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[Foliorum Viridum]

Thats my belief. There are definitely alternative means available that are far less far reaching and dramatic as the Bandit skin.

It does far more to punish those people who arent PKers and were simply defending themselves and it basically guarantees other players will shoot at you without question. Its just not natural.

People are defending it right now because there has been a massive influx of the supposed CoD and BF crowd who are just PKing with reckless abandon and the Bandit skin is the only defense against them, and thats got some truth to it, but in the long run the Bandit skin should go the way of the dinosaurs. Rocket and crew can definitely come up with a better and more intuitive and passive way to deal with Griefers and their ilk.

Yep. Today someone shot at me, I defended myself, BAM bandit skin. I've already been sniped once and I think it might be because of my skin.

There will be situations where I kill to survive, but I think that shouldn't brand you an "untrustworthy" player etc. The reason I'm a bandit is bullshit because I was being a good guy and he fucked me.

Perhaps if you racked up dozens of kills then there could be some sort of appearance change, but at the moment bandits are screwed because people just see them as mindless killers, when in fact there are lots of valid reasons for killing.

If you were starving and killed someone for food that's fucking awesome and part of surviving in the game. You shouldn't be gimped afterwards because of that.

You guys are living in a dream world. Maybe this would have happened before the mod blew up on kotaku and 4chan and shit, but not anymore. Approach with caution? It would be more like approach with guns blazing at all times because we're playing deathmatch now.

Scarlet letter is needed.

How can you tell the difference from someone like me who killed to defend myself or someone who has sniped 100 players for fun?

You can't. It's a bullshit and flawed system.

 

[childplease]

Alright who wants to play? I just wanna team up with somebody and scout around. I'll hop into any server that has an open slot. We can meet up wherever.

Currently in Chicago 3

Make your way to the devils castle north of Cherno. When you arrive I will join the server and give you an akm with 4 mags of ammo.

 

[Blizzard]

I think it's a lot more interesting if you approach everyone with the same caution. Real killers don't magically change appearance, it would be cooler if that didn't happen in the game. You'd have to try and read the player by their actions, what they say, etc etc.

That'd be tense as fuck. A huge improvement in my eyes.

The huge problem with this is that you can't read them by their actions and what they say -- you will be killed instantly before you can even see the person, or if you get close enough to see them to attempt a conversation, they can simply kill you while you type.

Climbing over fences or opening doors can already kill you, how's that for tenseness.

As someone mentioned, the problem is that players seem to want anonymity without consequences, something that gives a huge bonus to one type of player but a huge negative to the other type of player (aside for a "tenseness" which is already there to begin with since any non-bandit, glitch, or zombie can kill you anyway).

If they can come up with a method that allows self-defense and discourages rampant PK'ing and spawn farming of new players without skins, then sure that could be nice.

 

[Enduin]

I also have to say the novelty of the realistic time scale is wearing off on me. I really hope they allow Server admins in the future to set at least a couple custom time scales. Nothing too drastic but something like 3x normal would be fantastic.

8 hour long days, 20 minute long hours. Day and night would still last a sufficiently long amount of time, but you could still experience both on a single server in one sitting. Right now the real time scale really forces people to server jump and its going to be a real hindrance in the future for setting up Server based communities since no one wants to play exclusively during the night or day, so putting the time and effort needed into fixing up vehicles and reinforcing homes and bases wont be worth it if youre only spending half or less of your time on that particular server.

 

[wolfmat]

Right now the real time scale really forces people to server jump

Why? You're just gaming the system then.

I don't think it matters at all. Just deal with it.

Hardship makes the game. The same goes for the PKers. You NEED them to have a good game.

 

[Interficium]

The huge problem with this is that you can't read them by their actions and what they say -- you will be killed instantly before you can even see the person, or if you get close enough to see them to attempt a conversation, they can simply kill you while you type.

Climbing over fences or opening doors can already kill you, how's that for tenseness.

