New players don't want a negative experience of Dayz!

[peetgamer 10]

When i started early may i had maybe more starter items but zombies where alot more problems then today with no items or gun. Becouse of this hardcore gameplay im still playing DayZ and i think majority who buy armar 2 so he can play DayZ do this becouse he saw plenty video's or read about it and still bought knowing its hardcore full loot permadeath game.

Take it like a real man or go play Girlycarebear online.

[hoorah (DayZ) 36]

Ok Webster, you tell me what words you would use to define the difference between someone who is good at a game and someone who is not? You are arguing semantics. A rose by any other name my friend...

Good player, bad player. Strong player, weak player. Noob, vet. What ever words you use to define the margin of skill and strategy between someone who is good at doing something vs. someone who is not it is the same exact principle. You have people who excel at doing something, and people who do not. If you want to use different verbiage to define the difference then be my guest.

You're right, I am arguing semantics. Its just a personal preference in word choice, thats all.

I would choose to use words like experienced to describe someone that does well at a game, or just simply call them a good game player. I'm not saying that there is no skill set involved in playing games, but I wouldn't consider someone that does poorly at a mental exercise 'weak'. Video games are simply a form of entertainment, and I personally don't feel that someone's performance in one is any reflection of their character.

Honestly, I have a pretty low opinion of anyone that describes themselves using militaristic sounding words when in the context of a video game (not just in Day Z, for any video game in general). I don't particularly think someone excelling at a video game makes them in any way strong, elite, dangerous, hardcore, battle hardened, or tough.

I don't mean that as direct criticism of your post because yours wasnt that bad. I have however, seen some posts on this board that just make me shake my head in disappointment. I am sure, however, that those people don't particularly care for my opinion of them, and thats fine.

[Sula 1205]

You got mine bean, mate. I agree. I spent two and a half years on a software project that was meant to be a six month project to adapt some off-the-shelf software. I know how hard every tiny little thing is and eventually you have to walk away from it. I spent 2.5 nearly 3 years on that so called 6 month project. We went bespoke, got financial backing but they were still working on it when I left. It never worked properly. You have to appreciate what the developers have done here. I've just had a really good moan about the lack of information about this activating things before using. To me, if we're stuck with having to activate something (remove from toolbelt for example) before use then let's have it in the tutorials and advice pages. :)

Edited July 27, 2012 by Sula

[thetamsen 57]

Thanks for the reply. I think the frustrations I have are mainly due to the engine. not to harp on about the Dead Linger, but it is having to build an engine up from scratch so it can do the things people want. Dayz will always be limited. For example, loot will always have to respawn due to the map being of a limited size (it is big, but not really big enough). Controls are tied to the engine too. And being a war sim in the background means that the game does have to track every zombie meaning there will always be that limit.

As I said I do enjoy the game, but the limitations frustrate me. It is not whether or not I start with a weapon, or whether or not I know the location of everything. It is the fact that there are basic things that I want to be able to do that i can't. For example punch zombies, jump over roof tops, climb walls, emote to other players (wave, cheer etc.). These are the things that frustrate me and luckily enough I assume some of them will be resolved over time.

Stick to Left 4 Dead then.

[Morpane1492 0]

No.

If you cant survive and find fun within the 1st few hours, this may not be the game for you. We simply arent interested in making a casual friendly game, Rocket included.

[The True Nova 22]

What I'm hearing is that you feel the community should be responsible for showing new players where the fun in the game is. No. You're responsible for your own fun.

I believe he meant that everyone is such an ass to every newbie who wants to get better at the game. Being a bit nicer and actually talking out the logic of how things are improve the game instead of yelling "stupid CoD noob, go play Modern failfare 2".

These forums are not helpful for anyone considering the vast majority of it's members criticize and put down people who want to become a part of it or who try and suggest something that the majority does not like.

[Kykle 1]

Logging in and finding yourself on a beach alone in the dark with a bandage some painkillers and a flashlight, finding your way into town to find out that the inhabitants are severely infected with an unknown rage inducing sickness. Running for your life and possibly being shot by someone who just wanted to take that can of beans you found. Then logging out in anger and going to the dresser to change your pants. Yeah I think that's pretty much the first class DayZ first time experience. I don't see anything wrong with it.

