']

I take it you wouldn't be a fan of my proposal that everybody respawns with broken legs? Cos until that happens, this charade of a game is nothing more than a glorified COD clone. Hardcore, yo.

[flyingmonkey (DayZ) 0]

It's sounds to me like your main priorities in the game is to do coordinated raids with your group and that the whole 'sneaking about in the dark being scared thing' is secondary.

I'm not trying to be snarky or anything' date=' but wouldn't the base game be more suited to your taste?

As a solo player I love the new changes.

[/quote']

My priorities are coordinated gameplay. mulitplayer, team based gameplay. Visiting the airfield, breaking off into teams and whatnot, and exploring. yes I play with other people, I don't see how that invalidates anything I've mentioned?. This is a multiplayer game.

When you die and you start a new character, you want to get to your old characters status nearly straight away.

That is what he's getting at.

Old character is dead man, you screwed up somewhere and got killed. You might be lucky to get back to it in time to get your gear, but that is a risk you are going to have to weigh up by running to the NWAF with noob gear.

Personally, when my character dies, I pretend its completely gone. Completely forget about it and start over, enjoying what the game has to offer without being paranoid about my gear - I tell you, it's a lot more fun than running around with leet gear looting the same shit day after day.

As for the dark, I personally love the claustrophobic feel of having a flashlight and not being able to see anything but a small section of my screen.

Game has balls as a requirement, time to start using them son. Easy mode is gone.

[Charu 0]

Believe me. I just shot a guy with no gun.

Then I hope I don't have the displeasure of meeting you when I spawn.

[flyingmonkey (DayZ) 0]

Believe me. I just shot a guy with no gun.

Oh' date=' you're one of [i']them

I'm glad you are having some troubles now.

[SomiXD 0]

Nope this is false ! when a guy with gun see you with out anything but with flashlight then my

friend u are a death guy . sorry but this is the reality !!!!!

[Rusty86z 0]

Benjamina,

I am not going to get into an argument about 1.7.1 with you; however, reading your post to me anyways it seems like the whole thing you are complaining about is the fact that you are now forced to get yourself a weapon which is delaying you from getting to the Airfields quicker to probably camp/server hop/ whatever up there. I have PLAYED the game, the way it was designed to be played, and I have walked through Cherno in the day and night and NOT been killed. Also in all the hours and respawns I have done I have NEVER been killed on the coast. The only people who get killed on the coast are the people who CONSTANTLY respawn to get next to Elektro then run into the bars trying to get new packs and weapons right away. If that is you then all I have to say is :D.

[Scerun 227]

The night is cool. the new spawning is cool. You wanting to best facilitate the farming/camping/server hopping of NWAF, is, however, uncool.

[kefuddle 2]

With regards the night time issues. I think Rocket is a brave chap and has got it spot on. When playing as a lone wolf, the pitch black of an overcast night time offers opportunities not present during daylight - the whole risk reward thing is turned on its head. So you need bags of patience and completely different tactics to navigate your way around.

Using a flashlight stealthily is possible, but tricky. You just gotta be smart on how to move and when to/not to turn it on.

It is just awesome the way it is represented right now.

[hahawin 1]

Personally I like the new update. It adds a lot of immersion to the game. The perma death already made dying something you wanted to avoid and this update reinforces that. I think it will greatly reduce the amount of people that spawn and just walk up to the nearest city shooting everyone/thing they see because they've got nothing to lose.

About the lightning,i t's just a part of the game. Learn to live with it or go play another game. I'm quite sure the devs have no intention whatsoever to change the day/night cycle.

As Rocket keeps saying this mod is all about making choices:

-Is it worth the risk going into cherno to find food and water or should I check out some barns and deer stands for a weapon first?

-Am I going to take the risk of playing at night or not? Will I use torches? Should I throw my torches or hold them to conserve them?

-Is it safe enough to walk or run or should I crawl to remain unseen?

-Is that player trustworthy or not? Should I shoot him? What consequences will that have for me?

...

The devs aren't there to make the mod the way you want it to be. This mod doesn't present any goals or reason behind it. The devs present you with choices and they want you to make those choices. And whatever you do there is always a tradeoff. That is the essence of this mod.

I don't get why people keep complaining about all these thing. There are monstrous threads about it full people of people that want things their way. Those threads have been around since this forum was created. Did it make the devs change their mind?

No.

It's the best thing about all of this. The devs don't care what you think of their mod. I don't think that will change as long as they enjoy it and people play it.

[mikyjax 3]

Lol.... "organized bandit crying"

interresting....

Man, first, lot of people don't kill guy walking with flash light because this is stupid...

Secondly this new rule make sense about permadeath. Even big group are now condemned and pay the price of death.

Dayz doesn't incitive any way of playing. Dayz punishes every way of playing ;)

[LIMITID 28]

While I agree with some of your points how is it immersive if you can crouch walk within 10 meters of a Zombie in broad daylight and it not see you or smell you? I think it should be hard to get into a town and get some supplies and get out alive, not the time consuming bore it could be pre 1.7.

[dissaifer 3]

Am I reading this right?

- remove darkness and let me gamma cheat

- I want to be able to ignore the infected

- I want a gun at the beginning because I can't "defend" myself

mmmmm, delicious the game's to hard tears. It's supposed to be hard. And when you find a gun and bullets, you can go PvP it up - that was never removed, you'll only acting like it is because you can't kill the very first guy you see.

[dogsbd 12]

Kinda aimed at rocket' date=' but just general thoughts rly..

Like most of the peeps here I play in a larger group of people,

[/quote']

I could not get past this first statement. Since when do "most" play with a large group?

I've never seen a server with mostly groups. Most servers have maybe 1 or 2 small groups and the remainder are solo players, about half of which are looking for a group but can't find anyone or if they do they get shot for their trouble.

[osiriszoran 33]

Am I reading this right?

- remove darkness and let me gamma cheat

- I want to be able to ignore the infected

- I want a gun at the beginning because I can't "defend" myself

mmmmm' date=' delicious the game's to hard tears. It's supposed to be hard. And when you find a gun and bullets, you can go PvP it up - that was never removed, you'll only acting like it is because you can't kill the very first guy you see.

[/quote']

100% agree. So sick of these World of Warcraft kiddies complaining about losing their characters/gear. Its like they've been conditioned by all the games out there to value their character and their "stats" or PHAT EPIC PURPLE LOOTS.

They dont play the game as it should be played. You make as good a run as you can with your current character until you take a bullet to the face for being sloppy or make a dumb mistake and get eaten by ZEDs.

People need to learn to start over and enjoy the build up to phat lewts. To many of them been sitting with phat lewts to long they let it get to their head that they're invincible.

[JPalmer 3]

Holy fuck. THIS NOT A FUCKING GAME. It is a MOD. IN ALPHA. WHICH MEANS

SHIT NEEDS TO GET FUCKING TESTED.

Get the fuck over it and tell your group to get familiar with killing zombies. I know you probably are only good at killing people who have makarovs, but sorry bro its the fucking zombie apocalypse.