It has come to my attention that 7D2D is slowly driving itself off a cliff and going in a direction that players do not like whatsoever. I've heard it all, from complaining about badges, restricting player freedom, and turning the game into a RPG game with linear progression, all the way to complaining about how the developers don't know how to communicate, how to develop their game, or whatever. It's gotten to the point where I feel the need to at least try and reach out through official channels to try and get my message through and my message is as follows:
We Need a Rollback.
What I mean by that is that we need to go back several versions, back into alpha, and go back to the drawing board because as it stands 7 Days DOES NOT FEEL LIKE A FINISHED PRODUCT.
I have played 7 Days to Die since the console era of PS4 and whatever XBOX system was around at the time, and going from PS4 to PC a few years after support was ended was absolutely JARRING. I physically could not recognize the game because so many changes just left me all mucked up. I'd go into detail about it but I don't have the time, nor the patience, to write out something that long so I'll just type out a few wants I would like to get out of a rollback, along with methods that could be used to justify re-adding them.
That being said, the rest of the post is just going to be suggestions. If you don't care for them, I'll leave a TL;DR at the bottom. But to any of The Fun Pimps who pass by, I IMPLORE you read them all THOROGHLY and take them into consideration, even if it is only silent consideration.
1. The Return of Temperature.
For starters, the removal of the temperature system is baffling to me and the logic just does not make sense. You would rather get rid of temperature outright, which in and of itself was a factor that made it difficult to survive in certain areas, in exchange for badges/PPE that would allow you to maneuver an area permanently? Or drink a smoothies/slushies for temporary access into a biome? We already had ways to combat temperature in early versions! It's called "Bundling up" and "Drinking Coffee" or "Losing the Jacket" and "Drinking Yucca Juice." These changes felt like solutions to problems that didn't exist.
1.2. About Badges/PPE.
Now if you want to add requirements to handle areas like the burnt forest or the wasteland, that is completely fine and understandable, but there is better options than just... badges and smoothies. For example, you could have players find/craft respirators and air tanks to be able to breathe inside the burnt forest. For the wasteland, you could have players collect damaged hazmat equipment from Hazmat Zombies and have players collect resources to repair them enough to venture into the wasteland, making the wasteland a possible end-game location due to the large pocket of radiation within it that covers the large plot of what looks like a massive city.
Oh and to add onto the PPE thing, maybe add a filter system where you can only spend so long in those two areas before needing to change filters/air tanks. Just sayin.
2. The Return of Jars and Bottling/Boiling Water
It's no secret you developers hold a level of disdain for glass jars and reusing them for water collection. To which I say, understandable. But removing the creation of jars and reusing them for water was not the way to go. If you truly want to make it harder for us to collect water, then allow me to suggest a few changes that would make it harder to collect water WITHOUT removing our jars and WITHOUT removing the collection of water.
First and foremost, you could make every "freshwater" source contaminated with either radiation or the virus or whatever since all "freshwater" sources are connected to radiation areas/the wasteland, meaning you would need specialized equipment to filter out the contaminants, like a makeshift water purifier that would take a day or two to produce purified water.
Second, and this adds on to the first, you could make it to where toilets and sinks inside buildings passively produce murky, semi-filtered water that can be boiled into purified water, and make it to where it can only produce X amounts of water every Y amount of days. This would make water available in the early game in limited quantities. Also, because I know it might come up, but player constructed turrets and sinks wouldn't produce murky water passively due to not being connected to the established pipework beneath housing. Meaning players can't break toilets/sinks and bring them home for infinite water.
Third, for water collection, it feels like a crime that the DEW COLLECTORS add on to a base's heatmap. I'll try to keep this short since I've been on water for so long it's actually making me thirsty. But the way I see it, there should be a linear progression for water collection in bases, and it would look like so:
3. Removal of the POI System.
The POI System, or Point of Interest System, is something the looks good on paper but in reality it makes me feel very limited when it comes to looting areas because I can't take the approach I want to take. Back in the PS4 version of 7 Days, I could smash a window in to bypass a locked door, nowadays I have to follow some dumb Tomb Raider-esq path to navigate the building the way the devs want me to. I don't like that. It's a degree of handholding that I don't want.
Instead of the POI system, why not introduce an end game mechanic where you can go on excursions beyond the border of the world and bypass the radiation to go to premade "dungeons" in a sense. You could go to an NPC who owns a helicopter (not gyrocopter) who, after a short fee, takes you to a ruined New York park, or a giant oil rig in the middle of the ocean or whatever. I feel like that'd be a better idea than having every building in Navezgane be a POI, as it would make experiencing dungeons more memorable in my honest opinion.
4. The Return of Wellness
I feel like this is a no brainer. You're rewarded for taking care of your body and punished for mistreating your body and dying. Sure, the consequences were a little extreme in the early game, so extreme that I just reset a run if I died, but at least if you spent time to build yourself up you'd be strong enough to take on just about anything. Which should be the end goal in a survival game.
