need help enjoying this game

[ssd 2]

I just started playing DayZ yesterday. It's basically my ideal video game, and conceptually should be perfect.

However, I am having a very hard time having much fun with it, for various reason. I think the best way to approach this will be listing some of the things that have happened to me so far (I don't think I've ever survived more than an hour):

1) First time playing, met another guy who was also unarmed, we both went into Cherno together and he showed me where the good loot spawns were, grabbed some nice weapons, until a 3rd guy showed up claiming to be friendly and then killed both of us. nothing to be done about this since it's part of the game but just a sign of the general dickishness of players i've encountered.

2) spawned. within 5 min a helicopter went by and circled back after seeing me. they invited me to get in. i run up to the helicopter to get in, and they shoot me.

This is where the more game-related complaints that I need help with come in:

3) Way too hard to get blood back once you lose it (see next point for related issue). Went into Cherno once, after going through all main loot points all I had for my trouble was a hatchet and 1700 blood left. at which point i started passing out repeatedly. so I noobishly found the hospital and grabbed all the healing stuff i could, not realizing that the hospital didn't have a single item that could restore blood (blood bags are totally useless if playing by yourself) - as a last ditch effort when i got down to 500 or so blood I ran around cherno asking if anyone was around to help via text chat, since i don't have a mic. finally ran up some stairs and saw a guy, who promptly shot me without saying anything.

4) Almost every time I spawn, before I can find a weapon I inevitably aggro some zombies. they usually hit me at least once, and this generally causes me to start bleeding. it then takes at least 10 or 20 seconds to get the zombie to stop following me (btw the distance they will follow you is absolutely excessive - that they will endlessly follow you even for miles), during which time I will loose a ton of blood. finally will bandage myself up, but i'll be down to 10,000 or less blood already. and i've used my one bandage, so if the same thing happens again, i'm pretty much screwed.

5) weapon rarity. i've had multiple playthroughs where i've gone to every decent loot spawn in multiple towns, and barns even, and they've all had a hatchet at best, or at worst been completely empty. it's incredibly rare for me to find a decent gun. and when i do, i end up having to use all the ammo for it just clearing out the zombies that followed me to the loot spawn.

5) as far as food/healing - it's crazy that I basically need to find not only a weapon, but also a hatchet, hunting knife, matches, bandages, painkillers, and morphine just to have even a remote chance of surviving.

If you read all of this post (which is most likely tldr) what advice would you have for me? unfortunately i don't have any friends that play PC games, which would help the game enormously. i really want to like the game but it's so hard to at the moment.

[ThatGuyCalledReptile 314]

Welcome to Day Z

This game is unforgiving but fair.

Trust no one. And don't worry you'll get better over time.

It takes 200 deaths to get a good life.

[General Dickbutt 41]

You'll find ways to counter it all, just play it more.

[dstein 5]

There are a TON of videos on youtube to watch that can help you immensely.

Try this video out and also all the others in his channel.

[ssd 2]

The problem is I'm already screwed most lives by the time I even make it to a town, and between the insane load time and the long run to a starting loot spawn I end up wasting 20 or 30 min just to end up fucked from the start, and I've had to repeat that process at least 10 times so far and gotten almost nowhere for it.

edit:

already saw that sacriel video before I played for the first time.

i guess my main concern has to do with the sheer difficulty of healing yourself. even the animal hunting method, were I able to get all the necessary items, which on its own seems really hard since I've only seen matches once, would still be really difficult - I end up seeing maybe one animal per hour of gameplay, which is def not enough to heal all the injuries I'm getting, many of which are due to glitchy gameplay.

Edited August 5, 2012 by TheRaptMuse

[patriots20068@yahoo.com 100]

From my experience, you have a better chance of surviving if you play with one, two other people. Today I managed to stay alive for ten hours roughly, had one murder, and killed nearly 60 zombies. When the guy and I started it was rough. But we looted areas we knew people wouldn't be at for a better chance of surviving. The game is realistic. And that's what makes it amazing.

[dstein 5]

The thing is, you might not recognize it at first, but you learn little by little with each life you live. You find out where good loot spots are, how to remain unseen, how to survive on your own, etc. Once you have a good bearing on Chernarus you're gonna be in good shape. I would suggest watching what I posted above and also find low populated servers to play on until you get more familiar with the game.

