Figure I should post my unasked-for opinion in here vice starting a new thread.
This game is not version 2.1. It is Alpha 27. At least, that's what it feels like.
The core gameplay loop of exploring, looting, and gathering resources to build your base and defenses for the recurring hordes is solid. It's why I keep coming back to the game with my friends. As much as I enjoy the nomadic looter gameplay style and have spent plenty a horde night kiting these undead ■■■■■■■s up and down a highway to great result, I still recognize that the game skews heavily towards encouraging that playstyle. I've got friends that like to build and shoot zombies, and the magazine-based skill progression system feels like it punishes them for not engaging with the entire game at all times unless they have friends join them to be their loot gremlins.
I'm also of the opinion that the biome badge system is quite frankly dog■■■■, and an awful stand-in for the old clothing and armor system soft-gating more dangerous biomes. I kept an open mind and gave it a fair shake. I hate it. The only survival elements left in this game are managing food, water, and infection levels. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of suspension of disbelief to be had in this game (the question of jars and cans in the eyes of older players, for one), but the execution just makes me scratch my head - just because I proved to a random trader somehow that I did an arbitrary number of things in a burnt forest/wasteland/desert, I'm suddenly immune to smoke inhalation/radiation/the god■■■■ed sun??? Why not reintroduce clothing, armor, or armor mods that mitigate extreme temperatures, as well as options for radiation resistance and breathing? Hell, you could even give the desert a double-whammy of extreme highs and lows while also having players without breathing aids choke on sandstorms? This idea feels incredibly half-baked and something I would have expected in an earlier alpha, not 2.0.
On that note, the weather system also needs to be worked on because it's apparently the same thing that's been in the game since at least alpha 15. It was charming and understandable then, but at version 2.1 it feels unpolished and actually detrimental. We need to be able to see weather conditions rather than having them tied to the biome borders. Barreling into a storm all of a sudden when the weather was clear with near infinite visibility just a second ago doesn't feel good. There should be a way to tell there's a storm in the next zone besides standing at the biome border and dipping your toes in repeatedly.
Why not merge some of the old and new? Bring back learn-by-doing, but let magazines be free skill experience for that skill. Bring back clothing and more meaningful body temperature mechanics but work in piece-specific perks and maybe some sort of set bonus system. Give us options to toggle these aspects on and off. This used to be a survival game. Now it's just "We Have Fallout 4 Survival Mode At Home."