Wasteland style objectives.....but done very differently

[nox81 28]

Not sure if this has ever been suggested in any shape or form but;

I have an idea for the standalone or future versions of the mod (standalone in particular):

Those of you familiar with the Arma mp mode wasteland will know that it flashes up periodic optional tasks which can serve to bring the players of a server together to fight/work with each other for a reward.

In dayz such a system could be an interesting way of adding some colour to the gameplay but heres how i think it should be implemented:

• Only a few randomly or location/gear selected players are notified of the task - so only players with no firearms or people that are within a certain area of the map etc. depending on a criteria based on who the reward would be useful to. If in the standalone firearms are rare then this could be a good way or introducing a decent rare weapon every now and again or clothing etc.
  
• Objectives only appear every 2-4 hours (or whatever) so as to not dominate the normal games flow and style, it is simply a little flavour not something that happens every 15 mins or has every player on the server involved.
  
• Players can be notified of a 'rumour' or find a 'map' or some such clue/whisper that says something is at a certain location or happening somewhere, this can give players a reason to visit other areas of the map and coax forrest dwelling loot hoarders out into some tense search where interaction and conflict with other players is likely but only on a small scale.
  
• The reward would remain at the location for a pre-determined time or until found, if configured well the system could draw together certain types of players based on the criteria of the notification to implement some objective based teamwork (should there be numnerous itmes to share) or confilct (if only one).
  

So imagine your only in possesion of low end gear and your cooking meat alone at your camp, your a lone wolf who avoids conflict type and you recive a notification 9witha bit of colour and back story) on screen or via your map screen that says there is a high powered assault rifle/item/vehicle a couple of clicks away in a remote location. You know that only yourself and a handful of other players have been notified of this. What would follow would be a tense journey to that area, perhaps at night where your on the watch for movement and other survivors knowing that your not likely to be alone at the location. Even if you got the item first you could potentially be spotted and chased from the location and tracked and hunted for the item, particularly if rare (think standalone there).

I think if implemented well in the standalone it could offer opportunities for the tracking mechanics to be used or rare items to be fed in, it also offers a chance for some focused play fleetingly for players who might not normally engage in it or for a squad of guys to try and swoop on some 'booty' and snatch it up.

Of course it might be argued this would encourage pvp but there could be all manner of options to spice it up, like lots of zombies at the location making gun fire problematic or if control is offered at server side admins could tailor it to the play style of their server; so a server with melee only weapons could make a pistol a sought after item and the scene of a mass melee scramble with zombies all around it!

It might suit the stand alone more than the mod and is maybe worth a thought by the devs for future updates of the standalone when it comes out? Could be cool no? B)

Just a thought. :)

P.S. i know that there are ways players could exploit it to some degree, telling all their well armed clan buddies to come along etc. but that may or may not be a problem depending on the variables, it could even add to the fun. If there are multiple rewards or something a group can share it might promote teamwork.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

It's a really well written suggestion (have some beans) but not one I'm a fan of. Sorry.

[colekern 1364]

I've gotta say no. One of the great things about DayZ is that you make your own decisions and objects on your own. The game doesn't make them.

[nox81 28]

I've gotta say no. One of the great things about DayZ is that you make your own decisions and objects on your own. The game doesn't make them.

Of course i agree that freedom is the key, i was suggesting optional objectives (i dont even like calling them that, more.....scavenging opportunities) but i hear where your coming from. I just think that the in game conditions tend to lead to everyone hanging around Cherno, Elecktro, and the airfields but i understand what you mean.

[nox81 28]

It's a really well written suggestion (have some beans) but not one I'm a fan of. Sorry.

Sorry you didnt like it but thanks for the beans :)

and for the record i do like the game just as it is, just a thought i had.

[badluckburt 974]

There could be hidden stashes around Chernarus, weapon caches, supplies and other stuff you might think of. They did have a war going on before the infection if you keep things in the Arma universe. Searching through houses, you might encounter diaries, maps or other things that point to the location of these goodies. This way, you could just stumble across them or decide to actively treasurehunt.

Anyone who played Morrowind will remember that the NPC's used to give you (sometimes flaky) directions and descriptions of landmarks to go on to reach your destination.

[DemonGroover 8836]

I do like the idea of there being stashes of goods (overturned trucks with food, an abandoned army convoy, ambulances,etc etc) scattered around the map but i am not too keen on the notification aspect of your idea.

Things should be found through exploration not notification, after all it is the apocalypse with the only survivors being players so i don't think using rumours would be realistic.

[badluckburt 974]

There will already be hints at the backstory I believe so it might fit in there but I wouldn't be opposed to no notification, makes stumbling across the stuff maybe even more fun. I was just taking part of the OP's idea to give people objectives.

Edited April 3, 2013 by BadLuckBurt

[CreepySalad 108]

I don't think anyone should be notified. Or there be any rumors or anything.

I personally don't like scripted objectives in a game like this, but if they're done well, I wouldn't mind them, but I'm not a big fan of your way, though.

[enforcer1975 1111]

Notificatiosn are fine but how often do you actually get notifications? And most of the time the info is really old, who knows if the people/convoy mentioned was not scattered elsewhere? And rumors can only be spread by survivors, people who kill eachother for the lulz won't spread a word.

[nox81 28]

Well maybe instead of notifications you could find randomly placed things that contain information when your looting such as a hand written note in the boot of a car (as they are allowing cars to be looted in sa) or something similar, something more organic to the game and the way it works now?