The War Z

[apocrypha]

Backend got hacked

Three posts too slow.

[Phred]

Definitely differentiating itself from Day Z. Personally, and for what it matters, I don't like this.

I think it's great and eagerly await the rise of the paragon pk.

[Falconeer]

No one really cares here, but this is a very good thing.

New Additions

Proximity voice chat added - It is now possible to hear and talk to other players that are within a 200m radius of you.
Please be aware that when you are using proximity voice chat you will be giving up your position. Any time you talk a speaker icon will appear above your head.

[Falconeer]

Game has changed name. It's now Infestation.  

New Additions

The name of the game has changed! The games new name is now: Infestation: Survivor Stories The game and all applicable website URL's will be updated with this name as well.
Character names are now affected by the Profanity Filter. New characters will no longer be able to create names with profanity in them. Circumventing this filter can lead to a permanent ban of your account.
Added additional words to the Profanity Filter.
We've Changed the way the server browser selections menu functions. Now when you click "Play Game" you will be presented with channel tabs. On the left side of the channel you can click it to browser servers. On the right hand side you can click it to quick join.
Updated Boulder with a new survivor stronghold, safe settlement section (overrun - non-functional), and expanded military camp. For more info check out the Dev Diary HERE. http://forums.infestationmmo.com/index.php?%2Ftopic%2F25920-dev-diary-67-boulder-modifications-and-improvements-to-the-loot-system%2F
Adjusted some vehicles, climbable objects, and walls for a greater gameplay experience in Clearview.
Updated spawn points around Clearview to help combat spawn camping. This is an initial test and if it works out we will do the same for other cities.
We have removed the Hardcore option from the game. Unfortunately this feature was not being used by many players. All current Hardcore characters will remain until death.
Hardcore leaderboards have been removed from the game.

System Improvements
Reduced the distance at which zombies are visible.
Improved the grass on all video settings.
Improvements to lighting shaders.
Updated zombie and player animations for a performance boost.
Updated zombie pathing across the entire map.

New name video.

[Surlyboi]

New name. New Video. Same old shit.

[Ginaz]

I'm sure its pure coincidence that the movie World War Z, with its hordes of high priced studio lawyers, opens this weekend.

[schpain]

not that i'm really cut up about it, but nowhere have i been able to figure out if people who bought WarZ have to rebuy Infestation...  I haven't got it installed anymore and it seems I can't download the client without a purchase.

Oh well, big loss; i figured i might go back for a session or two to see if anything has improved, but there's no way i'd pay to sate that curiosity.  In other news, you can now get infected in dayz, and if you're quick enough, alcohol is the cure!!

[Falconeer]

Now, this is a game I thought was dying (my biggest gripe with it is the lack of content and enough sandbox tools), but it looks like they are still working pretty seriously on it. This post about the new upcoming California map being 400 square kilometers, and the complete reworking of the Colorado one, caught me off guard. one thing is for sure, the project could be understaffed but it hasn't been abandoned at all. It's also still quite stable in the 25 most played games on Steam which is really surprising to me, especially considering this is NOT free to play.

Anyway, improvements coming. also, schpain, I am sure you solved your issues by now but no you do not need to purchase anything new, and your old credentials should log you in right away. In case you didn't get one back then, you should be able to retrieve your free Steam key if you purchased before the game became available on Valve's platform.


EDIT: Also, a lebghty, meaty AMA.

[Mrbloodworth]

They reworked the terrain i see. To get the orginal land size they increased the terrain to a point where all textures on it were sooo washed out.

[schpain]

hey thanks Falc, i didn't think to try to retrieve the key via steam.  my brother had started playing with his friends so i figured i'd reinstall and laugh at them all, but my login didn't work.  interestingly, when i went to their website and tried to get a new password it said "we don't have an account registered to your email".  my instant response was 'oh you c*nts.  I'm not buying your POS again!'

[schpain]

yeh i don't know Falc, can't link serial to steam, can't log into forums, can't retrieve password.  oh well.  on a related note, apparently day-z has been ported to arma3 in the meantime before dayz standalone is out.

[Falconeer]

I had issues logging in myself. Turns out your credentials are still valid to log IN THE GAME but I am pretty sure they messed up the forum credentials as it keeps telling me that neither my username or email are valid but I can't use them to create a new forum account. Also, where the hell is your Account page, and where the hell do you get the client? All they have on the main page (that I can find) is how to buy the game. Anyway, after lots of googling, I found this page https://account.playwarz.com/account/getsteamkey.php which should lead you both to your account AND to the page where you can get a Steam key, which is different from the original serial key.

