DayZ Update 1.12

Hello survivors!

We’re excited to announce that game update 1.12 has been released on all platforms! Before we dive into the contents of the update, we’d like to take a moment to thank everyone on PC and Xbox for participating in the experimental phase. This update offers plenty of changes in the game and your feedback during the experimental phase was very important to us. If you’re interested in a detailed rundown of the changes we made, head on over to the changelog forum posts (PC, Console). And if you encounter any issues, we’d love it if you let us know via the Feedback Tracker. Now let’s take a look at what’s been changed and added!

We start with the most important part of the update – changes to player vs infected and player vs player combat. The scope of these is far beyond anything we’ve done before. Here’s a quick summary:

• Infected are deadlier up close due to the increased frequency of their attacks and higher resistance against damage from melee. To counter their attacks up close, players need to use heavier weapons when trying to stun them. Their senses were tweaked in a way that makes them slower to react to nearby noises, making a stealth approach and stealth kills more viable. Infected are also more likely to leave their target alone if they lose it and they won’t attack unconscious players anymore.
• A massive balancing pass was done over existing firearms, making them more diverse while keeping rarity in the world in mind. This primarily includes a focus on non-automatic rifles being stronger and more precise than automatic ones. We also overhauled the audibility so smaller caliber weapons are harder to hear from a distance.
• The diversification of firearms also affects ammunition properties, which means we paid attention to damage to health, as well as shock differences between individual ammo types. This was also coupled with a major buff to protective gear with ballistic properties (selected helmets and vests), which now protects players a lot more from incoming damage to health and allows for more firefights to end in an unconscious state rather than instant death.
• Suppressors make firearms much more viable in the encounters and allow players to stealthily take down their targets without attracting a large number of lurking infected. Every firearm hit on an infected also offers a very high chance of having a stopping effect on them.
• Landmines went through a balance pass and are no longer lethal to healthy players. That being said, they will still cripple their victims, so watch out for them. If you manage to spot one before stepping on it, you can disarm it with the right tool.

Speaking of combat, we’re introducing a brand new weapon to the game – the Pioneer. This special police force bolt-action rifle with a five round 5.56×45mm magazine is a strong contender amongst the arsenal that’s already available and is a welcome addition to police areas across Chernarus and Livonia. There are also two new exotic knives to be found.

Another thing we’ve done is a significant balancing pass on the nutritional values of all food items in the game. Things we took into account were the size of the inventory, the quantity itself, the fullness factor, the differences between cooking stages, and whether the item requires a tool to open. But that’s not all! We’ve also added 13 new food items, which will reinforce the existing food within the new player spawn areas. While that might sound like a lot, most of the new food items are low in nutrition, meaning they’ll only provide a short-term energy supply, allowing players to hop from one place to another, but not take long trips.

Continuing on with food, horticulture has also received a number of updates. Here’s a short summary for all you farmers out there:

• Horticulture can now be performed inside various greenhouses across the world.
• Potatoes can be planted and grown. They need to be peeled before you can eat them though.
• Plant growth time has been increased. The time varies between 20-50 minutes, depending on the type of plant and its nutritional yield.
• The yield of a plant depends on the type of fertilization used.

Rounding things up, we added a way to lock attachments onto a car, which allows players to make valuable use of broadly available tools such as tire irons, wrenches, and screwdrivers. Server owners and modders will also be interested to learn that a massive overhaul of connection and kick messages was conducted and over 100 new messages were added to better explain the reasons behind a kick or connection error.

We really hope you’re going to enjoy this update, so keep an eye on the hills because the night of witches is coming soon to Chernarus and Livonia!

On behalf of the DayZ team,

Adam