New player with a few questions

[Westyy 3]

Hello everyone!

I played this game a few days ago at my brothers house, and I have just purchased it through steam ( it should be downloaded within the hour.... I hope).

Anyway... I have been browsing the forums for a while now and have picked up a few tips and other useful info, but I have a few questions to ask:

What server should I play on to begin with?

How do I know if they are "connected"? ( I read a small post about hives?!? )

And my main question is:

I saw a topic about many different "mods" for example Origins. Which seem to add new/reworked maps new features etc...

Now im just not sure if I should play one of these mods or play just "normally"

Any advice/help/tips or whatever will be appreciated

Thanks in advance :)

One more thing, when the standalone game is released, will i have to purchase that also?

Edited July 9, 2013 by Westyy

[RoyBloggins 11]

Use DayZ Commander to filter unofficial/official servers.

http://dayz.gamepedia.com/How_to_install_DayZ

[hogscraper 328]

I would suggest playing normal without any mods on a private hive. Public servers are a crapshoot as to whether or not you will have fun or find a hackerfest or just run into a bunch of trolls. I would suggest getting Dayz Commander, setting that up, patching everything you need then just look for a moderately filled private server. There are tons of servers being advertised in the server area of this forum. Just pick one and have fun. Just remember there are thousands of different personalities running servers and it may take a while to find one you like. Trust me, though, finding a server full of like-minded people like yourself is worth the time you put in finding one. Some are noob friendly, some are noob aggressive. Just don't get mad, no matter what happens, leave and find another server that suits you.

If you are new, never use voice over side chat, (the blue one). Doesn't matter if people are ignoring your text chat. Doesn't matter if you are being raped by a horde of zombies and you can't take time to type. That one thing will make most people on most servers instantly hate you if they have rules against it and many do.

Never tell another player where you are located through in game chat. If you care nothing for your life and want to roll the dice on all the gear you are carrying, feel free. Bandits will kill you for your gear or for fun. Assume everyone in the game is hostile until they prove otherwise. I've run into a ton of players acting like new guys, asking for help, then trying to shoot me. You may feel that not shooting some guy you come across who is yelling "FRIENDLY!" is the right thing to do, but never assume it will work for you. Many people are cool and will simply watch you with their gun drawn, many people will shoot you no matter what. That also means, never running up on a player you don't know. Crap happens and sometimes you round a corner into another player's face, but seeing a player then running towards them, (if you don't know each other), will almost always get you shot.

If you know people, though, or even meet someone cool, try to get comms outside of game to talk where others can't find you. Skype, TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, whatever.

You will also have to buy the standalone once it comes out since you really didn't buy Dayz, just Arma2.

[Westyy 3]

Thanks for the replies, and great info :)

[methr1k2dop3 323]

Yes Dayz Commander is a must.

I would personally get familiar with Vanila Dayz servers

Then when you are comfy check out some private hives.

Private Hives tend to be a lot more "gamey" these servers have LOADS of vehicles and bunches of other added things, check em out here http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/forum/64-private-hive-discussion/

Remember your character will keep everything when switching in between official servers.

Private hives or unofficial servers your character and gear stay exclusively on that one server.

PM me if you have any problems.

[-Gews- 7443]

What server should I play on to begin with?

A good private hive, I wouldn't bother with the public hive anymore, unfortunately...

How do I know if they are "connected"? ( I read a small post about hives?!? )

In general public = connected, private = not. However some private hives share player info within their own separate servers.

Now im just not sure if I should play one of these mods or play just "normally"

Normal to start IMO.

Any advice/help/tips or whatever will be appreciated

I've heard there is a medic base in Tulga.

One more thing, when the standalone game is released, will i have to purchase that also?

Only if you want to.

[morgan32 403]

DayZ Commander is a very helpful tool that makes joining and finding servers extremely easy. It also allows you to install the additional "expansions" (Origins, Panthera, etc etc) very easily. I use DayZ commander and it's great.

What server you should begin with? I'd suggest finding a good private hive server, something with proper admins, a nice community and not too many mods or additions. I currently play on Balota Buddies, which got a lot of helpful and nice members and it's full of great admins, I love it here and you could gladly check it out if you want to (Send me a PM or something and I'll forward you).

The hives that are connected to each other are public hives. As someone mentioned above, playing on these has almost no joy anymore, unfortunately. When you join a private hive, you'll have your character bound to that specific hive and nothing will be transferred to other hives unless it's bound between the hives (Mostly if for example a community has multiple servers you may be able to keep your stuff bound within those servers)

I would definitely go with playing the standard normal DayZ on the map Chernarus to actually get used to it all. When you've got your ropes tied then you could expand to more maps.

When the standalone comes out you will have to buy that, you won't get it free because you already have Arma 2 / Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead.

Tips I can give you? Be careful who you trust, always be on the safe side and don't get attached to what you own, it will be gone eventually.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and I'll be glad to help in any way I can.

[Agent36 25]

mods are like Taviana, Namalsk, Lingor island stuff like that and try and start on a server where there is a middle range of players goodluck