5. Grit, Grime, and Grunge.
I don't like the modern artstyle of 7 Days to Die. Everything is too bright and too colorful, literally. Every time I look at some footage from modern 7D, I have to squint to not have my eyes overwhelmed by the brightness and oversaturation. Why did you go this route? It hurts my eyes every time I look at it. We should go back to the dirty grime of the older alpha builds. It makes things look a lot bleaker, and a lot more fitting for a zombie apocalypse if you ask me. Also it's just my preference.
Other Nitpicks:
Learning to do stuff by magazines is such a bad system. Can we PLEASE replace it? At least Learning by Doing was more involved and wasn't entirely RNG based.
Weapon models are ■■■. Go back to earlier alpha models P L E A S E.
Weapon reloads are ■■■. Have you even been to a gun range?
I don't like the way vehicles are controlled. Mouse control is a horrible way to drive vehicles. Please make the default method of driving WASD entirely.
Armor/Weapon mods are an interesting concept, but there is very much a meta. I feel like there should be something to break up said meta, but in the sense that it makes more choices viable and appealing, instead of nerfing the current meta into oblivion.
Anyway. That's all I had for now. I hope if a developer actually sees it, they respond and/or actually take my feedback into consideration.
Also to any redditors that are here, I am the same Nlackbug that suggested TFP hire a community manager or something. Yes I am still open to going into that position.
#NlackbugforCommunityManager lol
TL;DR:
I want temperature to return, I want smoothies/slushies to go away, I want a proper PPE system with filters and whatnot.
I want jars to come back and have the water be changed to where there are few 'murky water' sources and everything else is contaminated.
I want the POI system to be removed and/or replaced by an expedition system where you can visit premade POIs for end-game loot.
I want wellness to come back.
I want the game to have a darker atmosphere.
A bunch of nitpicks.
We Need a Rollback.
What I mean by that is that we need to go back several versions, back into alpha, and go back to the drawing board because as it stands 7 Days DOES NOT FEEL LIKE A FINISHED PRODUCT.
I have played 7 Days to Die since the console era of PS4 and whatever XBOX system was around at the time, and going from PS4 to PC a few years after support was ended was absolutely JARRING. I physically could not recognize the game because so many changes just left me all mucked up. I'd go into detail about it but I don't have the time, nor the patience, to write out something that long so I'll just type out a few wants I would like to get out of a rollback, along with methods that could be used to justify re-adding them.
That being said, the rest of the post is just going to be suggestions. If you don't care for them, I'll leave a TL;DR at the bottom. But to any of The Fun Pimps who pass by, I IMPLORE you read them all THOROGHLY and take them into consideration, even if it is only silent consideration.
1. The Return of Temperature.
For starters, the removal of the temperature system is baffling to me and the logic just does not make sense. You would rather get rid of temperature outright, which in and of itself was a factor that made it difficult to survive in certain areas, in exchange for badges/PPE that would allow you to maneuver an area permanently? Or drink a smoothies/slushies for temporary access into a biome? We already had ways to combat temperature in early versions! It's called "Bundling up" and "Drinking Coffee" or "Losing the Jacket" and "Drinking Yucca Juice." These changes felt like solutions to problems that didn't exist.
1.2. About Badges/PPE.
Now if you want to add requirements to handle areas like the burnt forest or the wasteland, that is completely fine and understandable, but there is better options than just... badges and smoothies. For example, you could have players find/craft respirators and air tanks to be able to breathe inside the burnt forest. For the wasteland, you could have players collect damaged hazmat equipment from Hazmat Zombies and have players collect resources to repair them enough to venture into the wasteland, making the wasteland a possible end-game location due to the large pocket of radiation within it that covers the large plot of what looks like a massive city.
Oh and to add onto the PPE thing, maybe add a filter system where you can only spend so long in those two areas before needing to change filters/air tanks. Just sayin.
2. The Return of Jars and Bottling/Boiling Water
It's no secret you developers hold a level of disdain for glass jars and reusing them for water collection. To which I say, understandable. But removing the creation of jars and reusing them for water was not the way to go. If you truly want to make it harder for us to collect water, then allow me to suggest a few changes that would make it harder to collect water WITHOUT removing our jars and WITHOUT removing the collection of water.
First and foremost, you could make every "freshwater" source contaminated with either radiation or the virus or whatever since all "freshwater" sources are connected to radiation areas/the wasteland, meaning you would need specialized equipment to filter out the contaminants, like a makeshift water purifier that would take a day or two to produce purified water.
