PC Now that You have played Alpha 19, What do you like or dislike?

[enragedcamel]

I like the slower progression early game, but I think exceptions to it need to be made -- if I take a huge risk and take two days to clear out a large, high level POI early on, then spend another half day smashing the chest open with my stone axe, the loot shouldn't be a level two blunderbuss.

 

[FA_Q2]

We just completely quit doing safes and stuff, it's simply pointless early on. As game progresses, we will change that. 

But opening safes if you KNOW that there is only stone stuff? Nah. If better stuff was super rare early on, I would be happy, finding it would be a jackpot and a story to tell. now it's just about finding copy paste material. I like the progression system, but I dislike its implementation. 

Meh, gear is a low priority for me.  There is gear raining from the sky and for those occasional dry spells I can just craft it.  Books, that is where the money is at.  Those are available from the start.

 

[Whorhay]

There does seem to be a slim chance of finding loot from a tier above your game stage. A streamer in particular I was watching got a double barreled shotgun out of a bag on the first day. In my own game I didn't manage to find a DBS until I had actually purchased a Pump Shotgun from a trader after the second week. I had gotten plenty of pistols a few AK's and a couple Hunting rifles but no real shotguns. Which of course figures because I had all my points sunk into strength and kept Boomstick maxed out. I gotta say though that a Blunderbuss or two with a bandolier mod will do some incredible work. It took until day 26 to find a Q2 Steel Sledge, and Day 33 to finally find the schematic to make a good one. Even having bad luck getting the gear for my chosen skills the game has felt very good.

 

[Gazz]

I like the slower progression early game, but I think exceptions to it need to be made -- if I take a huge risk and take two days to clear out a large, high level POI early on, then spend another half day smashing the chest open with my stone axe, the loot shouldn't be a level two blunderbuss.

We can not do this in A19.

Later we may have this "large, high level POI" work at an elevated gamestage so that _both_ the loot and the zombies are higher level.

 

[Laz Man]

I'm not sure whether safes are worth it in the stone age, definitely not worth to use a stone axe, I open them only when I have lockpicks.

But I can say that in my game the brownish chests in the loot room of many pois still have a lot of stuff I want: For example mods or armor of all kind. In my current SP game I don't have points left in the first week to boost both my weapon perks and build a quality 5 stone age melee and ranged weapon and if I don't go strength or agility my ranged weapon will only get better if I find it in loot (or get them as quest rewards).

We get higher quality stone stuff relatively fast which means you potentially have a use for up to 4 mods for 5 armor pieces, one gun, one melee and up to 3 tools, all together 40 mods.

There are also schematics you want to find, some make sense in a gun safe.

But in general yes, I agree, there should be a very slim chance for better loot.

Honestly most of the time what is in lootnis an upgrade for me so I dont mind the gamestage loot.  What helps me is I typically go with the flow of the game and play flexible.  If I have a ton of lock picks I'll try to pop a safe open but otherwise I move on as there will always be more loot.

I will however mark the map so when I have the lock pick candy I can maximize its buff at a later time.

 

[gaffers]

I don't have anything new to bring to the table, indeed I'll be echoing some other posts, this just my 2c.

The early game progression being slower is a good idea, it's good for the low tier weapons to be useful for longer, but I find it just way TOO slow. As an experienced player I'm cranking up the xp multiplier to increase the gamestage, as the 'stone age' seems to take a ridiculously long time. However, if there was a slim chance of finding something good in safes I'd be happier. As it is, all early endeavours seem pointless (to me) bar hunting zombies for XP.

I'd even be happier if the early stage safes contain weapon parts, so it's not a quick 'win' condition, it still requires some luck, grind, and encourages trading between players. Or maybe limit the ammo drops, as I'm absolutely swimming in all ammo types by the time I get a firearm. I'd rather be able to find a gun and use it sparingly, than by the time I find one I'm instantly a one man army.

I understand the sentiment of enjoying the game world and taking things slow, building bases, but those things don't have to be at the detriment of the loot rooms. 

On the whole, though, it's a great alpha. Especially traders in the towns, that simple change is awesome.

 

[KeiraR]

Especially traders in the towns, that simple change is awesome.

I'm waiting for someone to make a base next to a trader because the wall next to it is invulnerable... If you can get all the zombies to come from that side you won horde night.
 

 

[Liesel Weppen]

I'm waiting for someone to make a base next to a trader because the wall next to it is invulnerable... If you can get all the zombies to come from that side you won horde night.

How is the wall invulnerable? You can't build in the trader protected area. You can build just next to the protected area, but these blocks are not invulnerable anymore. But Zs can walk into the protected area and start smashing your wall. I don't see how this should gona work?

