Slightly frustrated new player

[sloppzz 3]

Hi there,

First off id like to congratulate the makers for the concept which they have created.

Now im sure i will get flamed by the fan boys, but i dont care because ive been trying to play this game now for a couple of weeks, and its frustrated me to the point where i've wanted to launch my pc out of the window.

I appreciate that the game is 'Alpha Test' however there are a few things that bug me immensly.

First off is the 'waiting for character to create' message that sits on my screen for all eternity when i try and join a server. Im not the only one who gets it, as i was trying to join a game with 2 of my mates last night and we all had exactly the same error message. I thought it was isolated to the fact there were some DDOS issues last night reading the forum, however today im experiencing the same problem today. It makes for a very disappointing experience as you just get fed up with it!

Secondly. Im sure this has been covered before, but whos bright idea was it to spawn a character with no means of defence against a zombie? Now i know that zombies are scary creatures, but id like to think that if one was to come running at me and im stuck in a corner, that i could potentially smack them in the fact to buy me enough time to run away. Instead im left with the ever so boring task of running... while they chase me for km after km... or just take it and die. Im not asking for you to garnish me with an arsenal of weapons, but just someone that i can use to say stun the zombie for long enough for me to get a bit of headway from them and perhaps lose them. Zombies seem to spawn pretty much on the spot you stand anyway, so running about with a flashlight, and a bandage is fun... but only lasts so long.

It just frustrates me at the amount of time i have to spend running around. Even if i hit a town and crawl about on the floor zombies seem to just run out from nowhere and manage to find me. I want to be able to explore the towns a little, however with any means of defence it is damn near impossible to do so without having to run back out of town with half a dozen zombies chasing after me!

I applaud the efforts of the game so far, but please please please do something about self defence, before i give up and go back to playing diablo!

[Jimmy McNulty 98]

Ignore zeds, loot every building you see..especially barns, bloody hatchets are everywhere...just run, stealth doesnt work anymore...and zeds usually stop following you in buildings.

[zecele 211]

I dont think you understand the game you know you can easily lose zombies in buildings if you cant manage to do that then you have no hope at this game.

[Cappy (DayZ) 6]

Maby this game just isn't for you. I mean this in the kindest possible sense. Personally i love this game, and everything about it (well apart from the forums), and many other do too. If you don't i can't cast any negative or positive judgments on you, but it seems you just don't like what the game is, and that's fine.

But i recommend giving it a good try, experience with the mechanics of the game make survival a lot easier.

[Yiddus 0]

You're new. It's okay to be frustrated... but as you'll learn, it's actually quite easy.

You CAN try and be stealthy, but you can also run in, go to a building and lose the Zeds... Zeds walk slower inside buildings, you can also lose them running up steep hills (Run diagonally, not straight up, otherwise you'll walk slowly too)... Hatchets (Axes) are very common and are insanely good for killing Zeds.

There are a few servers which are badly hosted or are suffering from crashes/bugs... Just spend some time switching servers until you find a nice one which is lag free and doesn't harbour any of those things which annoy you. Add that server to your favourites.

[andrius 2]

Its extremely easy to lose zeds, just run into any kind of forest, hell you dont even need a forest, just fall anywhere on the ground and crawl backwards away from the zeds and they will not see you. You can crawl 5 meters away from a zeds and if you have 0 visibility (the eye icon thing) they wont see you.

[Bottlerocket 205]

Hey OP - don't get frustrated. Just to let you know, you used to spawn with a gun, but it was taken out and the majority of people like it this way.

DayZ Isn't a game - it's and 'anti-game', in the words of its creator, the sainted Rocket.

It's supposed to be tough to survive. Very tough. Hence, no weapons on start. Expect to die a lot. Everyone does.

But that doesn't mean it's hard to get a weapon. Hatchets, which spawn in barns and toolsheds, are easy to come by and once you've got one you can at least defend yourself.

See that trash on the ground? Bottles and cans? You can throw that to distract zombies (pick it up and press F to cycle to 'throw'). It takes practice, and you'll still have to stealth - but remember. DayZ is tough. Tough. Keep repeating that.

The best advice you can get is to head north straight away and look out for barns and the like. Hatchets and shotguns in there, usually.

Once you're armed, try a bigger settlement. But take your time. Scope out the place to see what buildings are lootable. Watch for other players or odd zombie behaviour. Always have your line of retreat mapped out.

But don't forget - DayZ is tough. Tough.

[Hillbilly (DayZ) 8]

I will heavily advise you to try not to take the advice to head into every barn to quickly. Barns can easily spawn zombies and it is so congested that you will almost always alert them.