Hope it helps. Check their "support" link on the homepage. This is truly a customer service nightmare.

[Falconeer]

NECRO!

Believe it or not, this game is still alive and it is actually doing "pretty good". Since I didn't believe the rumors I checked it myself and I have to say that they added pretty much all the things they promised they were going to add. Vehicles, lots of weapons, stronghold servers, in game placeable lockboxes, super -rare- zombies, 200 players per server, progression and abilities, leaderboards, guilds, reputation system, removal of pay2win, and even a new map (in public test now): California.

I always thought the negative feedback was ridiculously excessive and it was a mix of hating the game because it was "stealing" the idea of War Z, and just hating it because it was cool to hate it. If you add on top the crazy Russian homophobic boss then you have an idea on why this game has about 20% on Metacritic.

I am not saying it is a great game, but it is definitely much better than what you heard.

A friend of mine was checking me playing it on Twitch and gave the perfect description of it: "I see this is the arcade version of Day Z". Spot on.

Dear Survivor !

 

We are pleased to bring you our latest content addition: Stronghold Servers!
It has been a long and windy road but with the support and patience from our fans we are officially ready to release the Stronghold servers.

 

Again, to all our players, with special thanks to our Pioneers and Legendary accounts, we are truly thankful to you for your continued support.

With our total number of unique players that have played Infestation reaching over the 2,000,000 mark and with more than 100,000 players daily, we just wanted to extend our gratitude out to our early adopters and supporters for helping us reach this feat, you will always be an extended part of our apocalyptic family. 

 

Along this journey, we have done away with GC transactions for Marketplace items and made the Game Dollars the primary purchase method all items that can be found in game.

 

We have also improved anti cheat mechanics as well as fixing exploits that cheaters were capitalizing on for monetary gain.


Colorado has been revamped, increasing it’s size up to 160% of the original map. Not to mention “California” map being added to the public test servers, a map over 6x the original release map with an insane player limit of 300.

 

We've put the power of weapon and item crafting into the hands of players. With newly added elements, players collect resources in game that, when combined with other ingredients on the list, create new and unique items.

 

We even did what a lot of people were afraid wasn't going to happen, we added vehicles. Hit some bumps in the road but we are happy to have reached a point where things are actually gravitating in the right direction.

 

With Strongholds now being released, we have a little something for everyone to enjoy.

 

So what can we do on a Stronghold Server?

Stronghold Servers enable resource gathering for crafting and creation of user generated content\mini safe compounds.

 

Will I have Global Inventory Access?

Yes. GI will be accessible from one location on the map only.

 

What can I build?

Whatever you can dream up with the given resources.

 

Can I trade resources?

No. What you rake you take. However, you can learn a recipe to build a Farm and harvest the consumables to bank in your global inventory.

 

Can I attack or be attacked on this map?

Yes. Full on access to weapons and attack but weapons will not spawn.

***Harvesting Tool will not deal any damage to players or zombies.

 

Are there zombies?

No. No zombie threats to worry about.

 

What about repairing items?

Repair benches will be available and you can always use the NPC shops to access inventory and marketplace. They will be scattered in various towns and locations on the map.

***Harvesting Tool cannot be repaired. Can be purchased in Marketplace or found on the regular server maps only.

 

How much will Stronghold Server Rental cost per month?

10 Players: 750 GC

20 Players: 1125 GC

30 Players: 1500 GC

40 Players: 1875 GC

50 Players: 2250 GC

 

We will be awarding Legendary and Pioneer accounts with Stronghold time that was promised at the time of purchase.

 

This is a GC allotment so it is at the discretion of the user on how to spend it. We, of course, would love for you to spend it towards whatever your heart desires, but strongly suggest not missing out the possibilities of your own creations come to life, within the Stronghold servers.

 

Legendary accounts will receive 4500 GC for a 6 months of 10 Player Stronghold hosting.

Pioneer accounts will receive 1500 GC for a 2 months of 10 Player Stronghold hosting.

 

 Thank you all for everything...stay alive!!!!

 

Infestation TeamDear Survivor !

 

We are pleased to bring you our latest content addition: Stronghold Servers!
It has been a long and windy road but with the support and patience from our fans we are officially ready to release the Stronghold servers.

 

Again, to all our players, with special thanks to our Pioneers and Legendary accounts, we are truly thankful to you for your continued support.

With our total number of unique players that have played Infestation reaching over the 2,000,000 mark and with more than 100,000 players daily, we just wanted to extend our gratitude out to our early adopters and supporters for helping us reach this feat, you will always be an extended part of our apocalyptic family. 

 

Along this journey, we have done away with GC transactions for Marketplace items and made the Game Dollars the primary purchase method all items that can be found in game.

