Heyo, I want to start by saying that I am an extremely passionate, long time dayz player. This game and the dev team behind it have a really deep routed place in my heart. I've come to know a portion of the Bohemia dev team over the years on a slightly more personal level and that is a huge honour that I am very grateful for. Please understand that any criticism I may give comes from a good place, and that I would just like to offer my feedback as a long-time member of the community <3

So I would like to talk about the communication that we receive in terms of plans for the game, and status updates.

In general, for the last few years the dev team has chosen to be very discreet about upcoming planned changes and additions to the game. I understand why this is the case, and I am aware of the previous mistakes such as the infamous "weeks not months" quote that may have lead the dev team to lean into the more "radio silent" approach.

However, I also believe that being too quiet about the state of the game is a negative thing.

Within the community at the moment there is a bit of a "lost" feeling. Nobody really knows what direction the game is going, what future content may be planned, what the dev team is happy with within the game, or what the dev team is unhappy with within the game.

Every patch has been very much a case of, roughly 1 week before an update we receive a small teaser (which is great) and then a dev stream or 2 teasing some new items(which is great) but then it goes back to being totally silent for the next 3 ish months.

I think a lot of the community would really love to hear more from you guys, like I said maybe occasionally discuss future plans, discuss changes which you are excited about or maybe things that you plan to address in the future.

Looking at other games within the hardcore genre such as SQUAD, Escape From Tarkov and even bohemia games such as the Arma Franchise with arma reforger, the devs are much more open about what the future has in store for the game, and this creates a much bigger feeling of hype within those communities. People share thoughts about what they are excited to see, people are constantly looking forward to something.

But in the case of DayZ, particularly in the last year, we have been left very much in the dark and the game feels a little bit lost at the moment. We aren't really sure of any future plans or content / changes (other than the NWAF rework which I am extremely excited about) and the content / changes we did get this year felt somewhat strange and out of place, aswell as the unfortunate cancellation of the AI rework which we were all very very interested to see more about.

Anyway, if I may humbly suggest to hear a little bit more from the devs throughout the course of a year rather than just the small little snippets before each patch, I think that would really mean a lot to the community and really get things stirred up again. Really giving us a feeling of solidity and excitement that has been somewhat lacking for a while now. I'm sure you guys see how hyped we get every time you do share some info ;)

Thank you for taking the time to read, have a great day

<3