Honest feelings about the Mod & if StandAlone is for me

[Marmoo 32]

Hi All

Have done a search but could not find a thread of this nature so thought I would chance my luck

If there are open threads like this one, please feel free to lock (only after directing me to the link though ;P) 

 

Been knocking about for some time on Dayz Mod and loved it. Loved the setting, Loved it all etc etc.

Got some friends interested and most nights until the early hours we would be seen hunched over our PC's until our partners insisted we come to bed 

About 3 months ago I sort of fell out of love with the Mod. IMHO I felt the loot spawns were becoming a little bit too minimalistic and I missed the PvP that much of the mid-early days offered. I know some prefer the mod that way and fair play to them, it is a survival game after all and Rocket can build his masterpiece anyway he wants, but for me, I just lost a lot of excitement that brought me here in the 1st place. My friends also shared my feelings and one by one we all fell out of love with the Mod. Please note that we are not console gamers and we do not like, nor play Call of Duty so please, please do not come up with that old cliché. We loved the idea of survival but we wanted it with a bit more juice and as stated before, the reduction in loot gave us a lot of headaches. We were not campers. We did not sit on Camper Hill or hide somewhere near the NW airfield for 3 months shooting anything that moved. We were a friendly bunch who would have a giggle with players but if they got a bit agro towards us we would hold our own. What we enjoyed the most was just having fun with or without the Zombies.

 

Some of us, myself included have moved over to the wasteland which we have enjoyed greatly but did not want that level of PvP. We have always had one eye turned towards the Mod because that's what brought us to Arma2 in the 1st place. A couple of times we have even toyed with the idea of coming back but we all talk each other out of it, but still we keep debating

 

Standalone was released and all our eyes and ears pricked up as this was a project we all supported and wanted to invest in but we all keep wondering is it worth our time?

 

This is where you guys come in who have invested your lives, and those of your children into StandAlone

Not bothered by bugs and glitches - It's Alpha and like the Mod we had to be patient and work with the game not against it

What I need to know is:

 

What in your opinion has made the game worth the reduced Alpha price? What's new that is so much different from the Mod apart from modified weapons? Is a 'sensible' level of PvP in the game and what are loot spawns like now and expected to be as game gets patched?

 

Thxs in advance

[PhillyT 554]

Currently there is only a minute fraction of the zombies seen in the mod.  Likewise, servers have a 40 player max, so not a lot of player interaction.  Game looks great though.

 

I am having fun with it.  Runs really well compared to the mod.

[SP45M 240]

If you got bored with the mod then the standalone at this point will bore you as well. It looks great as PhillyT said but a polished turd is still a turd. None the less i can see where its headed and as long as they invest the money they are raking in on some more dev team and stop climbing mountains I am sure it will turn out just fine. 

[lordopeth 274]

Not really sure why your having these feelings.  ITs obvious you want a complete game and you are not cut out to test the game for bugs.

 

Come back in 6 months or so when more stuff is added.  Or go play the mod.

 

Its just a game bro..

[Karmaterror 982]

If your looking for improvments, look to the way the new food/drink system works with the virtual stomach. Or the new (mostly blank) expanse of new map in the north. The % of enetrable buildings will no doubt make those PvP situations all that more intense. 

 

But....

 

If its shiny new features and things that distiguish it from the mod, now is not the time to buy. In many ways this has a lot LESS content than the mod. Most is planned to be added, but (i guess) not for some time. With a predicted alpha period of a year or more, it would be better to wait. Then you can come at it in a year and see whats been done.  

 

I would add that if diminished loot was an issue in the mod,i think that will continue into the SA. Making loot much more rare and focousing more on survival. 

[deebz1234 243]

id say buy it...the PVP is great so far!
 

look at all the KOS complaints on the forum hahaha

 

For the price, its worth it. Knowing that it WILL get significantly better in increments is sweet too.

 

I love being there from the beginning and the feeling of "wow they added a revolver" and the first time i found a revolver and turned and shot the first person in the face with it was priceless.

