Tents. What are they good for? Absolutely Nuttin

[RAM-bo4250 213]

This is the thread from Fantasyland. I'm serious but know it would never fly. There would be screaming and crying throughout the land. Let me enjoy my fantasy.

 

People accuse me of being a fanboy and screaming down "negative there's something wrong with Dayz" posts. That isn't true but people see it that way. I just post about things people can't change no matter how much they complain. I'm a realist.

 

I also don't oppose any playstyle. You want to be a homicidal horde slayer go for it. So the ground work is established.

 

 I love Dayz. Love the concept, love the atmosphere, the graphics, everything. I have a complaint, a dislike, about Dayz.

 

I hate tents, and vehicle storage. At least for the vanilla game. Here's why. I hate the fact that when someone gets killed they have an ability to gear up near instantaneously. Decisions have consequences. Bad decisions should have bad consequences. By bad I mean other than a nuisance. Everyone also knows I am not against KOS. What I am against is bad decisions that have no real consequences. Wouldn't bad consequences for bad decisions motivate people to play, well , better, slightly more realistic? Same for camping friend's dead bodies. Tents to me are like little god nodes. There it is. My complaint about Dayz. Remember, I stated this is a fantasy post. I am still a realist. I am not going to push for this, ever. 

Edited September 6, 2014 by RAM-bo4250

[Nesuma (DayZ) 108]

I can relate to you but tents add so many core elemets to the game that you have to ignore this negative aspect. Most of the time you die on the road anyway if you run back to your tent without looting first. If people want to spoil their game by running through cities without stopping, let them.

[sab0t 109]

it's a double edged sword, the persistence...on one hand, i completely agree that having ridiculous caches, and worse yet, clans or groups with said caches that go and pick up their bro immediately after he dies- this sort of thing really softens the otherwise brutal edge of consequence. it's kind of like if a roguelike such as nethack had a magical bag of holding that you could throw your favourite items into for next time. it's kind of annoying when i see / kill a guy that is fully geared but is playing like a moron, because the consequence to him doing so is basically negligible. i know even after i kill him, he's on TS and his buddy is bringing him a shiny new M4.

 

on the other hand, setting up a camp / home base of some kind makes complete sense in a survival scenario / game. like, why wouldn't you be able to?

 

 

what kind of constructive suggestions are there to combat this? the first thing that comes to mind to me, is that anything persistent you've built such as a tent, gets destroyed upon your death. true to the roguelike example above, you can save your stuff, and have your camp, but when you die, it's all from scratch.

Edited September 6, 2014 by sab0t

[dashender7 78]

I love tents and the idea of being able to barricade and make a place your "home."  I agree with OP in that I don't like the idea of players being able to return to their stash to gear up after death.  I would keep tents and barricading eventually, but everything you've stored somehow disappears when you die so that you truly have to start all over.

[RAM-bo4250 213]

Camps are a different story, somewhat. It takes time, quite a bit I hope, to establish and build one. I like the idea of a temporary tent that is destroyed when you die. Gives a little more incentive to staying alive and not risk losing it and the supplies which are stored there. Playing smart, staying alive=having a place to stash things.

     Bases stay the same. Bodies - This ones maybe a tough nut. It needs to persist long enough so that it can be looted, but not long enough for the dead party to get back to.

[hells high 676]

I hate tents, and vehicle storage. At least for the vanilla game. Here's why. I hate the fact that when someone gets killed they have an ability to gear up near instantaneously. Decisions have consequences. Bad decisions should have bad consequences. By bad I mean other than a nuisance. Everyone also knows I am not against KOS. What I am against is bad decisions that have no real consequences. Wouldn't bad consequences for bad decisions motivate people to play, well , better, slightly more realistic?

 

Without some kind of long term survival goal it just becomes another Wasteland. You have to remember that eventually you won't be able to run across the map in a matter of 30 minutes. You won't last in a rain storm without seeking shelter in a building or seeking out proper clothing. Wearing heavy gear might wear you out faster, and will cause you to overheat. You won't and shouldn't be able to carry everything you need to survive in DayZ's apocalypse.

 

I get your point, but you have to look at the big picture and the future. Things are coming that will fundamentally change the way we play DayZ, down to the most basic of things like how we move from place to place. That kind of stuff needs to be taken into account.

[Parazight 1594]

At some point, the consumer and developers have to realize that this is a game. There has to be a balance between authenticity and playability. It's not too much of a sacrifice to be able to store things in tents, in my humble opinion. Considering how easy it is to die in this game, and the fact that it still takes time to gear up those tents, having persistent tents (that are still vulnerable) isn't a deal breaker against the realism factor.

The reason why it's not a big deal is because it's a pve element and the pve aspect of this game is basically a time sink. Surviving the elements will be easy, always, because there's player versus player interaction possibilities. Let me explain.

