New Player Views

[BrickG 0]

Where these views are coming from:

 

I'm perfectly aware this is an Early Access game, aka and incomplete game in the midst of development.

I'm a n00b.  I didn't play the mod to Arma III.  I don't really keep track of the news about this game or anything. So I'm probably pointing out stuff that's been addressed.  I apologize for that.  And again, I'm not bashing the game but just sharing thoughts.  I know it's early access.

I'm a 20s hardcore gamer who's actually not had the time due to my career to be a hardcore gamer anymore.  So my perspective has changed and I'm increasingly playing less games due to a lack of time and playing more casual.

 

 

Anyways, I'm on vacation so I've had some rare time to spend playing this game.  I played solo and apparently that is not really how to play.

 

 

My experience has been this so far:

 

My first guy was my learning character.  The controls are at times...  weird?  I don't know if that comes from Arma.  For example I have no idea why you have a separate button for stand instead of just having pressing crouch or prone make you stand if you're already in one of those positions.  They seem like mostly average FPS controls but oddly placed (fixable via custom buttons) or weirdly functional like the standing thing (not fixable when I tried to assign them the same thing).

Okay, so I expected a higher learning curve.  So I wasn't really upset about that though maybe there could be a better way to teach us n00bs than me just going into the control options to see what all the buttons do.  

 

The UI was a bit confusing at first but I eventually got used to it. 

 

 

Now to the main game...

 

-Equipping items seems sluggish or something.  I'll often have to spam the buttons to simply pull out a baseball bat or whatever.

 

-Movement is reaaally slidey.  I swear everyone is iceskating just a bit.  My first guy actually died from this.  I barely pressed the forward button to get a better look while on a roof, and sliiide.  Maybe it's realistic, maybe it's unintended, I don't know.  It just doesn't feel good and I feel like my character is drunk or something.  I cannot help comparing it to FPS games where movement is pretty easy.  Not having played Arma III I have no idea if this is something that's purposefully built in.

 

-I'm always thirsty and hungry.  99% of this game seems to be me looking for water. The day/night cycle is real time right?  So why do I have to eat a month's worth of food in a day?  I think making this upkeep more "realistic" at pace (maybe making food rarer or something in the process) would shift some of the focus.  I feel like most of the time I'm playing a scavenger hunt for food and drink.  Yeah, that's survival, but at this high pace?  I'm some kind of food and drink monster. 

 

-At the same time I've never really been in danger of dying of thirst or hunger.  Heck, I'm not sure what would happen if I ignored those.  Would I just fall over and die?  Would I get negative stat changes?  I feel like I should know :P.  Though I'm stuck searching for this stuff all the time I've never failed to find it (and have a surplus of food).

 

-Can I...  build stuff?  I really have no idea.  I can can't I?  I really don't know.  I've got these tools and stuff.  I've heard something about a safe.  I have no idea what to do here besides perhaps looking up a guide.

 

-My melee attacks seem sloppy?  I'm not sure how to describe them.  I'm not 100% sure when they hit or miss.  I think if the dot isn't touching the things it misses, which seems a bit odd for like a baseballbat which has a large attack arc.

 

-Zombies, are they a threat?  Okay my zombie experience is this: I played for several hours and found ONE zombie in all that time.  I have no idea why I ran into so few.  I killed him.  

On my second character (after slipping off that roof) I got several zombies after me, jumped into a building then was attacked by zombies clipping through the walls.  I died (okay, early access this is okay for now lol).

By my third character I was really getting the hang of everything.  At this point I just strut into a town, aggro all the zombies and kill them with a bat or shovel or something.  They have very predictable attack patterns.  I had to bandage once and killed a whole town of them.  Easy to dodge, easy to kill.  At this point I'm more scared of humans.

Also, they aggro annoyingly.  I almost never see them first.  I have decent eyes.  Zombies though apparently have eagle eyes.  I want more opportunity to sneak and stuff.  Usually though I'll hear a close growl and they'll already be on me or rushing towards me.  Also are there any in buildings?  

