First time player feedback

[thisisbleep 32]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, there is no place on the forum which clearly states is for feedback.

Disclaimer:

Yesterday I played the game for the first time, I purchased Arma II specifically for this mod and will no doubt play Arma II later, but for now I am completely new to both the game engine and the mod. Everything which I mention is my personal opinion, but I have played enough games to have a good idea about what I do and do not like in games. I have good hand eye co-ordination and have played many other games

Summary:

This game/mod has a lot of potential and if it can develop to fill the community and the development teams expectations then it will be a success. There are no other games similar to this currently on the market and I expect to play this for a long time to come. Sadly there are a lot of limitations to the game because it is a mod and relies heavily on the existing engine, but that should not be used as an excuse only a reason to try harder to find a way around the limitation.

The next section is very long, read at your own peril.

Summary of my findings/experiences:

This game is not friendly to a beginner or new player; there is no introduction or any assistance with controls. The best solution would be to have a tutorial level in single player. I am unsure if this is possible but it is the best approach, it would cut the learning curve on how to start by several hours. I personally had been on the wiki and the forum before I started, but I still struggled to get to grips with the controls because there are so many and they are not intuitive. What I suggest below is mainly at helping the learning curve and adding an extra level of difficulty, which lets beginners start playing the game and work towards the existing levels of difficulty.

Before I found the server which I spend several hours playing on I had a hard time finding one which allowed the 3rd person view, it would be better if the settings are clearly shown on the server selection screen, e.g. by clicking on a button which brings up the advanced settings. The difficulty is some assistance, I had read about the difficulties and options which are enabled/disabled, so I knew to try “regular” servers, but I found that 3rd person was disabled on the first few. I do not expect the mod to be able to help in this regard because it is an Arma II limitation, but that does not stop us from asking the developer from making some changes and it is the same for things which I later suggest that are limitations of Arma II.

The first thing which I did when I started was to run inland, straight into a steep hill which caused me to walk, at first I could not understand why the running was not working. It is a bit strange that the second you hit a slope you cannot run, even when I was on a road with a minimal slope I was forced to walk. Again this is probably and Arma II limitation, but you should still be able to run up slopes, just make it so you get tired a lot faster or run slower, because walking several kilometres up a road is painful. I do not know how much faster zigzagging would be, but it is not realistic and it is just as painful.

The recent patch has changed the starting equipment, meaning that people do not have a gun and the wiki mentions that you used to start with morphine. My first character ended up with a broken leg and I was forced to crawl for 30 minutes before finally dieing. In the whole time that I spent playing I did not find any morphine, after checking 3 villages and numerous other random loot locations. Each player should start with 1 of each item to cure the various injuries, after that they are on their own. It would also be much better to start with a weapon, even if it is a crowbar, so you have some hope of surviving. Without any form of melee combat, e.g. punching, kicking and pushing away, this game will be severely limited and is no way a “simulation”, melee is a major part of zombie games for a reason. Again I have read that this is an Arma II limitation, but is it not possible to make a “gun” which acts and looks like a melee weapon? The range of the “bullet” is 3 feet and unlimited ammo with no reloads, this would effectively make a melee weapon (I am unsure if this is how the crowbar or hatchet works currently). Zombies also have “melee”, why can’t players have the same attacks as them?

The inventory system is painful, hopefully this can be improved. Being able to see the bag contents at the same time as the rest of the inventory and easily moving things around all on one screen will make a big difference.

When hit you have a random chance to suffer bleeding, broken bones etc., whilst this mechanic is good it is also unfair because a single blow could do it (this happened to me and caused a broken leg) or you could stand there and take a dozen hits before you are affected. It would be much better to give zombies a “combo”, they hit you normally for 3-5 hits and then there is a percentage chance of a strong hit which has a percentage chance of causing the ailment. This way the system is random but you are also not unfairly punished. I do not know if this could be implemented in the AI of the zombies and if they can do multiple types of attacks, as it stands the game is just like rolling a dice and relies on luck more than skill when the zombie reaches you.

