The Difficulty of DayZ

[puydor 0]

please make DayZ harder !!!!

I know newbies are complaining about finding a weapon, but if you have played the game for about 10 hours, then you know where you can find loot. For example; when i spawn, i only need 10 minutes to find an alice pack, medical stuff, lots of food, drink, and so on, of course weapons and tons of ammunition.

Zombies are no danger for people who know how to play. It's way too easy :( :(

Anybody agree ?

Greetz

[Johan19 0]

I agree. I think there a lot of threads like yours ....

[Sol (DayZ) 132]

I started on a fresh database on a server today, and within an hour I was driving a bus and had a coyote pack full of stuff... I found a van shortly after, and swapped it out for the bus.

Game is too easy when it comes to zombies, but only because they are retarded.

~Sol

[Baelethal 102]

I think the most fun I've had on this game was when it was stupidly difficult because of broken things--

It was challenging when food and drink weren't spawning correctly. My squad nearly died numerous times from thirst and hunger, and the jubilation of finding an animal on the way to a pond.

I've broken down into tears, holed up in a building, mowing down zombies from two sides as they pile into the building three deep and there's no end in sight. I'm getting hit, I'm low on blood and ammunition, and I have to try and make my last stand while my teammates run to my location from various parts of the town in an attempt to aid me before I'm completely overrun. Sure the Zombie spawn was broken, but every once in a while, something like that happening is just so unexpected and so challenging, it adds a whole new dynamic to the game.

[svenbreakfast 231]

I agree that getting basic gear could stand to be protracted a bit. I always have fun cobbling together my survival equipment, but generally that's taken care of in like an hour or two of play.

As for the zombies, well, if you have a gun zombies should be easy. In all the movies their strength is in numbers. I would love to see some dense packs (50-100), which would warrant use of a grenade, M249 or using one of the powerful sniper rifles to thin the herd from range. As it stands these are strictly pvp weapons (or in the case of the grenade a suicide weapon).

For me the difficulty lies not in short term but long term. Every time I think I'm set, I get cocky, and make a mistake. For me the game is hard because it challenges you to be on your guard no matter how comfortable you get. For me this adds to the authenticity of a zombie simulator.

[falconne 13]

Just because you've learned the game doesn't mean the difficulty should evolve with you, if that happens very few new people will try it out and you'll be left with mostly only those who played the alpha who aren't bored yet buying the standalone.

The key is to scale the difficulty, with new sandbox features, so that experienced players have newer, more dangerous things to aim for (such as fancier equipment that is only found in areas of the map infested with larger zombie concentrations and dangerous animals) and more grandiose goals to pursue (e.g. fortification and base building).

As for you, you could either take a break from playing till more stuff is added, or do something more dangerous like hunting bandits and helping out new players. There's no point "just surviving".

[bazbake 456]

1. Oh, 10 hours? That's longer than most games.
   
2. Ten minutes to completely resupply? Yeah, we need to get rid of tents and storage right the fuck now.
   
3. Early game isn't for you, it's for newspawns.
   
4. Stop fucking newbs over with game redesigns because you're bored.
   

[GrendelZ 10]

Yeah I think I saw someone make videos of "looting in less than 10 mins", of all major cities. If they allowed zombies to knock you down/stun you while running, that would balance the game a little. Zombie chases are funny. They get within inches, then stop to attack(always missing). Implement a flying tackle/stun and then people will give them a little more respect.

[JuRaii 4]

Find new ways to entertain yourself. I take a hatchet and go find snipers at the hills and try to sneak up to them. Put some sandbags/barbed wire/tank traps in front of door ways like the fire station or the market. Stand there with a hatchet and chop the next person you see trying to jump it towards you. Still not satisfied? Run into a store/fire station/barracks with a grenade and throw it inside (make sure there's at least a player inside to die with you). Grab a crossbow and try to kill people with it (it was entertaining for me, when you kill someone with an assault rifle in a crossfire).

[CaribeanSoul 10]

It is my belief that in a proper sandbox game the other players should provide the challenging content. That leaves the devs free to work on the underlying systems and create new features for us the players to use.

There are PLENTY of challenging things to do DayZ. There is no reason for it to become some kind of fps themepark. You need challenge? Try to take over a city and hold it. Find a clan of bandits (or if you're a bandit a clan of survivors) and go to war with them. Try to set up a trading post (some people already doing this.) You are limited only by your imagination. Start collecting tents and beans. Find a hill and cover it with tents and put 50 cans of beans in each tent. Then defend your "hill of beans" from bean thieves!

