1.7.7 Patch heli crashes

[WelshWizard 8]

Hi all,

I have now found 6 heli crashes since the 1.7.7 update only one of which had a weapon (an FN-FAL).

Does anyone know if they've tweaked the item spawns for heli crashes? It's possible that some of the crashes that I found had aleady been looted, but a couple had 6 loot spawns with just empty tin cans (why would empty tin cans be thrown from a helicopter crash?) and painkillers. There was no mention of them decreasing the weapon spawn rate at heli crashes in the patch notes.

It would be a shame if this were the case, as I used to really enjoy searching for heli crashes; there seemed to always be the possibility of a better weapon than the one I was packing if I could just find a heli crash. Now searching for them seems pointless as the loot they spawn is no more valuable than that spawned by 3 or 4 military tents.

And before anyone asks, yes I have been scoping them out first from a distance as the loot now spawns anywhere within a 100m radius of the chopper itself which of course makes it next to impossible to find amoungst the grass once you're up close.

Cheers,

WelshWizard

[JoeM (DayZ) 41]

Seem like a waste of time to me, loot is too hard to find underneath the grass. And most of the time there is little loot.

[wooly-back-jack 294]

There's a post somewhere telling you how to turn on clearings around heli crashes and loot, I'm just looking for it myself as yes, the heli crashes are a bit harsh with the loot spread so wide

[m_mitchell 27]

Yeah I've found many crashes now with maybe one weapon. That's if I'm lucky. I feel there should be bodies of all the crew with gear scattered near them. We should at least be guaranteed to get 1 weapon assuming it's not looted.

[WelshWizard 8]

It really just isn't worth the risk anymore. When I see the telltale smoke plume of a downed heli these days, I don't get that feeling of excitement at the prospects anymore. More a dread of the monotony of playing musical chairs with the surrounding zombies for 30mins while I try to examine the loot that's actually spawned.

It's ridiculous. They make the zombies more persistent, more powerful, increase the chance of a terminal infection 100 fold, spread the loot so far from the crash sites that it takes 3 or 4 times as long to find AND THEN decrease the quality of the loot to be no better than a low risk area like the Berezino military tents.

Poorly thought out and poorly implemented.

[klesh 2423]

The one thing a chopper crash is great for now is ammo boxes. With as rare as ammo is, you can get lucky and find yourself overflowing with the ammo type your gun uses. That is, if you have a good gun to begin with.

I was also able to turn in 2-3 mags of Stanag that I approached the chopper with for 10 Stanag SD mags. The way zombies are now, those SD mags are invaluable.

If you have binos you can spot the loot before having to get too close. If I see an ammo box and am low, its still worth a visit.

Edit: one thing I did notice with 1.7.7 chopper crashes is that the zombies are not all mil zombies. They are now a mix of military and civilians.

Edited June 17, 2013 by klesh

[WelshWizard 8]

This has not changed with the hotfix. I've now found multiple unlooted chopper crashes with the only loot being empty tin cans and painkillers.

The only way to get a decent weapon (with ammo) these days is to either loot the NWAF or kill other players. The days of spending hours searching for heli crashes and that rush of excitement and anticipation when you finally found one are truly gone.

Thanks community team. Thanks for making the game a blander experience.

[wooly-back-jack 294]

chopper crashes on my server are sweet :)

[Gentle911 1]

Crash sites are strange. Found one the other day with no zeds around it. I usually find 1 decent rifle, some assorted ammo, ghillie, and meds (no AB). I still check them out anyway, might get lucky.