Tips and discussion for new players.

[Forfeit 0]

Hi, I dont consider myself a veteran. Ive been playing the game for 2 to 3 weeks now, 52 hours in total, my highest bandit murder count is 3, Ive never killed more than 250 zombies and my longest survival time is with my current character at about 15 hours. Yet, the fact that Im not a hardcore veteran survivor may help people. Also, its important to remember that 1.7.1 has come yesterday (16/06/12), so some of these tips may need tinkering.

First of all, you need to understand this game is not perfect. Its at an alpha stage. When I discovered this game I watched a lot of youtube videos about it and all the "awesome adventures" people had with it. Yet when I connected, it was an entirely diferent "adventure". The first day it took me 1 hour just to connect to a server. I died due to bugs. Spawned in the endless ocean, wilderness and god knows where.

So, the first lesson is: The game is not what the videos show us. Its harder, has way more bugs, isnt as exciting or fun as all the videos we have seen. The videos dont tell us that, they only show us the "awesome" parts.

The second lesson is that information and decision making is more important than gear or weapons. Its amazing how people dont realize that in the start, but learn it from all the "stupid" deaths you had when you were a noob. In this game you need patience, you need to know what you need to survive, how important are the items that MAY BE in that house surounded by zombies and if the risk to get them is worth it. My tips are:

- ALWAYS use the internet map: http://dayzmap.info/

With it you can know where you are, where you can find items, how far things are, where to find buildings in the wilderness that can have loot, the best path to reach inland places. Without it you will probabily spawn in the coast, travel right or left until you reach a big city, go into it, find a bandit and die. I cant believe how many people play this game without any clue about where they are or where they are going. Knowing the above, in my opinion, is the most important thing necessary to increase your survival rate. Another extremly important thing is to know which houses and buildings have loot. That help you aproach specific targets, lessening the chance of agroing zombies. They are always the same.

- KNOW YOUR ENEMY. In this case, its both the zombies and other players. Dont trust anyone unless you have extremely good reasons for doing so. They may come with you for a while, help you, but just before disconecting they may think it would be wise to have your beans. Decent and helpfull players have been betrayed a lot and learned to shoot on sight. Also remember what I wrote above: Most people have no clue what they are doing. Which means they will stay near the coast (most youtube videos tell you to go to Cherno or Elektro when you spawn, which is stupid), meaning most players of the server will be near Cherno or Elektro. The more people around, less loot for you and higher is the chance of being shot.

- STAY AWAY FROM THE COAST. Its not worth it. Too many people, not enough loot, high chance of dying. Some places are ideal for snipers, like the apartment buildings or hospital in Cherno. There are other big cities inland and also in the coast. There are tons of good places to find loot, and since they are inland and usually far from each other, the chance of finding another player is very low, meaning a higher chance of getting loot without dying. I wont tell you where to find items, but I gave you a map. Think about it.

- SHOOTING IS A LAST RESORT. This is a survival game, not a deathmatch or first person shooter like COD. Ive played with other survivors which first option would always be to kill zombies around. That is not wise. Stealth is your best option. Try to be as safe and silence as possible in the start (I dont like to prone, I usually walk while crouching) and eventually you will learn how and how cautiuos you need to be. Shooting not only atracts more zombies but also alert players of your presence in the area. Even if you survive you will need more ammo, meaning more looting and more chances to die. Also dont fight zombies in the open.

- ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. If you have food, drink and ammo to make you survive a few or a bunch of hours, you may not need more. There is no need to put yourself in danger for another makarov magazine or extra flares. If you have enough basic suplies try to find isolated loot points with your map that may have better gear, like military camps and deer stands. Since most of us have never played a realistic game, we think we need as much ammo as possible. I dont think so. You can do well with just one clip. Remember, if you find another player it will probabily be a very fast and intense firefight (you may die without even seeing your killer, and kill someone the same way), meaning you dont need a lot of ammo. You probabily wont even have time to reload. Killing zombies is easy if youre indoors and have time to aim properly and kill them with headshots, which always kill with one bullet no matter which weapon youre using.

- SCOUT AND BE AWARE. This is a survival game, where information and decision making is essential. If you find a good loot spawn point, scout the area. The more time you spend doing it, highest are the chances of you surviving. Imagine that if youve looked at the map and thought a certain place is a good place to find items, others will think the same. Look for dead zombie bodies or the lack of walking ones in loot buildings. Remember that once someone go inside they may take 5 to 10 minutes to explore, loot and decide which gear to take. If you hear people opening cans or eating, trust your instincts and believe there is someone there. Also try to think where snipers might position themselves if they were to protect a certain area. Also there are some clans and groups that have taken hold of areas like airstrips and airports and they probabily will have someone guarding it to stop people from looting it. Always think there may be someone in that building youre going into, no matter which one it is.

