WTF is happening to the server community.

[rocket 16567]

Have you guys ever read the book "the Stand" by Stephen King? If not' date=' then go fucking read it right now. And then I can tell you that that shit, in that book, is happening right now. [b']The bad guys are doing way fucking better at this game than the good guys. Because the good guys keep coming on the forums to post how the bad guys win.

I seem to recall that "the Stand" ended with the bad guys being destroyed by the hand of God.

I'm looking at you rocket.

Don't.... Tempt Me Frodo.

[Suicide Mouse 50]

So far we have "more zombies" and "harder zombies" and "more loot"

Bullshit...

....there was the bodies thingy too. :c

[Mech__Warrior 6]

There is a possible fix to this' date=' how about we set up a zone of cease fire? In this area along the coast, whenever someone points a gun at a player, they can't shoot at the player or perhaps the bullets don't hurt the player.

[/quote']

Is that really a fix? Everyone will just camp the borders of the cease fire zone! To be honest the whole point of the game is that it's supposed to be difficult to survive. The fact it's getting more difficult due to other players gives it more challenge in my opinion...

Again, sarcasm. The idea of this was to completely surround the coast with this zone. If you see someone camping that area, walk to a different one, crawl through a forest, something. It's not that hard.

Sorry my post wasn't sarcastic in any way, I was merely pointing out a hole in your original point. Now that you've further explained how you'd like this to work (which would work) I still wouldn't agree on making this change to the game.

Safe zones in my mind ruin the whole point of the idea of a survival mod. The thing I love about this game is that you can get murdered at any point. I'm a fan of using the environment to try and escape these kinds of problems. Night time for example is the perfect time to move away from the cost, and people tend to be more friendly at night, because everythings so much more intense.

But any way, your idea makes sense in the context of what you want, but I feel it would detract from the original vision for this game.

That was the whole point to my sarcastic suggestion, to ruin what makes this game so intense. People are always complaining about spawn killers and, to me, don't know how to deal with them. Like I have said before, I've never, ever ran into the issue of spawn killing. In fact, I started joining at night so that I could crawl away in case anyone was camping where I spawned in. To me, it's a non-issue. I have more problems with the zombies taking me down than with the people I meet. Let me make the analogy here; bandits prey upon the newly spawned, the spawned cry to the creator, the creator does nothing and defends that this is the way it is intended, and people start complaining on the forums. Seriously, we're not a bunch of kids. Whenever I die, I join a different server. It's that simple.

[WildGunsTomcat 78]

Have you guys ever read the book "the Stand" by Stephen King? If not' date=' then go fucking read it right now. And then I can tell you that that shit, in that book, is happening right now. [b']The bad guys are doing way fucking better at this game than the good guys. Because the good guys keep coming on the forums to post how the bad guys win.

I seem to recall that "the Stand" ended with the bad guys being destroyed by the hand of God.

I'm looking at you rocket.

Don't.... Tempt Me Frodo.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH

Is it bad I read that in Ian McKellan's voice??

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

[Katana67 2907]

To the people citing survival, yeah... obviously the game is about survival. It's already got several mechanics demonstrating as such.

However, what is to stop me from going buck wild on a hoard of zombies for fun? Let's see... bandits who hear/see me, zombies who over-run me. That seems pretty self-explanatory, there need not be less incentive to kill zombies.

Citing the movies that Rocket cited, they're all... with the exception of -maybe- 28 Days Later, about killing zombies. I want to kill zombies just as much as I want to survive, is that such a bad thing? There shouldn't be repercussions that aren't already built into the game, which are already pretty substantial. If zombies themselves were enhanced, rather than made over-powered by having them be unreasonably sensitive, they'd be more of a threat.

I get the whole societal breakdown thing, and I think it's pretty well fucking demonstrated in DayZ as it stands. What isn't well represented, is the zombies themselves.

Here's a proposal to make zombies more threatening and just more well done...

