Welcome to typical game development in the later stages, which is quite boring to a player, and probably even to the developers. I don't think there exists anyone who likes the polishing phase. But it is a necessary part of game development and one that players did never ever experience 20 years ago. Then some game companies started with releasing MMOs in beta and after that kickstarter and especially steam alphas became a thing. Now some of you see a game developed in the alpha state and sometimes confuse it with a service game.
That is the danger of an alpha developed game. People participating in the alpha will get to play unfinished game versions, but often have outlived the game or became bored or are dissatisfied with changes, before the game is even released.
This is not my first early access game, I've gotten several, this is however the only one I seen that has redone the same game systems multiple times during its alpha when it wasn't needed. a16.4 skill system was basically perfect pretty much any player who played it will tell you that, it needed a bit of tweaks yes but that was it, instead we got this stupid stat system that hurt the game for solo players.
I've had the game since alpha 10.2 or so myself as I think I have mentioned. I got to be honest I don't feel the game has gone anywhere but on a downward slope that started with alpha 17. Game systems were constantly changed to force the player to play a certain way removing sandbox elements from it which was a big part of why I got it in the first place. Stealth was gutted, not just in how it works, but the way zombies are placed in poi's to almost always be behind blocks or furnature etc, it looks and feels fake like it was done on purpose to screw with certain char builds. I get the idea the devs like their jump scares but after the first time its just an annoyance, as you usually cannot attack those zombies till they pop out. There are also too many ambushes in places that make no sense. if I fall into a pit yeah I expect a ambush, but I shouldn't be getting one in almost every single room in a t3+ poi like clockwork, that just makes it boring as you always expect it.
Next is the lack of items added to the game as I mentioned already, Steel has been top tier for as long as I can remember, the game needs something above that, and enemies above the current top ones, it doesn't HAVE to be before gold, but just a word from the devs that it is PLANNED is enough to satisfy some people for now. We need actual new items, not just prettier versions of the same items. The art team has done some amazing work, the game looks better graphically than it even needs to, the problem is most of the other area's. As for bandits, I don't even want them to be frank, I never did, as they just feel like a lot of cheese ways to kill the player by insta hitting aimbots. When they do come I do expect them to always drop loot, at least some ammo or something, as its going to be really silly if I can kill a bandit with a assault rifle and then I cannot loot it period when as its a human it should deff have something on its body I can use.
Then we have bugs, like the long running stamina bug. If you get below 75% water, you get hit with a 20% stam regen penalty, there is no tool tip or status on the char info panel that shows this, it does not even show in any of the xml's either where most of these are, its a debuff that seems to be purely in the code. It was orignally in alpha 16.4 but it was supposed to be moved to below 50% water in Alpha 17 according to the tooltip, except the problem is, the orignal debuff is still there and still applies once your below 75% water. Only way people notice it is if you pay attention to stam regen, usually its 5 per tick when still, it goes down to 4 per tick when below 74% water and its VERY noticable when your sprinting around or fighting/mining. Its taken me from alpha 17 to a21 to finally get a dev to look into it (I believe they actually even confirmed its a bug I think finally), its still not fixed though, and I am not the only player who has noticed this bug either. The code that causes it, prob just needs to be edited and not removed, like the value that makes it hit at 74% water just needs to be changed so it hits at 49% instead. I'm not a coder though, but the code is the only place this debuff can be, as I can't find it in any xmls. I do find the below 50% water one that lowers stam etc till your above it, but not the one that hits at 74% and below water that severely hurts stam regen till your above 75% again.
overall the console players will like all the new content (Traps, new POIs, new vehicles, etc) but will be dissapointed by the happy, colorful look of the game as well as the one sided horde nights (death tunnel/loop bases)
