Vital Things Missing from the DayZ Apocalypse

[Electrolyte 4]

Vital Things Missing from the DayZ Apocalypse as of 1.7.1.5

Gut Animal function for dead survivors - could have unique dialog like "Gut Ex-Survivor" in case the spiritual want to feel special during an apocalypse. Without this option shooting humans is a huge waste of ammo, but then the mod currently supplies far too much weaponry so it's not so much of a waste yet (see next missing thing).

Heavily protected ammo spawns for upper tier weapons including sniper rifles, as in surrounded by massive hordes of infected. These spawns should 100% require ammo expenditure in order to gain, your skill and luck determines if you come out ahead (or dead) and not your ability to run endlessly to the northern rim.

Centralized locations that everyone can access where the best weapons and ammo spawn, not in the furthest northern corners of the map where you physically cannot go as a new spawn without making an hour trek on foot. Scarier is the fellow with nothing but a hatchet and some real needs than some kid snuggling his sniper rifle in a bush sitting on a stockpile of gear (does anyone really want it to be this way other than those kids?).

Server-hopper warning system. When someone spawns in, have them announced with a flatulent explosion or some other noise that aggro's infected on the level of the Enfield. "Hi I'm server hopping to take your loot that you just scouted for 10 minutes! Wait the whole town isn't supposed to be chasing me, this is supposed to be free loot and murders 24/7!"

Chaos for all and not just the people playing DayZ as a survival sim. This idea of clans and camps and tent cities and people building bases and circle-jerking off the map is the stuff of WoW and other facebook/social apps and elderly-friendly games. The people who hoarded a bunch of gear and stashed it in the middle of nowhere should be no safer than the fellow with the hatchet running through Cherno. This means:

roaming infected hordes in perma-sprint mode

hordes that can detect far off camps

infected capable of ravaging camps and destroying supplies

infected that can quickly dismantle vehicles and their owners moving or not

random wall-hacking infected, they were way scarier than the current breed

infected that focus targets instead of easily splitting aggro

infected that "call for help" across towns and not just screaming at the nearby ones

random infected that never lose aggro

infected that devour livestock

infected that randomly come back to life

random infected that won't die no matter what you do to them

fire - lots and lots of fire

plagues

rancid food

contaminated lakes

chemical leaks from retired machinery

bears, hungry bears with thick hide (what does an eastern euro fear more?)

rabid dogs and dog packs that are much smarter and faster than infected

vehicles that randomly break down without reason

rain storms that last for days that cause pneumonia

heat waves that accelerate dehydration

illness that causes dehydration

disease that causes blindness or loss of eyesight requiring corrective glasses

exhaustion that requires unburdening of gear in order to maintain movement speed

broken arms that have an effect

hallucinations that cause survivors to look like infected, and vice-versa

and more....

And finally, DayZ needs someone who can decide if the mod is about surviving during a zombie apocalypse or rebuilding after the apocalypse. If it is supposed to be occurring during the apocalypse, then all masturbatory behaviors should be punished severely and any notion of an evolving meta-game should be eradicated immediately (it should play like the first two hours of Fallout 3, the part where you happily welcome any roach meat you get your grubby hands on). If it is about surviving after the apocalypse, a lot more social functions are going to be needed before DayZ ever represents that scenario and that's not what this post is about (aka the post-first-two-hours of Fallout 3 where you shift loot around in your pack and chitchat all day). Please disregard everything above if this is about rebuilding after an apocalypse, and please re-label the mod as such so I don't have to write any more posts.

TLDR: Please make DayZ about surviving during an apocalypse, or re-brand it as something like "The Sims: Zombie Edition" with cool emotes like the Macarena and floating hearts over the heads of survivors when they would like to express their friendliness to others.

[Superior 9]

More furious and fearsome zombies. Zombies that actually put up a challenge, requiring you to man the fuck up and find other survivors.

I think you'd be crying in happiness if you'd find yourself a comrade during all of this madness in real-life, not pluck them out one-by-one. More relying on PvM (zeds), not so much PvP (by no means restrict PvP, just not so much highlight on it)

Make killing zombies and raiding hard-to-get to places rewarding.

[Wired 1]

ITT: This game won't be perfect unless you spawn with broken limbs, 1 blood, and at the feet of a zombie.

