Make ammo scarce. Make DayZ HARD.

[andy_uk15@hotmail.com 70]

Survivors will never band together for long if they are comfortable in the environment. Rocket would do well to ramp up the difficulty in terms of the zeds that populate Day Z.

They definitely need more bullets to take down and the spawns for such items should be rarer. The more limited the ammo, the less inclined players are to waste it on other survivors - this is where banditry comes into play. When a player has only a single STANAG mag for their M4 - they would want to save it for the zeds as opposed to survivors. Even bandits would rather save ammo than kill and loot - holding survivors up and robbing them would be preferable to loosing rounds. Yeah sure, players will still kill - but at their own expense.

Ammo should be worth its own weight in gold. At the moment we are too spoiled.

I don't mind killing other players, or being killed by other players. I really don't - but as it stands, its too simple to accumulate ammo by myself. You simply need to know where to look. Where as if things such as this became a rarity - it would encourage trade between players. I have an AK74 - and pick up a round for a DMR hoping a survivor needing DMR rounds will have mags for my AK... Yes - I could get shot and looted... But that's the dice you roll.

Make DayZ a challenge. Make it so Zombies - not players are the main threat.

Zed kills are not what a player should be scored on in Day Z.... It should be Hours / Dayz survived. Although it would be nice to have stats tracked for us on this website Ranks and achievements given out to those who live passed x number of days . Nobody would like their stats to be reset to 0 after their death. Back to Day 1...

Simply making AMMO for weapons scarce would be enough to do it.

If the rarity of ammo in Metro 2033 made me choose discretion over valour, then it should do the same here.

Edited July 20, 2012 by ScramUK

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

If ammo is scarce I am not going to team up with you.

I'm going to fucking kill you for your ammo.

It might not fit in my gun, but I have 6 friends and one of them will use it.

Edited July 20, 2012 by ZedsDeadBaby

[andy_uk15@hotmail.com 70]

What makes you think I have any?

If I don't then that's a waste of ammo isn't it?

Good luck fending off the zeds with the 16 rounds left in that mag... I'm talking RARE dude. So rare that your scrounging any weapon that has ammo with it, and ditching that lovely M107 for a Winchester just to get by.

Remember - survival should be what's important here...

Sure... you can kill every player you see.... It's like trying to draw a blood from stone though - if they haven't got anything other than an axe... perhaps a makarov with a half-empty clip. Perhaps nothing.

Its probably better to hold said players at gun-point for loot. A search option should be implemented here to gain access to a players active inventory, find out what ammo - if any they would be carrying.

There are alternatives to murder... However if you'd rather blast away - its your prerogative. Survival in my mind is scrounging for supplies. I think Day Z's player base has become, fat, spoiled and most importantly - bored. weaponry should be rare.. Baseball bats, Axes, Lead pipes should all be more easily accessed.

Edited July 20, 2012 by ScramUK

[komoter226@yahoo.co.uk 59]

If ammo is scarce I am not going to team up with you.

I'm going to fucking kill you for your ammo.

It might not fit in my gun, but I have 6 friends and one of them will use it.

Pretty much this.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

Good luck fending off the zeds with the 16 rounds left in that mag... I'm talking RARE dude.

Sounds pretty boring.

What's my main mode of play, then? Walk around begging?

What motivation would anyone have to help me if I have no ammo to contribute to the cause?

And when we find more ammo, why would they let me have it and not just murder me and take it?

This whole "make stuff scarce so people will be friendly" idea just doesn't pan out in reality.

And what about melee? If I run out of rounds I'll just axe you in the back of the head when you turn around.

At the end of the day you want exactly the opposite of what rocket wants DayZ to be, so I would probably just find a new game.

[spinager 152]

Instead of making the infected take more bullets, make it so that only a headshot will take them out. Bullets can slow them down, shot to the leg drops them already. Maybe by making them a headshot and low ammo, would help people form wasting ammo on other players.

[Dr. Fever 7]

Hmm.. maybe they still die eventually but make it so they have to actually bleed out before they drop? Except for a headshot of course. And while I agree on reducing the ammo and weapons I think players would and should remain as big a threat as zombies/infected...

Edited July 20, 2012 by Dr. Fever

[andy_uk15@hotmail.com 70]

Sounds pretty boring.

What's my main mode of play, then? Walk around begging?

What motivation would anyone have to help me if I have no ammo to contribute to the cause?

And when we find more ammo, why would they let me have it and not just murder me and take it?

This whole "make stuff scarce so people will be friendly" idea just doesn't pan out in reality.

And what about melee? If I run out of rounds I'll just axe you in the back of the head when you turn around.

