What I think the standalone needs...

[C h r i s 28]

So I've put plenty of hours into this game so far, with the majority of my play time on core Chernarus DayZ rather than spreading my wings and heading over to different maps. This isn't to say I've not played them, just haven't spent nearly as much time exploring them.

 

Before I begin, I just want to make it clear that everything I say is an opinion and it can't be deemed as right or wrong just what I think would help the Standalone be the game that I think it could be.

 

Saying that, the game I want it to be is far from what I'll describe in this thread. I personally despise how clunkly interactions are in Arma 2 and 3, opening a door should be a mapped key and should be easy to do. This is the same for a lot of interactions such as climbing down a ladder etc... but I'll stop there as I know that there's no chance of that being implemented on the current game's architecture.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Okay so... what I want to start off with is the Z part of the game. Zombies for those struggling with that.

 

The mod too has struggled with this even though it's meant to be a zombie game. Yes they're a part of it but they don't impact on the game like they should do. The pathing has always been a problem but judging by the devblog videos this has been resolved (yay).

 

Now comes the issue of speed. If I died and became a zombie, I would not expect to be able to run like Usain Bolt and jump like the Hulk. What I would expect is to be able to rip and tear the crap out of anything that came remotely close to me. This is where I think the zombies are a let down in a zombie apocalypse game. There's no fear of zombies, just annoyance. They shouldn't be able to open doors, they should start smashing them down. They flat out shouldn't be able to climb. They should quietly huddle in dark corners waiting to surprise their next victim.

 

There should be a way that would hinder the player but would massively decrease the chance of detection. This does not mean crawling as my life is too short to crawl round a town looting.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Moving on, the next topic I'd like to address is possibly the most important. Community.

 

DayZ represents a new style of gaming (or atleast it is the first of its kind that I've come across), survival and interaction in a player versus player open world environment.

 

The mod has become a coastal team deathmatch and it is very rare to stumble into a friendly compadre. Why is this?

 

I believe it's down to both the lack of community and the lack of objective.

 

I'll touch on community first as it doesn't seem as discussed on this forum. I played for around 8 months on a private hive called Wireworld which stuck firmly to the mod's roots. Spawn with nothing etc etc. There was a teamspeak server that 98% of players used and there were lots of groups/teams. What was nice was that there wasn't a time where I'd kill or be killed by someone I hadn't seen before in the player list. I could recognise who the good players were and who the bad players were, I'd also know their usual haunts and it was probably the most entertaining gaming experience I've ever had. Well done Wireworld.

 

Now, the question you may pose may be... well what can the standalone take from this?

 

... and that's a fair point, unless there are private hives how can a community be put together? Mine and my mate Michael's idea is to be assigned a group of 2/3 servers that you are able to access. You can then invite friends to join your server if there's space or others wanting to swap you would then lose your access to your previous server group. This initial assignment would be done geographically and would pen people in to playing on certain servers forcing a community to be formed.

 

Objective is a strange one, there's always going to be different views on this and it's possibly controversial. When you first start out on DayZ mod, you're overwhelmed by the vast learning curve needed. What gun is good/bad and where to go to find better equipment. This will always have its limitations, there's only so many gun variants possible and this is where I've struggled to retain interest. My solution or additional interest would be base/camp building. This is what would happen in a real life zombie apocalypse so being able to escape pvp and zombies and scavenge the woods for building materials would be amazing. This again would create a community as base/camps would be tied to one server, a player spending time building a house is more likely to stick around on that server getting to know others in the area. There would also be the opportunity to raid that base if you could get past the fortifications.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Vehicles are useful, fact.

 

However, there shouldn't be road blocks. Zombies don't drive.

 

Aircrafts should be available as they are fun, but hard to fix and rare to spawn. Previously the private hive I played on had 1 spawn every 2 weeks. This is a game after all and I want to have fun, not get a disease from the water and get jumped on by a Usain Bolt zombie.

 

Vehicles should be able to be modified, additional armour added would make the car/bus/truck zombie proof but slightly slower and less fuel efficient.