[Electrolyte 4]

ITT: This game won't be perfect unless you spawn with broken limbs' date=' 1 blood, and at the feet of a zombie.

[/quote']

Right exactly. The priorities for anyone playing DayZ the survival sim should be:

1) Try to survive

2) Try to survive

3) Try to survive

4) Try to survive

Priorities for DayZ the post-apocalypse second life:

1) Find transportation

2) Go to camp and shift loot around

3) Go kill survivors for more loot or just for fun

4) Upon dying, complain when bugs prevent 1-3 from going smoothly 100% of the time

The second set of priorities apply to 1.7.1.5.

[zeos 3]

what about zombie bunnies impervious to all attacks except for the holy hand grenade.

[Electrolyte 4]

what about zombie bunnies impervious to all attacks except for the holy hand grenade.

Absolutely. They already elicit paranoia, why not pure terror? Shield thy jugular!

[walrus2517 27]

I don't necessarily agree with all the OP's suggestions but I do agree the mod needs to be balanced against the uber clans and their loot camps. My current gut feeling is that clan and cooperative play is being promoted at the expense of the lone wolf experience, especially with Rocket discussing clans building their own bases in the future. We're already seeing excessive use of barbed wire to block all the high value loot spawns.

I will disagree with your idea that the only priority is "Try to survive". Technically one can do that just by finding matches, a knife, and a hatchet, then heading to the woods to live off animals. There was a post earlier with some jackass claiming he has "mastered the game" because he did just that. :)

[Wired 1]

ITT: This game won't be perfect unless you spawn with broken limbs' date=' 1 blood, and at the feet of a zombie.

[/quote']

Right exactly. The priorities for anyone playing DayZ the survival sim should be:

1) Try to survive

2) Try to survive

3) Try to survive

4) Try to survive

Priorities for DayZ the post-apocalypse second life:

1) Find transportation

2) Go to camp and shift loot around

3) Go kill survivors for more loot or just for fun

4) Upon dying, complain when bugs prevent 1-3 from going smoothly 100% of the time

The second set of priorities apply to 1.7.1.5.

In order to try to survive, you need a chance of surviving in the first place. The point of my post was to show exactly where these level of suggestions are heading: towards a completely unplayable mod.

[Electrolyte 4]

In order to try to survive' date=' you need a chance of surviving in the first place. The point of my post was to show exactly where these level of suggestions are heading: towards a completely unplayable mod.

[/quote']

Right, well if all of the threats I listed happened to you at the same time you wouldn't have much chance of surviving, though it would be a helluva show don't you think?

I've definitely survived alone with 100 blood and a broken leg, some food/drink (slowly working back up to 1k blood), and a shotgun for several hours before I was devoured by infected and had to start anew. I learned a lot during that time.

[jOB (DayZ) 0]

I'd like to see water purification system(s) in form of filtering and boiling water and maybe also chemical pills for more polluted water.

Alternative methods of lighting a fire, ranging from using the bottle of a sodacan to firesteel or a block of magnesium. Some methods should also be rendered useless in rainy/damp conditions and maybe also a while after it has rained. I'd also like to see different sources of tinder – man made and natural.

I'd also like to see methods for fishing – like crafting your own fishing rod and line from a branch and maybe paracord. It'd also be awsome if you were able to set up fishing stands so that you don't have to personally sit and guard the rod 24/7 but also so tht you can multiply your chances of catching fish.

Bigger penalties for being out in the rain, maybe add hypothermia – going to mild symptoms like shaking to medium like not being able to use anything requiring your fingers (gun, canned food) to severe symptoms like a comtose state – but also the ability to construct rain shelters and use rainclothes / ponchos.

A more refined medical system where you'd sometimes have to get help from other players other than for a blood transfusion. I'd like to see wounds that needs stitching, bandages that need changing unless you want an infection, wounds that will reopen if the player sprints too soon after getting it, broken bones that need splintin and maybe morphine in the beginning but maybe also several doses of painkillers later on.

Last but not least... radios :)

Let there be a pretty common radio pre-set on a public channel but with limited range. Then there would be more advanced ones that'd be more rare and with greater range. Just ask the ACRE guys if they'll let us use their mod :)

[Washington Irving 5]

+1 to OP's Post. Five Stars.

