What do you guys do as solo players?

[theBarra 5]

On every server after I've geared, maybe have some money depending on the server, I feel like there is absolutely nothing to do. What do you guys do when you're solo?

[green_mtn_grandbob 594]

I would got fishing , then i would go hunt some cows for meat and leather to tan and make gear with . then i would make a bow and arrows then go to some place on the map i hadn't been to in a long time. 

[Parazight 1599]

On 10/6/2019 at 1:08 PM, theBarra said:

On every server after I've geared, maybe have some money depending on the server, I feel like there is absolutely nothing to do. What do you guys do when you're solo?

Honestly, I only play solo about 15% of the time, but...

I would continue playing by building stashes near known new-player spawn points.  Hiding loot for when you die is a great time-sink.

Building cars, or stashes of car parts can be fun.  Race around Chernarus!

Build bases!  They'll probably get raided, but that can't stop you from making them anyway.

Search out other people.  Use discord.  Have a mic.   MMO!

[William Sternritter 449]

On 10/6/2019 at 8:08 PM, theBarra said:

On every server after I've geared, maybe have some money depending on the server, I feel like there is absolutely nothing to do. What do you guys do when you're solo?

I'd like to turn that question around and ask you, why do you collect the gear? Surely there must be something you intend to do with it once you have it. Don't tell me you get geared and then just stand in one place. 
 

[-Gews- 7443]

I go around looking for people to kill, or if unarmed, to mess with and maybe kill. Sometimes they happen to spot me and speak, and if they sound alright I don't kill them, and we run around for a couple hours. On occasion I have been known to go to lonely places by myself to just explore or test game mechanics. A lot of the time someone else spots me first or outplays me and I am killed and repeat the process.

Things that I do not do:

-repair vehicles
-build structures
-fish
-hunt
-cook
-make leather clothing
-make stashes of loot

[drgullen 596]

On 10/6/2019 at 11:08 AM, theBarra said:

On every server after I've geared, maybe have some money depending on the server, I feel like there is absolutely nothing to do. What do you guys do when you're solo?

See, to me, this is the beauty of DayZ -- I get to use my imagination and play however I feel like playing.

I might have had a shitty day at work and I'm in a "shooty" mood, so I seek out dudes to kill, pretending like each one of them is my asshole boss.  Other days, I'm in the mood for an adventure and explore with my guns put away and my hand ready to raise and say hello.  If I can find a friendly, we team up and maybe the two of us (or more if we meet others) decide to put a car together so that we can go for a nice flight, er, umm, drive around Chernarus!

One time, I held a guy up, tied him up, took his shit and then we played trivia questions where he got one item back for each correct question and one strike for each incorrect question -- three strikes and you're dead.  He did well on the questions, so I ended up giving him all his shit back and we teamed up for a while.

Others in this thread have made good suggestions as well, like building bases, like finding a good place to stash loot for a rainy day, like hunting some animals, building a fire and cooking them for plenty of sustenance in the hours/days ahead for your current character.

DayZ is what you make of it -- that's why I love the game even in the flawed, buggy, incomplete state that it's currently in.

EDIT:  While writing this, I was watching Paul (a.k.a. TheRunningManZ) streaming and he had teamed up with a random guy he'd met and they got into some bandit-like adventures.  Here then is another example of what you could do:

https://player.twitch.tv/?video=491826671&t=5h41m26s

Edited October 9, 2019 by drgullen
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[comikz 218]

When I used to play (Re-downloading now after long break.) I played Solo, sure if there was some friends to play with I'de form a small group with them, but I prefer the solo playstyle. I mostly get some real basic setup gear wise, then I stick to less traveled areas of the map, if I am feeling froggy, I may travel to the outskirts of a more populated (Player) area, and people watch. I tend to only interact with people if 100% needed since most everyone has the, "It moves, it dies." mentality, besides that I may sit back and snipe geared players who are griefing fresh spawns on the beach, so that those freshies can loot up the bodies and go about their business.

Biggest reason that I play Solo is I've had far too many poor experiences with clans, groups ect. too much confusion, poor comms discipline, and leaders who think they deserve your respect.

[ZinMas 101 42]

Just traveling everywhere: north, south, east and west, keep chilling so you will have cool pvp and survival experience. I recommend you just to travel everywhere, if you have lot of loot you can do different bases with protector cases or drybackpacks around the whole map, you will have nice experience in that way.  

[snakeplissken 0]

The last thing I look for is PvP, I only shoot if I have no alternative or feel threatened.

In the game I try to assemble my equipment and live in the woods while exploring the places, sometimes I set goals to be done like finding some rare weapon, helicrash, collecting all the knives of the game or handgun, assembling all the leather uniform or ride a vehicle.

