Bandages... what's the point?

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

The way I see it, bandages as an object are rather pointless in DayZ. It's only the act of bandaging yourself that is important. When bandaging, you've gotta find a safe spot and make yourself totally vulnerable until the animation is complete.

Also, the bandages are literally everywhere. Which is fine, since realistically I could just tear off a piece of clothing and use that to stop a wound bleeding. So, making bandages rare or hard to find would be silly and break immersion.

I think in all the time I've played DayZ, only once or twice I've needed a bandage and didn't have one. And it was just a minor wound from a zombie which healed itself over time. Not a big deal at all.

Do we really need bandages? Would it benefit the game to make them go in your toolbelt and have infinite uses? Would it benefit the game to give new spawns 8 bandages but make them a lot more rare?(only at hospitals, mil spawns)

Or am I totally in my own little world and bandages are a huge crucial factor in your DayZ gaming? I'll admit I don't partake in PVP so I might be missing out on their value.

[PaxC4T 159]

no one ever said bandaging yourself was supposed to be easy. Find yourself a pinetree or lead the zombies through a barn while you can. it takes a good little bit to completely bleed out. you can loose zombies in that amount of time.

[Fun With Flares 72]

You are completely in your own world, mate. No bandage=bleed to death.

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

no one ever said bandaging yourself was supposed to be easy. Find yourself a pinetree or lead the zombies through a barn while you can. it takes a good little bit to completely bleed out. you can loose zombies in that amount of time.

I feel like you completely missed the point of my post.

[Tigerbeetweenie 51]

The way I see it, bandages as an object are rather pointless in DayZ. It's only the act of bandaging yourself that is important. When bandaging, you've gotta find a safe spot and make yourself totally vulnerable until the animation is complete.

Also, the bandages are literally everywhere. Which is fine, since realistically I could just tear off a piece of clothing and use that to stop a wound bleeding. So, making bandages rare or hard to find would be silly and break immersion.

I think in all the time I've played DayZ, only once or twice I've needed a bandage and didn't have one. And it was just a minor wound from a zombie which healed itself over time. Not a big deal at all.

Do we really need bandages? Would it benefit the game to make them go in your toolbelt and have infinite uses? Would it benefit the game to give new spawns 8 bandages but make them a lot more rare?(only at hospitals, mil spawns)

Or am I totally in my own little world and bandages are a huge crucial factor in your DayZ gaming? I'll admit I don't partake in PVP so I might be missing out on their value.

I can see your logic here. They do, after all, take up space that could otherwise be used for secondary mags (or generic slots in backpacks which could be used for anything!). You are also right about the fact that it doesn't take much for something to qualify as a bandage. After all, anything that stops bleeding could be considered one. I agree with you that the act of bandaging yourself is a tactically significant maneuver and I also agree with you that a concrete inventory object might be overkill. At the same time, however, it could also be said that having to balance bandages and magazines makes for more interesting game play.

I'm really on the fence about this one. I think we should seriously weigh the consequences and benefits of this subject (i.e. the rest of you don't just start spouting off your unfounded opinionated bullshit and seriously take a look at the pros and cons).

[-Gews- 7443]

The point of bandages is stopping myself from bleeding out when some goon takes a potshot at me with his double-barrel...

When bandaging, you've gotta find a safe spot and make yourself totally vulnerable until the animation is complete.

True, but it's still a lot more forgiving than real life. The animation issue can't be easily fixed, unfortunately. Some animations do have a "cancel action" option.

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

You are completely in your own world, mate. No bandage=bleed to death.

Obviously.

I'm asking if the act of finding bandages is worth being in the game. Do people actually have trouble finding and keeping extra bandages? It's literally only a factor for me when I get hit within the first 5minutes. After that I always have a huge surplus of them.

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

I can see your logic here. They do, after all, take up space that could otherwise be used for secondary mags (or generic slots in backpacks which could be used for anything!). You are also right about the fact that it doesn't take much for something to qualify as a bandage. After all, anything that stops bleeding could be considered one. I agree with you that the act of bandaging yourself is a tactically significant maneuver and I also agree with you that a concrete inventory object might be overkill. At the same time, however, it could also be said that having to balance bandages and magazines makes for more interesting game play.

I'm really on the fence about this one. I think we should seriously weigh the consequences and benefits of this subject (i.e. the rest of you don't just start spouting off your unfounded opinionated bullshit and seriously take a look at the pros and cons).

True enough with the balance of pistol mags versus bandages. I always keep extra bandages in my backpack so it's never really an issue for me. Two in the belt, and two in the pack is more than I've ever needed. But, I also don't usually store a weapon in my pack, which a lot of people do.

I'm interested to see how other peoples play styles factor into it.

[God Dan 62]

I do agree that it should be less than an inventory slot. Maybe make it like the quiver and you can hold up to five in one slot? I don't know, it would be cool if you could tear down a leaf or something and use that as a bandage. I don't really see why it takes a full slot now that you mention it.

[GOD™ 2795]

k

Edited March 26, 2013 by GOD™

[Tigerbeetweenie 51]

k

God hath spoken. Shake in fear before his mighty judgement.