 

-Humans.  Do they exist?  lol

I've played for maybe 10 hours now (yeah not a lot).  I go on high population servers.  I've ran into a person TWICE now.  One was all lagged and rubberbanding.  Then they fell over and died.  Another time I simply heard someone shooting at me (I think) which made me run and dive into a bush.  I never saw them.

I've literally on full severs never run into anyone else.  Maybe I'm unlucky.

 

-Where the fudge am I?

Maybe if we could find a map item that would be cool.  Do compasses exist?  Anything besides a website map which I'm using.

 

-Time investment and time between happenings.

Okay, again I used to be a hardcore gamer.  Due to my career and stuff I'll find it hard to upkeep anything.  I think the game is shaping up but there's a bit too much time doing stuff that's more boring like drinking your 100 bottles of water a day and scavenger hunting, as opposed to the things I THINK are more exciting (zombies actually being a threat and hording, surviving through combat, making a safehouse if even possible, etc).  When my job starts back up again I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend that much time on this game when it's 99% looking for water.

But you don't have to cater to me of course.  I'm just talking about it from my point of view.  I might not be your target consumer anymore :P being increasingly casual.

 

 

I'll be sure to check back in from time to time if I stop playing.  Maybe I need some people to play with...

[Aussie Bogan 350]

Many of your views i completely agree with. However most will be hopfully fixed over a period of time..

[cywehner1234 582]

You're hungry because you're not full. You need to eat till it says your full, along with your water.

[Wightlion 28]

I've not heard of safes being in SA perhapes crossed purposes with the Epoch mod ?

I didn't know about the being full of food and drink so that's a good tip for me.

[BelMarduk 169]

Welcome to DayZ.

I would suggest a forum search for tips and tricks. There is a wonderful guide to nutrition (food and water). You will find once you know the mechanics of eating/drinking, the 'chore' aspect goes away.

Zombies are as Rocket puts them a WIP.

Maps (or pieces of maps that can be combined) are generally found in gas stations and abandoned cars.

Crafting will be a large part of DayZ. Currently there are only a few craftable things, medical items, shirts ripped to rags, and map parts together.

The controls and animations are very clunky (IMHO also), the controls will probably not change, but animations are sure to be being worked on.

Check out the alpher road map for more detail on whats coming in the game.

As per other player interaction, or more to the point, finding it, could be anywhere depending on when the server restarted. <-- that explanation would take a paragraph in itself.

Good luck and have fun.

[Zogvarn 118]

Yep quite a bit of the items you have problems with are because of "alpha". Sorry to say, but thats the best explanation. Animations are sure to get better as will the in game interaction with the environment (sliding). The alpha right now is mainly testing the database and server stability. Features and content are slowly going to be added over the next year. The road map http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/156129-confirmed-upcoming-features-for-dayz/ list whats on the table for immediate development.

 

There is a nice video, though a bit long at 24 minutes, explaining the eating/drinking system. And yes I recommend watching/listening to the whole video to really understand whats going on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwNgTnj9hBE

 

As for players, the map is huge. Like, take the past 2 or 3 BattleField games' maps and combine them all into one map huge. Even better take the Planetside 2 maps (all 3 land masses) and combine them and you have an idea of the map size in DayZ. So naturally with only 40 players per server it can be quite hard to run into someone else depending on where you go. And yea there are compasses in game. But the clouds generally always travel west to east and the sun goes from Southeast to Northwest roughly (yea it should be east to west but someone goofed initially putting it in. Fix incoming). At night the stars are correct for the northern hemisphere and can be used for navigation. Hope that helps ya get around.

 

And yea the game is very time intensive. Its more of a simulator than your traditional game. But you can set small goals for yourself if you have limited time. Something like get to town A and raid/loot it in one play session. Move to town B and maybe loot it in another play session. Things of that Nature can usually be done in a fairly short amount of time depending on play style.

 

Good luck and welcome to Dayz SA :)

[TheCalyx 78]

"I'm a n00b.  I didn't play the mod to Arma III."
 
Don't you mean Arma 2?

[ninjacalypse 551]

I wrote a guide specifically for new players and specific to the dayz standalone alpha that I think might answer a lot of your questions.

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/156472-survivors-guide-to-dayz-sa/

Edited December 31, 2013 by NeedsFoodBadly

[DustyMacd 3]

As it stands I love this game.. I agree with everything you have said but most of it is the nature of Alpha.