And why are you waiting for someone else doing it and don't try it yourself?

 

[RipClaw]

I like the slower progression early game, but I think exceptions to it need to be made -- if I take a huge risk and take two days to clear out a large, high level POI early on, then spend another half day smashing the chest open with my stone axe, the loot shouldn't be a level two blunderbuss.

I agree. It should be at least a level two blunderbuss and a sharp rock. 

I have read that the developers are working on assigning a gamestage to certain POIs. So you get better loot from this POIs.
But this also means that you can't go to a factory on day 1 and only see slow zombies. Instead, you will at least see feral zombies.

 

[Gazz]

Well, that's the idea. We want you to find better loot in a major POI but that makes no sense whatsoever while it's defended by lvl 1 scrubs. =P

 

[RipClaw]

How is the wall invulnerable? You can't build in the trader protected area. You can build just next to the protected area, but these blocks are not invulnerable anymore. But Zs can walk into the protected area and start smashing your wall. I don't see how this should gona work?

And why are you waiting for someone else doing it and don't try it yourself?

The invulnerability is in a certain radius around the trader. In some cases, this then also affects the walls of nearby buildings.

For example, I have a trader next to whom there is a small scrap yard. The fence surrounding the scrap yard is made of wood and therefore very weak. If I would replace the unprotected walls with concrete then the zombies would try to break through the wooden fence but it is protected by the trader.

But I would have to turn off the sound if I wanted to fight the horde there because the sound of protected blocks would really annoy me.

 

[FileMachete]

My favorite bit about a19 (haven't played yet) is that it dropped, and the forums came alive!  It was getting really boring around here lol :biggrin1:

 

[gwensparkle]

A few more things as I play more -

-I don't like that the RWG worlds are all pretty much the same biome layout with a big forest biome in the center 

-I don't like that you always start in the forest biome and that it's the biggest biome 

-sky too colorful and not a fan of lots of big puffy clouds all the time  - the sky looked more realistic to me in 18

- colors in general too intense - when it's all too colorful and busy, coming across a field of flowers just doesn't have any impact any more

-love how the zombies fall sometimes, although it makes the game more of a comedy at times - but who doesn't need a good laugh in the apocalypse, right?

-I do like the loot scheme in general - getting too much good stuff early on might be fun but reduces the challenge to trivial

-on the other hand, certain things seemed aimed to make the game simpler and more colorful which is weird since I don't think the other stuff in the game is aimed at kids

-I like the traders moved to town - makes more sense!

-I'll live with whatever you do to zombies, although I will say I liked some of the old models and miss them.

- I like we have a choice to listen or not to the music

-I like that the game can be modded - I haven't done this yet, but I now have some reasons to want to do so

-I'll update on the other biomes when I finally escape the forest biome ....  please I hope they aren't overly colorful.  I want bleak and dreary somewhere in the apocalypse! 

 

[Dracula]

I can tell you that the reason you haven't been answered is because they don't know. They HOPE to be able to fix it but the problem is that it is a limitation of the technology they are using. It is not their intention to stifle the creativity of builders but it might be something they end up being willing to sacrifice if there are other benefits that are too good to pass up on. It does suck when it is a limitation of technology that prevents the developer from doing what we want them to do. All we can do is wait and hope that things change. Just as WE wait for game patches, the developers wait for patches to their engine and tools.

And that's why I'm going to keep commenting and trying to figure out how to share how I play the game in hopes that it may help for others with similar play styles or entice a different audience.  The way my wife plays is even more different; she loves building massive underground complexes that she can drive vehicles into and pop up at points of interest and tearing down any building she deems unsightly.

In A17, she would recreate as many roads as possible and linked all the isolated road sections on platforms together to create a bizarre elevated highway to drive on.

The invulnerability is in a certain radius around the trader. In some cases, this then also affects the walls of nearby buildings.

For example, I have a trader next to whom there is a small scrap yard. The fence surrounding the scrap yard is made of wood and therefore very weak. If I would replace the unprotected walls with concrete then the zombies would try to break through the wooden fence but it is protected by the trader.

But I would have to turn off the sound if I wanted to fight the horde there because the sound of protected blocks would really annoy me.

This is exactly what my wife is doing now; she's building a reinforced concrete bunker around everything and leaving the plywood wall as a "weak point" to see if this works.

 

[Nexian]

It isn't a bad idea. One flaw though is that potentially a stealth player could go non-cheesingly through the poi with very few kills and be punished for that. One idea the devs are considering at the moment is one (or more?) keys you find on random zombies or in random locations in the POI, which sounds at least for the stealth player to be a somewhat better solution.

Rather than keys, could this not track the stealth itself?

