How can we make a players life more important than his gear?

[knawx 175]

I think it would be great if there was something implemented into the game that made us care about the life of our character even more than the top tiered items.

 

What has got me thinking about this is a situation I was in on the second day of playing. I had some good gear including an M4. I was excited about my gear and feeling good. Then I was caught looting a building by a group of three people.

 

I didn't want to lose my gear and knew I didn't stand a chance agains all 3. I also hate combat loggers so I faced the inevitiable. They hand cuffed me and began taking my loot, demanding I put everything on the ground.

 

This is when it hit me. After losing my gear, I couldn't care less if they shot me dead. I was going to have to start over anyway.

 

As it sits now, your worth is tied to your gear, and has nothing to do with how long you have survived. What can be done to make players not only find worth in their gear, but also their lives?

 

Suggestions:

*New survival traits learned over time. Example: Players who have ran around for a long time begin to see an increase in stamina. (The idea of traits/abilites being aquired has not set well with most of the community)

*Facial hair. Something as simple as a beautiful beard acting as an indicator or trophy of how long you have survived in the harsh world. This alone could be enough for some people to live.

*Humanity system where dying brings consequenses.

 

 

Would love to hear anyone elses thoughts on this matter!

[-Gews- 7443]

Beard is the only one I'm comfortable with.

[xX_fr0st-w0lf_Xx (DayZ) 343]

There should be skills

 

They are learned through theory and practice. Each level of increase provides benefits be it big or small. Hoever its not like banadage 10x to gain level.

 

Rather its like:

 

Skill: Medicine

 

Level1 

To unlock:

-inspect 2 dead human players

-bandage someone or yourself once (35% chance of fail)

-Inspect 5 different medical items 

 

Benefits:

-bandaging is 10% faster

-25% less failure rate

 

Level 2

- Discover 2 different antibiotics

-Read: Medicine and you (a book only found in hospitals)

-Inspect 1 more dead player 

-Exam 2 different water sources

 

Benefits:

You learn what antibiotics are for what

You have a 40% of determining how safe a water source is by examining it 

 

and so on and so on 

[erocean 21]

I LOVE THE BEARD IDEA.... I would feel more manly :D

 

I do love this idea or the thought of the idea, as long as the "traits" don't come with making someone be able to aim better, shoot more accurate or anything that is game breaking or OP it could work. Great thought though for sure.

[mercules 1290]

Rocket has mentioned the survival traits as a possible line of thought to follow when they get around to all that. The more you do something the faster you can do it in the future or you get a tiny bump in the results. Cook food a lot and soon your cooked food is a bit more filling. Repair times on vehicles go down the more you fix things. 


Personally if they go with that approach I would prefer if they gave us a choice of areas and lets us pick 2-3 depending on how many there are where we would improve. It would give not only that life a meaning, but also teaming up with others. Sort of the, "Have Mercules smoke some meat for you, it takes forever to spoil when he smokes it because he has been alive for 40 days and cooking a lot." Then we won't have someone out there farming skill and being better at everything. :)

[Katana67 2907]

Gradually acquired proficiency, not skills. One can always apply a bandage. But doing it properly is only garnered through experience and practice. Unless there's some sort of "input" based system rather than just "click X and the character runs through a preset animation", acquired skills could accomplish what you're talking about.

 

That and fixing the characters to the servers, rather than having them be persistent.

[mercules 1290]

I LOVE THE BEARD IDEA.... I would feel more manly :D

 

I do love this idea or the thought of the idea, as long as the "traits" don't come with making someone be able to aim better, shoot more accurate or anything that is game breaking or OP it could work. Great thought though for sure.

 

So what about our female players? Be careful with your replies... 

[bagelbite 2]

Knowing your blood type is one reason to not die. Blood test kits aren't extremely common.

[knawx 175]

So what about our female players? Be careful with your replies... 

This is a great question, I didn't even think about the Female models.

[Deathlove 2286]

The problem with skills on characters would be that it really WOULDNT matter how good you are at something allot of players will still kill you for the gear which is still more viable than co operating with a player. Sadly this idea has been explored in both ISS and Nether and even though there are no cooking skills ppl still KOS ppl regardless. Even worse when you die in Nether your skill points and lvls reset so im not sure i want to do this over and over and over again just to get a desired result for living a bit better.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Deathlove

[erocean 21]

So what about our female players? Be careful with your replies... 

 

Careful? I just said I love the beard idea.... the rest of the comment had nothing to do with that.

[Jamz 253]

I always preferred the idea of difficult to traverse areas of the map over learned skills and traits. I think survivors should only have their own knowledge and experience available to them, which they have learned from playing.

 

Having areas populated by so many zombies that a only group of players working together would be able to survive there, could potentially lead to uneasy ad-hoc groups forming (if the lure of gear is strong enough).