[McWendy 675]

Play like a hermit with my improvised bow, fishing rod, traps and gardening skills. 

Those dayz are gone 😋

[green_mtn_grandbob 594]

Looks like fishing might be back next update, so there may be hope for bows yet.

[Rammur 59]

Its dayz always something too do go hunt people make some wierd interactions its endless in this game.

[rickyriot 1009]

This has been my experience for the last couple of months:

(1) Spawn -> (2) loot -> (3) find my gun is bugged -> (4) log out -> (5) come back a few weeks later to find out if they've fixed that bug yet -> (go to #1)

I used to care about PvP but now I just don't, DayZ is simply not a good enough PvP game for it to be solely about that. 1.06 may breathe new life into the title, but honestly? I doubt it.

[drgullen 596]

4 hours ago, rickyriot said:

DayZ is simply not a good enough PvP game for it to be solely about that

Thank goodness for that!  If I want to PvP, I'll play CoD or PUBG.

[Parazight 1599]

8 hours ago, rickyriot said:

DayZ is simply not a good enough PvP game for it to be solely about that. 1.06 may breathe new life into the title, but honestly? I doubt it.

If you're focused on pvp as a solo player then you're doing it wrong.

[rickyriot 1009]

9 hours ago, drgullen said:

Thank goodness for that!  If I want to PvP, I'll play CoD or PUBG.

 

5 hours ago, Parazight said:

If you're focused on pvp as a solo player then you're doing it wrong.

Sadly, that is what Bohemia have tilted the game towards.

As for the "doing it wrong" comment? That just sounds arrogant as if "your way" is the "only way". You will find many, many people play DayZ specifically and only for PvP.

Edit: I note neither of you reflected on the real reason I don't play these days, and that is the bugged gun issue. You'd think such a huge game breaking bug would be a fairly high priority but clearly not.

 

Edited November 6, 2019 by rickyriot

[EzyStriderPS4 191]

I don't PvP in this game unless I'm forced to shoot back or someone I'm holding up/talking to makes a wrong move, I don't take chances anymore. However, you could make a career out of PvP as some form of psychopath,  blood thirsty bandit, or vigilant sniper (if you have the patience). Some have said the gunplay is poor in DayZ, but I find the mil-sim gunplay with actual recoil and gun sway perfect for the skilled shooter. Again, I do not believe in right or wrong ways to play, which is the beauty of this particular sandbox.  There are idiots out there that mindlessly point and shoot, which is frustrating for players because they lose their progression.  I've had a fist fight with another bambi, which was at the very best, innane.  

The killers out there could be more creative.  For example, you are a KoS player and meet an ungeared player who backs down from the challenge.  Instead of killing this player, force them to strip to their under garments and walk them out into the woods at gunpoint then tell them to run.  Now they have nothing and you have made their survival far more difficult, possibly unlikely.

I dunno what is so satisfying about racking up a confirmed kill count, but this game is exciting because a looming perma-death forces players to stress when the unknown variable of another survivor is introduced.  Few games give me a jolt of adrenaline and not nearly as frequent as DayZ does.  This game is awesome.

Edited November 6, 2019 by EzyStriderPS4

[drgullen 596]

4 hours ago, rickyriot said:

Edit: I note neither of you reflected on the real reason I don't play these days, and that is the bugged gun issue. You'd think such a huge game breaking bug would be a fairly high priority but clearly not.

I think it is a priority for them -- I just think they haven't figured out all the causes of it yet.

Your initial post made it sound like this bug happens every time you try to use a gun, which is simply not the case.

Does it happen occasionally?  Yes.  Is that enough to make me stop playing for weeks at a time as it is for you apparently?  No.

[aaronlands 55]

Yeah I agree, @drgullen.  There are occasional unexplained glitches with the guns that are usually resolved by putting the gun away and taking it out again.  Perhaps the most damaging glitch has to do with the 'hold R to reload feature.' For internal magazine guns this system works flawlessly.  For external magazine weapons, it appears to be broken when I use it as intended.  Say I have an IJ-70 with three full clips but I don't want the clips taking up space in the hot bar.  When my inserted clip runs out of ammo I can hold R to switch to one of the full clips.  I find however, that the clips that are taken out become glitched and can no longer be accessed by clicking or dragging, rendering them useless.  This can be fatal in a combat situation.  

The workaround is to keep reloading without using the R mechanic.  In this case, I just have to adapt to an area of the game that needs work and has likely been acknowledged as a bug.  I suppose for me finding workarounds tends to outweigh the deleterious effects of certain glitches or bugs.  I do understand that for others such is not the case and that their threshold for glitches is next to zero.  In that case, DayZ is probably not going to be a very enjoyable experience because there are still issues with the game in terms of glitches and such that still require work.  