I'm not sure how in depth the game can be in this sense, but like can it see how many rooms have been entered? How many of the spawned zombies you have been close enough to for a detection check and avoided, etc. 

If it's good enough, entering these POIs could even give some HUD info on the "Loot Score" for the building, and you see it going up as you progress through either killing or avoiding combat.

I think if any keys were involved, I'd like it to be purely loot found in containers within the POI. Like "Factory Blueprints" in a factory or "Diary" in a home, and reading them in that POI increased the Loot Score on your HUD (maybe the score can exceed 100%).

 

[Nexian]

Anyway,

PROS

- I actually have the music on for once. Definite pro

- I like the scaled progression. One thing that stops me playing is simply running out of new content, this extends that (instead of having the best gun and a concrete base with electricity on day 7)

- I like injuries more now, and the full health protection (NOTE: Physician should reduce heal time on themselves or on others they heal. This would be a SIGNIFICANT reason to take the skill, especially with 40 minute heal times on some injuries)

- Love the new textures

- Lighting is great

- Entry animations on zombies, yes yes yes

CONS

- I have no reason to leave town. The trader is here, everything I need is here. It's day 16 and I'm almost maxed out on gear and weapons. I think the game needs some sort of world events (encroaching radiation, radiation storms, etc) that make you move around. The game needs more end-game advancement that takes you out into the world. Basically the threats need to scale up in a way that they push you to new areas, or maybe places further away offer better loot or unlock more perks.

- Food and Water is still a bit dull. I think harder to craft meals need to offer some longer term protection as well as instant food. i.e. +50 food AND a 30 minute buff that reduces food loss by 75%. If a meal takes many different ingredients, it should be more valuable than just eating 5 grilled steaks.

- The trader's stock should be based on their biome. This doesn't seem to be the case right now, maybe it is, but it's not noticable. Also, their quests and stock should be based on how many traders you've reached. So you only get Tier 2 quests once you've met the second trader, 3 on the third, etc. and similar for loot. Again, more reason to travel, even if you then return home. It could even be the case that the next trader exclusively has better quests and items, but you'd eventually get a trade mission back to your original trader who then gets bumped up.

- Snow Zombies. They suck and they make the biome suck to stay in. Not even that they're hard, just that they're everywhere and there's no variation in snow zombies. Like, 50% of the snow biome is frozen lumberjacks.

- Give living in the harsher Biomes a more clear benefit, even if it's just a stacking buff while in that biome that increases over time. Maybe as simple as an XP buff for tackling a harsher environment or a buff to a specific stat (Fortitude in snow for example).

 

[meganoth]

Rather than keys, could this not track the stealth itself?

I'm not sure how in depth the game can be in this sense, but like can it see how many rooms have been entered? How many of the spawned zombies you have been close enough to for a detection check and avoided, etc. 

If it's good enough, entering these POIs could even give some HUD info on the "Loot Score" for the building, and you see it going up as you progress through either killing or avoiding combat.

I think if any keys were involved, I'd like it to be purely loot found in containers within the POI. Like "Factory Blueprints" in a factory or "Diary" in a home, and reading them in that POI increased the Loot Score on your HUD (maybe the score can exceed 100%).

It is difficult for the game to know about "rooms", it already is difficult for the game to find out if you are "inside" or "outside".

That loot score sounds very gamey.  Sorry, I would much prefer the keys, they don't seem out of place. And they can be implemented with very little additional code (especially if they store keys in boxes). And low implementation effort counts for much in this phase of the development.

 

[Nexian]

It is difficult for the game to know about "rooms", it already is difficult for the game to find out if you are "inside" or "outside".

That loot score sounds very gamey.  Sorry, I would much prefer the keys, they don't seem out of place. And they can be implemented with very little additional code (especially if they store keys in boxes). And low implementation effort counts for much in this phase of the development.

Maybe at least in containers only then? To preserve the idea of stealth characters not needing to kill?

 

[meganoth]

Maybe at least in containers only then? To preserve the idea of stealth characters not needing to kill?

Yes, for stealth that would be preferable. We'll have to see how they implement it, an icon that immediately shows key locations would be a whimpy half-solution, icons that only show up if you are near to the key would be much better. But I'm sure we will hear lots of players complain that they missed the icon and had to backtrack through the whole factory again.

I also would be ok with keys on zombies though if you got an icon or some other indication which one has the key. We are not talking about a pacifist playthrough, just a stealthy one.

 

[Roland]

I'll update on the other biomes when I finally escape the forest biome ....  please I hope they aren't overly colorful.  I want bleak and dreary somewhere in the apocalypse! 

The burnt forest is gorgeous!