Bow and arrow

[cofi0276 16]

The arrow is on the wrong side of the bow in game. You dont believe me? Watch this video. 

 

[Axezeroone 56]

WOW !!!

[sfx 22]

By adopting this approach, we should aslo be able to shoot the bow while moving ;)

[foiki 16]

+1 sfx

there are a few changes i would like to see with the Bow.

 

slightly less sway (so you can shoot a bit faster)

increase Range (ive googled a bit. 50-60m would be realistic i think)

dont make it a one shot Kill, it should knock people out if you hit them in the upper Body

 

and yeh ofc. more Chickens fo feathers :D

 

E: i dont want the Bow to be too easy to use, but atm it seems a bit useless

Edited January 30, 2015 by FriendlyFarmer

[comikz 218]

The improvised bow as it stands right now needs work, I used one the other day just for fun, and it was a struggle to say the least, I feel that it needs to be slightly more accurate and have a stronger travel time before beginning to drop, it's damage seems ok, I'de also like to see arrow bundles go up from 5 to 20, because they take up a lot of space in your inventory, and your not always going to have the opportunity to go and retrieve them...

[5mirkeh 98]

I lost it at the drive by

Oh my god this guy is just overpowered with a bow

[Whyherro123 2283]

+1 sfx

there are a few changes i would like to see with the Bow.

 

slightly less sway (so you can shoot a bit faster)

increase Range (ive googled a bit. 50-60m would be realistic i think)

dont make it a one shot Kill, it should knock people out if you hit them in the upper Body

 

and yeh ofc. more Chickens fo feathers :D

 

E: i dont want the Bow to be too easy to use, but atm it seems a bit useless

 

I agree that there should be less "sway", but I strongly disagree with your other points.

 

The "type" of bow we have in-game is known as a "stickbow" (and it could barely be considered that), which are some of the "worst" (read: least effective) "type" of bow there is. Stickbows are only really effective at close range, and for small game, as they lack the power for longer ranges and larger animals. 

 

Also, wooden tipped arrows are some of the least effective there are, but they would still cause significant damage, at least penetrating the chest cavity. An arrow tipped with glass, bone, or metal would be even more effective, as it would both be heavier (more force of impact) and have sharper and longer cutting surfaces. (which, when coupled with the increased force of impact, leads to greatly increased lethality)

 

Here are some videos to demonstrate the penetrative capabilities of different arrowheads, loosed from a "real" (read: carved flatbow, which is much more involved and powerful than the in-game bow) bow of about 50 lbs. (Glass arrowheads are functionally the same as obsidian and flint)

 

The improvised bow as it stands right now needs work, I used one the other day just for fun, and it was a struggle to say the least, I feel that it needs to be slightly more accurate and have a stronger travel time before beginning to drop, it's damage seems ok, I'de also like to see arrow bundles go up from 5 to 20, because they take up a lot of space in your inventory, and your not always going to have the opportunity to go and retrieve them...

I disagree. Making arrows is difficult. I've made several in real life, and I only have about 7 (5 complete, 2 unfinished). And this is with feather fletchings and glass points, basically the same arrows as in-game. The process for in-game arrowmaking is extremely streamlined, to the point where I don't even worry when I loose one, as they are so easy to replace. Besides, you can't retrieve them from targets (animals/infected/players), so what is the point? Hopefully, this is changed in the future....

 

I have made several threads about bows, arrows, and quivers before. I thought about having a craftable quiver take up the "primary firearm" slot, and would carry your bow (unstrung), several arrows, and possibly some fletchers tools and spare bowstrings as well.

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/215247-quiver-arrows/

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/205753-archery-bows-arrows-etc/

 

 

As for the guy in the above video, good for him, but it all is too flashy for my tastes. He probably practiced for HOURS (at the very least) for the "perfect shot" for each of the stunts, all for something that, from what I have seen and used, doesn't look very practical for actual survival. 

[cofi0276 16]

 

As for the guy in the above video, good for him, but it all is too flashy for my tastes. He probably practiced for HOURS (at the very least) for the "perfect shot" for each of the stunts, all for something that, from what I have seen and used, doesn't look very practical for actual survival. 

His type of shooting is actually perfect for zombie killing at close range. It doesnt make any sense to pull your arrows 1 by 1 out of the quiver and putting them on the left side when theres multiple zombies charging at you.

