DayZ Europa – Mod Server starts into a new season after spring wipe

While the new survival games come and go, some players are still – or again – having fun with the DayZ mod that started the big survival hype.
The server project DayZ Europa is also still among the active servers – launching a new DayZ Mod experience after the spring wipe.

But why should you still play the DayZ mod at all in 2023?
We asked the players and present you the results here.

What is DayZ Europa?

DayZ Europa is one of the last DayZ mod servers that has been around since the successful days of the Arma 2 DayZ mod. The admin team has made it their goal to create a gaming experience that is as close as possible to the basic idea of the DayZ mod in its original form, but at the same time keep the game fair and interesting through adjustments such as base building, additional interesting locations on the map and measures against glitches.

The server has existed in various versions since 2014 and still shines today with strong hardware, fair admins and regular updates.

After a few months, the server is reset and a new season begins with new adjustments to the map, features and rules.
The server team takes a lot of feedback from the community and relies on frequent votes for an opinion, which is requested on the Discord server.

What does the spring wipe bring?

Of course, the server is not only simply reset, but also extended with some new rules, fixes and features.

The Spring Wipe 2023 brings basebuilding back into the game, but also adds some new features. For example, Locked base gates are now downgraded to a lvl 1 gate when broken into as the padlock is destroyed..
After a break-in the affected player needs to upgrade the gate to be able to lock it again (requires a new padlock).
Some glitches that allowed you to bypass gates and walls entirely have also been fixed.

On Chernarus there are now some new barns that are better suited for base building and two new castles at Skalka and Skalisty. There you can find the necessary materials for a base repair.

However, it is no longer so easy for base owners to look out of their base from the third-person perspective and ambush others – because anyone who tries to lie down or sit down there is automatically forced into the first-person view.

Also of interest to all players is the new dynamic zombie damage system. The further you move away from the coast and towards end-game hotspots like the military bases or the Northwest Airfield, the more damage the undead will do.

Start now on DayZ Europa

If this sounds interesting to you, you can find more information on the official Dayz Europa discord or join the server directly via DayZ Mod on Steam at 135.125.188.104:2302.

Voices from the community

We asked the community two basic questions about their motivation to still play the DayZ mod these days.

Aren’t there many better games in 2023?

The first question is about the competition, because since the mod’s launch in 2012, the genre has evolved extremely broadly – that’s why we asked:

QUESTION: Why are you still playing DayZ Mod when you could be playing the standalone version, Conan Exiles, or something like Hunt: Showdown or Escape from Tarkov?

The community’s answers here overlap in many ways. Many praise the immersion that the mod still brings them today, and where many players used to criticize the “simplicity” of the mod, current players often highlight it as a very positive aspect.
For many, both the atmosphere and the intensity in battles with other players often remain unmatched, no matter how much the genre has evolved to this day.

The mod is “survival gameplay broken down to the most important”, if you will.
Things like the constant weapon and equipment cleaning, the stamina system and too realistic survival mechanics are described by many in the successor – the DayZ Standalone – as little beneficial to the gameplay and rather annoying.

Player Chris- gives an extensive answer, which is probably representative for many players:

Coming back to the mod is like visiting a lifelong friend. It takes no time at all to pick up where you left off, and for the mod to welcome you right back into the fold. The atmosphere has never been truly replicated, and that goes for both PvE and PvP.

On the PvE side, many of DayZ Mod’s successors have leaned far too heavily into realism. It’s one thing to build in mechanics that make basic survival a process; it is another thing entirely to make them the sole focus of the experience.

The PvP environment on the mod begins with a steep learning curve but has the benefit of being heavily influenced by numerous variables that, once known, unlock an entirely different world of gameplay.

One of the best examples of this is the zombie spawn mechanic; another would be mastering certain vehicles after a long process of trial and error. Both not only open the game up in new ways, but they also provide valuable insight for each PvP encounter.

In terms of performance, the DayZ mod with its base on the performance-hungry Arma 2 base was sometimes a problem child. However, many responses today also praise the positive sides that a military simulation base brings with it.
Firefights that feel more realistic and hardly forgive mistakes, less “arcade” feeling as it partly arises in the DayZ standalone and also the diverse vehicles (cars, trucks, helicopters, boats,…) many like much better in the mod version of the game.

But the map, which is exactly based on a real environment, is also often highlighted as a positive aspect.

Player Gr33n sums it up like this:

Of all the games listed, Dayz Mod is still the only one based off a military simulation- Arma 2. This means realistic bullet and weapon ballistics/damage. Furthermore the visual appearance of the game does a good job at creating a depth perspective, lighting, and sense of scale which creates a lot of atmosphere and immersion. The map is also a capture of a real terrain, which fits perfectly for zombie fights and pvp.

The map has less buildings than Dayz Standalone, which means less distraction and concealment from the core survival gameplay, and thus more chance of player encounters. The vehicles all work too, and there are helicopters, planes, bikes, trucks, cars, vans, boats etc etc, and these are provided as standard from Arma 2.
The inventory management is simple, as are UI interactions- far less time spent here than in other survival games where this seems to be a significant amount of the core gameplay.

What brings you to the DayZ Mod today and keeps you there?

Our next question addresses the reason why many players still prefer the DayZ Mod – and especially the DayZ Europa project – despite all the circumstances.

QUESTION: What brings you back to the DayZ Mod and what keeps you there?

Almost all players agree on this question – nostalgia, variety and a very dedicated admin team on DayZ Europa.

Many think back fondly to past experiences from the early days and have found the experiences of those days to be hard to find in any new game.
From the basic idea of a social experiment in a post-apocalypse scenario, to extensive exploration of the map, to exciting firefights and rivalries, you’ll find it all on DayZ Europa.

The Europa community is the only thing, as of 2023, that has kept me engaged with the mod. We’re in an era where most of the veteran players have fallen off, but the few who remain are mostly accommodating and focused on keeping a healthy population.
Sprinkled into this mix are a few try-hard and overtly toxic players who add to the flavor of DayZ mod and also help to keep alive part of the atmosphere that sucked us all in back in the beginning. This, of course, is balanced by an active admin team.

More information about the DayZ Europa server can be found on the official website and on the server’s own Discord server.