At the end of the day you want exactly the opposite of what rocket wants DayZ to be, so I would probably just find a new game.

If thats the way you play dude... that's the way you play. You have one less buddy helping you hold back the horde.

I'm not condemning such actions. I may even do them myself.... But overall i feel that the zeds distinctly lack the challenge, serving more as target practice to burn off a few extra rounds when bored.

Edited July 20, 2012 by ScramUK

[GodOfGrain 191]

Hm... game would get less interesting for me. People will shoot each other nonetheless, but you remove a lot of tactical options with super rare ammo spawn. An effective team will burn through its ammo in a firefight in some cases. If you have to count every bullet the game would get less complex.

-1 for gameplay reasons

Just get rid of this ammo-replenishing bug and its fine.

Of course reducing ammo spawn for specific weapon types is a good way to "balance" different weapons.

E.g. before considering to get rid of the AS50, reduce its spawnrate and the spawnrate of its ammo...

But ammo for common assault rifles should be plenty.

[andy_uk15@hotmail.com 70]

I'm not saying this will stop the murders...

It will make survivors even more desperate.

Desperate enough to cooperate?

Desperate enough to kill?

I would love the challenge non-the-less.

Have you ever played a game where ammo was scarce? Games when you didn't want to take the shot, but if you had to you had better not bloody miss? Those games are the most intense.

If nothing else, it would curb the shootings of the unarmed.

Edited July 20, 2012 by ScramUK

[richard_b 15]

OP, you're forgetting something-this is a place where multiple wars were fought, and much of the population had access to weapons, especially farmers. This isn't Dead Island-the ArmA 2 engine isn't meant to handle melee. If you make ammo rarer, people will just take their time aiming for your head, so they can take your clips.

-1 for practicality.

[andy_uk15@hotmail.com 70]

Aside from the scarcity of ammo - where any other suggestions from my original post taken on board?

I'm not saying players wouldn't have ammo... It would take them longer to accumulate it, however.

Don't draw parallels to Dead Island. I'm well aware that ARMA isn't the same sort of animal at all. Not to mention its a mediocre, arcade game.

But the scarcer the resources within any type of game, the more decision making it evokes from the player. Player interaction is always a good thing - I'd like to think there were more ways for loners to interact with folk than simply through ones iron sights.

I enjoy thinking about my next move... Not instinctually reacting "oh shit, a survivor - kill it!" as they were a zed. But more along the lines of "Ugh ... i'm heading to Rogovo - that place is crawling... I don't have the ammo for this"...

Edited July 20, 2012 by ScramUK

[Sonblade (DayZ) 11]

I'd say make food and medical equipment just as scarce as ammunition. Weapons aren't used up or wasted in an infected apocalypse; food, bandages and ammunition are. You can't pry reusable bullets out of the bodies, nor can you take the food out of their stomach. Eventually, ammunition, medical supplies and food will be a rarity, while weapons will be in great supply. Bandits will have to weight killing a person vs. robbing them for their equipment, because who knows if they even have ammo. Survivors will have to decide between him/herself against a bandit(s), or giving up their equipment. If someone wants to go on a killing spree with their one STANAG magazine, let them. They'll be easy prey when they can't fight back against robbers. This will raise the tension of the game far more than the near-TDM situation that is going on at times currently.

Edited July 21, 2012 by Sonblade

[chrismgtis 55]

Ammo does need to be more scarce. At least for a lot of different weapons. Bison ammo is pretty rare right now. Enfield ammo needs to be a slight bit more rare for example (considering it's the 3rd highest damage weapon in the game).

Saying that ammo rarity will create more bandits is a beyond ridiculous statement.

Edited July 21, 2012 by marik

[Zetal 90]

+1

DayZ is fun, but too easy at the moment. Rocket wanted to explore the different choices people make- the game as it is doesn't do that. Introduce something- it doesn't have to be this- to make the game harder and more interesting.

[Korth 1]

OP, you're forgetting something-this is a place where multiple wars were fought, and much of the population had access to weapons, especially farmers. This isn't Dead Island-the ArmA 2 engine isn't meant to handle melee. If you make ammo rarer, people will just take their time aiming for your head, so they can take your clips.

-1 for practicality.

Keep 7.62mm Soviet ammo still abundant, then. But scarce ammo would definitely make this game much more challenging and fun, provided that melee weapons got a major overhaul as well to compensate for it.

Bear in mind that a big element of survival horror is the uncertainty and insecurity that the player experiences during the game. The whole reason this game is so exciting is that there are no rules and nobody is safe. Restricting the supply of ammo further denies you the confidence of safety, and that would make the game even more awesome.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Korth