There are few, if any, games without glitches or defects.  The question is of course: what is your limit or threshold?  In some cases bugs or glitches become part of the meta of games (e.g. smashbros wavedashing, bunnyhopping in half-life, etc.).  In DayZ, because the stakes are often so high (that is, when you die if you are geared you lose everything including your location and have to start from scratch) the effect of glitches are magnified where a glitch that was permissible in another game (where a total loss situation could be rectified through loading a save or some other similar mechanic) becomes impermissible in DayZ.  Therefore, the devs are held to higher standard by the community because those experiences where you die by a glitch are, for lack of a better word, traumatic!  

Edited November 6, 2019 by aaronlands

[EzyStriderPS4 191]

34 minutes ago, aaronlands said:

 

Well spoken.

[Parazight 1599]

6 hours ago, rickyriot said:

Sadly, that is what Bohemia have tilted the game towards.

Based on what?  You have insider knowledge to BI marketing?

DayZ has never tried to be the best PVP game.  If it had been all about the pvp then you wouldn't be forced to invest a ton of time gearing up in order to compete.  The game would just give you the loot straight off, like PUBG, or COD.   The caveat with dayz is that you have something to lose.  And that is meaningful.  It's not about how well you perform as a trigger man.

 

You quit playing because of a bugged gun issue.  Which has been around for 5 years.  So, why are you still posting here if you don't even play??

 

[mart1n1 7]

On 10/8/2019 at 2:10 AM, Parazight said:

Hiding loot for when you die is a great time-sink.

and a way to abuse a stupid mechanic that has no place in a game like this.

why did bohemia come up with such a way to mess up the loot economy???

you enjoy burying guns??

you make me sick.

[Parazight 1599]

2 hours ago, mart1n1 said:

and a way to abuse a stupid mechanic that has no place in a game like this.

why did bohemia come up with such a way to mess up the loot economy???

you enjoy burying guns??

you make me sick.

What?

Building wooden crates to store items in them is a completely legitimate mechanic.  It is designed by the developers and in no way am I abusing or exploiting the game.  This has been a feature of sandbox MMOs for decades.

I'm not entirely convinced that you know how the 'loot economy' works.

[rickyriot 1009]

15 hours ago, drgullen said:

I think it is a priority for them -- I just think they haven't figured out all the causes of it yet.

Your initial post made it sound like this bug happens every time you try to use a gun, which is simply not the case.

Does it happen occasionally?  Yes.  Is that enough to make me stop playing for weeks at a time as it is for you apparently?  No.

Literally every single session. Every session.

A session could be up to 2 hours gameplay.

I can also drop onto just about any twitch stream by regular players and you'll find it is fairly common. It's not just a priority it should be one of the top priorities.

13 hours ago, Parazight said:

Based on what?  You have insider knowledge to BI marketing?

Don't be daft, your login suggests you have been playing the game as long as I have, presumably including the mod. The mod was pretty much very PvP, basically because Arma was. SA went away from that but with the ditching of a lot of stuff from 0.6x it has reduced the PvE. We are only now seeing the return of fishing but that was only after BI put out a really pissy press release saying they wouldn't be matching 0.6x - I don't need to know the machinations of BI's strategy in order to see what was happened in the game.

13 hours ago, Parazight said:

DayZ has never tried to be the best PVP game.  If it had been all about the pvp then you wouldn't be forced to invest a ton of time gearing up in order to compete.  The game would just give you the loot straight off, like PUBG, or COD.   The caveat with dayz is that you have something to lose.  And that is meaningful.  It's not about how well you perform as a trigger man.

You are right about most of that, which is why it is odd that the current version has focused on PvP not PvE. You don't agree with me on that, but that is irrelevant in the face of the facts. What were the things they added when 1.0 was released? Guns, guns and more guns. Not fishing, not bows, etc, etc...

13 hours ago, Parazight said:

You quit playing because of a bugged gun issue.  Which has been around for 5 years.  So, why are you still posting here if you don't even play??

I am forced to stop playing because of an newly introduced bug. It wasn't present in previous editions, either that or I am very very lucky to have never experienced it for hundreds of hours then suddenly to experience it every single session I have.

However it's nice to know that not only am I playing it wrong, I am not allowed to give my feedback on a public forum specifically set up to discuss such issues. I think there is a job for you being a Hong Kong police officer.

 

[rickyriot 1009]

15 hours ago, aaronlands said:

Yeah I agree, @drgullen.  There are occasional unexplained glitches with the guns that are usually resolved by putting the gun away and taking it out again. 

It's really not, if it were I would do that every time. I have tried every trick that is supposed to resolve it and it just doesn't the ONLY solution that works for me is logging out and logging back in again.