- Make them run realistically. Sure, they can deviate from a straight line, but practically teleporting off to a side ruins the experience for me. I love running zombies. And yeah, I get that this might be limited by the ARMA 2 engine, that's fine, but it's a criticism nonetheless.

- Keep/enhance zombie numbers. 1.5.7 numbers were great, what we've got now is fine... but I still think we could use more. Especially in the wilderness, finding three zombies around deer stands isn't cutting it for me anymore. I would like to see 1-10 zombies per kilometer randomly spawned, to keep those in the wilderness on their toes.

- Vary the experience with zombies. As I said before, I love running zombies. But some shamblers might be a good thing now and again to shake things up, seems counter-intuitive. Sprinters, Hoppers, Crawlers, and Shamblers would be a nice spread... barring the use of super-zombies... which I am vehemently against.

- Make light/visibility just as significant as sound. Often times I can hold up in a building surrounded by zombies with a flare on top of me, or sitting by a fire or somesuch. Zombies should be -hardcore- attracted to light from a distance. If it's in a building, obviously it should be less significant, but people should be extremely weary of the sensitivity of zombies. I think the sound stuff is fine as it stands, but people should have to think twice about crossing roads.

- For the love of god, make only slight tweaks to ammunition/weapon spawns. I don't want to have to grind loot just to get a CZ, I already had to crawl through the killing fields of the NWAF to find my Mk 48. I think the risk/reward thing is good as it stands, maybe some slightly high-er level loot in deer stands... but not too much.

[Hermit (DayZ) 0]

Start with no weapon. That should solve the Coast PKing

[Virfortis 111]

So far we have "more zombies" and "harder zombies" and "more loot"

Ideas are worthless. Mechanics have value.

For the love of Talos, please define just what "mechanics" are and how they can be separate from ideas.

Unfortunately, we are gamers, not modders. It is because you are the developer that we support you, even if we know not what magic you work. You can say that if we don't know about mechanics, not to give ideas, I suppose.

Adding more low tier loot? I don't see how that's a "wishy-washy" idea, even if it's been said before. Do we need to reach out and pull a mechanic from somewhere as a model? There is, unfortunately, no system working that tones down on deathmatching but supports open player killing. Even if there was, it would cut down on the difficulty in DayZ, something none of us want.

You say you want mechanics, but many miss the mark because they do not know what mechanics are.

I can SAY to mark players with high kills by increasing the amount of aggro they receive. Do I know exactly how to implement it? No, because I don't know how the internal components of the game works. Maybe a threat meter? It's still an idea.

[Enigmazzz 3]

Okay - why don't we adopt a rule in this thread to avoid the circular arguments.

- Post descriptions of mechanics to solve the problem' date=' and I will consider them and we can discuss.

- Post the same complaints we have heard again and again and I've responded too a million times, and I will post sarcastic rude remarks.

[/quote']

-more persistent elements of the game. People should be able to organize in factions. Make a found/craftable skins that would allow to identify members of the group visually. The skins are lootable so the PK, can loot it from victim and pretend to be member of said faction. However they have pretty low durability (destroyed by shots), thus need constant supply - by means of control of specific game world object.

- Add ingame objectives. I.e. radio station - only after you enable it you can use global chat (if you have radio). Some locations that can be accessed/cleared ONLY with organized group and heavy weaponry and vechicles.

-Means for "scoring" the game (without it reseting) - a) Find and repair a ship to escape. b)Find a nuclear bunker and blow up all the isle.

- bonus for playing on same server, so people wouldn't switch to daytime server whenever darkness falls

- "Destruction". With heavy weaponry spawn region item spawns can be disabled, forcing people to move to other regions searching supply. Regions item spawns can be "repaired" by organized efforts.

-"Armed Zombies". Players that were killed but not looted, rise up as armed zombies that can use fireweapons.

etc.

Basically - more stuff for "good guys" to do, and more stuff for "bad guys" to screw over.

