[Notice] Newbie Mandatory Read) Guide for Beginners Starting Dark Zone [Part 2]

 

[2024.02.XX Recommended 8810 Not Recommended 128 Views 834231 Comments 1183]

 

Hello there, newbies.

 

I assume those who clicked on this post want to try this game or have just started and are looking for information, so I wrote this for you.

 

Since it’s been quite a while since I started Dark Zone, it might be hard to say I wrote it from a newbie’s perspective, and there may be a lot of missing information.

 

So if there are things you don’t understand even after reading this post, I’ll explain them in the comments, but you should also try to find information elsewhere and ask questions.

 

Don’t come all the way here to play the game and then get called a lazy bum.

 

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I’ll explain based on someone who has never accessed VR before.

 

When you enter, the avatar setting will appear. This is the character you will use in virtual reality and not specifically for Dark Zone.

 

Of course, you can use it if you want.

 

You can change the gender, add breasts, or attach cat ears or a tail as you like, and once you create and save your avatar, you can move around with it.

 

The customization change period or the number of restrictions is not very important now, so skip that and go straight to Dark Zone.

 

After confirming all sorts of miscellaneous things, the login window will appear, and you can enter the ID and password you set when you signed up for the platform.

 

This game uniquely sometimes gives a random question before you log in, and if you answer it correctly, you get various buffs and benefits.

 

For example, increased blueprint drop rates, increased experience acquisition rates, slightly increased damage, etc., and sometimes useful guns or items are given.

 

The buff applies to party members simultaneously, so if a question appears, make sure to post it on the forum and get all the answers right.

 

If you ask for a rush with the buff on, the veterans will come running with their eyes turned ㅋㅋ

 

+ Additional)

 

There are five questions in total, but sometimes it shows as 6/6 instead of 5/5.

 

That’s like an Easter egg.

 

The last question that appears is called the ICARUS question, which asks for the content of the abbreviation ICARUS, but no one has gotten it right yet.

 

It’s okay if you get it wrong, so just focus on getting the other five right.

 

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I won’t go into much detail about customization, but to add a note, be aware that ears and tails also have identification and hit judgment.

 

And the most important is the difficulty system setting, the official name is Assist Level, abbreviated as Assi.

 

How you adjust this slider will determine how much blood and sweat you’ll spill in the game, so pay attention.

 

There are five types of adjustments, in order:

 

Aim Correction / Recoil Correction / Damage Correction / Health Correction / Action Correction

 

Each slider can be adjusted freely from 0% to 100%, but remember that the lower it is, the less correction you get.

 

Don’t create a hardcore character like an idiot.

 

I’ll explain each one in detail.

 

Aim Correction is a system that, simply put, makes you function as a person even if you’re terrible at shooting.

 

The higher it is, the fewer missed bullets you’ll have, and the more aim assist you’ll get.

 

Of course, it doesn’t make you hit everything even if you waste bullets into the air, it just helps a little bit.

 

If you think you can take advantage of this, you’ll get beaten up by mobs.

 

Recoil Correction is similar to Aim Correction. The higher it is, the less recoil you feel, and the lower it is, the same as actual recoil.

 

It’s partially linked with Aim Correction, so you can’t set one extremely high or low without the other.

 

Damage Correction, contrary to its name, adjusts how much it hurts when you get hit.

 

Although the pain of getting hit in a vital spot isn’t simulated even at 0%, it still hurts a lot if you get hit in the limbs, so don’t mess with it too much.

 

Next is Health Correction, and whatever you do, don’t touch this.

 

The higher it is, the more it displays only numerically, but the lower it is, the more it reflects your actual health and strength.

 

Considering the average physical abilities of people playing this game, you’d probably end up sprawled out and gagging after running for 2 minutes in a mission.

 

If you mess with it, you won’t be able to play the game at all, so just ignore it.

 

Action Correction is related to tactical actions, the higher it is, the more it automatically suppresses footstep noise, reloads, high-ready/low-ready stances, etc.

 

If you set it low, you’ll become a millspoper who takes 5 seconds to reload and doesn’t know where the bolt catch on their own gun is.

 

So don’t start at 0% like an idiot, practice slowly at the shooting range, and no one will stop you.

 

This correction is linked with Health Correction, so naturally, you can’t set one very high or low without the other.

 

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Many people know about it, but few actually play Hardcore Mode.

 

Simply put, it’s like excluding 90% of the corrections.

 

If you turn off four out of the five corrections completely and set the other one below 50%, the system activates, but don’t do it.

 

I warned you.

 

Of course, some people do play it, but there are fewer than twenty people worldwide who main this mode.

 

In Korea, there were former UDT guys who posted training vlogs on YourSpace, but even they left right after hitting 100% progress.

If you want to leave a mark on the game company like a special forces veteran receiving an invitation from ICARUS headquarters, you can try it.

 

Sometimes, there are people who turn off all corrections, but then you have to survive with only the minimal UI provided by the device ㅋㅋ

 

By the way, you have to do zeroing yourself too.

 

There are some perks like a portable EMP generator, increased blueprint drop rate, 100% progress acceleration, and 100% nanomachine activation, but they’re meaningless.

 

Hardcore mode itself makes you die in a few hits, so even doubling nanomachine activation just means you take 2 more seconds to die.

 

And once you start with this mode, you can’t adjust the sliders in-game anymore.

 

Just think of it as being screwed.

 

In the next part, I’ll cover the tutorial and precautions for moving to HQ.

