There have been a lot of big changes but the most significant is that new characters start with almost nothing in terms of inventory. All you get at spawn is the Coyote Patrol Pack, a flashlight, a bandage and a box of painkillers. No gun. No ammo. Nothing else.
This is a game changer.
When the initial 1.7.1 patch first hit, it was sheer madness, mostly due to a simultaneous change to the zombie's auditory and visual awareness that caused survivors to be detected from ridiculous distances unless they belly crawled everywhere. This turned the game into a sort of torture device for a day or so with new players and re-spawns struggling to survive for more than a few minutes and falling victim to anyone who'd managed to find a gun.
Thankfully, subsequent tweaks to the zombie behavior have made things a bit more sane and improved the way that the infected respond to stimuli and distractions such as empty cans and road flares. It's now much easier, yet still challenging, to weave a path through a zombie infested area to scavenge, and scavenge you must.
Since you now start with barely any tools at your disposal, you are extremely vulnerable for a much longer initial period than in previous versions of the mod. As such, some of the advice in "My DayZ Survival Guide" has become a bit obsolete. I'm going to keep the guide up in its original form in case the dev team decide to re-introduce a starting weapon in the future but here are some quick tips for new players and old players struggling with the recent changes:
Re-prioritize
The world of "DayZ" was always harsh but it has become even more-so with the latest changes. Your first priority when entering the game with a new character must be to find a means to defend yourself. As such, you may want to avoid the smaller towns, which used to be good places to start scavenging. The only weapons you're likely to find in these are pistols with limited supplies of ammo. Depending on where you spawn, you may be able to cherry pick a few enterable buildings on the outskirts of a town without too much trouble but you'll want to avoid getting too deep into them until you've acquired some supplies. Of course, if you're really patient and sneaky, you can weave your way around zombies and other players to forage in such areas but the reward versus time spent is rarely worth it in my experience.
So, where should you go?
That depends on your spawn. If you start anywhere near "Chern" or "Elektro" (the two large cities on the southern coast) or the southern airfield, you'll want to begin looting right there. These areas are extremely dangerous but they also offer the best access to the items a new character needs most (i.e. weapons, ammo, medical supplies, food and drinks). If you start near a major city or military post, just go for it. Get in there, grab what you can and hope for the best. You have nothing to lose and if you're quick, quiet and careful, you're likely to walk away with a good set of gear.
If you start in a more rural area, you're going to want to focus on any of the special buildings and areas that are scattered throughout the game world. Barns are still a very good place to seek out, as are the small guard/watch towers that are sometimes found at the tree lines of forests that are near towns and points of interest. These often have good primary weapons and other useful items. Gas stations, lumber mills, warehouses and sheds are also places worth checking out as long as they aren't crawling with zombies.
The key is to find places where you can get in quickly, have a reasonable chance of finding something useful and get out without too much risk or spending too much time. Death can come very quickly if you linger, unarmed in a loot-rich area for long as most other players will kill an unarmed player simply to avoid resource competition unless you're lucky enough to find someone who's interested in forming a group.
Mechanical Changes
- There are at least two melee weapons now available in the game. The most desirable of these is the hatchet, which can be worn on the tool belt and used to cut wood from trees when not being used as a primary weapon– and the crowbar, which does a lot less damage and has a much shorter effective range.
- You are likely to take damage from zombies when using a melee weapon; however, they do not break and can be used while backing away as you would with a gun. Note that blows can miss using this technique and the timing is a little different for each weapon. Melee weapons can also kill other players. I know because I was killed by one while being a nice guy and shooting some zombies that chased a player into a building I was looting. "Thanks for that, buddy!" :)
- Zombies will stop chasing if they lose track of you (lose line of sight and are no-longer able to hear or see you). They will search at the last position you were heard/seen, so you'll need to hit the deck and crawl away to completely escape them. Just be sure that you've at least broken line of sight with all of them before you go prone, or you're likely to get trounced.
That covers the really important stuff. I'll have more on "DayZ" this weekend but I need to get back to work for now. :) One last note: If you're not using "Six Updater/Launcher" to play "DayZ," you should start. With all the "DayZ" and "ARMA II" expansion beta patches being released each week, it's a really big help. http://www.dayzmod.com/su.php
DayZ - http://www.dayzmod.com
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