I really like DayZ, but...

[Angry Guy 1]

I think DayZ is the first step in commercializing ARMA and has attracted a player base that otherwise wouldn’t even given the game a second thought until something ultra trendy like zombies became involved.

Granted, I’m not an ARMA hipster who constantly harps against Call of Duty and consider this to be a venue for the common video gaming elitist – it isn’t. But now this game has completely lost its identity as a military simulator and has attracted a whole new breed of players who have hijacked the server list and changed the shape of ARMA forever.

I’m generalizing here, but the bulk of new players haven’t gone through the tutorials and are completely upsetting the tone of the game. Your average person now doesn’t know how to lean around corners, they struggle to get in and out of vehicles and they’ll never get to fly a Mi24 unless it’s in the editor.

Don’t get me wrong: I really, really like this mod. It’s truly intuitive and it couldn’t have been pulled off by anyone else other than a mind at BI who knows the game code inside out and can attract broader audiences based on what the “in” thing is. I’m a business person myself in real life, I work in marketing, and I understand how much commercial attention this has brought ARMA, but…

Ah, screw it. All I’m saying is, DayZ hasn’t ruined the game, but it COMPLETELY altered ARMA and now it is known as something it never should have been!

I imagine ARMA 3 will have a DayZ like feature already incorporated into the game, and it’ll be known as a survival horror, not a military simulator…

[faceman (DayZ) 3]

I don't understand. Alot of people bought Arma for DayZ, of course, but I can't see how the future of Arma would be affected in a negative way? Is it not good that more people discover Arma and see what it has to offer? I know two people who bought Arma for the mod, and yesterday they were intrested to see how the actual game played. I started a server and we played some coop. They were very impressed with the whole tactical aspect of the game.

So thanks two the mod, at least two more people will start to play regular Arma.

[Angry Guy 1]

I covered this already.

This modification appeals widely to people who don't want to play a military simulation game. By and large, I wish that someday DayZ becomes a separate game.

[acebane 268]

I think the OP is worried that ARMA 2 and the franchise may lose it's "Hardcore simulation" touch when trying to make it more accessible to a broader audience via Day Z. I don't think that'll happen, personally, but anything is possible. I would think BIS would not change mechanics to seem more accessible. They strive for realism in their games, so I doubt that'll change any time soon.

For the time being, I' say we just enjoy the fun and joys Day Z brings us. Everything will work out in the end.

[zeratul (DayZ) 0]

Granted' date=' I’m not an ARMA hipster who constantly harps against Call of Duty and consider this to be a venue for the common video gaming elitist – it isn’t.

[/quote']

You say you're not something, but everything else you say in the post begs to differ. ARMA hasn't changed. The manner in which you perceive yourself as some sort of enlightened person existing outside the mainstream seems to be the change that is happening.

As someone who bought Combined Ops strictly for DayZ, let me tell you I have no opinion of ARMA, nor do I even intend to play it. I was in the US Army for 8 years and spent a couple of those in Iraq - I don't want to play a game simulating realistic modern warfare. However, this DayZ game is revolutionary. There is nothing else like it.

Anyway, it is healthy to realize that nothing is forever. You cannot stop this and there really is no point in making such a post. "Pandora's Box" has been opened and everyone is better off because of it.

[Shimmler 4]

Actually it is that hardcoreness of ArmA that made something like DayZ possible.

Take a look at Left 4 Dead (which i also love) - now that is dynamic casual easy-to-play zombie shooter. If people would find arma-based DayZ too hard, they'll return to L4D.

And those casual gamers that loved hardcore DayZ may even switch from COD to hardcore ArmA.

[Angry Guy 1]

You cannot stop this and there really is no point in making such a post.

I'm giving my opinion. On the wide and diverse internet I am capable of voicing thoughts without the intention of reshaping anything.

[faceman (DayZ) 3]

I still don't understand though. How has it altered the base game? Arma is still Arma, it is still a military simulator, and I don't think Arma 3 will be any diffrent. Do you think Arma 3 will be more casual or something just because of the mod?

[acebane 268]

Easy peeps. Let's keep the chat civil. Just an innocent discussion of the outcome of ARMA Franchise and Day Z's effect on it. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions and persuasions.

[zeru 5]

Well all the non-dayz servers are still there with decent populations.

I still play on the occasional domination/insurgency server, and I fully expect to do the same in arma3.

Also when the arma3 community alpha shows up, it's almost guaranteed to not support dayz, so at least then it'll be a 100% military sim for a few months.

