Just some more impressions from yours truly. To preface this, I probably have at least 300 hours in the mod, more like 500 likely, from pretty much when it first came out until now.
First off, the game is beautiful. The Arma II engine, or the '2.5' engine it appears to have here, doesn't have the latest graphics and is far from the best looking game available - but the realism and attention to detail in the DayZ Standalone are gorgeous to me. From the newly renovated interiors of the Chernarus community to the bloody fire axe used to chop off your enemy's heads, everything appears to have been given a makeover visually. Most, if not every item I have come into contact with boasts a new texture or even model. A very large addition to DayZ is that most of the buildings you come into contact with are now able to be entered. These come with brand new interiors designed by the team, and they really lighten up the game. No longer will you have to search through a town while headed north only to find one or two houses with entrances; now, 95% of the town will be searchable for loot and miscellaneous items to fuel your character's likely short life. Items now spawn in random places in the interiors of these houses such as the tables, cupboards, shelves, etc. Loot is now a little bit harder to spot, and appears to be less plenty.
Another very welcomed addition to your gameplay experience is the newly designed inventory system. No longer will you have to fiddle with Arma's confusing and generally buggy system - the team has designed a whole new menu that is easy to navigate and understand. You are allowed several pieces of clothing, such as a shirt, jacket, pair of pants, vest, hats, and other miscellaneous items that your character can equip from Payday 2 clown masks to a pair of fresh sneakers found tucked away in an abandoned house. All the items in your inventory have different levels of wear ranging from 'pristine' to 'ruined'. So far, I have not personally found there to be any downsides other than looks to these conditions, however I expect that to change with coming patches. Players used to having a base inventory and a backpack will be in for a (pleasant) surprise; all items of clothing add or subtract inventory slots. You might have a t-shirt on that has two inventory slots, while a combat shirt you come across may have four slots. You can still acquire backpacks on your travels, ranging from 20-35 slots at the moment. All of these items are shown on the right side of your inventory, so rather than having to open your backpack and risk losing items here and there, you are able to view everything in one easy to manage window. This helps immensely in the moving around and arranging of loot most players do. The best thing about the new inventory system? You can use it on the go, while running around to your next destination. This saves plenty of precious time from sitting in harm's way rearranging your inventory only to take an axe to the back of your head.
The zombies have changed their behaviors in some way, however there are still problems with them reminiscent of the DayZ mod. Zombies no longer appear to follow the patterns of soldiers as they used to. Instead, they use a more intelligent pathing system and seem to be able to identify your character's location easier. They do not appear to respond as well to sight or hearing as they used to, which is both a blessing and a curse. This makes it easier to loot a city unnoticed, however becomes a problem when there are other people in the city and the zombies take no notice for instance. Zombies no longer spawn when a player gets near, they are now spawned server side and are always on patrol through the towns. They still have the same problems as the mods when it comes to houses and objects like fences in that they stroll right through them. You will get hit by almost invisible zombies in floors or a zombie glitching through a wall. Most existing players have learned to deal with this, however new players will find this extremely frustrating, especially when they are just trying to survive and lose all their precious loot because of a game glitch. Death is still very permanent in DayZ, and glitches like this make the struggle seem all but hopeless.
Lack of items and diversity of loot is also a problem in the standalone. While it is understood that this is an alpha and the game will be patched and upgraded over time, players from the mod will be disappointed to find most of the items they loved to be absent from the standalone version. This includes most industrial items, most firearms, and some general survival items. In fact, one of the biggest achievements you could conquer in the vanilla modification was getting a vehicle running and driving, and unfortunately the standalone does not have any hint of them at all. Items like tents that players used to store gear deep into the woods on are nonexistent. Many firearms such as the Makarov, Winchester 1866, DMR, AK-74, and many more are not available at the moment. The only firearms that I have been able to find access to are the M4A1 assault rifle (so far the most common weapon), Mosin 9130 bolt action rifle, and the FNX45 pistol. These are fine weapons for defending yourself and the occasional firefight, but lack the diversity the modification had in weapon choice. There are new items that the team has implemented, such as different types of food, miscellaneous items like handcuffs, and different clothing items. These are all a welcomed addition to DayZ, but taking out a myriad of other items players are used to does sting.
All in all, so far the changes the standalone has presented are mostly welcomed. Alpha is a very fitting name for it, as it does have a long way to go before it is ready for actual public consumption. As long as the development team focuses their efforts on adding content and keeping players happy, this is the beginning to hopefully an even bigger community than the modification had and continues to have. The Steam integration, ease of setup, and mysterious vision this game presents to people who come across it all work positively towards the fact that this just might be what we were all (im)patiently waiting for.
