Go to the forest of trees

[SGT. Kalme 106]

I agree that putting random survivor camps around the area would make it more interesting to discover the land of Chernarus. It could consist the loot like low-grade hunting rifles, food/drinks, possibly warm clothing when climate will be affecting your body temperature. Maybe some essential items like compass, knives, tents where you can sleep in and such. Like those were abandoned in a minute, with all the stuff left behind. Some could have like bonfire burning at night or something.

Would add more interest into such places.

 

camouflage nets would be interesting if you want to hide your small camping area but considering how much room these nets take in reality, it would be really hard to carry one with you that could cover larger objects than say camping tent. Also, they weight a lot.

 

I disagree with part that wilderness has it's loot spawns if you mean that random places in woods would spawn loot. As long as the spawns are limited to some sort of constructions such as camps, deer stands, shacks and so on so forth, I don't see a problem.

 

As long as these spawns wouldn't include loads of weaponry (no difference if military or civilian grade ones), it would be cool. Only place that could hold weapons in my opinion would be abandoned survivor camps.

 

So, I agree with points 1, 2, 3, 5 of OPs and your suggestion.

 

Having use for ICOMs would be really cool. I am thinking of continuing my game-play with no outside-of-game coms so having ICOM would help.

 

I understand that people want more content but I would expect people to be more patient over it. Content will hopefully come after game-ruining bugs are fixed.

 

Beans.

Edited March 25, 2014 by SGT. Kalme

[thefriendlydutchman 160]

The area that was once wooded wilderness is now fields, not mountainous woods. I've been up north a lot, the treeline has been forced toward the edge of the map dramatically. The western side is fairing better than the northern side.

 

Likewise, the northern areas are being prepped for larger cities to be added. Which puts them directly in abutment to the wilderness. Similarly, there are now roads crisscrossing the so-called "wilderness".

 

See this

 

http://dayzdb.com/map/chernarusplus#3.079.045

 

Compared with this

 

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120804224241/dayz/images/4/48/Chernarus.jpg

That's how dayz should work there should be enough food an some weapons at the beach but the real stuff up north so it takes time to travel there should be a huge city there filled with zombie hordes, also zombie hordes that wander around the wilderniss.

[Katana67 2907]

That's how dayz should work there should be enough food an some weapons at the beach but the real stuff up north so it takes time to travel there should be a huge city there filled with zombie hordes, also zombie hordes that wander around the wilderniss.

 

Yes, but I'm making the case for the wilderness shrinking with the addition of said cities. I'm all for adding cities to the north, but the margins between cities and the wilderness are shrinking, thus causing the wilderness to be less "wild".

 

Moreover, with the shrinking wilderness, it also marginalizes potential opportunities for construction. In other words, it'd be easier to find tents/backpacks/stashes/houses/etc. if the wilderness shrinks.

[Dagwood 680]

If you want players to utilize camping and roughing it in the wilderness, make doing so useful.

Like KOS's post-combat recovery story. Imagine if setting up a tent, rolling out a sleeping bag, and building a fire before eating and drinking would increase the rate at which you recovered. Or maybe it would bring you to a "higher level of healthiness".

This would give players an incentive to either pack their camping gear around with them, or to have static camps set up that they can retreat to when wounded. This might make the medical system a little less gamey than it is right now

[pilgrim* 3514]

Pokerguy10, most of your ideas are going to be implemented

(soon I think)

 

However ... there is a lot less 'wilderness' than there was in the mod

It will be difficult to hide a tent, a vehicle, or anything else anywhere, the trees have been thinned out so much, you can see through the woods pretty much in all directions

Also much of the wilderness woodlands in the mod have been replaced in SA with fields and open ground. Not good for survivalists. Good for snipers.

 

AND there are more towns planned for the north, go look at the many roads and concrete slabs laid out up there, where in the mod there was ONLY dense forest for kilometers

 

Finally, at the moment nobody can spend long in the North and North west because there is NO water, not a lake, no streams. When the game animals are introduced, I guess they'll be wandering about in sight of the villages.The stream beds are in place, but they are all dry

 

Here is the ONLY lake in the whole North West:

 

 

As you can see, there is just me and, if you look close - a rabbit playing around in the bottom of the empty lake.

