Zombies do matter after all...

[Baker. 1484]

As a life long "Zombie Buff" I find it reassuring when browsing the latest steam charts. If you don't pay attention to such things I'll have you know that peak players is at an all time low and average players is a couple hundred away from its all time low. I suspect that the numbers for October will be even worse. So why do I find this reassuring? 

 

Because in spite of frames/performance being at an all time high (at least in my opinion), loot being at its most balanced (at least in my opinion), along with all the other nice things that the dev's have thrown in there is one major thing lacking: the zombies. Nobody wants to play without them. I was always in fear of some last minute "switcharo" where they pull them out at the last minute because they cannot get it right and turn it into a glorified wasteland or something. But that will never happen, they are important, they have to be there and they have to be good lest the player base slowly erode. 

 

So in conclusion, its sucks they're gone but now everybody can appreciate how much they miss them. 

Edited October 3, 2015 by B@ker

[Conrad_The_Comrade 577]

Very well said

[Bororm 1156]

I dunno, there was already a population decline before they were removed.  Some people miss them, but I know a good amount (including myself) that don't.

I think it's less zombies and just still a lack of things to do.  Persistence is really the biggest improvement in months, and it's awesome and what DayZ needed, but it's still just stashing a few barrels and loading them with weapons.  Which gets dull after about a week, since that's the extent of it.

 

I think the population is consistently declining more so for that reason.  We get little things here and there, but the patches are now about 2+ months between with not enough content to actually maintain interest.  Removing zombies doesn't help for sure, and as much as I personally don't care about them it will be good for the game to have them back, but this game is going to continue to decline until its release.  On release it'll likely see a resurgence of players who had quit coming back to see what actually happened.

 

 

The unfortunate likely scenario is that in the long run DayZ is probably past its prime.  The SA has made a ton of improvements over the mod, and will continue to do so, but the end result gameplay wise isn't going to be anything drastic over the various versions of the mod.  We'll have base building and more fleshed out mechanics, but it's still going to be the same game just better.  I'd argue the majority of people playing DayZ started with the mod, so for some of us we've been playing the same game for 3+ years now.  That is a long time.

[Very Ape 748]

 dunno, there was already a population decline before they were removed.  Some people miss them, but I know a good amount (including myself) that don't.

I think it's less zombies and just still a lack of things to do.  Persistence is really the biggest improvement in months, and it's awesome and what DayZ needed, but it's still just stashing a few barrels and loading them with weapons.  Which gets dull after about a week, since that's the extent of it.

 

I think the population is consistently declining more so for that reason.  We get little things here and there, but the patches are now about 2+ months between with not enough content to actually maintain interest.  Removing zombies doesn't help for sure, and as much as I personally don't care about them it will be good for the game to have them back, but this game is going to continue to decline until its release.  On release it'll likely see a resurgence of players who had quit coming back to see what actually happened.

 

 

The unfortunate likely scenario is that in the long run DayZ is probably past its prime.  The SA has made a ton of improvements over the mod, and will continue to do so, but the end result gameplay wise isn't going to be anything drastic over the various versions of the mod.  We'll have base building and more fleshed out mechanics, but it's still going to be the same game just better.  I'd argue the majority of people playing DayZ started with the mod, so for some of us we've been playing the same game for 3+ years now.  That is a long time.

 

 

 

How relevant is population in a game that's in early access?

 

People will play the game when it's funner to play, that's all. When a killer patch is released, the word will spread. Gamers won't shun a good game because "it took too long to get there." 

Edited October 3, 2015 by Very Ape

[Baker. 1484]

How relevant is population in a game that's in early access?

 

People will play the game when it's funner to play, that's all. When a killer patch is released, the word will spread. Gamers won't shun a good game because "it took too long to get there." 

not sure what this has to do with my op

[Very Ape 748]

not sure what this has to do with my op

 

Next time I'll use the quote button. ;)

 

edit: There ya go bud. 

Edited October 3, 2015 by Very Ape

[Baker. 1484]

Next time I'll use the quote button. ;)

 

edit: There ya go bud. 

:facepalm:

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

Sadly, we may have to see the infected put in and taken out more times in the future as well.

 

We could seem to have working infected for a while and then boom, something is added to the game and they have to come out for months again....

 

I hope this isn't true but somehow I think it's pretty likely.

[bfisher 561]

How relevant is population in a game that's in early access?

 

People will play the game when it's funner to play, that's all. When a killer patch is released, the word will spread. Gamers won't shun a good game because "it took too long to get there." 

 

It's relevant in that at 3 million sales, even in alpha DayZ is already in the top 30 or so best selling PC games ever.  I doubt it's going to get much more popular, but it has a lot of room to get a whole lot less popular.

 

 

IOW, by the time they finish it, no one will care.

