Playing solo is problematic

[lobsterman 5]

So i got ArmA2 on the big sale on steam, and i've been playing it for the last couple of days. While i find the game very entertaining and suspenseful, i can't help but feel that the solo play is much harder than it should be.

I would love to team up with people, but not via forum posts, that just ruins the experience. I think it's way more interesting to just meet at random and help eachother out. Most of my friends are either non gamers or not playing DayZ, and finding people ingame that i can actually play with is impossible. Any time i ran into a fellow survivor, they shot me on sight. This happened 10-15 times already. No chance to type, or speak, just shoot. Most of the times i didnt even have a weapon, let alone a good one. So i ask, why would you people be so awful. While i can see the bandit side's pros, i dont think a guy with a high end weapon will profit from killing a dude with (at most) an axe in any way.

So with that i'm left on my own, avoiding people i see, taking in the wilderness. Or i would but thats just as much of a problem. Hitting up a hospital can yield a lot of bloodbags, so playing with at least 1 friend, you can get on easy with your life. No need to worry about zombies, you can avoid them if you are careful, and if you need supplies, you can get them, even if you get hurt there's always bloodbags, right?

Playing on solo is a bit more difficult. First you have to get a weapon, preferrably an axe, as its quiet, and will not run out of chops in a million years. Then you are a bit safer, but you still need to find a matchbox and a hunting knife at least to get some blood in you. Canned foods are just healing too little even if your bag is full. Even in a low population server this can be a problem without people looting all the good places before you get there, since i found matchboxes to be pretty rare to find. You want to go country right, to find animals to hunt, and get away from the coast where people are sniping your ass. You are gonna need bandages, morphine, drinks, guns and ammo for that. Cant be running around with an axe, now can we? So you tempt fate by going in hospitals and shops. If you get everything(or most of the stuff anyway) you have probably alerted a few zombies already(if not people), with all the glitches, im sure you taken enough damage to get you down to around 7-9000 blood at this point. You go into the wilderness to find anything with four legs. Pretty rare in my opinion. In the 20-30 hours of playing i've seen around say 5 animals, and only once i had the tools to get meat out of the transaction. Even if you have the meat you have to cook it. Now granted i did it only once, and i used a flaming oil can, so that was pretty handy since i didnt have matches, but in the wilds if you dont have matches you are screwed, and as i said, matches are very rare in my experience.

So being a solo player it sort of irritates me how easy it is to have a friend to use a blood bag on you, while i struggle to find the most basic supplies. So to survive in solo you need weapon, axe, matches, knife, an animal to kill, and somehow getting these things while staying above 4000 blood, with zombies and bandits at every corner. What do you need in coop? A blood bag.

Don't take this as bitching, but playing alone is way harder than it should be. Not counting anything else like zombies knocking you unconscious at 9k blood and so forth, blood is just too hard to get by yourself, and too easy to get in coop. I would say take away the blood bag completely so everyone has the same playing field, or make it usable on yourself even with penalties to it. I know it should be easier in coop, but isnt an extra hand with killing, and an extra set of eyes and ears looking out for trouble enough of a help?

I'm gonna stop crying, and get back to the game, because apart from these issues and frustrations, im still having a lot of fun.

Just remember, suck it up, and deal with it are not helpful inputs on any matter. :D

[svefngenglar 19]

I love playing alone and can do so quite easily. A good solid run of Cherno or Elektro and I'm set to head off to lower risk areas. I think you just need more time to learn.

[ZedsDeadBaby 2287]

Surviving alone is difficult in reality; a single injury can end your life if you don't have a friend around to tend to your needs. So I personally appreciate the fact that DayZ recreates this.

If it encourages you to branch out and make friends, then rocket will have done his job.

One day down the road there will be more communication options in the game like radios, etc. for you to make contact but in the meantime I strongly reccommend you drop your aversion to using forums to find a group to play with. It may "ruin the experience" in some small way, but it's a sacrifice you need to make for now because the mechanics have not yet been implemented to facilitate this kind of contact and communication in-game.

Good luck.

[govnogaming 52]

That's how it's meant to be. I mean, what better way to build a community than to basically force people to have to work together or end up dying off faster? I can't really find one - other than free giveaways and stuff. Honestly, all you have to do is find 1 friend and you're set. Make sure you each carry enough medical supplies (I carry 3 bandages, 2 blood bags, and 2 morphine) to heal each other. You'll get the hang of it, don't worry.

[random51 172]

I find it easier to play solo than to play in a group, mainly because I take far fewer risks and end up in far fewer dangerous situations.

You haven't played much if you think blood is a problem. You don't replenish your blood with a blood bag, you replenish it with cooked meat. 1 Cooked meat = 800 blood.

Instead of advocating changes you think you need because you don't know how to play the current game, learn how to play the current game.