[A Friend 8]

I offer my assistance in the form of friendship. Feel free to PM me and I'd be glad to welcome you to my voice communication server to play with other friendly survivors, who will make your living experience more pleasurable.

Only requirement is a microphone.

[ssd 2]

I'm working on getting a mic, because playing with other people seems to be pretty essential. and even if you're not it's nice to at least be able to tell someone "don't kill me", even if they won't listen, without stopping running away from z's to type it to them.

[sudZ! 115]

When I started out I skipped the towns at spawn. I found it a lot easier to head to a barn, find SOME kind of weapon and then head towards cherno or elektro. If you do have to go into a town, try playing at night. It's dark as hell, but you'll be able to get past Zeds with impunity and only need your flashlight when you're combing for loot. I think you'll find you'll get geared up a lot quicker this way.

Good luck and don't give up!

[bobalonius 11]

4) Almost every time I spawn, before I can find a weapon I inevitably aggro some zombies. they usually hit me at least once, and this generally causes me to start bleeding. it then takes at least 10 or 20 seconds to get the zombie to stop following me (btw the distance they will follow you is absolutely excessive - that they will endlessly follow you even for miles), during which time I will loose a ton of blood. finally will bandage myself up, but i'll be down to 10,000 or less blood already. and i've used my one bandage, so if the same thing happens again, i'm pretty much screwed.

5) weapon rarity. i've had multiple playthroughs where i've gone to every decent loot spawn in multiple towns, and barns even, and they've all had a hatchet at best, or at worst been completely empty. it's incredibly rare for me to find a decent gun. and when i do, i end up having to use all the ammo for it just clearing out the zombies that followed me to the loot spawn.

4) Crawl, crawl, crawl. Unless you are trying to do a speed run through one of the cities, taking your time and crawling through the small towns, you can get fairly close to a z without aggro if you take your time and do it cautiously. It's even better if you do it at night, they are all but blind at night so you can stand up and walk (not run, walk) as long as you pay atention to your noise meter you can pass stupidly close to them. It just takes practice.

5) I've run in to this a time or two myself, it's just luck of the draw. Unless you plan on hunting survivors though, that hatchet is your best friend. It can typically kill a z in one shot, and it's silent so it doesn't attract others when used. Using a gun to kill a z can get you in a heap of trouble in a hurry. My current character has amazingly been alive for a few days now and I haven't used a gun yet.

[ssd 2]

problem with the hatchet for me is that its range/accuracy seem to be wildly inconsistent. i'm aware that it's pretty much functioning as a short range gun, but there are definitely times where i'm right up on a zombie with the crosshair over it and hatchet does nothing.

i don't really plan on hunting survivors, but it would be nice to be able to defend myself against other people if necessary.

[bobalonius 11]

I didn't say i don't have a gun, I just said I haven't used one. :D

Or to quote the movie Quigley Down Under "Said I never had much use for one...never said I didn't know how to use it."

The hatchet does need a little space to really be effective, but not a whole lot. If he's all up in your face take a step back then swing.

You'll really come in to your own at night though, specially if you tweak your graphic settings for a little more night time visability. ;)

Don't give up, once you get over the dieing thing it'll get to be more fun. I know the first couple days for me I was about ready to call it quits until I learned to just let go and say screw it and start again.

Edited August 5, 2012 by bobalonius

[ssd 2]

Is it considered cheating to gear up on an empty or near empty server, then switch over to a more populated one?

[HMS 115]

Is it considered cheating to gear up on an empty or near empty server, then switch over to a more populated one?

No more than having a website loaded up to a map is. In fact, less-so.

It's more realistic to boot. 35 well-armed players, none of whom know each other, shooting at each other, is no way to survive Zombie World.

Your bigger problem might be the lag on the low-pop. servers. They are low for a reason sometimes.

Good luck dude. I completely empathize with your frustration. And getting decent weapons, AK rifles with magazines that actually match, for example, are great. But then your backpack glitches as you change from a ghillie to camo suit, and you are back to axe and pistol again, just like day 2.

Hang in there.

[bobalonius 11]

Why would that be cheating? That would just be good strategy. :P

I've been concidering putting up a tent on a lower population server for storage purposes.