 

I guess the devs will put water in it one day (how difficult can that be?) when they get round to building the new developments on the complexes of streets and concrete areas already laid out close to there, and in several other places up north.

 

This will not be a good survival area, I think.

I'd like water in the damned lake though, so I can cook when the animals arrive - before the bulldozers and the civic developers move in.

The forests in the west -in fact ALL the forests across the map - have been thinned out very much. foliage and tree density reduced by about half, easy to see through now, poor cover.

And more towns are coming - it used to be that the north and the south-centre were very different country - bandits had hidden bases in the north or the west - even helicopters could be hidden easily in clearings. A lot of players liked that style of play. Now none of that is really possible.

 

Too bad - but its a different game , lets see how it goes.

 

One last point -text sidechannel was important and helped A LOT to build a server community - so encouraged less server hopping and friendships were made at a distance, regulars began to know each other, became friends - sidechannel would be good  again if it was text only. I think the devs should at least try it out. Plenty of players don't want to talk direct, or don't want to have to join up to communicate. Sidechannel builds good things - text only to avoid voice spam. It was very useful and I guess MANY mod players will agree on that.

 

xx pilgrim

Edited March 25, 2014 by pilgrim

[Katana67 2907]

snip

 

Well, I agree and disagree with you. The woods are certainly NOT thinner. They've done some extraordinary work at doing the exact opposite, making them thicker. It's great, and I'm not sure how you could arrive at that conclusion. There are more groves inside of the woods, heavily wooded areas, etc. than there ever were in the mod. Not to mention the grass-rendering distance has been upped.

 

I agree about the towns marginalizing the wilderness though in the north. Not only are there going to be large towns close to the so-called "wilderness", but there are now high-value areas which cause people to path through previously seldom-traveled areas.

 

Not sure about your characterization of the lake in the NW as the only one. There's plenty of small creeks and ponds now that have been added.

 

That and sidechannel was toxic and short-changed the experience. No thank you. People crying for rides, airing silly grievances, trolling, and asking if there were people in Cherno like idiots was 95% of the traffic of side. 5% was actually useful. No thank you. If they do implement a form of side-channel, it should be IN-GAME. Like one loots a walkie talkie type device, then can text to those listening. It shouldn't be an artificial "meta" system, too detrimental to the experience.

 

Side-chat was one of those things that was popular, but AWFUL. Like Justin Bieber and McDonalds.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Katana67

[pilgrim* 3514]

Well, I agree and disagree with you. The woods are certainly NOT thinner. They've done some extraordinary work at doing the exact opposite, making them thicker. It's great, and I'm not sure how you could arrive at that conclusion.

[ ..//.. ]

 If they do implement a form of side-channel, it should be IN-GAME. Like one loots a walkie talkie type device, then can text to those listening. It shouldn't be an artificial "meta" system, too detrimental to the experience.

 

Side-chat was one of those things that was popular, but AWFUL. Like Justin Bieber and McDonalds.

 

FOREST: I arrived at the conclusion that the woods are thinner by playing the mod 2 years and the SA for 6 months

 

I had a tent in a small clump of trees very near Berezino for many months, no one found it untill the maphackers turned up - now that same wood in the SA you can see right through it and out the other side, can't hide a rabbit in there. Visibility through trees IS greater. Maybe I'm wrong orr maybe my eyesight is getting better?

 

Also, much woodland has been replaced with open ground (we do agree?)  - that's thinning out trees with a vengeance. Instead of wilderness, its farmland.

 

SIDECHAT: For an artificial 'meta' system - how about teamspeak ? Some servers in the mod cut out sidechannel and were teamspeak only. Being a solo player I didn't find those interesting. And like many players I'm not alone in my home, so I can't talk aloud and shout in the wee small hours. In the SA with the communication range, if you try to type "friendly" you're already dead. In the mod you could at least do that from a distance.