As someone mentioned, the problem is that players seem to want anonymity without consequences, something that gives a huge bonus to one type of player but a huge negative to the other type of player (aside for a "tenseness" which is already there to begin with since any non-bandit, glitch, or zombie can kill you anyway).

If they can come up with a method that allows self-defense and discourages rampant PK'ing and spawn farming of new players without skins, then sure that could be nice.

From what I understand there was a patch where the bandit skin was glitched and didn't turn on if you went on a murder spree. Apparently it was a mess with Cherno just a constant shoot-out and people camping spawns for E-Z kills.

 

[Extollere]

Make your way to the devils castle north of Cherno. When you arrive I will join the server and give you an akm with 4 mags of ammo.

I'll try to find it. I don't know my way around the map though.

Also, can anyone tell me what is up with mics? I can't tell if anyone can hear me talking (pressing caps lock), or how the voice feature works at all. Can everyone hear me? Can nobody hear me? Sometimes random voices cut in and out, but I have no idea if they are people who are near, or far.

 

[wolfmat]

I'll try to find it. I don't know my way around the map though.

Also, can anyone tell me what is up with mics? I can't tell if anyone can hear me talking (pressing caps lock), or how the voice feature works at all. Can everyone hear me? Can nobody hear me? Sometimes random voices cut in and out, but I have no idea if they are people who are near, or far.

You need to switch to the right channel to get direct communication. Switch channels with . and ,.

Edit: It doesn't work most of the time, so don't use it at all is my stance.

 

[Blizzard]

From what I understand there was a patch where the bandit skin was glitched and didn't turn on if you went on a murder spree. Apparently it was a mess with Cherno just a constant shoot-out and people camping spawns for E-Z kills.

That doesn't surprise me, and I think someone even posted earlier in the thread that the bandit skin is pretty much the only thing keeping them from going out and murdering people.

Perhaps if you racked up dozens of kills then there could be some sort of appearance change, but at the moment bandits are screwed because people just see them as mindless killers, when in fact there are lots of valid reasons for killing.

If you were starving and killed someone for food that's fucking awesome and part of surviving in the game. You shouldn't be gimped afterwards because of that.

How can you tell the difference from someone like me who killed to defend myself or someone who has sniped 100 players for fun?

You can't. It's a bullshit and flawed system.

No on these points:

1. Sniping 100 players (which should get you swarmed by zombies, by the way, if it's a sniper rifle in town) or racking up "dozens" of kills will put your humanity down far more than kill one time in self-defense, no? And as has been pointed out, you can recover humanity over time (I think?) or by helping someone, presumably enough to make up for one kill. It can be more difficult, but that's the risk inherent in the game. Even in real life, if you kill someone in self-defense, there can be a question of whether it was justified, and a lynch mob might not let you explain yourself. (PLEASE do not take this as a commentary on the Florida case -- I live in Florida and I'm not commenting about that case, just a general observation)

2. If you are starving and you have ammo, you can hunt or ask someone for food. If you just blindly kill someone, they might not even have any food, OR they might have freely given you the food if you'd asked. Instead, you just screwed over another player on the offchance that they had food on them, also robbing yourself of a potential teammate.

3. There are not "lots" of valid reasons for killing. You just mentioned two -- starving (presumably by simile, bleeding out and needing a bandage or medicine), or self-defense. Two is not a lot, self-defense will probably not get you 100 non-bandit kills (and I already commented about it), and I addressed starving above.

 

[SpudBud]

What server is gaf playing on?

 

[Enduin]

Why? You're just gaming the system then.

I don't think it matters at all. Just deal with it.

Hardship makes the game. The same goes for the PKers. You NEED them to have a good game.

Its not a hardship its just annoying. Say you live in LA and can only play the game from 7-10pm and you find a server you really like with a cool crowd but its located in NY and set to EST. Youre stuck playing in the dark every time, so in order to experience day light gaming you have to join a server located in Europe or somewhere else thats running at a different time zone. Its not about the gaming being harder or easier depending on the light its about experiencing different settings and atmospheres. Yet you are forced to sacrifice possible community benefits and in many cases quality of performance if youre playing on a server half way around the world.