[Bruderlos 17]

 I thought about having a craftable quiver take up the "primary firearm" slot, and would carry your bow (unstrung), several arrows, and possibly some fletchers tools and spare bowstrings as well.

 

That would be nice as carrying a "loaded" bow with the arrow sticking out of the shoulder + the noise it makes (the rattling, not my whining about the arrow through my shoulder) keeps me from using it more.

[Whyherro123 2283]

His type of shooting is actually perfect for zombie killing at close range. It doesnt make any sense to pull your arrows 1 by 1 out of the quiver and putting them on the left side when theres multiple zombies charging at you.

You are missing several points here.

 

1) His "style" of shooting would take many MANY hours of practice, to the point of being impractical in a survival situation. You are better off served taking a slow, deliberate shot

 

2) Again, the "type" of bow we have in-game is very inefficient. I highly doubt the crap bow and wooden-tipped arrows would be able to pierce an infected skull. And, the "type" of bow he appears to be using in his trick-shots appears to be extremely light weight in draw poundage, as evidenced by his ability to draw it pretty much using only his arm, instead of with his back.

 

3) If you have to make multiple shots at infected charging at you, you have failed at using stealth. Use a hand weapon at that point, instead of potentially losing or breaking precious arrows.

 

4) Lastly, a single arrow to the chest wouldn't kill an infected, or, hell, a normal human or animal right away, especially if all it has is a sharpened wooden tip. Arrows kill through blood loss, and even taking a broadhead-tipped arrow through the ribcage wouldn't make you bleed out instantly (it would be very quick, though). A video I posted in one of the linked threads shows a guy shooting an obsidian-tipped arrow through the "sweet spot" (heart + double lung shot) of a deer with a 50lbs + flatbow. The deer still lives for 30 seconds, enough to run away and get lost in the underbrush. With infected, that is 30 seconds for them to sprint up to you and beat you to death as you try to trick-shot them.

 

Again: his style of shooting is pretty much made to look cool. It most likely took him hours of practicing and constant takes in order to get the above footage, and if you threw him, hungry, wet, cold and scared into an actual survival situation, I am 99% certain he would not be able to emulate his above tricks practically. I'll stick with my "boring" slow, measured and true-tested style, thank you very much.

[R0B3RTF1SH3R 66]

the guy studied "tribal hunting". yet still has arrow on wrong side of bow... 

 

in DAYZ. its so stupid. u can run and gun. but u cant move and BOW. wtf. seriously. dumb

[cofi0276 16]

Again: his style of shooting is pretty much made to look cool. It most likely took him hours of practicing and constant takes in order to get the above footage, and if you threw him, hungry, wet, cold and scared into an actual survival situation, I am 99% certain he would not be able to emulate his above tricks practically. I'll stick with my "boring" slow, measured and true-tested style, thank you very much.

I dont understand your logic at all. If you can learn how to shoot faster with his tactics which is not that different than yours, theres no point in going back to the old slow one. His style of shooting is not made to look cool, it is made to be more efficient. Of course you can still take your time when you are stealth but thats not the point here. With his tactics you can headshot at least 3 zombies before you have to switch to your melee. Just like he explained putting an arrow on the left side of the bow is only good when you are shooting at stationary targets, when the target is moving theres no advantage what so ever to put it on the left side.

 

and if you threw him, hungry, wet, cold and scared into an actual survival situation, I am 99% certain he would not be able to emulate his above tricks practically

 

Yeah, I could say the same for you. When i look at your post it makes you look like you are really jealous, I'm not saying you are.

 

Of course he wouldnt be able to emulate the tricks, but thats all they are, tricks, for the youtube video. This doesn't change the fact that his tactics are better than hollywood and long range precision shooting when you are shooting at close range moving targets.

 

 

2) Again, the "type" of bow we have in-game is very inefficient. I highly doubt the crap bow and wooden-tipped arrows would be able to pierce an infected skull. And, the "type" of bow he appears to be using in his trick-shots appears to be extremely light weight in draw poundage, as evidenced by his ability to draw it pretty much using only his arm, instead of with his back.

 

If you watch the video he can use strong bows too, yeah a little bit slower but still faster than normal methods.

 

With infected, that is 30 seconds for them to sprint up to you and beat you to death as you try to trick-shot them.