The op makes a point about defense. You should have some means of defending yourself. The op isn't saying give him a MK48 at the start. He simply wants a way to stun a zombie and get away. That won't somehow become broken or force people to player kill more at the coast. It will just help keep a zombie of someone's back. Hell even flashlights could be used as a weapon.

[Yeni 53]

Heres a good way to get military grade loot at the start. Cherno military tents/Balota airfield. End of story.

[miragexl 33]

Adapt or die.

With weapons or not; If you don't know zombie traits your going to die.

Run straight to cherno enter every building (Sprinting) pick up what you can and head north.

Simple.

[sloppzz 3]

I will heavily advise you to try not to take the advice to head into every barn to quickly. Barns can easily spawn zombies and it is so congested that you will almost always alert them.

The op makes a point about defense. You should have some means of defending yourself. The op isn't saying give him a MK48 at the start. He simply wants a way to stun a zombie and get away. That won't somehow become broken or force people to player kill more at the coast. It will just help keep a zombie of someone's back. Hell even flashlights could be used as a weapon.

Thats precisely what im getting at. As you say im not asking for a gun, or an arsenal of weapons... merely a way to defend. In reality if you were cornered, what would you do... thats what im trying to get at. Im not going to sit there and take it... more that id try and fight my way out of a situation. Not being able to melee punch etc is annoying.

I've also tried the things that people have said, run into buildings, forrests etc... and its not true that they will always give up. Ive countless times ran into a building, only for the game to glitch and magically the zombie is back on my tail within seconds. I found the best way was to find a hill which was steep and zig zag up it... however when you're in the middle of a town its a bit hard!

My main frustration is not being able to connect to the game... i thought id have a blast this afternoon but alas 2 hours gone and all i get is 'waiting for character to create' that is what really needs sorting out.

[Rinner23 5]

OP, you may want to checkout this post:

http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2568

I feel your frustrations, but please stick at it. Ignore the trollers you will adapt, much quicker so if you can find a good group of players to team up with.

Have fun, don't get too frustrated... Only last night I was sneaking into Stary in the dead of night with a great deal of excellent equipment, I had been alive for 48 hours.. and suddenly, BAM! No warning, just sniped instantly .. death.

Starting over is fun though! Don't get attached to your equipment! Enjoy the craziness of the early game!

[Patient Zero 2]

Pay no attention to the "this game isn't for you" posts. If you check their post historys it's pretty much all they do is troll new players saying the same thing.

That said you gotta grit your teeth. If you die then you learnt something. Try not to die that way again. Each person works their own way of dealing the game. Some players lone wolf it. Others team up. But one thing we all have in common is we all woke up on a beach with a steaming hangover and defenceless.

Give it some time and you will be rewarded with a pretty amazing game. If you are short on patience or are prone to rage then your gonna have a bad time.

Relax, avoid large cities unless you just started out and have nothing to loose. Big cites can be great at stocking up fast, but once you got your supplies head out away from the coast.

Recon towns before you enter. Watch the movements of the zombies for a couple of minutes. This also gives time for any players to reveal themselves.

Long story short your gonna need patience. Most games are made not to hard for the mass market. This game / mod was made with a mature gamer in mind. That has nothing to do with age by the way but attitude. It takes some people by surprise as it's not what they are used to or expecting.

Best of luck... Now get out there and don't let the feckers drive ya down. Only you can cause yourself to fail at this game, because you get infinite re'spawns. You just need the grit to keep using them.

[Virfortis 111]

The zombies are the least of your worries. As soon as you get past them, there's the PvP-holics looking to shoot you for lulz. The whole "is he friendly?" question is answered pretty quickly. Expect to be very lonely without a clan.

Look at a map, stick to smaller cities or the very shoreline outskirts of bigger ones (less chance of getting sniped) and just poke your head into places. Move slowly, stay prone, and above all else do not play at night until you get NVGs.

[maizel 1]

Avoiding zombies is an acquired skill.

Its also my understanding that zombie detection is not working as it's supposed to right now, but sooner or later you will figure out how close you can be to zombies without them hearing or seering you.

[Bottlerocket 205]

My main frustration is not being able to connect to the game... i thought id have a blast this afternoon but alas 2 hours gone and all i get is 'waiting for character to create' that is what really needs sorting out.

Ah! OP - You joined at precisely the wrong time. There's CURRENTLY (it may even be over) an issue with the main server which is having knock-on effects for all the others.

This is not the norm - for the last 3 weeks or so you could get into a game in 2-3 mins tops.

[2ugly 12]

I've run into a more serious problem that has now caused me to quit until it is fixed. The glitch deaths. Tired of finally getting to a point in the game only to die from some stupid glitch.