 

[DTKT]

I have -15k humanity, I have really no hope of getting a survivor skin. :|

 

[The M.O.B]

What server is gaf playing on?

3-4 gaffers are in EU2.

 

[J-Rock]

I'd prefer a character that I can customize physically. I don't like being forced to wear a Bandit skin.

 

[WedgeX]

The huge problem with this is that you can't read them by their actions and what they say -- you will be killed instantly before you can even see the person, or if you get close enough to see them to attempt a conversation, they can simply kill you while you type.

Climbing over fences or opening doors can already kill you, how's that for tenseness.

As someone mentioned, the problem is that players seem to want anonymity without consequences, something that gives a huge bonus to one type of player but a huge negative to the other type of player (aside for a "tenseness" which is already there to begin with since any non-bandit, glitch, or zombie can kill you anyway).

If they can come up with a method that allows self-defense and discourages rampant PK'ing and spawn farming of new players without skins, then sure that could be nice.

And tents! As MOB just found out.

I have -15k humanity, I have really no hope of getting a survivor skin. :|

Become a doctor and heal everyone, all the time.

 

[Enduin]

I'd prefer a character that I can customize physically. I don't like being forced to wear a Bandit skin.

Or vice versa, I think the Bandit skin is pretty swank, but I cant wear it without killing players which I dont want to do and if I do wear it Im an instant target for other players.

They need to devise a better system.

 

[Blizzard]

I have -15k humanity, I have really no hope of getting a survivor skin. :|

How many non-bandits did you have to kill to get that?

I'd prefer a character that I can customize physically. I don't like being forced to wear a Bandit skin.

How did you get it?

Also, you terrify me since you have that avatar, and it creeps me out so much. That character in Spirited Away was SO freaky.

 

[legacyzero]

I havn't played for a couple nights. Do I have to update anything??

 

[The M.O.B]

And tents! As MOB just found out.

Fortunately it just broke my legs and made me bleed out a bit. I'm thankful the tent didn't steal all of my stuff, shoot me in the head and then launch me 50 feet through the air.

hmrph

 

[Enduin]

How is humanity deducted? I mean what is the determining factor in how much humanity you lose when killing another player?

You start off with what 2500? Is it a flat rate for killing another individual or is it weighted in any way like if they have a higher or lower humanity than you?

Maybe a better system would be to weigh each kill based on the killed..

You just start out with 2500 hundred Humanity. You kill your first Survivor, you get half of their humanity deducted from your humanity. So if they have 2500 Humanity you lose 1250 Humanity, if they have 1000 humanity you lose 500.

Now thats just your first PK. Murder #2 you get their full Humanity deducted from your own.

Then with Bandits its reversed. Your first killed Bandit you get his entire negative humanity added to your own. So if the Bandit has -2000 Humanity you get an additional 2000 Humanity, so youre now at 5500 Humanity. After that first Bandit kill you get only half of their humanity added to your own.

Edit: Its not perfect, you can definitely game this but its an idea.

 

[Jim E. Rossler]

You should have leeway for a couple of kills before the switch
We had to shoot a dude in our game last night who was unwanted and tagged along loudly attracting zombies
Luckily we had a dedicated bandit to pull the trigger

 

[WedgeX]

Fortunately it just broke my legs and made me bleed out a bit. I'm thankful the tent didn't steal all of my stuff, shoot me in the head and then launch me 50 feet through the air.

hmrph

General question on the tent for the more experienced:

Do tents follow you from server to server or do they become fixtures of that specific server?

 

[Enduin]

You should have leeway for a couple of kills before the switch
We had to shoot a dude in our game last night who was unwanted and tagged along loudly attracting zombies
Luckily we had a dedicated bandit to pull the trigger

This is the kind of reason why the Bandit skin is so flawed. But yeah under my idea maybe two kills would be ok, but really you dont want to give too much leeway for exploitation and gaming. Maybe you get a "free" kill every 24 hours that only deducts half the Kill-ees humanity from yours and the any kill after that deducts the full humanity. But then the next day you get another "half kill."

