Ultimate server settings poll (What should go and what shouldn't?)

[panque 45]

After discussing a lot here: http://dayzmod.com/f...t/page__st__140 I thought about making a more in depth poll...

Mainly for when the game goes standalone and we all might have a single set of rules, but it's cool to know what people think right now.

Some pros and cons gathered from previous discussions:

(Probabliy biased due to my view on these topics, but I'll try to add stuff you people post here)

Third Person

PRO:

• Some people get massive headaches from unsing 1st person for a prolonged time. (Disabling headbob helps, but it seems it's still an issue)
  
• The game is somewhat clunky in first person
  
• The engine doesn't allows you to do stuff like raising your head to see over tall grass or over cover
  

CON:

• Gives the unfair advantage of seeing over cover and corners without putting yourself at risk
  
• Gives the unfair advantage of seeing your whole surroundings while crawling on tall grass or on the top of buildings
  
• It's very unrealistic overall
  

NameTags

PRO:

• Helps with friend identification
  

CON:

• Gives you the position of people you aren't actually seeing, sometimes through stuff and from very far away.
  
• Exploitable by sweeping your mouse arround to find people.
  
• Partially nullifies the effect camos, shadows and bushes have on the game
  
• Gives you the distance of a target, rendering rangefinders completely useless. If you don't think this data is that much valuable, try to snipe a target that is more than ~400 meters away with incorect zeroing on the editor (Some weapons like the DMR have no zeroing, so you have to rely on markers in the scope). Yes, this game has bullet drop.
  
• It's very unrealistic overall
  

Crosshairs

PRO:

• Some weapons have bad iron sights (Maybe drop those weapons then?)
  
• ??? (Being able to shoot from the already highly exploitable 3rd person view?)
  

CON:

• Too accurate for long ranges (I don't really know because I don't use them)
  
• It's very unrealistic overall
  

Maps showing player position

PRO:

• ??? (GPS are too rare?)
  

CON:

• Makes the GPS almost useless (Aside from being a cool minimap)
  
• Makes the compass 99% useless
  
• Makes navigating through Chernarus a trivial experience. Otherwise you would have to do stuff like looking at road signs, finding north through the "shadows + clock method" or through Stars (Really fun and immersive)
  
• Works like somewhat of a radar, showing zombies, players and vehicles
  
• Can be used to estimate the distance between you and your target (each small square on the map = 100m²)
  
• It's very unrealistic overall
  

Waypoints

PRO:

• They should be avaliable if you have a GPS (Could be just an arrow on the gps screen instead of a magical floating hud icon tho)
  

CON:

• They can be used to find your position on servers wich do not allow you to view your position with a map, through trial and error
  
• Makes navigating through chernarus even more trivial
  
• It's very unrealistic overall
  

Death messages

PRO:

• Don't matter much since you can see the ammount of murders in the debug monitor. (Could be solved by delaying how fast this number changes or removing it altogheter)
  

CON:

• Takes away the tension that is not knowing if a target is dead
  
• Makes the "Study body" feature useless in some cases
  
• It's very unrealistic overall (I know, but I can't help it)
  

I think that this is all for now, I will edit it if people come up with more pros and cons that makes sense

Edited July 29, 2012 by Panque

[Inception. 9443]

I don't really care about anything else in there except for waypoints. I REALLY do like them.

Also, 3rd Person is handy.

[panque 45]

I don't really care about anything else in there except for waypoints. I REALLY do like them.

Why do you like them?

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

Don't mess with third person. It's not an unfair advantage if everyone can use it.

[SystemiK 366]

Of all of those on the list, I find nametags to be the most offensive of all. I can give or take most of the rest of them.

[panque 45]

Don't mess with third person. It's not an unfair advantage if everyone can use it.

That highly depends on your position. I you are on the top of a building you can use third person to look around without any risk, yet no one will be able to see you. If you are behind cover people will have to get close to you in order to tilt their camera and spot you in the same way you can spot them.

---

Amazing how much votes some stuff is getting, yet no one says why they should be kept... Seems people don't need a reason to favor what they are used to.

Edited July 28, 2012 by Panque

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

That highly depends on your position. I you are on the top of a building you can use third person to look around without any risk, yet no one will be able to see you. If you are behind cover people will have to get close to you in order to tilt their camera and spot you in the same way you can spot them.

