PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[AtomicUs5000]

go play some pvp. problem solved 

I would, but I've always been told it's garbage... and I believe the people saying that because TFP have never put pvp on the priority list.
Would love some kind of last man standing server that disallows new entries and resets after a win.
Team deathmatch where the admins can define some max kills value where the game is over.
Capture the flag where you actually make the bases to hold the flag would bring back that old game type for sure.

 

[Ezed]

I would, but I've always been told it's garbage... and I believe the people saying that because TFP have never put pvp on the priority list.
Would love some kind of last man standing server that disallows new entries and resets after a win.
Team deathmatch where the admins can define some max kills value where the game is over.
Capture the flag where you actually make the bases to hold the flag would bring back that old game type for sure.

A buddy and I talked about doing something like that with a small group, staying within one of the towns, no loot respawn, etc.  Wanted to edit a world to set the stage but never got around to doing it.  Would be fun though

 

[STyK_]

I would, but I've always been told it's garbage... and I believe the people saying that because TFP have never put pvp on the priority list.
Would love some kind of last man standing server that disallows new entries and resets after a win.
Team deathmatch where the admins can define some max kills value where the game is over.
Capture the flag where you actually make the bases to hold the flag would bring back that old game type for sure.

I played PVP in A16 and they have done somethings that are detrimental since then, unless they just take them out of pvp games but I can imagine breaching another players defenses is super easy now. We were given the land claim to keep players out, making it so they can't build in now you can just build up and oh#$%^drops in, was back step IMO. Normally I would think you'd want to make the game considering PVE and PVP but they want to nearly finish the game and then do pvp. We'll see what happens in beta though. I'm not touching it till then either.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

A buddy and I talked about doing something like that with a small group, staying within one of the towns, no loot respawn, etc.  Wanted to edit a world to set the stage but never got around to doing it.  Would be fun though

A lot of things can probably be done with modding. Not the xml mods, but the SDX or whatever they're calling it now because we would need to have some variables to hold scores and special blocks that trigger events. Having a new dedi server lobby would be nice. Players could be moved there temporarily in between rounds or to load different maps. 
Possibilities are endless if only things could be set up a little better. More game types could be Mogul/Team Mogul, where your goal is to earn a certain amount of money by day x. 

 

[meganoth]

I know that people having difficulty doing T5 clears is a real thing... multiples of my players also have this difficulty... but I just don't understand it. I don't know if there are more T5 clear POIs available, but as of A18 the only ones that I've seen are the shamway factory, shotgun messiah factory, and 6 floor apartment... and not once have I ever had an issue where a POI was unable to be cleared. Never even personally had an issue with finding a zed spawn volume. But I've gone in to help people on multiple occasions now... I follow the path through the POI and properly check every place and I've always found the zombies on my first run through the building.

People often don't follow the path and destroy some doors to get somewhere fast, sometimes zombies make new ways. Sometimes people don't see how the path continues and destroy a door to continue. Lots of ways for the one true path being replaced by a labyrinth. Combine that with a few rooms where you actually need to destroy a door to get inside and find a zombie. And combine that with players with a rudimentary sense of direction who couldn't find their way out of a caravan . But still think they are entitled to get the reward after failing the simple task of following a marked path.

In my opinion only the few places where you need to use an axe to get to a room with a zombie inside and the other thing with empty rooms where zombies don't spawn if you don't actually go inside are problems TFP is responsible for.

I 100% support a bit more guidance to find that last of the missing zeds... but am still confused by the level of difficulty a lot of people have. Also, I appreciate all of the shortcuts that exist to go up the POIs if you find them.

Spoiler

Digging underneath the tower of the shamway factory and going up through it's center literally takes you all of the way up to the top of the POI.

You clear one room and you're at the top and looting the final cache. Then you can easily drop back down through the POI to find your cache for the fetch quests and you can be in and out of a T5 fetch in 10-15 minutes.

