Bohemia Interactive's Dean Hall released a bunch of information regarding Day Z lately on his social media accounts. Based on his tweets, the biggest additions to the game include the 100 player experimental server and the bow and arrow weapon.
Not everyone can participate in the 100 player experimental server though. While the server has a hundred of slots, thousands of players are attempting to join and get a feel of it. Some players have expressed their criticisms on social media, while others are excited for the potential mayhem it can create.
100 player experimental server is up for testing, located in UK. x40 time + new network messaging. Join to help test!
— Dean Hall (@rocket2guns) April 16, 2014
The bow and arrow weapon seems to be a welcome experiment. It does have its bugs, but Dean Hall has been actively addressing problems on Twitter quite well. Hopefully, this experiment gives Hall and the studio the opportunity to perfect the features they want to implement in the future.
Reddit user Doctor_Fritz managed to list all of the new changes in the game:
• 100 person server is now online for testing (and more will probably follow)• mouse controls appear to be much better – be aware, the options menu is still a dud, mouse reaction will be 1:1 for everyone now• servers with the text "net msg" in the title are testing a new, guaranteed messaging service• new physics and throwing items is in this testversion – apparently the items "drop" in slow motion and/or might disappear when they hit the ground when server tickrate is below 20• all physics calculations are done by the server, client fps has no impact• If you can't throw things, check your key binds – standard key is G• the currently ongoing lunar eclipse is apparently also visible ingame• day/night cycle appears to be at maximum speed for testing purposes• Stuff you throw will only collide with static objects and terrain (so no players or zombies) for the time being• bow and arrow appear to be ingame already, recipe for it is ashwood stick + rope – source• apparently can't throw items that you hold in two hands (like weapons)• there appears to be a desync problem with night/daytime between clients• there are reports that the axe has been nerfed quite a bit – see here, and here• melee items balance problems… bow not working with arrow proxy properly… crossbow not spawning… fireplace lighting not configured
Earlier this month, we reported on Dean Hall's explanation on why DayZ isn't on consoles yet. In addition, Bohemia Interactive recently revealed the development roadmap for the standalone version of the game. The early access version of the game has been released since December 16th and it has reached one million in sales as of January 2014.