 

Bicycles should be fairly common, real world houses have them why shouldn't DayZ? If you're going for realism after all...

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

The Map, Chernarus. We've played it and played it and played it. The standalone will need variants for lasting playability.

 

Adding an inland ship is nice and all but it doesn't mean I'll be interested playing the map for years to come.

 

I'd also recommend removing the empty space that is north and west. Make it into an island that you're stranded on.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

Apologies for the essay, if you've bothered to read it I hope you enjoyed my splurge of thoughts.

 

Chris.

 

Player name: Fold

 

 

[BSB Jimmy 360]

 

I'd also recommend removing the empty space that is north and west. Make it into an island that you're stranded on.

 

the north part of the map is being worked on, in the SA there will be more towns and places to explore in that area

and yes zombies don't drive but infected humans do

Edited August 13, 2013 by BSB Jimmy

[Wayze 549]

Okay so... what I want to start off with is the Z part of the game. Zombies for those struggling with that.

 

The mod too has struggled with this even though it's meant to be a zombie game. Yes they're a part of it but they don't impact on the game like they should do. The pathing has always been a problem but judging by the devblog videos this has been resolved (yay).

 

Now comes the issue of speed. If I died and became a zombie, I would not expect to be able to run like Usain Bolt and jump like the Hulk. What I would expect is to be able to rip and tear the crap out of anything that came remotely close to me. This is where I think the zombies are a let down in a zombie apocalypse game. There's no fear of zombies, just annoyance. They shouldn't be able to open doors, they should start smashing them down. They flat out shouldn't be able to climb. They should quietly huddle in dark corners waiting to surprise their next victim.

 

There should be a way that would hinder the player but would massively decrease the chance of detection. This does not mean crawling as my life is too short to crawl round a town looting.

DayZ is no Walking Dead, if you die you stay dead, you don't turn into a zombie. Actually there are no zombies in DayZ, there are just infected people. If I am not mistaken the background is really similar to I am Legend. A global virus which is transmitted by air infected the world. Every single human is infected, some humans are restistent against this virus (1%) and others turn into primitive people (19%) and the rest died (80% of the human population). Not sure if these are the exact numbers, but something like that. Anyway, they are no zombies. If you shoot an infected human in the heart, he will die. He is the same as a human besides the fact that the virus has took over his body. Why they are running faster, why they are not starving as fast as normal humans, this is something you can explain how you want. Maybe the virus changes the human body completly, so there are alternative sources of energie. I don't know and I am no expert.

However, the infected are fast because they are otherwise no threat to the player. Even if they are as fast as a player the player would not care about it. He would run and trick the AI, which will be really bad anyway. I hope the zombies in the standalone will be way more deadly, like the death reason number 1.

 

Moving on, the next topic I'd like to address is possibly the most important. Community.

 

DayZ represents a new style of gaming (or atleast it is the first of its kind that I've come across), survival and interaction in a player versus player open world environment.

 

The mod has become a coastal team deathmatch and it is very rare to stumble into a friendly compadre. Why is this?

 

I believe it's down to both the lack of community and the lack of objective.

 

I'll touch on community first as it doesn't seem as discussed on this forum. I played for around 8 months on a private hive called Wireworld which stuck firmly to the mod's roots. Spawn with nothing etc etc. There was a teamspeak server that 98% of players used and there were lots of groups/teams. What was nice was that there wasn't a time where I'd kill or be killed by someone I hadn't seen before in the player list. I could recognise who the good players were and who the bad players were, I'd also know their usual haunts and it was probably the most entertaining gaming experience I've ever had. Well done Wireworld.

 

Now, the question you may pose may be... well what can the standalone take from this?

 

... and that's a fair point, unless there are private hives how can a community be put together? Mine and my mate Michael's idea is to be assigned a group of 2/3 servers that you are able to access. You can then invite friends to join your server if there's space or others wanting to swap you would then lose your access to your previous server group. This initial assignment would be done geographically and would pen people in to playing on certain servers forcing a community to be formed.

