I'm so glad i have this flashlight in the Zombie Apocalypse

[Billyboblikespie 9]

Every time i respawn  the first thing i do to make space in my limited inventory, is to chuck the flashlight.  Rarely do i keep the batteries.  At this point the pocket space is too valuable to hold onto something that is not essential.  Why bother spawning in with anything if its as useless as a flashlight.  If there were some steelwool spawning in the game then the batteries could be used to make fire.  Why not start with a folding knife?  Alot of people carry a blade around on a normal basis.  I don't know too many people carrying flashlights around unlesss its the one on your phone... Why not spawn in with a useless phone?

[Deathlove 2286]

Every time i respawn  the first thing i do to make space in my limited inventory, is to chuck the flashlight.  Rarely do i keep the batteries.  At this point the pocket space is too valuable to hold onto something that is not essential.  Why bother spawning in with anything if its as useless as a flashlight.  If there were some steelwool spawning in the game then the batteries could be used to make fire.  Why not start with a folding knife?  Alot of people carry a blade around on a normal basis.  I don't know too many people carrying flashlights around unlesss its the one on your phone... Why not spawn in with a useless phone?

Or maybe randomize the starting loot players start out with. Doesn't have to be a weapon but could be like a ammo box (random civilian type), compass, flare, whatever. Some food for thought.

[nettles 396]

I used to play this game way back in the day called Urban Dead.  It would let you choose what class your character belonged to before the outbreak.  Members of emergency response would begin the game with items and training related to their profession, i.e. firefighters would spawn with an axe and firefighter clothes.  Similarly, cops would spawn with a handgun and training and medical staff would start with a first aid kit and training.  Civilians would spawn with a random improvised weapon, such as a crowbar, baseball bat, kitchen knife, etc, and a cell phone.  I'd like it if we could choose our stories prior to the outbreak and it would affect what we start with.  For instance, I'd like to follow my own life story; A foreign exchange student from the states that landed in the wrong country at the wrong time.

 

There's a lot of room for abuse though; imagine every CoD kiddie starts the game as prior-military-service class just so they can start with a gun.

Edited October 9, 2014 by nettles

[Sniper-Wolf 37]

There's a lot of room for abuse though; imagine every CoD kiddie starts the game as prior-military-service class just so they can start with a gun.

i dont see a problem with that as long as they are heavily handicapped or *balanced* in some way

Edited October 9, 2014 by Sniper-Wolf

[Killawife 599]

Seeing as you are in quite a predicament due to the cold if you can'ty find an axe within the first half hour of playing or so, it would be reasonable to spawn with an axe. Not a fire-axe, just something that will cut down a tree and chop some kindling. And whack some zombie heads in.

 The whole idea of spawning without anyhting useful, as it is now. seems rather far-fetched.

[boneboys 7988]

When I started playing there were maybe 15 or so servers, the server cycle was based on regional time, that is to say when I played on the server nearest to my location with best ping we had the same time.

So I'd get home from work, have something to eat and then (try) to join a game.

Early in the evening of late April there would be enough light to see but as daylight faded and with all those infected roaming around a flashlight was most welcome, as were road flares.

Server time was regionally locked, if it was 11 in the evening in my house, so it was in-game, if the moon was full outside of my window it would also be in-game, I knew what time it was by counting the strikes of Chernos town hall clock.

The only way to work around this was to play on some US server, unfortunately the situation soon changed with server admins setting up their servers to suite their particular player base.

 

Weather and temperature conditions are being implemented at this moment, so what we can look forward to in the future is real time seasonal conditions and moon phases.

To find such a 24 hr regionally set server is not going to be easy.

I'll probably have to set it up myself (1st person only) believe me, you will be happy to have a torch when night falls.

 

Cell phone indeed, whatever next !

[Ubernaut 297]

I used to play this game way back in the day called Urban Dead.

Cool, another Urban Dead player. Well met! That game was pretty fun - it's too bad you only got so many moves each day.

[ld-airgrafix 403]

I used to play this game way back in the day called Urban Dead.  It would let you choose what class your character belonged to before the outbreak.  Members of emergency response would begin the game with items and training related to their profession, i.e. firefighters would spawn with an axe and firefighter clothes.  Similarly, cops would spawn with a handgun and training and medical staff would start with a first aid kit and training.  Civilians would spawn with a random improvised weapon, such as a crowbar, baseball bat, kitchen knife, etc, and a cell phone.  I'd like it if we could choose our stories prior to the outbreak and it would affect what we start with.  For instance, I'd like to follow my own life story; A foreign exchange student from the states that landed in the wrong country at the wrong time.

 

There's a lot of room for abuse though; imagine every CoD kiddie starts the game as prior-military-service class just so they can start with a gun.

Good idea, but everyone would just choose a police officer

[freethink 984]

It'd be cooler to start with nothing but the clothes you are in imo.

[Inception. 9443]

I don't think there should be any class that spawns the player with any sort of weaponry. Other low-tier items are fine.

[grindstone50k 208]

Flashlights are useless because there are basically no servers running night. Plus you can just alter your video settings to effectively give you night vision. Once they fix that, then it'll just be on the server owners. I kind of wish that option wasn't available for owners and instead stagger out a compressed day/night cycle.

 

Right now, i kind of "RP explain" it as I would only really move about in the daytime in a real survival scenario as it is anyway. But nighttime DayZ is a great treat that too many miss out on.

 

 

Also, no "classes" whatsoever.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Grindstone

[Bororm 1156]

You guys realize the flash light serves as a basic tutorial on how to do basically everything right?

