What do we really want as far as zombies?

[Elie 11]

Besides being able to shoot/melee them down it would imo also be nice to have alternative ways of taking them out,

 

All this being hypothetical, since I've no clue if these ideas are workable at all for the devs

 

# timed meatbombs....

 

Suppose you hunted down some wildlife, crafted an explosive device connected to a wind up alarmclock : set clock on wanted time....sneak near a group, toss the meatbomb in between your position and the group, sneak back to save distance,  shoot, or perhaps just shout to alarm/active the herd to start moving towards you, and hope the timed meatbomb sets off as they pass it.

Maybe they could smell the bloody meat and be lured towards it automaticly also.

 

# Pitfalls....

 

Just remember where youve put them, so you wont fall into them yourself, also this would be nice to sabotage vehicles  with imo.

 

# Fishnet traps...tripwires and alike stuff... 

 

Just to delay them, cause logically they will eventually tear them apart and continue their ways...

 

# blowpipe darts or (cross)bow arrows

 

to blind their ugly faces once hitted in the eyes ((180 ! ;)...)), causing them to stumble around, screaming viciously., letting them bumb against any unseen obstacles

 

# decapitate option.

 

Just imagine the decoration options of Z heads put on poles, dangling on ropes near possible crafted camps/shelters.

Perhaps only have this option around christmass time, for spicing up the pinetrees in the forests.

 

And what about kidzombies? or is that edgy?...assuming the population did have kids also before they turned Z...

I'm aware this might be a moral decision of the devs to NOT have minor zombies around, but somehow it sounds like a realistic option.

 

Not saying its a must, just random thoughts that entered my deranged braincells I gues...

[AP_Norris 1018]

I agree---Zombies should absolutely be high in number around areas with good loot. The bigger cities had higher population densities than all the smaller towns and villages. Cities should have awesome loot, but streets and outskirts pretty dense with zombies. Military installations and other sources of high quality loot should also be heavily infested!

I want that feeling you get when you're creeping around town, ducking and weaving, trying not to get spotted or make too much noise so not to alert the zombies!

As it is now.. You're only creeping around to avoid all the homicidle maniacs. I don't feel like the game world itself is out to devour us just yet.

Also, roaming hordes.

BAM! Suddenly: Zombies, when you least expect them.

I also think small villages should be relatively bare because people would get the forewarning to pack up and leave, where as the first warning in town might be aggressive sick looking people acting like meth addicts walking door to door.

Military instalments would attract civilian attention as families bring their sick in hope of them being saved, eventually the sick would become dangerous and the area would quickly become overrun.

The places with the least warning and most zombie treasure keepers would be prime loot spots (towns and military), most smaller villages would remain somewhat easy.

Although this means, lots of zombies, lots of loot items, lots of buildings, lots of optimisation for the devs and still lots of lag for worse PCs.

[crimsonbzd 247]

Although this means, lots of zombies, lots of loot items, lots of buildings, lots of optimisation for the devs and still lots of lag for worse PCs.

 

That's actually the one thing I do feel the devs didn't consider when selling this game early release.

Either they have to confine the game to the original hardware considerations for a barebones alpha

Or put out players with lesser PC's.

I don't think the game should be limited by any players PC, if you don't have the hardware for it... well that's why I play PC games in addition to Console.

 

Then again, I have the hardware for it.

[The_Gunisher 10]

Personally I think zombies should be in higher numbers, but I don't think there's any point saying they should be this or that until we've seen them properly implemented into the game to see a baseline of what we have to work with. At the moment they aren't really there in my opinion.

 

One thing that grated for me with the mod was that Zombies made stealth worthless. They aggro'd from stupid differences, we're like trying to shake terminators, did spazzy movements that made shooting them annoying and most annoyingly could insta zero you. I think if you make a noise that should draw them to your general area, but the AI shouldn't be able to zero you instantly. If you keep making noises they find you, if not they eventually disperse. As it was in the mod as soon as you made a noise your position was immeadiately betrayed because you'd have a butt load of zombies piling on you.

 

Overall I'd like to see Zombies that are in greater numbers then they are now, but not at the expense of general game performance. The game is currently problematic in even semi large towns, let alone Cherno, Electro etc. Pile x10 zombies in on top of this that will only make it worse. Before anyone says anything I am running an old PC, but friends who I play with have brand new rigs and experiance exactly the same problems so the issue is not on my side. I'm hoping they can sort out most of the performance issues to the point where these changes are feasible, but as I said early days.

