1.7.2 Opinion thread. All your opinions, good and bad, go here.

[darrkbeast 0]

Games plays quite well on my rig, but it has since I started. The zombies do seem to spot me quite far away and sometimes through buildings. I crawled in a small town, stood up behind a house and a zombie ran around the buildign and attacked me. Also good but wierd, I found a uzi in a house located in a small town. It had two clips and all, pretty cool. I have found quite a bit of supplies to, maybe I was lucky but I found matchs, map, watch, binocliurs, 1911, military flashlight, gernade, big back pack, axe, and a rifle all in 10 mins of spawning. It was nice but seemed to easy, but could have been luck.

[leeballington@tiscali.co.uk 6]

I have noticed that some people are still having problems with Zeds agroing them while they think they are hidden, from what I have read in this thread in built up towns, where there are usually a good number of the blood thirsty buggers, seems to be the most common place that players are finding problematic.

Let me tell you what I know and maybe spread a little light on the problems you maybe having. I will try and not to come across patronising, but some of the points might seem that way, as some of the tips are simplistic, but it's usually the simple things that people forget the quickest.

(1) Zeds are inconsistent in patch (1.7.2.3) agro, speed, vision, hearing even how hard they seem to hit. By now you know this, I'm sure you've read enough about it, it gets enough hate posts about the problem. But if you know this, don't expect every Zed to be the same. LOOK, THINK and then ACT. Don't rush thinking "That Zed is miles away even though he's facing me so I'll just jog over this road." That will get you pulling agro very easily from something that could be avoiding with a little bit of patience and common sense. I have hit the prone button many a time after just seeing Zed looking in my direction whether he's 10 meters away or 50, I make sure I'm hidden for that moment they keep an eye on him for a few seconds just incase he did spot me and starts running, most of the time I'm fine but sometimes even from 50 meters away, he's seen me and I need to make a quick exit. Like I said Zeds are inconsistent.

(2) Awareness in towns. Looting in towns and villages can be fruitful if done right. Personally, I'd rarely try and loot a town with a fresh spawn, weaponless character, as the chances of bumping into a Zed's agro is extremely high and even if you find a building to make a stand in, without a gun you might just be delaying the inevitable, try looting barns first to get at least a Double-Barreled Shotgun or if you're lucky a Winchester, for me one of the best guns in the game, low noise, decent range, 15 rounds and usually 1-shot kill.

Check the perimeter of the Town/Village you're attempting to loot, some have very few enterable buildings, you're looking for 2-story square red brick buildings and dark grey 1 story wooden houses, these are the most common enterable buildings but there are some others like a yellow house but not all towns have them. Once you see a building you can enter, plan your route, move slowly and stay low but not always prone, Zeds have LoS so use the buildings and structure to your advantage, hugging the wall and peering around corners before moving will slow you down but it will keep you alive. Constantly stop, check your 360, then move on if it's clear. Stick to your route trying to avoid fences you need to vault over as this will put you in full standing posture making you easily visible. If you have got to the door of a building prone, move up to squat position before entering, some buildings while entering prone will make you auto-stand or worse you'll get the broken leg bug. Check 360 again before entering and walk don't run (Doors can be buggy if you run in).

Once inside quickly get the loot inside, only what you need, don't start messing around with your bag in there, pick up the gear and get out, you want to get in and out quickly so that Zed position outside hasn't changed dramatically, this is very important with buildings with only one entrance, unagroed Zeds move slowly so if you're quick, not much would have changed outside. Walk out, done run and hit prone once clear from the door if unsure about Zed position. Check 360 again and move out.

Don't get searching around if you are not sure what's ahead. There is little point putting your life at risk because they MIGHT me an enterable building ahead, if you can see it fine, if you're just curious back out and take another look from outside the town.

