Back to survival - No Backpacks

[salival01 1]

My friend and I were new players, and had little clue how the inventory system actually worked. Our first proper life lasted around a month, and during that whole time I had a big hunch that the backpacks we'd accumulated had done little to alleviate the hard choices we were making.

After some youtubes clips it finally dawned on me that we'd being playing the game under needless duress, by not utilizing our backpack! Every gun, drink, food, medical supply, ammo was like gold, and it had to be, as we had little room to carry anything else. Travelling and feeding 2 mouths and hopping from water hole to water hole was fun, a lot of time was spent hunting game and cattle and it was fun chasing that need to survive. Back in those days we'd always have to have 1 food and 1 drink left over for logging out, and coming back into the game you'd be in the red.

Some differences in gameplay with no backpack...

-So the gun choices you make impact how you play, no more having two primary weapons where you get your cake and eat it too. Try walking through a town with just your pistol and sniper, you just feel vulnerable! You can hunt players as before, but 5-10 bullets and no backup weapon won't get you very far.

-You can rarely spare over 2 slots for ammo, so your supply is limited and I rarely wasted a bullet, it was a shoot on a needs basis.

-Carrying enough medical supplies to cover yourself was actually difficult, let alone in case your team was in trouble. Having to restock on medical supplies is more interesting then having a backpack full of them and being a walking hospital.

-Carrying any sort of car parts, tents, helicopter parts etc really did slow you down, having to eat and drink more regularly as you can really only eat on a needs basis and not stockpile food.

Well I probably can't explain it very well, but if you try playing without using your backpack you'll find it creates different choices as to what you need versus the take one of everything and then some mentality. Give it a go, all of sudden you just feel vulnerable and it forces you to explore the world for more resources.

[Dazed 80]

Having no backpack(or at least much smaller ones,) would make things much more interesting. As is you can carry primaries and all the food/meds/ammo that you need in a coyote. If the biggest bag were a check, it'd make it much harder for people to carry a 2nd primary, which means you'd see virtually no snipers. However if they'd just make the as50/m107/ and several other guns take up your backpack like it does in Arma, you would see a big change in game play as well.

[Grandpa Jimmy 20]

I had also thought of this idea, but never tried it. Tomorrow i will give a chance. Maybe no gun either, just an axe.

[omgwtfbbq (DayZ) 1069]

If we didn't have a backpack, then that would make our character fucking retarded. Why would you leave the house after the apocalypse with NOTHING? A czech vest pouch as the spawn pack, yes. No backpack whatsoever? No.

[patriots20068@yahoo.com 100]

Interesting idea...

[salival01 1]

If we didn't have a backpack, then that would make our character fucking retarded. Why would you leave the house after the apocalypse with NOTHING? A czech vest pouch as the spawn pack, yes. No backpack whatsoever? No.

Would I leave my house in a car and not walk to the beach. Probably, unless its a nice hot day. Its not really a retort to say in real life we'd take a backpack. I'm pretty sure i'd have a suitcase, car, tent, food and drink.

[bazbake 456]

Interestingly enough, I played this game for more than a week without using my backpack because...uh...I didn't know how it worked. And interestingly enough, it wasn't that hard to survive.

Anyway, you don't end up on shore after going for a walk from your house. You end up washed ashore after your boat capsizes. It's amazing you had time to grab a backpack.

[TheDesigner 1197]

Nah, backpacks make the game fun. DayZ rewards the smart, not the dumb, I.E. not using your backpack.

[Yatagan 62]

It's been suggested a million times, but for a good reason I believe.

Indeed. Spawn with no pack, but make low end ones spawn more often.

[bazbake 456]

Nah, backpacks make the game fun. DayZ rewards the smart, not the dumb, I.E. not using your backpack.

Well, the interface for the backpack when you open it while interacting with gear in the environment is completely different than the interface when you're going through your inventory.

Wait...how do backpacks make the game fun?

It's been suggested a million times, but for a good reason I believe.

Indeed. Spawn with no pack, but make low end ones spawn more often.

I've been thinking about this...backpacks spawn in weird places. There really should be more reasonable spawn points for such things.

For instance, there are actual campsites and natural landmarks around the map that never have anything in them. Perfect place to spawn some of the smaller backpacks (there's even a super-special tree of awesomeness with its own landmark sign that does...absolutely nothing).

There really need to be more varied spawn locations for these things. Instead of spawning backpacks in supermarkets, spawn them where you would expect to find them -- in barns or at natural landmarks or in the middle of the forest where no one is actually looking for them or even in deer blinds. It'd give players more excuse to traverse the wider areas of the map and go roaming instead of making a mad dash for the middle of a city.

Edited August 12, 2012 by BazBake

[Mos1ey 6301]

It's been suggested a million times, but for a good reason I believe.

Indeed. Spawn with no pack, but make low end ones spawn more often.

This, but reduce ALICE pack drop rate too.