 

imagine all the running we've been doing and all of a sudden without warning they update and boom there is a bicycle or a motorcycle...TITS

[Zedicologist 162]

Game is going to be great.  The game is bare atm.  Nothing much to do really.  But for an alpha its great. the only alpha ive played that is playable at launch.  But if your bored with the mod, i would buy the SA now just because its cheaper now than what it will be.  And would just wait to play it a lil later down thew road when more stuff gets added.  Cause right now its just for testing and fixing bugs

[djporternz 644]

If you're after a true PvP experience, this is not the game for you. You aren't going to get that clean fresh PvP play here. DayZ will never be a twitch shooter. That has been done much better elsewhere, anyway.  If you thought the loot spawns were becoming too thin in the mod, this is not going to be the game for you. If you're thinking of jumping in now and having a complete game land in your lap, this is not the game for you, yet.

 

What this game has is potential. We can see the framework that is going to hold everything up, but that's it. There are a few bits and pieces of true genius hidden in there, but there are also areas where we can see through to the unfinished dross.

 

If you jump in now, be prepared for a rough ride across an almost familiar terrain. I'd suggest going back to the mod for an hour or so. If you can live with that, then you just may be able to live in the new Chernarus.

[soulfirez 901]

hmmm that is a tough one cause well the mod actually started with very small amounts of loot then it went up and up in loot then it went back down then all the spin offs happened.

 

Basicly i am saying i believe( an opinion based on where rocket started the mod coupled with his expressed feelings towards standalone) that it will be as much a survival game as it is a pvp game so really if the mod had to little loot for you to get your pvp thrills SA is going to have loot fairly scarce enough to get pvp in but again if the mod had to little loot for you hmm maybe a tough move but honestly if pvp is your thing wastland is a good option.

 

But hey try it SA only 30 bucks hardly break the bank and ya never know the drones of people screaming more loot on the forums may get there way we could all be only scaveging for less than an hour to get straight into pvp i hope not (even if there is few guns we all still pvp with melee weapons lol

[Ineedscoffee 464]

Haven't even touched the mod, I do however, watch streamers that have. In fact, I prop my ipad mini up and have it playing on twitch while I look for beans.

Down south is no mans land. Almost the entire southern coast is in some form, populated. Either a fresh spawn trying to find leftover loot, greifers trying to find fresh spawns, or geared people looking for greifers. You step foot into one of the big three, your getting shot at. Any military site to the north within a five min walk is also barren. The deep north is a survivalists dream, hardly any players venture out that far, as they have no one to shoot at.

Surviving in the south is quite difficult. You will be shot at, chased with axes, bats, fists. There will be hardly any food, packs, clothing. Since zombies are toned down for stress testing, you won't really find much of them either. Now if you enjoy stalking other players and taking what's yours, this is your spot.

You will find thrilling firefights. Watching Sacriel yesterday, he was fired upon at least twice, on two different instances, causing his heart to just about explode. He even had an hour long squad fire fight the day prior. He was standing in a watchtower, quiet as hell, talking to his stream, when two m4's ripped into the glass windows. Hell i jumped lol.

The big name streamers, Lyric, Sacriel, Summit, even Towelliee, and a large handful of others seem to greatly approve of the standalone. Gameplay wise, graphics wise, it's a step forward. Granted it's a barebones version of the mod, it also doesent suffer from the rampant hackers.

Now we do have ghosters and combat loggers. 98% of the community kills on sight, real banditry is rare. We do suffer some glitches, such as ladders, falling through floors, stairs, walls, mosin glitching when you try to eject ammo during prone, etc. All this will be addressed.

Happy additions such as hunting, cooking, vehicles, poo throwing and such, has been outlined for the future. For me dayz was a completely new gaming experience, that handled my skyrim addiction. After over 90 hours played (damn you steam tracker! Some things are better left unknown!) I still greatly feel like my thirty dollars was worth it. It's almost like I paid for a 90 dollar game.