 

He shoots 3 arrows in 3 seconds with strong bow and after that how long does it take that you pull out your dagger or what ever you are using? Isnt in some situations range + melee better than just melee? Also not to mention that you can run away take some shots, run away take some more etc. It all depends on the situation and i think for DayZ type of situations his style would be better.

Edited January 31, 2015 by spaceman9000

[Bororm 1156]

For what it's worth, the guy claims that it's how some people used to use bows in combat.  It's not a hunting technique.  I think there's a lot of criticism that it isn't actually true but I haven't cared enough to look into the whole thing.  Just saying though, for shooting zombies assuming it is an actual valid method that was used in the past it seems decent enough to me!  Close range, faster shooting.

 

It also doesn't mean you're incapable of taking slow shots, they aren't mutually exclusive skills...

Edited January 31, 2015 by Bororm

[Whyherro123 2283]

I dont understand your logic at all. If you can learn how to shoot faster with his tactics which is not that different than yours, theres no point in going back to the old slow one. His style of shooting is not made to look cool, it is made to be more efficient. Of course you can still take your time when you are stealth but thats not the point here. With his tactics you can headshot at least 3 zombies before you have to switch to your melee. Just like he explained putting an arrow on the left side of the bow is only good when you are shooting at stationary targets, when the target is moving theres no advantage what so ever to put it on the left side.

 

Yeah, I could say the same for you. When i look at your post it makes you look like you are really jealous, I'm not saying you are.

 

Of course he wouldnt be able to emulate the tricks, but thats all they are, tricks, for the youtube video. This doesn't change the fact that his tactics are better than hollywood and long range precision shooting when you are shooting at close range moving targets.

 

 

 

If you watch the video he can use strong bows too, yeah a little bit slower but still faster than normal methods.

 

He shoots 3 arrows in 3 seconds with strong bow and after that how long does it take that you pull out your dagger or what ever you are using? Isnt in some situations range + melee better than just melee? Also not to mention that you can run away take some shots, run away take some more etc. It all depends on the situation and i think for DayZ type of situations his style would be better.

Tell me, what do you consider a "strong bow"? Because a 40-50lbs bow isn't all that powerful, all things considered. 45 lbs is the bare minimum required for hunting in my state, and the bigwigs in charge of hunting regulations suggest you use a higher-drawweight bow for a cleaner, more humane kill. That is what he was using in the above video when he demonstrated his skills with a "powerful" bow. 

 

English/Welsh longbows would have draw weights of up to 210 pounds. The fancy fast shooting that he does above? Not possible with a longbow. You would tear the muscles and ligaments in your shoulders, arm, and back.

 

Also, I think you are seriously underestimating the amount of effort it takes to draw an actual war-bow, as well as what war-bows were actually used for. In real life, archers weren't going for speed and accuracy, they were going for mass. War-archery was essentially the "field artillery" of the time, from ancient Egypt all the way to Medieval England. It involved hundreds of men launching arrows at formations of men, hundreds of yards away, not singular targets a couple of feet. English archers actually got breaks after every three arrows or so, because they would otherwise be too fatigued to continue. 

 

Skirmishes with bows and arrows (essentially, what his skills above, namely fast and accurate shooting, translate to), never really happened after the Neolithic, when warfare got larger and more organized.

 

He also uses a very different type of bow than most survivors would. 

 

Also, what idiot closes one eye when aiming a bow? It is the same thing as closing one eye when aiming a firearm; if you do that, you are doing it wrong. Keep both eyes open, and you have more situational awareness and depth perception.

 

Finally, a wooden self-bow doesn't have any sights, artificial arrow-rests, counterweights, or mechanical releases. "Modern sport archery", which refers overwhelmingly to the use of compound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_bow) often does have those things. My bow has none: the arrow rests on my hand, I look down the shaft to the point, and aim using a point of reference. I also don't "draw and hold", which is what compound archers do. I "aim, draw then release", not "draw, aim then release". 

 

For what it's worth, the guy claims that it's how some people used to use bows in combat.  It's not a hunting technique, it was meant for combat.  I think there's a lot of criticism that it isn't actually true but I haven't cared enough to look into the whole thing.  Just saying though, for shooting zombies assuming it is an actual valid method that was used in the past it seems decent enough to me!  Close range, faster shooting.

 

It also doesn't mean you're incapable of taking slow shots, they aren't mutually exclusive skills...

