What is the most important skill to learn to succeed in DayZ?

[autoloon 285]

This isn't just for the vets...I am also asking newer players what they think they should focus on to improve.

 

In my opinion, the most valuable skill I have learned during my time in Chernarus is how to buy time. This is the only way I have been able to overcome multiple threats during a sudden ambush. 

 

If you are alone and come into contact with a small team, what you do in the first second determines whether you will live or die. Killing one of them immediately is always the best option to improve your situation, but it isn't always the option that is available. Spraying away in their general direction will suppress them and buy you some time to consider your options and get to a better position. It also makes you look like a noob, and can cause your enemy to underestimate you. All you really need is time to neutralize the threat of multiple hostiles. A single player is far less dysfunctional than a rag tag squad of bandits and can coordinate better under pressure by creating confusion. 

 

Runner up: Patience

[Zarniwoop 1193]

I always find using common sence while looting and scouting works best. 

Also when you encounter a group, if they have not seen you the best way to get your end is for them to continue not to see you. 

[crimsonbzd 247]

I always find using common sence while looting and scouting works best. 

Also when you encounter a group, if they have not seen you the best way to get your end is for them to continue not to see you. 

 

Has saved me when going solo more times than I can count.

[twingunz 308]

Don't wave to people in the middle of the street and then complain when they KoS you :P

[-Gews- 7443]

Observation

[Timecharge 28]

Observation

 

Yeah I would agree with this, I was going to say not getting attached to your gear, or learning to get back up again after you die a lot but I feel like Observation is a good one. I feel like Observation in Day Z is severely something you just pick up over time rather than someone can teach you.

 

Things that fall under Observation,

 

Noticing that when zombies are aggro'd or making a lot of noises there is usually someone around you or near the zombie at least.

Keeping 360o awareness.

Keeping an eye on building patterns and if a bunch of doors are closed that shouldn't be closed you may not want to go in there/be more careful going in there

Estimating distances for zeroing on a gun when you don't have the time to open the map and check

Remembering the area and getting familiar with the Map so you get lost less often and can find your way around easier

[worst2first 71]

There is one rule to survive: see without being seen. 

[Smokey420 (DayZ) 74]

when to appropriately press ALT+F4

[madmaxm 26]

If you are seen, your probaly dead already without you knowing that. Golden rule: 1st. few seconds gtfo out of spawn areas and head north (just drink fast at any well before you go).

Edited January 31, 2014 by metalica24

[American_Mongrel 17]

I was going to say learning to snipe with a Mosin, but observation, awareness and being able to spot others before they see you is probably the most important trait to master. I can hardly count the people I have killed by spawning into my favorite sniping spot, only to find someone there. People apparently have a hard time listening, since they don't hear my guns lock n' load (even though the weapons aren't in my hands). People also have a hard time checking their immediate surrounding in 3rd person. When you get shot point blank by a Mosin, don't blame me, blame your astounding lack of awareness!

[KnightFall1856 24]

In my opinion, learn people. Notes in their voice that giveaway an upcoming betrayal, be able to recognize sincerity in someones voice, estimate what your firefight opponent is going to do before he does it, and react appropriately. :)

[antonioajc 500]

Observation mostly, that, and avoiding slipping from rooftops and platforms. The wrecked ship has claimed many lives due to their wet and slippery floors.

Also, trigger discipline. You don't know how fast your bullets may drain in a firefight. Took out about 8 people on semi-auto with my M4 and only spent 50 bullets out of my 60 round magazine.

 

Eight people = One guy with a Mosin and 7 fresh spawn trying to punch me. Killed the Mosin guy before he knew what happened and his "companions" charged towards me while others went for the guy's loot and rifle. Didn't let them though, my loot.

Edited January 31, 2014 by AntonioAJC

[Zedicologist 162]

Patience.

[uk aidan uk 10]

One word: Stealth. 

[Blaaaaaaag 75]

My first rule is keep moving, and I mean that in two senses. Don't ever stand perfectly still if you can avoid it. When drinking or messing around in inventory, strafe back and forth. Also, don't stay in the same place for very long. If you're with a group and you've all stopped to drink, try to get moving along again as quickly as you can. I'm pretty sure the number one cause of death among people I play with is loitering, and it drives me nuts.

 

Next most important thing would be to learn to be efficient with inventory, both with deciding what items are worth looting/keeping, and with the general orderliness of your backpack and pocket space. Having an organized pack with lots of big open spaces will enable you to double-click the important things you're trying to loot, and allow you to loot quicker. Being knowledgeable about the items in the game goes a very long way with this. Stay current on what items are actually useful in the current build, so you don't have to think about things like wrenches or water purification tablets, etc.

 

A nice consequence of the above practices is that you effectively don't need to eat as much, to do as much, as someone who spends forever in their inventory, as all that time spent is time where you're getting hungrier/thirstier.

[terminal_boy 860]

Situational awareness.

[savini 587]

I'd say never get attached to your gear.

[Michaelvoodoo25 3120]

Learn your controls first.

 

How many times have players died because they pressed the wrong buttons?

 

I once rolled off a roof, while pressing what I thought was Standing.

 

I felt a right Twat.

[Kerwyn 77]

As someone who's been playing for a long time, I wouldn't call myself a veteran, as that just makes me sound like a self-important prick, but I will say, with a tiny bit of embarrassment, that at this point I can probably navigate Povrly better than I can navigate my own home town.

 

I think the single most important skill a player needs to learn is situational awareness. I cannot begin to count the amount of times I have watched from the trees as an entire team wanders around in the open like they were on a picnic. I've walked up right behind guys too busy playing loot-tetris to notice the guy with an M4 breathing down their neck, and if I had a dime for the number of people who've walked right into my kill boxes, I could make a living playing this game.

 

This isn't Call of Duty, and 99% of all engagements in this game are resolved before they begin. Because the man who spots his opponent before his opponent spots him, is afforded the time and power to decide how the engagement will go.

[fundan@gmx.de 82]

Always act as sbdy. is close by.

[Erikp3 53]

Simply put. Remember that everything is finite. Don't get attached to a single thing. Your gear, your friends, your body. Nothing. Everything can be lost in a single glorious or completely deflating second. The faster you're able to get new gear and the less care you have for losing things the more you can focus on experiencing the part of Day Z that really makes it shine. Player interaction. Both the good and the bad moments make the game what it is.

[IMBATMAN! 6]

Awareness and always be in a group of friend that you can trust them.

Basically,be a survivor.......

[Lady Kyrah 1109]

Thinking on your feet.

 

Being able to quickly take a decision and commit to it in all situations, keeping your cool in tense situations, having a plan B (and a plan D for when plan C fails). Also, a stoic attitude to be able to get back on your feet as soon as you die.

[LaughingJack (DayZ) 767]

Patience.

 

Most deaths happen because you rush. Take your time, watch you surroundings, listen and be patient, stealthy and careful.

Dont run or sprint (unless you want to cross a field without cover), and if you have to do, don't run in a straight line...but normally: take a longer route, where you can't be seen.

And for sure: the patience to start over again, because you will die sooner or later.

 

Edit: And patience when waiting for bugfixes ;)

Edited January 31, 2014 by LaughingJack

[eleventhavenue 204]

I would say perception.

 

You need to see stuff. Zeds, loot, but most of all players. If you spot people before they spot you, you will always control the situation. One player with a mosin can deal with four fully kitted players if the mosin player knows where they are and the kitted players don't.