 

[docbon]

i swear this airfield is haunted. i stepped over a pile of rubble, broke my leg, and bled out instantly.

Then I lit up several bandits in cherno and stole their gear. B)

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Any from last nights 8 on yet? Looks like I can get on earlier...

 

[WedgeX]

i swear this airfield is haunted. i stepped over a pile of rubble, broke my leg, and bled out instantly.

Then I lit up several bandits in cherno and stole their gear. B)

Yesssssssssssssssssss!

 

[The English Conquistador]

So tempted to get into this...but buying a game just to play a mod? I dunno. :/

Seems so awesome as well.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Gotta log off, I have no food, so I'm going to have to wait until someone else from last night logs in I am weary to venture out by myself. Don't know the area that well, and it's raining really good which is making it very hard to see.

Edit: NiX just got on

 

[Enduin]

So tempted to get into this...but buying a game just to play a mod? I dunno. :/

Seems so awesome as well.

Look up reviews and vids of Arma II and Operation Arrowhead. Theyre fantastic games, though definitely not for everyone. So you might not just buying them for mod but for both. 30 bucks is a pretty great deal in that event. I was not disappointed.

 

[Zaphod]

So tempted to get into this...but buying a game just to play a mod? I dunno. :/

Seems so awesome as well.

This is how I feel right now. I'll probably wait too long and then break about the time the game's community turns to crap knowing my luck.

 

[railGUN]

I love being a bandit. Killing only zombies is boring, no thrill at all. In a lawless land, there will always be criminally minded individuals who pray on the trusting or weak. I love stalking and the fear of constantly being hunted because of my reputation, I wouldn't change the system at all. I sniped a survivor last night from about 700 meters, in the dark, it was fucking awesome.

I don't discriminate, I kill survivors and bandits alike. My humanity is around -10k currently.

 

[PetrCobra]

Man, what an intense game. It really feels like something is happening even when actually not much is going on.

My first time - I spawn near a small town, it is night and I cannot see shit because the moon is not up yet. I run around a bit when I see what might be a construction site - it's ALL RED, shining through the dark. Someone must be in there. So I run that way when I hear gunfire. Many gunshots actually. And the red light is no longer there. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea... Then I notice that the house on my right can be entered. There are two backpacks inside, with nothing to take. I notice a conversation on the chat: "hey, it was me who killed you! nice gun, it's mine now, come at me" - "Oh I will, you bet I will, and I won't be alone!".

I get out of the house and around the corner, I find a building with a ladder - naturally, I decide to climb up. There is a dead body on the roof but I cannot take anything. And look, here is another ladder, I wonder what't up there. So I climb up and... fall down. My leg is broken and I'm bleeding. Oh. Good thing I have these bandages and... these painkillers. There, all better now. I climb down and decide to look what was the deal with that construction site. Now which direction it was. Probably over there, I'll just run that way and se if I can... wait, what just happenned? It was so dark that I didn't see I'm running towards the docks or something, and now I'm in the water. After swimming around for a LONG time I find a place where I can get out but it's too late, most of my supplies are already gone.

After a while, back in the town, I hear quiet growling. I enter panic mode and try to run away. After a few seconds, I'm ambushed by zombies. It's wonderfully scary, I can hardly see them and they seem to be everywhere. When the fight is over, the counter says 5 killed zombies and three headshots. From now on, I only walk while crouched. The quiet growls are all aroung and it's unnerving as hell but no zombies are trying to eat me alive, so I stick to that strategy. Disappointing encounter: a dead man on the road carrying a rifle cannot be looted. Later, in a church, I find some supplies. While searching through them, I hear a fight - someone shot down two zombies nearby, as I realize later. The zombies are dressed as doctors and one of them has a bandage.