 

Enjoy the game, you damn newbies.

 

“Something feels different from what I expected.”

 

My first impression of the VR Connector, commonly known as the connector, was that it felt different.

 

Its appearance resembled an old-fashioned holiday gift set box you might get for Chuseok or Seollal. The size and thickness were just like that.

 

According to my brain, which had started to revive the relatively old-fashioned sentiment,

 

I had vaguely expected the connector to be something like a capsule big enough for one person to enter.

 

But as always, the world chose compactness, practicality, and maximum efficiency with minimal components over external splendor.

 

The box containing the connector looked like a compressed computer case, and it could be opened with simple manipulation.

 

Inside, there was a pair of thin gloves and socks, pads to attach all over the body, and a choker-like blocking device to wear around the neck.

 

According to the explanation, the glove and sock-shaped sensors are meant to accurately reproduce the fine movements of the hands and feet.

 

The choker-like device worn around the neck collects bio-signals and then bypasses them to control the avatar on the network….

 

Well, that’s what it says.

 

However, that wasn’t all. Underneath, there was another thin cloth-like item.

 

What was it?

 

[Tail Sensor]

 

It looked like a wind sock or a neatly folded cone-shaped cloth. This would be the sensor that fits onto my tail.

 

Should I seriously wear this?

 

I hadn’t tried it on yet, but it didn’t look particularly appealing. However, considering the hard work of those two a few days ago… yeah, it would be best to clear my mind.

 

Following the instructions, I went through the process of putting it on.

 

“It’s not as uncomfortable as I thought.”

 

But it did make me look quite peculiar. At least it wasn’t an ugly sight, which was a relief.

 

Anyway, I finished putting it on. The battery showed 98%, and since it supported wireless charging, as long as I paid a little attention to its placement, I could maintain the connection without any discharges.

 

“To connect… I need to press the power button on the choker.”

 

Of course, a very kind message popped up saying, “You cannot connect unless you are lying down.” It seemed to have a built-in gyroscope.

 

Everything was ready.

 

I had a slightly light lunch, and in case of dehydration, I drank a lot of water.

 

According to the pre-briefing, time acceleration of three times was applied, so even if it was long, it wouldn’t be long enough to urgently need physiological activities.

 

I took a small breath and carefully lay down on the bed.

 

The now-familiar ceiling greeted me, and I pressed the button with relief.

 

My vision darkened.

 

“Ugh.”

 

A sensation I had never felt before.

 

To explain it paradoxically, it was like my consciousness remained, but the film was cut off.

 

The registration process was already completed when I visited the headquarters, so that part was briefly skipped, and next was the avatar setting… but.

 

Why are there so many options?

 

From the broad categories like gender and body shape to the detailed ones like eyes, nose, and mouth, there were so many options it was hard to list them all.

 

I thought I was quite familiar with modern technology, but the virtual reality aesthetics of the returned world were unnecessarily detailed.

 

As I rolled my eyes around, I saw that there was a random setting option to ease such details, and a category where avatars were sorted by popularity also caught my eye.

 

They were all so flashy and splendid.

 

For a moment, I thought about tinkering with something, but soon shook my head and pressed the body scan button.

 

It didn’t take long for a character with the same appearance as mine to pop up in front of me, and it took even less time to select it and start the proper connection.

 

…In the past, when I thought of virtual reality, I imagined something more glamorous and free, but reality was definitely different from my thoughts.

 

It was a very practical interface.

 

Various things that seemed to be VR games were scattered in front of me, but the main screen boasting exceptional tacticality caught my eye.

 

Dark Zone.

 

It might be the starting point of everything.

 

As soon as I linked my platform account and avatar with the in-game, a connection screen popped up.

 

The splendidly spread wing pattern was the same here and there, but I had a long way to go to feel nostalgic about such things.

 

As I was waiting for the in-game connection to start,

 

– “This question is part of a 24/7 event to give players a little help in their gameplay. If you answer all the questions correctly, you will receive a small reward.”

 

– “There are a total of six questions.”

 

What’s this?

 

But before I could think about it, the questions or whatever started popping up.

 

I thought I might be able to answer them for a moment, but unfortunately, that was just my delusion.

 

– “Q1: What is the name of the CEO of Icarus International? // Answer: _______”

 

I was sure I saw it last time.

 

But there’s no way I could remember, that part of my mind was completely blank.

 

I ended up skipping all of them.

 

– “Q2: In the ‘Madison Square Garden [Breakthrough]’ mission, what is the name of the boss that appears in the ‘Very Hard’ difficulty? // Answer: _______”

 

– Skip.

 

– “Q3: What is the name of the blueprint [firearm] that appears in the ‘Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant [Occupation]’ mission? // Answer: _______”

 

– Skip.

 

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– “Q6: What does the acronym ICARUS stand for? // Answer: _______”

 

This…

 

A blank space unusually long compared to other questions.

 

Recalling the word that I might never forget until I die, the blanks automatically filled in with several English words.

 

– Information Control And Regional Uniting Support.

 

After entering that and waiting a bit,

 

– Correction procedures and slider omission, Hardcore Mode automatic setting in progress.

 

– Login process initiated.

 

– “Waiting for operator validation code. // :_______”

 

– NUNK-RDUK-INSHD-FAAWTD-PM-OPEUGENELEE-1335.

 

– Verifying code….

 

Shining.

 

With a bright light, several words appeared.

 

– Validation complete.

 

– Welcome back, Operator Yoo Jin.

 

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