 

My biggest problem is finding a group to hang about with due to time constraints. I do set my self goals as suggested for example.. I plan a route that takes me past different water sources looting towns etc.. Although I have to admit my characters never last longer than an hour as I am that bad at avoiding death..  :| ...

 

I am going to have a good read of that food guide as I find the need for replenishment quite task consuming.

 

All In All I would say this is a simulator rather than a game and I love it.

[Ynneead 20]

As it stands I love this game.. I agree with everything you have said but most of it is the nature of Alpha.

 

My biggest problem is finding a group to hang about with due to time constraints. I do set my self goals as suggested for example.. I plan a route that takes me past different water sources looting towns etc.. Although I have to admit my characters never last longer than an hour as I am that bad at avoiding death..  :| ...

 

I am going to have a good read of that food guide as I find the need for replenishment quite task consuming.

 

All In All I would say this is a simulator rather than a game and I love it.

totally would hang out with you but the 8 meter speaking distance makes that impossible for me :C

 

also for the sake of him not wanting to watch the video(my info from it of course)

 

max water: 4000---------------------Thirsty messages start at 2000 water, half

Max energy(hunger) 25,000-------Hunger messages start at 600

max stomach: 4000

Max health: 5000

max blood: 5000-------------------- screen will start going black and white the lower you are. You will pass out eventually

this chart helps with eating http://dayz.gamepedia.com/Consumables

 

to heal i would say get at least 5000 energy and keep water above 3000 (i know it starts earlier but 1 blood per sec takes forever). When blood is fully healed health starts getting healed! Donno what health does really

 

You eat food/drink, it goes to your stomach, and supposively your stomach metabolizes it into energy and/or water(whatever is in it)  at a rate of 1 energy and/or water per second. Stomach does not have to do with hunger oddly!

 

So yes put all the food you find right into your mouth.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Ynneead

[Ynneead 20]

new post as i don't make a gigantic all of text no one wants to read!

 

-You have to equip an item twice if you have it held out (with space bar). Donno why just how it works at the moment.

 

-i haven't had any slipperiness. Maybe because i never sprint i don't know.

 

-previous post

 

-Zombies aren't really a problem in my opinion one axe hit to the head kills them. Your little aimer dot dohicky does not help when using melee weapons ignore it!. If a zombie is chasing you the last thing you want to do is go in a building! i learned this the hard was as i went onto the roof and it just kinda come out of the floor... was the creepiest thing i ever saw. If you hear a zombie growl 19 out of 20 times its already aggroed to you while i was hiding behind a zombie at night and it made no noise(literally touching silly zombie).

 

-There's humans! Thing is most want to kill you! if your really lonely go to the north west airfield, balota airfield north east airfield, or the military base just west of stary. There's almost always people there and they will almost always want to kill you!

 

-Everything in this game is time consuming. Wanna snack? Time to watch/hear him eat it.

 The cities are pretty far apart and with sprint/run no longer the main travel source in this game, (as it uses a ton of water/energy) it takes forever to get from town to town by jogging the whole way.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Ynneead

[BrickG 0]

I know it's realistic to have a hud that doesn't explain anything (to a point) but not being able to know how hungry I am specifically, or how thirsty, seems even more unrealistic.

 

I have no idea I could get full or that there are so many hidden values.  Since I lack feeling in this game (as with all games) I have no idea about how I'm doing on any level.  You don't heal unless you have a certain amount of food and water in you?  I just bandaged up the few times I've been hit.  I assumed I was healed then.  I have no idea if I'm wrong or if my health isn't at full health.  I'm usually I figure just at the edge of hunger and thirst as I have them all the time then cure them, then have them again.

 

I guess I just have no idea what's ever going on because there's no indications of anything at all.  Honestly, I kind of want a normal HUD :P.  I figure that's more realistic than not knowing when I'm hungry until it says "Hungry" on it, how hungry I am, not knowing if I'm hurt or at full health (assuming stuff doesn't start going black and white which is decent, but for all I know that happens at 10% health and I'm at 30% health without knowing).  I don't know anything.