 

We have also improved anti cheat mechanics as well as fixing exploits that cheaters were capitalizing on for monetary gain.


Colorado has been revamped, increasing it’s size up to 160% of the original map. Not to mention “California” map being added to the public test servers, a map over 6x the original release map with an insane player limit of 300.

 

We've put the power of weapon and item crafting into the hands of players. With newly added elements, players collect resources in game that, when combined with other ingredients on the list, create new and unique items.

 

We even did what a lot of people were afraid wasn't going to happen, we added vehicles. Hit some bumps in the road but we are happy to have reached a point where things are actually gravitating in the right direction.

 

With Strongholds now being released, we have a little something for everyone to enjoy.

 

So what can we do on a Stronghold Server?

Stronghold Servers enable resource gathering for crafting and creation of user generated content\mini safe compounds.

 

Will I have Global Inventory Access?

Yes. GI will be accessible from one location on the map only.

 

What can I build?

Whatever you can dream up with the given resources.

 

Can I trade resources?

No. What you rake you take. However, you can learn a recipe to build a Farm and harvest the consumables to bank in your global inventory.

 

Can I attack or be attacked on this map?

Yes. Full on access to weapons and attack but weapons will not spawn.

***Harvesting Tool will not deal any damage to players or zombies.

 

Are there zombies?

No. No zombie threats to worry about.

 

What about repairing items?

Repair benches will be available and you can always use the NPC shops to access inventory and marketplace. They will be scattered in various towns and locations on the map.

***Harvesting Tool cannot be repaired. Can be purchased in Marketplace or found on the regular server maps only.

 

How much will Stronghold Server Rental cost per month?

10 Players: 750 GC

20 Players: 1125 GC

30 Players: 1500 GC

40 Players: 1875 GC

50 Players: 2250 GC

 

We will be awarding Legendary and Pioneer accounts with Stronghold time that was promised at the time of purchase.

 

This is a GC allotment so it is at the discretion of the user on how to spend it. We, of course, would love for you to spend it towards whatever your heart desires, but strongly suggest not missing out the possibilities of your own creations come to life, within the Stronghold servers.

 

Legendary accounts will receive 4500 GC for a 6 months of 10 Player Stronghold hosting.

Pioneer accounts will receive 1500 GC for a 2 months of 10 Player Stronghold hosting.

 

 Thank you all for everything...stay alive!!!!

 

Infestation Team

[Ginaz]

NECRO!

Believe it or not, this game is still alive and it is actually doing "pretty good". Since I didn't believe the rumors I checked it myself and I have to say that they added pretty much all the things they promised they were going to add. Vehicles, lots of weapons, stronghold servers, in game placeable lockboxes, super -rare- zombies, 200 players per server, progression and abilities, leaderboards, guilds, reputation system, removal of pay2win, and even a new map (in public test now): California.

I always thought the negative feedback was ridiculously excessive and it was a mix of hating the game because it was "stealing" the idea of War Z, and just hating it because it was cool to hate it. If you add on top the crazy Russian homophobic boss then you have an idea on why this game has about 20% on Metacritic.

I am not saying it is a great game, but it is definitely much better than what you heard.

A friend of mine was checking me playing it on Twitch and gave the perfect description of it: "I see this is the arcade version of Day Z". Spot on.

People "hated" on this game because it was a buggy, broken hacker fest piece of shit that was blatantly trying to capitalize on the success of DayZ and the notoriety of the novel World War Z and its upcoming movie while at the same time DIRECTLY ripping off images from The Walking Dead (some people might even call it stealing).  Add that to the fact that the lead developer is a homophobic douche bag who's track record included making what many consider to be the worst game of all time, Big Rigs, and I don't think it should have been a surprise why WarZ was universally shit upon.

I'm glad its gotten better and people are enjoying it but don't try and dismiss the criticism people had as "hating".

[Falconeer]

20% ratings are and were unfair, period. In a Schild world that's a fair rating, but if you look to the generic metacritic standards, it makes no sense. That was simply the result of making fun of the beta of game that was cool to make fun of.
I certainly misused the word "hate", but even with the proper loathe that I have for that douche CEO (you know I kind of hate him for real actually) my point was just that this product was waaay overly-bashed. There were websites dedicated to bash it, and it got multiple DOS attacks in an attempt to punish it for existing. Hell, there were calls to boycott it (sadly not for the homophobic comment). It was also pulled from Steam because it didn't hav the big "it's BETA!" disclaimer that all games have now and works as a shield. In fact, I think Steam started doing that for all "early access" games after the War Z debacle, but only War Z paid the price.

