TL
R;
I agree, and I think the vanilla settings are purposeful for an easy game. You can change the vanilla settings a bit to get "back into hard survival" but I think you're gonna have to use mods (minimally: ones that let you turn down vanilla settings even further) to get back that feeling. Hopefully once the Pimps work out all the "issues they see" and go gold we'll have the ability to have close to the original experience ( via many more vanilla settings change options... I cross my fingers!) and without mods, but I feel they are looking towards mods for adding a lot of new content, and they want to get in "all the mechanics" for mods to build on.
Thoughts:
I have a similar feeling with the "vanilla game" (all vanilla settings). I literally cannot play vanilla+settings anymore as its such a cakewalk (and I have 1000+ hours, prob closer to 2000+ with console time). So far the best "strategy" to bring it back (for me) is to change the vanilla settings and add mods (all of which add a lot of content, or make the game harder). I know "mods" is not the point of this, but let me throw in some thoughts:
- I do believe they are making the vanilla game a bit too easy... but it does seem to be to "get new players", and that's how they get paid to keep making improvements to the game. The vanilla experience likely is going to be like this from now on (IMHO) as I feel this is paying off for them (having a fun game that's kinda hard for new players).
- Even if you argue 'but all this time... no real improvements", I do hear and feel a little similar ( I mean, I too want a lot of new content, endgame stuff, etc) BUT they have been incrementally making improvements, its just nothing "amazing wow groundbreaking"
from a long time players perspective (my opinion, and what I hear people complain about) but seems to be more fixing underlying issues (water, RWG stuff, etc) and adding "cool new mechanics" that can be built upon or tested out before they commit to building a lot on top of it. I can elaborate a lot more if anyone wants but some simple examples would be feral sense (sorta like the old smell mechanic, in terms of danger), or the "exit keys' to get out of a POI, or zed "dismemberment" (this may turn out to be visually awesome), or zed "stumbling", zed "crawl through a hole" (my favirote new mechanic). I feel, from the Pimps perspective, they have a laundry list of things they want to fix/revamp and its just a lot, so until those get "done" they're not interested in making a lot of stuff related to "new zombies" or "massive end game content". If I were them ( and I am definitely not), I would be in a constant state of "make it so the game is functional and looks decent so if everything goes to crap, company wise (we get hit by a bus), we can just stop developing this and the game will be good enough to go" vs "we just added 100 new cheap zeds and all of them are bad, and that's what we're left with after we got hit by the bus". and its still in alpha! (yeah, for almost a decade... still nice to have it constantly getting better during this time, even if its visual improvements)
- For "all the great stuff they removed": I feel this pain too. I really miss weapon parts (and upgrading my minibike!) and the "dark and scariness" of the game (on default vanilla settings) and the slow progression. Hell, I miss "spawning day 1 in the snow, in the middle of nowhere while its raining, and dying in 5 minutes to 1 zombie because I had nothing and no stamina to fight". in fact, the "putting spikes everywhere and hiding out in the dark as quiet as you could because of the noise and "smell" and light bringing in the zeds is *exactly* why I fell in love with this game, and is literally may of my first games and fond memories.
I feel (and its my hope, based on how they are building the game out) that the "vanilla game" will be a fun "slightly bare bones" game (somewhat) and rely on mods for "major content" additions (because the games modding interface is so accessible). For a moderately experienced player, I feel vanilla is likely going to be a bit too easy, and likely "endgame" around day 50-70? I feel the pimps are trying to make the vanilla game fun and "keeps moving" not a tedious grind, but not something you play (with evolving new content/items, unless you want to just keep playing) past day 100. And I say this because most of what I see (twitch/youtube/public servers/mods) people are playing this game on "easy mode" a lot and "easier than vanilla settings" (mega backpacks, QOL mods, loot % turned up). People don't seem to want a hard survival game (I know, right?) they DO want to play Rambo like. And when i play on public servers I get why that's fun (sometimes... its a bit boring for me).
Anyway:
1. The games "main settings" can be tweaked a lot to make it feel a bit like the early days. Specifically "turn loot % way down" and "turn zed damage way up". For "its too easy to build", you have to turn player damage "way down". Now its hard to get a lot of stuff from looting ( many empty containers), zeds can tear through structures like its cold butter, and you can't easily harvest resources to build. After this, there are a lot of (obvious) things like turning daylight hours "way down" and feral sense on.
2. On top of #1: there are mods to allow turning these main settings even farther down. I made one ( and others have too) that lets you turn it down to 0% daylight, all day long, as well as turn down loot to 2%. I tried 2%.. its waaaaay to low for me (10% seems similar but nice) but it makes looting any POI (even loot rooms) kinda pointless until you perk into looting and get a high lootstage. On 10% loot, simgle player, I was in my 3rd bloodmoon and still was using bow/club/bone knife/pipe weapon with few bullets. I really wish the Pimps just made a lot of these vanilla settings go "all the way down" like these mods do as it starts to feel like the old days when you do.
2.1: Having vanilla "surface ore markers" is something I wish there was an "on/off" or slider for in the settings. This is how it used to be and I now play like this (with a mod) and man, its tough and easy to forget what it was like before them. It made mining a real job/chore and restricted things like gunpowder/bullets until you could get your mines set up. Now you just find nitrate/coal by accident and mine it easily. Having a slider to do this would go a long way in adding difficulty back.
2.2: Having vanilla turning traders "on/off" is another thing I wish there was an "on/off" or slider for in the settings that was like it was before traders. I've tried this and yeah, its nice to not have them in a hardcore game. Having a slider (% trader possibility) to do this would go a long way in adding difficulty back.
2.3 having vanilla options to turn "markers" on/off would help. I've used mods to turn off all markers ( your bedroll, base, traders, backpack, vehicles, etc) and it really feels like the old game much more, especially with the new "cities" and world generation its easy to get lots and "lose your base"
2.4 having vanilla options to "turn off player spawn points" like the beds/bedroll. I've played this with a mod and it puts a damper on dying quite a bit as you end up "somewhere randomish nearby" and if you die, you generally spawn farther away. Combine this with "no player markers" and you will have a hard time finding your backpack and home.
3. For "mods", I've added a lot of mods to just "add content" (not make game easier) and it starts to feel like ye olden days, mostly because there's so much more "stuff" you don't know how it all works anymore (I looted a can opener? is this useful? etc). of course, this newness will wear off too, but the "loads of content" does thin out the vanilla "items" a bit so every time you open a cupboard you don't always get anything useful so its harder to just loot-"grab all"-loot-"grab all" real fast as you fill up your backpack with useless junk