[The_Gunisher 10]

Or put out players with lesser PC's.

I don't think the game should be limited by any players PC, if you don't have the hardware for it... well that's why I play PC games in addition to Console.

 

Then again, I have the hardware for it.

 

The problem is that at the moment it doesn't matter how good your hardware is it won't make a damn bit of difference, the issues are mostly server side. As I said in my above post I have freinds with brand new rigs and the game still grinds to a halt in large towns. This is a longstanding Bohemia issue, but I'm hoping the devs can sort it out.

[crimsonbzd 247]

The problem is that at the moment it doesn't matter how good your hardware is it won't make a damn bit of difference, the issues are mostly server side. As I said in my above post I have freinds with brand new rigs and the game still grinds to a halt in large towns. This is a longstanding Bohemia issue, but I'm hoping the devs can sort it out.

 

I agree with and understand that, I'm saying that once the game is complete and optimized, will they be bound to the original specs they gave? I hope not.

And to the guy saying this is a moot point right now - i disagree. we paid to play early access not to play early (hopefully) but to experience the game and offer the devs our cash-paid input.

So, as a community, we need to clarify what we want, that's why we spent the money. If Dean was ultimately intended to have high-population zombies, I feel looking at the poll on this thread would confirm that. If, the other way around, he intended zombies to operate similarly to the mod, he might get a good idea that this is not what the community wants.

Inputs like "Add more gun variants on next patch" and "fix ladder falling" are the worthless inputs - obvious information they already know. I'm sure ladders will be fixed when all ladders are in the game, more gun variants will come with time, they're obviously not leaving it at .357-fnx45-shotgun-m4-mosin-sks

[Wayze 549]

The most important part in my opinion is that weapons and ammunition need a purpose other than killing players. Right know if 5 zombies chase you, you just take your super axe out and kill them all, worst that could happen is you bleeding. Even if there are 20 zombies running after you, you just run backwards and kill them one by one with your super axe, easy. If there are 50 running after you, you just run through a building, and let's be honest, the AI will be never good enough to handle 50 zombies running through a building and keeping up with a player. You can increase the population, but zombies have to be dangerous in hand to hand combat. If they are not, the purpose of firearms are only to kill other players. In other words, the purpose of the game is just killing other players.

You need a value for characters and you need to make it harder to survive. Otherwise it will be a deathmatch as it is now and always was.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Wayze

[The_Gunisher 10]

So, as a community, we need to clarify what we want, that's why we spent the money. If Dean was ultimately intended to have high-population zombies, I feel looking at the poll on this thread would confirm that. If, the other way around, he intended zombies to operate similarly to the mod, he might get a good idea that this is not what the community wants.

 

While I don't disagree with what your saying I think what I meant was because Zombies are at the mo so incomplete it's hard to know what the team are intending. Once they're in the game more fully we can fine tune what we ask for, but until then I think saying what they should or should not be is difficult because we don't know yet how it will play out in the game.

 

 

Otherwise it will be a deathmatch as it is now and always was.

 

The mod was always what the mod was and never felt like a deathmatch to me. Sure there was a lot of KOS, but I don't think the game should be changed fundamentally just to suit certain people who like to play cooperatively. There should be more to do and there will be with more of everything, vehicles and loads more so before asking for terminator zombies (I hated it when they went that way in the mod) lets see what having the rest of the game content does to peoples play styles. Having more to do will simply mean that more people will spend time doing other things other then hunting players. And if you don't like getting shot, simply leave the coast and avoid the obvious hot spots, I do this and my character has been alive for weeks now. Simple no?

 

 

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

That's actually the one thing I do feel the devs didn't consider when selling this game early release.

Either they have to confine the game to the original hardware considerations for a barebones alpha

Or put out players with lesser PC's.

I don't think the game should be limited by any players PC, if you don't have the hardware for it... well that's why I play PC games in addition to Console.

 

Then again, I have the hardware for it.

That's the most retarded statement i've ever seen. (today)

 

At some point you have to decide of a reference machine that the game has to run on, this game is still suppose to sell to a reasonable amount of players and not to cater solely to the super rich. Otherwise it's like designing a car while disregarding the average width of streets.