[DeadManDan 23]

Yes to everything in Electrolyte's post.

I'm still looking for an encounter that matches the pic on the front page of the DayZ website:

http://dayzmod.com/images/gallery/dayz-gallery_p1.jpg

[Electrolyte 4]

I'd like to see water purification system(s) in form of filtering and boiling water and maybe also chemical pills for more polluted water.

Alternative methods of lighting a fire' date=' ranging from using the bottle of a sodacan to firesteel or a block of magnesium. Some methods should also be rendered useless in rainy/damp conditions and maybe also a while after it has rained. I'd also like to see different sources of tinder – man made and natural.

I'd also like to see methods for fishing – like crafting your own fishing rod and line from a branch and maybe paracord. It'd also be awsome if you were able to set up fishing stands so that you don't have to personally sit and guard the rod 24/7 but also so tht you can multiply your chances of catching fish.

Bigger penalties for being out in the rain, maybe add hypothermia – going to mild symptoms like shaking to medium like not being able to use anything requiring your fingers (gun, canned food) to severe symptoms like a comtose state – but also the ability to construct rain shelters and use rainclothes / ponchos.

A more refined medical system where you'd sometimes have to get help from other players other than for a blood transfusion. I'd like to see wounds that needs stitching, bandages that need changing unless you want an infection, wounds that will reopen if the player sprints too soon after getting it, broken bones that need splintin and maybe morphine in the beginning but maybe also several doses of painkillers later on.

Last but not least... radios :)

Let there be a pretty common radio pre-set on a public channel but with limited range. Then there would be more advanced ones that'd be more rare and with greater range. Just ask the ACRE guys if they'll let us use their mod :)

[/quote']

These things are touching a bit more on survival tools, which I would gladly consider if it wasn't so easy to survive in 1.7.1.5. If you are using all of the tools available to you to survive right now, which is what you should be doing during an apocalypse, then you will either die in the first two hours or live days/weeks until you get bored and do something stupid, or get killed by hackers/bugs. As more threats are added, more survival tools will be necessary though to keep the chaos from becoming too overwhelming.

I like your points about rain, I can't wait for Rocket and team to complete the weather vs. body temp dynamic.

[OWD Trademarked 1]

The mod is still in Alpha, and it stills trumps most fully released games or mods out there. You cant expect Rocket to make everyone happy. Personally, in the event of an apocolyptic world, I'd get together a mini army and set up some sort of base of operations, store gear, etc. As for your suggestion about Zombies, why don't we add the Tank from Left 4 Dead, eh?

[Stylin' 0]

Well i think we should all be grateful that a game like this has actually been made for us and we should not take for granted the time and effort ONE MAN put into this game.

[Electrolyte 4]

The mod is still in Alpha' date=' and it stills trumps most fully released games or mods out there. You cant expect Rocket to make everyone happy. Personally, in the event of an apocolyptic world, I'd get together a mini army and set up some sort of base of operations, store gear, etc. As for your suggestion about Zombies, why don't we add the Tank from Left 4 Dead, eh?

[/quote']

None of what I've said suggests you shouldn't be able to get together an army etc., I just don't think that should negate the need to always try to survive. This isn't whining, this is a suggestion to keep true to the now heavily publicized theme of the mod.

Let's take the official DayZ description from the front page of the site:

"A 225 km2 open world post-soviet state and one of the areas hit by a new and presently unknown infection which has wiped out most of the world's population. You are one of the few who have survived and now you must search this new wasteland in order to fight for your life against what is left of the indigenous population, now infected with the disease.

Go Solo, team up with friends or take on the world as you choose your path in this brutal and chilling landscape using whatever means you stumble upon to survive."

As of 1.7.1.5, unless you just started playing DayZ, the fight for your life lasts about 2 hours at best. The landscape, though beautiful, is neither brutal or chilling. And the fact that it is Alpha is what gives me any sense of purpose in providing this feedback.

---

Well i think we should all be grateful that a game like this has actually been made for us and we should not take for granted the time and effort ONE MAN put into this game.

+1 Very grateful. Also more than one person made DayZ possible, let's not be so blatantly insulting to the many dedicated devs of BIS. In fact, you should be thanking yourself for testing this mod.

