Results after a week of hard play (Suggestions/Critique)

[Noquid 0]

Hi,

I've gamed for well, since technology allowed it online. I kept hearing about this game and decided to give it a once-over. First impression was amazing, the fear factor alone kept me logging back in over and over again even though I was dieing constantly, which is expected.

Night vs. day: I played both types of servers and frankly if you bump up brightness, it's no big deal. If I couldn't bump up brightness, I wouldn't play, sorry, just way too annoying, which goes full circle back to whether there should be night and day. I guess bumping your brightness could be considered as having your eyes adust, who knows. Enough about that.

Player vs. "Zed": (ranged) ok I guess, I rarely shot a weapon at a zombie because that usually means more zombies, no more ammo and death.

(melee) Poor to say the least. Just swing and pray. Even if you learn their movements there's a good chance you're going to be bleeding or even sometimes knocked out, not because the zombie is so talented but because the placement/lag during melee sucks. That being said, I find melee to be my preferred primary weapon since I was 99% exploring and searching for loot.

Vehicles: this seems like it can be alot of fun and at the same time very frustrating when you lose them. I got my first and only vehicle (other than the inflatable boat) by stumbling across a dead guy who left his motor running. I just followed the sound and there it was. Very fun to play with and maintain. It seems like the vehicle spawns were either broken or they need to be adjusted because I tried about a dozen spawn points (according to the dayz map) and never saw anything.

Graphics-to-health/blood: This is where I draw the line and probably why I'll move along if the game remains like this. The game looks good, not great, when all factors are in your favor. Meaning the time of day is perfect and you're at 100% health. If those are not the conditions, then the graphics are poor to unplayable. At times I was searching for something to kill me, it was so annoying. Which brings me to my last topic.

Group vs. solo play: Will someone please make a game that caters to or at least keeps it balanced for solo play? I mean it's the zombie apocalypse for God's sake and I have to find another player to heal worth a crap? I killed a goat and a cow, cooked and ate every piece, was fully hydrated and still wasn't healthy enough to have a frickin decent graphics screen. Whereas if I just get my buddy to give me a blood transfusion, voila I'm at 100%. Problem is, there wasn't a buddy, which if I tried to get a friend to play, that starts a whole new adventure trying to get to each other. (just run up to a Zed and get it over with) The game is designed for solo play but punishes solo play. Look at the servers. Usually a 2/1 ratio of players to servers, sometimes 3/1, not to mention almost all servers are capped at a max player setting of 60, so you aren't talking about clan/guild type gaming unless you just want your clan/guild to be the whole server.

Starting Equipment: I actually preferred the times when I started with a bandage, flashlight and painkillers (I think that was the set). It meant that from the time you spawn, every structure could have something you needed. Much more immersive.

Suggestions:

1. Adjust how graphics are set per blood level. If you can't see worth a crap or the graphics are pretty much gray scale, only hard core players are going to hang around.

2. Every town has a doctor. Turn one of the useless eye candy buildings into a town doctor's office and throw the solo player a bone. Then either allow a play to administer their own transfusion OR (probably much simpler) increase or find a way to heal better with the food system you already have. For example, if fully fed and hydrated, you regain health quickly when seated.

Well there you have it. I'm actually still playing, it's addicting as hell, but had to put these notes down before I come here after a "rage quit".

[burritoman259 593]

One word, Standalone.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

I don't understand where you're getting this "poor graphics" idea from. All that happens is desaturation of colour from the screen. It's really not a big deal.

I find it a good way to represent the idea that blood-loss has left you a little fuzzy.

The game will NEVER be balanced for solo play. Even that term "balanced" should leave a horrible taste in the mouth of a DayZ player. :lol:

It's brutal. It's supposed to be that way!

Some of the best times you can have are when you're hopelessly outmatched and struggling. I love it.

Yeah it's frustrating. But it's all part of the package.

Vehicles, if they're in use, will not respawn.

Folks hide them away, or lose them. It makes it all the better when you've got a little car of your own.

I'm not going to comment on night vs. day. I let peoples attitudes about it annoy me too much most of the time.

[Target Practice (DayZ) 1335]

Some points I agree with, others I don't - whilst I do find some of the graphical effects irritating, particularly the blurring/waving of the screen when you reach critically low blood - generally in situations like that, the reason you're that low on blood is because you don't have the means to replentish it, and due to the size of the map, it's usually going to be a minimum of 30 minutes' travel before you can get to a hospital/medical tent/friendly player to recover - has anyone tried playing for 30 minutes with their screen like that? It's not much fun, and I don't mean the 'challenging but ultimately rewarding' not much fun, I mean the frustrating, give-you-a-headache kind. I understand why it's there, I just feel it's a step too far in the realism-vs-playability scale.