[discipled 63]

Take a look a the variety from The Walking Dead and you'll see what I have invisioned. Slow zombies without legs that drag themselves. Walkers, Runners (which you have to sprint, for awhile, to get away from). Zombies missing an arm. Masses of zombies, but none smart enough to climb or open doors (or phase through walls). I think Zombies real threat has always been not ones ability to escape them, but their massive numbers. Big towns have more, roads have small bands of rovers, they should have difficult going up steep slopes, more than humans, and fall down easily when sprinting. They don't have much dexterity or coordination. Yes, one should be able to melee a zombie, even a strewdriver to the head should one hit them, but that's why sheer numbers. I don't mind zombies stand around doing nothing, and we should be able to walk/crawler/prone by them without making them hear us. The problem is how do we make them a threat to heavily geared players while at the same time making players spawn with nothing able to survive at all. Possibly the more gear you carry the slower you are so you are forced to fight because you can't run away, while less gear can sprint away more simply. I feel numbers is the answer, not making them super hard to take out or sneak by or run away from. Short attention span might also be key, such as if one is following, you're able to weave between a few buildings and lose it, maybe.

 

I also think I shouldn't be able to hear them very well on the other side of a building. They have a low moan/groan, barely audible at 15 yards. They have poor eyesight, but the smell of dripping blood is intoxicating and like a shark draws them to you.

 

Further edit: I would also like to find zombies spawn inside of structures. They can't see you from inside, but opening a door being jumped on by a zombie seems a necessary addition.

Edited February 1, 2014 by discipled

[Wayze 549]

The mod was always what the mod was and never felt like a deathmatch to me. Sure there was a lot of KOS, but I don't think the game should be changed fundamentally just to suit certain people who like to play cooperatively. There should be more to do and there will be with more of everything, vehicles and loads more so before asking for terminator zombies (I hated it when they went that way in the mod) lets see what having the rest of the game content does to peoples play styles. Having more to do will simply mean that more people will spend time doing other things other then hunting players. And if you don't like getting shot, simply leave the coast and avoid the obvious hot spots, I do this and my character has been alive for weeks now. Simple no?

No, not simple. I have nothing against KoS, it is an element of the survival genre. But I don't want people to KoS for fun (there will always be people who do that, sure) as it is now. I don't want them to go on player hunts because they are fully geared up, have a house and 20 vehicles. The game never was a real survival game. It was never about survival. Ask yourself, what would be the point of surviving? If it was the main goal, you would leave all your gear behind just to save your character. Won't happen, ever. There is simply no value to surviving. No matter how long you play the game, the only difference between the next character and the current one is the gear. That means that gear is what the game is all about. Gear, vehicles and things you own. This is your life, your value. And if you have all the things you want to have, the next most valuable thing is the expirience. Now, I don't have anything against expiriences, this is what games are about and especially what DayZ is about, but I have something against people who go and search for expiriences. Who go and run around to troll people. Who go run around to have a good fight. Who try everything to have a super-cool moment.

And this is where the soul of DayZ is treated like sh*t. In my opinion DayZ was always about the random encounters. The moments where you see a player and sh*t your pants. The moments that are not "scripted", the moments that are unexpected. To have these moments, you need a survival game. Otherwise people will search for random encounters, they will search for the unexpected. But I think all of these moments should occur while surviving. The goal should be surviving and the "Holy sh*t"-Moments should be a part of that. Right now, the game is just about the "Holy sh*t"-Moments, and that means that the "Holy sh*t"-Moments get more and more boring the more you see them. This is why people need helicopters and tanks and all that kind of stuff. The normal "Holy sh*t"-Moments are not enough, they need more. They need things that are even more spectacular. Who cares about a firefight? You had 1000 firefights, and the gear you carry is worth nothing, as you can obtain it from your tents or whateverthef*ck. You want a heli vs heli fight, you want to do crazy things. And for me, it is just scripted and unauthentic. There is no reason for a heli vs heli fight. I remember so often my friends saying stuff like "Dude! You see that heli? Let's have a 1v1 against him!". But why is that? Well, simply because people want to expirience something exciting, something better than before.