Rhinocrunch started a new solo series today, I suggest you watch it. His first episode he starts on a moonlit night, hits up Balota airstrip and Cherno, grabbing most of the necessities to survive without taking any damage, without firing a single shot. He is good at explaining why he is doing something, why it is a good idea, why it will help you survive. New players will learn a lot, existing players who think solo play is hard for some reason should learn a lot too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xztpc9Ui_ek&feature=g-u-u

Edited July 27, 2012 by random51

[electro.pedros@gmail.com 2]

Playing alone mean that you cannot follow video you see on youtube

I barely group for a long time with anybody, short amount of time sure but this is apocalypse you would trust someone who is thinking that he is a super hatchet hero?

I LOVE PLAYING AT NIGHT

When there is not a lots of zombies in an area most players become too confident and having your earphone + volume max and being 100% stealthy you are going to be able to hear any survivor or zombie without them ever noticing that you are looking at them for 5 minutes to see if they are some bandits undercover.

During the day I'm trying to be stealthy but it is not so important.... here is a fact during day if you see something or somewhere I wanna go I am first going to throw flare randomly then just run to that point. Once I am at that point I turn back and take care of the zombies silently with my axe one by one.

Last record 53!

Having an horde of zombies running after you make a bandit run away from you not to get caught in that situation

See it like that

Im the sexiest guy that is still alive and is a super hero welding an hatchet and thoses zombies are escorting me through these dangerous area by scaring thoses bad people!

OHHHH and especially during night but everyone should turn the music of the game completely down

How do you wanna make the difference between a player walking and a zombie walking from a good distance if you have some random music stressing you :P

Edited July 27, 2012 by Pedroskravic

[random51 172]

Playing alone mean that you cannot follow video you see on youtube

I barely group for a long time with anybody, short amount of time sure but this is apocalypse you would trust someone who is thinking that he is a super hatchet hero?

He isn't a super hatchet hero in that video, lol. He doesn't even find a hatchet, a hatchet he wants so he can cut firewood to cook meat. Maybe you don't understand spoken English so don't know what he was saying in the video.

[electro.pedros@gmail.com 2]

Sorry but I was in the process of writing my post while you posted your reply

I did not watch the video yet

Im watching gameplay while working overnight

I was talking about my own character in the Game!

[magikalcoffee 5]

zelengorsk is where i tend to head to stock up on survival supplies its pretty well stocked and i usually find a map knife and matches in the supermarket

[Huntra 35]

Imo the problem isn't blood bags. Although they are maybe slightly overpowered. The problem is that playing solo co-operation is virtually impossible as every single person just shoots on sight. What the game needs is more ways to communicate. This doesn't make the game easier, as bandits can just as easily exploit these comms to lure people as friendlys can use them to get together. The most fun times are when the game involves more of a human element, betrayals and attempts at trade etc. Making a gunless newb use a blood pack on you at gun point for example. This kinda stuff is what adds extra depth to the game. Playing for 3 hours just to get sniped as you come over a horizon is not fun gameplay, you don't even hear your killers mocking voice or see them. Its still random luck whether you get spotted even if you use the terrain perfectly. Usually I'll be shouting friendly in direct chat and not even get a response as I get murdered without even a "DIE NOOB" from my superior geared killer :(.

Having to go to forums to find people you can co-operate with is just retarded for a game thats major strength is immersion. Everything should be happening in game like it was real, nobody wants to have join some douche bag clan and get on teamspeak. Give us shortwave radios with a 2km range that won't show who you're talking to or anything about their location.

[SlickShoes 21]

The best way to get blood back when you are alone is to kill a cow and make 8 steaks from it, they will replenish 800 blood, so one cow kill and a backpack full of steaks will save your life.

I play solo all the time and now that I have a tent I am stocking it with food and soon as many steaks as it can hold so that I have a good supply to replenish my blood as long as I have enough to move to my tent location.

You just really need to not screw up playing alone and plan ahead, expect the worst. It is difficult but I like the challenge, I do agree that matches should be a bit easier to come by.

Edited July 27, 2012 by SlickShoes

[LiptonTea 0]

I don't get you people, why go to bolota, cherno or elektro ? You're just asking to get killed... Just go to otmel scavenge the deer stand near it and then head north to BEREZINO ! hospital, 2 apartment complexes, 2 supermarkets, 4 millitary tents and 3 deer stands and a chance of having a small boat nearby and it's a quick stroll from there to NE airfield (identical if not better to bolota) which I find it always empty... same thing with berezino and I normally play on servers with 25+ people because everyone wants to reach NW Airfield. And to top it off the way to berezino is full of forest so you are well hidden and if you need food and soda there's plenty of towns in between with barns and long barns. The loot you get from firestations is not worth the risk imo.

