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EUPOXL

Feedback on 0.63 Exp.

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Hi all,

 

This is mainly directed at the Developers. I purchased this game the day it came out on Early Access, and was a regular player for a good amount of time. With 0.63 I have begun playing again. I wanted to provide some feedback on this update (and the game in general) to the Developers. As I know some hate will come my way - I am entitled to my own opinion, just as you are.

 

Hand-to-hand Combat

Love this. Before, if I found myself toe to toe with a Zombie and  had no choice but to fight, It was a lag fest of spam-punching. I would 100% end up heavily wounded or dead from an encounter such as this. Now, I'm able to effectively defend myself from Zombie and player strikes. It's an awesome addition to the game. Only note on this I have; I should be able to toggle whether or not I am combat-ready or not via optional keyboard assignments.

Firearm Combat

This is an area I feel needs improvement. The ability to toggle combat readiness with a firearm should be essential, as there's too much to keep up with in it's current form. Hold RMB + Press Scroll/LShift to aim down sights? I would prefer to enter and clear a building without having to hold a button down to do so, as it's a huge distraction for myself and friends I play with. 

It is also very confusing for someone just entering in. Last night, my friends and I got into our first encounter with an armed player. We all had MP5s or Makarovs with ammunition and magazines to spare. Upon pressing the 'R' button, we would expect our current magazine to drop and a new one to be placed in the weapon. Instead, we had to take the magazine out of our weapon, and drag the new one in (mid-fight). This lead to 2 of us being killed, as they couldn't do this action fast enough to defend themselves.

The old way of doing things was good, It's puzzling why you would try fix something that isn't broken.

Inventory Management

This is another area which has seen a decline for me. The GUI is a lot more straight forward, yes. But, using and managing the inventory inside is another thing. Instead of directly replacing, say a backpack, by dragging it's replacement over the enlarged "<x> Backpack" slot in the right, we must now find which icon pertains to that backpack in the top right panel, and replace it in there. Not a huge problem, no, but it just adds more time. I have not so amazing eyesight, even corrected, so it can be a task for me at times to identify one small icon with another.

The spaces items take up have also drastically enlarged. Now, a duct tape roll takes up 4 slots instead of 1, as it should. This problem has caused my death a couple times now - If I spawn in an area with 1 or 2 buildings, and must run for 5+ minutes to get to the nearest settlement, I have only 2 options: Carry Food, and no drink, or carry drink and no food. By the time I arrived at my destination, I would be either starved or dehydrated.

Survival Mechanics

This has always been my favorite part of DayZ, IRL I enjoy going into the forest with a tent and a firearm and spending days in there, and DayZ (was) the only game that I could do this activity in should I choose. It has taken some steps backward since 0.63, it's a very very complex survival system, so naturally you would need a complex system to give players an indication of their current health. The text-based notifiers did an awesome job at doing this. I knew if I had food poisoning, or chemical poisoning  based on the symptoms I was experiencing, for instance. Now,  I just get a picture telling me "Healthy? Yes/No". 

Another huge part of it, which is a large reason why I ended up giving DayZ up for a couple years - This game bases itself on realism, which is what most of us love. It is hyper unrealistic to starve/dehydrate in 10 bloody minutes! The game provides us with minimal food, and takes from us an unrealistic and unreasonable amount of hunger, and thirst while doing so. In my current character, I looted every single building in Solnichny, and came out with 2 cans of food and 1 Spite drink. How could I expect to survive if I will be required to use these consumables and then get hungry/thirsty before I even get anywhere near another town? A good balance would be, instead of going from good to dead in 10 minutes, use more reasonable timing. Say, 12 hours in game time leads to liquid depravation, and 24 hours in game time leads to food depravation. You've made the map so huge  that it takes that amount of time to get anywhere of value anyway.

Player Interaction

There has never been any incentive to actually interact with players, this has always been the crutch of DayZ. I will HAPPILY spend 12 hours of my spare time a week dedicated to surviving in this world, but it's contradicting to do so when you get asshats who will shoot other players in the face "just cos". There needs to be real and tangible consequences for murder. Damaging the victim's inventory does nothing to deter this. People are usually well geared enough to not care about your gear too. I have in many occasions, spawned in, walked into a town, and been shot dead in no time. This game has often gotten to a point for me, where if I don't go into a town and get shot at, I will go into the woods and try make it north, only to die before I get somewhere. 

