1.7.* Infection WIP Update

[need matches 84]

Still think antibiotics need to be more available.

Simply, we used to have almost zero sickness and lots of dependable resources. Now, tons of sickness and almost zero resources. I've logged 14 hours into 1.7.7.1 and have NEVER seen antibiotics. Might as well just get rid of them all together.

Simply, playing "bleed out" is only so much "fun" for so long. I used to play, in earlier patches, characters through until their dying breath. Now, with sickness, I just walk away from the game until I die. Or find some zombs to finish me off.

Is this what was intended? Because it seems that way. I can keep looking for antibs, but why? When after 14 hours I've never seen them. Was that intended too?

I did the "eat any animal I find" thing and kept looking, but that only works when you have a knife. Oh, but those rarer now too.

I don't mind "difficulty". But increasing one mechanic, sickness, and taking away resources at the same time, is just contrived "difficulty". I can't wrap my head around it. Do one but not both.

This is my opinion. It won't change. So please, no epeen comments.

Edited June 30, 2013 by need matches

[EvilFrog 1]

I've been playing Dayz for a long time now, I started back in June of last year I think. I rarely feel the need to post about the mod or changes to it, but this recent change is pretty bad.

Pretty much the way the game plays now is run around and collect loot until you get infected, then stash the loot somewhere and kill yourself. There is no reasonable way to eliminate the chance of infection or to cure the infection once you have it. It's pretty much a death sentence at this point.

The problem with this mechanic is that it's NOT challenging, it's punishing. Challenging is something that makes you have to think about how to handle a game mechanic and forces the engagement of the player with that mechanic; challenging is something that immerses you deeper in the game. Punishing is a mechanic that needlessly forces the player to replicate effort or to abuse other game mechanics in order to deal with an unnecessarily painful game mechanic.

Think of it like this, with these new changes, players are less likely to be risk adverse, since there is no reasonable way to stay alive with the current state of infection for a long period of time in a zombie infested area. It is mathematically better to simply run in grab everything you can, and then suicide in a better area and recover the body if you are infected. The opportunity costs for trying to stock up on enough antibiotics is simply too high to bother not abusing the re-spawn mechanic.

This is not "harder" game play by any means, instead it breaks immersion by making the time costs of using an immersion breaking mechanic--respawn--less than using a much less jarring mechanic--finding antibiotics in hospitals regularly.

I know that there are larger plans for the mod and more ways to cure or prevent the infection, but adding in the infection system without the counter to it was simply a poor decision.

Edited July 3, 2013 by EvilFrog

[RJTurneR 112]

I really don't get it. I've been infected twice since the update..? I've found a healthy supply of antibiotics too when looting. Zombies are a threat and so you should respect, which I do. I have not put myself in such a situation where I find myself being 'punished'.

I am doing something wrong here..? Because I don't see the issue. And yes, I play daily, and I have played the mod since September. This is the best update yet IMO.

Seems to be people hate change. Before there was no challenge which they called for, they change it and it's still not good enough, lets revert back to the PvP fest where zombies are nothing but white noise, an annoyance. Personally, this is my opinion and I expect people to disagree.. but personally I think it's a case of people not willing to adapt or change their loot run. You expect it to be easier in SA when zombies run in buildings, the tree/bush glitch doesn't work, and their pathfinding is much better? It's going to become harder on SA if anything.

I personally see this as almost a taste of what to expect. I welcome change, and I welcome a challenge. To call the mod punishing is nothing new to be honest. In a way, the mod can be mentally exhausting at times depending on how long you play for and the way you play, as well as the challenges that come. It's what's so unique about DayZ. Thinking. Executing. To say punishing forces you to exploit the game is utter ****. Thats an excuse and anyone who comes out with that knows it. Anyone who 'thinks' they are being forced to exploit anything has a weird way of thinking. I know a lot of players including myself that get around just fine without cheating or exploiting, if people are going to start doing this because 'It's too hard' then I need to find a game with real players it seems.

This ain't going to be laid out on a plate for you. Just my two cents.

Edited July 3, 2013 by RJTurneR

[The Jackall 55]

stop complaining about infection and go play arcade games. maybe COD is a better game for you.