See, when you have a game that intertwines pve and pvp so closely, the need to watch damage balance is paramount. How many shots should it take for one man to kill another man? Combat needs to be based around authentic weapon damage effects. So, once player versus player damage is set developers balance zombie health/outgoing damage/ai. Herein lies the problem. You can't make the zombies so completely overpowering in order to make them a formidable challenge to geared players because they'll annihilate new spawns.

Tents will never be safe and they wont save you from being killed by other people. Also, not losing absolutely everything doesn't break immersion, imo.

[rybec 339]

If someone puts the effort in to get a vehicle going, why shouldn't they be allowed to stockpile their goods? Same with tents.

 

Right now DayZ plays like this in my group.

 

"Hey, let's play DayZ."

"Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know. No reason to go anywhere."

 

Let people store their findings. I like to feel productive when I'm playing. Running around with absolutely nothing to put my effort to is fun up to a point.

[RAM-bo4250 213]

All good points from everyone. I've found and raided a few tents. There is the disadvantage that tents have. They aren't exactly the easiest to hide.

 Awhh hell, I opened my mouth, now there is going to be fully camouflaged, invisible tents.

[RAM-bo4250 213]

There you go. You guys have gone and done it. I have to worship Dayz again. A flaw that isn't a flaw. Ahh, I'm home. Good to be back. It was scary out there.

[Oyface 74]

I get what you mean, OP, but DayZ is a survival game. Having a shelter is part of survival. A very important part.

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

If someone puts the effort in to get a vehicle going, why shouldn't they be allowed to stockpile their goods? Same with tents.

Because there is no effort in stock piling when all you need to do is server hop for loot.  That's the difference.  

[rybec 339]

Because there is no effort in stock piling when all you need to do is server hop for loot.  That's the difference.  

And then they come back to their home server where someone has possibly found their stash while they are on their home server to protect it 10% of the time they're playing.

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

And then they come back to their home server where someone has possibly found their stash while they are on their home server to protect it 10% of the time they're playing.

Server hopping to stash gear should not be allowed hence why when you die you shouldn't have access to your tent anymore.  That's what I am talking about.  Sorry I should have clarified.

[heradon89 21]

I find it fun to collect gear and rob other players tents.

[pjano 34]

 

I hate tents, and vehicle storage. At least for the vanilla game. Here's why. I hate the fact that when someone gets killed they have an ability to gear up near instantaneously. Decisions have consequences. Bad decisions should have bad consequences. By bad I mean other than a nuisance. Everyone also knows I am not against KOS. What I am against is bad decisions that have no real consequences. Wouldn't bad consequences for bad decisions motivate people to play, well , better, slightly more realistic? Same for camping friend's dead bodies. Tents to me are like little god nodes. There it is. My complaint about Dayz. Remember, I stated this is a fantasy post. I am still a realist. I am not going to push for this, ever. 

 

 

You don't gear up instantaneously. You have to hide the tent in a very remote, far away, least expected place and just hope that nobody goes there. There are certain people that go around searching for tents and stealing all the good stuff. It's a similar scenario to running back to your dead body if your squad got into a firefight. Obviously re-spawn is one of the biggest flaws in the game at the moment, so I think it would be cool if you get banned from a server for 1 day to a week when you die, or at least you have to wait about 30 mins - 1 hr before you can re-spawn again.

Edited September 6, 2014 by pjano

[Evil Minion 943]

I would keep tents and barricading eventually, but everything you've stored somehow disappears when you die so that you truly have to start all over.

I hate that concept. Items magically linked to an omnious "owners" life force would destroy the experience for me. Stuff you set up should stay there even if you die - given nobody else takes them away. There should not be an "owner" - just a tent someone placed somewhere it put in some items. So if you playce a tent fill it and die, the tent is still there. But if someone finds it he should be able to loot it and steal it as if it was his. Static ownership destroys the game dynamics and magic life-force-linked ownership does the same but also ruins any immersion.

 

Barricades are similar but much "slower" - putting them up should cost time and effort. Destroying them should take a lot of time and effort (making up for the fact that people go offline and won't be able to defend their base during thus period) - but it should always be possible.

 

Now storage somewhat takes away the penalty for death - no need to blame storage. Blame death having not enough impact. Losing all your gear and waiting for 30 seconds before respawning at the coast may have been fine without storage but now there should be a harsher penalty for death itself. One that actually hits you instead of that lucky guy who was just about to loot your camp.

[rybec 339]

Server hopping to stash gear should not be allowed hence why when you die you shouldn't have access to your tent anymore.  That's what I am talking about.  Sorry I should have clarified.

I'm on the fence about whether you can access it after dying. In the mod if a buddy hopped on I could say "Hey, there's a DMR with a few magazines the the tent in the usual spot for you."

Having insurance after you die because you can go run back to your (vulnerable, nobody's ever guarding it 100% of the time) tent to gear back up will make people reckless because they can afford it, but I would say 3/4 of my deaths in this game don't come from players, zombies, or survival mechanics. They come from a random server restart while I'm in a building causing me to fall through to my death, or evil stairs and ladders. Sometimes random character resets. These are they'll polish those bugs out, don't worry issues, but I'd enjoy it simply to help myself for after that happens.

