The "DayZ" Feel

[Statik (DayZ) 2695]

For months, posts have been popping up with people talking about how they don't get that old "DayZ feel" when they play anymore. And to an extent, I agree with them, but I never really knew why. Recently I watched a video, and that made it all click.

It might not be this way for players who started after the "big hype", but for us players who have been playing since this time last year, the reason is you know the game too well. Before DayZ was all over the internet with Let's Plays, and Tutorials, and Livestreams, it was just a bunch of gamers looking for something...new and different. I know there's people like me who loaded in that first time, on the coast, with nothing but a revolver, and some assorted gear, and thought to themselves "what the fuck is going on?"

No instructions, no tutorial, nothing, you had to learn everything the hard way. You didn't know how many shots to kill that zombie, you didn't understand loot spawns, stances, sound, hunger, thirst, etc. Everything was new, and you didn't know what the hell was going to happen next. Now when you play, everything is same old, same old. You know weapon stats, loot spawns, you understand all the gear, loot, etc.

So that is why you're not getting the DayZ Feeling anymore.

[OrLoK 16182]

Hello there

thats part of the reason.

Now the whole experience factor is shortened due to the fact so many "easy" +300 cars sniper rifle kit as starter servers are out there, so a lee enfield is now considered common and low level rather than "wow I got a rifle and 3 rounds!". Its so easy to experience the gear in such a short time that it quickly becomes repetitive.

Gone now is the "rogulike" aspect.

Rgds

LoK

[Steak and Potatoes 13480]

I miss the old dayz *que grandpa speech* I have found that map jumping gave me a slight feel of the old way but not fully because when I checked out servers that hosted other maps I was overflooded with vehicles and gear. I searched and found a few vanilla maps of the different variants and got some breaths of fresh content which was great but none of them offer the feeling I got when I first logged into chernarus and made my way around lost and confused.

My favorite map of choice is obviously the one that started it all and it seems none other can offer the same immersion I get from playing that map.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Steak and Potatoes

[-Gews- 7443]

I agree. I know the map too well, I know the game too well.

I remember the days when I'd spend hours wandering around wondering where the hell I was... sounding out the names on Cyrillic road signs... finding new and strange places... overjoyed at finding a tractor or a can of pop "in the middle of nowhere".

Now I just... know it all.

To use Frankie's term, I'm no longer a "bambi". Actually he'd still probably call me a bambi, the condescending prick.

[Lupatchi 143]

For months, posts have been popping up with people talking about how they don't get that old "DayZ feel" when they play anymore. And to an extent, I agree with them, but I never really knew why. Recently I watched a video, and that made it all click.

It might not be this way for players who started after the "big hype", but for us players who have been playing since this time last year, the reason is you know the game too well. Before DayZ was all over the internet with Let's Plays, and Tutorials, and Livestreams, it was just a bunch of gamers looking for something...new and different. I know there's people like me who loaded in that first time, on the coast, with nothing but a revolver, and some assorted gear, and thought to themselves "what the fuck is going on?"

No instructions, no tutorial, nothing, you had to learn everything the hard way. You didn't know how many shots to kill that zombie, you didn't understand loot spawns, stances, sound, hunger, thirst, etc. Everything was new, and you didn't know what the hell was going to happen next. Now when you play, everything is same old, same old. You know weapon stats, loot spawns, you understand all the gear, loot, etc.

So that is why you're not getting the DayZ Feeling anymore.

Dayz Breaking Point is a fun new experience, 600+ new primaries and 100+ secondaries!

[Qu1n 140]

You know, this is what happened to Warcraft for me too.

My own curiosity is killing games! dang.

*EDIT* - Perhaps with the standalone data such as loot tables and damage etc should not be public knowledge? keep the mystery alive a little bit longer :)

Edited May 6, 2013 by Qu1n

[burritoman259 593]

I have played pretty much every map and none, none of them give that old dayz feel like when I first logged on to my first server, I knew nothing about dayz.

About a year later I know just about everything about dayz, player hotspots,where everyone puts their camps, vehicle spawns, good loot spawns.

I know Far too much about Chernarus, hopefully a back story in standalone will extend this process.

Edited May 6, 2013 by burritoman259

[JeffDetroit 717]

For me, being a relatively new player in DayZ, but having consumed a good helping of tutorial videos, I think I've robbed myself of the intended experience (of mystery) - but, I like to use the simpler weapons and it increases the danger level for me.

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

I think my first few plays of DayZ may be the best fun I've had with my PC and that's including porn. Games are always at their best when you're exploring them and discovering new things. Once you've mastered/beaten them it's all downhill QQ.

[dulix11 731]

I remember my first DayZ experience..."Oh look a survivor, oh shit! ZOMBIES!! RUN, oh, no I'm dead."

[Statik (DayZ) 2695]

I think my first few plays of DayZ may be the best fun I've had with my PC and that's including porn

Are you sure?

[Fraggle (DayZ) 15720]

Yes. I think. Well the fun lasted longer and I didn't feel ashamed afterwards.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Fraggle

[Steak and Potatoes 13480]

I think my first few plays of DayZ may be the best fun I've had with my PC and that's including porn.

So your telling me to stop recording my stuffed animal fetish videos?

[Death_Dealer 3155]

I hope the SA will be like a completely new game.

I still remember the feeling I had when I first started playing DayZ.. Constantly pulling up the map, nearly pissing my pants after being shot at.. Man, I sure do miss it.

[pmjkerr 76]

I agree with Fraggle. Those very early experiences are the best Ive had gaming on my pc and nothing has matched it since. I wont say gaming in general because nothing can take away from my experiences with Cloud Strife and the gang.