[LordDante 30]

Wow this thread is blowing up:)

I'm exited about the new mechanics, but do I understand correctly, that you either have someone to help you fight of the infection or you just heal yourself with lots of food, drink and some... rest? Not sure if this is the best. Food, drink, yes okay perfect, but rest? I would not like to lay around waiting to get healed again. No fun in that.

Otherwise, keep it coming! We'll see what it turns out to be:)

[Dagwood 680]

The players complaining about not finding antibiotics after hours and hours of gameplay need to learn to adapt to a weathered and aged chernarus.

Insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different end result. If you keep going into hospitals and there is no loot there, stop looking for medical supplies there. And stop ignoring the non-enterable houses for Christ's sake! I never bothered with them before this patch either, but now that little to nothing of value is spawning INSIDE the houses, you need to change your strategy.

"But the database says this is the hospital so medical loot needs to be there. This is dumb. I'm going to lay down and pout until I die"

If you're not going to fight to earn your survival then you don't deserve it. Go play a game with 2 minute life spans or one with save points if this is too much "punishment" for you

[dukstuf 24]

As far as I can tell, there is no way for a new character to survive long enough to find antibiotics. You get bit before you acquire enough food to survive, you don't find antibiotics because they are rare as hell, and you die. Repeat ad-infintum, until you quit playing out of frustration. The "established" players have equipment, knife, matches, loads of stored food and antibiotics and it isn't an issue- but solo, there seems to be zero chance of survival- and I've had several server admins tell me it is near impossible now without a partner or already being set up with tents and stuff. What's the point?????

[RJTurneR 112]

Maybe we should get rid of the infection and zombies, throw everyone a hatchet and lock them in a cage...

Seems like a solution to me. :rolleyes:

[r4z0r49 4761]

As far as I can tell, there is no way for a new character to survive long enough to find antibiotics. You get bit before you acquire enough food to survive, you don't find antibiotics because they are rare as hell, and you die. Repeat ad-infintum, until you quit playing out of frustration. The "established" players have equipment, knife, matches, loads of stored food and antibiotics and it isn't an issue- but solo, there seems to be zero chance of survival- and I've had several server admins tell me it is near impossible now without a partner or already being set up with tents and stuff. What's the point?????

This is a load of crap stop doing what ever your doing and do something new. Your playing like you did in .6 it will only give you a one way ticket back to the beach.

[(TMW) Marion Mic 104]

(Frightening english ahead)

Hell ow,

I've been playing DayZ for a week now. So I am quite a newbie in (for me) very scary environment. At start I died few times, respawn, repeat, ... Then I've started to use "sneak and search" tactic. Again, I died a lot. Over time I learned how zombie works. Now I enjoy living my longest lifeI, manage to get all hunting loot, map, compas, food, bottle, ... And now I am using "hiding in the forset" tactic and I play only at night. I have nice equipment for survivor (starter) and I played like 20h to get those. I am super sneaky^^.

Well, yesterday I went to supermarket, loot it and suddenly zombie entered behind through closed door, hit me once and infected me. I ran out in the forrest and log out w/ half blood and infection. Then I have learned, that walking only at night lowers my temperature and can get infection easily.

I was sad, because I put a lot of effort on that character and didn't want to let it die just like that. I Searched on forum. Meet wiht medic guys, they gave me antibiotics and some weapon. That's how I managed to get through infection^^.

And now, I like it hard, but also have better equipment to look for them on my own.

[RJTurneR 112]

I'm not afraid to speak my mind and this is certainly not exception, but personally, I feel there is only a small minority that can actually handle and play DayZ now. Notice how half of these people are going "Oh, i run around town, get hit, now I'm infected and I can't cure it".

You know what? I hope they make either the mod or SA even harder.. Pure hardcore. Why? Because I'm sick of everyone complaining that the mod is 'broken'. No appreciation for the mods, given how much time they spend trying to develop something that was given to them, not developed by them. You guys want to try and make a perfect mod? Well go ahead, because theres no such thing.

Fact of the matter is there are those who accept the flaws, adapt to the way the mod changes, and get on with it. I can say that in my first two weeks back in DayZ I have caught the infection twice (Running around like an idiot too..) but found a nice healthy supply of antibiotics.

