Suggestions from a Sandbox MMO Player.

[Terrorfex 0]

So, i'm not a huge ArmA or FPS fan. I love DayZ because it's a nice sandbox with a nice theme and some nice gameplay features. But as a Sandbox fan i have some suggestions to make.

Mostly i've been playing EvE, Mortal Online, Darkfall and some older games. Even played some Wurm back in the day.

Also, english is not my first language so sorry for anything.

1. Goals and Objectives

When i try to introduce DayZ to a non-sandbox player the first question i have to answer is: What is the goal in this game ? Well, for most of us old school gamers the goal is to have fun. But some people need to have a mission, something that they should strive for. But searching for loot and killing zeds / players can be kinda boring after a few weeks. Right now i can get really well geared after 4-5 hours of gameplay.

How to adress this ?

Everywhere around Chernarus there are ruined towns. What if players could actually fix them ? After a few fixes zombies might stop spawning there and it could be a safe haven for players. Loot will not spawn there, and players will have to find stuff in the world to reinforce them. We already have barbed wire and sandbags around so we might just need to find some gun emplacements, maybe from heli crashes.

What willl those towns become ? That's up to the players. If a group of bandits fix Balota, it might become a safe haven for bandits or a group of survivors might create a town for trading and protecting new players. It's all up to the players. That's a sandbox.

Why is this important ? This will add more depth to the world, and make it more like a real living organism instead of: zeds in town, loot it, leave it. Also it gives the players the option to do something different. Maybe even restoring the entire world.

It could be fun if every hours a zombie horde would attack the new town and players need to defend it.

I don't know how limited ArmA engine is to do this.

2. the Wild, Wild Chernarus

Right now players spawn in the coast and most of them run to Cherno / Elektro to get some loot. They should avoid those places like the plague. Really, the biggest cities should have LOTS of zeds. Right now i find harder to infiltrate a small town than a big one, simply because so many people are going into Cherno / Elektro that the zeds usually are already busy chasing someone or killing someone.

Make medicine more valuable, make special loot only avaible in the middle of those cities and spawn a huge horde on those spots. Players would need to group up to kill the infected and get the best loot in those towns.

No military grade weapons in those spots. But special tools and medicine. Radios, antibiotics, blood packs, GPS and everything that can be really helpful for survivors.

This will add a really good PvE aspect to the game, and will also add more realism to it. And it will spread people more through the map and not only in Cherno / Elektro.

Once again, i dunno how the ArmA engine will work with this, but if it's doable it would be awesome.

3. Weapons & Mods

Dunno if the ArmA engine supports this but it would be awesome to be able to find mods for weapons. No stupid crap like they have in CoD, but let's say you found a AK74. Later you find a Kobra sight or ACOG, or even a Silencer. And so on. This will add more replay value, more things to look for and more options to customize your gameplay.

4. Customization of your Character

Right now you can use some camos. Let's expand that! Add new ones: Spec Ops clothes, different civilian clothes and so on. Damn, you could even add some stuff like cop clothes, medic clothes and so on.

5. New maps ?

I know that ArmA 2 uses Chernarus, but OA has some different maps. It would be fun to have DayZ on the desert or something like that. Things for the future thou.

And that's all for now.

Might add more later.

Thanks everyone!

[logan23 118]

Good read

[SystemiK 366]

Well I know one thing that should make you happy. Rocket has said that the way the engine is set up, that it should only take about one hour to convert DayZ to any other existing Arma 2 map. I figure it is only a matter of time...

[chhopsky 25]

I like the idea of some of this stuff but I think the most pertinent suggestion is #1. This would obviously have to be per-server since it would be a bit weird to have structures suddenly start fixing and building themselves. But I like it. It would also need to be VERY difficult to keep those towns. I think once you start restoring stuff and building defences etc then nearby Z spawns would have to start wandering in and trying to attack it. My main concern is turning the game into EVE. It should be incredibly difficult to take, and hold, anything. This would require players to trust other players to help reinforce them. It could work.

[TheCalcaholic 0]

I think you've made some great points... Concerning the thing about more maps... I personally would love to play DayZ in a major city - with small narrow streets and dark areas to hide and be scared to death by zombies, and with high-rises that that apparently don't have many way to flee if necessary...

I know that this would mean lots and lots of work creating new maps, but as the dayZ community grows maybe there will be many people willing work on it - IF the opportunity is given to create custom map-servers.

There could also be the opportunity given to choin a server on another map with all the equipment of yours on a spawnpoint, so that there would be some variety in the gaming experience.

By the way, the idea about rebuilding towns sounds really fabulous to me; if that was implemented it would be great (but it also means lots of work for the developers as I know).

[Moriim 0]

I think the "creation of civilization" idea could either be the greatest thing to ever happen to the mod, personally. The shoot on sight mentality is a little too prevalent and there needs to be some incentive to group up with other people besides just "make zeds super duper powerful and make soloing hard as nails." The only feasible reasoning for this would be the types of goals you're discussing here, where numbers would be necessary for large scale, but localized, hordes guarding hoards.

It would also encourage server loyalty, since if you spend hours (days?) building a town you're probably going to come back. Server loyalty is always a good thing because people grounded on one server are astonishingly more friendly to newcomers in my experience.

[Mrdumpty 0]

I really like the idea of DayZ on multiple ARMA 2 maps, that would add some nice variety. (At least until we've played all the maps with tons of characters)

[global420 0]

I hope the Fallujah island gets a DayZ makeover.

http://www.armedassault.info/ftp/pics/islands/fal_1.jpg

http://www.armedassault.info/index.php?game=1&cat=islands&id=130

Nice ideas for goals to have.

[KVCC 1]

I think idea 1 is AMAZING.

I don't agree with idea 2, and I think idea 3 is good....but I don't think this mod should go all out on character customization, that should be the very LAST thing rocket adds, if at all.

[fackstah 31]

Chernarus has over a million objects and took a year to develop

each one of the trees was placed by hand

arma maps like this are very few and far between the only thing comparable is Lingor as it has all buildings that are open and even aligators that eat you if you end up in the water to long

but most arma maps dont come close to Chernarus hence why it was chosen

[leo235 2]

MEH

how can you say you play Sandbox MMOs and then make this post?

When someone new starts to play Eve and asks you what is the goal of the game you would have a harder time explaining that to him than here.

Also:

Title is nondescriptive and as I explained doesnt even fit the post.

unoriginal ideas though yes the threads about lategame goals are hard to find via search function.

[Terrorfex 0]

Oh, and the Idea #1 should be server based.

Right now we have just one reason to stick to a server: tents.

And a lot of people keep server hopping looking for loots. If we could add player created settlements and more persistence to the world people would be more encouraged to stick to a server, creating a better community.

And that would also help with the KoS issue. Right now people just shoot everyone because it's kinda hard for the guy who you just shot will find you again, if you had to play on the same server - and had just ONE NAME per character - then people would be less hostile to avoid being hunted by everyone.