Pre-Apocalyptic Life / Role / Profession

[Aphex (DayZ) 0]

First of all, Yes, I have searched through the forums for this idea, and it has come up numerous times, however most of it revolves around progressive skill trees / stats / points, which is completely unrealistic, but what about the past lives' of the people who found themselves upon a beach of zombie infested Soviet Russia? Shouldn't that come into effect?

Essentially the idea I thought of is to have different, as the title shows, professions, which directly correlates to the player's profession / hobby before they found themselves washed up onto shore from unknown means. Now this would have minimal effects. I chose them to be either all unlocked for everyone to create balance between veterans and new players alike, or to them unlock-able, which would distinguish veterans but not give them a superior edge over new players either, for obvious balance.

With the unlock-able, you would unlock them by reaching a certain feat that somehow relates to it. For example, to unlock Fire-Fighter you would have to kill X amount of zombies with a hatchet. Or a Lawyer would have to rack up X murders. ( ^_^)

Now, I am against of the most generic ideas like "Run Speed", "Maximum Blood Increase" "Noise reduction" etc. because this can give survivors a game-breaking edge over other survivors, which is never fun. Instead, how about just some common items that relate to the profession / hobby that you would start with at spawn, just for that quick 'jump' into surviving again? Also this would be able to be implemented with the ARMA 2 engine without too much difficulty, similar to the Male / Female selection.

Also, they could wear clothes specific to that profession, either for clans / friends to be able to distinguish between themselves, for players to distinguish each-other, or for just that little extra bit of role-play. Now obviously this could be a pain to code and stuff, but everything can be changed.

Examples:

Civilian

Starting Items: Painkillers, Bandage, Flashlight.

Wearing current default clothes (Normal Top + Jeans)

Unlocked from the start.

Fire-Fighter

Starting Items: Hatchet, Flashlight.

Wearing a (Russian) Fire-Fighters uniform.

Unlock: Kill

X

Zombies with a hatchet.

Lawyer

(Purely cosmetic)

Starting Items: Ecst- Erm. "Painkillers", Bandage, Flashlight

Wearing a (Sexy) black suit.

Unlock: Murder

X

people.

Happy-Camper

Starting Items: Assault / Czech Pack?, Flashlight, Map (Czech possibly too OP)

Wearing warmer clothing (Tracksuit).

Unlock: Set up

X

tents? Make

X

Campfires? Either would do.

Doctor / Nurse

Starting Items: Painkiller/s, Blood bag?, Morphine? (Possibly too rare)

Wearing either scrubs or just dressy clothing (Hospital Doctor / P.D.)

Unlock: Use

X

Blood bags on different players.

Now obviously these are just examples I've brainstormed myself and there could be better. Now the obvious drawback to spawning with such items is the fact of either spawn killing, or getting loot to friends. That's why I avoided any military / police sort of professions and avoided giving weapons to any of them. There's also a small range of common items to work with.

Nevertheless, comment your thoughts / ideas / rage, I want to hear it all! Please :)

Edited July 22, 2012 by Aphex

[Thom_Dee 9]

Not sure I want this idea to have wings.

Much as I like the idea of wandering the wastes in a sexy suit. I'm against the whole starting profession / "class" ideas that have been floating about. I see you've careful avoiding giving any distinct advantages unlike those deluded souls who think perks would be a good idea but likewise I don't think any of the suggestions above add enough to the game to be worth the amount effort it'd take to bring these cosmetic changes about.

Having more clothes / skins to be found would as loot would be cool but as far as past life goes, we've washed up on the shore of this thrice accursed country, we don't know why or how we came to be here, who your character is defined by the actions you take from that point on and that's my personal preference.

[Aphex (DayZ) 0]

I did say the cosmetic changes would be slightly more difficult and aren't important, the main thing is the items you do start with. Like the Fire-man. He sacrifices early game medical supplies for an early game (Melee) weapon, and is designed for people who like the risk, or are damn good with an axe.

[Flying Mathias 18]

They're all civilians...

What I mean is, if a nurse/doctor was attacked by the zombies, why would they suddenly change into their scrubs, and go gather medicine from the hospital? They'd just be in everyday clothes. They're normal people. And most nurses and doctors that I know don't keep blood bags and morphine in their home.

The same goes for the other "classes"

[CarloNord 29]

If you want classes and stuff like that, go check out The War Z, it's DayZ but as an MMORPG and not just an MMO, classes will not happen here.

[Nalyid 28]

wat?

[L0G!N (DayZ) 149]

If you want classes and stuff like that, go check out The War Z, it's DayZ but as an MMORPG and not just an MMO, classes will not happen here.

I'dd like to see a quote of this if you can, because all i seen sofar is that Rocket said there will be no +1 skill system, as in you kill X infected getting XP which levels you up gaining skill points which you can then spend on any skill. Basically the RPG +1 system... Sofar i have not seen him say there will be no classes or pre-set professions in the game. And the +1 skill points quote is fairly vague, if that quote excludes a 'learning by doing' system (check my sig. for a suggestion with some more details) then starting people out with some preknowledge in certain areas is a possibility (i am personally heavily conflicted with myself on whether that be a good thing to add, it's possible in a learning by doing character progression system, but i don't realy like it as it's hard to balance in regards to giving certain pre-sets to much of a headstart in key areas of the game). Also i have not seen rocket mention that 'perks' would be excluded from the game. and this system strikes me a lot as a perk system... aka. get to some pre-determained goal and unlock a perk ...

So quote or it's just wishfull thinking!

[ExplosiveBanana 0]

It would be cool if it just dictated your skin, place, and starting equipment (dont vary to much with the last one).