Greetings, Survivors!
We are happy to announce that game update 1.28 has been released on all platforms. We are grateful for all the feedback we received and for your active participation in the experimental phase.

We’ve known since the launch of DayZ Frostline that Sakhal needed more dynamic elements. This time we were able to add a few. Once you spawn at the coast, for example, you may be able to spot some grounded fishing and military patrol boats, which will make you wonder what may have spawned there. Through your travels down the major roads of Sakhal, you may also find the wrecks of ambulances offering basic medical supplies - if you can fight the infected who are hanging around, that is. Survivors exploring Shantar Island and the Burukan peninsula may hear (or even see) the familiar signs of helicopter crash sites. They offer different kinds of loot compared to the surroundings, and also disrupt the usual routes, making new areas temporarily more dangerous. We definitely recommend giving Sakhal another try. Just think twice before taking a bath in one of the hot spring areas. Something is certainly brewing in there now!

We know how close the subject of firearms is to many of you. Since it’s been a while, we decided to pick related topics from our backlog and implement them in this update. First of all, we are introducing two new firearms. The first is the new king of shotguns - the semi-automatic R12, complete with a wide range of attachments. Secondly, there’s the return (for legacy players) of the RAK 37: a submachine gun that’s fed by 15 or 25 round magazines of .380.

We also have three new scopes to spice up the ranged meta. The new king of scopes is certainly the Marksman scope, followed closely by a new variant of the PSO scope, the PSO-6. Hunting scopes got a lot rarer because we’re introducing lower magnification Sportpoint sights. We’ve also introduced damage states to the scope overlays, the ability to have illuminated reticles in those overlays, and also improved the visuals of the rangefinder overlay. Additionally, our audio department has introduced another large batch of firearm audio changes, this time for all non-automatic rifles. We also finally completed an iteration of the firearm lifting mechanic. It now has a new state of pullback, meaning the firearm doesn’t instantly go up the moment it touches an obstacle.

A third important piece of this game update is tied to cars. We made a fundamental change to the way the cars are synchronized between the client and server. The goal was to make the driving experience more pleasant, allowing you to keep things under control, even during high latency conditions. Vehicle bouncing and a floaty feel should no longer be present during your driving. The experimental car servers were invaluable in verifying these changes in a live environment, and we certainly enjoyed watching all of the content that was created from these. The reception to this change was positive overall, and we hope you’re going to like it.

Speaking of cars, our audio department looked at engine audibility from inside, around, and from a distance. The goal was for players to be able to communicate easier when sitting inside the vehicles, while also making sure the vehicles are more audible from a distance.

This article can’t cover every new addition, change, and fix in update 1.28. If you’d like to learn more about everything that’s new, head to our official forums and read the change notes[forums.dayz.com].

We hope you enjoy this update and look forward to seeing all of the new adventures you have! We’re definitely not slowing down this year, so see you soon with more news on what’s in store!
On behalf of the DayZ team,
Adam