I decide to leave the town, but on the way there is a large backyard next to some factory. Ignoring the sounds indicating that there are zombies nearby, I find two bodies. One lays on the other one, it looks like someone was killed while trying to get stuff from the guy below him. The game says "cause of death unknown".

This was only supposed to be a test run and It's already 2:30 in the morning, so I decide to just find out where on the map I am and then quit. The zombies are suddenly quiet, but only until I try to run. I don't need any attention so I slowly approach the sign that says I am leaving Elektrozavodsk (yeah, I can read cyrillic... a little). The end.

TLR: sorry, I know that most of you have far more interesting stories to tell, but I just needed to write this, I was so amazed. I also need to practice my english and any excuse is good enough for me. Posting it here made me try harder, knowing that someone might actually read it ;-)

 

[OrangeYouGlad]

WE ARE LIVE WITH AUDIO! WHEE!

I apologize in advance if you see me switch out of the game. The game source in XSplit is pretty shitty, so I'm using screen region.

 

[IMACOMPUTA]

So here's an "exploit".

Seems like late at night (like 6am Central time) when servers die down, the spawn bug hits. Zombies wont spawn (but neither will loot).

Last night i was in a server with 5 people and 4 zombies total. I made my way to the northwest Airfield running full speed without any worry.
Of course, when i got there the loot hadn't respawned... So i laid down in a hangar and joined a diff server. MASSIVE LOOT!
I did this a couple times, clearing out servers and got completely decked out. I got sniped by a bandit eventually and then my "partner" that i SHOULDNT have trusted saw i was weakened and killed me for my DMR.

 

[Syph Medwes]

WE ARE LIVE WITH AUDIO! WHEE!

I apologize in advance if you see me switch out of the game. The game source in XSplit is pretty shitty, so I'm using screen region.

Watching now!
Can't wait to get this game, added funds to paypal today to get ArmaII, just gotta wait 6-8 business days for it to clear.

 

[AndyMoogle]

I bought ARMA2: Combined Operations on Steam, but Operation Arrowhead doesn't start. I started ARMA2 first, and that works fine. But, when I try OA I get two errors and it won't start.

These are the errors:

No entry 'bin\config.bin/CfgInGameUI/MPTable.shadow'.
Error compiling pixel shader PSSpecularAlpha:0

I can't start Combined Operations because of this either. A window pops up saying something about a key, but it disappears right away so I don't really know what it says.

The only solution I find on Google is when you get these errors after installing a mod. I haven't installed anything other than the games.

 

[Enduin]

I bought ARMA2: Combined Operations on Steam, but Operation Arrowhead doesn't start. I started ARMA2 first, and that works fine. But, when I try OA I get two errors and it won't start.

These are the errors:

No entry 'bin\config.bin/CfgInGameUI/MPTable.shadow'.
Error compiling pixel shader PSSpecularAlpha:0

I can't start Combined Operations because of this either. A window pops up saying something about a key, but it disappears right away so I don't really know what it says.

The only solution I find on Google is when you get these errors after installing a mod. I haven't installed anything other than the games.

Most help I can give is to have Steam check the integrity of the game files. Maybe go so far as to uninstall and redownload. Though you can probably save the major file folders so you dont have to redownload everything

 

[AndyMoogle]

Most help I can give is to have Steam check the integrity of the game files. Maybe go so far as to uninstall and redownload. Though you can probably save the major file folders so you dont have to redownload everything

I actually found a solution just now, but thanks anyway. I tried validating the files first, but that didn't help. What I had to do was to run Steam as administrator and then start OA. Now it works fine.

 

[blainethemono]

This sounds really good, but I don't have a headset/mic...is voice chat absolutely necessary to play this? I remember voice chat being really important for vanilla arma but I didn't really play it much

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

WE ARE LIVE WITH AUDIO! WHEE!

I apologize in advance if you see me switch out of the game. The game source in XSplit is pretty shitty, so I'm using screen region.

