Issues that need Fixing (A Self-Priority List)

[Imper1um 1]

I know you guys are working on a lot of these issues, but I wanted to give a few things that I would like to see prioritized, as they are important to the "cohesiveness" of the game in an extended sense (e.g. the continued play of the game).

 

Critical Priority

1. It needs to be easier to create a character together with friends and have multiple "slots" for characters.

I have a few friends that are coming into the game, and, most of the time, they spawn 30 minutes run away from my current point, and all I can do is be somewhere along the coast, with maximum energy and plenty of food/water to travel along the route. I have three groups now that I run around with, which can take a ... while for startup each time.

 - You need to be able to have multiple character "slots." Each slot you need to select your character, so you can generate a completely new character without destroying the old one.

 - You need to have the ability to spawn a "party," where you will appear near each other when you create new characters.

 - If you added in one vehicle (even just a motorcycle), it would help out tremendously.

 

2. Map structure needs to be designed for a "Ramp up" in difficulty.

As it stands, people spawn in Balota/Komorovo/Kamenka, ridiculously close to Chernogorsk, which is a very large town, but the density of zombies makes it almost impossible to roam through to pick up basic supplies, and get into the advanced parts. Not to mention that Balota has a Military Air Field, making it a PvP Zone very close to the starting spawn points.

 - The map needs to have smaller, less populated towns closer to spawn points, with plentiful "basic" supplies (food, water, melee weaponry). Further in, the map needs to ramp up the difficulty, getting Zombie infested towns. Military Bases need to be swarming with Zombies, but have the best supplies. This will force players that wish to participate in PvP to push further inland, rather than trolling at Balota Airfield.

 

3. Starting players need to begin with relatively high amount of hunger value (e.g. it will take much longer to get hungry), or "usable food supplies" need to be more plentiful near spawn points.

For the most part, its not too bad, but players are forced to join low population servers (to increase the chance of supplies not already being raided), taking away from the Social aspects of the game. Players don't rely on other players in this game as much as they should, relying in server hopping the low pop servers until they find adequate "non-raiding" amounts.

 - Increase the starting hunger by a considerable margin -or- making "usable food supplies" more plentiful near the spawn points will give the ability for players to gather basic supplies in the first hour.

 

4. Hunger, Thirst, and Energy Bars of some kind need to exist.

At the moment, in real life, I know I'm not very thirsty, because I had lots of water. Its the same with Hunger because I had Krystals, and I'm quite ready to not eat until Dinner. However, this game just reveals to you when you get sick, or your stomach is rumbling, or your throat is parched. The ability to gauge if they should go to another town via a meter, or desperately raid the current town will enhance the ability for players to determine where they should go.

 

5. KOS Players need to attract more Zombies.

This is a big problem in this game, where players that KOS just have no negative effects. Not only to they get their kill's supplies, but they also have the capability of dealing with all the problems that arise from zombies. In order to balance out this fact, players that KOS should attract zombies easier. They should aggro from longer range, and, if you ever get the live-spawning system online, they should spawn closer.

 

High Priority

6. Zombies and Players need to have no clip off.

This is really important. At the moment, I have four instances in which I have warped through a wall. None of them were my fault (I actually was *trying* to hide inside a building so I could eat/drink/repair/regroup), but it was annoying. Its also *really* annoying when a zombie goes through a wall.

 

7. Zombies need to get more difficult...and plentiful as you progress.

At the moment, Zombies are just...minor annoyances after your second hour of being alive. Heck, I forget that this game is even a Zombie Survival game after the second hour of being alive. Zombies are the core of this game, and when they become such a rarity, that you forget a major premise, I find that is a problem.

 

8. The Effects of items need to be clearly labelled after you use them.

When you consume an item, all it says is that you consumed it. It doesn't tell you if you got sick, or your hunger went up, or your thirst went up. All it says is that you consumed it. I would like to see that after I consume Antibiotics, that I got sick because I wasn't sick when I consumed them.

 

9. Logging Off needs to have a 30-60 second timer.

At the moment, if you make a kill, players will purposefully log out to avoid you from collecting the spoils. Its annoying, and cheap. When you try to log out, a 30-60 second timer should be activated that prevents you from moving.