Don't get me wrong, I understand KoS someone who is walking around in military getup and has a rifle of some description, as gunfights are a huge part of what makes this game awesome. But, just randomly killing people who have nothing but a hoodie and a can of sardines to their name over and over again? It gets to a point where it's just cringeworthy, both for the game and the people doing it.

Travelling

This game should be a bit grindy, it's a survival game. I love using my map, nearby landscape and a compass to navigate my way around the game. This game allows us to use real life survival skills in many situations. However, at a video game level, it's very unenjoyable to walk for 20-30mins plus and be given nothing but trees and the odd house. There's next to no way to hunt animals except by random encounter (For instance, Deer would leave no sign of them being there, or make next to no noise). There's nothing spectacular to look at. All there is to do between towns is try not to die from Game-induced sudden death. This latest update has done nothing but enhance the last part.

Action Menu

The Action Menu is to DayZ and ArmA as Text dialogue is to Fallout and Elder Scrolls. It allows for more options, and makes the usage of various items in the world a lot more in depth. Please let us toggle it back on :(

 

All in all, DayZ is still DayZ, but with a few downgrades and setbacks for the more simple minded. Technologically, this engine is an awesome step in the right direction for Bohemia Interactive, and I really look forward to what they are going to give us with this engine in future. But for a game as in-depth as DayZ, it's not. 

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You can put a clip in the quick bar,  if you then use the button is the old clip removed and the new installed without having to go into the inventory ... that also works with the filling of clips.

Edited by forty_two
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10 hours ago, EUPOXL said:

.....

As 42 said, put a magazine* (not clip) on your hot bar and the ammo in another hotbar space. By holding down the buttons, (do NOT just press once), you can reload the firearm and your magazine* as appropriate. 

Nice write up op. Clear and concise with pertinent examples. I personally do not agree with the KOS statement, but that's an argument that has been going on for years (literally) within the community. Everything else though lines up with my thoughts almost exactly except the traveling bit and hunger/thirst. Traveling long distances with nothing to see is a misnomer if you will. This generally only happens if you do not know the map/area well, get turned around (going in circles), or are in a couple specific areas of the map. Those specific areas are needed in game to allow folks some places to become "survivalist" in the sense of living off the land with little chance of player encounters. By following almost any road you can within 5-10 minutes run into a small POI (point of interest). It may not be situated on the road itself, but it will be visible from the road. And yes this includes single buildings and small camp areas/odd areas. See, you say you like the survival aspects yet complain there isn't something "to do" every few minutes which is confusing to me. Could you explain your thoughts a bit more on this?

The hunger/thirst can take a bit to get used to. You have to remember we just washed up on shore or came conscious after we got stranded from a ship wrecking off the coast. Plus there are not any soft skills implemented yet and these may very well help lower how fast we become dehydrated or get hungry. Also, once you are in yellow status for an indicator, you are in trouble. We have a reserve tank, if you will, of filling up food/water much like in previous iterations of SA. Just cause your indicators are white in 0.63 does not mean you are full up. I have yet to reach a "full" state either eating or drinking. But, I have gotten to the point quite often that I no longer have to worry about eating or drinking for hours on end while playing. All it takes to get there is eat/drink everything immediately after finding it. I never carry food with me and only carry one water bottle at a time. That one water bottle I will fill up and drink 2-3 times per water source in the beginning and then every once in a while after that. I have died of hunger once and thirst never. The time I died of hunger was do to me making a trip from Svetlo to Cherno and sticking to the coast road the whole way. I died right outside the outskirts of Elektro. 

Also, do not sprint everywhere. It greatly increases how much food/ hydration you lose when traveling. Its best to jog when you can.