[PaulPC 6]

You are the reason games have been dumbed down so badly. I like the challenge, If you don't like it please don't pollute the community with this non-scene. If you don't know what to do, then Google it or search on YouTube, there's literally endless amounts of guides. Research dose not just connect to games but to LIFE itself. Think about it, we are in the year 2012 and there is a thing called the Internet. Possibly the greatest thing invented, just type what you want on a search engine and find what you're looking for. If you have a question or want to find out how to do something, use the internet and stop bothering people on questions that could be answered yourself.

I would totally understand if we were still using books and that was your our only way of obtaining information. But face it, if an idiot could install the DayZ mod then they should be able to open up Google or YouTube and figure out how to be successful in DayZ.

If you're really having a difficult time tieing your shoes then look up, " how to tie a shoe" I won't tie it for you, nor will the developers of DayZ. When I started DayZ, I couldn't find a weapon for my life and that's because I didn't know where to look and you know what I did about it? I used the interweb to find where gun spawns are. Now I got all the cool stuff.

Truth hurts right? Someone had to spill the beans.

Edited July 28, 2012 by PaulPC

[schwifty 22]

My advice to new players is

-play the bootcamp to learn the controls

-play the arma 2 SP campaign to lean the map and get a feel for how it works

-play DayZ

I've been playing this series for 10 years, first time I joined in to DayZ I was alive for 10 days playing a few hours a day. 530 Z kills, 10 players. Died to a random zombie hit that knocked me out and I had to sit and watch it eat me.

[Bozo 18]

I agree to Caz, it's much better to learn the game and get real good at it instead of just having it easy the whole way..

In many new games the game grabs your hand and just leads you through the game, I don't like that and everyone could need a challenge.

[GrandAdmiralThrawn 1]

According to how some people here seem to see it, I am a quite "weak" player. Pretty much a n00b, rarely play MP shooters, mostly just single player stuff anyway. So i sucked really hard when I started playing DayZ. The controls are awful. The engine (the 3D renderer mind you, not the simulation) is a piece of trash. One time I tried to swim towards some iron stairs in some harbour cause I thought I could climb up there. Broke my legs! rofl. So lots of bugs too.

But the sensation of helplessness, the constant paranoia, or the rush when you see somebody else, trying to hide and wait for them to leave.. It's so freaking awesome. I like that this game is hard. You feel so greatly rewarded when getting just a gun or surviving a fight with lots of Zombies.

Once I killed 20 of them in a single fight on the edge of Elektrozavodsk.. It got me down to 4k blood with broken bones. Just by dusk i managed to CRAWL to the damn hospital (hiding from another player there, who got himself killed by Zombies I think), and got my first shot of morphine. That was such a GREAT experience. Followed another player that had entered the city to the supermarket. He shot a Zombie, and got rushed by a horde of them, drew them away.

I got in and fetched my first matches ever, plus Alice pack and Ghillie suit (!).

This was worth 4 days of perma-death! The game being so ridiculously hard makes it even more rewarding when you manage to survive and get better at it...

I pretty much suck at this stuff, but I'm AGAINST making it any easier! I would even take the band aid and the painkillers out of the starting gear so you have to be even more cautious in the beginning. The permanent fear of death and that adrenaline rush is great stuff!

[na85 16]

New player here. Have had the game for ~4 days now and died many many many times since then.

This game isn't actually that difficult.

I started out, had no idea where I was, so I ran around and pulled some aggro from zombies and promptly got eaten. Awesome, lesson #1. Next life, I crawled on my belly until I saw a road sign for the town I was in. As soon as I saw Солнечный on the sign I opened up my laptop and googled "DayZ map" which right away told me:

a ) where I was,

and

b ) where I could find some supplies

I crawled around and then went up to the factory where I promptly realized I had never found beans and was starving, so I tried to run to a farm, pulled aggro, and got eaten. That was lesson #2.

