Solution: Group finder and group functions

[MalleusX 9]

Ok so obviously right now in the DayZ community there is a growing minority that is demanding "safe" PvE and less KOS from other players. Some of the suggestions proposed have been 1) Safe zones or neutral trading zones, 2) the return of bandit skins and the humanity meter and 3) "penalties" for killing players and various debuffs.

All of these solutions, and any type of "solution" nerfing or watering down PvP in DayZ is NOT the solution and will severely hurt this wonderful mod. I think this is obvious to Rocket and the dev team but it cannot be overemphasized enough that PVP IS WHAT IS CARRYING THIS GAME. Without the exhilarating player interactions and the intense ambushes/firefights this mod would not really be worth playing all that much.

Now with that being said, it is obvious in my eyes that the solution for these solo PvE minded players is simply enhanced communication functions and a group system that would allow solo players to form groups and identify each other much more easily. I am not sure what the coding would have to be behind it and what the engine can support, but I know in vanilla Arma there is a squad function that is used to identify your squad that has potential for DayZ. This would allow players to invite other players in the starting areas and then communicate with text and voice thru the group channel.

In my eyes this is necessary to give public solo players and small groups the best possible experience in DayZ and that so they can actually compete with private VOIP groups in servers. For example, I play with a group of 10 of my friends in Mumble and when we jump into a server we literally own it...we can invade the NWAF, Stary, Cherno etc. with little fear or competition. However The most intense and exciting experiences I have ever had in this mod have been running into another larger premade group and getting into a skirmish. Giving pubs the opportunity to form larger groups would not only enhance their experience for protection and safety, but also private groups experiences for more challenging targets.

Edited July 15, 2012 by MalleusX

[heathy87 1]

personally i agree and have stated before that a way of seeing who is in your team should be enabled in the game.

the squad system already exists, its simply needs a method of adding and removing players into it, what it would enable could be completely upto the server settings, on regular you could get tags on veteran you simply get portraits or no indication whatsoever.

all it really does is assist groups with knowing who is actually part of their group or not. ofc all the purists will say this sort of thing ruins the whole game and is evil because its something other games do that this one doesn't and for that reason alone doesn't belong here. but the end result is more willingness from random players to form groups knowing there is a smaller chance of being shot in the back by your so called 'friend' because they had no idea who you were since everyone practically wears the same skin..

its something to chew on, i don't think it would be any more intrusive than being able to see your health and water level as a icon on the screen which steps right over the realistic boundary from the get go, yet the benefits could be substantial depending on what information 'grouping up' actually presents.

really all it comes down to is , time + effort = reward, if time and effort equal a high enough reward, it could be worth it, if the time it takes and the effort it requires is not worth the reward.. its not worth it.

essentially there is no actual way to tell if the guy running toward you is one of your teamspeak buddies (sure you can say 'hey fred,dave,bob,steve. is that one of you running toward me.. oh im dead never mind'), i have heard and read quite a few stories of how some random guy has managed to infiltrate a group of players for a decent amount of time before they became aware of that persons presence, this sort of thing just wouldn't happen so easily in reality, in game we are all stuck with the same skin practically and very limited noticeable and or recognizable facial features, in reality it would take seconds to 'see' if someone running toward you is one of the group or not, in game currently, its practically a gamble given the situation.

sure you can keep ears on team speak and continually update your position and what you can see yourself, most teams don't break apart that much, even when scavenging a team will stay within 50m of each other and move as a unit, still that is the perfect time for some random person to slip into the scene and start blasting ppl not only scoring perfect kills but creating confusion in the process.

at least with a system like this in place team speak doesn't sound like this as much.

'is that you!'

'yeah thats me'

'whos that over by the hanger!'

'oh thats just me'

'i see a guy lying down in the hedge'

'oh thats just me'

i could go on.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Phill

[jake1999@gmail.com 1]

I also agree, I was thinking about this for a month. What if there was 1 SMALL, military base the survivors spawned in that was guarded by 8 or 9 remaining soldiers left from the military. The whole point is you can start with your group at the military base and Teleport out to Specific locations near the beaches (That way no-one Tele's straight on an Airfield) and you can start you journey with your group at the same location, Rather then wasting 30min finding 3 people. Also i was thinking that the one military base left could be a safe haven for Survivors and Bandits are shot on sight.

[jake1999@gmail.com 1]

Also Another Completely Separate idea was that there's 1 or 2 Humvee s and 1 HELO that are manned by Soldiers and Patrol Around Killing Undead (Saving newb Survivors)

Edited August 24, 2012 by The Survivor