Edited August 21, 2012 by CaribeanSoul

[Whopper 1]

1. Oh, 10 hours? That's longer than most games.
   
2. Ten minutes to completely resupply? Yeah, we need to get rid of tents and storage right the fuck now.
   
3. Early game isn't for you, it's for newspawns.
   
4. Stop fucking newbs over with game redesigns because you're bored.
   

I lol'd at your #2. Obviously new spawn isnt running to his/her camp along the coast line.. If that were the case then said camp would have been emptied out way before said player died and had to run to his/her camp...

Anyone with a brain puts there camp north of zelengorsk but away from the main cities.

QQ about people storing stuff in tents and continue doing it yourself (assuming the tents/vehicle storage is fixed soon)

Obviosuly what he meant is that he can easily run into one of the three main cities and gear up in a matter of 10 minutes... Assuming he respawns near a city that is

Edited August 21, 2012 by Whopper

[00dlez 22]

The game is supposed to be a zombie survival game and anyone who has played for longer than 30 minutes knows how to avoid zombies completely. If it wasn't for bandits, players could easily survive indefinately with ease.

This isn't CS, Modern Warfare or Battlefield, and needs to incorporate both PVP and PVE aspects. Zombies should be difficult to the point that they are common enough and deadly enough to at least pose a threat to established players.

[00dlez 22]

It is my belief that in a proper sandbox game the other players should provide the challenging content. That leaves the devs free to work on the underlying systems and create new features for us the players to use.

There are PLENTY of challenging things to do DayZ. There is no reason for it to become some kind of fps themepark. You need challenge? Try to take over a city and hold it. Find a clan of bandits (or if you're a bandit a clan of survivors) and go to war with them. Try to set up a trading post (some people already doing this.) You are limited only by your imagination. Start collecting tents and beans. Find a hill and cover it with tents and put 50 cans of beans in each tent. Then defend your "hill of beans" from bean thieves!

Wow, this has nothing to do with zombie survival at all

[kryvian 123]

Stop fucking newbs over with game redesigns because you're bored.

indeed, NWAF should have large (100~) zombie mobs, wolfs and other wild animals that attack would be cool as well.

make it difficult. at endgame locations

[aleksiuski@gmail.com 58]

When I spawn I do this:

Run to nearest farm/loot building, dont mind zombies as they wont hit you when you are running, never. Get an axe / shotgun, take some food. Continue running to Balota / Elektro / ETC and never mind the Z's just run to buildings, loot, run, loot. Example in Elektro: run to city-firestation, loot fast, run to church, loot, restaurant, loot, shop, loot, powerplant firestation. I keep going along the coast untill I have: assault rifle + ammunition, alicepack, map, compas, meds, sidearm and plenty of food. Usually this takes about ~20 minutes, can be done with 10-15mins with good spawnpoint and luck. Like the other day: spawned east of elektro, ran to firestation, got AKM, ran to church and there was someone picking up loot there, shot to the head and BAM i got myself alicepack, sidearm, compas, map and the basic survival gear.

From there one I run to tents (not mine, but i mark up when i find good dupe-camps), get pro-gear and then come back to pwn the n00bs. Usually takes close to one hour to be back on cherno-hills with my gillie and rifle!

Peace out and love! <3

Zombies are so silly now.. they are harmless! What needs to be done:

1. make zombies run fast inside houses

2. make zombies hit you even if you are running

3. more zombies, and make them agro easier (triple the current amount?)

4. get rid of this awfull line-of-sight agro-check system. now you can go to a spruce-tree and just press X, voila zombie agro dropped because LOS is lost. EVEN IF THE BLOODY Z IS 1 METER AWAY!! So silly :D

5. less loot, especially food and drinks are too common and ammo too.

6. make people die of getting cold, increase the factor that drops bodyheat and causes people to get infected.

Finally, you have to make life out side of urban area more dangerous. Life in the wilds is too easy now.

7. add some danger to forests, they are like sanctuarys now with the exception of random players. maybe diseased wildlife? Zombie bears, wolfs and bobcats? wondering zombie-hordes?

