PC Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[Danidas]

Except a good melee or club/sledge build can brute force POIs and use ZERO resources while the stealth build still needs to use arrows/bolts and search for feathers and craft arrowheads and so on while also having the disadvantage of being useless when volume triggers activate. Is that convincing enough for you?

Unfortunately I do not see that dynamic changing anytime soon especially for A19 but A20 may very well be a whole new ball game with special infected. As that opens up a lot of possibilities for ways the Fun Pimps can mess with different play styles to balance them a bit more. 

For example here are some of my ideas for possible special infected I'll love to see.

1) The Watcher or Alarm zombie who will have over sized sensory organs including extras. Who will take the place of auto aggro sleeper volumes by acting as a believable anti stealth option. Who will have a very high chance of detecting stealth players especially at close range where even the best equipped/perked player have no chance of avoiding its detection.

2) The Swat team zombie who will be outfitted in full swat armor complete with a swat shield. Who will excel at taking damage especially from the front where his shield will protect him. So that he is best handled from behind or before he aggros via a stealth kill.

3) The Pus Bomber who will have huge pimple like grows that it will rip off and throw at you causing small explosions. Basically acting as a zombie grenader who will also explode like a cop if you get too near it or upon death. Punishing melee players a long with his friend the Gasser.

4) The Track Star zombie who will always run and is able to sprint to speeds beyond the fastest of zombies. Essentially acting as a zombie gap closer to punish ranged players. Edit - It would cool also if he could detect where players are pointing their guns at and try to dodge them.

5) The Ghost zombie who will be especially silent and only likes to approach players from behind.  While also preferring to hide from view as much as possible when not behind the player. Basically a zombie to scare people and act as zombie jump scare ninja.

Hopefully what the Pimps cook up is as good or especially better then these ideas.

 

[madmole]

I noticed, I literally complain every time I see him, about how his burps make me feel sick lol He is Gassious Maximus, a very gross individual LMAO. EDIT: Not that I would change him or hate him, he just makes me feel ikky which adds to my experience in the game.

Mission accomplished.

 

[Laz Man]

So, the argument is that nullifying the Stealth build "adds variety" during a PoI crawl.

So, what conditions are "adding variety" (read: nullifies the build) for a Machine Gunner build? A Shotgun build? A Club/Bat build? A Brawler build? A Robotic Turret build?
Why is it Stealth is the only build that gets this, so called, "added variety"?

I mean, those of us that consistently run a Stealth build have already accepted that our build had its "added variety" during blood moon. So, now we have "variety" all over the place.

The way it plays out currently feels more like a bug.
Hmm, 5/5 Sneak with full Padded and Adv. Muffled? Ya naw, they still heard you from the next room. Have fun killing 6+ Radiated Bikers with your bow in this tiny room!

Just because you cant stealth a POI 100% doesnt mean you cant use a M60, explosives or whatever.

I play a INT/PER build usually and I still use other non build specific items for oh shiz moments.

I think MM already said game is not designed with playing a pure build.  There is nothing stopping you of course but you have to be more creative.  Also, I don't think any of the attack volumes are setup in a way you are trapped in a small room so I think your blowing things way out of proportion.

 

[madmole]

Madmole,

One question remains unanswered, a big mystery is yet to solved.
Billions of 7 Days to Die Players need to know:

Will the Nightclub lady (Stripper Replacement) make it in an A19.x Patch or pushed back For A20?

Cheers and to everyone reading: Have a good Weekend.

I don't know for sure, but my vote is no, all new zeds and content need pushed to A20 for maximum impact of A20, and A19 should only get MF's at this point.

@madmole what are you guys working on at the moment? A lot of radio silence lately. Getting itchy for some news.

Rick wants to keep quiet about new stuff and we'll do dev streams when stuff is ready to show through the whole cycle of A20 rather than overload you guys all at the end.

 

[unholyjoe]

Rick wants to keep quiet about new stuff and we'll do dev streams when stuff is ready to show through the whole cycle of A20 rather than overload you guys all at the end.

finally some suspense that'll kill'm faster then the zombie bears.

 

[hiemfire]

Just because you cant stealth a POI 100% doesnt mean you cant use a M60, explosives or whatever.

I play a INT/PER build usually and I still use other non build specific items for oh shiz moments.

I think MM already said game is not designed with playing a pure build.  There is nothing stopping you of course but you have to be more creative.  Also, I don't think any of the attack volumes are setup in a way you are trapped in a small room so I think your blowing things way out of proportion.

You do realize that the first line in your reply to @VenomsLust amounts to "Don't even bother."?

 

[VenomsLust]

[snip]...  Also, I don't think any of the attack volumes are setup in a way you are trapped in a small room so I think your blowing things way out of proportion.

I believe it was house_pyramid_01, in the basement is access to a drain pipe (which has another attack volume, but that was only 1 zed), then the drain pipe drops into another room that seems to be a "final fight" type setup... and ya, there's 7 or 8 zeds that pop up and charge you in that room.

