The War Z announced: zombie survival shooter-MMO with strong parallels to Day Z

Introduction to the game

The War Z is a huge open world zombie survival horror MMO developed by Hammerpoint Interactive. It is not either a first person shooter or a third person shooter, as the player has the ability to switch between the two. It will feature both player versus environment (PvE) and player versus player (PvP) elements.
The expected release date is Fall 2012 at the price of $30. The War Z will be a single purchase, meaning the full game will be available immediately and there will be no subscriptions. It will have full developer support with regularly scheduled, free content updates. It will feature both dedicated public servers as well as private servers.
Characters will be customizable via experience in the game world. There will be no level caps or restrictions when progressing your character.




The Gamemodes

Normal Mode

is one of the two modes that you can create a character with in TheWarZ. It is designed to be the easier mode and will provide a less realistic experience.
It will include:
Saved stats and skills over death
Crosshairs
Ammo counters
Ability to be revived after a certain amount of time(around 24-48 hours)

Hardcore Mode

is one of the two modes you can create a character with in TheWarZ. It is designed to be a more realistic difficulty for people who enjoy a raw play style.
It will include:
Permanent character death(No respawn, No stats saved, no skills saved)
No unrealistic crosshairs
No way to see how many bullets you have left in a magazine



Character Customization

When creating a character, you can choose from one of two modes; Hardcore or Normal. This decision is permanent and affects whether or not you can be revived or have a permanent death.
There will be more than one character to choose from and it will be possible to use experience points to unlock new characters.
There are currently a total of five character slots.

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Maps

Maps will range between 200 and 400km.
Players will have access to the map from the moment they spawn in. They will also be able to mark waypoints.
Currently the only playable map is, Colorado, however DLC or free expansion maps may be released in the future.
Maps will include Safe Settlements. These settlements will offer a hub for players to exchange Loot such as Weapons and Consumables. The Marketplace will also be available in order for players to use Currency. Finally, these settlements will be where players come to take part in Social Rewards such as the Bounty Board.

Courtesy of Warren the Colorado map size is believed to be: 160km



Safe Zones

Safe settlements are safe cities in the world of The War Z that allow players to purchase, sell, and store items. Players can also post notes for other players. These settlements were built by the people who survived the Zombie Virus outbreak.
Safe settlements are not actually completely safe. There is no source of official protection meaning bandits can snipe people in these settlements or even raid them. However, they are reported to have walls which will increase the difficulty of attacking safe zones, especially from outside the walls.
There will be approximately 3-4 safe settlements per map. They will be spread out from one another.
These safe settlements will have some self-sustained systems.
A Bounty Board will be posted in these settlements.



Towns And Cities

The WarZ will feature many urban and city environments in which players will struggle to survive from the unending horde of the undead. Cities will feature highrises and perhaps skyscrapers whose main levels may or may not be accessible to players.
In smaller towns, urban environments will be present, as well as commercial businesses, strip malls, and other countryside buildings.
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Inventory

Hotbar:

Each player has a Hot bar system where they may place 1 gun, 1 melee, and 4 Consumables to be easily available while in-game, It is as simple as dragging the items from your main inventory to the desired slots.

Main Inventory:

Your main inventory is where you are able to store items. The size of your inventory depends on the type and size of your Backpack, e.g. A medium sized Backpack will have more slots rather than a small Backpack. Your inventory also has a max weight limit that can only be increased by training your character with the required Skills, If you have reached the max weight limit then you will not be able to carry anymore items.
Keep note most items and Consumables can be stacked, And stacked items have an option to 'Mass Drop' as well as 'Drop Item' and 'Use Item'.
From the inventory you may also select which Head Gear and Body Armor/Vest you wish to wear, As well as change your backpack.
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Global Inventory:

This inventory is only available within Safe Settlements. Your Global Inventory is an inventory shared across all your characters.



Survivors

Survivors are playable characters among the 5% of the remaining world population who have yet to be infected with the Zombie Virus that has stricken the world. The main mission of a survivor is to fulfill the duty that is inscribed in their name: Survive.
Survivors can belong to one of two distinct groups in the land of WarZ, the survivors, and the bandits.
Survivor characters have either not established a reputation, or have established a positive reputation with NPC characters, and player controlled characters. They tend to be forgiving when interacting, and will mainly be completing PvE quests, or hunting down bandits.
Bandits are survivors who have established a negative reputation with NPC's and with other players through killing other players and NPC's. Survivors have the ability to place bounties on Bandit players who have killed them previously on the Bounty Board.
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Zombies

Zombies are the most prominant figure in the War Z universe. These brain hungry undead souls will go to whatever lengths to be able to feed on the bodies of the living. Zombies consist of the physical form of a human who had died from becoming infected with the Zombie Virus, which kills them within a certain period of time. The zombie's bodies are rotting and decaying forms, and can be noticed from long distances due to discolouration of the skin, awkward walking form, and seemingly mindless actions, as well as obvious blood smears from the struggle that took place while the previous human was becoming infected.
In order to kill a Zombie, you must destroy their brain through melee or ranged attacks with weapons found around the game world. Body shots will only temporarily stutter their actions and reactions, but will hardly ever result in a kill.
Zombies cannot climb ladders, walls, or open doors. Barricading yourself inside a structure is one way to avoid them.
Zombies can walk and crawl depending on the status of their legs, and can also walk up stairs. Zombies in WarZ are looked upon to be the standard slow-mindless variant.
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