What DayZ is really missing

[bfisher 561]

I couldn't put my finger on it, but it suddenly occured to me what DayZ is really missing.

What happens in every zombie film / show - Romaro films, Resident Evil, Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, so on and so forth? A bunch of jerks caught out in the open during a zombie outbreak are forced to hole up together in some structure (a farmhouse, mall, bunker, old mansion, appartment building, whatever) to protect themselves from the zombies (and other roving bands of jerks). It provides some degree of safety for awhile, but eventually either supplies run low, a civil war erupts between the people trapped in the house and/or the zombies eventually break in. The survivors are forced to scatter and flee and dodge zombies out on the road again until they find another refuge.

That is what is missing!

What I am talking about is that feeling in zombie films (also the game Minecraft at night), that even if you are well-armed, it is so dangerous to be out in the open that you are forced to find any sort of shelter you can with whoever you are stuck finding it with. And yet it's a double edged sword because that shelter will become a magnet for zombies and bandits.

I feel like DayZ is the opposite. You can roam around the woods as carefree as you like, only going into town to grab supplies and weapons. At best the zombies are a minor nuisance.

My suggestions:

Random chance of zombies spawing ANYWHERE. Maybe not as frequently far from the towns. But you shouldn't be able to sit there for hours (ie "sniping") like you are on a Boy Scout nature hike.

Zombies more dangerous - Maybe make them able to eventually catch you. I don't know

Zombies can't teleport through doors. That strikes me as more of a bug fix.

Ability to secure buildings (other than tank traps and barb wired). Use the hatchet to board up doors and windows. Of course ability to breach those defenses as well.

[Socom_M1911 4]

these seem like some pretty good ideas especially the last one. i have a feeling they might something similar in the standalone but one can only hope

[EndlessNight 103]

Would require a better engine..

[starwarsfan@gmx.de 450]

Would require a better engine..

Actually Rocket already said all of that will make it into the standalone eventually.

[bfisher 561]

Would require a better engine..

Better as in less buggy with improved collision detection or better as in something like a Battlefield 3 destructable environment? The latter would be cool and all, but hardly necessary unless they want to throw tanks and mortars into the mix. Really, I'd be happy if when you shut a door or gate behind you, the zombies don't just wander through it like it didn't exist.

I also think if there were more things to do or build or ways to force people to cooperate that would be a plus. Right now there is no incentive to cooperate because you don't need anything from other players that you can't just kill them for. Like if you could repair generators or waterpumps or watever the same way you fix vehicles. They would be stationary, but because they produce "loot" they would be worth defending and holding. You would also get into a lot of Mad Max Road Warrior standoffs.

[indominator 95]

either more hard to kill zombies, or just more and more, probably needs rebalancing, this game is too easy, and maybe having high end gear shouldnt give you an stupid edge over zombies or other players like it does now, meaning that probably gear should stop mattering so much, maybe the skill of the player behind the character should be more important than anything