(3) Prone not always the way to go. Being prone has some great benefits, you can move in open areas making virtually no sound and you're very well hidden on most terrain, but you're slow and if you play with 3rd person off visually impaired. Going prone is a necessity at times, but don't over rely on it. Zed's are inconsistent, I've said this enough and the major problem of being prone is when shit hits the fan and you need to run, your character will take longer to get up than it takes me to get out of bed in the morning. You want to be in most cases walking in the squat position, hugging walls, checking corners and regularly checking your surroundings. You make just as little amount of noise if you walk in squat as you do in prone, yes Zeds can see you if they are looking right at you but you should be checking your surrounding making this less of a problem.

(4) Watch the white dots at the edge of the screen. These are either Zeds or animals. (Might be players too, not sure on that one). They look a little like lens flares, the bigger they are the closer it is to you. These are great when searching around towns as a lot of the time you can't see what's around the corner but these little dots can tell you if there is something there and how close it is. Use these to your advantage, Zed around the corner? I'll just sit tight for a few seconds till he moves away.

(5) Random Zed spawn. You will get this if you have moved into an area quickly, I get this a lot in the Airstrip as you have to move fast due to snipers, yes it can be a pain but if you get them in an area where you are moving slowly, it's most likely because another player has entered the area you are in, so stay alert for PKers. This bug I don't like but I'm sure that this will be fixed soon as it's a clear bug not just a Zed agro annoyance.

That's it hope I helped a little.

If you slow down think about what you're doing a little more you'll be fine. I'm guessing most people are agroing Zeds because they are rushing too much to try and get loot quicker. Take your time, plan your route and be a bit more vigilant and you'll do fine.

Good luck.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Lee1979

[UFO1947 0]

Not starting with a weapon is lame considering I can't kick or punch so I can at least knock down Z's

Edited July 23, 2012 by UFO1947

[GSpotter63 0]

I think the game needs a reputation point system. The amount of points one receives for a kill is dependent on the point level of the killer as well as the level of the target.

If player A ( with 20 points) kills player B ( with 1000 points) player A gets 100 points for killing a high level player and player B looses 300 points for getting killed by a nob.

If player B kills player A on the other hand player B looses 300 points for killing a Nob and the nob player A only looses 5 points.

If both players A and B have about the same reputation point level then the exchange of points one to another would be even.

I am sure that some sort of % equation would work fine here.

Running around killing nobs would make your reputation level drop like a stone into the negative numbers turning you into public enemy No.1 and the most hunted man in the game. To help a player decide whether or not he should engage a target, the targets reputation level would be displayed as you aim near the target.

A leader board showing all the reputation levels could be posted for bragging rights. When starting a new player your reputation level would be set at 0 and go up or down from there. Staying at either the bottom or the top of the leader board would be very difficult. The last known position of those near the top or bottom of the leader board could be broadcast to all players with a map and help the mid level players home in on the positions of the top and bottom players and make their game more difficult.

A point system like this could help cut back on the amount of top level bandits ( players that do nothing but kill other players) making the game more enjoyable for those who just want to be survivors yet still allows for bandits to have their fun. Without PVP this game would just be another zombie frag fest like all the rest.

Edited July 23, 2012 by GSpotter63

[Traveler (DayZ) 27]

omfg U didn't just recommend a stupid point system for killing players? damnit...this game needs to have NOTHING of an achievement system, if it was goping to be about survival, about the ecperience....

I like the new patch, but this might be because I am lucky enough to nearly always have at least a sidearm. Zombies are really hard to predict...sometimes going prone seems to have the effect of fireing the damn enfield ^^

But the Zeds not hearing through walls is superb, now preventing them from entering through walls and closd doors would be awesome. The game is going in a good direction, buit when you play on a tam, it gets boring soon insofar as you do net have "quests", whatever they maybe. but you can always find some for yourself!! That is what this game's about. I wouldn't mind a well.hideable tent-like entity, though...

and if bugusing spiols your damn game, why in the name of holy F*** did you do it??! It will be fixed, I am sure...but damn it, you choose to do it yourself!!

[FalafelCopter 20]

Zeds are inconsistent. I get that and I understand your advice on how to deal with them. It makes sense to treat them all as if they're the one zombie that's going to aggro you from 50 miles away. Here's what I have to ask though: Is it good game design for zombies to act this way? I would have to argue that it isn't.

