Hello!

It's a pleasure to reach out to the team — I truly hope this message makes its way to the developers!

My name is Lucas Leite, and I’m a passionate DayZ player with around 7,000 hours of gameplay. I'd like to share a few ideas that I believe could contribute to the game's ongoing evolution and enhance the experience for other dedicated players like myself.

1 – Introducing a "scent" indicator as a new sense of awareness

I suggest adding a scent icon (like a nose) that appears under certain conditions, alongside existing UI indicators (hunger, thirst, temperature, etc.), offering subtle environmental clues. For example:

Smell of blood → indicates dead players or recent combat nearby

Smell of gunpowder → suggests recent gunfire in the area

Smell of food → reveals someone has been cooking meat or fish

Smell of decay → warns of zombies or rotting corpses in the vicinity

This mechanic could deepen immersion and introduce new strategic layers to gameplay.

2 – Passive hydration from rain & extracting water from soaked clothes

It would be great if players could gain minimal hydration while walking in the rain, as a passive survival benefit. Additionally, wringing out soaked clothing to obtain small amounts of water (even if contaminated) could offer valuable options in critical situations.

3 – Smarter cheater detection and reporting system

Experienced players often notice cheating behaviors more easily. A possible solution would be to display the killer's name upon death, but only for players with at least 100 hours of gameplay (to prevent abuse or false reporting). A quick "report" button on that screen would streamline the process and help the community fight back against cheaters — a problem that continues to drive good players away.

Personally, I’m not a fan of community servers, so I’d love to see official environments improve even more.

Thank you for the amazing work you’ve done over the years. DayZ is a truly unique game, and I believe that with small innovations like these, it can become even more unforgettable for those of us who love it.

Best regards,