Second, and this adds on to the first, you could make it to where toilets and sinks inside buildings passively produce murky, semi-filtered water that can be boiled into purified water, and make it to where it can only produce X amounts of water every Y amount of days. This would make water available in the early game in limited quantities. Also, because I know it might come up, but player constructed turrets and sinks wouldn't produce murky water passively due to not being connected to the established pipework beneath housing. Meaning players can't break toilets/sinks and bring them home for infinite water.
Third, for water collection, it feels like a crime that the DEW COLLECTORS add on to a base's heatmap. I'll try to keep this short since I've been on water for so long it's actually making me thirsty. But the way I see it, there should be a linear progression for water collection in bases, and it would look like so:
Rain Collectors - Always viable, produces no heat, produces murky water that needs to be boiled. Only collects during rain/snow. Ineffective in the desert.
Water Wells - Using dowsing rods, you would venture around the map looking for an area with an underground water source and construct a well on top of it, passively producing murky ground water at a fixed rate. Generates no heat.
Water Pumps - An upgrade/replacement to the Water Wells that would be constructed on top of the spot where a well was constructed. Produces murky ground water when interacted with. Generates no heat.
Automatic Water Collection & Filtration System - A permanent replacement to the Water Wells & Water Pumps. Produces clean, filtered water at a constant rate when supplied with power. Generates large amounts of heat. Intended for the end game.
That's just a few ideas but I'm sure the community can create better ideas that would be way more applicable than mine, I was just doing that to put those out there.Water Wells - Using dowsing rods, you would venture around the map looking for an area with an underground water source and construct a well on top of it, passively producing murky ground water at a fixed rate. Generates no heat.
Water Pumps - An upgrade/replacement to the Water Wells that would be constructed on top of the spot where a well was constructed. Produces murky ground water when interacted with. Generates no heat.
Automatic Water Collection & Filtration System - A permanent replacement to the Water Wells & Water Pumps. Produces clean, filtered water at a constant rate when supplied with power. Generates large amounts of heat. Intended for the end game.
3. Removal of the POI System.
The POI System, or Point of Interest System, is something the looks good on paper but in reality it makes me feel very limited when it comes to looting areas because I can't take the approach I want to take. Back in the PS4 version of 7 Days, I could smash a window in to bypass a locked door, nowadays I have to follow some dumb Tomb Raider-esq path to navigate the building the way the devs want me to. I don't like that. It's a degree of handholding that I don't want.
Instead of the POI system, why not introduce an end game mechanic where you can go on excursions beyond the border of the world and bypass the radiation to go to premade "dungeons" in a sense. You could go to an NPC who owns a helicopter (not gyrocopter) who, after a short fee, takes you to a ruined New York park, or a giant oil rig in the middle of the ocean or whatever. I feel like that'd be a better idea than having every building in Navezgane be a POI, as it would make experiencing dungeons more memorable in my honest opinion.
4. The Return of Wellness
I feel like this is a no brainer. You're rewarded for taking care of your body and punished for mistreating your body and dying. Sure, the consequences were a little extreme in the early game, so extreme that I just reset a run if I died, but at least if you spent time to build yourself up you'd be strong enough to take on just about anything. Which should be the end goal in a survival game.
5. Grit, Grime, and Grunge.
I don't like the modern artstyle of 7 Days to Die. Everything is too bright and too colorful, literally. Every time I look at some footage from modern 7D, I have to squint to not have my eyes overwhelmed by the brightness and oversaturation. Why did you go this route? It hurts my eyes every time I look at it. We should go back to the dirty grime of the older alpha builds. It makes things look a lot bleaker, and a lot more fitting for a zombie apocalypse if you ask me. Also it's just my preference.
Other Nitpicks:
Learning to do stuff by magazines is such a bad system. Can we PLEASE replace it? At least Learning by Doing was more involved and wasn't entirely RNG based.
Weapon models are ■■■. Go back to earlier alpha models P L E A S E.
Weapon reloads are ■■■. Have you even been to a gun range?
I don't like the way vehicles are controlled. Mouse control is a horrible way to drive vehicles. Please make the default method of driving WASD entirely.
Armor/Weapon mods are an interesting concept, but there is very much a meta. I feel like there should be something to break up said meta, but in the sense that it makes more choices viable and appealing, instead of nerfing the current meta into oblivion.
Anyway. That's all I had for now. I hope if a developer actually sees it, they respond and/or actually take my feedback into consideration.
Also to any redditors that are here, I am the same Nlackbug that suggested TFP hire a community manager or something. Yes I am still open to going into that position.
#NlackbugforCommunityManager lol
TL;DR:
I want temperature to return, I want smoothies/slushies to go away, I want a proper PPE system with filters and whatnot.
I want jars to come back and have the water be changed to where there are few 'murky water' sources and everything else is contaminated.
I want the POI system to be removed and/or replaced by an expedition system where you can visit premade POIs for end-game loot.
I want wellness to come back.
I want the game to have a darker atmosphere.
A bunch of nitpicks.
