Suggestion: No global characters

[Hutch (DayZ) 116]

I would suggest one way to avoid players server hopping and alt-f4'ing is to eliminate the cloud storage of character data and make it server specific.

Still persistent across logins, but not global. So every server you connect would have a diferent instance of your character including it's location.

This would eliminate server hopping and take away some of the incentive to alt-f4 when in danger.

It would also reduce the long login times caused by the overloaded character server(s)

And It would remove the need to tighly control who can run a server.

Personally I would like to run a private server with local character data only, so only myself and my invitees could play on it.

I would have just as much fun but wouldn't have to worry about hackers and douchbags.

Ok, maybe it wouldn't be AS much fun without the element of danger that comes from bandits and other players you don't know IRL,

But it would still be preferable.

What happens if the server you want to play on is full or overloaded? I don't have a solution for that other than queue and wait.

Not ideal I know but IMO still preferable to they way things are now.

$0.02

[thatcommiekid 57]

2¢ God damn it.

[suspense 210]

Like you said yourself, theres too many chances of losing that character because those who funded the server stops. DayZ in its current state is just the groundstones of what is to become a standalone game, where server hopping wont be possible. This is just an alpha, a test, an experiment and it is safe to say server hopping will not get fixed as long as this is on ArmA 2.

[Sol (DayZ) 132]

Like you said yourself, theres too many chances of losing that character because those who funded the server stops. DayZ in its current state is just the groundstones of what is to become a standalone game, where server hopping wont be possible. This is just an alpha, a test, an experiment and it is safe to say server hopping will not get fixed as long as this is on ArmA 2.

You can lose your game information on any game, if the company goes under or the host turns off the server. That's life anyway...

The rest of what you said has nothing to do with the ARMA2 engine at all. It's to do with the way character data is stored and distributed for public access. What OP is asking for can easily be achieved.

I agree with and support this thread.

~Sol

[suspense 210]

You can lose your game information on any game, if the company goes under or the host turns off the server. That's life anyway...

The rest of what you said has nothing to do with the ARMA2 engine at all. It's to do with the way character data is stored and distributed for public access. What OP is asking for can easily be achieved.

I agree with and support this thread.

~Sol

I never said it couldnt be achieved, i said its not what Rocket wants. He stated he wants a survival "MMO" with a persistant world and persistant characters. This cannot be achieved with ArmA 2 and the current state of Day Z, due to this you have an "exploit" as server hopping. It can be achieved as a standalone product which removes this "exploit" , if persistency is removed from Day Z now, testing features to run on a tranquility server will be very difficult, thus making development much more complicated.

Its like asking Rocket to remove zombies, it wont happen, its a core part of the mod.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Suspenselol

[Sol (DayZ) 132]

I'm not 100% sure you understand the concept of how the data stream would work... the player can only log into one server at a time, and therefore any "persistence" is semantic anyway. World of Warcraft is a giant MMO. The biggest ever. Your character is server specific. Changing the way character data is stored will have a completely null effect to the feel or projection of the game.

~Sol

[KWilt 157]

I'm not 100% sure you understand the concept of how the data stream would work... the player can only log into one server at a time, and therefore any "persistence" is semantic anyway. World of Warcraft is a giant MMO. The biggest ever. Your character is server specific. Changing the way character data is stored will have a completely null effect to the feel or projection of the game.

~Sol

Biggest problem with this comparison is that WoW doesn't have a 50 player limit on their servers, so you're never going to have to worry about not getting to your character that day because the pop capped out.

The reason I have a problem with ideas for server-specific characters is because servers tend to fill up too quickly. And suddenly, you're having to try and manage possibly a dozen different characters at a time if you want to play daily because you're lucky if you get into the same server twice. And all hell breaks loose even further if you're trying to get in with a group of friends, because that's suddenly anywhere between four to ten slots that you have to find open on a single server.

And heaven forbid a server host doesn't make rent, and you're suddenly out hours and hours of work. I've had more than one server that my group got lucky with vehicle finds go under just out of the blue.

[suspense 210]

I'm not 100% sure you understand the concept of how the data stream would work... the player can only log into one server at a time, and therefore any "persistence" is semantic anyway. World of Warcraft is a giant MMO. The biggest ever. Your character is server specific. Changing the way character data is stored will have a completely null effect to the feel or projection of the game.

~Sol

You cant compare what Rocket said he wanted Day Z to be, with what WoW is. Did you not notice i was talking about a Tranquility server? Just like Eve online. Theres 1 server for every single region(in eves case, 1 server for absolutely everyone) Rocket stated he was thinking of a system like this for Standalone

A server specific system in Day Z on ArmA, would completely ruin how the game feels. Servers goes down all the time, servers arent on the newest patch, servers crash, servers gets rebooted too often, servers rollback, servers gets abandoned. And everytime, you would have to start over.

You cant even go from your "usual" server, to a new one with your friends if the server your character is bound on, for some reason goes down. In the current state, all of this dont matter anyway, because the persistent system Rocket has talked about that he wanted, cannot be implemented as long as DayZ is a mod for ArmA 2.

Edited July 25, 2012 by Suspenselol

[Frozen (DayZ) 144]

i dont actually care about this. you cant already find server with local db, and they usually half empty(for obvious reasons).

so if you want to be protected from ghosts and loot farmers, you just need to find them.

[Sol (DayZ) 132]

You cant compare what Rocket said he wanted Day Z to be, with what WoW is. Did you not notice i was talking about a Tranquility server? Just like Eve online. Theres 1 server for every single region(in eves case, 1 server for absolutely everyone) Rocket stated he was thinking of a system like this for Standalone

A server specific system in Day Z on ArmA, would completely ruin how the game feels. Servers goes down all the time, servers arent on the newest patch, servers crash, servers gets rebooted too often, servers rollback, servers gets abandoned. And everytime, you would have to start over.

You cant even go from your "usual" server, to a new one with your friends if the server your character is bound on, for some reason goes down. In the current state, all of this dont matter anyway, because the persistent system Rocket has talked about that he wanted, cannot be implemented as long as DayZ is a mod for ArmA 2.

Sure.

Saying it's not possible, and not what Rocket wants are two different things.

What the player base wants and thinks is a good idea, and isn't, are also two different things.

As it stands currently, the game is neither.

It's not a tranquility server, and it's not local databased... it's a mess in reality.

I can see what he's trying to achieve by doing it, but because it's not done properly it is creating more problems than it's solving by being cloud persistent.

I'd rather have multiple characters on various servers, since even on the busy busy busy servers I can always manage to log in within 30 seconds or so by spamming the CONNECT button. I would also like the ability to change servers when my clan members aren't on for some solo action on a don't-give-a-fuck character, since now I'm virtually forced to log off when my clan does in order to minimize risk.

~Sol

[bloodriot 13]

To be honest I have to agree that global characters are deterimental to gameplay in this mod. I just joined and started playing today and I took me a few minutes to find out how i could exploit it before I even realised this was already being discussed in the forums.

While I do not want to exploit, several people will.

I have to agree that you either do server sided but not global character vaults (similar to how NWN 1 and 2 work) or go full MMO (even though I personally prefer is didn't). The current state is just open to be exploited like crazy.