---

Amazing how much votes some stuff is getting, yet no one says why they should be kept... Seems people don't need a reason to favor what they are used to.

Yes. I know this as I've been playing third person games for years in multiplayer settings. It's still infinitely better for a tactical situation than wearing a box around my head.

[panque 45]

Yes. I know this as I've been playing third person games for years in multiplayer settings. It's still infinitely better for a tactical situation than wearing a box around my head.

You mean FOV? It's not that bad, and at least it prevents you from seeing stuff you shouldn't. Free look through the ALT key helps that a lot and so do the globes on the edge of your screen. also, you don't see that much wider when you switch to 3rd person view... the main difference is that you can look over hills and other stuff you aren't supposed to...

[dsi24 227]

Don't mess with third person. It's not an unfair advantage if everyone can use it.

Everyone can hack so why not allow those?

lol @ people trying to keep their wall ninja exploit safe. Take off the crutches and start walking you hobbled people.

[andrestander (DayZ) 37]

Fuck 3rd person view.

The trend of camping on top of roof tops prone and using the third person camera to look around is getting increasingly popular and annoying.

[The_Man 393]

Fuck 3rd person view.

The trend of camping on top of roof tops prone and using the third person camera to look around is getting increasingly popular and annoying.

All is fair in love and war! Don't they make weapons that can look around corners now? OOO snap, so much for your realism argument.

[panque 45]

Everyone can hack so why not allow those?

Let's make a how to hack DayZ thread to make sure it's accessible to all and fair :P

All is fair in love and war! Don't they make weapons that can look around corners now? OOO snap, so much for your realism argument.

Then add those said weapons to the game maybe, instead of a broken mechanic? You have funny arguments...

Edited July 29, 2012 by Panque

[Deadcow 41]

3rd person should be kept - I hate 1st person. It hurts my head and i am not a fan of the ALT key look around system.

Nametags should be removed - Nametags are an exploit IMO, if you are playing with a friend you should use communication to coordinate locations to prevent friendly fire. Using nametags to determine range is a huge exploit that makes the range finder useless.

Crosshairs - i am on the fence with this one and would like to see something selective depending on the weapon. Rifles should not have cross hairs since they are fairly accurate weapons that require a scope or iron sights to aim. Shotguns on the other hand should still have them. Firing a shotgun from the hip is pretty standard, even with slugs. When a zed/player is right on top of you it can be tough to aim with sights, but blasting em in the face with a shotgun wouldnt require aiming down the signs. This one i believe should be weapon specific, or left up to the server admin.

Maps shouldn't show player's position - its a paper map, not a GPS. If you wanna see your location, find a GPS. On a related note, i hate that map notes are view able by everyone else. If i make a mark on my map, i want to be the only one who can see it.

Waypoints should be removed - I like the idea of GPS waypoints, but map waypoints are bullcrap.

Death Messages - i would like to seem them kept. They may not be realistic, but i like to see who is dying. If i am playing on a server with a friend and i see he dies, i like to be able to give em shit for it. I wouldnt be too upset if they were removed either. Its pretty much an unnecessary convince.fa

Should characters be able to switch between servers with different difficulty levels? - Yes and no. As the mod is right now i dont see an issue with it. Servers go on-line and offline all the time and i wouldnt want choice limited for what server i can get on. I would like to see some sort of normalization with the server difficulty. Maybe one standard difficulty across all servers with a few individual settings that can be customized. I think that would prevent a lot of the issues like people who farm easy servers and PK expert ones. I think it would also even out server load instead of having 6/50 on veteran servers and a constant 50/50 on regular.

[Inception. 9443]

Why do you like them?

Because it makes it easier when I don't have a compass or a GPS. Of course, that's not really realistic, though.

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

You mean FOV? It's not that bad, and at least it prevents you from seeing stuff you shouldn't. Free look through the ALT key helps that a lot and so do the globes on the edge of your screen. also, you don't see that much wider when you switch to 3rd person view... the main difference is that you can look over hills and other stuff you aren't supposed to...

Stuff I shouldn't? Like the terrain or over a piece of grass? FPV gives me motion sickness and whats wrong with being able to see off to the sides without getting my head blown off by some camper? No thanks. TPV needs to stay. There's a reason its even in ARMA to begin with.

