Day Z First Impressions

[lukeman3000 5]

To give a little background, I've been playing shooters since doom and wolfenstein originally came out. A few of my favorites are Half-Life 2, Resident Evil 4, F.E.A.R., and Metro 2033

I think that Day Z has the potential to be one of the greatest shooter/survival horror experiences to ever be released. I know this has been said elsewhere, but it really does feel like a multiplayer version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., another great game.

However, in its current state, Day Z just doesn't offer a whole lot in terms of a fun and varied playing experience. Sure, it's fun to run around the countryside, sneak around zombies, and get into confrontations with other players, but when you do it so many times, it starts to lose a little of that initial appeal - and I've only played for about seven hours so far.

I can't imagine how those of you feel who have been playing it for months now. I would think that I'd get burnt out on it pretty quick the way it is now, but maybe there is more depth than I'm able to realize right now since I'm such a new player.

One of the things that kind of annoys me is the fact that it seems relatively difficult to get stuff. Even a basic pistol or shotgun. I played for literally four hours before I came across a gun, and when I did, it was a shotgun with two pellets. Eventually, I found a Makarov, but those are literally the only two guns I came across in my seven-hour play time. Maybe that is somewhat normal, but after the first hour of running around unarmed, it gets kind of old going up to buildings trying to open doors and searching through countless shacks just to find a gun.

At the same time, I like the fact that not everything is just handed to you up front, because I think that would take away from a lot of enjoyment of the game if it was.

Long story short, I think that Day Z could potentially be something very special, but right now it's just a pretty fun tech demo (in my mind). There needs to be more variety in the gameplay. Different things to do, etc.

Plus, the FPS is absolutely terrible. The game would be probably ten times more enjoyable if it was optimized better so as to use more than 30% of each of my GPUs.

[Prendwick 7]

I had 2 lives today, one of which was cut short (was instantly killed some how - I suspect hacks). In both lives I managed to find guns, first life I found an AKS-74 & in my second life I found and AKS-74 Kobra, a double barreled shotgun, and an enfield. Check military spawns for best chances of guns :)

[SmashT 10907]

If it takes you hours to find a gun you are doing something wrong, there is a lot more than just finding gear and PvP though even now, standalone should slowly implement a lot more to keep you busy too

Edited August 18, 2012 by smasht_AU

[Dev (DayZ) 113]

Finding a weapon is all about where to search. Check elektro sniper hill in the evening when server pop dies down. Past few nights I have brought new players there and ended up with multiple M4 SD/AS50/coyote packs/nvgs for them since people just deathmatch over there and dont loot each other. You can check the 3 story barns near almost any spawn location for a good chance at an enfield, winchester or cz. It gets easier to gear up the more you play.

There are a few things you can do if you find surviving in the woods boring. I have 2 characters so I started using my second to be a medic and it has been a blast hunting bandits as well who are spawn killing. Feels weird since my main is a bandit(non spawn killer though. stary and nwaf pvp only) but it helps to stop it from getting boring.

[ShaDDer 9]

You obviously have no idea how to get gear. It would take me around 30 minutes to get a nice backpack, an AK and other gear from a fresh spawn. You can't just run around at random trying to find specific things.

Much of the fun for me is building up a camp with my friends. We currently have six tents, all filled with guns, ammo and supplies. Working together when raiding high-value places, being tactical, it's all part of the experience. We still haven't found a vehicle so from my point of view there's a lot of things to do. Right now the game is lacking because of bugs, poor inventory system and cheaters, not because it lacks variety. This is my opinion. But I also look forward to new features that broaden the experience even more.

[lukeman3000 5]

You obviously have no idea how to get gear. It would take me around 30 minutes to get a nice backpack, an AK and other gear from a fresh spawn. You can't just run around at random trying to find specific things.

Much of the fun for me is building up a camp with my friends. We currently have six tents, all filled with guns, ammo and supplies. Working together when raiding high-value places, being tactical, it's all part of the experience. We still haven't found a vehicle so from my point of view there's a lot of things to do. Right now the game is lacking because of bugs, poor inventory system and cheaters, not because it lacks variety. This is my opinion. But I also look forward to new features that broaden the experience even more.

You're right, I don't. Please, tell me what I need to do in order to find some gear!

Are most of you guys using that online map to know where to go? I wanted to avoid using it because it kind of seems like "cheating" to me, but is that how you guys know where to go and where to get gear?

I would really appreciate some tips on this. Also, to those of you who have multiple characters, how is this possible? I thought your character/items were persistent across each and every server..

[DrainBamaged 38]

To have multiple characters, each with unique IDs, you have to have multiple Steam accounts and have purchased Combined Operations for each of your Steam accounts.

[DrainBamaged 38]

To have multiple characters, each with unique IDs, you have to have multiple Steam accounts and have purchased Combined Operations for each of your Steam accounts.