 

10. You should never be able to log in within 200m of another non-friend player or zombie.

This popped up in discussion. My buddies were trying to root out this group of people that were on top of an air-traffic control tower. They were KOSing everyone on the server, so we wanted to kill them, and the option to log out of the current server, log into a low-pop server, run up on top of the tower, log back into the previous server and attack from above (which wouldn't have been expected) was offered. This shouldn't be a valid tactic. If you log in within 200m of another non-friend player or zombie, you should be shunted to nearby like location so that: A. you don't die while logging in. B. You don't use the above tactic.

 

Medium Priority

11. Players need to have specializations that make it harder to be a loner KOSer.

At the moment, your character can do everything: snipe, cook, bandage, etc. Players need to have some kind of differential that would make it really dumb to be a loner in this game, e.g. skills that make you better than another (e.g. someone is good at sniping, someone is good at making food, etc.), meaning that you *could* be a loner, but it will be a lot more difficult to be the lone survivor.

 

12. The game needs to stop spawning all zombies/items when the server begins.

This is a big problem with architecture in game design. Spawning and simulating tasks that have no bearing on a current player means that a server that has 1 player uses the same CPU as a server with 40 players, which also means that servers don't have an extensible architecture. In DayZ's current state, the maximum number of players on a server have relatively low cap for the size of the maps (40 players in a 30 km x 30 km map? That's ridiculous.) It also means that you can't respawn items and zombies easily because you do it during server load, and you can't come up with a structure that allows zombie/item spawning to be dynamic (supplements #5) very easily. Also, the amount of information that is translated is very high.

 

13. The first hit from any damage shouldn't cause Bleed Damage.

This is annoying with a lot of fresh spawns. A basic zombie shouldn't be able to start Bleed on the first hit from maximum health. While it should drain some Health, the Bleed condition shouldn't be applied on the first hit from a basic zombie. As seen above, stronger zombies should be able to, though.

 

14. Dead Bodies shouldn't disappear when an actor or AI is no longer in control of it.

When the player hits the respawn button, it shouldn't make their body disappear. Its the same with zombies. When they die, they should still have a body, which should be lootable. Perhaps you could get loot (proportional to how difficult the zombie was) from the Zombie.

 

15. We need "eat entire thing" selection for Food and Drink.

When I'm eating, I don't want to eat 25% of the can, or 10% of the box. I want to eat the entire thing and get 100% of the nutrition value. I don't think I've ever eaten to the point in which there is between 1% and 99% left in the food stuff. I've scarfed it all down as fast as possible.

 

Low Priority

16. It bothers me that Vitamins and Anti-biotics are "eaten" like...Bandages.

Animation error...

 

17. It irks me that 20 Pistol Bullets take up the same space as 20 Rifle Bullets. 

Shouldn't that be like...60 Pistol Bullets in one slot?

 

18. I can't attach a weapon flashlight to a M4A1?

Buh?

 

19. The headlamp is aiming at the ground.

Not where the recticle is pointing. Its annoying.

 

20. If you have two canteens, you can't fill up the second one.

Yeah, that's annoying.

 

21. Context Menu needs to be less sensitive.

If I'm within arms reach of a door, even if its behind me, I should be able to open the door.

 

22. Inventory Panel needs a "paper doll" for all equippable items.

Its just common sense, and it makes for better visualization.

 

23. "QuickBar" for Ammo Weapons needs an Ammo Amount in it.

I want to see that my M4A1 has a Magazine with 30 Shots in it and I have 90 total bullets.

 

24. Ammo needs to be yanked from anywhere, even in Boxes.

If I'm trying to reload a magazine, I should just need to right-click the magazine and it will pull it from the best available place.

 

25. Items need to auto-stack.

If I pick up an item that has the capability of stacking, it needs to automatically stack with items already in my inventory.

 

26. The game is loading too much.

Occlusion needs to be fixed. Its loading Zombies that I can't see (At all) that are behind three buildings and have no bearing on my current situation, lowering FPS. Try going to the Apartment Complexes North-East of Cherno.

 

27. Compass' angle is...weird.

It needs to be easier to look at it, but due to the angle, its quite difficult. I would understand if it was kept level with the ground (so you can get an accurate reading), and that would fix the angle issue.