I'll sum it up for you. Don't like it? Stop playing and wait for SA, even though it will be even harder than what DayZ is now. If your not willing to accept the limitations and flaws of the mod, or not even give credit to the dev's for how far this has come, then personally you shouldn't even deserve to play DayZ.

Once again.. Just my two cents.

[psylnz 34]

As far as I can tell, there is no way for a new character to survive long enough to find antibiotics. You get bit before you acquire enough food to survive, you don't find antibiotics because they are rare as hell, and you die. Repeat ad-infintum, until you quit playing out of frustration. The "established" players have equipment, knife, matches, loads of stored food and antibiotics and it isn't an issue- but solo, there seems to be zero chance of survival- and I've had several server admins tell me it is near impossible now without a partner or already being set up with tents and stuff. What's the point?????

This is a load of crap stop doing what ever your doing and do something new. Your playing like you did in .6 it will only give you a one way ticket back to the beach.

I have to somewhat agree with Dukstuf. I've been playing on my own private hive server, no modifications, and after spending about 12 hours scouring Cherno and Elektro, I've only found 2 antibiotics. In that time I was infected a couple of times, but was never able to find antibiotics in time to save myself. And that was in the two largest Cities, the biggest loot drops. If the choices are crawl for hours with a gimped character or die and run to your body, people are going to go for the latter out of furstration. I'd say either make the antibiotics a bit more common, or make the infection more rapidly fatal - like having to use antibiotics withing 5 minutes of showing an infection, or your dead.

On a postivie note - I do like what R4Z0R49 describes in the original post - about having one hour to mitigate the chance of infection by using more commonly available items. And alot of the spawns seem better now - It took 12 hours to find a cammo'd M4, an M16a2, an ak74su, and a g17, and I had to make the decision to pass them up for a winchester and a makarov based on the amount of ammo I could find. Food is about right - it was too easy to find before. What's with hatchet's though? I still haven't found one.

[(TMW) Marion Mic 104]

Then I have learned, that walking only at night lowers my temperature and can get infection easily.

I am playing at "Day only" server now. Had couple of encounters with zombies and found out, that I don't get infected so easily now, than walking around at night. Maybe it's RNG but so far, It's better to play at day. Until I found some antibiotics, then I'll move to "Night only" server again.

[Vicco 123]

I'm not afraid to speak my mind and this is certainly not exception, but personally, I feel there is only a small minority that can actually handle and play DayZ now. Notice how half of these people are going "Oh, i run around town, get hit, now I'm infected and I can't cure it".

You know what? I hope they make either the mod or SA even harder.. Pure hardcore. Why? Because I'm sick of everyone complaining that the mod is 'broken'. No appreciation for the mods, given how much time they spend trying to develop something that was given to them, not developed by them. You guys want to try and make a perfect mod? Well go ahead, because theres no such thing.

That's all cool with me. Though the devs will have their own preferences, pretty sure they want more than about 500 players who are addicted to tedium to be happy. They listen to everybody, and most of the concerns expressed about infection rate/antibiotics have been polite enough. I think you can expect changes.

Personally, I'm still enjoying 1.7.7.1 on public servers. I've been camping Cherno grocery, jumping into low pop servers to gear up. Sometimes the loot is there when I spawn in, sometime I have to make a quick loop outside to get it to spawn. Just scored a 12-slot assault pack and a .45 on one server.

Now that I can carry enough food/drink, I'll strike out for barns/sheds to find an axe and a Winchester. But I might server hop Cherno grocery another 10 times to try to score some anti-biotics.

Of course I can tolerate that kind of tedium to some extent, because I'm "hard-core Dayz."

Regardless of what the devs' intent was, that's how I use my "smarts" to "succeed."

I use any game exploit available.

In about 24 hours of play my partner and I only found 2 anti-biotics total, both in a grocery, so server-hopping Cherno grocery some more is probably a good move for me.

My game-playing partner, who's a "hard-core" gamer, got fed up with the infections pretty quickly.

He doesn't have the leisure time to repeatedly get killed by infection while hunting for anti-biotics, nor the almost infinite patience it takes to avoid infection. Just not his idea of fun after a hard day's work. Go figure.

We've only played 1.7.7.1 Dayz together on my server, so I easily fixed his problem.

