a couple of thoughts

It occurs to me after about 40-50 hours in-game that several features and ideas that DayZ really should expand upon. 

This game needs to emphasize melee combat instead of treating it as an afterthought. I realize that the Arma II engine will never allow DayZ to be quite as engaging a zombie-bashn'slicer as say, Dead Island or even Left4Dead- but a little polishing in terms of hitboxes, weapon reach, animations and reaction times would go a LONG way towards making this experience a cohesive one. I love the idea of weapons doubling as tools (Machete to open Can of Peaches) and I believe the current weapon diversity is good. Unfortunately, at the moment its all just a mad dash for the coveted of all melee in Dayz: the Ax - which not only one-hit kills zombies but is the only tool capable of keeping the player from freezing to death. 

Further, this game is depraved but it isn't depraved enough. Cannibalism should be as ubiquitous a game experience as hunting/gathering. 

I may be more than a little influenced by the Walking Dead and Fallout series when I say this, but it warms my heart in a dark dark way to imagine this game as open-season on Bambis. I suppose many would not like this right out of the gate but I seem to remember going into this game expecting a tough learning curve. I'm sure many feel as I do that hand-holding new players is often a bad way to go in the gaming industry. Apparently, DayZ is harder then it has ever been on newspawns, and this is a good thing- survival of the fittest and all that.

I can only imagine the blood pumping experience of hopping into DayZ the first 5-10 hours, frantically searching for food and tools while prowling cannibals/bandits hunt the weak at every corner. A freshspawn is trapped, the hunters calmly subdue their prey who can only cower before them and beg for her life.... Alternately, enter anti-cannibal players who blow them all away: a calculated trap. 

Whatever, it would all be gravy.

I feel like all the elements are there and I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds come "beta" or final release... but damn, do I want cannibals.

Anyway, I've had a lot of new ingame experiences to include some teaming up. I look forward to posting about this soon!