A flee button would be good, several times I aggro’d zombies and was delayed by having to stand up and then run, causing me to be hit and in the future when the zombies are better at attacking it will be even worse. A panic button which stands you up and gets you running instantly without the delay would be much better at getting closer to reality. It should be a combination which is easy to use but hard to do by accident, easier said than done. In real life you do not have to think about standing up before running, you would be scrambling to get away. Whilst I doubt it is possible to do exactly that with the Arma II engine, it should be possible to combine stand and run together.

I am still struggling with the running/sneaking, sometimes I could not run even after holding shift and trying to double press shift (I know how the system works) and I have no clue why. Even double tapping the “w” key was not working. All of this was when not on a slope. Other times I ran a few steps forward by accident, when trying to sneak and alerted all of the zombies to my presence, double tapping “w” is not good because it is possible to do by accident. The suggested flee button would be better to stop this.

Another control issue which I have found is the accuracy of the cursor; it is hard to climb up ladders and other targeting actions. It is also annoying that you cannot look down when lying down, to pick up items and you have to crouch to enter your bag.

This game needs teams/groups, you should be able to spawn together and start playing straight away, it is realistic in real life that survivors would stick together just as much as going off on their own. It should be possible to support this because of what is already available in Arma II.

Player aids should be added, so that new people can get assistance when they start. Such examples would be to mark zombies more clearly once seen; I do not mean a big red arrow above their head, but more like the existing system of white dots which appear at the side of the screen to show enemies out of the field of view. A map would also help new people, I am aware that it exists in game, but the starter map could be a crude hand drawn thing which marks “no go” areas (e.g. air fields and barracks) and the locations of the roads and villages/towns, this means the actual map still is desirable but you can live without it. This would fit in with the game because a fellow survivor might have given it to you on your way to Cherno (you start on a beach, so it is fair to think you have travelled to there from somewhere else). It is also unclear when you aggro zombies, especially if you do not have line of site because they might be trying to get to you through a wall and attract all of their friends (yes this should be fixed, but there are other occasions where a zombie is on the other side of a building and hears you). A visual clue would be good to show that you have aggro’d, e.g. an exclamation mark next to the character. All of this can be another setting in the server which is enabled or disabled, or add a "beginner" difficulty.

I have seen various kinds of ammo in game and I already think that the ammo is too specific. I found several types of shotgun ammo, but none would work with my Remmington. I know it is a simplification by making bullets more standardised, but it would be better instead of forcing people to gamble on collecting certain ammo and not collecting others.

The server chat was also recently removed, I am aware that the game is designed to be isolation, but this should be a server option. It is especially useful for people playing on “beginner” servers so that they can make friends and learn how to play, then move on to other servers with the people that they met. As it stands I have no hope on meeting people to play with in game, irrespective of whether that is a safe or smart thing to do, so I am forced to play on my own until my real life friends get the game. Forcing people to use forums etc. to make friends and build the community is the not the answer, it should be there to help and assist the community and not be the only option.

I have always been a bigger fan of slow zombies, it would be good if zombies moved slowly and then “frenzied” because of various factors (e.g. a random chance, if the player is bleeding or if another zombie is already frenzied). Currently they only run around at full speed, which is scary but there is no variety or strategy. If this was changed then the behaviour could be the same inside buildings without making it so hard that everyone is killed the second they aggro several zombies.

There are the known bugs, such as aggro through walls, which are known and we expect to be fixed. I won’t go into them.

Finally my biggest observation so far is that this game wants to be a simulation, which is good, but it does not take into account the limitations of a person playing a person with only a mouse and keyboard to control them. We are hugely limited by this and time should be taken to find ways to compensate and balance this problem.

As I said at the top, this is all my opinion, I want the game to develop into something good and I am aware that it is currently Alpha. Just because I am criticising the game does not mean I do not like it or that you need to defend it/justify it. Thanks for reading, I promise that future posts will be shorter.

