Loot map.... Do you think its more fun with or without it?

[vulfy 55]

Without it, most definitely. I do use a regular map outside of the game just for orientation. But seeing what loot spawns where, kinda destroys the adventure aspect of the game for me.

[Red_Sky 140]

Me and my friend decided not to use the loot map (we didnt have ingame map or compass either)

We ended up at stary sobor and didn't even know it.

we fought and survived and looted.

We checked the map when we were done.

Needless to say from that point on we rarely use a map at all even if we do find one.

[Jonson (DayZ) 31]

The best sessions I had so far were the ones where I didn't use an online map and didn't have one ingame. Just stumbling through the woods not knowing what to expect is the most fun for me.

[Zexis 127]

Hm. I know which buildings to look for for loot, but I often Alt+Tab to a map for navigation purposes.

[Lukio (DayZ) 24]

In the very beginning I've used a loot map to better find those pesky hunting stands, because in the normal game they've never been more than decoration. Now I find it pretty easy to get around, once you've got your bearings right. The buildings that are enter able in any smaller town are very easily identifiable after a while, from then on all you need to know is where you are and what your next goal is.

[jordan2412 60]

like others here, I just use the loot map to navigate, because its the only out of game map ive found. I mainly use it when I first spawn, to get my bearings. In game map works fine, but I haven't been seeing them nearly as much as I used to.

[Kophka 109]

Lemme tell you a little story about a guy that had been waiting for an apocalypse survival game for ages, finally found one, and then almost destroyed the entire experience for himself. I know I said "little", but it's a good story. :)

When I had first heard of Day Z from my friend in teamspeak, I was floored. Finally, the gaming experience I had been searching for! I downloaded the mod, went through all the first-timer's troubles of getting it installed, and spawned in to my first life.

I (we) had no idea that your name would appear for a few seconds when you log in, so when I spawned by some wooden docks, I was completely lost. I had a friend in what I later found out was Solnichniy, a friend in Balota, a friend in Cherno, and myself, by this little wooden dock. Having only played the Harvest Red missions a couple of times, I was completely lost, WE were all completely lost. Of the 4 of us, only one person vaguely knew where he was at (Balota), but he didn't know where the other locations were from there. We all could see train tracks, so we decided to use that as a land mark to find each other. After spending about 30 minutes running first one way, then the other, I finally met up with everyone at Balota, and we proceeded to loot the airfield.

After gearing up at the airfield (a couple of us still had just a sidearm), one of our guys had the brilliant idea of consulting an online map. This is when the only maps of Chernarus were plain, normal maps, and the only info they had on them was the town names in both Cyrillic and English. We weren't sure which buildings were lootable in Day Z yet, so we investigated every building we found, and managed to survive (and survive well) by just wandering the highways from town to town and barn to barn. We had run-ins with bandits and friendly survivors constantly, but that's a story for another time.

About 3 days after we started, we heard about deer stands. We began marking our alt-tab maps with each deerstand we knew the location of. and soon one of our guys found an online map with every deerstand shown. We grabbed it, and survival just got a lot easier. We had all gotten used to the game, and now had a general idea of our location when we logged in, new life or old, so finding deerstand loot was a cakewalk most of the time.

About a week after we started, we fell in with a large clan, and found out about camps and hoarding. These guys were awesome people, really great, but they were playing Day Z to WIN it, instead of experience it. They gave us copies of a loot map, that showed every enterable building in the game. With multiple camp sites set up on our home server, and multiple vehicles (including helicopters), we were all set. Between knowledge of our camps, and friends that could pick you up anywhere on the map, fear of death just completely fell by the wayside.

A month after starting the game, we had loot maps, vehicle spawn maps, loot tables that showed the chances of what spawned where. and reams of people we could call upon for assistance. Things were starting to get dull. There was still some fun to be had in pvp ing, but the game had turned into a deathmatch mode that JUST happened to let you starve to death if you were paying attention. We'd raid the airfields even if we didn't need anything, just in the off-chance some server hopper would be there looking for a fight.

Two months later, and everyone is gone. I had quit, my clan had quit, and all of the big clan we played with had quit. There were much better deathmatch experiences to be had elsewhere, and the survival aspect of Day Z was a non-issue now. We had "won" Day Z, as soon as we spawned we could be fully geared in 10 minutes with a bit of luck and coordination. We knew the hot spots, which routes to take to avoid people, and what to do when we saw someone (90% time, shoot first).

About a week after I quit, I decided to try it again. This time, no loot tables, no alt-tab maps (not even a basic one), and, for the most part, being all alone.

Once again, I am completely lost, completely starving, completely terrified of zombies, players, ladders, and doors that may break my legs. I'm also completely having the most completely fun experience I've EVER had in a game.

Do yourself a favor: after you "win" Day Z with your maps and tables, try it again, with no outside help beyond the occasional friend or chance-met stranger. You'll be glad you did.