The Return of Starting With a Weapon

[Dreganius (DayZ) 55]

I also support the current motion of starting without a weapon. I'm not going to bring in personal experiences, or even suggest as to why we should keep it as it is, however I do wish to say something else.

The idea is that no starting weapons makes the game a lot more challenging. The problem is, of course, that this currently isn't the case, due to duping, hacking, spawning, and other such ridiculous premises. High end gear is easily obtainable. Thus, I don't feel that the idea of bringing back a starter weapon is one we should honestly speculate on until after the more immediate, well-known issues are resolved, as they largely impact on ideas such as this.

In summary: In my opinion, we should wait and see what happens after more major issues are resolved before we start speculation on smaller subjects such as this, due to the changes such resolutions will bring.

[Pandemia 4]

Exposition

(although I'm sure the forum trolls and idiots won't read at all, and will instead just skip to blasting any idea ever created for advancing this game):

I am not a new player. I am not a carebear that wants the game to be easy. I am not interested in camping spawn points. I am fairly resolved in my opinion, but I'm also open to discussion (and hoping for it [in an actual logical, thought out format]) about my hypothesis.

I've been playing DayZ for a few months now, starting somewhere in patch 1.5 or 1.6, and I have seen and experienced all the many changes that have happened during this time. Overall, the changes have been positive at least in a long term though process (Ex: Respawn disabled pretty much pisses everyone off, but in the long run will definitely help counter some imbalance and some cheating issues. Or perhaps shitty, annoying, static blockades and other nuisances that interrupt normal paths.) and I try to see everything in terms of how it will effect the future of the game, not just how it will effect my instant gratification... but... one change that I have pondered and pondered and I cannot find a logical explanation for is the removal of a starting gun.

Reasons for spawning without a gun:

-Realism: Understandable, but unobtainable and futile in general. This is a video game and always will be. As awesome as it would be to have a "zombie simulator," to practice for the coming end of days, it isn't going to happen. And the ability to observe the difference between reality and a game, while still becoming completely engulfed in the game, is very important for the experience and the enjoyment of it.

-Spawn Killing Prevention: Disabling a starting weapon did nothing to prevent this. In fact, if anything, it made it worse; the coasts used to be guarded by bandits with Makarov's, now they're guarded by bandits with AS50s and assault rifles. Pretty self explanatory.

-?: I really can't think of any other major reasons to spawn without a gun, but please let me know if you think of any and I will update accordingly.

Reasons for spawning WITH a gun:

Instead of bulleting this section I think I'll just flat out state my reasoning for spawning with the gun, because I feel that it is important enough to justify all the reasoning needed.

Spawning with a gun gives a sense of security, comfort, and to some, the sense of being a bandit whose story is the killing of others to survive. The covert and subconscious effect of spawning with a gun is the sense of freedom to do as you please. Spawning with a gun has always made me feel that I don't have to do anything... I can either: loot, kill, run, relax, kill or kill. Spawning WITHOUT a gun made me feel that instead of having no "quest" to complete, I needed to go and get everything I needed as soon as possible and have a regimented playstyle, whatever that may be. When I started with a gun and some beans I was the master of my destiny, this was MY story, but now I feel as if I'm playing the game's story. This small change has caused me to go from doing what I wanted, when I wanted, how I wanted, because I wanted to, to doing everything I need to do, because I NEED to do it. Which is a horrible feeling in a game that is supposed to be so open and so free.

The reason I am posting this is because I strongly believe that I am not the only one who feels this way, and I'd just like to see if that is the truth or if I'm a complete moron and don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

In Conclusion

The potential that this game had for me is slowly diminishing and I think that, in the long run, spawning empty handed will prove to be a killer and squashing it now will prevent much heartache from the developer team and many grievances from the players. Perhaps there is many additions and fixes that need to be added to the game to make a more full play experience, but this is a small fix that will work wonders and will appeal to the masses as this game becomes more mainstream and more stable to play.

Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think below.

I understand where you are coming from with this, and the mentality of it. Nice way to present it as well.

However I agree with most of the others that disagree, mostly with beez.