He is right, I am not disagreeing with him on that. The "arrow on right side of bow, draw with thumb, draw to face" thing he likes to do is common to most Asian archery styles. It was suited to the type of bow they commonly used (composite recurves made from horn), and worked for them in regards to their specific combat tactics.

 

For a long, straight-limbed self or long- style bow (which "survival bows" essentially are, as it is very difficult to make a recurve bow in the woods), you are probably better off putting the arrow on the left side of the bow and drawing back to your ear, chest or jawline. Different muscles (this uses your back, the Asian style uses the arm) and all that, and probably easier for the survivor.

 

You guys are also seemingly forgetting that he has practiced for hours and weeks for the above shots. The survivor that carves up a stickbow and some crappy arrows has not. His style of shooting takes skill and practice. "Mine" (which isn't actually developed by me, of course) does as well, just not nearly as much.

 

I am saying that the above video is impressive, if only for his skill and dedication to the art. However, is it practical, or even really possible, for the average survivor? In all honesty, probably not. I have been using and making my own bows and arrows for a while now, and I definitely couldn't do the above things. However, I also don't really want to. Being able to shoot fast like that isn't really possible with my bows, and one shot to the heart/lungs will drop a deer pretty much as quickly as three will, with much less time and effort.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Whyherro123

[cofi0276 16]

Tell me, what do you consider a "strong bow"? Because a 40-50lbs bow isn't all that powerful

 

I am saying that the above video is impressive, if only for his skill and dedication to the art. However, is it practical, or even really possible, for the average survivor? In all honesty, probably not. I have been using and making my own bows and arrows for a while now, and I definitely couldn't do the above things. However, I also don't really want to. Being able to shoot fast like that isn't really possible with my bows, and one shot to the heart/lungs will drop a deer pretty much as quickly as three will, with much less time and effort.

A strong bow is a bow that kills a zombie with a headshot, the bow and arrows he is using look like they would kill a zombie with headshot and he can still shoot them fast. You keep mentioning the 120lb warbow. Why? Would you take a bow like that for close combat zombie killing while being mobile at the same time? Just think about it. With his tactics you can kill 3 zombies, move back, kill 3 more, keep doing it until you kill them all. Then you talk about using longbows in hundred man formations, like wtf? Theres not even 100 players on a server in DayZ let alone playing together.

 

Like i said before every tactic is better for a different situation. His style is better for mobile and fast shooting while leftside/stronger bow is better for long range and stealth. I really dont see a point why you should use the left side style + taking arrows 1 by 1 from the quiver for the wooden piece of shit bow that cant shoot past 10 meters. Or even a stronger bow like he is using in a video, if he can shoot that fast and that precise at 20-30m theres no point in using slower methods.

 

Only situation in dayz where is see the warbow being good at is when shooting at deers or humans at longer range. In close combat his style is superior.

 

 

Also, I think you are seriously underestimating the amount of effort it takes to draw an actual war-bow, as well as what war-bows were actually used for. In real life, archers weren't going for speed and accuracy, they were going for mass. War-archery was essentially the "field artillery" of the time, from ancient Egypt all the way to Medieval England. It involved hundreds of men launching arrows at formations of men, hundreds of yards away, not singular targets a couple of feet. English archers actually got breaks after every three arrows or so, because they would otherwise be too fatigued to continue. 

 

Skirmishes with bows and arrows (essentially, what his skills above, namely fast and accurate shooting, translate to), never really happened after the Neolithic, when warfare got larger and more organized.

I want to see you use an english warbow on a horse. Yeah good luck. You dont seem to understand the point Lars is trying to make. Not every archer was using the same style like they show you in hollywood.

Edited January 31, 2015 by spaceman9000

[Whyherro123 2283]

 

A strong bow is a bow that kills a zombie with a headshot, the bow and arrows he is using look like they would kill a zombie with headshot and he can still shoot them fast. You keep mentioning the 120lb warbow. Why? Would you take a bow like that for close combat zombie killing while being mobile at the same time? Just think about it. With his tactics you can kill 3 zombies, move back, kill 3 more, keep doing it until you kill them all. Then you talk about using longbows in hundred man formations, like wtf? Theres not even 100 players on a server in DayZ let alone playing together.