[Ygdrad 0]

Now' date=' I have yet to see a single non "wishy-washy" idea above that even resembles a game mechanic. Please don't just post your ideas. Ideas are worthless. Everyone has ideas. Mechanics have value. Post mechanics, and I will consider them.

[/quote']

Well, a mechanic for the "more zombies" idea could be that in the long run, as noise is generated in a certain city or area, zombie concentration is increased. It will at least keep conflicts moving around and ought to enhance the experience of both survivors and the ""deathmatch"" players alike(I said enhance the experience, not necessarily make them happy).

If people are worried about recognizing each other, they just have to use a custom skin for their head/arms I do it, and some of my friends do too.

Edit: This isn't about punishing the pvpers, this is about keeping the conflicts fresh and interesting rather than it being the same stale stuff we're seeing over and over at the moment.

[linfosoma 38]

The problem here is that everyone seems to be discouraging PvP gameplay by adding a negative effect to killing someone, be it a reputation system, attracting more zombies or what have you.

If what you guys want is to force people into playing cooperatively (instead of being for the first time ever truly free to do what they want) then you need to figure out a gameplay mechanic that encourages people to stick together.

In my opinion the only thing this would accomplish is affecting the game negatively. Let's face it, the sole reason why we are here, why this thing is so popular is because of the wild nature of the game. Pure survival is about adaptation, if the game is filled with dicks then you better start adapting to dicks or get ready for some frustration.

Personally, I just play with friends, it's simply better that way.

[Sgt.Spam 42]

Start with no weapon. That should solve the Coast PKing

Do that and those with weapons will only be that much stronger.

Not an elegant solution.

[billw 1]

I have a suggestion to get people to group up a little bit' date=' not sure how well it would turn out or if it's even possible with game mechanics easily.

but you hear about people talking about starting up player towns, blah blah..... yes you could take over a city, but really the city is just a shell, you could pick any town and do that, but you need a real reason to call the place home, make people work for it, make it HAVE to be a team effort.

what about introducing seed packets into the game, plant vegetables in the ground to grow, make it possible to "build" small huts, not just tents.

make it so NEW towns pop up by players. I'd assume towns would be easily found by lakes, or in the far outreaches. make it so that it takes more than one person to do certain tasks, but also make it possible for the opposing forces to hinder the groups to so that you really need to group together.

say it takes at least two people with a "hammer" and "wood" to build a hut.

crops have to be seeded, watered, and in days you will have grown something, not just instant food.

make it so bandits can "raze" the crops and buildings built, but it sets off a huge smoke pillar to alert anyone near by.

it would be a dynamic aspect to looting that people would not ever be able to use a loot map to know what is in there. you could find a car, a helicopter, or just a house full of beans and tin cans.

imagine raiding a bandit's custom built barracks? and razing their town as well?

[/quote']

Just like to say this would be awesome. I bet it would be a nightmare to code, and kill server performance though :) Obviously this stuff would have to go on the local server not on the global db because there would be too much content on every server then. It would be pretty cool to join a server and ask where the nearest friendly or bandit town is, be met at a check point, have your pack searched, be escorted in, etc etc. Adds loads of opportunities for role playing, team work etc. Also adds a nucleus around which groups can form, rather than having to form outside of the game as they do now. If you find a large community on a server with a small bustling town, you can be pretty sure they aren't just shoot first ask questions later types.

Of course one problem would be that if the location was known to all on the server, someone from outside could simply log on when nobody was there protecting it and just take all the stuff that was stock piled. So then you need to work out how to do offline security, or hide everything offsite etc.

[Mech__Warrior 6]

- Make light/visibility just as significant as sound. Often times I can hold up in a building surrounded by zombies with a flare on top of me' date=' or sitting by a fire or somesuch. Zombies should be -hardcore- attracted to light from a distance. If it's in a building, obviously it should be less significant, but people should be extremely weary of the sensitivity of zombies. I think the sound stuff is fine as it stands, but people should have to think twice about crossing roads.