[blusub6 8]

indeed, NWAF should have large (100~) zombie mobs, wolfs and other wild animals that attack would be cool as well.

make it difficult. at endgame locations

Wild animals would be cool, ones that attack of course, but in the wilderness. Since it is pretty boring out there, add some bears or something, and maybe at night add wolves or packs, so you actually have to defend yourself/camp at night. Maybe zombie ones or just crazy ones with rabies.

Not saying add them everywhere, but maybe like helicopter crashes, a few encounter but maybe more than however few heli crashes there are.

[puydor 0]

When I spawn I do this:

Run to nearest farm/loot building, dont mind zombies as they wont hit you when you are running, never. Get an axe / shotgun, take some food. Continue running to Balota / Elektro / ETC and never mind the Z's just run to buildings, loot, run, loot. Example in Elektro: run to city-firestation, loot fast, run to church, loot, restaurant, loot, shop, loot, powerplant firestation. I keep going along the coast untill I have: assault rifle + ammunition, alicepack, map, compas, meds, sidearm and plenty of food. Usually this takes about ~20 minutes, can be done with 10-15mins with good spawnpoint and luck. Like the other day: spawned east of elektro, ran to firestation, got AKM, ran to church and there was someone picking up loot there, shot to the head and BAM i got myself alicepack, sidearm, compas, map and the basic survival gear.

From there one I run to tents (not mine, but i mark up when i find good dupe-camps), get pro-gear and then come back to pwn the n00bs. Usually takes close to one hour to be back on cherno-hills with my gillie and rifle!

Peace out and love! <3

Zombies are so silly now.. they are harmless! What needs to be done:

1. make zombies run fast inside houses

2. make zombies hit you even if you are running

3. more zombies, and make them agro easier (triple the current amount?)

4. get rid of this awfull line-of-sight agro-check system. now you can go to a spruce-tree and just press X, voila zombie agro dropped because LOS is lost. EVEN IF THE BLOODY Z IS 1 METER AWAY!! So silly :D

5. less loot, especially food and drinks are too common and ammo too.

6. make people die of getting cold, increase the factor that drops bodyheat and causes people to get infected.

Finally, you have to make life out side of urban area more dangerous. Life in the wilds is too easy now.

7. add some danger to forests, they are like sanctuarys now with the exception of random players. maybe diseased wildlife? Zombie bears, wolfs and bobcats? wondering zombie-hordes?

That's what i wanted to hear. Especially the 5th point. :)

[CaribeanSoul 10]

I would guess that the majority, if not the vast majority of the high-end gear in the game has been added by hacks. I would hope that in the game's intended state "established" players wouldn't be nearly so "established."

Sure, I think some variation in the strength and numbers of zombies would spice things up a bit. But I would rather see them give the players the tools to create their own content and stories. You can keep cranking up the difficulty of the zombies. Someone will come up with the most optimal way of defeating large hordes of super-zombies, everyone will start doing that, people will be bored again, rinse, repeat, now we have WoW with guns.

If I'm plopped down in a sandbox, I'm going to want to build a sandcastle. And then build a moat for my sandcastle ... and then try some sand sculptures .... and then knock all that down and start from scratch and build something else.

This is, of course, just my opinion and I can see where other people would want other things. Nothing wrong with it. I like the idea of the environment being harsh and unforgiving but I also like the idea of the real threat being other players. Someone who's collected a lot of guns and ammo can certainly kill zombies with no problem now, but what if that ammo was more scarce? What if you're terribly afraid to fire your gun because you know there's a gang of ruthless bandits roaming the area and you don't want to give away your position? I get myself into all kinds of bad zombie situations because I try to find ways to get things done without the usual run around and LOS or run through a building or lead them into a long barn and take your time head-shooting. I'm not a huge zombie movie buff so I'm not clear on the prevailing lore ... but I'm interested in seeing more ways to stealthily dispatch zombies. The crossbow is nice and since you're not going to do too well against a player ambush with one it adds some nice risk as well as inventory tade-offs. I really like taking a crossbow on foraging trips into towns. (Then again I've hardly ever found any silenced guns.) I've spent some time sneaking up behind them with a hatchet but that just seems a little pedestrian. I'd like to see you be able to do some kind of crazy ninja move with the hunting knife or something. Then again ... it is a zombie and I think usually you're supposed to blast them in the face with a shotgun ... so maybe I'm way off base. Another thing I think would be really cool is a way for players to construct some kind of fort or stronghold... but that would be a big challenge with a game like this. That kind of thing works in a game like EVE Online because they have mechanics that slow down the building and destruction of player structures... but that's not to say someone can't think of a cool and fun way to do it in a game like DayZ. Perhaps you could move into some of the real small towns with a big group and after a certain amount of time defending against increasing waves of zombies and other players you could take over the town and then the buildings could be used as storage or something with even some kind of npc sentries. Then another team could come destroy it and the zombies come back and they can try to take over the town. Who knows, just thinking crazy thoughts here. But that is the kind of thing I'd like to see rather than just harder zombies. I'm not saying harder zombies would be a bad thing or anything...