Part of what makes players respond positively to a difficult challenge is if that challenge is consistent enough that a player with enough skill can deal with it. When the player is randomly punished for reacting in a way that seems very much like it would solve an earlier problem, it's very difficult to still care about putting yourself into that situation, especially as a new player.

I don't mind zeds running really fast or erratically or having the potential to kill me with a single slap, as long as the reason this situation occurred is the same every time. As it its, a lot of the time it seems like you did everything right and the game just decided to screw you over. (Especially with zeds spawning directly behind you.) Part of the allure of the zombie/infected apocalypse is that the enemy are all exactly the same, and even though they are deadly and numerous, they're a predictable. When people die in zombie/infected movies it is always directly traceable to a mistake they personally made, which allows the audience to believe that they might do better.

If zombies aggroing from 50 miles away is appropriate, then they should all do that so that players are immediately fed the information they need to survive and don't have to throw themselves into the meat grinder over and over again to figure out what's going on.

The UI is partially to blame, though. It really needs to accurately reflect how visible and audible we are. The way it is now, the bars lead players into a false sense of security. If it's night time and I have 0 bars of visibility and 0 bars of sound, I should not be attacked by zombies, period. If I am going to be, the bars should reflect that so that a new player can plan accordingly. (And don't give me a realism argument here, because in real life we would not have bars like that at all.)

Edited July 24, 2012 by FalafelCopter

[a_casual_banana 38]

Hair-rippingly annoying in some aspects, but overall, good. If they would just add Helis and clothing spawns again, I'd be happy...

[kexy 7]

I got arma 2 to play dayz because of the hype and read the forums and to be honest thought the complaints about griefing and hacking were probably over blown as the are in most game forums. I started playing dayz expecting what I have seen in videos and reviews. sadly this has not happened I have been hardly killed by zombies in this game. I have only seen 2 players who didn't kill me or try to on sight in three weeks all it's to the point I will pretty much kill on sight myself as it seems only way to play. It seems every night I try. and play with my friends we go around gather supplies and finally group up only to be teleported and killed or get in a fire fight only to have the guy/s disappear and repair to kill us. Majority of my time in the game is just spent trying to group up just to killed by hacker, kos, or player disconnecting then reconnecting then trying to group up again don't forget how hard it is to find a server that has decent ping running same version and isn't so laggy that it's almost impossible to play. still not bad enough to make me regret the $30 i spent on it (should have waited till steam sale) but getting close to regretting buying it. I'll give it till next patch before I either quit or continue playing. Too be honest as the popularity of the grows it's going to get much much much worst I guess maybe I started playing to late seems like missed out on the better days of dayz

Edited July 24, 2012 by Kex

[kexy 7]

double post sorry

Edited July 24, 2012 by Kex

[Donmen 1]

I like how there are serious problems if you messup regarding the zombies but I feel experienced players can too easily avoid the zombies and give the newer players a hard time.

[Womb Raider 92]

So far I've found it be a rather enjoyable experience. Glad to see that there aren't Normandy style beach defenses in every fire station I go to, that's a nice change.

Definitely like the direction in which Day Z is going, keep up the great work Rocket.

[WhiteKnightGeo 0]

Im really liking all the new zombie animations, the mele wep's are little hard to use imo hard to get it working or kill anything without taking a hit

[WhiteKnightGeo 0]

O also im finding servers are running a lot smoother with more people playing thats an awesome thing more people playing the better the game is

[FalafelCopter 20]

Im really liking all the new zombie animations, the mele wep's are little hard to use imo hard to get it working or kill anything without taking a hit

Don't you love when you swing 8 times to a zombie's face and it just ignores you and continues to slap you?

[phoenix487 1]

Some way of FORCING players to be UNABLE to despawn during any sort of combat would be nice. I'm totally sick of getting popped by a sniper for no reason, then locating him and firing back, only to watch him disappear and later reappear in a flanking position to finish me off. I don't use douchebag tactics, and I know many others who don't, but those who DO should be punished, or not allowed to in the first place.