 

However - if radios had a good range (a whole map region, not 100 yards) then you are right, this would be a good solution. I'd type anyway if radio allowed that. I don't like to speak. Text avoids nationalist, age-ist, racist and sexist stereotyping, right?

 

MCDONALDS: I was in the Hiroshima McDonalds 2 years ago. It was a philosophical and amazing, insight-provoking, memorable experience, and I kept my thoughts to myself for future reflection. I LIKE cheeseburgers and coke.

 

xx pilgrim

[Katana67 2907]

FOREST: I arrived at the conclusion that the woods are thinner by playing the mod 2 years and the SA for 6 months

 

I had a tent in a small clump of trees very near Berezino for many months, no one found it untill the maphackers turned up - now that same wood in the SA you can see right through it and out the other side, can't hide a rabbit in there. Visibility through trees IS greater. Maybe I'm wrong orr maybe my eyesight is getting better?

 

Also, much woodland has been replaced with open ground (we do agree?)  - that's thinning out trees with a vengeance. Instead of wilderness, its farmland.

 

SIDECHAT: For an artificial 'meta' system - how about teamspeak ? Some servers in the mod cut out sidechannel and were teamspeak only. Being a solo player I didn't find those interesting. And like many players I'm not alone in my home, so I can't talk aloud and shout in the wee small hours. In the SA with the communication range, if you try to type "friendly" you're already dead. In the mod you could at least do that from a distance.

 

However - if radios had a good range (a whole map region, not 100 yards) then you are right, this would be a good solution. I'd type anyway if radio allowed that. I don't like to speak. Text avoids nationalist, age-ist, racist and sexist stereotyping, right?

 

MCDONALDS: I was in the Hiroshima McDonalds 2 years ago. It was a philosophical and amazing, insight-provoking, memorable experience, and I kept my thoughts to myself for future reflection. I LIKE cheeseburgers and coke.

 

xx pilgrim

 

I don't like TS either.

 

Some woodland (specifically in the north) has been replaced with fields, yes, I agree with that. That's part of why I think the wilderness is being marginalized. But that one location you cite where the trees have been thinned doesn't reflect the rest of the map, which (in my experience, which is the exact same as yours... played the mod since April and now SA since it came out) has been MASSIVELY improved.

 

Forests themselves used to be vague colonnades of nothing laid over a heightmap. Now, they're actually relatively natural with more rocks, groves, bushes, etc. Can't speak to your specific area, but the entire western side of the map has been improved, the northern forests are much thicker, and the central forests as well.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Katana67

[archone88 29]

Have my beans sir! I like the way you think! 

[Pokerguy12 218]

bump

[Dagwood 680]

If you want players to utilize camping and roughing it in the wilderness, make doing so useful.

Like KOS's post-combat recovery story. Imagine if setting up a tent, rolling out a sleeping bag, and building a fire before eating and drinking would increase the rate at which you recovered. Or maybe it would bring you to a "higher level of healthiness".

This would give players an incentive to either pack their camping gear around with them, or to have static camps set up that they can retreat to when wounded. This might make the medical system a little less gamey than it is right now

[makomachine 263]

If you want players to utilize camping and roughing it in the wilderness, make doing so useful.

Like KOS's post-combat recovery story. Imagine if setting up a tent, rolling out a sleeping bag, and building a fire before eating and drinking would increase the rate at which you recovered. Or maybe it would bring you to a "higher level of healthiness".

This would give players an incentive to either pack their camping gear around with them, or to have static camps set up that they can retreat to when wounded. This might make the medical system a little less gamey than it is right now

Like your thought process. Maybe make it where crafting of various items can only be done in camp and over time. Definitely agree there needs to be a reason to camp before it becomes a meaningful game element.

[Dagwood 680]

^^^ sitting out in the woods is worthwhile in your own skin. Doing so in a videogame is a time-suck. But if I didn't regenerate health or heal a broken limb without resting or sitting tight for 15-30 minutes, I'd be more inclined to do it in a spot where I could craft (like you mentioned) and where I was away from potentially lucrative loot locations.