They'll be announcing the dates/probable pricing of the arma3 community alpha next month, so yeah look forward to that.

[korten 2]

Bohemia Interactive isn't like EA, they're not going to change ARMA because of a mod...

[zeratul (DayZ) 0]

You cannot stop this and there really is no point in making such a post.

I'm giving my opinion. On the wide and diverse internet I am capable of voicing thoughts without the intention of reshaping anything.

The same goes for me. Please don't misunderstand anything as some sort of attack as I obviously do not know you. I'm simply stating my opinion based on what I know and what has been posted in this thread.

[mistery 0]

I picked up Arma II for this mod as well. I am quite afraid to start playing the originals because of how much of a time consuming endeavor that would be. But that is a different story :).

The point is that the great dev team of this mod created an EXPERIMENT. It's not a finished product and it likely never will be. They have proven countless points however. Some of those is that yes there is a very large player base who enjoys good sandbox games and not being force fed their story, instead each one of them making up their own sotory in the game. Another point is that you can revitalise a game that has not seen major sales in 2 years to the point that it surpasses current AAA title sales. How awesome is that?!

This game created WUB WUB hype without dubstep intros and trailers.

There are many other fun things that this mod showed the gaming community. I am pretty sure some big industry heads are looking at DayZ with jaw supports in disbelief even in this moment.

The best thing is, Arma 2 is still Arma 2 and Dayz is a mod. It could be a standalone but that is probably not the direction they are taking.

Oh and I doubt BI looks at this and says, ok let's dumb down ARMA III to cater to carebears and CoD players. DayZ proves exactly that such a thing is not needed. Wait a while until the ingame chat system is sorted and only direct chat will be available. That will take the game to a new level without the omgzzzzz another CZ killer texts everywhere.

Most importantly, keep in mind this is Alpha.

[DaPessimist 1]

I think Rocket already stated it will/would take a year to implement a Day Z type mod for Arma 3.

[elcoyote23 0]

All I have to say is that I have always been hearing people on BF3 servers talking about how everyone should go play ARMA, and I had never seen it. I kept hearing about it and DAYZ came out was a big deal so I decided to check it out and was impressed with the mod despite the bugs. Since it's so hard to get into a DAYZ servers sometimes I decided to check out the vanilla version with another friend and we were having a great time in the normal game. Needless to say, I probably would have never played ARMA if it wasn't for DAYZ, and my friend and I are both actual Veterans, US Navy and Marines, so all this BS about it keeping the purity of it's "military simness" and new players corrupting it is a bit annoying.

[Jasper (DayZ) 4]

I'd have to disagree. Leaning round corners is incredibly easy, and entering vehicles uses the most used menu in the game (mouse wheel scroll). I bet most of these new players never play on vanilla Arma 2 or any of the other servers.

If DayZ has done anything, it is good for the Arma community. Introducing a needed boost to the player count.

[Goldstein (DayZ) 46]

Either way, the two compliment eachother. ArmA has a consistant hardcore fanbase, and DayZ is appealing to zombie hysteria. If ArmA does well, it provides a better engine for DayZ. If DayZ does well, it provides more sales for ArmA.

(btw if you bought arma to play dayz, yet didn't even try the bootcamp or skim through the controls. thank you for making yourself an easier target.)

[landstriker 9]

The influx of new players to DayZ hasn't changed much for the more "hardcore" crowd of the ArmA 2 community. The people I know that play Arma 2 on a regular basis dip into DayZ for a little while before heading back to OA Ace Domination. Rarely have I heard or seen the other way around.

Once new players gets used to how the game mechanic system works in Day (backpacks, compass, weapons.etc) they would have no problem understanding Arma 2 vanilla or OA.

[maeludir@gmail.com 1]

Okay first off a little pedantry: it's not the zombies we're interested in, it's the post-apocalyptic survival scenario.

Secondly: the whole reason Day Z exists is to prove that what's needed in aforementioned game genre is the hardcore simulation of Arma. Your underlying point that "Day Z has changed Arma" is actually laughable ironic - it's the other way around: Arma has changed the survival genre, Arma has given Rocket an engine to prove his point: gamers like persistence, realism and realistic consequences.

[Haifisch 0]

Granted' date=' I’m not an ARMA hipster who constantly harps against Call of Duty and consider this to be a venue for the common video gaming elitist – it isn’t.

[/quote']

You say you're not something, but everything else you say in the post begs to differ. ARMA hasn't changed. The manner in which you perceive yourself as some sort of enlightened person existing outside the mainstream seems to be the change that is happening.