[/quote']

Don't know what you're smoking, but that flare draws zombies to me like a moth to a flame.

[Kirjava 7]

That was the whole point to my sarcastic suggestion' date=' to ruin what makes this game so intense. People are always complaining about spawn killers and, to me, don't know how to deal with them. Like I have said before, I've never, ever ran into the issue of spawn killing. In fact, I started joining at night so that I could crawl away in case anyone was camping where I spawned in. To me, it's a non-issue. I have more problems with the zombies taking me down than with the people I meet. Let me make the analogy here; bandits prey upon the newly spawned, the spawned cry to the creator, the creator does nothing and defends that this is the way it is intended, and people start complaining on the forums. Seriously, we're not a bunch of kids. Whenever I die, I join a different server. It's that simple.

[/quote']

Then my apologies. Sarcasm doesn't translate well on the internet, but seems like we're both on the same page then comrade :p

[Suicide Mouse 50]

I kill players and I'm willing to suffer some consequences for that.

Just cause someone is saying "tis pew pew qq thing is pretty gay, guys", doesn't mean we are the survivors getting killed.

I'm not some punny faggy that wants to kill everyone and everything keeps pretty and dreamy.

Even if there was penalties I'd still do it and I'd understand that it's just what it comes with the role I chose in that world and I'd deal with it.

[Enigmazzz 3]

Ok you want a game mechanic for it? Make it so zombies migrate in from the north and west edges of the map' date=' make it so that you can clear out zombies in the towns, make it so that you can build equipment to manufacture parts for cars, casing and powder for bullets and other such things, make it so that to get these things running you have to travel to the north and western parts of the map, make it so your tents/vehicles storage area doesn't reset on server crashes/restarts. Those are just a few ideas that poped into my head, are they possible? I have no idea. How would they effect the game? Still not sure, I'm a player not a developer and I can only see how it would effect me and my friends I know.

[/quote']

This.

[rocket 16567]

It's all right here waiting for you

[Virfortis 111]

The problem here is that everyone seems to be discouraging PvP gameplay by adding a negative effect to killing someone' date=' be it a reputation system, attracting more zombies or what have you.

If what you guys want is to force people into playing cooperatively (instead of being for the first time ever truly free to do what they want) then you need to figure out a gameplay mechanic that encourages people to stick together.

In my opinion the only thing this would accomplish is affecting the game negatively. Let's face it, the sole reason why we are here, why this thing is so popular is because of the wild nature of the game. Pure survival is about adaptation, if the game is filled with dicks then you better start adapting to dicks or get ready for some frustration.

Personally, I just play with friends, it's simply better that way.

[/quote']

So we want DayZ to be know not as a "zombie" survival mod, but a "dickhead" survival mod? Lack of popularity aside, that sounds like it would get boring quickly. We'll need to try something better than that.

It's sort of like saying Minecraft is a griefer survival game, which yeah you'd be right, but that gets old quick.

[linfosoma 38]

DayZ would be about 100x better with Pandas!

[DocHolliday (DayZ) 2]

Bandit's can of beans should turn to fuel. That way, when they get shot, they explode into nice bite size chunks for the zeds. Problem solved.

[PeteOfButcherBay 17]

haha.

[Suicide Mouse 50]

This is pointless, fuck you guys, I'll just go stalk people from far away with a sniper and if I see someone killing another player I'll just shoot them and go stalk another one.

Byez.