So in one hand spawning with a can of beans and a gun with a few clips is nice and fun, I think spawning without it is nicer and funner. I think it is better to need to obtain a weapon than to just start with one, most normal people are not armed with weaponry. Also, a gun with a couple clips and some beans could last you ten minutes, either way you will HAVE to do things you NEED to after this tiny supply is gone.

[Xelous 28]

An interesting post, as a new player (having only started last week) I find myself feeling very vulnerable, and spending vast amounts of my time gathering the bare essentials together at the mercy of loot spawns and crawling... Starting with no weapon turns the initial couple of hours into a trudge, crawl, sneak slog to try and gather stuff up.

I also feel as though not starting with any sort of weapon has the effect that, one spends so much time trying to find something to defend oneself, that once one has some kit its like the flood gates are open, you feel empowered you get cocky, or more likely impatient, and do something silly getting killed and having to start the slog all over.

Other posters have made it obvious that yes doing this you get pro at looting and rounding up gear, but you also do get frustrated at being as helpless as a kitten.

Quite what weapon I'd suggest to start with, I can't say... Maybe a combat knife (and it actually be a weapon) or a hatchet... I'd prefer a hatchet.

What I could suggest though is that spawn points have some plausible reason to have some hatchet on you, perhaps a ruined boat - with zero zombies - a wrecked car on the road - to pick them up from? Features exist all along the coast which could be exploited to hide this game mechanic into the world and would of course give a beginner a chance against the Z's, without giving them imperative to attack one another or other players easily.

All in all however, I started to play without a starting weapon, my frustration is the steep learning curve and my soft pudgy flesh being so attractive to the Z's... A crow bar, a hatchet, a knife... anything would make me feel more able and certain about the game, good suggestion OP, just temper whether such a weapon should be a gun... I don't think it should be, but I do think you have a point. :thumbsup:

[Securion 9]

Starting without basic survival tools arent very realistic in a game like this. I mean how have you been able to survive so far?

It also promotes the now infamous "noob-running" that occurs. A player spawns and dont care about anything until he finds a weapon, resulting in that player running a gauntlet in Cherno or Electro while being under constant fire from snipers. Spawn, run, die, spawn, run, die, spawn, run, find a weapon! And all of a sudden the player feels he is part of the world instead of a sniper victim. Now, all of a sudden, he can defend himself and starts valuing his life.

Its also about freedom, as the OP says.

If you give people the basic equipment needed to live either off the land or sneak around in towns to find food, you have given them choise. And in a world like DayZ choice is everything.

Give people the equipment needed to hunt and cook meat. The player can then choose if he wants to risk it to go into town or not. Also, it gives players the freedom to not go into the closest towns but instead go further north, populating more of the map.

Just my 2 cents.

[The_Dude (DayZ) 27]

While I dont agree that spawning with a gun is necessary, I think a bat, axe, or knife would be acceptable. Let's face it... if your tough enough to be a survivor, youre smart enough to leave your house with some kind of weapon.

[that 1 stranger 19]

I'm going to ignore the slightly off topic discussion about starting equipment since I believe the water bottle should be a tool belt item lol. :P

Players starting at the beach with a gun and ammo will result in the beaches looking like a reenactment of Normandy in 1944.

The problem I see with giving everyone a gun to start with is that you're giving them the go ahead to kill things in the game without consequence. If they die, they just respawn back at the beach with a gun and ammo. Plus, you will have people camping the beaches to get more ammo from newly respawned players. Once they get their ammo, they are going to go out and cause problems in the cities and towns to get bigger and better weapons. That will turn Cherno and Elektro into maps from Call of Duty. Regardless of the gun you give them, it's still a gun. Players with guns are serious threats, even if it's just a Makarov. One shot to the head will kill you outright, and some people in this game are really good shots, really lucky shots, or all of the above.

Another thing is that if everyone starts with a gun, the game stops being DayZ and starts being Battlefield 3 with zombies like all the naysayers out there believe it to be.

I'm sure people will disagree with me on this, but I doubt one can convince another otherwise because it sounds like we are all set in our beliefs.