There's 2 ways out of that room, dig back up the way you came, or bust through a few barriers to the right of where you entered.

 

[Adam the Waster]

Hey @madmole, I took some of your advice with this new castle and broke up some of the walls so they don't just have the same texture. I also put some nice curves into the walls and I think it made for a very nice looking castle. If you have time, take a look and let me know what you think. Cheers from Lee.

P.S, I appreciate your time is limited so if you have time, watch my pretend drone view from  0:51 to 1:44 to get an overhead view.

all i want to do is piss in the Garden.... just me?

 

[Aero]

Don't know if this common or not... but with the introduction of the circle for digging, I expect the buried supplies to be in the circle... not outside of it?

 

[hiemfire]

Don't know if this common or not... but with the introduction of the circle for digging, I expect the buried supplies to be in the circle... not outside of it?

A visual example of what you're talking about (Happened to me yesterday):

 

[MechanicalLens]

A visual example of what you're talking about (Happened to me yesterday):

View attachment 14167

Same thing happened to me today.

 

[Toban]

all i want to do is piss in the Garden.... just me?

Lmao. It's a great garden to do it in haha. Just don't do it in the maze, you may get lost. Although, stepping over the edge is always an option! haha

 

[Jost Amman]

A visual example of what you're talking about (Happened to me yesterday):

View attachment 14167

Technically, it's inside the circle. Sometimes we forget the world is still made with 1m x 1m blocks and the circle is tangent to the block under which you can see the buried treasure, so...

Oh, I forgot to add... and stealth is perfectly working!  :bounce:

 

[hiemfire]

Technically, it's inside the circle. Sometimes we forget the world is still made with 1m x 1m blocks and the circle is tangent to the block under which you can see the buried treasure, so...

This was second or third circle reduction, I forget exactly which. I'd been digging under the circle when I'd encountered the supply chest right on its edge and returned to the surface to dig this hole when I did. The search tunnel is under the topsoil and a hair to my left in the image, in line with the chest's long edge.

Usual procedure for me is to line up the chest symbol on the compass with one of the cardinals, dig a ramp towards the circle till I'm able to stand while under the topsoil layer(I'll start the ramp 3-4 blocks out from the circle), dig across till I encounter the opposite side or an adjusted edge (from the circle shrinking), reference the curve of the visible edges to find the rough mid point between the edges and dig towards the farthest curve's cardinal on the compass making a T, repeat in that tunnel if I hit the other edge.

 

[pregnable]

So I have said before how I like to farm resources at quest POIs.  Sometimes clay and stone, or whatever nodes are on the property, before I start a quest.  This time I was after some metal... ...

Easy 5,000 iron, and I only had to deal with a near endless number of screamers, lel....

 

[Tmodloader]

stealth is cool, hope it gets some nice little buffs since it is a lot more situational than other skills

 

[Laz Man]

You do realize that the first line in your reply to @VenomsLust amounts to "Don't even bother."?

Maybe for you but not me.  Partial stealth still has its value.  Less ammo consumption, more methodical room clearing.  Reduces situations where the player aggros too many zeds at once and also reduces the chance of falling into traps (e.g. trap floor boards, etc.)

 

[Laynie]

7 Devs, I have a quick question about the X-rays in the hospital. Is it me or does the X-ray on the right have a serious bowel blockage? 

Asking for a friend!

 

[Laynie]

all i want to do is piss in the Garden.... just me?

I mean it's a big enough space that an old dog like you could mark ur territory all over it and and still feel the need to just mark one more bush  And no, your're not alone, I did it first chance I got!

 

[hiemfire]

Maybe for you but not me.  Partial stealth still has its value.  Less ammo consumption, more methodical room clearing.  Reduces situations where the player aggros too many zeds at once and also reduces the chance of falling into traps (e.g. trap floor boards, etc.)

You seem to be looking at it as if it is a cool side thing that can sort of be done but not something you build your character around. I see stealth as the core foundation of how I play, even with picking up perks from other attribute trees. If that core foundation is neutralized by a Deus Ex Machina bypass (aka 15 + levels worth of investment mean nothing because that chokepoint you just snuck into with no way out other than breaking or building while being attacked because the developers decided to go  "Nope, sneaking doesn't work here." with no indication leading into section that this is the case), that isn't horde night, which iirc they're looking into adjusting so that a stealth build has some functionality, then it makes building around stealth the rough equivalent of brushing your teeth with a belt sander. The game is actively telling players on their first run through these POIs that they are not supposed to use stealth by rendering their attempts pointless with the auto aggro volumes because stealth will not work.

I like how @faatal's suggestion read and hope it makes it into the game so that I can see it first hand and see if it is worth trying to build with stealthing as a character foundation if the suggestion is implemented. If it doesn't make it in then I hope they share the "love" and add in my attribute suppressing aura zombie suggestion. Why just mess with the core of stealth builds, mess with everyone's favorite builds' foundations equally.