All of this is because DayZ has no goal. And yes, DayZ doesn't need a goal in terms of missions or restrictions. But I think that DayZ needs the goal of surviving. The aspect that you want your character to survive, no matter what gear you would lose by surrendering. Making the game harder as it is would surely increase the aspect of survival (making the zombies stronger or whatever), but it will still be about gear, never about surviving. What I think is essential for the game (and Dean Hall does think that too), are aspects of character value. It is absolutly crutial for the game. Now, it won't solve all the problems, but most of them. What I mean by character value is something that makes your character more valuable than the gear he carries. And what might that be? This is what has to be worked on and it is hard to satisfy the people. I was always thinking about something like getting better in cooking, medical treatment and so on (and actually this will be the case in DayZ SA), but I am not so sure if it will be enough. I think it needs to be a part of the gameplay. If you want to repair a helicopter, you need to equire the skill to do that. And I am not talking about a skilltree, but simply about doing it until you learn it. The more often you repair things, the more often you craft things, the better you get. And that would mean a character that survived 100 hours is so valuable, that any gear he finds will be just an instrument to survive. The goal of the player will be keeping the character alive, no matter what. Maybe you would even kill a friend just to not die by starvation, as it would happen in real life. Maybe you will go and search for somebody that can cure the wound of a friend. There would be so much more aspects of authentism and survival, it would increase the gameplay in a way no other feature is capable of.

 

But this is just my opinion, maybe a "skillsystem" is not the right way. But I simply have no other idea for it and I know that without character value, the game will never be about survival.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Wayze

[discipled 63]

Having only played this game for one day, I can see and agree with Bean Kings point. What is more important than items? Experience/skills learned by your character. That's dead on and it makes goals in the game to aim for. Want to learn to be a mechanic? To be able to grow food, or trap animals? Heal people? Need to do that stuff more and more and get better gaining experience in a skillset or something.

 

I think another point that is very slighty hinted on is that when you have a ton of items, doesn't it make you incredibly hard to kill outside of bandits? Does the game get boring a that point because then you aren't surviving any longer but being pretty comfy?

[TomJeff 12]

Zombies need to be made more dangerous. as it is now, being swarmed by even a hundred zombies is no challenge if you have either axe. You just circle strafe and swing while looking at knee level (increased range). I was able to gather and kill 10 zombies simultaneously attacking while taking no hits.

 

For this reason zombies need to be made fundamentally more dangerous somehow. Numbers alone arn't going to do it.

 

As far as numbers, thats a technical aspect that we testers have no control over.

[JustSomeSurvivor 6]

I once read a book, and looking back, it was extremely similar to DayZ. The Remaining featured zombies that were just infected humans like in DayZ here, not undead. Essentially, they're just diseased, psychopathic and cannabilistic people. But even animals retain some intelligence. In The Remaining, the infected start to adapt to better hunt the more readily available prey (people). In the rural areas, they become nocturnal pack hunters, like wolves and use vicious pack tactics to flank their prey. While some wander in the day, they usually rest indoors. At night, they stalk the surrounding area, chasing down animals and humans alike and depend on their hearing mostly to do so.  Day however, would be relatively peaceful, so long as you didn't disturb a house that the infected are resting in. It's the opposite in the cities however. There, the great hordes of infected can't depend on their hearing in the crowded cities. So they hunt at day, using their vision and numbers to run down and utterly destroy anything that has the misfortune of being discovered. I think this style of "zombies" matches DayZ well, and would make for interesting play.

[AsHawkins 96]

This would make the night much more horrifying. 

[sacrdandprofne 100]

The actual mechanics of the zombies don't matter to me, but hell yes they should be a real threat.

That anxious feeling when you see a group of possible bandits? I want to feel that when I turn a corner and see 10 zombies.

[fing24 36]

I would like to see more zombies in the cities and military camps.  The good items should be worked for and it might make for a bit more co-op then kos. Plus more zombies would make you think twice before using your gun and attracting them. Make it axe fights all the way lol. A little bit off topic, but I like wayze's idea about gaining skills  e.g. you do a lot of first aid so you might be able to give a bit more blood on a transfusion than a none first aid person. These skills could run in the background like thirst and health so you don't know how well you are doing with them.  You know you have that skill, but not how good you are at it, plus it degrades slowly over time when not used. .You never go to the starting point for that skill, but down to 1/4 of it from the highest point that you have achieved for that skill.  That way you will always have to work at it. Often used skills have a high decay rate and less used ones a slow rate. I wonder how hard this would be to implement in the game.  Plus it might make books a bit more useful as you could learn the base start of skills from some of them.

[merlointhesky 20]

I voted for extreme amount of zombies in populated areas. I would add, also where it makes sense, i.e. airstrips with a certain amount of military zombies.