Now, I do agree with animals not leaving some kind of trace whether it be tree markings/rubbings (bears (not in game yet) and bucks/ deer) or sounds of some kind (wolves). Often you do not know there are even any animals about until you see them. Which makes sense to some degree if you are completely unfamiliar with hunting or observing animals naturally. Perhaps the devs could put in some type of static message that triggers when in an area that can spawn certain animals? Something like, "You see what appears to be claw marks approximately 6 feet high on a few trees." to indicate bears in the areas. Or maybe, " A number of trees close by appear to have the bark rubbed off about 4 to 5 feet off the ground." to give an indication of deer in the area. Maybe when you are close by a bear you actually hear the "huffing" of the bear. I know the wolves howled when they caught your scent or were starting to hunt someone. But there was no indication otherwise that you were even in an area with wolves. Possibly add some distant howling to the night time ambient noises for an area where wolves could spawn?

Anyway, I liked your feedback. Hope the devs read it. :)

Edited by ZogVarnoka
typos. forgot hunger/thrist
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13 hours ago, EUPOXL said:

I purchased this game the day it came out on Early Access,

Well  this is round #2 of alpha, .63 is the start of dayz standalone  #2.  They took what they could from the old dayz  and started over and called it .63  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I don't see why you are expecting any hate. The vast majority of your post is right in line with what many of us are expecting to see, and are disappointed with in the current iteration.

Stamina, hunger and thirst are in need of balancing for sure.  The clunky implementation of hands ready status is just that, clunky.  I've died a few times already by forgetting how to raise my weapon in the moment, and I think it's more than just a new thing to get used to.  As you pointed out, it is tedious to have to hold a key to be at the ready, rather than just a toggle control.  Even just assigning middle mouse button to raise or lower hands on a toggle would be miles ahead of the current state.

KOS is a touchy subject for some, but I am hoping that more fleshed out mechanics and motivators will do some towards balancing out players' decision making rubric.  It's already gotten to the point that running with a trigger happy companion will make you wish you were somewhere else when the zombies just keep coming.

It's good to see a returning player enjoying the way the game is turning out, rather than jumping on the meme train of " lol, this shit still ain't finished, lul."

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42 minutes ago, emuthreat said:

As you pointed out, it is tedious to have to hold a key to be at the ready, rather than just a toggle control.  Even just assigning middle mouse button to raise or lower hands on a toggle would be miles ahead of the current state.

After Stress test #2, I rebound mouse wheel up to use as a weapon raise toggle and eye zoom to right mouse button hold.  It's been great.

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On 6/21/2018 at 6:17 AM, ZogVarnoka said:

As 42 said, put a magazine* (not clip) on your hot bar and the ammo in another hotbar space. By holding down the buttons, (do NOT just press once), you can reload the firearm and your magazine* as appropriate. 

Nice write up op. Clear and concise with pertinent examples. I personally do not agree with the KOS statement, but that's an argument that has been going on for years (literally) within the community. Everything else though lines up with my thoughts almost exactly except the traveling bit and hunger/thirst. Traveling long distances with nothing to see is a misnomer if you will. This generally only happens if you do not know the map/area well, get turned around (going in circles), or are in a couple specific areas of the map. Those specific areas are needed in game to allow folks some places to become "survivalist" in the sense of living off the land with little chance of player encounters. By following almost any road you can within 5-10 minutes run into a small POI (point of interest). It may not be situated on the road itself, but it will be visible from the road. And yes this includes single buildings and small camp areas/odd areas. See, you say you like the survival aspects yet complain there isn't something "to do" every few minutes which is confusing to me. Could you explain your thoughts a bit more on this?

The hunger/thirst can take a bit to get used to. You have to remember we just washed up on shore or came conscious after we got stranded from a ship wrecking off the coast. Plus there are not any soft skills implemented yet and these may very well help lower how fast we become dehydrated or get hungry. Also, once you are in yellow status for an indicator, you are in trouble. We have a reserve tank, if you will, of filling up food/water much like in previous iterations of SA. Just cause your indicators are white in 0.63 does not mean you are full up. I have yet to reach a "full" state either eating or drinking. But, I have gotten to the point quite often that I no longer have to worry about eating or drinking for hours on end while playing. All it takes to get there is eat/drink everything immediately after finding it. I never carry food with me and only carry one water bottle at a time. That one water bottle I will fill up and drink 2-3 times per water source in the beginning and then every once in a while after that. I have died of hunger once and thirst never. The time I died of hunger was do to me making a trip from Svetlo to Cherno and sticking to the coast road the whole way. I died right outside the outskirts of Elektro. 