Usually I'll be shouting friendly in direct chat and not even get a response as I get murdered without even a "DIE NOOB" from my superior geared killer

You're doing it wrong, you should always type on direct chat. Talking in direct com reveals your direction and how near you are.

Edited July 27, 2012 by LiptonTea

[Element47 2480]

regarding anti-social behaviour of fellow survivors:

there are many threads on this topic, and from what i gathered, this is actually working as intended. as frustrating as it may be, the game is a mirror of human society. as i said to a medic yesterday - i bet for every bandit out there there is a guy who wants to do the right thing. quite a few will try to do the right thing, but will give up because they get betrayed as reward. thats exactly how it is in real life - doing the right thing is often far more difficult and unrewarding than being that selfish bastard. but if you take a look at the medical assistance thread in this forum, you will see that its not all assholes and pvp. and yesterday a bandit posted a thread how he helped someone out - the world of DayZ is not black and white (well, maybe except when you're really low on blood) and its as diverse as the world out there. its remarkably successful as a simulator of people acting under extraordinary circumstances. maybe even better than as a bone-breaking simulator.

regarding realism and out-of-game communication:

first, you should remember that the game does not strive to be a 100% realistic simulation of a real apocalypse. it uses the military simulation to create a certain, unique setting, with its own rules, which may or may not align with real life.

the social dynamics outside of the game are not necessarily bad. often, they complement the game. in a real world, survivors would find other means of communications - sticking small paper notes on street signs, church or hospital doors, writing messages and codes on the walls etc. there are enough examples from real world battlezones. humans are a social species, and an quite inventive, too. the internet communities around games are just another manifestation. and i disagree its severely immersion-breaking, actually i read often some forum stories of fellow surivors after work to get into the right mind setting, into character if you so will, before i play. i stop being the keyboard-wielding research scientist, and become a hatchet-wielding medical courier. when teaming up with one of the meidcs, joining a common teamspeak is not different than joining a common radio frequency.

the realism of the military simulator has its limits. i cant pick up a scrap of paper, write somthing down and stick it to the church door. until this is implemented, intenet forums are a valid workaround.

that said, surviving solo is possible and a viable style of playing the game, but so is teaming with others using all means neccessary - even those out of game. surviving alone is tougher. and it should be.

i myself run mostly alone, as i dont want to be responsible for more than my own death in a place, where average life expectancy is measured in minutes. but i gladly team up temporarily with others, to provide help or to recieve it.

[Huntra 35]

regarding anti-social behaviour of fellow survivors:

there are many threads on this topic, and from what i gathered, this is actually working as intended. as frustrating as it may be, the game is a mirror of human society. as i said to a medic yesterday - i bet for every bandit out there there is a guy who wants to do the right thing. quite a few will try to do the right thing, but will give up because they get betrayed as reward. thats exactly how it is in real life - doing the right thing is often far more difficult and unrewarding than being that selfish bastard. but if you take a look at the medical assistance thread in this forum, you will see that its not all assholes and pvp. and yesterday a bandit posted a thread how he helped someone out - the world of DayZ is not black and white (well, maybe except when you're really low on blood) and its as diverse as the world out there. its remarkably successful as a simulator of people acting under extraordinary circumstances. maybe even better than as a bone-breaking simulator.

No just no, in the real world there are benefits to keeping people alive and engaging with them as well as killing them. It can't be like real life unless there is interaction between parties inside the world. In a real post apocalyptic situation if you were a party of 3 survivors and you stumbled upon a random underarmed guy you wouldn't snipe him from 200 yards take his stuff and move on. You'd ambush him, make him drop all his weapons and supplies on the ground and interogate first him at least, then perhaps you'd kill him after if you were inclined or let him run off with only a couple of bandages as a twisted act of mercy. Humans are often evil and treacherous in desperate situations yes, but this game doesn't even get as far as treachery because you're either a random in which case you get shot on sight or a teamspeak buddy whose alliance exists outside the game and therefore won't shoot you. This does not make a good or realistic social dynamic to game.

the social dynamics outside of the game are not necessarily bad. often, they complement the game. in a real world, survivors would find other means of communications - sticking small paper notes on street signs, church or hospital doors, writing messages and codes on the walls etc. there are enough examples from real world battlezones. humans are a social species, and an quite inventive, too. the internet communities around games are just another manifestation. and i disagree its severely immersion-breaking, actually i read often some forum stories of fellow surivors after work to get into the right mind setting, into character if you so will, before i play. i stop being the keyboard-wielding research scientist, and become a hatchet-wielding medical courier. when teaming up with one of the meidcs, joining a common teamspeak is not different than joining a common radio frequency....

First off it is obvious some people will choose to use teamspeak regardless of what comms are in game and that is fine. However it is also obvious that teamspeak alone is not a good social dynamic for DayZ.