[Delta Smoke 01 765]

You know you can just eat to regain blood right ? If i dont have a knife or matches i just eat a supermarkets worth of beans :)

[Fishmitts 65]

Get a mic. Join a clan.. You will learn more in 3hrs than you would playing by yourself in a week. Just for fun, last I was killed by a fucking hacker, I decided to see what all the fuss was about and not ask a clan member for assistance. I had not tryed to survive by myself since the last few patches.

It aint easy. And I know the game. Here's my little senario:

Crawl crawl crawl, and fucking crawl somemore. Shit! Got aggro, run up a mountain, ok, lost'em.. Fuck, where am I? Got to cherno industrial.Gun shots..Hit the dirt. Patience.Wait half an hour. Worked my way SLOWLY to the apartments. Hit all the buildings. Got lucky and geared a bit, found a enfield and sat in a window overlooking a hospital. Patience. What seemed like an hour goes by some survivor goes into the hospital...pop. Got a akm, ammo, med's, soda, condoms, pasta, fucking bailed.

Gave myself a high five, got on ts, and had a clanmate pick my sorry ass up. He asked me, "what the fuck are you doing"? I answered, "just seeing what its like to be a noob".

My point is, play like your in real life. Go slow. Think before you act. It takes time, but if you stick with it, this will be one of the best games you have ever played. Good luck buddy.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Fishmitts

[Tleilaxu 2]

Best advise (in my humble opinion): get a Mic.Games like this are better played with it (yes,it may cost you 2$ do get one,woopidoo)

and keep on playing.You will get better each day you play,always keep in mind that everyone started without knowing much up front.

[mike-lawrey@gmx.de 3]

As I allways say:

Learning by Dieing

U will get the Clue and when u get a mic maybe u will even find friends ingame.

At my first try`s to get into the game i was really frustrated because i had (not like the vids ive seen) to start without GUN.

By now im playin in my 4th week on Chernarus and since yesterday I play also Lingor Island. And i found some awesome friends in the Game from different Countries who will even Run over the whole map to rescue or help me out when im in trouble as I do it for them.

The sad thing is that many Servers Deactivated VON so u cant speak in Game.

And there is only one rule for me left in the Game: Even if somebody would say hes friendly, the only Guys im trusting are with me on TS3 or Skype. We are about 10-13 Poeple when we go out for a Raid. And these Guys are More new friends that i met ingame instead of old friends I played other games with.

Sry im not that good in english writing^^

[bobalonius 11]

You know you can just eat to regain blood right ? If i dont have a knife or matches i just eat a supermarkets worth of beans :)

What he said. The other day I was in Krasnostav, which has a store. I ended up eating my way through the whole place. By the time I got there my inventory was full, so every can of food I found there I ate, I ended up leaving at almost full health again. If you arent at full health eat any food you find if you don't have room to carry it. Cans only give back 200, but they add up. Cooked meat is better, but it can be a pain sometimes to find the hunting knife and matches to carve and cook critters.

[sostronk 334]

1/2. Do not trust anyone in this game. Ive learnt the way to enjoy this game the most is by finding some friends who are organized. You need to find this over time. Try to get involved with people in voice chat (teamspeak,Ventrillo, Mumble). People won't trust you initially. They need to come to trust you to make sure your not a douche who is going to ruin it for them.

3. You need to learn to hunt. Each cooked meat gives you back 800 blood, canned meat give 200. Blood packs will pretty much recover your full health. I almost never go in Cherno. If I do, Im packing, going in at night with NVGs, vehicles and a team. If I spawn in Cherno or Electro I will hit the place quickly and then leave. They are killing zones and you don't want to waste your time so you can hand your loot over to other players.

4. You gotta learn not to aggro zombies. They are easily avoidable.

5. Study this map:

http://dayzdb.com/map

If there is something specific you are after, hit the buildings that spawn them. You should have a hatchet almost straight away. Hunting knife and matches can take a while but you will get them eventually, you just have to survive on soda/waterbottles/canned food until you do. Morphine will prevent you from a really annoying death, but its not essential early in a life. Painkillers are meh.

You gotta learn to head North. Don't hang around killing zones. Scout a town, loot it, then get out. Once you have some friends with tents and vehicles youll get on your feet. Its alot harder to survive on your own in this game.

Edited August 5, 2012 by sostronk