Reporting in for an update!

[DeatHTaX 1217]

So I've been MIA with DayZ for some time, probably an entire year. I've watched some videos to catch up for the most part on the general updates since the last time I've played, and overall, it seems to run a bit better (except the soul-crushing intermittent frame stuttering that happens when I approach any town or location)

But I have to ask...where the hell is everyone? I have been playing for roughly 20 hours the past week or so, and have not seen a single person. Not one. I have been to all of the populated zones, military zones, main roads, the coast...haven't even seen a fresh spawn. Haven't heard or seen someone driving a truck, playing music over their VOIP, running around naked in Elektro (Not that this is a staple of a positive game experience, but I sure as hell miss it)...I have to say, without the element of danger and unpredictability of player interactions, this game is still rather stale from my initial observations.

Has the player base just died off that much? Or am I just unlucky.

(I also have to say, they have made some very questionable decisions in my opinion, such as removing the player list in-game and changing the server population from numeric to the "Low-Med-High" system.)

[green_mtn_grandbob 594]

From this point on dayz standalone is a new game.

[DeatHTaX 1217]

Well if that's true, it's rather disappointing.

But again, back to my question...where the hell are all the players? I can't get a good feel of how many we have because you can no longer tell an empty server from a server with people on it, which if that is truly the case (I've been known to be wrong about things) I genuinely wonder the purpose for that switch.

Especially now that you can't even tell if the server you joined has people on it an hour later, because I don't know about everyone else, but player interaction is literally the best thing going for this game IMO.

[green_mtn_grandbob 594]

Well you were gone for a year you said, Are not others entitled to take time off like you did, they had there own reasons to do so, now your  back and demand to know a years worth of development. 

PS  I think some people found the new game too hard  to play like they wanted to .

Edited February 2, 2017 by green_mtn_grandbob

[DeatHTaX 1217]

So....if you go back and read my post, I was not asking for an update on a year's worth of development. In fact I explicitly said I had already caught myself up on it.

I asked one general question.

Reading. It's super hard.

[General Zod 1118]

The gaem is daed because we get patches every six months or less so there is a rush of players when we get one and once people get bored it gets empty, plus I've heard rumours that this patch is not as good as it should be, someone even used word rushed (funny). So come back in June / July and maybe you can play with others. I haven't played much dayz in a long time.

[DeatHTaX 1217]

Thanks for the answer, Zod. Also, good to see you again. 

Yeah, the game as it is on its own right now I think is still in dire need of some work in order to be enjoyed on it's own. But I honestly was expecting way more completion after an entire year vacation. 

[green_mtn_grandbob 594]

 In fact I explicitly said I had already caught myself up on it.

If you had you wouldn't have asked the questions. 

[DeatHTaX 1217]

21 minutes ago, green_mtn_grandbob said:

 In fact I explicitly said I had already caught myself up on it.

If you had you wouldn't have asked the questions. 

1. Learn to quote.

2. Seriously, just stop. This is embarrassing 

[green_mtn_grandbob 594]

11 minutes ago, DeatHTaX said:

1. Learn to quote.

2. Seriously, just stop. This is embarrassing 

for who?

[Guy Smiley 534]

So after a year you came back to bitch and moan?

[DeatHTaX 1217]

3 minutes ago, Guy Smiley said:

So after a year you came back to bitch and moan?

I mean that's not really why I came back. Just making some observations and generating opinions. I obviously still like the game, and yeah I have some gripes about it, but what's wrong with that? It's a forum. I generally like to throw my gripes out there because typically someone has a perspective that may shed light on my own concerns and change my viewpoint.

So yeah, sue me. I have opinions. :) 

[green_mtn_grandbob 594]

37 minutes ago, DeatHTaX said:

1. Learn to quote.

2. Seriously, just stop. This is embarrassing 

so your 26 and i'm 76 

 

1 hour ago, DeatHTaX said:

So I've been MIA with DayZ for some time, probably an entire year. I've watched some videos to catch up for the most part on the general updates since the last time I've played, and overall, it seems to run a bit better (except the soul-crushing intermittent frame stuttering that happens when I approach any town or location)

But I have to ask...where the hell is everyone? I have been playing for roughly 20 hours the past week or so, and have not seen a single person. Not one. I have been to all of the populated zones, military zones, main roads, the coast...haven't even seen a fresh spawn. Haven't heard or seen someone driving a truck, playing music over their VOIP, running around naked in Elektro (Not that this is a staple of a positive game experience, but I sure as hell miss it)...I have to say, without the element of danger and unpredictability of player interactions, this game is still rather stale from my initial observations.

Has the player base just died off that much? Or am I just unlucky.

(I also have to say, they have made some very questionable decisions in my opinion, such as removing the player list in-game and changing the server population from numeric to the "Low-Med-High" system.)

so your 26 and i'm 76 i didn't take time off from dayz you did then came back and asked this above, if you had caught up on development you wouldn't have asked the questions you did I'm sorry i picked on you but i'm tired of people picking on  on development but don't keep up on development.