Also, do not sprint everywhere. It greatly increases how much food/ hydration you lose when traveling. Its best to jog when you can.

Now, I do agree with animals not leaving some kind of trace whether it be tree markings/rubbings (bears (not in game yet) and bucks/ deer) or sounds of some kind (wolves). Often you do not know there are even any animals about until you see them. Which makes sense to some degree if you are completely unfamiliar with hunting or observing animals naturally. Perhaps the devs could put in some type of static message that triggers when in an area that can spawn certain animals? Something like, "You see what appears to be claw marks approximately 6 feet high on a few trees." to indicate bears in the areas. Or maybe, " A number of trees close by appear to have the bark rubbed off about 4 to 5 feet off the ground." to give an indication of deer in the area. Maybe when you are close by a bear you actually hear the "huffing" of the bear. I know the wolves howled when they caught your scent or were starting to hunt someone. But there was no indication otherwise that you were even in an area with wolves. Possibly add some distant howling to the night time ambient noises for an area where wolves could spawn?

Anyway, I liked your feedback. Hope the devs read it. :)

Thanks for the reply :) 

To continue the thought at the time; I feel there's a certain sense of 'nothing to do' once you reach a certain point in DayZ.  I have often felt (both before and during .63 Exp.) that once you are healthy, completely geared to what you feel you want/need, and, where applicable, with your squad, there's nothing to do but run between towns and probably just shoot people. I'm excited for the base building aspect, but even that can only be done to an extent before there's nothing more to do.

After all the realism, and grinding and surviving, I am still expecting a game to play, as I can happily do these things in real life (bar the zeds). For instance, having player triggered map events would be awesome. "Someone triggered a military frequency jammer and has locked all radio communications" or "Your base is being raided by an unknown (AI) force.". Things to keep us on our toes and a reason to send some bullets in someone's direction. In it's current state, the game isn't really worth playing past the "You now have xyz army clothes and abc army weapons". The only thing to do is go and PVP other players, which you can only find once every now and then. 

When I look at series such as Walking Dead which are operating on basically the same premise as DayZ, other than the survival part, the characters must interact with strangers and unknown people. I feel that incentivizing human interaction should be a big dot on their board, as the worlds largest budget can't create replayability more than 2 humans interacting can.

 

Just my 2 cents on the matter though (maybe a whole dollar at this point lol), but regardless I'm excited to see what they will throw our way in the future with this game.

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I like the feeling of the map being bigger and wilderness between them. Do not mind the reloading. 

Do not mind the pace of starvation and dehydration. That is what you are really fighting and the fight starts in the first minute.

Not so sure on the weapon status, not only is is cludgy to execute it is flakey to get it to stay in a given mode. Can certainly be improved.

When they get the cold and wet and damaged to gear working with the atmospherics and zombie density they have achieved..wow the teeth gnashing will be intense.

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Hello, I just want to add a few my thoughts..  I know things are still progressing and tweaks will be made.  Currently I have mixed thoughts about the changes implemented or direction this game we love is headed.  In my time playing Dayz, while not perfect, I had the most fun playing during .59 and .60.  Simply put a lot of what was in the previous versions i feel should have been left the same. I'm speaking of the UI, default key settings, the shooting mechanics, animals, vehicles etc.  Again let me be careful and clear as I'm not bashing the Devs or Dayz.  I'm just passionate about the game as much as everyone else.  The only things .62 and versions before were missing was the new engine and player controller/animations.  Last year sometime I stated to some friends that I was excited for .63 and nervous at the same time. Worried that the game would change so much, that one day we would be saying, "We wish that we could go back and play the earlier versions of dayz sa somehow." Currently in my humble opinion, this does not "feel" like Dayz SA. Never thought I'd ever be the one to say that. I hope the ability to play modded Dayz SA vanilla versions will be possible somehow.

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