[erocean 21]

The problem with skills on characters would be that it really WOULDNT matter how good you are at something allot of players will still kill you for the gear which is still more viable than co operating with a player. Sadly this idea has been explored in both ISS and Nether and even though there are no cooking skills ppl still KOS ppl regardless. Even worse when you die in Nether your skill points and lvls reset so im not sure i want to do this over and over and over again just to get a desired result for living a bit better.

KOS will never go away, period. I am fine with that, but I do like the idea of something that could cut down on some of it.... "maybe"

Edited December 19, 2013 by erocean

[knawx 175]

I always preferred the idea of difficult to traverse areas of the map over learned skills and traits. I think survivors should only have their own knowledge and experience available to them, which they have learned from playing.

 

Having areas populated by so many zombies that a only group of players working together would be able to survive there, could potentially lead to uneasy ad-hoc groups forming (if the lure of gear is strong enough).

 

I like your idea of more zombie dense areas.

 

In terms of learning the map and having knowledge and experience, the problem with this, is that you can learn everything there is to know about the game in just a few days of playing. Not to mention spending a little time on the wiki and you could learn everything there is to know without ever playing the game. This does not add importance of life to the player. A reason to live.

 

I'm looking for ideas that would give players a reason to live beyond their gear.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Knawx

[Bribase 251]

The consensus on perks, microskills and so on has been a general "No" on this forum but I'm beginning to change my tune.

 

I think that a subtle increase in endurance, immunity to disease, increased leathality with melee weapons, resistance to attack from infected and stamina applied to work entirely "under the hood" is the way to go. This should be perceptible enough to reflect the character's ability to survive and to make the death of the character a risk but not so much as to seem artificial or to needlessly award a good player by making the game far too easy.

 

I think the dev team could make a really good go of character progression beyuond loot at this stage with the new systems built into SA.

[Deathlove 2286]

KOS will never go away, period. I am fine with that, but I do like the idea of something that could cut down on some of it.... "maybe"

Well if i remember correctly didnt shooting some one or beating them up with a melee degrade some of the gear? Maybe it needs to be upped to higher risk to make ppl stop.

 

Im all for skills to be honest i just dont want it to be a mandatory you must to survive. Cosmetic skills would be ok.

[Luthor Chickenfeet 29]

I'd quite like the ability to "hide" some gear. Maybe dig a hole or something. Probably have to put a cap on the amount (a waterproof bag or something) so people don't just horde everything. 

 

That way, (depending how long you've survived & how much stuff you have acquired) you'll not necessarily lose everything you own & obviously care more about living or dying.  

 

It would also give a reason to use more of the map (stash your stuff up in the hills/forests).

 

There'd have to be a mechanism for it to save so it is still there if you move to a different server. 

 

 

(Caveat: Unless this is in fact already possible, I haven't tried yet...)

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket 8]

people will KOS people regardless of gear or beard. they will and have been KOSing fresh spawns off the coast.

 

about the only thing i can think of is make team work almost required. an ability that is useless solo, gets better with another person and more people. heck tie loot quality and quantity to number of people in a small radius

[gregor (DayZ) 95]

Female players? A some kind of long braid...

 

[erocean 21]

I'd quite like the ability to "hide" some gear. Maybe dig a hole or something. Probably have to put a cap on the amount (a waterproof bag or something) so people don't just horde everything. 

 

That way, (depending how long you've survived & how much stuff you have acquired) you'll not necessarily lose everything you own & obviously care more about living or dying.  

 

It would also give a reason to use more of the map (stash your stuff up in the hills/forests).

 

There'd have to be a mechanism for it to save so it is still there if you move to a different server. 

 

 

(Caveat: Unless this is in fact already possible, I haven't tried yet...)

 

eventually I am sure we will have tents, hidey holes and cars back. This is where you can/will store your extra gear, people can find your "storage" and steal it all yes... but thats the risk you take. Right now, none of that is in the game yet but I am sure will be coming back very soon.

[SteezeOrtiz (DayZ) 2]

I really like the beard idea, but what if you were a female character? Do you still grow a beard? LOL

[IPI xFusion 1]

Female players? A some kind of long braid...

 

if there ever was a zombie apoc i hope i find her..........

[Tek (DayZ) 95]

This is a video game.  Therefore no life will ever be greater than gear.  It's the nature of video games.  There will always be that understanding that, well I can always respawn and try again.  That's why people will risk going for axe kills on someone with a rifle.

 

And that's the way it should be.  This is still a video game afterall, not real life where death is everlasting.

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket 8]

how would a beard or braid make your life more valuable, mainly because if somebody is stealing anything from you, high % they will kill you once they get what they want. and making killing even more prevalent to keep others from getting said beard or braid

[Siberian (DayZ) 527]

this exactly why ill never agree to be handcuffed or taken hostage..

 

if im being removed of everything anyway, i'll just respawn and get started over on my own terms thx..

 

its a shame i doubt this game will ever have anything to make ur characters life worth more then whateva u might be holding..

 

even the disease/medical system, why suffer ? just respawn and start over.. it suks but its not worth putting up with coughs/limps or whateva...

 

hopefully they can think of something, but i wont hold my breath waiting for it