Suggested Fix for DC'ing in PVE & PVP Disconnects.

[Reaps 22]

TL;DR

20 second camp timer(incap timer) when hitting Abort->Disconnect.

Hey all, Explanations and examples below.

I have a couple of suggestions and fully expect to get flamed, but here's the issues i see after a lot of time played. I'll start with the issues I'm seeing and finish with my personal opinion for a fix.

Issue 1:

It doesn't matter how tough you make zombies (1.7.1.5 is a perfect balance imho ;) ), they are very easily exploited. I myself have done this once or twice - as well as every (Honest) Dayz member I'm sure. Picture the scene, You've just died to a well placed bandit shot, you wake on the beach, Friends asking how long before get back?! No weapon, a juicy looking house right in front of you. You haul ass in there, darn! No weapon! Zombies piling in the door - Disconnect, reconnect. TADA. Safety. Rinse and Repeat through as many homes as you like until you are kitted enough to head back in-land to friends.

Now I'm fully aware of the 5(ish) minute incap. timer you get from time to time. But this is clearly broken in its current form. I've received this timer randomly when logging in, even if I've logged out in complete safety, with no zeds on me. I never have had this incap timer correctly applied when "disco-looting".

Issue 2:

The one we ALL love to hate. You see a bandit/survivor walking into a barn, you wait him/her out patiently for that glorious headshot. Eventually they re-emerge in the doorway, you take the shot - they hit the deck! That excitement, it's all for nothing when you realise there's no murder, there's no bandit kill! There's no body! Yes, we've all been there, the famous pull the plug! i hate it, with a passion, but it is SO common now, it's almost not worth fighting some people. I personally haven't pulled this trick, but been on the other end of it more than once daily. Now there's a few work arounds to this I guess... Don't miss the headshot, would be the easiest workaround, my suggestion to follow!

SUGGESTIONS

My suggestion for this type of "Disco-Looting" / "Tactical Retreat" that I am seeing A LOT is a fairly simple one, in theory. Not quite sure how hard it is in practice, but it will stop all of the above gripes in every way.

Have a "camp timer" - You want to hit abort and disconnect? welcome to a 20second log off count. You want to haul ass into that small house and abort->disconnect? Welcome to 20seconds of nothing but prayer time. Now i'm not fully aware if this is possible. But you could even make it a 20sec incap timer. The player can't do ANYTHING. This solves both issues fairly quickly, i for one would not run into the house with hordes of zombies to disconnect and lose them, if they are going to gnaw on me for 20 seconds. Also, the bandits in the barn, will think twice about hitting abort and leaving themselves laying there bleeding for 20 extra seconds, not to mention the possibility of someone else popping around to bid them farewell before they disconnected.

Pro's

Stops the above issues (imo)

Forces people to play the game more realistically (if i dare use the word)

Cons

People that lose connection via no fault of their own i.e. ISP hiccups are vulnerable for 20secs

NOTE: I'm aware of the 5 second timer that was implemented and removed due to it not working previously. This is not the same thing. This is 20 seconds of the "egg timer" that good ol' incap. countdown where you can do nothing, no moving nada. I'm not sure if it's possible for the mod to make your character stay incap for 20 seconds after pulling the plug, but i'm fairly certain they can implement it to where when you hit Abort -> disconnect you get 20secs pre-log off. But this wont stop people pulling the plug Reaps! i hear it now, you're right, if the dev team can't code it so even connection loss results in the timer if would be a tad less useful, but people that fully pull the plug and not just abort -> disconnect have the chance of losing their server spot completely. I'm looking to stamp out the exploiters disco-looting.

EDIT: Removed PVP idea. As upon reflection, the uncertainty of who's who is one of the scariest things in this game!.

[Scerun 227]

I'm with you on the first half, for the most part.

the second part I strongly disagree. The only way I see the deathmatching being solved is when better in-game communications are made available that can help better establish that very basic level of trust between players. Until then, it's shoot or be shot, because hell, i'll not be getting within spitting distance of that guy just because he might want to work together (often, he'll shoot oyu on sight because he'll have the same "shoot or be shot" mentality).

Communication is key! Without it, you are just better off shooting/avoiding every other player where and when possible. Oh, and i'm not talking about a global chat.

Teams/bandit skins/self-destruct-pc-after-pking/blahblah are arbitary stamps and labels nullifying an otherwise extremely interesting and fun (read: FUN) part of the game.

[bad_mojo (DayZ) 1204]

Timer - Rocket tried to get this into the latest patch, but it was bugged.

Bandit vs Survivor - This would take away a lot from this game. In reality a murderer isn't going to wear a uniform. Nor should DayZ EVER turn friendly fire off.