I know it's hard for some of the FPS guys to get accustomed to but it's actually a lot better. Use it.

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

Everyone can hack so why not allow those?

lol @ people trying to keep their wall ninja exploit safe. Take off the crutches and start walking you hobbled people.

Learn to play outside of your cookie cutter first person view.

[panque 45]

3rd person should be kept- I hate 1st person. It hurts my head and i am not a fan of the ALT key look around system.

Yeah, it takes a lot of getting used to, and I think it's too late to remove it, but 3rd person is used in the lamest possible ways... Maybe they could try something when the game goes standalone, but I think the whining will be too big. I wonder if your head hurts while playing other 1st person shooters too, if it doesn't then it's probably the headbob that is causing this, wich can be lowered on ArmA's setting (Not fully removed tho, so it might not be enough to solve the headaches...)

Crosshairs - i am on the fence with this one and would like to see something selective depending on the weapon. Rifles should not have cross hairs since they are fairly accurate weapons that require a scope or iron sights to aim. Shotguns on the other hand should still have them. Firing a shotgun from the hip is pretty standard, even with slugs. When a zed/player is right on top of you it can be tough to aim with sights, but blasting em in the face with a shotgun wouldnt require aiming down the signs. This one i believe should be weapon specific, or left up to the server admin.

but if the zed is right on top of you you don't really need the crosshair to hit him, just make sure your gun is pointing him and pull the trigger. Same can be said for spraying with ARs and any other weapon really.

Death Messages - i would like to seem them kept. They may not be realistic, but i like to see who is dying. If i am playing on a server with a friend and i see he dies, i like to be able to give em shit for it. I wouldnt be too upset if they were removed either. Its pretty much an unnecessary convince.

Your friend could just tell you that he died or you could presume he is dead or knocked out if he don't answer you trough direct comm...

Edited July 29, 2012 by Panque

[Afgoo 114]

Please keep waypoints. If it ruins the immersion for you, don't use them. I knew it waypoints were too good to be true... ;(

[The_Man 393]

Then add those said weapons to the game maybe, instead of a broken mechanic? You have a funny arguments...

What is wrong with advantages? An advantage is defined as: A condition or circumstance that puts one in a favorable or superior position. So, you think that something everyone has in this game as an option is an unfair advantage? No, the person who is using it to peer at someone from the grass or roof is at an advantage because they got into a place where they can use 3rd person to their advantage. I think you are just upset because 3rd person makes this game easier for many people. I don't blame you but this is why there are veteran servers and regular servers. It is not a broken mechanic bro. This feature has been in all military sim games by Bohemia Interactive since Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. You can cry all you want but it doesn't change the fact that what works is having different difficulty levels. This argument has been around much longer than Zombies became trendy and I think it comes down to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

[dsi24 227]

Stuff I shouldn't? Like the terrain or over a piece of grass? FPV gives me motion sickness and whats wrong with being able to see off to the sides without getting my head blown off by some camper? No thanks. TPV needs to stay. There's a reason its even in ARMA to begin with.

I know it's hard for some of the FPS guys to get accustomed to but it's actually a lot better. Use it.

1. How to look over terrain in ArmA2: crouch and look over it
   
2. How to look over grass in ArmA2: flatten it and look through it
   
3. How to stop motion sickness in any FPS: Turn off headbob
   
4. What's wrong with being able to see things you shouldn't be able to without exposing yourself to other players: Do I really have to tell you? Wait I do don't I, from a realism perspective there is no way to look around or over something without exposing yourself in some way, even the tiniest camera is still something that a sharp eye could notice. From a gameplay perspective there is no risk and a lot of reward for exploiting 3rd person.
   
5. The reason 3rd person is in ArmA in the first place: It's primarily PvE and 3rd person doesn't anything against AI which knows where you are anyways. (even then most groups disable it)
   

Learn to play outside of your cookie cutter first person view.

Learn to play without your exploits.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Dsi1

[CLewis 31]

@OP

You probably shouldn't ask people to read a biased (your own words) pros/cons list when doing a poll. It'll more likely get the maybe's to vote different. I know we aren't voting for some important decisions, but still...

Good poll though.

[panque 45]

Stuff I shouldn't? Like the terrain or over a piece of grass? FPV gives me motion sickness and whats wrong with being able to see off to the sides without getting my head blown off by some camper? No thanks. TPV needs to stay. There's a reason its even in ARMA to begin with.