 

One will have to worry about clearing the path before getting directly to a certain point of the city, or defend a certain bulding from people AND zombies to protect certain loot spawns.

[BigHairyFenian (DayZ) 18]

Option 2 and occasional roaming hordes would be nice.

[atoav 5]

My answer on that question is deeply tied to the way the AI is implemented. I agree with the idea, that bigger cities have more zombies, but there should also be villages that have been evacuated. So the equation bigger city = more zombies should not always be true. I'd also like zombies to roam around.

Most important is, that you can stealth your way around them. I really doubt the whole concept of "clever" zeds: they have a disease, just look at their spastic movments: they ARE limited. Also there are limits to the possibilites of AI-Design. If they heare you, the should just know your general direction and as long as they don't see you, they should not find you. If they see you, and you hide, they should go to the location where they last saw you and search on. It would be also great if you could just throw a stone or something to lure them away.

[The_Gunisher 10]

No, not simple. I have nothing against KoS, it is an element of the survival genre. But I don't want people to KoS for fun (there will always be people who do that, sure) as it is now. I don't want them to go on player hunts because they are fully geared up, have a house and 20 vehicles. The game never was a real survival game. It was never about survival. Ask yourself, what would be the point of surviving? If it was the main goal, you would leave all your gear behind just to save your character. Won't happen, ever. There is simply no value to surviving. No matter how long you play the game, the only difference between the next character and the current one is the gear. That means that gear is what the game is all about. Gear, vehicles and things you own. This is your life, your value. And if you have all the things you want to have, the next most valuable thing is the expirience. Now, I don't have anything against expiriences, this is what games are about and especially what DayZ is about, but I have something against people who go and search for expiriences. Who go and run around to troll people. Who go run around to have a good fight. Who try everything to have a super-cool moment.

And this is where the soul of DayZ is treated like sh*t. In my opinion DayZ was always about the random encounters. The moments where you see a player and sh*t your pants. The moments that are not "scripted", the moments that are unexpected. To have these moments, you need a survival game. Otherwise people will search for random encounters, they will search for the unexpected. But I think all of these moments should occur while surviving. The goal should be surviving and the "Holy sh*t"-Moments should be a part of that. Right now, the game is just about the "Holy sh*t"-Moments, and that means that the "Holy sh*t"-Moments get more and more boring the more you see them. This is why people need helicopters and tanks and all that kind of stuff. The normal "Holy sh*t"-Moments are not enough, they need more. They need things that are even more spectacular. Who cares about a firefight? You had 1000 firefights, and the gear you carry is worth nothing, as you can obtain it from your tents or whateverthef*ck. You want a heli vs heli fight, you want to do crazy things. And for me, it is just scripted and unauthentic. There is no reason for a heli vs heli fight. I remember so often my friends saying stuff like "Dude! You see that heli? Let's have a 1v1 against him!". But why is that? Well, simply because people want to expirience something exciting, something better than before.

All of this is because DayZ has no goal. And yes, DayZ doesn't need a goal in terms of missions or restrictions. But I think that DayZ needs the goal of surviving. The aspect that you want your character to survive, no matter what gear you would lose by surrendering. Making the game harder as it is would surely increase the aspect of survival (making the zombies stronger or whatever), but it will still be about gear, never about surviving. What I think is essential for the game (and Dean Hall does think that too), are aspects of character value. It is absolutly crutial for the game. Now, it won't solve all the problems, but most of them. What I mean by character value is something that makes your character more valuable than the gear he carries. And what might that be? This is what has to be worked on and it is hard to satisfy the people. I was always thinking about something like getting better in cooking, medical treatment and so on (and actually this will be the case in DayZ SA), but I am not so sure if it will be enough. I think it needs to be a part of the gameplay. If you want to repair a helicopter, you need to equire the skill to do that. And I am not talking about a skilltree, but simply about doing it until you learn it. The more often you repair things, the more often you craft things, the better you get. And that would mean a character that survived 100 hours is so valuable, that any gear he finds will be just an instrument to survive. The goal of the player will be keeping the character alive, no matter what. Maybe you would even kill a friend just to not die by starvation, as it would happen in real life. Maybe you will go and search for somebody that can cure the wound of a friend. There would be so much more aspects of authentism and survival, it would increase the gameplay in a way no other feature is capable of.