Just keep in mind, going forward with whatever choice you make, that this is early alpha, on a game slated for a 2015 release. A lot can happen in between then.

Edited January 13, 2014 by Ineedscoffee

[Gruso (DayZ) 81]

What in your opinion has made the game worth the reduced Alpha price?

 

Chernarus+. You've probably read about the new apartment complexes around Cherno, a few additional military bases, some new roads and WIP towns in the far north, etc. But this doesn't do justice to what has been done with Chernarus. Every square inch of the map has been tweaked to feel more authentic, from the foliage in wooded areas to the shadows & debris in towns. There are subtle terrain changes, little dirt roads, bridges, signs, huts, ponds... a million little things that make the world feel more authentic and immersive. You can really see that someone with passion for their creation has been given the opportunity to fulfill their original vision, or something far closer to it. There's my $30 right there. Fabulous.

 

In terms of gameplay, the new health and medical treatment system is a big highlight.

[pacific_coast 632]

the mod is the most "complete" dayz experience right now.

 

utes, taviana, namalsk, falluhja, 2017, origins... i could go on forever, baby!

 

i always played vanilla servers in the mod. too much nonsense and easy loots/vehicles.

 

landing your heli on the roof of a gas station and auto refilling then rolling over elektro real low making the newbs shit themselves?

mod.

 

SA?

hey, there's closed doors here! noone's hopped this sever yet! then mosin sniped by 3pp camper.

 

patience, the health/status overhaul is promising enough.

Edited January 13, 2014 by pacific_coast

[zaphodity (DayZ) 41]

Either way, your $30.

Edited January 13, 2014 by zaphodity

[Marmoo 32]

Thxs for the replies guys

After reading the posts I have decided to purchase the prouct - Just bought and currently downloading

Game may not be perfect for me but I am sure I will love it all over again and looking forward to that exploring and learning the game from scratch all over again

One of my friends who is currently at work is asking for hourly updates on the game so might have a chum to die with

 

Also, I got free mileage out of the Mod for a long long time and it is only fair that I help Dean with his new Opus - bit like a kickstarter :)

[pacific_coast 632]

nice nice this game is worth it

[louist 163]

@DJ:

As a brief aside, PVP is not synonymous with "twitch shooters." Look, for instance, at EVE, which is about as PVP as any game has come, but it isnt referred to as "spreadsheets online" withou reason. There are plenty of us who enjoy DayZ for the PVP, yet still respect the entire package, Arma clunkines included.

PVP is my goal and motivation in DayZ. Without it, there isn't much of a game. But I appreciate that PVP because it's built on a foundation of survival and exploration. I don't want to just join a server and start shooting. I want to work my way up, deal with whatever resources I can lay my hands on, and leverage that against others.

My apologies for going off topic. A lot of people have been throwing around the "this isn't CoD/twitch shooter" card, especially in regards to PVP discussions, and it's getting old. If the stereotypical portrayal of CoD players was accurate, then they wouldn't be here looking to play DayZ, would they?

[Marmoo 32]

To be honest since buying it I must have only played about 2hrs of it - Been very very busy with work 

On the whole, very impressed. 

I know many have had problems with freezing etc but on my rig it has been pretty much smooth with little lag but this could just be luck

Enjoying being able to enter more buildings. Nearly shit myself 1st time seeing  the shipwreck. Had no idea that was added to SA

Been hanging around Berizino mainly 

Met many many other players, Only been murdered once by some bloke who said hello and them promptly put an shovel through my head

All good fun

 

Worth it at £19.99 - Do Bears shit in the woods?

[Rudette 435]

I think that in the time span of three months we won't even recognize the game we are playing, at the pace the devs are going.
I juggle other games with it while I wait on content. Might even take a break soon, but the game is certainly worth it. Loads of potential.

If someone were short on cash, I'd recommend they wait a couple months. But otherwise, go ahead and grab it would be my attitude.

Edited February 21, 2014 by Rudette