Also, *ahem* excuse my language, but... FUCK BANDITS. They have no visible skin to tell if they ARE bandits, and they have forced me to shoot on sight, because 99.999999999% of encounters with other players that I DON'T shoot on sight shoot ME on sight. I realize this is the way the game is, and is also what keeps you on your toes, but still, it would be nice if we could at least SPOT who is a bandit and who isn't, that way we MIGHT have the ability to cooperate with other players. It IS a survival game after all, and in real life the zombies would be a common enemy for MOST people... MOST people won't just murder other people on sight, ESPECIALLY if they saw that this other person has better skills/better weapons than them.... they would want their HELP. Sure, they may betray them while they're asleep or have their backs turned, but chances are they would refrain from murder, as part of HUMAN NATURE.

So yeah... rant over.. the point is bandits should be forced to have a different outfit, or even just a different colored hat or something to distinguish them from the players who like REALISM and choose NOT to murder another human being for a can of beans.

Like I said, the rant is over. All in all, the game is amazing... one of the best I've ever played, certainly the most enjoyable free-roam zombie game I've ever played, AND it's still only in alpha, so that is just AMAZING. Thank you so much Rocket, I hope you completely redesign the industry.

Now if only you could completely redesign the assholes that play in the industry. :)

Edited July 25, 2012 by PhoenixKsE

[jackel2072 0]

Respectfully, i dont like how far a zombie can see now. It also seems like a real pain for new players who are just getting into the game, they have no real time to learn the mechanics of the game, that all of us who been playing for a while have taken advantage of. I know its an Alpha, and thats the double edge sword of letting people play an Alpha. The game you thought you knew and love changes on you. But even with that said. i dont know how well tough love for new players getting into this game is going to work.

[Willynelson 2]

As a new player I can respond to a few of the "how new players are going to react" comments such as above.

It's refreshing. Sick to death of the COD series, hackers, predetermined story lines, set roles and responsibility this game is Truly refreshing.

It's Hard very hard to learn. But I think if it wasn't, this game would suck, it would be full of children and Muppet's and the complaints on here would be not of game issues but of the maturity levels of the people whom play it. The learning curve is IMO probably slightly steep but probably close enough. I can't wait to build up an armory and go and kill some zombies etc. but that wish is going to have to wait as I can't seem to live long enough, but I would think that's the life of teh game and something that will get better with time. I can with patience get in and out of a town and get firearms and personally I think that's not bad as I only have just clocked up 3 hours in ANY ARMA game after buying ARMA2 and not liking it, your bosses should be happy that I'm back willing to push through that learning curve of the controls. (OMG what a pain in the butt) to enjoy a product by your team.

All and all I, personally think you have a fantastic product if even still in alpha, you and your team should be proud of what they have created with 0 marketing.

Now on the actual post - Patch Only concern is the aggro ranges and speed of some of the zombies, but that has been well covered, I'm just trying to even up the anger in here :)

[BuddyMcFriend 30]

Flashlights need their own slot!!

[cpstörd 7]

What I hate atm is that there is no point sneaking into a town anymore, just run and fucking run to loot the place then get the fuck out. So not worth is by sneaking. It was before like a few month ago, not anymore.

[Wallberot 37]

Still loving it. Hackers seem to have been slown down(or the noob ones), I haven't seen one since the patch. I'm glad they nerfed guns, and made zeds a bit tougher. This game(mod) is a breath of fresh air, and big props to the dev team.

One thing i'm noticing, though. Once you learn that alll you need to do is stay at a sprint, and run from building to building to collect your stuff, It begins to get a bit stale(or easy). Gather up zombies, run them into a building(to slow them down), get loot. Rinse, repeat. I'm not sure what can be done about this? Maybe a penalty to stamina for staying at full sprint which makes you slow down. Dog zombies that can catch you and knock you down. Shrug.

Do something to battle the people who are manipulating their files to remove grass/trees, in order to locate tents/camps, etc.(Maybe this has been fixed, not sure).

I've noticed an increase in screen tearing or artifacts with this new patch.

All in all, still a great Mod. I like the direction Rocket and team are going, increasing the difficulty of the game with each patch. The harder the better. The game has a long way to go, but that's not a bad thing.