After a few lives I realized that the zombies really aren't a threat; you just run into a barn or other building with more than one exit. So it was probably by day 3 or 4 of owning the game that I spawned in Chernogorsk and just sprinted through the city in and out of appartment buildings (where I found an AK), the supermarket (makarov, shitload of beans) and the hospital (blood, morphine, etc). After that I ran north, found a dead survivor with some handy gear on me, found a Lee-Enfield, killed a guy with the enfield and took his tools.

Now I never have to go into a town again, pretty much, as long as I'm near fresh water.

Went exploring, found a crash site, traded my AK for a FN FAL.

So yeah. ~3 days to acclimatize to the game and realize that unless you make a mistake, zombies are almost irrelevant. All I'm missing is GPS (which I really don't need. I can navigate just fine using dayzdb), NVG, rangefinder, and a good sniper rifle.

The hardest part of this game are hackers and server-hoppers that ghost around behind you.

Edited July 28, 2012 by na85

[Raaad 3]

I don't think new players would have a negative experience, I just started a couple days ago and am digging it. The only thing that frustrated me was finally getting a lot of stuff map, compass, watch, camo, assault rifle, pistol, larger pack, lots of food and soda etc etc and dieing because I stepped off the third step of some stairs :/ then the next time I spawned I literally went to every item spawn I could find and didn't find one drink... Lots of food but not one drink and died of thirst. Just bad luck I guess haha but it pissed me off enough I need a break for a day or two. Oh and the time I finally found a bike and almost jizzed on myself until 5 mins later the game crashed and when I logged back in it was gone.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Raaad

[rrpatch 0]

Hi everyone. I just stated playing DAYZ. I played OFP all the way to Arma2 OA. I love DAYZ so far and I am doing good also. Game is just right to keep you going back even after you have been shot or Bit by infected. So I got most my clan to play. We wanted to find a server with under 10 or so people to play on so we could take our time talking and exploring after hearing about the player hunters. After about 1 hour of check servers under 10 players we gave up for the night. Why ? Because for 1 hour we only found DAYZ at NIGHTZ. Everyone said turn up gamma. Ya still not able to see. Any how we tried 4 more nights and with 12 of us checking servers. 1. Server was pitch black, 2. Server had pint of 9999 or wrong version, 3 over 10 people to get day light. We log in over 10 people and most of us die in 20 minutes. Wish night time was accelerated to like 2 hours or something. Anyone have some positive solutions for us so I can get more to play ? And if you are just going to bash me then keep it to your self. Thank you in advance.

[GrandAdmiralThrawn 1]

You could try foreign servers, but ping will be bad of course. I tend to connect to servers with around 20 or less people, that's still somewhat manageable, if you don't push it (Elektrozavodsk and Chernogorsk WILL be death traps of course).

By the way, seeing a "9999" ping in SixLauncher is not a problem, please connect to that server still, and check pings in the lobby. The values from the launcher are mostly bogus it seems. Also, servers geographically close to you are most likely to be in the correct timezone. You can also see the timezone of the server in most server names directly (something like GMT-8 in the server name).

Servers with more people are manageable. You just need to be very careful and a little bit lucky.

[Kemerd 1]

I agree. I started playing Day Z just today. I felt so lost, I felt alone. I had no weapon. Just a dumb ol' flashlight, a bandage, and some pain meds. After several times dieing, I was still confused. The game was frustrating. But then I was lucky. I guy came over in a jeep and picked me up. We became friends. We survived together. Then he broke his leg and was left in the dark with 14 blood. He gave me all his gear and then respawned himself. I was left with all his things. That single experience made me love Day Z. I went from being a hopeless lost person, hating Day Z. To loving Day Z and playing on. Now I love Day Z. So if you see any newbies around, help them out! (I'm mad though, cause I dropped my hatchet in the dark and couldn't find it. Bleh.)

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

I'm a noob compared to some of you. I started out with nothing and had to learn the game the hard way.

Those were some of the best times I've had in this game. I can't imagine why anyone would need morphine since broken bones are extremely rare now. A gun isn't necessary and it will only make banditry and deathmatching worse if they were handed to newspawns. A gun is going to convince a noob that it's okay to run straight to Elektro or Cherno. When they die again and again they'll get on the forums and ask for starter assault rifles or complain about the pvp.

