Profession System to Encourage Group Play

[paraplegic_panda 1]

So, obviously there are conflicting views pertaining to whether or not group play (or perhaps more so, attempting to confer with randoms in order to form a group) is beneficial over the 'lone wolf' approach. I've thought about it for a while, and I feel that implementing a sort of class system that plays off of the strengths and weaknesses of each other will not FORCE, but encourage players to think twice before putting a bullet into the random they spotted looting around town.

I like to imagine that, ultimately, this game is not based solely on how those with large military backgrounds would survive (everyone has excellent gun control with various degrees of medical knowledge along with a superb physical stature,) but on what the average Joe would do to get by in this dilapidated mystery of a catastrophe.

That being said, not everyone is the same. People have different backgrounds and occupations that lend to their individuality, and with that individuality they have something different to bring to the table. With that, I propose a 'Profession System' and with this system, your character will have abilities that are indicative to his or her background.

There'd be many different professions that you may choose from (or perhaps more interesting- randomly provided) such as mechanic, police officer, doctor, electrician, just to name some off of the top of my head. Heck, you might even be given something that would seemingly be useless, like an accountant (how a useless job could still be a benefit, I'll explain later.) But, the idea is that you have a certain purpose that could be useful for others, and vice versa. Not everyone knows how to repair a car, but with the mechanic, you won't have to worry about that. Got a broken GPS? Give it to the electrician.

As for 'useless' professions, I think those classes should be given niches that are individual to that character (again, player-chosen, or random) that make that character special, despite the fact that their job doesn't pull much into the circumstance. That seemingly useless accountant? Maybe he has excellent running speed, and he can pinpoint your position on a map. Or, perhaps he has excellent intuition and can tell whether or not a player has bandit status or not. Not so useless now. And I feel that with this, all players will have something that is important for the survival of a team as a whole.

I accept that this is a pretty undeveloped idea, but I just want to hear what you guys think about having something like this in the game. So, go ahead. Read it and like it/ dislike it/ poop on it/ whatever.

[chhopsky 25]

Rocket has continually said that the idea of Day Z is that you are who you are. The idea of bringing classes into it rather than differentiating naturally via successful vs unsuccessful behaviour is overcomplicating the matter, and IMO will only bring confusion and turn this into WoW. I'd definitely see fit to have you character develop as you do - the more you shoot, the better your shooting gets. The more you run, the longer you can run without getting tired. The less you eat, the more your body adapts to having less food and lets you go longer without it, etc. I propose that we stop trying to shoehorn other game attributes into this and start trying to think of new ways, preferrably without quicktime events, choices, or anything else that's not just letting people play the game and providing tools and stimulus to let people generate their own stories.

There are definitely potential ways to customise the characters but if you ever have to choose a class, then the game has failed IMO.