The DayZ official account timed this perfectly with the relaxed autumn vibe: Leaves are dancing through the air into a soft carpet while trees gear up for the chill. Merch and community calendar links are, of course, duly provided. But the replies give another tale to this serene seasonal change.
Albeit, players demand answers regarding updates since forever. From the eyes of MarxistBatman, experimental update 1.29 has been languishing in there since AUGUST. That feels like two past seasons now, only about yours-a-some, set to move into the autumn patch, without any form of stable release! That truly is downright unacceptable.
The community is incredibly restless, and there’s a good reason for that: SnakeOfLordran dropped three questions encapsulating most of what everyone is wondering about, “When are helicopters coming?”, “When can we actually defend ourselves in vehicles without the defense being a literal fucking death sentence?” and “What about hiding in a car trunk like the good old days of the Arma 2 mod?” These are not recent requests; the community has been asking for this for years.
Console players feel particularly excluded, making it all the more crazy to hear Mykee36 observe that consoles constitute 50 percent of the player base. Downey_Tone flatly interjected, “Update PlayStation!! Please where can i pay for this to happen?” almost as if they would crowdfund basic updates at this point. That’s how desperate they’ve gotten.
On the other hand, LeeLeelfc1984 saw this autumn tweet and immediately started hoping that maybe it hinted at seasonal changes in Chernarus: “Wouldn’t it be nice if this was hinting at seasons??? Imagine that… Seasonal Chernarus and Livonia in particular would be awesome…” But that hope was immediately squashed with the realization that console players can’t even use the mods that already have this. It’s like teasing somebody with food they can’t have.
The transparency issue keeps coming up as well. Mykee36 notes that when DayZ said there was a delay to 1.29, they should have been giving regular updates about what’s causing the hold-up; instead, we get autumn scenery posts that feel completely out of touch with the actual state of the game’s development.
The experimental branch is another mess: “Whats on exp is very broken.” So even the test version isn’t really testable? That explains why we’re still waiting months later.
CloneSolo addresses the building overhaul: “4th year asking about improvements to placement, wiring, explosives balance…” Four years! That’s longer than some relationships last.
The timing is really awkward, too. Paranoialq is “What about the upcoming chilly update(?” almost explicitly conflating the autumn weather with the missing game update. Injecteer, meanwhile, wants to know if 1.29 is officially postponed. Stuff that players really shouldn’t have to guess about.
Some of the responses have even tried to stay light: “This pic is amazing,” says Merlin_DayZ while DH5tv jokes about the hand pose being a “give n take mod confirmed.” But the forced positivity only serves to make the underlying anger even louder.
“The comments are always so funny it read just all console people crying,” staysMetalxx observes, which rings too true. When half of your player base feels neglected, the comment section inevitably turns into a support group.
What truly speaks volumes about the situation is how many responses end up being outright feature requests or timelines on development. What was supposed to be a nice seasonal moment turned, for all intents and purposes, into a development Q&A in less than a second because that’s what players really care about.
Meanwhile, the separation between PC and console just keeps deepening. wHAmEz asks for “winter Chernarus to Xbox,” while SimonDecio observes, “It’s always winter in Namalsk…” – a mod that console players can’t access. At this point, it’s almost like two completely different games.
Even basic quality of life stuff is out of reach-ImJussJ complains about spawn issues on official servers where they keep respawning in the same looted areas and dying repeatedly. “I can’t even run far without food or water cause I just die lol. Pls fix dayz”- when players are begging for fundamental survival horror mechanics to work properly, you know there’s a problem.
The autumn tweet itself shed more light on the actual state of the game’s development than the developers probably ever intended. Players want transparency, they want updates, they want console parity, and they want the experimental branch to actually work. That peaceful autumn scenery would really go down well if the game’s development itself weren’t stuck in what seems to be a permanent winter of progress.
Hopefully, the next seasonal post might address some of these concerns instead of just pretty pictures. Or at the very least, give us an actual timeline for whenever helicopters will finally get here; that’ll be a seasonal change worth for all to celebrate.