 

But this is just my opinion, maybe a "skillsystem" is not the right way. But I simply have no other idea for it and I know that without character value, the game will never be about survival.

 

Man you out to consider maybe editing what you say, you could have said all of that in about a 10th of the space. Not dissing what your saying, there's just no need to write essays where a few sentances will do the trick.

 

Even with a skill system however I don't think you will eliminate people looking for 'holy shit moments' as you put it. But look at what most of the game is now, you spend most of it running around looking for stuff, avoiding/killing zombies and about once every few hours (if you're not on the coast) you meet another player. Only a very small percentage is actually in combat with other players, so not exactly 'holy shit'-tastic. In other words most players currently spend most of their time surviving already. But what you're talking about doing is setting it up so you have to cooperate more, based on the last thing you said. That's fine for you and the others who like that, but still what about people who like to play alone and don't like interacting with others? And bandits cooperate in groups to kill people, so engineering cooperation into the game doesn't really resolve that issue. Infact all it will do is mean you get teams of highly skilled bandits with the skills they need to cover each other. You see by trying to cater to one group and play style, you just create other problems or inadvertantly magnify your own. Why can't we just accept that having a massive open sand box style game is in itself a massive achievement, and just try and perfect what we do have instead of trying to make it into something some of us think it ought to be?

[Wolfguarde 108]

Shitloads of them. Absolutely shitloads, roaming in packs pretty much everywhere, if they haven't already infested a place. I recall Rocket mentioning that they planned to have areas be 'clearable' - meaning zombie spawns could be wiped out by killing everything off in a specific area - but still infestable by wandering packs of zombies. This idea really appeals to me, in combination with a few others.

The main one of which being the idea that zombies can grab and tackle you. That single change turns zombies from a mild pain in the ass that never stops chasing you to something that is still a moderate or high threat even on an individual level. Sure, once you have a weapon you can handle one or two - as it should be. But a pack? Cornered in a house? You're fucked. You should be fucked in that situation, and in my eyes we don't need specials or tweaks to zombie speed or strength to do that. They just need to be able to put us on the ground and start eating us.

Plus, as I mentioned in the thread that I originally brought this idea up in, it would be fucking hilarious in the early stages after the change to watch ravening swarms of zombies converge on unsuspecting Cherno/Elektro snipers after they fire off a shot or two into the city. It would add a whole new dynamic to player interaction - particularly to PvP and firearm kill-on-sight, since every shot can potentially bring every zombie within two hundred metres down on your head.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Wolfguarde

[Rifleman11b 16]

The main one of which being the idea that zombies can grab and tackle you. That single change turns zombies from a mild pain in the ass that never stops chasing you to something that is still a moderate or high threat even on an individual level. Sure, once you have a weapon you can handle one or two - as it should be. But a pack? Cornered in a house? You're fucked. You should be fucked in that situation, and in my eyes we don't need specials or tweaks to zombie speed or strength to do that. They just need to be able to put us on the ground and start eating us.

This......holy shit this! Would love to see this with higher population areas swarmed with walkers and a roaming mass that respawns a walker every 20 seconds and has no less  than 30 walkers to start with. Have it aimlessly wander the map looking for tasty survivors.

[Wayze 549]

Man you out to consider maybe editing what you say, you could have said all of that in about a 10th of the space. Not dissing what your saying, there's just no need to write essays where a few sentances will do the trick.

 

Even with a skill system however I don't think you will eliminate people looking for 'holy shit moments' as you put it. But look at what most of the game is now, you spend most of it running around looking for stuff, avoiding/killing zombies and about once every few hours (if you're not on the coast) you meet another player. Only a very small percentage is actually in combat with other players, so not exactly 'holy shit'-tastic. In other words most players currently spend most of their time surviving already. But what you're talking about doing is setting it up so you have to cooperate more, based on the last thing you said. That's fine for you and the others who like that, but still what about people who like to play alone and don't like interacting with others? And bandits cooperate in groups to kill people, so engineering cooperation into the game doesn't really resolve that issue. Infact all it will do is mean you get teams of highly skilled bandits with the skills they need to cover each other. You see by trying to cater to one group and play style, you just create other problems or inadvertantly magnify your own. Why can't we just accept that having a massive open sand box style game is in itself a massive achievement, and just try and perfect what we do have instead of trying to make it into something some of us think it ought to be?