Imagine if being hydrated and energized only stabilized your condition while on the move, and remaining near a bed or a tent was required to begin health regeneration. Of course we don't want to actually have to watch our character lie still for 30 minutes, so crafting would be a good way to pass this time.

[makomachine 263]

^^^ sitting out in the woods is worthwhile in your own skin. Doing so in a videogame is a time-suck. But if I didn't regenerate health or heal a broken limb without resting or sitting tight for 15-30 minutes, I'd be more inclined to do it in a spot where I could craft (like you mentioned) and where I was away from potentially lucrative loot locations.

Imagine if being hydrated and energized only stabilized your condition while on the move, and remaining near a bed or a tent was required to begin health regeneration. Of course we don't want to actually have to watch our character lie still for 30 minutes, so crafting would be a good way to pass this time.

Improvised backpack and camoflauge should take a little time. Gun cleaning, ammo reloading, cooking, woodland medicines, sewing repairs - probably a bunch you could throw in here. Still need to make the activities 'interesting' so it doesn't become a grind - but like your thought process here. Edited March 27, 2014 by makomachine

[Dagwood 680]

Making tasks more laborious might seem like a grind, but I think it would promote safer play styles (not coast camping, not blasting away at 500+ yard targets, etc).

And having to work your way back to a distant camp in the woods while wounded would add a cool dynamic to the game.

[Katana67 2907]

Improvised backpack and camoflauge should take a little time. Gun cleaning, ammo reloading, cooking, woodland medicines, sewing repairs - probably a bunch you could throw in here. Still need to make the activities 'interesting' so it doesn't become a grind - but like your thought process here.

 

No to mention construction, which opens up a huge amount of stuff to do. Like fence building. Perhaps tending to a persistent garden that grows produce over time. Constructing a lean-to. All that.

 

Making tasks more laborious might seem like a grind, but I think it would promote safer play styles (not coast camping, not blasting away at 500+ yard targets, etc).

And having to work your way back to a distant camp in the woods while wounded would add a cool dynamic to the game.

 

The issue is that very few (if any) tasks really require input, or labor at all. I mean, if I want to fix a broken leg I just click "Use" on my splint or Morphine Injector and it happens without fail.

 

These things need to have SOME form of input to begin with. Grinds entail tedious amounts of input. Whereas now, there's no input to speak of.

[zeroy 240]

M4s, Mosins, clips, ammunition, and utility vests dont grow on trees. And if they did in Dayz it wouldn't be very realistic. You arent going to keep people away from the coast. Upon spawning you need to hit a supermarket because you need food to travel anywhere. And to survive you need weapons. To have fun playing with your clan you need gear. all this is found in cities and bases.

 

I dont believe OP is asking for all to go inland but asking that more incentive is put to the larger wild portion of the map. Its in the plans as far as I understand anyway so just be patient OP!

[Dagwood 680]

I totally agree with what you're saying, katana. Survival in a post apocalyptic scenario should be a lot of work (hence the majority not surviving). Fixing a broken leg with morphine? Scopes and iron-sights magically being sighted properly when you pick them up?

I like how you modeled the issue with the term "inputs". That is exactly what is missing. But on the same note, we don't want the game degenerating into a runescape or WoW crafting simulator. It could be a slippery slope.

I read somewhere dean referencing the survival mod made for skyrim as being an inspiration for him in developing the wilderness survival aspects of dayz. I played it briefly and it did make you work at maintaining your existence if you chose to live outside city limits.

What do you think would be an effective input method or mechanic for dayz?

Edited March 27, 2014 by Dagwood

[pilgrim* 3514]

Not sure about your characterization of the lake in the NW as the only one. There's plenty of small creeks and ponds now that have been added.

 

 

Have they added ground water, puddles, streams, water in the lakes with the last patch ? - excuse me if this is the case.

 

Before the patch there was NO natural water or wells North of 020 S across the WHOLE of the north, except for one pond in the NE at 119 012, which is pretty far to the east.