 

Objective is a strange one, there's always going to be different views on this and it's possibly controversial. When you first start out on DayZ mod, you're overwhelmed by the vast learning curve needed. What gun is good/bad and where to go to find better equipment. This will always have its limitations, there's only so many gun variants possible and this is where I've struggled to retain interest. My solution or additional interest would be base/camp building. This is what would happen in a real life zombie apocalypse so being able to escape pvp and zombies and scavenge the woods for building materials would be amazing. This again would create a community as base/camps would be tied to one server, a player spending time building a house is more likely to stick around on that server getting to know others in the area. There would also be the opportunity to raid that base if you could get past the fortifications.

I think you missed the point of dayz. Sure, right now it is a real deathmatch, but this will change. And it won't change in the way you want. The good thing, the unique thing about DayZ is that you never know if the player in front of you will kill you or not. The game is about the interaction with other people, the good one and the bad one. If you have gear you don't want to lose you got to be more careful, and this will increase in the standalone because there are no weapons which will be controlled by the private hives. But like it looks you want to play a game where you know you enemy and everyone you play with is on your side. So, why don't you just play Battlefield? DayZ is not about teaming up and play together, it gives you the opportunity, but it's no the point. DayZ is about losing you gear and being killed by a bandit. That is what makes dayZ special.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

DayZ is NOTHING new, it's just that mainstream gaming so far has always ignored games that are into punishing the player.

[IkaikaKekai 1957]

So I've put plenty of hours into this game so far, with the majority of my play time on core Chernarus DayZ rather than spreading my wings and heading over to different maps. This isn't to say I've not played them, just haven't spent nearly as much time exploring them.

 

Before I begin, I just want to make it clear that everything I say is an opinion and it can't be deemed as right or wrong just what I think would help the Standalone be the game that I think it could be.

 

Saying that, the game I want it to be is far from what I'll describe in this thread. I personally despise how clunkly interactions are in Arma 2 and 3, opening a door should be a mapped key and should be easy to do. This is the same for a lot of interactions such as climbing down a ladder etc... but I'll stop there as I know that there's no chance of that being implemented on the current game's architecture.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Okay so... what I want to start off with is the Z part of the game. Zombies for those struggling with that.

 

The mod too has struggled with this even though it's meant to be a zombie game. Yes they're a part of it but they don't impact on the game like they should do. The pathing has always been a problem but judging by the devblog videos this has been resolved (yay).

 

They're working on it.

 

Now comes the issue of speed. If I died and became a zombie, I would not expect to be able to run like Usain Bolt and jump like the Hulk. What I would expect is to be able to rip and tear the crap out of anything that came remotely close to me. This is where I think the zombies are a let down in a zombie apocalypse game. There's no fear of zombies, just annoyance. They shouldn't be able to open doors, they should start smashing them down. They flat out shouldn't be able to climb. They should quietly huddle in dark corners waiting to surprise their next victim.

 

*pulls the string on his Talking Rocket Action Figure* "The Zombies are not the undead, just infected."  While they've been mum on exactly what the 'zombie virus' is, it is some sort of 'Rage Virus' (think 28 days later, very much alive, just rabid and fairly stupid).  I would agree on them not being able to climb (or at least not very well), but to be honest  if you take away their speed at this point they become a non threat as you can simply out walk them, they're aren't many dark corners for them to hide in.  This isn't Resident Evil (the first few) where you're running around a large mansion not knowing what awaits behind every corner.

 

There should be a way that would hinder the player but would massively decrease the chance of detection. This does not mean crawling as my life is too short to crawl round a town looting.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Moving on, the next topic I'd like to address is possibly the most important. Community.

 

DayZ represents a new style of gaming (or atleast it is the first of its kind that I've come across), survival and interaction in a player versus player open world environment.

 

The mod has become a coastal team deathmatch and it is very rare to stumble into a friendly compadre. Why is this?