Boring? Maybe. With these tips some may think youre a coward. Others will think the game would be too boring. I dont think so. I have decent gear and enough to survive. I dont need 7 DMR clips because I dont want to shoot without reason, even if I find another player that might kill me. Once you stop looking for the "thrill of battle", you realize acquiring survival skills and experience about the game, landscape and scouting can be just as rewarding.

The deal is that when you have good gear and dont need to loot as much you are left with barely any objectives. Some, like me, look for tents and vehicles (even through Ive never found any so far). Others will try to acquire the best military gear avaiable, like nightvision goggles, military rifles, sniper suits. Others get good guns and start killing people for fun. I started playing this game because of the stories and awesome videos I´ve seen in Youtube. Yet all those were made with cooperative play. The way the game is right now you can barely talk with strangers because of the danger of being shot on first sight. I hope in the future people will realize the pleasure of playing with other people, even strangers, is more interesting than shooting them for their gear (which is not that essential, IMHO), and the focus of the game will change.

I hope this post was usefull for some people, even if extremely long. If youve liked it please reply so the post remains in the first page.

[pazuzu 9]

Very nice post OP.

I like your attitude and wish more people had the same.

[changrey 2]

Very nice tips - Here is a quick writeup on stances in DayZ.

Always remember to balance out the speed with which you are moving with 3 other factors - Targeting, Emergency situations and Objective.

Targeting - When moving rapidly (running) you are very large target. Your movement is predictable and your silhouette is quite large, even from a distance. Your own fast movement also makes it difficult for you to line up your own shots, so you are more or less defenseless.

These two factors increase the risk of running by quite alot. Crouching (roadie-run) provides a smaller targeting profile, at the cost of speed. Make your choice, but don't assume that any one stance will always serve your purpose.

Emergency Situations - Sometimes, things go wrong (ambush, friends needing help, zombie detection and so forth). Here, the advantage of the roadie run becomes important - it lets you get up and run quicky (the animation begins and ends without your char stopping). Prone is stealthy, but makes it hard to react quickly. Again, use your own judgement, how important is quick reaction, and what do you need to be ready for.

Objective - We all have our own objectives. Looting, killing zombies, killing players, exploring, whatever. Always balance your speed with your goal. If you are travelling a long distance, speed is often good, but do be careful. If you are looking for buildings or are worried about zombies, less speed may increase you chances to respond effectively.

More guides for new players are always good, let's get this going!

[GameJeff100 1]

@OP

Good post. I too find scouting and surviving fun. It is when I go to help my friends I end up dead. I want to survive and only kill as last resort. I have found that calling out "friend" means "shoot me please" to the other players. However, I will not let this make me jaded about other players. I will always try to co-op even though I get killed more times then I ever found a friend.

Having fun thought

Thanks for the post

[JTMACH6 0]

All of this is great info to me as a new player, but one thing that i cant seem to find a solid yes/no on is about re spawning. I understand that dying starts you anew with basic gear and whatnot, but what about changing servers?

Ive been reluctant to actually do much in DayZ so far cause im worried leaving the server to go sleep/eat/work will cancel all my progress, how does this work?

If this is in the wrong place or there is an appropriate thread then sorry, im not a forum guy :3

[Peyj 1]

All of this is great info to me as a new player' date=' but one thing that i cant seem to find a solid yes/no on is about re spawning. I understand that dying starts you anew with basic gear and whatnot, but what about changing servers?

Ive been reluctant to actually do much in DayZ so far cause im worried leaving the server to go sleep/eat/work will cancel all my progress, how does this work?

[/quote']

Hi there - changing servers won't wipe your gear or progress - the game is consistent across servers. So if you try to log in and your server is full, no problem, try another server and you will keep all your gear.

As for leaving the server/logging off, disconnecting from the game saves your progress, so this is also safe. Just keep in mind if you loot some gear and then log out immediately, that most recent gear may not save, so it's a good idea to give it a few minutes to avoid 'rollback'.

Another note for new players, it's a good idea to always be mindful of where you're logging out. Try and find somewhere safe from zombies and other players, to give yourself a minute of safety next time you log in, so you can take note of your surroundings and be in a better position to defend yourself should you run into anyone.

[Forfeit 0]

Good tips by other players. Also remember that if there arent zombies around when you log out, if youre too close to a spawn point there may be when you come back. Also avoid disconecting inside buildings, there is a chance someone is there when you log in.

My ideal place to logout is in the a forest while prone under a tree, facing the closest building or city.

[Sparviero 0]

I'm almost a new player...i have to buy the game at this point.

I would like to cooperate much more then kill other players. I'm very excited about this game :D

[Cicero 2]

i also just bought the game and plan to be on within the next day or so and the forums just hype me up more haha