In fact through the whole north region lying to the north and west of Krasnostav, there is NO water North of 030 S... that's a big region (it includes ALL the north wilderness)

 

However, if water has appeared anywhere in that region since the last patch (a few days ago?) I apologise, I haven't been up there since they built a town on top of the only well in the NE at 018 033 (funnily enough, in the last patch) - that well was already a fair distance south for anyone wanting to move around in the north wilderness.

 

I'll check it out, if you are correct that there is now open water somewhere up there (north of 020 or 030 S), then thanxs for the info.

 

xx pilgrim

Edited March 27, 2014 by pilgrim

[Pokerguy12 218]

What do you think would be an effective input method or mechanic for dayz?

Certainly not an animation repeating itself for 10 minutes while you wait idly stuck the ground and spin on your heels looking around. But i do get the point you are trying to express, just that implementing it is the challenge every game faces. Some ideas would be like the lockpicking minigame in skyrim.

[Pokerguy12 218]

Have they added ground water, puddles, streams, water in the lakes with the last patch ? - excuse me if this is the case.

 

Before the patch there was NO natural water or wells North of 020 S across the WHOLE of the north, except for one pond in the NE at 119 012, which is pretty far to the east.

In fact through the whole north region lying to the north and west of Krasnostav, there is NO water North of 030 S... that's a big region (it includes ALL the north wilderness)

 

However, if water has appeared anywhere in that region since the last patch (a few days ago?) I apologise, I haven't been up there since they built a town on top of the only well in the NE at 018 033 (funnily enough, in the last patch) - that well was already a fair distance south for anyone wanting to move around in the north wilderness.

 

I'll check it out, if you are correct that there is now open water somewhere up there (north of 020 or 030 S), then thanxs for the info.

 

xx pilgrim

Doesent matter though, as things are water just means places you can recharge your thirst meter.

[Dagwood 680]

The reason games make us sit there and watch our avatar work is to attach a cost to the final product (user invested time). What if instead of heel spinning (as poker hilariously put it) for fifteen minutes, the game made us pay with a different valuable resource: energy and hydration.

I basically mean that crafting, building, and healing from wounds and breaks would more rapidly sap our avatars' calorie and hydration reserves.

Does that sound plausible?

[blunce 991]

As everyone above has already said .. Once Hunting/cooking & tents/basebuilding are implemented, we should see a lot more activity in the wilderness

[Drunken Knife 17]

We need caves! Anybody?

I would love to explore a cave, just for the feeling. Or maybe a small tunnel through a mountain? Some mines. Bring the map to a new level? Underground e.g. I know that this isn't Minecraft, but the feeling in such a dark cave probably would give some people the chills, if they are implemented well.

[Katana67 2907]

Have they added ground water, puddles, streams, water in the lakes with the last patch ? - excuse me if this is the case.

 

Before the patch there was NO natural water or wells North of 020 S across the WHOLE of the north, except for one pond in the NE at 119 012, which is pretty far to the east.

In fact through the whole north region lying to the north and west of Krasnostav, there is NO water North of 030 S... that's a big region (it includes ALL the north wilderness)

 

However, if water has appeared anywhere in that region since the last patch (a few days ago?) I apologise, I haven't been up there since they built a town on top of the only well in the NE at 018 033 (funnily enough, in the last patch) - that well was already a fair distance south for anyone wanting to move around in the north wilderness.

 

I'll check it out, if you are correct that there is now open water somewhere up there (north of 020 or 030 S), then thanxs for the info.

 

xx pilgrim

 

I'm more referring to the streams West of Lopatino, which (depending on what your definition of the north is, yours appears to be everything north of NWAF) is not that far a walk from the northern border of the map. Which has been there since SA was released.

 

Yes, they did put a town on the well in the NW in the most recent patch. But there are also wells (according to DayZDB, I've never seen them because I never have been looking for them) north of NWAF.

 

Point being, there's plenty of access to water even as it stands from the extreme north.

 

In the mod, literally the only source of water in the NW corner was the pond south of Skalka. Both of which, no longer exist.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Katana67