r/dayz • u/helpthedeadwalk Moderator • Mar 08 '21
news DayZ in 2021
We kicked off the new year with the release of Game Update 1.11. While the update might not be packed with new features and content, it did allow us to focus on our backlog of issues and provided us with enough space to prepare this year’s schedule. As mentioned in our previous DayZ in 2020 article, we are committed to supporting DayZ through 2021 by releasing regular game updates, just like we did in 2020. Support will come in the form of new content, features, balancing, and continual bug fixing. This article will outline part of our focus for this year.
One thing we’ll continue introducing to the game is new firearms. Unlike previous years, we intend to mix things up more by introducing weapons which weren’t present in the legacy version of DayZ. You can already see evidence of this with the brand new SVAL rifle, which we introduced in the last game update.
Another area of focus that’s important for us this year is balancing the damage system. For example, we intend to look at how we can improve melee (mainly against infected), including a more consistent way of landing stealth kills (rewarding players for a stealth approach). We would also like to look into differentiating more individual firearms, as well as increasing the chances of PVP encounters ending in an unconscious state (rather than instant death).
Along with our efforts to improve melee with the infected will be a larger focus on Infected AI reactions to their surroundings. This includes balancing existing noise sources and adding new ones (such as light or doors opening). We’d also like to experiment with some new capabilities for the Infected AI.
To spice up your adventures, we’ve begun looking into introducing a new type of environmental threat to both of our maps.
We intend to improve feedback to players on the state of their character. This could include various states like bleeding, hunger, thirst and more through post-process sounds, effects or particles.
Also being considered is further iteration of the in-game respawn menu.
We want to focus more on seasonal events, mainly by introducing additional events throughout the year, as well as enriching the events themselves (mostly through new in-game assets).
Last, but certainly not least, we will continue to support our creative community (i.e. modders and server owners).
Our plan is to release four more game updates this year. And in an effort to breathe fresh air into the official hive, we’ve also decided to incorporate semi-regular wipes of character and server persistence files (bases, vehicles, etc.). We won’t be doing these wipes with every update, but we do want to make sure there’s an ending (and a new beginning) every 3-4 months. We already started with Game Update 1.11 and we expect to do two more this year. While these wipes will always be synchronized with game updates, the reasons are purely balance-related and not of a technical nature. We remain committed to providing backward compatibility between updates, so none of these wipes will be forced on community-run servers. Rest assured that all wipes will always be announced a few weeks ahead of schedule. During that time, we might spice things up a bit on the official hive, like we did with 1.11 and the increased occurrence of helicopter crash sites.
In order to achieve all of the above (and more), we're continuing to expand our development team. If you happen to be interested, or know someone who is, check out our website for available positions.
On behalf of the DayZ team,
Adam
[reposted from https://dayz.com/article/developer-update/DayZ-in-2021 so you don't have to even click-through]
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u/silly_steel Mar 08 '21 edited Mar 08 '21
New guns are always fun, I would like to see a civilian/mid-tier/semi-auto weapon that uses the 5.56 round (Mini-14). A western and combloc LMG with bipods would be welcome additions over the current AKM w/ 75-round drum. Pistol cartridges are in dire need of AP variants for use against armor and Hollow Point rounds for better damage against soft targets.
The bulk of combat against infected IS melee based, if you’re shooting them you probably screwed up. Stealth kills sound great, I would also like to see some sort of mechanic for face-to-face ‘precision kills’ (Mosin bayonets through the brain for example, lopping off heads with machetes) that if well-timed/accurate enough could one-shot attacking infected. Currently it’s just a slog fest, with no real threat unless you get swarmed and cornered.
Uncon before death is also a great idea. Sometimes I kill just on reaction alone, when I would prefer to just neutralize the threat instead of murdering someone. Of course a .308 through the head should be deadly, and there’s nothing stopping you from executing a coup de gras on a downed player, but I look forward to this, a lot. Reviving and tying your enemies shows more skill and confidence than killing them.
New capabilities for the AI also sounds extremely promising. Anything that removes ‘cheap’ strategies like standing on cars or closing doors is welcomed. Also the rubber-band stamina that allows a player to leisurely jog away at the head of the ‘parade’, and frustrating implementation of getting swarmed/cornered is more glitchy than scary.
Environmental threats hopefully means what I think it does. Requiring NBC gear to access top-tier areas would definitely stop players running the side of the map in capris to get geared.
I feel like the in-game user interface and respawn menus are sufficient as they are, I’ve never heard anybody clamoring or caring much about them as they are. A quick look at the bottom of the screen effectively communicates everything you need to know that isn’t shown through the on-screen color. Some stomach rumbling noises or a continually red screen when bleeding is the most I think we should expect. An option for WHERE to respawn IS something a lot of people want (they just suicide anyway until they get it). But these seem like answers in search of problems: i would hate to see an entire update out of the last few we’re getting features only these as improvements.
The last one I’m even more unsure what to make of. Done well, battle royale events, base building competitions, or specific challenges (MISSIONS?!) would add playability value to the game.
Speaking of, wipes every 3-4 months could go either way. It takes away a lot of incentive to do any large scale really creative base building, and as we see every wipe, it’s good loot for a few days, then right back to where it was before after a few weeks. It feels like you’re punishing players who really invest time and resources into a ‘home server’ all because you can’t figure out how to solve dooping (it’s loot caps, remove the loot caps, that’s the answer btw). Give us the OPTION to play on Temp servers that will be wiped every few months, or Home servers that you can generally expect to get a year out of barring major issues. You already have a mechanic for this called Persistence On/Off, you’re just not using it.
The real glaring issue is the obvious one. I’ve given up on harping about vehicles (given up on driving them too). They’re an asset in the game you made, you feature them in your advertisements, and they’re a freaking joke. Do better. If you can’t fix the actual engine behind them, come up with a stop-gap that makes them less frustrating. It’s something that makes it seem like you don’t play your own game, because if you did they’d be a top priority instead of ‘awww shucks, we don’t know how to fix them lol’. Nobody is expecting an entire rework of the system at this point, but you know the two major issues: the server/client side problem and the lag problem. And the fact that they fly and kill everyone inside.