1.13 Experimental Release

Greetings, Survivors!

We’re happy to announce that we are releasing the experimental build of Game Update 1.13 on Steam and Xbox today. As usual, this article is not meant to provide a full overview of the build, but rather point to the specific parts of the update we would like to get feedback on (aside from overall stability). We are also trying out a new approach with this experimental release by providing servers called “DayZ Inland” with a specific setup which will give you a head start (spawning more inland and with better gear) and allow for testing new features faster than before. If you fancy testing the whole loop, however, there will still be the classic vanilla servers for you to play on.

A big part of this game update has to do with further iteration on the infected AI. Our 1.13 efforts can be summed up as follows:

• A stealth approach is now more viable because of increased noise dampening (lesser ability of infected to hear noise through obstacles) and lowered noise from a player’s crouch sprint.
• Infected are now attracted by smoke grenades, flare gun flares, fireplaces, and explosions.
• Infected are now more likely to leave the position of unconscious players (preventing frustrating cycles of uncon).
• Reduced range in which infected can call for help from nearby infected.
• All infected attacks are now blockable and overall infected attack speed has been reduced (but not down to 1.11 levels).
• Balancing of damage and bleeding chances dealt by various infected types (generally scaled according to player progression through the world).
• And last, but not least, we are introducing new types of infected. They mostly patrol various points of interest and have their own strengths and weaknesses. We won’t tell you any more at this point. Try to figure it out! :-)

We have looked at player vs player combat based on the feedback we received from the 1.12 build. The unconscious state length is now tied to the caliber that is used to knock down a target. The vest no longer covers the arms (in the damage system settings), shoulders are now part of the chest zone (previously arms), and hips are also part of the torso (previously legs). Additionally, we increased shock armor on legs, thereby reducing the chances of a double punishment in the form of both an unconscious state and a broken leg. Tweaks were also applied to the damage zones of the arms, resulting in less health damage suffered from getting hit in the arms.

We are introducing the chance for wounds to get infected. This means that from now on, you should always keep an eye on which item is used to treat wounds. We’ve added a new label on the items, displaying their disinfected state, which allows you to quickly recognize which items are safe and which are not. Damaging disinfected items removes the state and requires applying disinfectant again. We spent some additional time revisiting all the disease symptoms and added a bunch of new ones, which helps us differentiate between diseases. While this has not yet been fully applied, you can already see a preview of the wound infection disease, which should be simple to recognize from other diseases. It is also a disease, where we have implemented stages with different effects and treatments.

As teased last week, we are introducing the M16-A2 assault rifle to the game. This iconic rifle comes with a burst fire mode, which we have also implemented for 1.13. We are primarily looking for feedback regarding the way the burst fire mode works, which is currently set to hold down fire to shoot a full burst. Speaking of firearms, we’ve also looked at various weapon attachments and added more pronounced differences between each (dispersion, recoil, sway). Besides that, we’ve added some cool weapon attachments and melee weapons, so keep an eye out for things lying around during your experimental adventures.

Some smaller gameplay tweaks include allowing fireplaces to be lit even under bad conditions (rain or wind), which end up giving audio-visual clues on what could be wrong with their current surroundings. There’s also a guaranteed lifetime for plants on a garden plot (set to two hours) before the timer kicks in and they eventually spoil, as well as a lot of other quality of life tweaks and fixes.

We hope you’re going to enjoy your time on the experimental servers and we’re looking forward to your feedback. If you’re eager to learn about everything that’s been added and changed, you can visit the official forums for a full changelog (PC, Xbox).

On behalf of the DayZ team,
Adam