I don't know which game you were playing, but at the moment everyone is just running around the coast shooting each other. If you spawn you will most likely see another person within 3-5 minutes. And people stay on the coast because they search for the "Holy shit"-Moments. Surviving? You need a backpack, 5 cans of beans and 5 sodas and you are good to go. You will never die by starvation. I actually never did. I never died by a zombie. I never died by anything but jumping/falling off a roof or by another player. Not ONCE in the SA did I die by any survival aspects.

Now, I am a lone wolf myself (most of the time I play) and I do not expect to be able to have a fortress and 2 helicopters in my base. This won't happen, just impossible. How ridiculous would that be actually? I may steal a helicopter, but repairing one? Maybe I will equire the skill myself.

 

Well a highly trained bandit group is something very unlikely, simply because bandits, and people who tend to go on player hunts, are very likely to die before achieving something great. If I am a lone wolf and I play by myself, carefully, not shooting everyone but evading them, I will be the one with the skills. I will be the one who survived 100hours + because I was as f*cking careful as I would be in real life. I am the one who survives, not some bandits who go around and shoot others. Sure, bandits have their camps and all that stuff and always have better gear, but they won't have the skill, because the avarage lifespan of a bandit is just way lower than the of a expirienced survivor.

 

What DayZ misses is the part of gameplay that let's people go around for their own, evading combat as long as they can. No matter how many features you will add, as long as you do not develope your character more and more and more, people who want to just survive as long as they can, will simple get bored. Why would I go around and survive? What is the point in it? In real life, the point is to not die. In the game there is no point. And this is why DayZ  was NEVER a survival game.

 

Some of us includes Dean Rocket Hall, he wants the game to have character value and indeed he is going to implement a skillsystem. This is not what I was talking about. In my opinion the skill-system needs to be an essential part of the game, it has to be an survival game. It has to be an authentic survival game.

DayZ was never meant to be like the mod is right now. Actually that is what casual players like you, who don't give a sh*t about the survival aspects, turn it into. You are exactly right, DayZ is a massive open sand box style game, nothing more. It is no survival game. If you want to play sandbox casual games go play minecraft. I want to have a sandbox survival game. Simple as that.

 

And really funny how you call us "some of us", as you have not a single person who liked your post, but I have 3 already. Maybe you are the "some of us" part, the part of casual gamers that destroy DayZ. The part of casual gamers that may be more, but are not the main part of this community.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Wayze

[atoav 5]

What DayZ misses is the part of gameplay that let's people go around for their own, evading combat as long as they can. No matter how many features you will add, as long as you do not develope your character more and more and more, people who want to just survive as long as they can, will simple get bored. Why would I go around and survive? What is the point in it? In real life, the point is to not die. In the game there is no point. And this is why DayZ  was NEVER a survival game.

 

You totally got my beans. I am a long time lurker (I watch DayZ since the start of the mod) and finally decided to buy it myself a week ago. I really love gaming, but often I just don't have the time to spare to run around headless. I died by Zeds (glitching though walls, my last rags finished an hour ago), I starved (wouldn't find anything to open a can after 2 hours) and now I finally found a server were not all loot is gone and I am good to go.

But here is what I like: I like to wander around. Alone. I like to set myself targets and they don't necessarily have to do with shooting people or get the good gear. I want to explore the damn map and do it without dying. Maybe I am really a exploration-type player and the (little) survival aspects of the game really add to that feeling of exploration. Heck if farming would be implemented I would be the first to plant some seeds. As much as I think the socials aspects of the game make it interesting: I am a lonewolf and I like this game to be interesting even without other players action. And I don't want this game to be a classical Multiplayer FPS with hard to get items and a bit of survival here and there. That is why I agree with you: there needs to be more than gear. You need your Character to have values you can't just steal or find. I would even say let your chars "talents" be different when you spawn (in a certain margin). Make them visually different. Make everything you can so a player don't wants to loose his bare life.

 

As hard as it will be: there is a need to keep this game enigmatic in some places. This is easy for beginners, but it is hard for players that play the game everyday. Techniques that could add a bit to that would be an implementation of randomness (like generative modelling of houses, places, zombies or even items). So things are not as fixed as they are right now and even seasoned players have the constant urge to adapt to situations. Generative Gamedesign can be hard to design well (so things don't look too boring or too crazy/unrealistic), but I think it could be a way to keep players watching more for the world they are in and valuing the moments they got with their character.