PS your PM shows your age.    

[JBURNS489 165]

2 hours ago, DeatHTaX said:

Well if that's true, it's rather disappointing.

But again, back to my question...where the hell are all the players? I can't get a good feel of how many we have because you can no longer tell an empty server from a server with people on it, which if that is truly the case (I've been known to be wrong about things) I genuinely wonder the purpose for that switch.

Especially now that you can't even tell if the server you joined has people on it an hour later, because I don't know about everyone else, but player interaction is literally the best thing going for this game IMO.

You can still get an exact player count for each server through steam once you are logged in. Bring up the steam overlay, and click on players. It will list every player on your current server, which makes this a non issue. The whole point of getting rid of an exact player count on the server browser was to spread out the population among all the servers so there aren't 3 or 4 full servers and 50 empty ones. As a result of players being more spread out among all servers, it helps to curb server hopping as well. Also, there has been a patch at least once a week, sometimes more than that, for at least a few months now. Updates are coming a lot quicker than they used to.  Something you may be missing also: they made some major map changes, adjusted the loot spawn and changed a few key mechanics regarding zombies and predator AI over the past year. As a result of those changes, the hot spots for player interaction have changed.  You may have better luck finding people if you change the regular spots that you used to run to a year ago for player interaction. I always find people at Tisy and near the northeastern coastal cities. 

 

EDIT: The stable branch of servers have no vehicles at the moment. They are only in experimental servers currently. If you are only playing experimental, that is the reason you can't find anyone. Stable has a much higher population compared to experimental

Edited February 3, 2017 by JBURNS489

[DeatHTaX 1217]

47 minutes ago, JBURNS489 said:

You can still get an exact player count for each server through steam once you are logged in. Bring up the steam overlay, and click on players. It will list every player on your current server, which makes this a non issue. The whole point of getting rid of an exact player count on the server browser was to spread out the population among all the servers so there aren't 3 or 4 full servers and 50 empty ones. As a result of players being more spread out among all servers, it helps to curb server hopping as well. Also, there has been a patch at least once a week, sometimes more than that, for at least a few months now. Updates are coming a lot quicker than they used to.  Something you may be missing also: they made some major map changes, adjusted the loot spawn and changed a few key mechanics regarding zombies and predator AI over the past year. As a result of those changes, the hot spots for player interaction have changed.  You may have better luck finding people if you change the regular spots that you used to run to a year ago for player interaction. I always find people at Tisy and near the northeastern coastal cities. 

 

EDIT: The stable branch of servers have no vehicles at the moment. They are only in experimental servers currently. If you are only playing experimental, that is the reason you can't find anyone. Stable has a much higher population compared to experimental

 

See, I heard about the steam overlay for getting an idea for the number of players on a server, but that just makes no sense...why remove it if steam allows you to get a count anyway? And drat, I loved them 50 person servers haha. Was easy to find em. Guess I'll just have to get with the program.

And aah, I see. NE Coastal cities eh? And one issue I also discovered is I was apparently using an outdated map, which would explain why I kept trying to find so many landmarks for reference points that were no longer there lol.

And I personally don't understand why they keep continuing to make adjustments that will attempt to curb server hopping. People will always find ways around it as long as there are public servers. Not even sure why they try to fight it, but that's just my opinion. 

Edited February 3, 2017 by DeatHTaX

[sneakydude 480]

Steam is not a perfect count... i am going to warn you now. I just have to turn off steam.

There is tons of players, playing all the time. I see servers full, and empty. It depends on what version of dayz you play.

Right now we are in the middle of some serious Exp patches, that are moving forward.

The stutter you see, should have been mostly reduced in this last update. Higher end systems really benefited from it i found. AMD and Intel

[sneakydude 480]

4 hours ago, DeatHTaX said:

So....if you go back and read my post, I was not asking for an update on a year's worth of development. In fact I explicitly said I had already caught myself up on it.

I asked one general question.

Reading. It's super hard.

If you did keep up on development, you would know exp took out vehicles for the massive repair.

They have to be perfect to stable, otherwise there is no use returning them to the game right away.

[Weyland Yutani (DayZ) 1159]

Jeebus another complaint thread with back and forth bickering.

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

DayZ is so far from complete that your current experience should be no indication of future experiences.

This includes server populations and player dispersal.

If/when you take a break from DayZ and lose track of the flow of players based on map changes and new map features and loot spawns you may find yourself alone more often.

These 2 things will always be true tho....

1. If you're looking for rinse and repeat PvP (see also CoD), high pop 3PP servers have the most.

2. For your best chances at an interaction other than a firefight a low pop 1PP server on a private hive is best.

I still play on public 1PP and try to talk first before firing but it is a risky practice, keeping immersion.

*You will not hear a V3S or any vehicle in stable as they are currently only being tested in the Experimental branch.