Gabe Newell is on your server and he has plenty of blood packs. You know what you must do.

 

[Krappadizzle]

This sounds really good, but I don't have a headset/mic...is voice chat absolutely necessary to play this? I remember voice chat being really important for vanilla arma but I didn't really play it much

It's pretty important. Unless you plan to solo. Voice is integral to the DayZ experience if you want to team. You'd be pausing a lot to type and you could never properly raid a town as you couldn't really call or spot zed.

 

[mercenar1e]

i want the ability to kill people and eat them afterwards.. have a separate skin for the cannibals

 

[blainethemono]

It's pretty important. Unless you plan to solo. Voice is integral to the DayZ experience if you want to team. You'd be pausing a lot to type and you could never properly raid a town as you couldn't really call or spot zed.

Yeah I figured that would be the case. watching that stream right now, looks really cool. might have to get a mic and get into this

 

[Extollere]

It's pretty important. Unless you plan to solo. Voice is integral to the DayZ experience if you want to team. You'd be pausing a lot to type and you could never properly raid a town as you couldn't really call or spot zed.

I have no fucking clue how to use the mic. Nobody I ever talk to responds (mic seems to be working just fine), and nobody talks. Furthermore, I don't really understand the chat or the different channels. I suck

 

[ameratsu]

This sounds really good, but I don't have a headset/mic...is voice chat absolutely necessary to play this? I remember voice chat being really important for vanilla arma but I didn't really play it much

If you want something cheap and simple that will work with headphones you probably already have, try this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00029MTMQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Enduin]

I have no fucking clue how to use the mic. Nobody I ever talk to responds (mic seems to be working just fine), and nobody talks. Furthermore, I don't really understand the chat or the different channels. I suck

Global Chat broadcast everywhere, so everyone see its
Side Chat broadcasts to your faction, but since everyone is on the same "side" in Day Z they all see it and it is the preferred global chat.
Group Chat broadcasts to your Group, but there are no groups yet in Day Z so its useless.
Direct Chat broadcast is limited range, so only people within a certain area of you will hear/see it. Thats what you want to use for Voice Chat.

That said direct chat or voice chat in general has been messed up and is only working if you are running the new beta patch, here.

 

[Blizzard]

And tents! As MOB just found out.

Hahaha...is there any trick to SAFELY using tents?

 

[Extollere]

Global Chat broadcast everywhere, so everyone see its
Side Chat broadcasts to your faction, but since everyone is on the same "side" in Day Z they all see it and it is the preferred global chat.
Group Chat broadcasts to your Group, but there are no groups yet in Day Z so its useless.
Direct Chat broadcast is limited range, so only people within a certain area of you will hear/see it. Thats what you want to use for Voice Chat.

That said direct chat or voice chat in general has been messed up and is only working if you are running the new beta patch, here.

thanks, and I am using the new patch. It says 1.6 at the title screen when I boot. It's just that nobody fucking replies to me, even the few people I teamed up with, I couldn't get a single response from. Voice or chat. Makes communication a frustrating affair. Well... I'll keep playing. I really wanted to team up with somebody and tackle some bandits.

 

[nyong]

The best solution, IMO, is to not punish players for killing bandit-skinned players. That, and to flag someone as a player-killer much faster. Maybe even flag someone with fresh "blood on their hands" to where they attract zombies much quicker and easier. It makes sense if they're digging around in their kill's bloody backpack, dirtying themselves up.

 

[drizzle]

So tempted to get into this...but buying a game just to play a mod? I dunno. :/

Seems so awesome as well.

The mod is in early alpha, filled with bugs.

Summer Sale is upon us. Just wait until then to, hopefully, get the Combined Operations for 14,99 again (as it was on the Winter Sale: http://www.steamgamesales.com/xGS3C/arma-ii-combined-operations) and a couple MOD Patches will already have gone by, making the whole experience both cheaper and better.

That's what I'm doing anyway.