 

You drag the battery onto flashlight, now you know how to use items on each other.  You drag the light into your hands, now you know how to equip shit.  It goes on the hotbar, now you know how to use the hotbar.  You have to raise it to use it, now you know how to raise your weapon etc.

 

I know for most people all that shit is obvious, but you'd be surprised how many times I've actually seen people ask how to use the flashlight or whatever.  It's actually a fairly clever little tutorial for people to figure out basically every interaction from.

 

Also, spawning at night blows without one.

[nettles 396]

You guys realize the flash light serves as a basic tutorial on how to do basically everything right?

 

You drag the battery onto flashlight, now you know how to use items on each other.  You drag the light into your hands, now you know how to equip shit.  It goes on the hotbar, now you know how to use the hotbar.  You have to raise it to use it, now you know how to raise your weapon etc.

 

I know for most people all that shit is obvious, but you'd be surprised how many times I've actually seen people ask how to use the flashlight or whatever.  It's actually a fairly clever little tutorial for people to figure out basically every interaction from.

 

Also, spawning at night blows without one.

 

But if you spawned with literally almost any other gear, such as an improvised melee weapon or cell phone (which could maybe instead be substituted for a walkie talkie that may need batteries) You'd still have to learn how to drag it down to the hotbar or plop anything into it.

[Ubernaut 297]

I don't think there should be any class that spawns the player with any sort of weaponry. Other low-tier items are fine.

When the DayZ mod servers turned away from this philosophy, the game lost something for me.

[Death By Crowbar 1213]

I used to like the flashlight because the "holding it" animation made you look like you were armed with a gun raised. At least half a dozen times I used that as a bambi to trick people into thinking I was armed and robbed them. Noone died, but man, how gullable people can be! Viva la almighty flashlight!!!!!!!!!!!!

[archone88 29]

To make it even more advanced, why not start with item(s) depending on your playstyle your last life?

If spawning the first time, no items given.

[Mos1ey 6301]

You spawn with a flashlight so that people can't complain about night time, otherwise you would spawn with nothing.

[igottapi4 1]

Flashlights are useless because there are basically no servers running night. Plus you can just alter your video settings to effectively give you night vision. Once they fix that, then it'll just be on the server owners. I kind of wish that option wasn't available for owners and instead stagger out a compressed day/night cycle.

 

Right now, i kind of "RP explain" it as I would only really move about in the daytime in a real survival scenario as it is anyway. But nighttime DayZ is a great treat that too many miss out on.

 

 

Also, no "classes" whatsoever.

Are you kidding? All I can play is night time unless I stay up from 12am and up. The servers that I play are either NY or CA and Im in FL. SO I just raise my gamma and get use to playing a white and black game.

 

Abd yes I know raising the gamma is noob or some crap but if you had to play night everyday, you just have to do what you gotta do.

 

And no I cant play any other server since I like playing a server with no more that 2 or 3 other players. Im a loner, I hate playing with other people.

[Sleeves 98]

Are you kidding? All I can play is night time unless I stay up from 12am and up. The servers that I play are either NY or CA and Im in FL. SO I just raise my gamma and get use to playing a white and black game.

Abd yes I know raising the gamma is noob or some crap but if you had to play night everyday, you just have to do what you gotta do.

And no I cant play any other server since I like playing a server with no more that 2 or 3 other players. Im a loner, I hate playing with other people.

I watched a video recently where one guy explained how people would get amazing gear, and then never log back on or go near people because they did not want to lose it. You sort of seem like that type. You can get another m4/AK.

But the flashlight is a good item to spawn with. As said before, it is a small tutorial for crafting and wielding weapons, along with a source of light for people who did not know maxing out gamma allows night vision.

If you really do not want it, drop it. It is really not that hard.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Sleeves

[svisketyggeren 662]

 I kind of wish that option wasn't available for owners and instead stagger out a compressed day/night cycle.

 

If they did that u would have a shitstorm from players that cant deal with nighttime being pitch black in a game.

Edited October 9, 2014 by svisketyggeren

[Evil Minion 943]

Why bother spawning in with anything if its as useless as a flashlight.

Its a little gimmick that allows you to spawn at night without a huge drawback.

 

Once they fixed nighttime (gamma exploit, lights through walls etc.) and removed all those goddamn daylight servers from the public hive* it might have its advantages to keep and use it.

 

*If you want to play during daytime you can always join a server running it at the moment. Daylight servers just mess up dynamics and make it impossible to play during nighttime - thats private shard/hive/server material and has no place in the public hive.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Evil Minion

[umm_me 77]

Imagine for a moment people played the game correctly... you spawn in ... and its night... and you arent going to just cheat your brightness/gamma up...

[Billyboblikespie 9]

I guess the flashlight is an essential item in the game for beginners to figure out basic game mechanics. Thanks for the info. Cheers~

[skypig 139]

my first spawn into the game was a night time spawn. it was cloudy, moonless and creepy as hell. I could barely make out a tiny bit if horizon. I wandered around by sound mostly, hearing the ocean on my right and some god awful screaming and howling on my left. I was pretty much blind. I hadn't watched many videos or anything so it was all a mystery to me.

opening that inventory and messing around with the flashlight and battery and seeing how they worked on my own gave a greater sense of accomplishment in the first few moments than most other games.

looking back it's like "yeah, you put a battery into a flashlight, raised it up and turned it on, big deal."

but at the time it was an important piece of the puzzle put into place.

Edited October 9, 2014 by SkyPig

[thznutz 112]

um...haha...i'd like to spawn in with a fleshlite, the true must have zombie apocalypse accessory, battery optional :D  

Edited October 9, 2014 by thznutz