 

Like i said before every tactic is better for a different situation. His style is better for mobile and fast shooting while leftside/stronger bow is better for long range and stealth. I really dont see a point why you should use the left side style + taking arrows 1 by 1 from the quiver for the wooden piece of shit bow that cant shoot past 10 meters. Or even a stronger bow like he is using in a video, if he can shoot that fast and that precise at 20-30m theres no point in using slower methods.

 

Only situation in dayz where is see the warbow being good at is when shooting at deers or humans at longer range. In close combat his style is superior.

 

 

I want to see you use an english warbow on a horse. Yeah good luck. You dont seem to understand the point Lars is trying to make. Not every archer was using the same style like they show you in hollywood.

 

You are not understanding the point I am trying to make here.

 

1) Arrows are not "instant death".  In the time that you shoot the zombie, it is going to run up to you and beat you to death, pretty much regardless of where you shoot it. The only reason you can get OHK's on infected in-game right now is because the infected are unfinished. Take a look at the shot he makes where he puts arrows into two different foam "heads":  the arrow only penetrates a couple of centimeters into foam.  The bow is not that strong, probably not powerful enough to penetrate a skull with those light arrows. So, you would lightly wound the infected (and most likely, piss it off even more), and get smacked when you turn around to run.

 

2) Why are headshots necessary? They aren't instantly lethal, unlike in movies. They will kill the person, but until they bleed out they are going to be REALLY pissed off and tear you to pieces in an adrenaline-fueled berserk-er fury.

 

3) Why the hell are you using a bow and arrow in close quarters? You are shitting all over the primary advantage a bow gives you: RANGE. Use a knife or literally any other melee weapon. Only an idiot (like in the movies) would use a ranged weapon in CQC. 

 

4) Let me ask you a question: could you do the above trick-shots, all the time with unerring accuracy? Could you nock 3 arrows and loose them all within 0.6 seconds, while having them all strike the target? Chances are, the answer is overwhelmingly no. So, his strategy of shooting really fast is fine and all, and probably pretty effective. However, all of that means jack shit if the average survivor couldn't reproduce them. Using the "hollywood style" of archery lets pretty much every survivor nock and shoot an arrow "effectively".

 

I see no reason to introduce a radically different style of archery when literally 99.9% of the population couldn't reproduce it in the field, nor depend on it for survival. It might be effective for him, but probably not for everyone else that doesn't train specifically for it. You are seemingly not understanding that archery takes A LOT of practice to get adequate, much less good. The guy in the video? Amazing. Is his skill and strategy applicable in any real shape or form to survivors, who just made a shitty bow and shitty arrows using some twigs and a bent stick? No, not really. If it isn't reproducible by a hungry, cold survivor, then it pretty much becomes useless.

 

-AHEM- As for your "English Longbow on a horse" comment, sorry to burst your bubble, but during the Hundreds Year War, English Yeomen were commonly used as mounted raiders, setting the northern part of France ablaze using flaming arrows fired from Longbows. 

Edited January 31, 2015 by Whyherro123

[cofi0276 16]

You are not understanding the point I am trying to make here.

 

1) Arrows are not "instant death".  In the time that you shoot the zombie, it is going to run up to you and beat you to death, pretty much regardless of where you shoot it. The only reason you can get OHK's on infected in-game right now is because the infected are unfinished. Take a look at the shot he makes where he puts arrows into two different foam "heads":  the arrow only penetrates a couple of centimeters into foam.  The bow is not that strong, probably not powerful enough to penetrate a skull with those light arrows. So, you would lightly wound the infected (and most likely, piss it off even more), and get smacked when you turn around to run.

 

Can you show me where devs said that zombies wont be instant death when you shoot them in the head? Are you saying that 40-50 lbs bow isnt enough to pierce a human skull with arrows that are designed to do that? If you look at Lars you can see that hes not a very strong guy, I'm pretty sure if he was a little bit stronger he would be able to use an even more powerfull bow to shoot arrows that fast.

 

3) Why the hell are you using a bow and arrow in close quarters? You are shitting all over the primary advantage a bow gives you: RANGE. Use a knife or literally any other melee weapon. Only an idiot (like in the movies) would use a ranged weapon in CQC. 

 

By close quarters i mean 10-30 meters. An Archer can switch to a knife in less than a second anyway.

 

4) Let me ask you a question: could you do the above trick-shots, all the time with unerring accuracy? Could you nock 3 arrows and loose them all within 0.6 seconds, while having them all strike the target? Chances are, the answer is overwhelmingly no. So, his strategy of shooting really fast is fine and all, and probably pretty effective. However, all of that means jack shit if the average survivor couldn't reproduce them. Using the "hollywood style" of archery lets pretty much every survivor nock and shoot an arrow "effectively". 