 

I would say its because of people who are too lazy to get their own gear, and the people who shoot people for 'the fun of it' or the 'lulz' as is the popular term.  After a while no one trusts anyone and the Kill on Sight mentality prevails.  I wouldn't say I'm friendly, but unless I know you KOS or are a bandit I won't shoot first (and unfortunately for me, he who shoots first, usually shoots last)..

 

I believe it's down to both the lack of community and the lack of objective.

 

I'll touch on community first as it doesn't seem as discussed on this forum. I played for around 8 months on a private hive called Wireworld which stuck firmly to the mod's roots. Spawn with nothing etc etc. There was a teamspeak server that 98% of players used and there were lots of groups/teams. What was nice was that there wasn't a time where I'd kill or be killed by someone I hadn't seen before in the player list. I could recognise who the good players were and who the bad players were, I'd also know their usual haunts and it was probably the most entertaining gaming experience I've ever had. Well done Wireworld.

 

Now, the question you may pose may be... well what can the standalone take from this?

 

... and that's a fair point, unless there are private hives how can a community be put together? Mine and my mate Michael's idea is to be assigned a group of 2/3 servers that you are able to access. You can then invite friends to join your server if there's space or others wanting to swap you would then lose your access to your previous server group. This initial assignment would be done geographically and would pen people in to playing on certain servers forcing a community to be formed.

 

Objective is a strange one, there's always going to be different views on this and it's possibly controversial. When you first start out on DayZ mod, you're overwhelmed by the vast learning curve needed. What gun is good/bad and where to go to find better equipment. This will always have its limitations, there's only so many gun variants possible and this is where I've struggled to retain interest. My solution or additional interest would be base/camp building. This is what would happen in a real life zombie apocalypse so being able to escape pvp and zombies and scavenge the woods for building materials would be amazing. This again would create a community as base/camps would be tied to one server, a player spending time building a house is more likely to stick around on that server getting to know others in the area. There would also be the opportunity to raid that base if you could get past the fortifications.

 

This will eventually be added in.  But even then it won't get rid of most of the KOS mentality, it might get rid of some, but there'll just be larger groups of players killing other groups.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Vehicles are useful, fact.

 

However, there shouldn't be road blocks. Zombies don't drive.

 

The road blocks were set up during the zombie outbreak to try and keep thous infected with the virus from spreading it further.  Obviously it was a failed attempt.

 

Aircrafts should be available as they are fun, but hard to fix and rare to spawn. Previously the private hive I played on had 1 spawn every 2 weeks. This is a game after all and I want to have fun, not get a disease from the water and get jumped on by a Usain Bolt zombie.

 

I think the reason why there aren't many air vehicles aside from helicopters is the lack of non military airfields (I would say Balota is probably the only one but even that I'm not sure about).  I would imagine they scrambled all Military aircraft during the outbreak to try and deal with the infected and either crashed as the pilots became infected (my belief is that the virus is airborne) or landed at 'safer' sites or attempted to get away.

 

Vehicles should be able to be modified, additional armour added would make the car/bus/truck zombie proof but slightly slower and less fuel efficient.

 

Vehicles will not be in the alpha, but Mad Maxing cars is one of the things they want when they put them back in.

 

Bicycles should be fairly common, real world houses have them why shouldn't DayZ? If you're going for realism after all...

 

I would agree with you there.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

The Map, Chernarus. We've played it and played it and played it. The standalone will need variants for lasting playability.

 

Adding an inland ship is nice and all but it doesn't mean I'll be interested playing the map for years to come.

 

I'd also recommend removing the empty space that is north and west. Make it into an island that you're stranded on.

 

The island of Utes has been added in Chenarus+ (Standalone), I believe it will be on the eastern side of the map (possibly southern).

The northern part is being reworked heavily, adding in more villages and towns.  I don't get what you mean by making an island in the North West.

 

Not every square inch of a country will be developed and urbanized (with the possible exception of the Vatican, but thats a VERY tiny country in the middle of a city), there's going to be 'empty space', deal with it.

 

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See Red.

Edited August 13, 2013 by BigMike