[Doughboy72 0]

I just skimmed over your article, so I haven't read it in depth. But here are a few things I picked up on just from buzzing over it:

1- There is a tutorial: it's the Arma II OA tutorial. Play it through a few times to get comfortable with the controls and how your inventory works. The reason the UI is clunky at first is because BIS never hired a team to develop it. But, once you get to know it, you'll find that it isn't a BAD UI per se, it just takes a minute to get used to.

2- As far as melee goes, you already know the OFP engine doesn't support melee-- and I wouldn't expect that to change. The ArmA series is a mil-sim series, and soldiers do not run around smacking people with the butt of their ARs and bitch-slapping the rest with hatchets. I think it would be a bit ridiculous for BIS to develop melee just for the Day Z mod (and I hope it remains a mod forever).

3- I like your idea of a panic button. But I also don't want a panic button. The appeal of Day Z is the difficulty. I do not want it watered down personally. If you have troubles with double shift or double w, just change your keybindings. They are entirely changeable. But, also, ArmA is buggy as hell (I find it charming), so sometimes you are going to have shit go wrong.

4- Spawning with each other-- Yes if your character has been alive for a set amount of time, say the amount of one full in-game day. But respawning characters should always start at the beach.

5- Ammo. It should remain as it is. The best weapons should be the most difficult to find ammo for. Also, this is more in touch with reality than being able to pick up standardized "Assault Ammo" or "Shotgun Shells".

6- I am also a fan of slow zombies. The "Max Brooks zombie" is my standard by which all other zombies are judged. But, slow zombies don't make for a very good video game. Not Day Z anyway.

7- I don't like the new starting loadout either.

8- By now I have read your entire article-- D'oh!

But anyway. This may be me sounding like a hipster, but I like how inaccessible the Day Z mod can be. I think it weeds out most of the casual players, and that's why we have such a tight community. I like the difficulty, I like how something totally random like a broken bone can ruin your day, how you have to choose between that CZ 550 or the M14 you were so lucky to find because choosing one means the ammo you need is limited and tucked into the most dangerous corners of the map. I like that the zeds make you haul ass out of whatever hole your were hiding in, because you screwed up and it cost your friend his life. I like no melee mechanics, because that means some douchebag is never going to come up behind me at the airfield and 'knife' me. Killing is a simple matter of priority-- the risk of getting that bandit vs the risk of aggro-ing every zombie a half mile around. I hope these things never change.

Day Z is cruel and unforgiving, everything from the UI to gameplay mechanics need to continue to reflect this. I will never play another zombie game ever.

[Mr Muggles 19]

The UI is awful as well as the inventory. I still can't turn on a torch lol

Only played a few hours yesterday and got nothing but grief of zombies who unfortunately can swim and climb ladders!?!

[Areoss 4]

DayZ is the most fun ive had playing a zombie game.

No other game has made my heart race when I was aiming down my scope at an un knowing survivor holding out about 800 meters away... curled up in a corner crying, hoping not to be seen by the wandering dead, deciding whether to take the shot or not. Wondering if I would miss or not. Wondering if I would attract a horde of zombies to my location... is it worth it? Will I benifit? or will I get my self killed. Then a sense of morality can take effect... How would I feel if I got shot in that situation. I wouldn't want it to happen to me. As I am clutching on to my life.

But then again you think about being humane too... shall I put him out of his suffering and misery...?

These decisions make the game better on its own, because of the risk factor. I love how it weeds out the casual gamer, the one who expects everything on a plate and wants to run and gun. (not pointing fingers)

Survival of the fittest. You kill or be killed. Simple as that. Your choices matter on your situation, and can have devistating consiquences as I have found out from experience.

Also for those who want to know. I let that guy live. It wasn't worth the risk.

[Doughboy72 0]

Yeah not a fan of the ladder climbing zombies. But new players, don't get discouraged. Keep your chin up and you'll get the hang of it.