 

28. Doors that you can't go in need to have a better reason to not try them out.

Doors that are buried in rubble, blocked doors, damaged doors, whatever, is a good thing. Doors that are just scenery are just plain annoying.

 

29. You can open a door underneath your current position from the upper floor.

This is kind of a balance issue as well as an irking thing.

 

--------------------

I think that is all I have for now. Besides that, I have had lots of fun in this game. Thanks for making this game!

[Jaygoon 240]

...The lord as spoken!   :)

[evoxtom 142]

After reading your number one, top priority fix, I can't take the rest of your list seriously. It turns this game into WarZ and character revive slots... something far away from the hardcore experience that made the game what it is.

I have no problem meeting up with friends as I understand the map and realize that a survival game is not convenient in certain aspects.

Shame that your list is so detailed but that one suggestion just ruins my interest to read all of it.

[creature 1189]

After disagreeing with all of your "critical priorities I feel confident in saying " please just stop".

[Max Planck 7174]

I think a lot of these points would have been better as suggestions.

Making a list of things you want in the game and then telling the devs to get cracking, seems a little bit... Well, arrogant.

 

Lets leave the design decisions to Rocket, it has worked pretty well so far.

[Cats 83]

OH this is going to be fun.

 

 

*snip*

Okay.

Edited December 27, 2013 by Max Planck
Ruiner of scroll wheels, I name thee 'Cats'.

[Knightmare (DayZ) 109]

Critical Priority

[..]

2. Map structure needs to be designed for a "Ramp up" in difficulty.

As it stands, people spawn in Balota/Komorovo/Kamenka, ridiculously close to Chernogorsk, which is a very large town, but the density of zombies makes it almost impossible to roam through to pick up basic supplies, and get into the advanced parts. [..]

 

At first I thought you were about to make some kind of sarcastic joke about the lack of zombies. But I read it again and realized you are being serious. While I do not know if Rocket's idea of the sheer quantity of zombies will come true, you can expect to see a TON of more zombies added to all over the map. Including Cherno. Rocket was talking about hundreds of them in the cities. You know, like an actual zombie outbreak.

 

I don't mean this in an elitist sense, but if you can't handle a handful of zombies, I don't know what to tell you - especially when the map is populated in a manner fitting a Zombie Apocalypse.

 

Then I saw:

 

 

7. Zombies need to get more difficult...and plentiful as you progress.

 

Let me remind you that this isn't a linear game. You don't level up. You don't go through the magic forest and across the Grande River, to enter into the Shadow Lands where everything is much harder. The game is a sandbox. I agree that there needs to be more zombies - everywhere. Especially at the military bases.

 

But lets be real. You should expect there to be more zombies at a City than a Military base. The bigger cities should be packed with zombies. The bases should have a respectable amount as well. But there isn't a natural progression here. Gear is the only progression in the game. And just loading military bases with zombies is not progression.

 

Progression is not dying. This isn't Thirst & Hunger Simulator 2014. Even the zombies in the mod were a pathetic threat, so I'm very eager to see if Rocket makes them the true threat they should be.

Edited December 27, 2013 by Knightmare

[ryzoh 44]

oh im pretty sure that the devs is going to read your topic buddy, cuz they were just waiting for you to post your priority fix list to start fixing the game.

[Bakercompany86 347]

Some points I agree with while others I disagree, so I'll go one by one.  Just my personal opinions in regards to your suggestions.

Critical

 

1.  I thought about this one.  I personally wouldn't mind one other character slot just to have a "solo" character and a "group" character.  That way if my buddies and I log off in the same spot, and I want to play more, I'm not completely abandoning them and we can just try to play together.  To balance this, both characters should not be allowed to exist on the same server consecutively (the second character cannot join the last server you were on).  The rest of the points I disagree on, as it breaks the hardcore nature of the game.  Vehicles are planned also btw, give them time.  That falls under the "This is Alpha" category.

 

2.  Yes and no.  Fixing the zombies and increasing their population in large areas will help.  However, I really like the completely random open sandbox nature of this game.  The only thing I would change as far as progression, is removing the military grade weapon spawns from the Balota airfield.  Replace them with a "rare" civilian grade weapon spawn.  This may be changed when more is added to the game, we'll see.