As someone who bought Combined Ops strictly for DayZ, let me tell you I have no opinion of ARMA, nor do I even intend to play it. I was in the US Army for 8 years and spent a couple of those in Iraq - I don't want to play a game simulating realistic modern warfare. However, this DayZ game is revolutionary. There is nothing else like it.

Anyway, it is healthy to realize that nothing is forever. You cannot stop this and there really is no point in making such a post. "Pandora's Box" has been opened and everyone is better off because of it.

Yeah, I am gonna go ahead and agree with this. I have absolutely no interest in ARMA beyond DayZ. I bought it for DayZ and I will continue to play DayZ until a standalone game is released (spaghetti monster willing). If it stay a mod I will keep buying ARMA until DayZ's developers decide to quit. ARMA is just the game I buy to run DayZ.

The way DayZ presents you with constant life or death choices just beats every other game. Even an empty open field is scary if its near the coast.

[Mutonizer 78]

I’m generalizing here' date=' but the bulk of new players haven’t gone through the tutorials and are completely upsetting the tone of the game. Your average person now doesn’t know how to lean around corners, they struggle to get in and out of vehicles and they’ll never get to fly a Mi24 unless it’s in the editor. [/quote']

I don't see ARMA becoming "easy" anytime soon and rocket, from what I read in his recent interview, is pretty adamant about the freedom that doing such a mod offers in term of difficulty and gameplay elements that would NEVER find their way into a commercialized product because they are so hardcore.

However, as someone said, it could expand the playerbase. For example I hate FPS games with a passion and have no military mindset whatsoever, and yet I bought ARMA2 a couple years back and always enjoyed it, though there was very little content for me.

With DayZ, I got to get back into beloved ARMA2, with non military related content.

I'm pretty sure the incredible ultra hardcore military clans out there will still play as usual, and then you'll add people like me. It's expanding the player base without making it simpler for mass market, which is great for both us as players, and BiS as a company.

ps: I never flew a Mi24, even in the editor. I just have no interest in airplanes whatsoever. I did drive tons of bikes however :)

[naizarak 41]

i've definitely seen an influx of new players into traditional arma servers, but for the most part, arma hasn't changed. you still see the same dedicated clans and users playing their ace insurgency missions just like before.

[Angry Guy 1]

Yeah - my decision to withdraw myself from my own discussion is pretty much concrete at this stage, but before I fade into the background:

I reiterate yet again I come from a business background and understand the tremendous numbers this has brought to ARMA and realize the benefits that some of these players will actually LEARN the real game at hand and move onto other servers.

And... are you kidding me? I know this is "still" ARMA. Looks like Chernarus to me.

By and large the influx has revealed the game to the world and brought just as much bad as it has good. Incidentally, there's also a thread with just as many replies called "Why does this game have so many idiots?"

[krzochalski 0]

I really likeD DayZ but...

Starting from the patch 1.5.7. There are lots of zombies now but...

Well, I wouldn't say anything about it if I had much more ammo, which is quite a problem in this MOD, but it is also it's feature, so minor problem

The thing is, that those zombies are quite fast for dead people. If they see you, you can't escape, you can't lose them. After 1.5.7. number of zombies would be acceptable if they were slower, like in movies, "Shaun of the Dead" for example, or the "sprint" was slower and looked like they were running with the pants ankle lowered.

If not, the number of those from 1.5.6 should doubled or tripled. But for now playing alone is impossible. I know, it has to bee hard. But I am also thinking person. I did an observation of a building and there were three zombies, i shot them and suddenly i had to shot another six. Where they came from ? And I had many situations like this.

The next problem is, zombies can walk through walls. It is impossible to organize defense in a building, pointing at the door because they will not come through them.

If I wrote this post in wrong forum could someone move this post to the suitable ?

[Haifisch 0]

Yeah - my decision to withdraw myself from my own discussion is pretty much concrete at this stage' date=' but before I fade into the background:

I reiterate yet again I come from a business background and understand the tremendous numbers this has brought to ARMA and realize the benefits that some of these players will actually LEARN the real game at hand and move onto other servers.

And... are you kidding me? I know this is "still" ARMA. Looks like Chernarus to me.

By and large the influx has revealed the game to the world and brought just as much bad as it has good. Incidentally, there's also a thread with just as many replies called "Why does this game have so many idiots?"

[/quote']

I am a total noob but I love DayZ so far. ARMA has little draw on me, I don't really see myself diluting ARMA servers. If you want hardcore then stick to vanilla ARMA, if you want zombies and noobs hit up DayZ. I love getting shot by bandits.