[MadWookie 573]

If they remove zombies for good, oh well. DayZ Mod still works just fine if you can find a good server to play on. Besides, DayZ SA will never be as good as the mod, sure it might look fancy, and have better mechanics in some aspects, but you'll never get the same feeling you get from the mod, falling from 2 feet and dying, getting mauled through walls, para-shooting cows, the list goes on. LONG LIVE DAYZ MOD.

[Bororm 1156]

How relevant is population in a game that's in early access?

 

People will play the game when it's funner to play, that's all. When a killer patch is released, the word will spread. Gamers won't shun a good game because "it took too long to get there." 

 

It's not about taking too long to get there, it's about getting bored of it by the time it's done.  We're here for each iteration, and have ample time to get bored of each bit of content as it's added.  Some folk are going to get bored enough to quit until the game is finished, and some are disciplined enough to wait until that time to even buy it.  The ones who quit till its finished are going to return to find gameplay not drastically different, so they'll be entertained for a relatively short period and then quit again.  The ones who waited will probably be most entertained.  The rest of us will have been playing the game for literal years.

 

So it's not so much that it took too long to get there, it's that people were there for the journey and when they've reached the destination are they really going to care any more?  Especially when that destination isn't any different than the weeks leading up to it, which as early access participants is the scenario.  It's not shunning it, it's getting bored of it.

 

People still play 15 year old games, so there will always be some people, but yes I think DayZ is likely past its prime at this point.  I think that happened with the launch of Alpha honestly, when people were really excited coming off the mod, which was already 2 years old at that point if I'm not mistaken.

[igor-vk 909]

Good points from Baker and Borom. I stopped playing when zombies were removed. I also played experimental a lot, because there were updates every week. Dayz just sucks without zombies. It's just too easy.

I played Arma 3 mod with zombies last night and it was like good old days in dayz mod. Even though zombies were terribly overpowered and we were dieing every 15 minutes.

On other hand, dayz is available for more than three years and we are getting a bit bored. Until devs give us something big, like 5 or six new vehicles and base building player numbers will fall. And there are other games and mods out there that learned on dayz mistakes and gave players what they want.

[twr 43]

I'm waiting for the .59 to experience the new vehicles... thats about it.

 

i could care less about the zombies, player interaction and pvp is aways where the money is.

[Cr4cksh0t 6]

tbh. i was like ooo .58 lets see whats working and whats borked. ok cool no zombies. haven't logged on since. i think that goes for a lot of players too

[tacticj 15]

True i get bored so quickly without zeds being there. Heck i would even trade the server performance for them.

[DemonGroover 8836]

I jumped into the mod because it was a zombie apocalypse survival game.

 

If it was a different game that didn't have zombies, but just based on PvP and survival, i wouldn't be here.

 

So, yes, i too cannot wait until they return.

[bfisher 561]

If they remove zombies for good, oh well. DayZ Mod still works just fine if you can find a good server to play on. Besides, DayZ SA will never be as good as the mod, sure it might look fancy, and have better mechanics in some aspects, but you'll never get the same feeling you get from the mod, falling from 2 feet and dying, getting mauled through walls, para-shooting cows, the list goes on. LONG LIVE DAYZ MOD.

 

I watched some old YouTube videos and I forgot how much fun the zombies were in the Mod.  Especially when you accidently called down hundreds of them with an Enfield.

[q.S Sachiel 470]

I dunno, there was already a population decline before they were removed.  Some people miss them, but I know a good amount (including myself) that don't.

I think it's less zombies and just still a lack of things to do.  Persistence is really the biggest improvement in months, and it's awesome and what DayZ needed, but it's still just stashing a few barrels and loading them with weapons.  Which gets dull after about a week, since that's the extent of it.

 

I think the population is consistently declining more so for that reason.  We get little things here and there, but the patches are now about 2+ months between with not enough content to actually maintain interest.  Removing zombies doesn't help for sure, and as much as I personally don't care about them it will be good for the game to have them back, but this game is going to continue to decline until its release.  On release it'll likely see a resurgence of players who had quit coming back to see what actually happened.

 

 

The unfortunate likely scenario is that in the long run DayZ is probably past its prime.  The SA has made a ton of improvements over the mod, and will continue to do so, but the end result gameplay wise isn't going to be anything drastic over the various versions of the mod.  We'll have base building and more fleshed out mechanics, but it's still going to be the same game just better.  I'd argue the majority of people playing DayZ started with the mod, so for some of us we've been playing the same game for 3+ years now.  That is a long time.

 

I can appreciate the comment, and it holds true for certain games, but I still think that games like DayZ are to be judged on their player base (and yes, if people perceive it as past prime then they may not play, hence the cycle begins).  But games like BF Bad Company 2 were leagues ahead of BF3/4 and any of the expansions (did bc2 even have expansions???) yet people moved on to the new glitz and glam, suckered in by Machiavellian marketeers and the weight of their parents pockets...