No, the current setup is pretty decent but I'd like them to remove painkillers.

[fuZion_jr 0]

i have been playing this for 2 weeks now, at first i went all CoD on the zombie a***s and lasted a whole 1 minute, i then adopted a bf3 approach, lasted 5 minutes, hell i adopted a resident evil (old school version of course) approach and lased 10 minutes, i then adopted a day-z approach, i now have a pistol, double barrel shotgun, 5 blood packs, 3 morphine, 6 cans of coke/pepsi, 4 cans of pasta, a compass and a map and loads of ammo, i did this by playing smart, i looted the hospital and supermarket with my axe and found the guns in an army base.

rules are simple....

stay low........... be patient...............trust no one!!!!!

enjoy one of the best games around at the moment.

love you allllllllllllllllll

[FishBoy 2]

Yo, I'm a newbie, been playing for 3 days thus far and have died several times. Had fun while doing it.

I have a funny story actually, sort of along these lines. I got stuck in a building with another player. I was unarmed, this guy had a crowbar. He kept crouching in doorways fending off the zombies. He even rescued me once. He never spoke a word.

Then I tried to leave the building, and he went all ape on me. I ran, and he killed me with his crowbar in the middle of the parking lot. I was gratified to see however that the zombies I had attracted killed him in turn. I loled hard, however...

I agree that one should stick to realism. But it's frustrating to not be able to at least defend oneself. Wish I could use my hands or fists or something. Perhaps starting out with a weapon like an axe, not a gun. Something better than tin cans (discovered that you CAN kill zombies with tin cans, heheh). Maybe a small knife would be more realistic without making it too easy.

I'm not afraid of the learning curve (heck, I play Eve Online, started when I was 12 back in 03), but a fighting chance can't hurt. It at least would give new players the chance to figure out how to avoid the zombies without dying over and over. It's eventually going to be easy for the vets no matter what you do (I think that's when you should start messing with the endgame, rather than the beginning). Even Eve gives newbies at least a civ gun (a butterknife).

[witek26 9]

Can't even imagine how easy this game was when you started with food, water, gun and medical supplies. No fun what-so-ever.

First thing I remember was going to Kamenka, searching through gas station and bullet to the face. Welcome to Dayz.

Edited July 30, 2012 by witek26

[NovaDose 128]

According to how some people here seem to see it, I am a quite "weak" player. Pretty much a n00b, rarely play MP shooters, mostly just single player stuff anyway. So i sucked really hard when I started playing DayZ. The controls are awful. The engine (the 3D renderer mind you, not the simulation) is a piece of trash. One time I tried to swim towards some iron stairs in some harbour cause I thought I could climb up there. Broke my legs! rofl. So lots of bugs too.

But the sensation of helplessness, the constant paranoia, or the rush when you see somebody else, trying to hide and wait for them to leave.. It's so freaking awesome. I like that this game is hard. You feel so greatly rewarded when getting just a gun or surviving a fight with lots of Zombies.

Once I killed 20 of them in a single fight on the edge of Elektrozavodsk.. It got me down to 4k blood with broken bones. Just by dusk i managed to CRAWL to the damn hospital (hiding from another player there, who got himself killed by Zombies I think), and got my first shot of morphine. That was such a GREAT experience. Followed another player that had entered the city to the supermarket. He shot a Zombie, and got rushed by a horde of them, drew them away.

I got in and fetched my first matches ever, plus Alice pack and Ghillie suit (!).

This was worth 4 days of perma-death! The game being so ridiculously hard makes it even more rewarding when you manage to survive and get better at it...

I pretty much suck at this stuff, but I'm AGAINST making it any easier! I would even take the band aid and the painkillers out of the starting gear so you have to be even more cautious in the beginning. The permanent fear of death and that adrenaline rush is great stuff!

you have my beans. IMHO the fact that you like the difficulty, stuck to the game, and have started to survive makes you a cut above the rage quitters

[hoorah (DayZ) 36]

A gun is going to convince a noob that it's okay to run straight to Elektro or Cherno.

