Coastal vs Northern Population Trends

[MorOs (DayZ) 0]

So today, I logged in just east of NWAF on a 39/40 US Central MGPS.co server and after doing a bit of scouting with my Mosin, decided to circle the airfield. Didn't spot a single player and the doors of both barracks and jailhouses were still closed. Found this pretty strange, although most of my time ingame has been spent with friends on the eastern half of the map, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. After finding myself a nice PU scope in the southern barracks, I got outta there and headed towards the military base south of NWAF. Again, all the doors were closed. I'd gotten on in hopes of finding some roving gangs of bloodthirsty marauders to take potshots at, but seeing as the two places I thought were northern hotspots were totally devoid of life... I headed south. After I'd made a mad dash to Balota, I followed the treeline north of the hangars and watched the ATC for a bit, hoping for a hopper to appear in the windows or a geared asshat to lay on the roof. No such luck, didn't even see any under-geared survivors around the airfield, but I attributed that to the spawn changes. After maybe 10 minutes of waiting, I headed east along the treeline, passing Dubky (which is just one of the three apartment hubs or all three?) and Prigorodki, before hitting the forest northwest of Elektro. While I only stopped to eat and take some practice long shots at zombies, I still didn't notice a single player. Once I found a nice spot to watch over some of Elektro and the factory firehouse, I spent a bit of time and ammo finding my distance from the firehouse and a couple of key buildings in the city and finally just watched over the city for awhile. Over the course of about an hour, I saw 10 live players (not all of whom were too friendly with others) and 3 bodies (all seen on the roof of the hospital).

 

In the mod, the coast from Elektro to Balota was littered with players, but on high pop and even mid pop, I still found players often in the northern and western part of the map. Up until the recent spawn change, which I'm not posting against, I saw pretty much the same thing, although in SA I've met more people while passing through the smaller towns as well.

 

Didn't go past Elektro, but was this just an off day or are you guys seeing a similar trend?

[Mos1ey 6301]

Pretty much.

 

The only time I ever see the NW airfield looted is when it's just the barracks that have obviously been hit by server hoppers. I'm there often and never see anyone...

 

I saw (and killed on principle...) a server hopper in the military base near Vybor yesterday, other than that I haven't seen anyone for days. I only ever see people around Solnichniy/Kamyshovo area these days.

[jcrose803 48]

I always spawn in solnichny or some area near it, and run to berezino and then to NEAF. cant remember the last time i spawned on the western side. 

[MorOs (DayZ) 0]

Ran into two people yesterday, one who I heard eating loudly in a house, opened the door and saw him staring at the floor while eating. He didn't see me and I just moved on. Other guy was rubberbanding horribly along the U road from Gorka to Berezino, again didn't try to show myself.

 

Did put down a guy earlier this morning while I was at the military base near Vybor as well. Put me on edge while I was in a barracks cuz I heard him shooting, probably at someone in the jailhouse from the direction of the sound. Caught him as he entered the hall.

 

Aside from that, it's getting lonely in the north. :(

[DemonGroover 8836]

Since the east is now the spawn coast i haven't seen too many people west of Elektro.  

 

I would imagine that Kamenka would be a complete ghost town now.

[Phalanx102 59]

Agreed. Honest to god exerience; logged back on to my regular server outside of Stovy Sobor, realized the server was empty so jumped to a 40-man for the fun. Cleared both Stovy and Novy, with absolutely no human contact. Figured in a full server there would at least be someone up at the military base, so stalked across the field, followed the tree-line and snuck up behind the base only to realize that no one was there at all. Cleared the base, rediculous amount of gear and ammo (still no contact) and headed up to the NWAF. Once again, quiet trip with no contact. AF is full of zombies and closed doors. Cleared again, no contact and followed the east side south. I didn't actually see another human player until I hit just north of Balota. It's honestly kinda sad in my mind, makes the game less interesting with less people spread out, I don't actually like being down in Electro and Cherno all the time.

[Dagwood 680]

Is the problem that people can't actually navigate across the map to find locations off of the coast? I honestly think that might he the problem. With the removal of placing map waypoints, land navigation skills have become a necessity (finally).

I say keep the spawns on the east coast and force new players to learn how to navigate if they want to find the better loot spots.

[crazykage 1063]

^

 

This. I am a US Marine, and I know how to land nav. Shoot an azimuth, etc.

 

But, in favor of those who DONT know how to land nav with a map and compass: It all sounds and looks (Looks? I dunno whatever) like gibberish until you learn it. Then its all SOOOOO easy. Total common sense.

 

AND it would be helpful (and more realistic) if it were possible to use a map and compass simultaneously, like in arma 2,3, and the dayz mod.

[Ineedscoffee 464]

I followed roads when I first started. Turns out, they lead to places.

[Ineedscoffee 464]

^

 

This. I am a US Marine, and I know how to land nav. Shoot an azimuth, etc.

 

But, in favor of those who DONT know how to land nav with a map and compass: It all sounds and looks (Looks? I dunno whatever) like gibberish until you learn it. Then its all SOOOOO easy. Total common sense.

 

AND it would be helpful (and more realistic) if it were possible to use a map and compass simultaneously, like in arma 2,3, and the dayz mod.

Marine eh, did I say eyeballs? :p

[rybo 171]

Now that spawns are broken IMO what would you expect. Nothing random anymore and turning the NEAF into a better loot spawn than the NWAF there is no point to ever leave the coast...

 

 

Till the day they add tents or such don't expect to see much of anyone past the coast.

 

Why ever leave the coast when the best weapons and the biggest citys are at hand. Yea, sure lets move in land to see nothing but smaller towns and allot less loot and no players. This game is about survival and player interactions. Well the 2nd half of this game is yet to be created unless you chill on the coast.

 

 

 

What we have right now in SA is about half of what the mod had when it started. Time will round out all these ruff edges.

Edited January 12, 2014 by RyBo

[gibonez 3633]

This is a huge problem.

 

I think part of the problem is the spawn system.

 

Spawning in the coast would work if the map was one big island and spawns were completely all the way around like in Taviana.

 

However for chenarus it seems people just stick around cherno and electro and now balota and the rest of the map is empty.

[pacific_coast 632]

why go inland when you can run southwest to balota airfeild/ surrounding area?

it has:

military camp with 10+ tents

2x bunkers

2x police stations

1x control tower

2x hangars

3x barracks

 

all those spots spawn military gear/rares.

 

i've gone from kamishovo to balota in 30 mins and been fully and i mean fully geared by the time i round the last police station west and head south east to the base

 

then you just go back to elektro and lose it all over again to the server hopper with a mosin

[DemonGroover 8836]

The north of the map is being totally redesigned and extended so those who stay on the coast will miss out.

 

If the rest of the map is empty then all the better for those who branch out and explore.  The tension of whether there is someone else around will never leave no matter where you are.  All it takes is one fully geared Lone Wolf and you could be dead before you know it.

 

Once diseases are introduced properly just watch the cities become death traps as everyone flees inland.

[Slartybartfast 76]

Last time I died I spawned in Novy Sobor, did take me a few minutes to figure out where I was lol... haven't died since then so don't know if that was a one time thing. 

 

But I must say, spawning in inland is waaaay more confusing than spawning on the coast