 

If there are several servers to chose from, and at least one I can always join with 30+ people i could care less if DayZ becomes a niche game past it's prime.  And i'm sure BI doesn't mind too much having already banked 60odd million.

 

But yeah, i really hope DayZ community grows, and perhaps vanilla +/- mods will allow it to flourish.

 

Also:

I know we DayZ crowd are a proud and patriotic bunch (and we won't mention those other bunch of games named as if they were viruses and such), but I still think there is a vaccum of competition in the genre (zombies or without).  If there's no competition and a market for it, well that should give us a few years at least of play before someone else can snap up a sizeable share of the playerbase.

Edited October 3, 2015 by q.S Sachiel

[BrainlessZombie 190]

I totally agree, no zombies, no game.

[xalienax 621]

As a life long "Zombie Buff" I find it reassuring when browsing the latest steam charts. If you don't pay attention to such things I'll have you know that peak players is at an all time low and average players is a couple hundred away from its all time low. I suspect that the numbers for October will be even worse. So why do I find this reassuring? 

 

Because in spite of frames/performance being at an all time high (at least in my opinion), loot being at its most balanced (at least in my opinion), along with all the other nice things that the dev's have thrown in there is one major thing lacking: the zombies. Nobody wants to play without them. I was always in fear of some last minute "switcharo" where they pull them out at the last minute because they cannot get it right and turn it into a glorified wasteland or something. But that will never happen, they are important, they have to be there and they have to be good lest the player base slowly erode. 

 

So in conclusion, its sucks they're gone but now everybody can appreciate how much they miss them. 

Have to agree they're important, Much like a psychotic Ex however, I Would not take them back in their former iteration under any circumstances.

[odin_lowe 3686]

If they remove zombies for good, oh well. DayZ Mod still works just fine if you can find a good server to play on. Besides, DayZ SA will never be as good as the mod, sure it might look fancy, and have better mechanics in some aspects, but you'll never get the same feeling you get from the mod, falling from 2 feet and dying, getting mauled through walls, para-shooting cows, the list goes on. LONG LIVE DAYZ MOD.

They won't remove the infected buddy, they are working pretty hard to make them much more dynamic than ever before.

 

That being said, your taste in the mod is very personal. It's in no way better than the Stand Alone. I started with the mod when it came out. We rented a server and built a small community. I really enjoyed it and played for about 1100-1300 hrs. I went back to a vanilla mod (can't stand those "epoch"/base building things, I hate that with a passion...) server a few weeks ago, and although it's still fun, there's a lot of nostalgia factor that comes along, adding to the experience of revisiting the mod again.

 

The current state of the stand alone remind me a lot of the post apocalyptic world shown in the movie "The Road", and it's basically the only game that I ever seen a post apocalypse without zombies, aliens, robots, dinosaurs or mutants, that feel as immersive as DayZ.

 

Of course, all of this is based on personal feelings and opinions, as in the end, it's just a video game, a means of entertainment, and the experience is different for everyone. 

 

Although I miss the infected and really look forward to them coming back, I'm enjoying every step of the journey we're taking following the development of DayZ.

 

Yes, I agree, zombies do matter.

[Killawife 599]

The best patch ever zombiewise was 0.55. The so called famine patch. The zombies were really challenging. As a newspawn with no weapon you would run for your life if a zombie attacked you. And if you were geared you would shoot them. Not because you liked to but because you HAD to, Sure, there were lots of issues with them but this was the best thing they had done with zeds so far.

 

Memories light the corners of my mind. Misty water-colored memories of the way we were. Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind..........

 

Edited October 3, 2015 by Killawife

[Noctoras 409]

The best patch ever zombiewise was 0.56. The so called famine patch.

 

Either you are a developer, or you're mixing something up. 0.56 has been skipped, I reckon you mean 0.55, where loot was few and far between (also my fav patch) and the zombies didn't sound like a sawmill running after you, but were all stealthy.

[Steak and Potatoes 13480]

Well stated, you don't know what you got till its gone.

[pilgrim* 3513]

While zombies are being sorted out:

I wonder is it's possible to plug in some temporary placeholder zombies, just for a while? I mean like the zombies from the Mod (crazy, hardly no tracking, and loads of them all over the place) ?.

If those came back as temporary placeholders, it wouldn't matter how ugly and bad they were, would it? They could provide action anytime the real thing was in for overhaul.

 

- seems to me those old zombs were cheap on processing power. So let a few loose when you need to work on any parts of the game involving the real zombs.

they might have been crap and gaffer-taped onto the game, but they gave out plenty of gameplay

 

xx