[DeadAimHeadshot (DayZ) 2]

I have a suggestion to get people to group up a little bit' date=' not sure how well it would turn out or if it's even possible with game mechanics easily.

but you hear about people talking about starting up player towns, blah blah..... yes you could take over a city, but really the city is just a shell, you could pick any town and do that, but you need a real reason to call the place home, make people work for it, make it HAVE to be a team effort.

what about introducing seed packets into the game, plant vegetables in the ground to grow, make it possible to "build" small huts, not just tents.

make it so NEW towns pop up by players. I'd assume towns would be easily found by lakes, or in the far outreaches. make it so that it takes more than one person to do certain tasks, but also make it possible for the opposing forces to hinder the groups to so that you really need to group together.

say it takes at least two people with a "hammer" and "wood" to build a hut.

crops have to be seeded, watered, and in days you will have grown something, not just instant food.

make it so bandits can "raze" the crops and buildings built, but it sets off a huge smoke pillar to alert anyone near by.

it would be a dynamic aspect to looting that people would not ever be able to use a loot map to know what is in there. you could find a car, a helicopter, or just a house full of beans and tin cans.

imagine raiding a bandit's custom built barracks? and razing their town as well?

[/quote']

Just like to say this would be awesome. I bet it would be a nightmare to code, and kill server performance though :) Obviously this stuff would have to go on the local server not on the global db because there would be too much content on every server then. It would be pretty cool to join a server and ask where the nearest friendly or bandit town is, be met at a check point, have your pack searched, be escorted in, etc etc. Adds loads of opportunities for role playing, team work etc. Also adds a nucleus around which groups can form, rather than having to form outside of the game as they do now. If you find a large community on a server with a small bustling town, you can be pretty sure they aren't just shoot first ask questions later types.

Of course one problem would be that if the location was known to all on the server, someone from outside could simply log on when nobody was there protecting it and just take all the stuff that was stock piled. So then you need to work out how to do offline security, or hide everything offsite etc.

this would give people a reason to stick to a "home server" and therefore be more group oriented and friendly.

as far as looting the stuff by server hopping, then make it so there's a lock and key mechanic

bandits can loot by razing, but only some of the items make it out alive

make it so that certain building types have locks with "craftable" keys that can be dispersed. make other more common easy to build buildings like tents where anyone can enter.

[JohnSteele 0]

You need to give people things to do. After having collected nice gear there is not much you can do!

All we do is go to military camps to get good loot if someone needs it, after that not much happens. We get cars and choppers and fix them up, but what to do with em? Its fun for a while but there is no real objective you feel like you want to achieve.

[jatobi (DayZ) 12]

Here is an idea for a "mechanic" so to speak.

Move the spawns from the coast in the south, to the coast on the east and the Forrest on the west. Or....move spawns away from Chern and Electro altogether.

Most PKing happens in, and around Chern, and Electro. Bandits camp ontop of Chern waiting on newbies to spawn and run towards the closest city for loot.

What will this accomplish?

A: Puts players away from the "main hotzone" where people are constantly dieing right away, right now.

B: populates the west and east coast of the map, instead of throwing everyone on the coast in the south.

C: People spawning on the West side of the map have plenty of cover to hide. With plenty of villages to pillage for loot. People on the East coast have plenty of villages and a fairly large city to pillage and loot, with plenty of spots to hide. Albeit more zombies on the East coast than the West side of the map.

D: Puts a hurting on the bandits sniper camping in Chern. Maybe they will be less inclined to camp those spots, and instead "go out and hunt" instead of camping a spawn area.

E: Puts more "Survival" in for people wanting more Survival. How so? If you get spawned in the middle of nowhere on the left side of the map, many of the people who keep respawning have probably never been there. Meaning they'll be lost. It is much more difficult to figure out "where" you are without a map and compass when you are spawned in the middle of the woods, and have never been there. Will it last? Not for some, yes for others. The coast is an easy thing to follow. Spawn on coast: head one way or the other until you find a city. Spawn in woods: ???WTF???

I would even say put a spawn West side, East side, and Center, with say 1 or 2 along the southern coast still.

Another "mechanic" below.

Allow us to form Squads, like in normal ArmA 2, or like ACE or PR. If it's possible, allow us to form "groups" the have some form of function. Maybe the ability to know, regardless of server settings, who the people are in your group just by looking at them.