 

3.  I think the starting values are fine.  You start out a bit thirsty, but not terribly hungry.  On no new starting character have I starved to death or died of thirst.  So I think it's okay.

 

4.  Kinda.  I would love to know exactly how full I am when drinking from a water spicket.  I mean in reality, when you stop to drink, you get some idea of how full you are when you're drinking.  So maybe not a meter per say, but some other indicator of how full you're getting.  More text descriptions would do.  Otherwise the hunger indicators are acceptable.  "I feel hungry" persists for a while, followed by "your stomach grumbles".  And progressively worse from there.  I understand it really.

 

5.  This coincides with the needed zombie fixes.  Both AI, and quantity.  That way there is more penalty for players who want to blast you on site in the middle of a huge city.  They might get you, but they'll attract a horde.  Zombies within 100m of a gun blast should know exactly where to go to find you, and move quickly.  Within 200m they should know what direction to head at least and maybe meander that way so escaping gankers run into more horde.  

 

High

 

6.  Yeah most definitely.  The ethereal zombies need to go.  But all collision mechanics in game need fixing.  I lump this into "it's alpha."

 

7.  Agreed.  And military bases should be covered in zeds.  Towns out in the middle of no where could have one to no zombies, that would make sense.  But the shore cities should be littered with them.

 

8.  Kinda.  When I drink and my thirst warning goes away, I get it.  Consuming anti-biotics when you're not sick shouldn't make you sick....the worst it does is give you the squirts.  So maybe increase your thirst slightly quicker for a bit, but definitely not sick.  The rest of the stuff is really common sense.  Except maybe morphine.

 

9.  Agreed.  I think they're working on this though to prevent server hoppers.  It's annoying as hell to corner a guy who has no weapon and start beating him with a baseball bat only to have him log out....lame.  (True story)

 

10.  Yes on players, no on zombies.  Easier to enforce with players.  Not so much with zombies.  Don't log off in towns if you want to avoid zombies.  I *always* log off in the forest.

 

Medium

 

11.  Naw.  I think it's fine.  Yes you can do just about anything in game, but it's with a civilian assumption that you do these things.  Shooting people depends on your own accuracy (pending lag of course).  The rest you're doing based on an assumption.  You don't have to be a doctor to inject morphine, but you might not know exactly what the effects will be...

 

12.  Yeah.  I think towns that have seen zero human activity should reset on their own in an hour or so.  Meaning loot, zombies, and doors should be shut again.  Welcome suggestions on this one.  As towns with players constantly roaming through would never reset.  So maybe a soft 2-hour reset for populated areas.  Doors remain open, but zombies respawn, and loot respawns.

 

13.  I personally want to see zombies as more of a threat, but able to be evaded.  I should be able to crawl in a house with a zombie out in the streets in front, as long as i'm in "silent" mode.  Of course zombie AI is broken atm.  They will see you from literally 500 yards away and chase you, even if you're hiding in bushes.  Other times you can run right in front of one and they won't chase you.  So in general, Zombie AI needs fixing.  But I think they know that.

 

14.  Agreed.  This is more of an important fix for me.  It makes sense that someone who died from a zombie, would become a zombie, and could possibly have a can of tuna in their pocket they found earlier.  And obviously player bodies should persist after death until they're completely looted or have been untouched for a time.  I'm sure this is already an intended fix.  Also items disappearing when you put them down needs to be remedied while we're talking about it.

 

15.  Agreed 100%.  Right clicking should show "eat completely" or "eat 25%" etc.  But by all means if I choose to slam an entire can of spaghetti, it should take more time to sit and eat.  Risk vs reward.

 

Low

 

16.  Yeah..."alpha".  I'm sure they'll fix it.

 

17.  Naw.  Ratio is more 2 to 1.  If you're comparing 5.56 to .45, they occupy almost the same space.  One is longer, the other is fatter.  3 9mm rounds could theoretically fit in the space of 1 7.62mm.  Depends on how picky you want to get with realism.  The more realistic DayZ is, the happier I am.