The shortcuts are there for exiting after you have arrived at the end of a dungeon, not for going up. Not sure if you are ironic here or need a hard hit with the clue bat

 

[Ezed]

I just did the Higashi (spelling?) building as a quest for the first time.  I missed three areas on the way up but just took care of them on the way down.  Holy what a haul of loot in there.  Too much IMO...it took my 2.5 in game days to clear and loot it all.  Won't be doing it again.  Tier 4's are perfect timewise, plus my last two T4's netted my a purple TAR and a purple Magnum...the Tier 5 a yellow SMG   (quest rewards that is)

 

[MechanicalLens]

I just did the Higashi (spelling?) building as a quest for the first time.  I missed three areas on the way up but just took care of them on the way down.  Holy what a haul of loot in there.  Too much IMO...it took my 2.5 in game days to clear and loot it all.  Won't be doing it again.  Tier 4's are perfect timewise, plus my last two T4's netted my a purple TAR and a purple Magnum...the Tier 5 a yellow SMG   (quest rewards that is)

What did you get at the top as a reward? A level 1 stone axe?

 

[hiemfire]

I just did the Higashi (spelling?) building as a quest for the first time.

Vanilla? I don't remember any tier 5s outside of the two factories (Shamway and Shotgun Messiah) and the hospital having quests involving them in vanilla.

 

[MechanicalLens]

Vanilla? I don't remember any tier 5s outside of the two factories (Shamway and Shotgun Messiah) and the hospital having quests involving them in vanilla.

The four skyscrapers can spawn in RWG, but they are incredibly rare.

Also, you're forgetting the T5 Apartment Building of Death.

 

[meganoth]

I just did the Higashi (spelling?) building as a quest for the first time.  I missed three areas on the way up but just took care of them on the way down.  Holy what a haul of loot in there.  Too much IMO...it took my 2.5 in game days to clear and loot it all.  Won't be doing it again.  Tier 4's are perfect timewise, plus my last two T4's netted my a purple TAR and a purple Magnum...the Tier 5 a yellow SMG   (quest rewards that is)

For me higashi and dishong are like the crown jewels. You don't use them on normal days, they are for exceptional occasions.

I always make sure to have a long time between visiting them, so I have forgotten some of the inside. I need to be in the right mood for a serious commitment, a long fight through a jungle with no way out but up. The last time I did this in SP were the most immersive hours I ever had in 7D2D.

 

[Aldranon]

I've never understood it when people say it takes a day or two to fix their base. I'm usually done by 8am. The longest it ever took was until noon or so and that was a fancy base that had stuff for looks and not purely functional. R concrete and steel just don't break that often. All you do is run around with the nailgun clicking, and very few block replacements for me, but I'm killing a lot. Most of the damage is self inflicted from my grenades I drop that damage a lot of blocks a tiny amount.

Yeah, that's why I pick Pipe bombs for BM defense.  It does 5 damage to the base and good damage to the zombies. 

The Demolishers can do some serious damage if you don't take them down, so I focus fire on them while trying not to rush (I hurried a couple times and my base took a shot to the face when they blew up.  But, I lived and now I'm even more careful dealing with them.

I can see some people that hose them down with bullets might pay a price for their reckless firing.

 

[Ezed]

Vanilla? I don't remember any tier 5s outside of the two factories (Shamway and Shotgun Messiah) and the hospital having quests involving them in vanilla.

Vanilla yes.  First time I've seen any Tier 5 other than Apartment, Shamway or Messiah in a random world.  It was nice for a change.

Edit: Oh ya, Hospital...I've seen one or two but haven't had a quest send me there in a long time.

 

[madmole]

Think about a base that's even a simple square tower with walls that are two layers thick.  If it gets damaged by an AoE type of thing like vulture or cop spit, the outside corner is easy to fix, but the inside corner that you can't see because it's covered up by other blocks is not so easy.

How do you know it is damaged if it is on the inside?

 

[MechanicalLens]

How do you know it is damaged if it is on the inside?