We both spawn with a full 24-slot Coyote pack. Yep - 48 anti-biotics. So anti-biotics are no problemo.

I still play public servers, but there is a limit to the tedium I can endure. I'll find out the limit when I hit it.

[iceman28001 36]

My game-playing partner, who's a "hard-core" gamer, got fed up with the infections pretty quickly.

He doesn't have the leisure time to repeatedly get killed by infection while hunting for anti-biotics, nor the almost infinite patience it takes to avoid infection. Just not his idea of fun after a hard day's work. Go figure.

This.

To me I love difficulty, but the mechanic how it is now is just not fun. There is a difference in difficulty and just being tedious. Hopefully this gets refined.

Mod going off my playlist (again, just tryed to start back) for awhile. The snarky responses by the "new"(for me anyways..) staff don't help my hopes... but good luck and i hope you realize you are making a game(mod) and that requires some reasonable amount of fun. Plenty of new features, which is probably fun to add I guess... but would rather have good ol' dayz. The older dayz was fun, so still hoping standalone will be (since rocket keeps mentioning dayz roots...)

Edited July 6, 2013 by Iceman28001

[Crazy one 124]

As far as I can tell, there is no way for a new character to survive long enough to find antibiotics. You get bit before you acquire enough food to survive, you don't find antibiotics because they are rare as hell, and you die. Repeat ad-infintum, until you quit playing out of frustration. The "established" players have equipment, knife, matches, loads of stored food and antibiotics and it isn't an issue- but solo, there seems to be zero chance of survival- and I've had several server admins tell me it is near impossible now without a partner or already being set up with tents and stuff. What's the point?????

Seriously wow!

i'm a new player to this game i play nothing but solo(always have done)now i'm on a server that has just flares and a bandage as starting gear, :ie the bare minimum, iv'e always been the loner survivor i saw the zombies as my main threat from day one of playing this game which has taught me to be cautious and adaptable in every situation, i never run in anywhere i always check the area before i go in and then i take the long route so not to get spotted or aggro zeds(but it happens). This patch has made the game harder and making the Zombies as your main threat(that's how it's supposed to be) other players are a secondary concern and always has been to me,(never killed anyone yet)

If you get bit before finding food/drink then you are doing something wrong, i can get from Komarovo to Cherno without getting bit and that's with no supplies on me. iv'e been close to death several times managed to find food/drink, but iv'e only been infected once since the patch, was on my last legs and i managed to find some Anti's.

Day Z is Brutal Hard and well lets say a lesson in adapting to everything that is thrown at you.

Edited July 6, 2013 by Crazy one

[chris_uk 16]

Komarovo to Cherno without getting infected you say.. wow.. you sir are a warrior!

[Crazy one 124]

Komarovo to Cherno without getting infected you say.. wow.. you sir are a warrior!

Not if you stick to the tree line/wooded area above the coast all the way, you won't bump/come across any zombies, until you reach cherno,As for balota just go above it through the trees, i don't bother looting anything until cherno or the odd barn on the way. No zombie contact hence no infection.

[Dortmunder (DayZ) 19]

I can't say that I am a fan of the infection rate at the moment.

I think I have only come across 2-3 antibiotics, and that's checking all hospitals on the map, and even loot cycling a couple once or twice, something I try to avoid.

Tried the tent cure as well. I was in a bind, nearly dead and found a tent, so placed it(behind Berezino hospital, near the static tent) and tried to rest at it, over and over. After about 20 tries a zombie came along and ate me.

Seems like *every* hit from a zombie infects you, even if you just took Antibiotics, which is moronic.

Some ideas I would like to see is say a 10% chance to cure the infection when using Morphine, Epi-Pens, Bandages, Blood Bags etc. Any medical item could have a decent chance at fixing you up.

I can generally play for hours without getting hit by a zombie, but sometimes you just get unlucky with a glitch punch and such. If it happens a couple times in a row you're probably just dead since fixing it is often impossible.