 Not in 0.6 but still faster than pulling out arrows out of your quiver 1 by 1.

 

-AHEM- As for your "English Longbow on a horse" comment, sorry to burst your bubble, but during the Hundreds Year War, English Yeomen were commonly used as mounted raiders, setting the northern part of France ablaze using flaming arrows fired from Longbows. 

 

Like i said 2 times already. Every style is better for different situations. I was thinking about using horses while in movement at closer ranges, flanking the enemy and stuff like that. You are not gonna gonna use a bow to set buildings on fire shooting from elektro hill on a horse.

[netzzwerg 9]

In general I think we need to find a midway between utterly realistic archery and a concept that fits the game and is still fun to play. We all know (or at least assume) that making arrows IRL is way more difficult than its currently ingame but I guess most of us agree that DayZ is still a survival game and no hyper-realistic-apocalypse-simulator in which we would need hours to prepare a single arrow. Same goes for hunting and everything else - being too realistic will most times result in a pretty boring and too lengthy experience only a few super hardcore fans could ever enjoy.

 

Apart from that I would like to see the ability to craft flint arrowheads. With the improvised stone knife ingame the flint arrowheads could be produced the exact same way (just add a second option to the 'craft stone knife'-option), maybe with a different chance of success or so but in general exactly the same.

These arrowheads could then be crafted to arrows with a flint head (using a stick and some feathers) which would result in 'stronger' (dealing more damage) and more long-range-kind-of-arrow due to the increased weight.

 

I did archery for roughly one and a half years myself and I really don't think that we need to do it overly scientific/realistic as this would most likely destroy the gameplay experience.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Netzzwerg

[cofi0276 16]

In general I think we need to find a midway between utterly realistic archery and a concept that fits the game and is still fun to play. We all know (or at least assume) that making arrows IRL is way more difficult than its currently ingame but I guess most of us agree that DayZ is still a survival game and no hyper-realistic-apocalypse-simulator in which we would need hours to prepare a single arrow. Same goes for hunting and everything else - being too realistic will most times result in a pretty boring and too lengthy experience only a few super hardcore fans could ever enjoy.

I think it should take a while for you to craft bow and arrows. But i wouldnt make it long on the timers since that makes the game boring, it has to be something that you do in game. Like searching for a specific type of tree or something like that. That probably wouldnt work since trees get reset when you relog. Its like H1Z1 made it too arcady and DayZ made it too broken to be a viable option.

 

Maybe they should make it so the more bows and arrows you craft the better you get at crafting them. That way if someone wanted a good bow he would need to spend some time to get it while other people that don't want to spend too much time on a bow would still be able to craft it but it would be garbage like now.

[netzzwerg 9]

I think it should take a while for you to craft bow and arrows. But i wouldnt make it long on the timers since that makes the game boring, it has to be something that you do in game. Like searching for a specific type of tree or something like that. That probably wouldnt work since trees get reset when you relog. Its like H1Z1 made it too arcady and DayZ made it too broken to be a viable option.

 

I think the Ashwood-only mechanic in DayZ is pretty much ok as it is. Don't know about others of course but it often takes me quite some time to find a Ashwood tree if it decide to give the bow another chance. Seems like there are areas with more and other areas with less Ashwood trees so it's not as casual/easy as creating a splint/fireplace kit.

 

Maybe they should make it so the more bows and arrows you craft the better you get at crafting them. That way if someone wanted a good bow he would need to spend some time to get it while other people that don't want to spend too much time on a bow would still be able to craft it but it would be garbage like now.

 

In general I would probably agree but I don't really think that such a RPG-like system is planned right now by the devs. But I'm not quite sure if that would really fit DayZ. I guess it's more like this: As a player you learn the ingame recipes/mechanics and therefore are faster at doing stuff the more you play the game. This is at least what I experienced myself as it takes me less time now to find an Ashwood tree, to use the proper repair kit (leather sewing kit, sewing kit, ductape) for the proper piece of equipment and so on. Of course the 'top level' is reached pretty soon and the learning part can be skipped easily by watching guides online but for now I'm really not sure if a RPG-like system would fit the game.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Netzzwerg