 

Now, alternatively you could have disappearing tents after you die. You store everything you've worked for whether it's actual playing or hopping servers to die to some BS issue like I said before or to get shot. You're back at square one. Unless you have a partner who also has a tent then no big deal. Groups thrive, individual players suffer.

 

Now how do we deal with vehicles for that? We've been told vehicles are going to be a REAL pain in the ass to get going. Are we going to say the person who put that final nut on the tire has now tethered their life to that vehicle and if they die the vehicle's player vitals sensor connected to explosives causes a large explosion that can be heard for kilometers (if they ever fix the sound)?

[RAM-bo4250 213]

I'm on the fence about whether you can access it after dying. In the mod if a buddy hopped on I could say "Hey, there's a DMR with a few magazines the the tent in the usual spot for you."

Having insurance after you die because you can go run back to your (vulnerable, nobody's ever guarding it 100% of the time) tent to gear back up will make people reckless because they can afford it, but I would say 3/4 of my deaths in this game don't come from players, zombies, or survival mechanics. They come from a random server restart while I'm in a building causing me to fall through to my death, or evil stairs and ladders. Sometimes random character resets. These are they'll polish those bugs out, don't worry issues, but I'd enjoy it simply to help myself for after that happens.

 

Now, alternatively you could have disappearing tents after you die. You store everything you've worked for whether it's actual playing or hopping servers to die to some BS issue like I said before or to get shot. You're back at square one. Unless you have a partner who also has a tent then no big deal. Groups thrive, individual players suffer.

 

Now how do we deal with vehicles for that? We've been told vehicles are going to be a REAL pain in the ass to get going. Are we going to say the person who put that final nut on the tire has now tethered their life to that vehicle and if they die the vehicle's player vitals sensor connected to explosives causes a large explosion that can be heard for kilometers (if they ever fix the sound)?

I was actually contemplating this for down the road. Definitely die from too many causes right now, not necessarily from not so smart play. I have also surrendered and agreed that tents are at least reasonable for all the articulate reasons given. The tents don't necessarily allow you to gear up instantaneously. Too many things can keep that from happening. They are not too easy to hide and therefore can be ransacked. Vehicles are even harder to hide. In the mod I couldn't keep my 4 wheeler from being found 100% of the time. I even found and stolen bikes that people probably thought would never be found.

[trtk 81]

Tents are an excellent addition. They add a whole new layer of endgameyness - once you've geared yourself out to your liking, rather than having nothing to do besides kill people (and disregard their gear, since you won't need it), you can continue amassing gear and be rewarded in subsequent lives for your forward thinking. You talk about it like it's some cheap thing, that people can re-gear quickly with tents after dying, but that's just sour grapes from someone who probably doesn't possess the forethought to stock them.

[over9000nukez 199]

 

I hate tents, and vehicle storage. At least for the vanilla game. Here's why. I hate the fact that when someone gets killed they have an ability to gear up near instantaneously. Decisions have consequences.

ok...

 

your tents can be stolen from, and you can have a sneaky guy start stealing bits and pieces from your tent without you noticing, you have to run for possibly an hour, depending if you put your tent in a GOOD spot,get your gear back, then you jsut like another hour of looting for all that stuff you jsut lost, and now this is just another set you had.

 

if you really want to complain about people getting gear easy, its already easy ENOUGH to get, bereazino, headshot some random guy with random gun you found, INSTANTLY all the items you want. after 10 minutes from spawning.

[Cpanther 221]

Surely is takes a while to re-stock your tent after you die..you may gear up fast, but then you will need to replace the stuff you had in your tent. What we talking here... 3-4 hours to re-stock your tent every time you die ? it will take you about the same time to just gear up as a fresh spawn.

 

In the long term using tents in that way will be unrealistic.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Cpanther

[AP_Norris 1017]

Tents should remain very rare, and lets not forget that tents are never safe.

Decide to go without your best equipment and you risk loosing it all overnight.

[reapers239 57]

in the mod after you died your tent would disappear if you didnt interact with it. however i find that knid of silly, unless someone destroyed like they added in breaking point had fund with it. the concept allows for many objectives as area control, gang wars and so one....it should work fine if they removed the server hopping thing, but that is later down the road since things are buggy as heck.

[q.S Sachiel 470]

i'd probably share your point of view if i could actually find one (deployed or otherwise).

In the mod they used to be a challenge akin to fishing to find.  In SA i roam for hours checking connifer clumps and down in gulleys thinking 'this time i'll hit the motherload and stock up off someone's toils' but alas all i find is sticks and the odd shrieking rabbit.

Every time i enter Balota or NWAF i'm taunted by those camo-flywire tents... they look so familiar yet so useless. :9

Edited September 8, 2014 by q.S Sachiel