I've lost track of what my point was. I guess I'm just saying I tend to find player created content (see EVE Online) way more interesting than "themepark" type content (see WoW, SWTOR, etc.)

[CaribeanSoul 10]

From there one I run to tents (not mine, but i mark up when i find good dupe-camps), get pro-gear and then come back to pwn the n00bs. Usually takes close to one hour to be back on cherno-hills with my gillie and rifle!

LOL ... this game is too easy when I cheat... wow you think?

Get out.

[flimsypremise 94]

Hey I've got an idea, how bout lets fix all of the broken shit before we start fucking around with the existing shit.

[aleksiuski@gmail.com 58]

LOL ... this game is too easy when I cheat... wow you think?

Get out.

Oh buu-huu. If you dont know it already: if you take stuff from a tent, the stuff will be back at the tent at next server reboot. A tent = duping factory. There is no cheating because that is actually how they work. Should it be fixed? OF COURSE IT SHOULD. But for now this is how tents work and have been doing so for a while.

Now, i am not sure how people fill their tents with this most awesomesauce gear, but for sure taking stuff from someone elses tent is not cheating.

BTW on the topic of finding good gear easily: in three hours today i found seventeen helicrashes (five servers, the infamous "sobor-vybor field run"). If tents would work now, I'd say my camp on my "home server" would have some awesomesauce gear piling up pretty fast.

[sausagekingofchicago 4711]

Difficulty and reward should increase the further inland you go. Military bases should take squads of people to loot or a master at stealth. That's just my opinion of course. I imagine the AI is going to be completely different with the standalone, or at least I hope. This alone would completely change how we play. I'm also for fast moving zombies indoors.

[Shaimou 49]

Less food, less guns, less ammo. But instead more empty tin cans and soda cans.

And why were the zombies nerfed? Now they run ridiculously slow. They run so slow that their new, improved aggro range doesnt matter at all because you lose them just by running behind a corner and the zombie isnt even halfway there... And looting is easy, either you:

1. Have too much ammo because its too common and you shoot the zombies.

2. Charge into the town and lose the zombies behind the first corner you see.

3. Have a friend make a zombie-choo-choo train all the way across the town while you loot. The zombies cant hit your friend once.

[CaribeanSoul 10]

There was a time when single player games were commonly released with cheat codes and such for people to play around with (Original Doom, Duke Nukem 3D come to mind ... I'm sure there's more recent examples.) Using someone else's hacked-in, duped gear and then complaining about the difficulty is like turning on god mode and then saying doom was too easy. Of course it is.... you weren't meant to have all that gear... nor was doom designed to be played with god-mode on.

How about ... I dunno ... playing without using duped or hacked gear. Try only picking up gear (including ammo, food, etc.) from actual spawns. Then I'll take your opinion of the difficulty seriously.

[aleksiuski@gmail.com 58]

How about ... I dunno ... playing without using duped or hacked gear. Try only picking up gear (including ammo, food, etc.) from actual spawns. Then I'll take your opinion of the difficulty seriously.

But this is it. It is not hard to get excellent gear legit with these idiotic zombies and very common helicrashes, not to mention retarded amounts of loot in general everywhere!

Tonight alone i have found more then two tents full (had i picked them up) with NVG's, ghillies, FN FAL's, machineguns, AS50's and DRMs. Seventeen helicrashes in three-four hours, while at the same time looting also a few deerstands for ammo and fighting of other players. Stuff needs to be more rare.

And I did not fire a single shot at the Z's on the crash-sites. They spawn, 70% of them walk bunched up in one direction, rest are easily avoided by crouching, walking and crawling. ZERO EFFORT except that of knowhing the spawn-points and knowing compas plus running. Zero effort for the best gear in game, it is amazing.