Not sure what day. I don't think I seen a single one in the standard areas in the first week though. Wasteland is a different story - day one gave me a few ferals and several zed bears. Might be a fluke but I avoid wasteland for the first few weeks now if I can lol.
Let me ask this then. In your opinion when should ferals start making an appearance? I was thinking 2nd or 3rd week of the game but are you feeling like they should be appearing during the first week?
2 per day from day 2, 3 and possibly 4. Then about one per day after. Not sure how I feel about traders giving points. I don't really like the fact that quests are pretty central to early game play because you are so inefficient at everything else that there is little incentive for other tasks. When you have to swing your ax twice to get a single stone, there is no point in mining. Quests give you a lot of points though if you start busting them out like that though and that somewhat moves the xp farm. Considering they give dukes and items, the rewards are very high as well.
So quests...... It's a tough choice. Here is why I decided to have quests award skillpoints:
1) I read a lot of feedback that quests were generally not worth the rewards especially the higher tier quests. I kind of felt the same way and I knew that there was little in the game as valuable as skillpoints. Making a skillpoint be part of the reward would definitely make them worth doing.
2) Quests involve doing activities that are "playing the game". You are exploring the world, clearing and looting a poi, and going head to head against zombies while trying not to die. So creating a situation where people would farm quests seemed acceptable because of the travel time, the risk, and the variety of activities involved. At least it wasn't the same as doing one action repetitively for hours.
3) There is a thematic connection between doing a job for the trader who is obviously an experienced survivalist and gaining some training from him in some area of your choice. So the skillpoint increasing cooking wasn't because you went out and killed a bunch of zombies and retrieved a package. The skillpoint increasing cooking was representative of you asking the trader, "So...what's the best way to cook up bacon and egss without ruining it?" And because you did him the favor he decides to help you out in area you desired some help.
4) Finally, I wanted there to be a way for players to gain points more quickly than once per day if they so desired. Go clear some zombies, then dig up a stash, and then retrieve a package will net you 3 extra points but they weren't free and you have to do all that traveling.
The bad?
1) Quests right now are pretty meh... But that is just right now. As new quests are created and hopefully fan-made quests are also created this will get a lot better.
2) Trader becomes even more critical to the game which some people really hate. But I don't. The more I play the more I like the trader but I want his landclaim removed. I want zombies busting in while I'm trading with him and I have to kill them and help him make repairs. I want to live in his base and not get kicked out. For multiplayer with people you don't know of course you want an invulnerable trader. But for single player and playing with friends/family...nobody is going to try and kill the trader but everyone would want to protect him if necessary.
So I think removing the landclaim and the teleport away after 10pm is what I'd like to add next. But...at any rate I know that for those who don't like the trader this mod works against them because you can't ignore the bonus skillpoints for doing jobs very easily.
3) Players could possibly easily outpace the gamestage difficulty curve by farming quests and earning skillpoints to the point that they become invulnerable long before gamestages makes things harder. I can adjust the economy of the attributes and perks to be more expensive but then that just makes the trader and quests become that much more important in the eyes of players.
Finally, the increased zeds made me cower in my home for the first 5 min of the first night. That was boring so out I went. I do not think it incentives you to sit at home at all - no one plays a game to do nothing. It does HEAVILY incentivise the manner that you go out though - you are going to do it in a safer manner.
This was my experience as well. Plus it is really funny. I truly believe that I am up to the task for pretty much anything so I don't wait to do a quest until I get my skillpoints because I honestly don't believe that I'm going to die. I feel very optimistic and I want the skillpoint from the quest along with the ones that will be coming at the end of the day. So then I end up dying because I got greedy and over encumbered myself, or I forgot to craft bandages and a lucky hit makes me start bleeding, or, or, or.... When you were planning to get four skillpoints and you lose all four and now have to wait a whole hour to get one...Well, I was very angry AT MYSELF for not having the bandages on hand.