I am not dismissing criticism, this game deserves lots of it, I am dismissing the excessive criticism this game got as a result of "internet pack-lulz mentality".

[Ginaz]

20% ratings are and were unfair, period. In a Schild world that's a fair rating, but if you look to the generic metacritic standards, it makes no sense. That was simply the result of making fun of the beta of game that was cool to make fun of.
I certainly misused the word "hate", but even with the proper loathe that I have for that douche CEO (you know I kind of hate him for real actually) my point was just that this product was waaay overly-bashed. There were websites dedicated to bash it, and it got multiple DOS attacks in an attempt to punish it for existing. Hell, there were calls to boycott it (sadly not for the homophobic comment). It was also pulled from Steam because it didn't hav the big "it's BETA!" disclaimer that all games have now and works as a shield. In fact, I think Steam started doing that for all "early access" games after the War Z debacle, but only War Z paid the price.

I am not dismissing criticism, this game deserves lots of it, I am dismissing the excessive criticism this game got as a result of "internet pack-lulz mentality".

WarZ was removed from Steam because it didn't have all the features it claimed it did.  They basically lied about what was in the game, which doesn't surprise me given they stole art assets from The Walking Dead tv show.  I'm sure if one of the Early Access games did the same they would be removed by Steam, too.  The reviews were completely fair for what it was at the time.  It was a buggy pile of garbage that deserved every scathing review it got.  If its better now, then thats great for those that play and would be an impressive feat for the developers.

[Falconeer]

There are jobs on the line here, so no one should easily dump a rating of 20/100 to a game based on controversy in an industry that often (sadly) suceeds or fails based on those numbers.

- Walking Dead pictures plagiarized? True. Should be irrelevant towards ratings.
- Homophobic CEO? True. Should be irrelevant towards ratings. I don't remember Penny Arcade's games being lowered despite their offensive public remarks.
- Game being just a scam to scoop up some money and run? Not true. Should be irrelevant towards ratings.
- Cashing up on Day Z's success? I am sorry, I can't see how is that diffrent from any other project that tried to cash on Minecraft's concept, or EverQuest, or Diablo, or you know any killer pseudo-innovative game. This usually only impacts ratings if the reviewer isn't having fun.
- Full of cheaters? True at the time, but not sure how much that should impact ratings. There were even more cheaters in Day Z for example. They always existed in online games.


Again, I am not trying to say it was great and people were just mean, boohoo! I personally gave it a score of about 50/100 when it was "launched". I am saying that the ridiculously low scores were harsher than usual and meant as a way to punish and boycott a company for its personality (you know what I mean) and for its business tactics, which I think it is truly unfair to the employees of said company. The game itself was clearly a paid "beta", which sucks especially because they said it wasn't beta anymore, but it was still worth more than 20%.

Seriously, how many NOT-free to play games who got an aggregated score of 20% are still alive and adding new features one year after launch? Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't AS bad as they told you.

[shiznitz]

There are jobs on the line here, so no one should easily dump a rating of 20/100 to a game based on controversy in an industry that often (sadly) suceeds or fails based on those numbers.

Excuse me but I don't know what that has to do with anything.  If they are worried about their jobs, make a good game for fuck's sake.  People shouldn't be guilted into downplaying a shitshow out of concern for the jobs at the company.  That is a nonsensical standard.

[Daeven]

There are jobs on the line here, so no one should easily dump a rating of 20/100 to a game based on controversy in an industry that often (sadly) suceeds or fails based on those numbers.

Well. If there's a job at steak it's all good then I guess.

[Senses]

This game is popular enough in its current state that in 3 years we should have 14 Zombie based MMOS.

[schpain]

so Falc, in your recent experience is it still infested with hackers?  that was really the thing that got me in the beta.  i could understand where they started and where they were going, but 400m headshots with drum fed assault shotguns kinda sucked.  also invisible axe murderers sucked.  there were a number of sucky things.

[Falconeer]

I honestly can't say. I know they've been banning accounts like crazy (and they do it actively and announce it every time they ban one in general chat, with their name), and I know it is absolutely not as bad as it was a year ago. But I can't really say how big of a problem it is now since I definitely don't play it enough. In the three big sessions I had about a week ago I never had a feeling I was being killed by cheaters, and I didn't read that much rage about it in general chat anyway (as opposed for example to Rust, where everyone is cheating since it's alpha), but the amount of horrible people who just snipe you from 500m away just because they can (and get rep out of it) is as present as in all the other similar games, and considering this holds up to 200 per server (on a smaller map than, say, Chernarus) the feeling of being surrounded by cheaters is strong even when they are not cheating.