[WBK 176]

I don't get why people equate infection to death. It isn't, plain and simple. Antibiotics are rare, yes, but this is a survival simulator. If you have an infection, then of course curing it is the end goal. Viewing the infection as a countdown timer to death however, is wrong. It is possible to survive for ages without a cure; I once had a character who got infected about 15 minutes after spawning, and ended up surviving for two days before I found antibiotics. All it takes is an increased focus on gathering food to maintain health. Do not go looking specifically for antibiotics. By specifically I mean at hospitals. They are more likely to appear at hospitals, but hospitals are generally danger zones, both hard to get into and out of. Plus, while a single hospital is more likely to spawn anti's than a single house, there are way more spawn points around a city than in a hospital, so your best bet is to stay away from hot zones and stick to calmly looking for food in houses, while hoping there's some anti's there.

You can survive off canned foods for a while, but eventually you will need meat to sustain you while looking for anti's. So the first item I look for after being infected (if I don't already have it) is a hunting knife. You can always light a fire at a barrel (without matches), so hatchets and matches aren't compulsory, although they're handy. My priority list upon being infected goes like this: hunting knife > meat > other food > hatchet > matches > antibiotics. It's not easy to survive without anti's, but it's nowhere near impossible either.

To the people saying "I love a harder game, but it has to be reasonable/not tedious", there are so many choices you can make. I'm not going to say that staying away from zombies and players and being generally stealthy is the right way - there is no right way, you should be able to play the game any way you like. But it is the way that increases life expectancy the most. This is a survival sim at it's core, and so you have to treat the character's life as if it's the only one. Proceed with caution. If you don't like the direction it's going, I have bad news for you: it's not going to change. This is the direction that both the mod team and SA team want to take. But thankfully for you there are other DayZ mods, enough to cater to most everyone's needs. Or you could even roll back to 1.7.6.1. I'm not going to say 'play cod' because that's silly. But this specific game might not be for you if you can't be bothered putting in time and effort into a characters life. Don't respond with 'a casual gamer won't get any enjoyment out of this'. I'm a casual gamer in terms of how often I can play; I can only play about 3 hours once every three days. But I make those hours count, and I love it because this game is exactly what I want. This game requires devotion and attention, it's not a stopgap measure for boredom. Those sort of casual players can and should find another version of the mod or even another game.

TL;DR - When infected: hunting knife > meat > other food > hatchet > matches > antibiotics. Infection does not equal death.

Edited July 6, 2013 by WBK

[(TMW) Marion Mic 104]

Started to play at night only again (mostly empty servers or 1-2 players). Helicopter crash sites are so easy to spot. I could easily spot (around 6) of them on a 3km^2. I visited 3 of them and managed to find 2x antibiotics.

Now I am "Helicopter crash site" hunter^^.

[Dortmunder (DayZ) 19]

It is possible to survive for ages without a cure;

12000 blood

3 blood per second

4000 seconds

You can survive just over an hour while infected. If you took no damage prior to becoming infected.

Your definition of ages differs from mine.

Basically you're saying if you scavenge for canned food and go hunting all day, you might get lucky and find antibiotics. Chances are you're going to die of infection anyways. All you did was spend hours eating.

Edited July 6, 2013 by Dortmunder

[fluxley 2228]

Doesn't take that long to get up a good supply of meat if you know where to look.

(Well there's a potentially embarrassing statement if i ever saw one :o )

Edited July 6, 2013 by Fluxley

[WBK 176]

12000 blood

3 blood per second

4000 seconds

You can survive just over an hour while infected. If you took no damage prior to becoming infected.

Your definition of ages differs from mine.

Basically you're saying if you scavenge for canned food and go hunting all day, you might get lucky and find antibiotics. Chances are you're going to die of infection anyways. All you did was spend hours eating.

Yeah to be precise, assuming full health you've got 1hr, 6mins and 40 seconds to find the antibiotics. I have died before due to infection, and it's not easy to survive. But assuming you place a high importance on your characters life and fight to survive as opposed to just looking for antibiotics for an hour, you have a high likelihood of surviving. Every time I looked specifically for antibiotics after being infected, I have died. And every time I've actually put in effort to survive, without purely focussing on antibiotics, I have. I'm not saying the harder method works without fail, I'm saying that the easier option is guaranteed to fail.

[chris_uk 16]

Not if you stick to the tree line/wooded area above the coast all the way, you won't bump/come across any zombies, until you reach cherno,As for balota just go above it through the trees, i don't bother looting anything until cherno or the odd barn on the way. No zombie contact hence no infection.

i was being sarcastic..