Teamspeak is as if a few people in the world are telepathic - able to communicate instantly from anywhere for no reason at all On teamspeak you can only be contacted by those people that are on your teamspeak server, everyone else has to try and use the useless chat system if they want to contact you which has a pathetic range in direct mode and can barely get a message off before you get shot.

Teamspeak chat is entirely private, nobody else could listen in or trace you from your private chat, that again is not realistic and certainly not a "common" radio frequency. More like an encrypted communications ear piece with an unlimited range and no travel time for the communications. Which seems like a strange thing for someone who starts without even a hatchet or a watch to possess.

Teamspeak is a "real world" connection with someone, you won't betray the people on your teamspeak because you are using their teamspeak and you don't want them to hate you, you might get banned from the ts server. They are mostly likely your friends.

This game is good but frankly the way it is with teamspeak is making it miss out on all the best bits of a post apocalyptic society because there is no way to have rewarding interactions inside the game and therefore no way to have relations with other players other than that player being a friend / or an enemy. This is not realistic and actually far too easy, in a real post-apocalyptic world people wouldn't have friend or enemy tatoo'd on their foreheads, you'd have to mistrust everybody to some degree.

Like you say humans aren't black or white, and this game makes everyone black or white as they are either your teamspeak buddy or an anonymous threat you would be an idiot not to kill before they shoot you. This is incredibly immersion breaking. Teamspeak makes it far too easy to get trust, otherwise it is almost impossible from inside the game. Trusting people in this game shouldn't be easy, neither should be inpossible, it should be exactly like a real post-apocalyptic world, trust should have to be earned which is difficult but not impossible

Edited July 27, 2012 by Huntra

[Original_Jack 8]

But TS makes the game more fun. It's much more fun to play with my friends and be able to talk to them. Sorry having it isn't realistic enough for you but this is a game that's supposed to be fun.

[Huntra 35]

But TS makes the game more fun. It's much more fun to play with my friends and be able to talk to them. Sorry having it isn't realistic enough for you but this is a game that's supposed to be fun.

Read it again bro I'm not saying don't use TS though am I. I'm saying that having no good in game communication system ruins the social dynamic of the game. If people want to run around in a gang with their friends all on teamspeak treating everyone else like NCPs thats fine, it's there right to survive the apocalypse in the way they think is best. But you can't tell me that having teamspeak as the primary way people co-operate in this game is "good" for the game like e47 just did. Not everyone thinks running around in packs like morons picking off solo players is that much fun. Some people like to play the game solo to test themselves and these are the people that suffer from not being able to communicate properly via anything but the barrel of a gun.

[Sula 1205]

You're right, Lobsterman. Where are you in the world? I'll meet up with you if you feel like starving or bleeding together. I'm especially good at dying of thirst whilst lying by water. :)

[Sula 1205]

Also, don't be intimidated or set your sites to high by whatever rhinocrunch's vid has in it. He's way beyond experienced. I've spent the last month living with his vids and devildoggamer's, eatmydiction's, zemalfs (this guy is amazing. His vids are in the gallery. You should check them out. He's alone and just keeps on getting back up and doing it. He's incredible.). And I've also been watching nooby noobster's dayz vids on youtube. They are so funny and he makes everything look easy. :)

[Sula 1205]

Just watched Rhino's vid. Unbelievable what he can do. Middle of the night, pouring rain, can't see a thing and knows exactly where he is! Got everything he wanted, even a map! :thumbsup:

[Aspects 4]

I think people just shoot out of being scared. It's shoot or be shot in DayZ I'm afraid.

[loknload 0]

I play alone and will probably always. I've been playing the last couple of weeks and got maybe 15 or so hours of exploring in. I've only seen 3 other survivors and that was just in the last couple of days. The first guy killed me with an axe 5 minutes after I spawned. He was a fresh spawn himself. The other two were a group that shot at me at the castle. I was hit, ran into the bush, bandaged myself and circled around them and killed them.

So my only survivor contact has ended in three deaths. BTW, thanks to those two guys for the loot and for not DC'ing during a gun fight

[Wyx 0]

Yeah, the game mechanics alone make it harder to play solo, but that's what I like about it. In fact, it's the reason I enjoy playing solo over with a group. It's more satisfying surviving and prospering alone.

[Nyz 42]

If playing alone is hard then... Wow i dont know what to say. I find it.easy, as ive never played in a group....ever. Hard than it should be is all perspective. I know no different and i survive just fine.

[Guardian angel 7]

Very long topic please try to summarize the topic next time.

[Alyx 2]

When i first started playing, all i wanted was to group up with people. This past week ive grouped up with several people but to be honest. Ive decided to fly solo from now on, maybe 1 other person occasionally but. I can do w/e i want when im alone and if we die it doesn't take us forever to meet up again.