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

God hath spoken. Shake in fear before his mighty judgement.

Pfft, I don't believe in him.

[smore98 225]

Oh, haven't you heard!?

They are implementing the feature of controlling your hand as you bandage yourself!

Now you can kill yourself by attempting to put a piece of cloth around your wound!

[Tigerbeetweenie 51]

Pfft, I don't believe in him.

I didn't either... until I saw the ^TM hovering above his name. That's how you know he's legit.

Back on topic. I think bandaging could be more hands on and skill based (i.e. something that requires player interaction to accomplish successfully). I think this could offset the lack of a bandage/magazine trade off. That way, you still maintain a degree of challenge while thwarting the decay of bandaging into some sort of menial chore. (i.e. it's life or death so you'd better wrap that sucker up before you get shot or bleed out).

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

I'm also wondering if there's any point to having a magazine/bandage tradeoff. If I can tear a piece of my tshirt off and bandage myself, why would I be carrying less magazines? It feels like the tradeoff is just there to add another game inside our game, queue the Xzibit memes.

[floogy (DayZ) 25]

I see what you're saying but they aren't much of a hindrance either way so it doesn't seem like much of an issue to me. But it does kind of balance out your secondary inventory slots. So you have to choose between pistol mags and 40mm grenades and bandages. I wouldn't feel comfortable less than three so that leaves 5 spots for mags. I don't think that it warrants modification though. I hope inventory slots in the SA are just general inventory like in A3. No primary or secondary slots just space.

Maybe it's just that if you play longer than a couple of weeks you always have enough bandages and it's no longer a conscious consideration for surviving. Even though you always have them you'd know it right away if you didn't. You might get hit by a Z on the way out of town and use your one bandage for that. You get shot a couple minutes later and you'd be screwed, even if you survive the firefight. Food and drink is common too, but still important. I guess what I'm saying is that just because an item is common doesn't mean it's unimportant. I guess someone may consider a rare weapon more valuable than bandages but with no bandages the weapon is worthless if you get shot without them.

PS. It's kind of a practical limitation for the mod since you need an item for the action. Without the item there is no interface option built in for bandaging, like you suggest using your clothing. Meh. I still see what you're saying though. Although clothing would be poor substitute for a real bandage or pressure dressing.

Edited March 26, 2013 by floogy

[colekern 1364]

Personally, bandages are just there to take up space. I think they'll be more important in the standalone though.

I would also love to see the crafting system let you rip up your shirt to make some makeshift bandages.

[Dreams_Of_Cheese (DayZ) 71]

Personally, bandages are just there to take up space. I think they'll be more important in the standalone though.

I would also love to see the crafting system let you rip up your shirt to make some makeshift bandages.

Basically this. I'd like to see a good clothing system. You might have a spare shirt in your backpack in case the one you have on gets something on it (zombie blood maybe?), or keep one for storage of like 10 bandages. Maybe it could be offset by needing to do an extra animation to tear the strip off the shirt?

[Tigerbeetweenie 51]

Personally, bandages are just there to take up space. I think they'll be more important in the standalone though.

I would also love to see the crafting system let you rip up your shirt to make some makeshift bandages.

Crafting system? Oh god (queue an impromptu and unwarranted appearance by GOD^TM). But I get what your saying. This is why I'm on the fence about it. It's a case of realism versus gameplay (or as some people say, doing stuff for the sake of doing stuff).

[jubeidok 495]

So what ur saying is you want things to be easier. One more thing u don't have to worry about. Gotcha.

[nox81 28]

I can see your logic here. They do, after all, take up space that could otherwise be used for secondary mags (or generic slots in backpacks which could be used for anything!).

but isnt that the point? An essential survival item, plentiful though it is, that you must carry to stay alive? you can 'choose' to carry less bandages for more ammo etc. but then the trade off/risk etc. is on you.

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

but isnt that the point? An essential survival item, plentiful though it is, that you must carry to stay alive? you can 'choose' to carry less bandages for more ammo etc. but then the trade off/risk etc. is on you.

That whole tradeoff becomes pointless when bandages spawn literally everywhere. Which is why I mentioned having bandages only spawn at medical & military spawns, and giving you a bunch of them at spawn. When you're all geared up and have lots of ammo, you need less bandages. You couldn't just reduce the spawn rate and leave the new spawns with only 1 because of the ripping your shirt to make a bandage argument. You could even give new spawns more now. But, it's so damn easy to find them, it doesn't matter.

I just want to see the bandage evolve. It's such a placeholder item that it bugs me. I wouldn't mind a system where you do an action "treat wounds" and it looks at your gear and applies the required treatment. If you had nothing it would take a long time to stop the bleeding. If you had only bandage, it would stop bleeding faster. If you had a bandage, morphine, anti-biotics & pain killers, it would apply what is needed. Opening the door for other types of medical gear. Splint might take longer than morphine, but if you have wood & bandages in your inventory it does that.

Edited March 26, 2013 by bad_mojo