A Plea: Restrict Server Options

[Speagull 0]

TL;DR - Please restrict server options/distribution of server files until DayZ SA is well along in development (preferably something like 6 months - 1 year after full release) to control what happened to the DayZ Mod - abundance of "easy mode" servers and elimination of hardcore servers.

 

I also apologize if any of this post is confusing as writing has never been my strong suit and I'm not a very cohesive thinker; I start writing whatever is on my mind and forget what I wrote prior to it. So again, sorry if it's confusing.  :blush: Also, this post may seem somewhat accusing, but it is by no means meant to be that way; I'm just addressing one of the things that I think, in my opinion, ruined the mod. The majority are probably going to disagree with me, but that's what it means to be opinion, right?

 

Just going to get straight to the point and say that, in my opinion, the only option that should be available to server owners is the toggle of third person mode (to help people with motion sickness since at the moment there seems to be no head bob slider). Now let me also say that I respect the decision and applaud server owners for spending their own money to host their own server so that others may have the opportunity to play DayZ.

 

For those of you who played the mod, you all know how there was a nice mix of three types of servers: recruit (crosshairs, nametags, third person, distances, can even see people on the map if they're near you), normal (crosshairs, third person, no name tags, no distances, no map names), and veteran/hardcore (no crosshairs, first person only, no nametags, no map names, no distances); my recollection of some of the difficulties is a little fuzzy, but I think that's somewhat accurate. Eventually, rocket gave server owners the ability to change any settings they wanted, and what happened? Within a few months, the server list was over-saturated by "24/7 daylight, nametags, third person, crosshairs, max loot spawns, max vehicle spawns, etc" servers which completely defeated the point of DayZ. My favorite hardcore servers disappeared or had no one playing on them anymore and I was pretty much required to play on these custom servers if I wanted to have any interaction with other players.

 

I'm already seeing 24/7 daylight servers on the SA server list. This is starting to worry me because I feel like it's heading the direction of the mod - completely circumventing the survival/difficulty aspect that DayZ is supposed to offer. I know Rocket has said that they are planning on doing some specialized databases or something for certain server types, meaning that people who want a hardcore experience can go play hardcore or softcore go softcore, but once the aforementioned 24/7 daylight servers come into play, the hardcore community is going to become kaput. Here are some common complaints, and my responses, about DayZ:

 

But I'm always stuck playing night time when I get off real-life work and night time sucks! There are servers in other time zones so if it's 8 p.m. EST and you want daylight, just try to find a server on the west coast. At the moment, there's no way of telling which servers are which time zone, but eventually I'm sure that server owners will put their time zones in the server name (like the mod). "So you may as well keep 24/7 daylight because people just server hop to daytime servers anyway!" Yes, people server hop for daylight, but if Rocket implements penalties for changing servers quickly, then more people will be on night time servers. There really is nothing wrong with night time other than the gamma/brightness exploit; why circumvent something that the DayZ team worked hard on fixing/improving from the mod so that night time would be a little more enjoyable? Edit: As a suggestion, maybe implement 8 hour light cycle so every day you'd experience both day and night (2 day times, 1 night time; 2 night times, 1 day time, etc).

 

I want to be able to see my character/third person lets me see more of my surroundings. Both of these points are pretty much moot now, especially since you can see your character in the inventory screen, AND there is now a proper FOV slider instead of that wonky fix for Arma 2 that stretched your screen. The only two acceptable reasons I can see for third person mode are: 1) motion sickness from head bob (until they implement a head bob slider), and 2) if your character is sitting down. If Rocket really wants to keep third person, my suggestion is to force people to first person mode if they equip ANY kind of melee/ranged weapon. This seems like a reasonable solution to me as it still gives players the ability to use it for traveling/loot searching/whatever, but they can't get a one-up on you combat-wise.

 

I can't find any loot or (eventually) vehicles; I want to be decked out! Yes, right now I agree that loot seems a little scarce; a lot of buildings aren't even spawning loot (like the giant apartment complexes, or the rectangular dark wood houses with the weird shack entrance), but come on... does no one like the feeling of being on the verge of death from starvation/thirst, only to find that water canteen or well in a back yard and go "SWEET JESUS YES!"? I have a feeling a lot of the complaints on this point are from new players since I've had no problem surviving by going inland and finding towns that no one have even touched yet. Scarce loot (coupled with the loot durability system), creates incentive to trade with players or rob them with handcuffs instead of just outright killing people. I'm hoping military base spawns are even more controller to prevent the influx of military grade weaponry that's so easy to obtain right now (doesn't help that you can server hop without penalty at the moment). I could go on and on about this topic, but Rocket has put some neat mechanics in the game that will help make loot more valuable and hopefully prioritize trading/robbing over killing on sight, as well as making that one item you're searching for super gratifying when you find it.

 

Please keep in mind that I respect how other players want to play the game, up until the point where it eliminates one type of play style or it homogenizes the whole system (read: "easy mode" servers). Right now in the SA, I feel content with everything, except I think third person needs some tweaking. Rocket said in one interview or Q&A that he was going to restrict the server files at first so that there wouldn't be a whole lot of server customization, but seeing as there are 24/7 daytime servers already, I'm worried he's backing away from that a bit. Yes, I understand that server owners are paying their OWN money to run a server. This topic is just a giant grey area and down the line I could understand server customization, but until the SA is completely finished, I think this should be restricted.

 

There are probably more topics I could touch on (and may add to this post later), but I'm sorta crunched for time since I'm moving today. If you made it all the way through my post, thank you for taking the time to read it and I'd like to hear your thoughts on it, or even any additions you have if you agree with my opinion. Please keep it constructive to avoid this topic from getting locked.  :)

Edited December 20, 2013 by Speagull