Sorry Mobucks didn't see you on! Hit me up again to play!
So I started a new character in DayZ today, after two days of trial runs, screw ups, and hair pulling defeat. There were about 20 other survivors on the server, Old Farts DayZ Chernarus, so I knew to be careful, avoid the big towns, and most importantly - DON'T TRUST ANYONE!
I began with a small pistol, a knife, a coyote pack, some bullets, some food, and beans. I spawned near the coast around a small industrial center. These areas mainly have vehicle parts that can be used to repair cars, trucks, buses, helicopter, off road vehicles, etc..
I didn't find much there, but there was a small town close by where I found a compass. This helped me to get my bearings.
I saw some chatter over the chat about some Bambi's (newbs) getting killed near Elektro. It's often the first place newbs go, as a result, there are often people preying on these poor souls there. Usually these newbs are so clueless they run around in the open, asking for rides, complaining about needing blood, basically being annoying newbies that are just begging to get killed. I mean they just started and they are already begging for supplies. I'll put it this way, I'm a newb, and if I saw a newb acting like that, I would kill him. Unless you are being spawn camped or a hacker is acting up, Quit fucking whining. Just to address that a little more, CoD has hackers. DayZ isn't the only game with hackers popping up every now and again. Honestly, the one hacker I encountered, helped me out instead of killing me, right before he got kicked. Not saying it's not a issue, but for me it hasn't been thus far.
I do tend to avoid dispute if possible though, so I knew to stray clear from the coast. Duh. I saw many a newb cry about getting sniped there. Here's a hint newbs: Don't go there unless you are near death and have no choice, or wait until the bad guys leave. So I kept to the tree line, periodically popping out and running to the nearest town to get food, some soda, pain killers, bandages, the essentials basically.
I happened across an old barn with two shotguns, one a double barrel, the other a winchester, lying on the ground and a lee enfield rifle as well. I went with the rifle, which may have lead to my inevitable downfall, more on that later. I heard a chopter flying over head, scouring the coast for any nimrod stupid enough to run along the road. I taunted them over the chat telling them I saw them, so they kept going back and forth looking for me on the road. Little did they know I was in the treeline hiding under a tree waiting for them to go away. Soon enough they did, so I began my way up north, away from the ruckus.
I walked through the woods for about an hour. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have shot the goat and rabbit I saw along the way. But I had plenty of food I thought! Surely I won't need to worry about FOOD right now. I need a map, a gps, all that fancy shit. Well, I did find a map , while ransacking a small farmhouse, near the treeline. It doesn't tell you where you are at on the map, so it didn't help much, but I had a general idea of where I was at - About 10 miles north west of elektro. I saw one poor soul complain of it being empty in Elektro now. I usually get killed when I come here, he said...WTF? Soon enough his name popped up on the kill list. Someone helped him out with his problem it seemed.
I stumbled across a deer stand where I picked up a brand new acu pack to replace my old coyote one. I was beginning to get tired of wandering around without knowing exactly where I was. I ran into a farm town to look at the a road sign. It said something along the lines Wabokta this way 2 miles, except it was in Russian of course. I quickly ran back to the woods where some zombies chased me for awhile. I gave them a slip eventually so I could hide in the bushes and alt-tab to google for a second. I looked up the Russian alphabet and learned the W was pronounces "SH". It ended up being Shakovka or something to that effect. I cross referenced my map in game to determine my approximate position, so now I had my location!
During this entire time, I hadn't encountered any sign of life. Not one bandit, survivor, hero, nothing. Except for a shitload of zombies. During my 6 hours of playing I didn't once get griefed or picked on by bandits. As a mater of fact, there were people giving each other rides to other areas. Even when one noob was killed, the guy found him again and gave him some of his loot back. Sure if you are a dumbass and run out in the open you are a target. Is that a surprise though? Isn't permadeath enough to let you know, "Hey you need to be a little more tactical."
But I digress, My character had eaten all of his food now. The last soda pop had been drank. I desperately needed to get to a town, find some food, and water, and get the hell out. I need to get to Shakovka and find this stuff in minutes or I would starve to death. So I ran up the road a couple of miles until I found this little town, with no loot whatsoever. Nothing. Filled with zombies and no food or water. I did find several empty cans of food, so I take it there once was food there, but not now.
But I did see one tiny little chicken, clucking around. Dozens of zombies were around him though., and I didn't have a melee weapon to kill him silently. Desperate for food, I took my shot. Missed! The zombies now noticed me, so they ran like hell to take me down. I emptied my pistol into four of them, but they kept coming. I pulled out my trusty rifle, took down two more, but it wasn't doing the job good enough. It was too slow to handle them quickly enough, unlike the Winchester I could have picked up. I took several hits, I fell down, bleeding out with no one to help me.
But I did learn much from this experience. Each time I get farther and farther. It's truly an amazing type of game. A game where your life is so important. It's so damn unique. No other game offers this. Never has trust meant so much in a game. Should I help this person? Should I tell him where I am so he can help me, or is he going to stroll up and waste me just to steal my food? Should I give this guy a blood transfusion to save his life, or let him die and steal his shit? The world is so damn huge! You really get a sense of scale that few games can offer. I can't think of one game that offers this. Maybe on a smaller scale, like Dead Island, but this is up to 50 people we're talking about. Even then, the world is so big, you might not ever see them if you don't WANT to.
Sure the game has some quirks. It's an alpha for shits sake. I haven't had any issues with the UI. There was a new patch recently that has made the game even better. I just can't get enough. I've had more fun with it than not. Can't wait for the stand alone game to come out sometime this year. This is the type of game I always wanted to play. I can't believe I waited this long to play it. Anyway, that's my final word on it. May revive the DayZ thread if needed.