I'm not sure why you're surprised that cars aren't at the possible spawn points on a persistent server with up to 50+ people on it - if you have a map with the possible spawn points, it's usually a safe bet that everyone else has one too, and cars are pretty sought-after - there's a reason that most people have to walk everywhere!

I don't know quite where I stand on the 'player healing themselves' debate. On one hand, it forces players to interact with other players, and seeing as this is a multiplayer game, I don't see why that's something that people are having a hard time getting to grips with. If you don't want to play or interact with others, then don't play multiplayer games.

The other side of the coin is that occasionally you can end up in a part of the map that's a long, long way from any other players (friendly or otherwise) and desperately low on blood. In situations like that, perhaps some way of restoring some health - even temporarily - would be a good idea. It would need to be finely balanced, though - it can't be something that can be relied on long-term, or suddenly lone wolves and bandits become too powerful.

[Chris529 380]

nighttime with no moon is just walking around without eyes, even with brightness turned up. Though I still do prefer to play at night because as long as you are quiet zombies can't find you at all which is nice.

Some points I agree with, others I don't - whilst I do find some of the graphical effects irritating, particularly the blurring/waving of the screen when you reach critically low blood - generally in situations like that, the reason you're that low on blood is because you don't have the means to replentish it, and due to the size of the map, it's usually going to be a minimum of 30 minutes' travel before you can get to a hospital/medical tent/friendly player to recover - has anyone tried playing for 30 minutes with their screen like that? It's not much fun, and I don't mean the 'challenging but ultimately rewarding' not much fun, I mean the frustrating, give-you-a-headache kind. I understand why it's there, I just feel it's a step too far in the realism-vs-playability scale.

I'm not sure why you're surprised that cars aren't at the possible spawn points on a persistent server with up to 50+ people on it - if you have a map with the possible spawn points, it's usually a safe bet that everyone else has one too, and cars are pretty sought-after - there's a reason that most people have to walk everywhere!

I don't know quite where I stand on the 'player healing themselves' debate. On one hand, it forces players to interact with other players, and seeing as this is a multiplayer game, I don't see why that's something that people are having a hard time getting to grips with. If you don't want to play or interact with others, then don't play multiplayer games.

The other side of the coin is that occasionally you can end up in a part of the map that's a long, long way from any other players (friendly or otherwise) and desperately low on blood. In situations like that, perhaps some way of restoring some health - even temporarily - would be a good idea. It would need to be finely balanced, though - it can't be something that can be relied on long-term, or suddenly lone wolves and bandits become too powerful.

agreed about the vision, when your blood is almost gone you pass out randomly all the time and can't see anything but I guess it's better than running around with perfect vision like nothing is wrong, that would be dumb.

As for healing, usually if you go up to someone and say hey I need some help you won't finish the sentence before they shoot you. Sucks it's like that but it's almost all i've seen so far, though there are people that help.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Chris529

[Noquid 0]

_{"All that happens is desaturation of colour from the screen. It's really not a big deal."}

_{If you are playing solo it is a big deal and it's alot more than just desaturation of color (which already exists at night). If your blood gets down to the last quarter (estimate), your screen is gray scale and blurred plus you're falling unconcious frequently. Finding a can of food does nothing, you would need dozens of cans of food. Now if you have a buddy, blood pack, voila full health. That's all I'm saying. Way in favor of group play.}

_{"It's brutal. It's supposed to be that way!"}

_{Absolutely, I agree. Take away blood packs then.}

[Target Practice (DayZ) 1335]

nighttime with no moon is just walking around without eyes, even with brightness turned up. Though I still do prefer to play at night because as long as you are quiet zombies can't find you at all which is nice.

agreed about the vision, when your blood is almost gone you pass out randomly all the time and can't see anything but I guess it's better than running around with perfect vision like nothing is wrong, that would be dumb.

As for healing, usually if you go up to someone and say hey I need some help you won't finish the sentence before they shoot you. Sucks it's like that but it's almost all i've seen so far, though there are people that help.

With the screen-blurring, there needs to be some kind of middle ground - something that is significant and noticeable, but doesn't give the user a migraine and make the game borderline unplayable - perhaps if the screen blacks out at random for a few seconds once every minute or so? Something like that which is enough that you can't really ignore it, but on the same note doesn't utterly ruin the game.