[Reaps 22]

@Scerun

I understand the fear element of not knowing if they're going to shoot you is slightly diluted if there would be bandits vs survivors, where you pick a path at the start of a new spawn. (like gender) However, there's nothing stopping me rolling in there as a survivor, and leading a small group of happy bean munching survivors to a well placed bandit ambush my friends have set up Then, killing myself and looting all that goodness. You still have to be careful about who you trust, it would just bring the community somewhat closer together, not remove that shoot or be shot mentality. Since, hey, you can work with the other survivors, or ignore them, knowing full well that he cannot shoot you in the back.

"Teams/bandit skins/self-destruct-pc-after-pking/blahblah are arbitary stamps and labels nullifying an otherwise extremely interesting and fun (read: FUN) part of the game." - I'm not quite sure i'm reading this correctly, do you like Bandit skins and the fact that people kill and then log off before the horde of zombies come eat them?

@Bad_Mojo

The timer thing rocket tried to implement was buggy, for sure, but it's not what i'm suggesting. He tried to implement a timer which kept your character in the persistant map when the plug was pulled. I'm talking about putting in an incap timer when you choose to log off. 5 seconds was far too small a number aswell, as i mentioned above, running in to loot a building through the middle of town has become VERY popular, zombies take atleast 5 seconds to navigate the front door, making the previous timer thing null and void ;).

As to the murderers would not wear a set uniform thing, i concur. This is a very valid point, but as mentioned above there's nothing stopping the wolves in sheep's clothing, if you know what i mean. It helps encourage teamwork, but it doesnt build trust. You have to do that yourself.

a further point to the OP, when you choose the survivor / bandit at character spawn, you received their clothing, again I read the posts and see the concerns. I do feel it would actually improve communication rather than hinder it personally. You are a part of a collective, whether you want to go with the herd, or your own way. At least you know you have potential allies. Where as right now, as Scerun pointed out the only mentality seems to be shoot or be shot. Unless you both have no ammo in a lee enfield you just found, then it's an awkward friendship, until you find ammo.

[Reaps 22]

Bandit vs Survivor - This would take away a lot from this game. In reality a murderer isn't going to wear a uniform. Nor should DayZ EVER turn friendly fire off.

Made a few changes to the OP. Hope it fleshes out the PVP and why a little bit.

Could you explain what you think it would take away from the game?

[Reaps 22]

I've noticed a TON of disconnect posts now going up and how to deal with them. Which just show's me it's steadily increasing. Many saying about timers etc on logout. Seems like the easiest method to implement with minimal disruption to "legit" players.

Opinions?

Also seeing a lot of posts on "getting rid of bandits" but to me, the PVP is the biggest chunk of the game, Zombies are easy to deal with, if there were no bandits, we'd all have NVGoggles and running around fairly bored. At the same time, the undercurrent of the get rid of the bandits posts are because people don't know who to trust, therefore trust no one and are kinda tired of getting shot by everyone, if they don't shoot first. Anyone have thoughts on how to turn the game from a shoot on site game, to claw back some of the team play? My suggestion in the OP is the simplest (imo) way to get an idea of who's who, and inspire co-op to an extent, but would love to hear others thoughts on how to cure the current pvp madness.

[EvilNickolas 0]

And what do you suggest as a solution for ppl who alt-f4, or end process.. i play with 2 ppl who have it as a marco key, and can 'end process' at a moments notice.. apparently in most cases they loose like 10-50 seconds progress, and reconnect 100m or so backtracked to before they were shot.

[Reaps 22]

And what do you suggest as a solution for ppl who alt-f4' date=' or end process.. i play with 2 ppl who have it as a marco key, and can 'end process' at a moments notice.. apparently in most cases they loose like 10-50 seconds progress, and reconnect 100m or so backtracked to before they were shot.

[/quote']

Simply forcing the incap timer on any form of disconnect. whether it's an alt-f4 or legit disconnect.

Course this would be open to tears from legit connection loss, but that is something i'd put up with on the rare occasion rather than everyone exploiting the way the mechanics work right now.

The timers short enough to very rarely affect ISP drops of connection, but long enough to make people fight before pulling the plug in pvp encounters.

[Deviant (DayZ) 43]

Repost I'm afraid.

This will be in the next patch @ 5 seconds, and will increase/decrease/remove/changed as they test it.

[Reaps 22]

this posts getting fairly old.

However, where does it say they're going to bring the 5 secs back in 1.7.2 patch? I know it was tried on the 1.7.0 patch? or perhaps the 1 before that. But it didn't last long, at all. About 6 hours?

Not 100% sure on the reasoning behind it, I think it was because it was very easy to dupe items, as the player would never despawn.

If they manage to figure out why, and how to fix it. 5 seconds would never be enough to solve 90% of the disconnects.

for the PVE exploiters (running in to disco and loot): zombies would never reach them in 5 seconds, inside a building. and for the PVP exploiters. Unless it's one of those Elektro snipers with the macro'd end process button. they'd just duck into the nearest building and hope for the best.