 

18.  Yes, another "alpha" thing.  They'll fix it.

 

19.  Headlamp should definitely aim at your reticle.  No question about it.

 

20.  "Alpha"

 

21.  Yeah, definitely.  The way players interact with environments needs to be fixed.  This is definitely a huge part of that.  I for one, like to close doors behind me if i'm in a large city.  Less chance of someone finding me.  The contextual actions need to be tightened up a bit.  Same with things like stepping over fences, etc.  While we're talking about it, doors should make noise.  If you're standing, they should make a standard door opening and closing.  If you're crouched/prone, they should make little to no noise.  Also, if I can't control how a door opens, it should be transparent when it opens, and solid when it closes.  Nothing more annoying than opening an outward swinging door to have it push you off some steps....

 

22.  Isn't there one?  I use the dude in the center of my inventory to equip clothing etc.

 

23.  Wouldn't mind this.  But I can live without it.  Immersion and realism would tell us that there should be no ammo counter at all.  Either count your shots, or remove the magazine to determine.  Even then when you remove an M4's magazine the most you can see is 2 rounds.

 

24.  I think ammo should be auto-pulled if it's in your tactical vest/hoodie/hunters jacket etc.  In a backpack, definitely not.  Especially considering how big a mountain backpack is, imagine having to sift through your junk to find a few loose rounds. 

 

25.  I think it's okay to keep manual stacking.  Imagine if you're looting in a hurry.  You're just tossing stuff into your backpack with reckless abandon.  If you want to stop, open it up, and manually stack for organization, have at it.  Otherwise the quick looters will have to do without.  This keeps away the "run and gun" mentality as if this were an FPS and less of a simulation.

 

26.  I get random FPS spikes at times.  I'm sure they're working on optimizing as well as bug fixes.  All part of Alpha.  Runs pretty damn good for an alpha I might add.

 

27.  I don't have a problem reading the compass.  For a magnetic compass to function, it must be level with the horizon.  So this is okay I think.

 

28.  I agree.  I don't want any faux doors or faux buildings at all.  I think ultimately that is their goal.  But I hate doors that are just pieces of the wall that look like doors....  If you want to board them up so we can't get in, that's fine.  Also there are glitched doors that have opening context to them, but don't actually open nor can you pass through.  I'm sure that's a planned fix.  Also on a side note.  You could have boarded up doors that can only be taken down with an axe (loudly) or a crowbar (more quietly) that would present loot only for the properly equipped character.  Just a thought.

 

29.  "alpha"

 

All in all, a good list.  Just because I disagree with a few points, doesn't mean others won't like the idea.  This is just my opinion, but it's how we help the devs shape a better game :)

[Imper1um 1]

After reading your number one, top priority fix, I can't take the rest of your list seriously. It turns this game into WarZ and character revive slots... something far away from the hardcore experience that made the game what it is.

 

I'm confused on what you mean...Character Revive Slots?

 

Let me explain #1:

 

Let's stay you're all the way in Story (center of the Map), which takes 30 minutes to an hour to get to ANY of the coasts. Now, you have been running with a Kitted friend. Now, you want to introduce your friend to the game, but you don't want to spend 30 minutes to an hour running to Balota/Cherno/Komarovo, then he sees how great your stuff is, and asks where he/she can get it, and gets pissed off on how easy you make the game for them.

 

Now, if you had the ability to have multiple "slots" in the Hive, you could kit out one character, save it over wherever you want, and then build up a new character, not worrying about the trek, and allowing you to socialize easier. Now, I understand your problem where people could have multiple "Revive" slots. But, think about it. In order to have "revive" slots, you would need to jog that character from whereever it saved to the new place. You would have to do this for every character that you wanted to have for the "revive" slot. That is a LOT of trekking.

 

Not to mention this opens up the possibility of having friends on the same computer being able to play other slots. Everyone hates the fact that Pokemon Red/Blue has only one Save Slot. A friend could wipe out a full save easily. We have moved past that problem with the future: save slots and file storage.

 

If you really want to put a limit on it, say 3 characters maximum. Let's say that if you die, you can't switch to another save slot for 15 minutes. There is plenty of things you can do, but the opportunities that it makes for social interaction are much better.

 

*shrugs* Maybe its just me, maybe I have friends, and so its not a problem for you.