[bfisher 561]

I think you guys might be romanticizing a bit. DayZ felt exciting when you first started playing because you are in this huge, open sandbox. Chernarus is so big, you don't know what's out there so your mind fills it up with possibilities. And if anything all those YouTube vehicles helped do that. I saw videos of bandit camps where they would gather up noobspawns and make them fight to the death. Players stalking each other by roadflare with a couple of Makarov pistols in some remote warehouse. Hoards of zombies chasing some idiot who just fired an Enfield in Cherno. Clans of well-armed players air assaulting into Electro on a supply run. So I'm thinking wow, if I survive long enough, that's what I have to look forward to.

The reality is, there actually isn't that much out there. Most of the buildings are sealed up. The zombies aren't much of a threat. There are huge stretches of empty wilderness. DayZ needs to somehow balance the post-apocalyptic feel of isolation with having stuff to actually "do".

I'm excited by the standalone. I think Rocket is taking it in the right direction by fixing the zombies and putting them on the server, adding more locations and enterable buildings, more player customizations, more incentives to cooperate with other players so on and so forth.

The one thing I hope he doesn't do too much is create some dumb backstory. That implies there is some way to "win". The fun of DayZ is not in following some story. It's in the emergent behavior that develops as players develop their own story.

[bfisher 561]

I think you guys might be romanticizing a bit. DayZ felt exciting when you first started playing because you are in this huge, open sandbox. Chernarus is so big, you don't know what's out there so your mind fills it up with possibilities. And if anything all those YouTube vehicles helped do that. I saw videos of bandit camps where they would gather up noobspawns and make them fight to the death. Players stalking each other by roadflare with a couple of Makarov pistols in some remote warehouse. Hoards of zombies chasing some idiot who just fired an Enfield in Cherno. Clans of well-armed players air assaulting into Electro on a supply run. So I'm thinking wow, if I survive long enough, that's what I have to look forward to.

The reality is, there actually isn't that much out there. Most of the buildings are sealed up. The zombies aren't much of a threat. There are huge stretches of empty wilderness. Most of the time, my player interactions consist of random encounters with some other lone wolf or getting sniped or instakilled or thunderdomed by some hacker. DayZ needs to somehow balance the post-apocalyptic feel of isolation with having stuff to actually "do".

I'm excited by the standalone. I think Rocket is taking it in the right direction by fixing the zombies and putting them on the server, adding more locations and enterable buildings, more player customizations, more incentives to cooperate with other players so on and so forth.

The one thing I hope he doesn't do too much is create some dumb backstory. That implies there is some way to "win". The fun of DayZ is not in following some story. It's in the emergent behavior that develops as players develop their own story.

[OrLoK 16182]

Hello there

I found a nice (seemingly vanilla) Private(?) server yesterday and had a good few hours play. I even bumped into a few survivors and while I flayed drastically to change channel and scream out "friendly!" they had already looked bemusedly at me and were gone before I came to my senses.

Thats a refreshing change.

Judging by the side chat many folk were on as well, so its not just quiet servers that are safe from uber band1tz.

Rgds

LoK

[jackghnnm78@gmail.com 23]

Here are my 2 cents on this...

Being a dayz player for more than a year and a half I do not believe that there was a different feel at that time.

I believe that every player has there own experience, and that the feeling of joy and adventure comes depending on how a player approaches the game.

If you really want this experience OP talks about, don't watch any tutorials or deep gameplays and learn the nuts and bolts of dayz on your own.

[RabidDiabetic 63]

My humble recommendation to you veteran players is simple. Stop using choppers, stick to the ground. Even if you have a good vehicle ground travel takes so much longer it will easily use up your time and of course give you a higher chance of running into another person and tense scenario. If you have a few hours to play at night and log in and jump in your chopper you have to come up with a LOT more stuff to do. Add some travel time to your routine. Works for me.

[Saethkept 134]

I think that the DayZ experience can be revitalized for us, with new content, new features, unpredictable zombie behavior, etc. Whether this happens with the standalone, a new DayZ mod, or by tinkering with the code ourselves ... the next new old thrill is out there. What I do not think would do it for DayZ veterans, is a new mod, the newness of which is defined by a few new weapons, vehicles or slightly different terrain. I do not care if there are 600 new weapons to try out because I'd be using them - however cool they were - on the same old zombies and bandits in the usual garb. It's going to take a real imaginative concept to bring back that feeling.

[Evilsausage 87]

To be completly fair i don't think DayZ will ever be able to offer the same feel we had the first time we tried the mod.

The entire concept and gameplay was something we had never experianced before, everyone was a noob that had no idea what was out there. Thats also probably why we saw alot of randoms teaming up etc...

Even with new features, improvements the impact for an old player won't be the first time as he played it.

[simfreek@hotmail.com 48]

When I started playing, it was with a group of two other friends. We had tried it for the first time and we had no idea where the fuck we were or how to find each other. After using real life land navigation techniques, we were all teamed up. Of course I had died a few time and so had they. Ohhh so thats what the high crawl is used for. This will take for ever, I wounder what the range is that they can see me as just crouching... oh crap run... oh man how do you loose thies things? AWWWW.

Then as a group you could bump into a group of other players and 9 time out of 10, they wouldn't shoot you. Instead asking you if you knew the area. Or, where did you find that weapon at? You don't know the name? Well how do you get there? Okay Cool thanks man. Now... its oh shit other player, run for it... or shoot them first before they see you.

[victusmortuus 1074]

I watched way too many videos about the game because I'm a meticulous buyer especially when I was buying a system just for Dayz.

[Parasprite 35]

It's a combination of easymode servers + your average player being experienced with the game and cynical. Even people new to the game are hostile, having known what they were going into. DayZ will never go back to having the same feel as before.