As for healing, yeah, but for me that's part of the fun of DayZ - at its very core, DayZ is about risk vs reward. In this instance, the risk is whether that person who's offering to heal you over side chat is a well-meaning survivor or an opportunistic bandit. The reward is a completely full health bar. The best bit of that particular problem? There's no easy way of finding out - you have to go on your gut instincts and tactical nous. If DayZ somehow lost that, it would be losing a HUGE part of what makes the game what it is.

_{"All that happens is desaturation of colour from the screen. It's really not a big deal."}

_{If you are playing solo it is a big deal}

I don't get it - I have played mostly solo, and whilst the desaturation is a minor inconvenience, I wouldn't call it a 'big deal'. You have to concentrate a little more to pick out minor details - perhaps much like you would if you were actually low on blood.

[mr_chabowski@live.co.uk 2416]

I play solo most of the time. And no, it's not a big deal.

If you let yourself get into that state, it's your own doing. You have to deal with the situations as they're handed to you.

Granted, it's not a comfortable view to have. And passing out all the time complicates things. But that's the way your poor condition is represented in game, and I don't see the problem.

The medical/health system is supposedly entirely overhauled for standalone.

Hopefully some mechanic can be introduced to allow players to slowly regenerate a portion of their blood (similar to reality) but as Target Practice mentioned -

it can't be something that can be relied on long-term, or suddenly lone wolves and bandits become too powerful.

EDIT:

This fella's good with words.

I'm not so good at expressing what I mean, but I hope you get a rough idea.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Chabowski

[rustledmyjimmies 361]

_{"It's brutal. It's supposed to be that way!"}

_{Absolutely, I agree. Take away blood packs then.}

What? In a real situation like dayz staying in a group would offer the best chance of survival, if you do really agree that the game is supposed to be brutal then why are you in favor of balancing the game by taking out blood packs? If you want to play by yourself then you have to deal with this or find a group.

[sinkatze 52]

My answers to you,

Night vs. day: I actually don't know how servers play 24/7 day cycle, the night is awsome and you can experience so many new things, plus zeds don't hear or see you as well. Normally yeah you can change your video settings and its pretty playable. I understand how you must feel when its pitch black dark, I play on a server where it gets that dark around 2 hours aright before dawn, but whoever is on will go camp, have a fire and talk about adventure with friends, or just light up a town your in with flares (normally safer at that time as not many people online). What I'm saying is that it gives a whole different gameplay.

Player vs. "Zed": I agree with you there, they can be annpoing trying to shoot as how they move, and melee is broken basically because ArmA doesn't have one. And well, there can't be much to say in that topic because it has to be re done, in the SA we will see the true focus on that.

Vehicle: They are sweet, its pretty exciting to find one around, even if its broken, you will have to adventure to scavenge parts for your car, after that it can be an enjoyment in comfort or a death trap at the same time lol. But when you walk up the later from picking scrap metal to being in the air looking down at the street you were just running the day before is gratifying. And then it sucks again when they take you down or someone steals your chopper haha.

But that about the spawn points is normal if the vehicle is still in the world it wont respawn. Only if it hasn't been destroyed it will not be back on those spawn points.

Graphics-to-health/blood: I don't really know why you would think this, if you get shot and are about to die, how would your vision be? Probably much worse than the game lol. Its just being realistic, this also happens in regular ArmA to.

Group vs. solo play: Yeah you might be right in a way there, its kinda weird to go through a lot of trouble to get health back as a solo player, I also solo play a lot. To just give a blood bag if you were with someone. That for sure will have more tweaking and modification to the system, but nothing is really that balanced in the end. And at the same time you would think in real life it would also be harder to be on your own than in a group right? So grouping up is the best option always, and I think they will kinda keep solo play a bit harder to give incentive in grouping up also.

But no offence, if the game seems to hard, maybe its not the best game, because DayZ comes from a military simulator, and its focusing in a zombie apocalypse simulator, so can't really expect it to get easier, in all it would change to be harder.

Starting equipment: I haven't been playing that long, but at least where I play, bandage painkiller and a flashlight is what you start with. I once got in a server when I first played that started of with a Makarov, but didn't like it.

Suggestions:

1. Well I kinda like how the blood and vision take play, I just get very immersive in my character I guess, but I have had some pretty awsome "take me to the hospital" missions.

2. I don't know about having a doctor in every town, that doesn't even happen now in pre-apocolypse real life lol. But I'm sure they are gonna add more ways to heal yourself by the time SA comes out.

I still prefer the creators attract more of the hardcore gamer type than the hack n' slash type of player. Thats why I play in Expert difficulty only server, the 3rd person look over the wall is pretty lame for a simulator in my opinion. First person its a completely different way to play :D

Hope I didn't ciricize to much lol

Thanks for your suggestions! ;)

Edited February 13, 2013 by Sinkatze