[Jaleno 4]

Wandering packs of zombies... Must be done :D

[teih 36]

Heavily protected ammo spawns for upper tier weapons including sniper rifles, as in surrounded by massive hordes of infected. These spawns should 100% require ammo expenditure in order to gain, your skill and luck determines if you come out ahead (or dead) and not your ability to run endlessly to the northern rim.

Well I definitely agree with this part.

[Electrolyte 4]

Heavily protected ammo spawns for upper tier weapons including sniper rifles' date=' as in surrounded by massive hordes of infected. These spawns should 100% require ammo expenditure in order to gain, your skill and luck determines if you come out ahead (or dead) and not your ability to run endlessly to the northern rim.

[/quote']

Well I definitely agree with this part.

From reading other posts on the forum it seems many people are suggesting that humans should be able to control the ammo spawns. This is contrary to the survival theme, since you would simply need to be a part of the group/clan that controls it in order to survive. Survival should never be simple.

[sneed 1]

Man Electrolyte your opening post is hilarious. I really agree with the spirit of what you are saying. Both the infected and the environment are forces that should be reckoned with. I agree that the focus of the game right now is too far away from survival. For many people it seems to be more about stockpiling military weapons and finding novel ways to slaughter noobs. The reason for this is that it is too easy to survive. Note that it shouldn't be impossible to survive, but the game should require that more time/effort be put into staying alive. Rocket has talked before about how much he likes 'layering' mechanics so that you have to worry about several things at the same time. Maybe there should be a few more things to worry about, like the armored bear that can break legs and spread pestilence from a mile away with his mighty bear call.

[Electrolyte 4]

Maybe there should be a few more things to worry about' date=' like the armored bear that can break legs and spread pestilence from a mile away with his mighty bear call.

[/quote']

I forgot to include this. My bad!

It becomes stale when you know exactly what you'll be faced with once you spawn. It would be much more interesting to spawn into the middle of a screaming mad horde with no option but to leg it into the woods, hatchet in hand, to discover at the top of the hill one of the infected just will not die at all; or to find your pristine camp has been converted into a bonfire with rabid dogs gnawing on the guy who just looted it and thought it would be funny to set ablaze. The mod needs this type of variation to survive, or the stories will be all the same.

[CrackerJack (DayZ) 5]

I really like some of these ideas...

[vesmo 21]

I definitely agree, the survival needs to be so much harder than it is right now. And not just harder, it needs to STAY hard even after you get your gear together. Really hope the focus of the updates will be on buffing the difficulty of PvE, maybe it'll force some of these PKers to either switch to a different game because of frustration or actually start to do some PvE too (mind you, not against PvP but in its current extreme state it really is ruining the game for me).

[SwissArmy (DayZ) 5]

Yes, more zeds, less military loot. But also 'skill specialties' for each player (choice at spawn?). No one has all the skills needed for survival, for example medical, agricultural, military, mechanical, electronics, subspecialties in each. Only one major skill per player, possibly a low-grade version of a second, but it should take years to gain a major skill.

You could still go it alone, but you'd think twice about shooting on sight, as you would in real life. Does that other player have a skill you need?

[sneed 1]

Maybe there should be a few more things to worry about' date=' like the armored bear that can break legs and spread pestilence from a mile away with his mighty bear call.

[/quote']

I forgot to include this. My bad!

It becomes stale when you know exactly what you'll be faced with once you spawn. It would be much more interesting to spawn into the middle of a screaming mad horde with no option but to leg it into the woods, hatchet in hand, to discover at the top of the hill one of the infected just will not die at all; or to find your pristine camp has been converted into a bonfire with rabid dogs gnawing on the guy who just looted it and thought it would be funny to set ablaze. The mod needs this type of variation to survive, or the stories will be all the same.

For sure, ideally you'd have a whole host of potential threats to encounter (like the ones you listed). Right now people talk about the difficulty of PVE only in terms of how tough the in-town zombies are. There should be many more angles to the PVE experience. I like your rabid dog idea, I know there are dog models/AI in the game already. Maybe they could smell food on the survivors and selectively target players who have the most food... if you have 8 steaks in your backpack be prepared to defend it!