Most of the time I run straight into cherno or elektro without a gun on a fresh spawn. Its the 'I have nothing to lose' mentality.

I might change that plan up if there are 40+ people on the server, but with 10 or less its straight into the big city on a spawn.

[NovaDose 128]

You're right, I am arguing semantics. Its just a personal preference in word choice, thats all.

I would choose to use words like experienced to describe someone that does well at a game, or just simply call them a good game player. I'm not saying that there is no skill set involved in playing games, but I wouldn't consider someone that does poorly at a mental exercise 'weak'. Video games are simply a form of entertainment, and I personally don't feel that someone's performance in one is any reflection of their character.

Honestly, I have a pretty low opinion of anyone that describes themselves using militaristic sounding words when in the context of a video game (not just in Day Z, for any video game in general). I don't particularly think someone excelling at a video game makes them in any way strong, elite, dangerous, hardcore, battle hardened, or tough.

I don't mean that as direct criticism of your post because yours wasnt that bad. I have however, seen some posts on this board that just make me shake my head in disappointment. I am sure, however, that those people don't particularly care for my opinion of them, and thats fine.

You are also putting words in my mouth. At no point do I say that one's ability to play this game is in anyway a reflection of their personal character. You have taken a couple of verbs completely out of context. I do not believe that a person's ability at this or any other game on the planet reflects a person's character (how they approach the challenges of the game might, but we will get to that later).

I should have just said "good player" or "bad player" so that all this nonsensical, utterly superfluous hair splitting could have been avoided. Simple fact is you have good players (strong) or bad players (weak) at this game, and any game. Lets just leave it there and forget about what words we use. Can we agree that there are good players and bad players? Good. Moving on.

My post was "not that bad" because I didn't "describe myself using militaristic sounding words". You are mistakenly taking the word "strong" as some kind of descriptor of anything more than skill level at this game. Accomplished? Fine. Advanced. Sure. Gods gift to gaming? I never claimed that and anyone who does is a fool. I know where you're coming from man, I do, I truly do. Some beck-beard who gets a hard on after a double kill and thinks it makes him a bad ass is just plain sad. I know there a lot of posts like that here, and on just about every other forum too, so I can understand why you would think, automatically, that-that's the place I'm coming from. Let me clear this up. I would consider myself mediocre at best, there are far "stronger" more "advanced" players in this community than me, and far more "weak" players too. My friend for instance (that poor schmuck) is "weak" and "stupid" in the context of this game (and I have no qualms letting him know that too, it drives him to do better). He has no idea what he's doing, and dies constantly by doing the same thing that killed him the last time. He's getting better, and he's not giving up. NOW we can talk about IRL "strong". By not giving up because it's too hard he is showing CHARACTER. That drive, IMHO, lends itself to making him a stronger player. However, do I think that because he sucks at this game for time being that he is some how inferior to me in any other context beyond this game? Fuck no.

I've got one last argument to make here before I patiently await your response. This one is directed at OP: My friend, like many others in this thread (including myself), is making the transition from a weak player to a strong player. If you are sucking hind tit at this game right now it wont always be that way. So what you get your face ripped off after ten minutes. Respawn, go for it again, and you DO eventually learn to survive. It's hard, but like ripping off a band aids it's best to just get it over with. If we give the new folks special treatment then when that special treatment is gone they will be no better off. They will go from something moderately difficult to something much more difficult, and that may be more detrimental than them learning to live with death right off the cuff.

However, I do really like the idea of making the game a little more accessible to the newbies. I think a party dynamic would be helpful. They could team up with other people who should be safe to run with, and be able to survive a little longer just due to the strength in numbers (if the zed are busy chewing on your partner's face it gives you time to get away). I think a really fleshed out party dynamic would solve a lot of issues. KOS would be at the top of that list. Of course, that would be something for the stand alone...but still.

[derailed000 20]

I think starting kit is just fine as it is. One just need to put in a little effort into the game and you soon have supplies to make it. Everyone just want to skip the tutorial and start playing, sorry it doenst work like that.

[Armas 9]

I didn't get any of that stuff when I started and I thought that was awesome..