What is your honest opinion on the future of DayZ

[psykotech 21]

~2 million copies were sold in the first 6 months since EA release.

~1 million copies were sold in the following 6 months.

~250,000 copies in the following12 months.

 

It seems that most people who are interested in the game have bought it already. There may be a few stragglers who were waiting for beta or final release, but that's not going to be millions of additional sales. Based on the swing towards negative reviews on steam it may not even be in the hundreds of thousands unless they heavily discount the game post release. Are they still claiming they're going to raise prices as we get closer to release?

 

Based on those numbers I don't think it would much sense for BI to throw any more money than they absolutely have to at this. All they need to do for the foreseeable future is keep on a skeleton crew pushing small updates here and there, which fits in with the trend of updates over the past year or so.

[Merc. 37]

There is a lot of concern in this topic regarding the direction DayZ seems to be going and I can understand where it's coming from. While bigger elements of the game are still in development it can look like we're just throwing new gear and weapons at players and not much else in an attempt at hurling DayZ towards becoming another PvP title. However, the vision of having a finished product where you have to work hard in order to survive ingame is very much still there. Obviously, that is not the current state of DayZ, but that does not mean that we do not have that goal in sight - The infected will be back in larger numbers, and with better AI, when performance allows for it. Spawn rates for food for example can and will be tweaked (most likely many times over), but I could imagine that it will happen after, say hunting for example, becomes a more viable source for survival.

 

My comments on previous posts by users:

 

I am blown away, and I mean BLOWN AWAY, by how many truly dedicated players keep missing these points. How can everyone keep forgetting, constantly, that this is alpha. This dead horse unfortunately has to be beaten again and again..... To less eloquently put it:

 

They are putting all the features, items and stuff that they can in game now, and then they'll fix said stuff later. But along the way, they'll break stuff, sometimes even remove stuff, so they can figure it out on their end. In addition, they are working on making all this stuff nicer to look at and run better on your low end/medium end/high end PC. 

 

 

As for my opinion of the future of DayZ:

 

It's, Positive*

 

As long as they continue to listen to the community, which I don't doubt for a moment, they'll have my support. However, I do have concerns about how all of these different systems will work together in the end, and what limitations they will have to implement in order to sustain performance.

 

For example, wildlife. I have been trying to hunt exclusively and it is hard, hard, to find these herds when you are actually trying to find them. I'm confident though they will increase the available ai animals running around come release.

 

2nd concern, is the player interaction. I think that reducing the amount of public shard servers will increase the chance of player interaction, and decrease the amount of server hopping. Also, almost everyone and anyone uses some sort of third party VoIP software, be it vent team speak, or steam for that matter. I think that really takes away from player interaction in game (using walkie takies, radios), but I don't see how the devs could stop or discourage that.

 

3rd, I doubt base building is going to turn out the way anyone wants it. By simply logging in at a different time then the base owners, you now have all the items in that base. However, I'm still very interested to see how it all pans out at the end of the day. 

 

 

[darkrider400 76]

DayZ has a future?

[Espa 711]

 -Snip-

 

I think people are widely concerned about the TIME it's taken to get to these points and what has been given every patch (Clothing, Weaponry) rather than the core features the majority of us agree would benefit the game greatly, such as zombie population and AI - and a lot more.

 

I have renewed hope in these things, but what is important is that these things be communicated to the masses - and vice versa. The fact that posts like these exist and the long time members post their own dissatisfaction should mean something. It also means something to have a Developer actually respond in kind to these posts.

 

Essentially, as long as we are listening to each other and responding with tangible evidence, as well as assurance, things can progress. I want to believe that BIG changes are soon incoming, but it'd be foolish to not question from time to time.

[PongoZ 127]

 

Based on those numbers I don't think it would much sense for BI to throw any more money than they absolutely have to at this. All they need to do for the foreseeable future is keep on a skeleton crew pushing small updates here and there, which fits in with the trend of updates over the past year or so.

This is likely the truth of it.

There is no way a fully funded project would take this long.  The problem with paying for something before it is delivered. The designer jumped ship rich how long ago? and how many silly excuses have been woven around that? 

lol

[Merc. 37]

I think people are widely concerned about the TIME it's taken to get to these points and what has been given every patch (Clothing, Weaponry) rather than the core features the majority of us agree would benefit the game greatly, such as zombie population and AI - and a lot more.

 

I have renewed hope in these things, but what is important is that these things be communicated to the masses - and vice versa. The fact that posts like these exist and the long time members post their own dissatisfaction should mean something. It also means something to have a Developer actually respond in kind to these posts.

 

Essentially, as long as we are listening to each other and responding with tangible evidence, as well as assurance, things can progress. I want to believe that BIG changes are soon incoming, but it'd be foolish to not question from time to time.

 

I can see where everyone is coming from on those. I agree that responses from Devs are of high value. I think they have made their intentions and progress  more and more clear with the last 4-5 status reports. Bullet points, Progess notes, and communication in general is vital. The last few status reports have stated how they are doing on features, and if there is nothing to report, why report? For example, I don't think we have heard too much about zombies (going off memory), so that must mean the last thing that was mentioned about it still stands or is still being worked on.

 

I think people are widely concerned about the TIME it's taken to get to these points and what has been given every patch (Clothing, Weaponry) rather than the core features the majority of us agree would benefit the game greatly, such as zombie population and AI - and a lot more.

 

 

I mean if it's taking time, it must be difficult. They have stressed multiple times that different teams work on different features or aspects of the game, ya know (You don't have your guy that models the taser gun to work on coding zombie AI)? 

 

Improving Zombie count and their AI is obviously what we all want, but that core aspect takes a lot of time. They are in the game, but improving them is apparently a large challenge.

 

One last thing about that line, and I am not trying to be a dick or anything of course, is that you said increasing zombie population and AI, and a lot more, would benefit the game greatly. But I don't think that's the point right now. I don't recommend looking at it like it's a game we are supposed to enjoy to the fullest, but just an alpha of a game we need to test and be patient with. The core features that are in, I'm sure will be optimized down the road.

 

My 4 cents though.

Edited January 20, 2016 by yocheco619

[Espa 711]

-Snip-

 

I agree and can understand your viewpoint on these matters - But there's something you neglect. Our Experimental servers ought to be the ones testing the performance of MORE Zombies, even if they're not better in any fashion. I, so far, haven't seen this kind of change to test the lag or how it would change the quality of life in the game. I have great hope that they certainly can work, even to the detriment to our FPS.

 

I suppose that is why the new Renderer is coming out in this next patch. . But I'd truly love to see at least twice to quadruple the amount of CURRENT zombies just to see how different the game becomes.

 

One zombie running at you is no issue. - But Four, coming from every cardinal direction, is a lot more likely to make people panic.

[General Zod 1114]

The year is 2027 it's a time of great innovation and DayZ beta testing. 

[Whyherro123 2283]

The year is 2027 it's a time of great innovation and DayZ beta testing. 

That earned a chuckle out of me.