Demolisher explosions travel 1-2 blocks deep. Grenade/pipe bomb explosions do as well. That's why I always upgrade the corners or the floor first; no point building a concrete tower if the bottom foundation is made out of flagstone.

Edit: Molotovs as well I'm sure. I looked in between the gaps of blocks on my last horde night and I saw damaged blocks that I would not have otherwise been able to access.

 

[madmole]

Part of the fun is seeing the base after the attack and fixing it up and trying to make improvements so its not as bad next time.   If you don't want your base to get damaged turn down the zombie block damage.. reduce their counts... or make hordes less frequent.

This all goes back to people wanting everything easy but yet feel like they are accomplishing something.

TFP, you guys were on to something when making the default difficulty a stage lower.   Now, take it all the way.   Make all the easiest possible settings default, including 7 day horde = off.... so then people can get the sense of "I'm awesome at this at this game and I need to turn up the difficulty"  instead of "OMG these hordes make me need to repair my base!"  At that point.. its on them!

No, I think the majority of players want to get their butt kicked some, so that they can learn from their mistakes and overcome the challenge, that is rewarding IMO. There needs to be some wiggle room downward to even easier IMO if default is too much.

 

[Jost Amman]

We're not doing new features that only work in single player. Delete all on death and you'll have a more interesting challenge replacing your gear, and that lost day will be nothing in comparison.

Thanks, but it wasn't for me... I'd never suicide to skip something in the game.

But I get your point, when I first thought about this I only focused on how I play (SP)... I guess that's why you're a successful game dev and I'm just a player. 

 

[JCrook1028]

You guys crack me up.

Gimmie the junk drone!!!  Gimmie the junk drone!!!!  GIVE ME THE JUNK DRONE!!!!!!  NOW!!!!!

(early release of the junk drone ... in experimental version...)

WTF???  We hate the junk drone, you guys suck!!!

SMH.  

There has been no release of the junk drone in experimental.... So no one said we hate it....

 

[madmole]

I think one of the problems are some players are OCD and every single block must be repaired to mint condition in order for them to be satisfied.  If they can't reach a block because it took damage through another block, they can't sleep at night until they burrow through and repair it... 

My brother's friend upgraded one of his base blocks to steel  by accident and he literally could not rest until he upgraded everything else around it to match......

Oh well that seems pretty OCD. I'd think that explosions wouldn't touch them tbh, but if you have multiple walls deep I wouldn't worry about it anyway if your outer and inner blocks are pristine. If one of those gets broke, repair the stuff behind... or use the arrow slot blocks, etc.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

There has been no release of the junk drone in experimental.... So no one said we hate it....

It was highly criticized during the stream from what I recall.

 

[JCrook1028]

I would rather have the tamable wolf that was shown off a long time ago.

A second rate Dogmeat that could pack 30-40 lbs, and help you to fight sounds a lot more appealing to me than a drone.

What happened to the tamable wolf that was talked about in the past apparently?

I would take that over a drone any day.

Pathing would be a nightmare on a wolf as a companion. How the hell is he gonna climb a ladder with you and it not look like absolute crap? That's why they went with a flying companion.

I would rather have the tamable wolf that was shown off a long time ago.

A second rate Dogmeat that could pack 30-40 lbs, and help you to fight sounds a lot more appealing to me than a drone.

What happened to the tamable wolf that was talked about in the past apparently?

I would take that over a drone any day.

Pathing would be a nightmare on a wolf as a companion. How the hell is he gonna climb a ladder with you and it not look like absolute crap? That's why they went with a flying companion.

I would rather have the tamable wolf that was shown off a long time ago.

A second rate Dogmeat that could pack 30-40 lbs, and help you to fight sounds a lot more appealing to me than a drone.

What happened to the tamable wolf that was talked about in the past apparently?

I would take that over a drone any day.

Pathing would be a nightmare on a wolf as a companion. How the hell is he gonna climb a ladder with you and it not look like absolute crap? That's why they went with a flying companion.