I know it's hard for some of the FPS guys to get accustomed to but it's actually a lot better. Use it.

Yeah, you shouldn't see over the terrain or over a piece of grass, in fact you can't in real life. I agree that we should be able to raise our heads a bit, and i've seen it done in some other game, but that's an engine limitation. From what I've seen ArmA 3 will bring big improvements in this area, and therefore it's likely that DayZ will in the future as well.

FPV gives you motion sickness in all games or just DayZ? ever tried setting head bob to the lowest value?. You have tools to look around like the alt key and the leaning buttons, and you are much less likely getting your head blown off by a camper if the camper can't use 3rd person view to see you coming either... Care to tell me what's the reason for it being in arma?

You really think I can't use TPV? lol. I play single player arcady games like hitman on tpv all the time, I can lame out and use the cam to my advantage like you do. It's just lame on multiplayer games, especially DayZ, which focus on being authentic... Of course it is "a lot better", you would find it that seeing zombies through walls would be a lot better... but fair and authentic? Definitively not.

[Sephka (DayZ) 51]

I think TPV needs to go. Personally, I find it MUCH easier to get immersed into the game when it's FPV only. Everything feels much more intense as well. That being said, I still play on servers with TPV and use it regularly. I can also understand people who want it to stay in because they just can't handle playing in FPV because of motion sickness and things like that, but I personally feel the game would be better without third person.

Nametags need to go. Spotting people from hundreds of meters away, behind cover, and instantly knowing exactly how far away they are to line up shots easier is broken, and most importantly, it's not very immersive.

I said Crosshairs should go, because if I absolutely had to pick one or the other I'd probably get rid of them, but I don't really care that much either way.

Maps should not show players and you should not be able to place waypoints (Without a GPS?) In the group I play with, I'm our navigator, because I'm the best person in our group as getting us around without getting lost. I think if someone can navigate well and easily understand and make use of landmarks and all that they should be rewarded for it. Waypoints make navigation trivial.

Don't really care about death messages, but it would be interesting if they were gone, would definitely add more intense moments of "is he dead? I don't know man I don't know!"

Edited July 29, 2012 by Sephka

[enforcer1975 1111]

Don't mess with third person. It's not an unfair advantage if everyone can use it.

It's not unfair unless you are the one hiding behind a corner letting the other player come at you then pop up and shoot him, which is a huge advantage for the hiding person.

1st person gives players equal chances when they have an encounter at a corner or have no LOS. Whoever wants to see whats around the corner has to stick his head outside which puts both on equal footing.

As for anything else, players want DayZ to be hard so why not disable all helpers?

[panque 45]

What is wrong with advantages? An advantage is defined as: A condition or circumstance that puts one in a favorable or superior position. So, you think that something everyone has in this game as an option is an unfair advantage? No, the person who is using it to peer at someone from the grass or roof is at an advantage because they got into a place where they can use 3rd person to their advantage. I think you are just upset because 3rd person makes this game easier for many people. I don't blame you but this is why there are veteran servers and regular servers. It is not a broken mechanic bro. This feature has been in all military sim games by Bohemia Interactive since Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. You can cry all you want but it doesn't change the fact that what works is having different difficulty levels. This argument has been around much longer than Zombies became trendy and I think it comes down to "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

There are realistic advantages: Being on higher ground, behind cover and etc and there are lame advantages like using your third eye to look over cover. Nothing wrong with the realistic ones.

Like dsi1 mentioned, ArmA is mainly PvE and the AI won't complain that you are spotting them in a completely unrealistic way. DayZ is a different game. I don't think I'm the one crying here at all. I don't hold many hopes of seeing TPV gone now that everyone is so used to it it's too late. People are used to being lame, since everyone else is doing the same.

@OP

You probably shouldn't ask people to read a biased (your own words) pros/cons list when doing a poll. It'll more likely get the maybe's to vote different. I know we aren't voting for some important decisions, but still...

Good poll though.

I see your point, but I've presented that list to make it easier to voters to see how and why those settings affect gameplay. As I've said there, If anyone presents a new PRO or CON that actually makes sense I'll be happy to add it to that list. So far it has been going like: "Get used to TPV you noob" (Even tho TPV is ridiculous) and "I like waypoints, so don't take them off plz".