A few suggestions (1.8.5)

[jeef 0]

Hello there,

 

Been playing DayZ/Zero for the past 3 or 4 years with over 5k hours in total, among other mods.

I have a few suggestions that could improve gameplay, and I'd like to share some of them and see the feedback.

 

 

1) Fog

Fog is not the first in the list because I think it's the most serious or annoying, but simply the first one that came to mind.

I don't mind a fog + rain that is so intense you can see only 10m in front of you. In fact I think it rather adds a lot of immersion and tension, adds to the gameplay.

However, the feeling lately is that 9 times out of 10 you log in, the fog is restricting your view to 300m or less.

Me and my team had the habit of always carrying a sniper as a secondary weapon, however this fog issue is so frequent that we've been leaving the snipers at the stash.

 

Suggestion: Make the fog as intense as you want, but set the frequency similar to real life. I'd say around 15-20% of the time is a good start, and we tune more from there.

 

 

 

 

2) M14/DMR

The M14 variants are semi-automatic weapons, and the rate of fire (in real life) is between 700 and 750 rounds a minute.

In game, the rate of fire is very similar, with the weapon being able to empty the 20-round magazine in a little under 2 seconds.

However... in game, the recoil is almost non-existent. I've just recorded this to illustrate:

 

 

This renders the M14:

More common than the MK48

More precise than the MK48

A LOT less recoil than the MK48

Much easier to find ammo

 

If you consider the fact the M14 uses a 7.62×51mm NATO, currently the most powerful cartridge in the game, this makes the weapon overpowered in terms of gameplay ballance.

There's really no reason to ever use another weapon: you can spray it for close, medium and long range targets with the same effectiveness.

 

No wonder 8 out of every 10 players we come across is carrying an M14/DMR.

 

 

Suggestion: increase the recoil of the M14/DMR so it's no longer possible to precisely spray 20 rounds in 2 seconds over any distance. Currently, I hardly ever see players going for precise shots, nobody practicing to increase their accuracy, since they can spray-to-win. Cheap strategy being used by most.

 

 

 

 

 

3) Ammo relog

Sort of linked to the issue above. If players have an infinite amount of ammo, they spray-to-win instead of trying to be accurate.

I assume that in a post-apocalyptic scenario, ammo is hard to come by, the game should reflect that.

 

I really like what VJ has done by adding 5 min ghosting to prevent (or at least annoy) players practicing this shameful behavior. I'd, however, make ghosting longer, maybe 15 mins.

 

I'd love to hear from a developer if this can be fixed, as it's the most abused and game-ruining bug/glitch at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

4) Bases

It's fairly new, I haven't used it myself, nor am I interested in, but I do like and approve new content.

However, making bases indestructible (or close to) can affect the mod negatively.

I hope I'm wrong, but I do worry about it quite a bit. 

I hope not to see most people building their bases and hoarding all vehicles inside, using them only every now and then to go collect supplies.

 

This is not epoch.

 

Nothing more exciting to hear a car coming on the road, or a helicopter dropping some troops to get action in around your area.

But lately it seems like people are more interested in protecting their "property", not allowing others to use the vehicles instead of using it themselves.

 

For the mod not to die, we need action. We need people running around, vehicles driving, helicopters flying, things exploding.

I've noticed a great decrease of action up north after the latest patches added the option to build bases.

 

Again, I hope I'm wrong, I hope I see some change soon, respect to those who wish to spend their time building, just please don't camp in there all day.

 

(Example from a conversation with a server admin: I thought maybe the hitpoints were too high, when me and a friend used a satchel charge on Vybor base, only 2 walls were destroyed from that huge explosion, and when we got in, we tossed a grenade at a ladder, nothing happened. Then we proceeded to empty several magazines of ammo on it, nothing. And to finish it off, we hacked at it with hatchets for good 5 minutes, both of us simultaneously, and nothing happened. We thought either it's indestructible or just waaaay too high hitpoints, in which case nobody would bother trying to destroy, which is what I tried to say.)

 

 

Suggestion: Make walls/gates easier to be destroyed, and damage to be carried post-restart. If there's no reason to upkeep your fortress, then what's the point?

 

 

 

 

 

5) Temperature system

At the moment, it's sketchy.

When it was first introduced, everybody was shivering their bones and stuck around fireplaces or inside houses.

If the players are not able to worry about anything else other than their temperature and afraid of getting infected, then there's no action.

Everybody inside, away, empty fields. Nobody running around NWAF afraid of catching a cold  :mrgreen: 

 

Seems like the temperature system is a bit better after the latest patches, but it's still inconsistent and weird at times.

You can run like a madman for 30 mins straight and still have your temperature dropping like crazy, only to lay prone in the grass 10 minutes later and have your temp rise again. What?

 

Would be nice to have some explanation about the temperature system and how it really works, so we have a clue about how to manage it.

Does it increase with the weight you're carrying? I'm assuming if you're running for 20 mins with 20kg of equipment in your back, you'd be overheating regardless of how cold it is.

 

 

That's it for now, but I can add more if you guys have any other issue/suggestion.

Please discuss like gentlemen, let's not start throwing wrenches, everybody is entitled to an opinion.

 

Thank you!

Edited May 17, 2015 by jeef

[r4z0r49 4761]

lol just answered this on the other forum :-)

 

1, [updated] - Lowered fog intensity.
2, Report on github so we can see what we can do
3, Cant be fixed without some hackery.
4, Bases can be destroyed. Maintenance is a separate system owners will have to deal with its more of a decay system rather then something linked to damage.
5, Temperature is something you have to work with during the day the sun is a massive heat source during the night time its much colder the players will have to learn to do something about it

 

Thanks

[jeef 0]

Ok, fog can be useful when you have to cross open areas because of the concealment you get from snipers. 

 

But I noticed that the weather is foggy most of the time. It ranges from light fog to heavy fog but it seems to me that we're in that mist constantly.

I suppose the weather is set to random and I may have been unlucky with weather these last few weeks, but maybe you can tweak it a little bit to have less chance of fog? 

Or maybe give us now and again some badass maximum fog with no visibility, but that constant average grey landscape is getting to me ^^

 

In other words, seems like the fog randoms from heavy fog to light fog, what I'd like to see is random heavy fog to NO fog. Make zero fog a possibility.

 

Miss that 1.6km visibility. So many snipers are stashed away getting dust and spiderwebs since the fog won't really let us use'em.

 

This is an old suggestion: http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/2803-remove-the-pseudo-dynamic-weather-script/

 

It's getting to me so much that I hate the "quick reply" box here in the forum, it's GREY!

[AmberHelios 2071]

merged with the last suggestion you had... of the same suggestion.