You are damn right im jadded, TFP have consistently removed and reworked things and every alpha makes the game slower and more tedious... do you really expect anything other than a jadded attitude?
And you feel that getting on here and complaining in this manner will accomplish something? You have got to remember that this game is being developed by a crew that is probably 1/10th the size of any big name game developer out there and probably started from Joel sitting in a garage somewhere blazing up and saying "You know...I love Minecraft, but I wish it was more realistic looking and had like more dangerous zombies and ♥♥♥♥." This game didn't start off with a multi-million dollar budget and a planning crew. It started with a guy and some friends making a game they loved and knew everyone else would love. Then they have to deal with people complaining about every single detail, and in an effort to appease even the unapeasable, they make changes that only cause these people to complain more. People like YOU are the reason these "bad" changes get made. They are the direct result of people complaining about a specific mechanic to the point to where they just dumb it down to the most vanilla crap they can chug out just to please those who lack imagination and desire to overcome actual challanges, but instead perfer to have everything handed to them on a silver platter. I could be wrong, but this sounds EXACTLY like what you are doing. How about this: If you don't like A17, then go save a copy of A16.4 to a separate part of your hard drive so you can continue to play it without it being overwritten by A17 and then wait to see if A18 meets your standards. Problem solved.
I could list everything i view as wrong or worse in the new AI but to be honest whats the point? As people have pointed out TFP will do whatever they damn well please (thier project/perogative). That and its a topic that could do with its own thread are why i didnt expand upon my points.
Ok, take a step outside what you believe for just a second. Let's get creative and build a pseuo-narrative to explain why zombies can do this. Perhaps the zombies in this game aren't really undead like the George Romero variety, but instead are more like the Alex Garland variety you might find in 28 Days Later. They aren't dead, but they aren't right either. They still display a reasonable sense of intelligence above just basic feeding instincts. They can do problem solving, they understand basic structural architecture like most of us do, and perhaps what they are infected with gives them a touch of superhuman physical capabilities. I mean considering that this game has next to no back story, would it really be a stretch to consider this as potential canon?
A18 i will not even be bothering to play more than likely, its pretty clear that whatever 'direction' TFP are following is not one im going to enjoy (grindig XP and playing a fallout knockoff leveling system is not somthing im ever going to enjoy).
I highly doubt that. In some cases this may actually be feasable, but if you don't adapt the old code appropriatly to new interfaces you will get something that will not even compile let alone work without crashing all the time. The real cost is keeping that old code up to date for a long time, ask Microsoft how much backwards compatibility costs them.
It's not a case that you didn't expand you chose absolutist rhetoric that doesn't reflect the gameplay. You immediately put yourself at odds with the people who created it, increasing the likeliness that your opinions will be considered extreme and thus ignored.
* facepalm * .. seriously? Come on, the cannon on zombies is both wide and varied from shuffling idiots to clever speedy rage filled b*stards from 28 Days Later. Where do you get this very defined idea of what is and isn't a "zombie"?
Now I sort of have some sympathy here and I've discussed it before on the forum. In this example you are standing on a roof, visible to zombies but the path to you is not. Ideally the AI should get into the building then do paths through it, turning back or attacking a block when their path is blocked. They should repeat this until they find you. It's a bit immersion breaking to assume that zombies have the entire building blueprint available allowing them to find the most direct route.
So don't allow a path, it's as simple as that. I've had no issues holding back 5th or 6th horde night with a game stage in over 100 with just some weapons and a mix of wood and iron spikes backed up by barbed wire. There are numerous streamers out there who have done the same.
Remember A16? Remember how the AI would just walk into something and stand there jumping, never getting over it, not causing any damage and doing nothing other than annoying you with it's grunts? That's why the zombies jump. In regard to the height, sure that could be tweaked, as for it looking awful that is once more a subjective opinion - one I don't share.
But that's where you're wrong. On several occasions I've seen TFP take forum discussions into consideration for further development. Even in A17, we've already seen changes based on the direction the forum discussions were leaning. This is why we have these discussions. They listen. Believe me, they listen. It might not seem like it at times, but I know for a fact they probably read about 75% of the forum posts to get the general consensus on various mechanics. I'm not saying to not talk about what you like and don't like. That is the fuel that drives this bus. What I'm saying is that just simply getting on here and calling things horrible and the worst aren't accomplishing anything except for inviting hostility. Yeah, some of those will be fanbois. I don't deny that. But most of us are legitimately trying to discuss improvements for the game and perhaps those discussions will have an effect on the direction of development. I have a simple rule, and it's not just for game forums, but for life in general. Don't complain unless you have a better way. Don't say "I don't like this" and not be able to follow it up with "and this is how I would do it." Those conversations are actually welcome, but I would tweak that format a bit because using that might come off sounding a little condescending, but you get the idea.
Eh justify it anyway you please: they dont feel like zombies and thats a damn shame for a game that used to be my 3rd favourate zombie game.
I'm not saying my synopsis of what is going on here is perfect. I'm just throwing out some possibilities that TFP might be playing with that could be related to the story of the game if we ever get it. Perhaps they are working toward something we don't see yet, or maybe they're just experimenting with different AI styles to see what works best and what doesn't. I honestly don't know. Instead of sitting around trying to bust their chops about it, I'm enjoying the game and working things out as best I can till the next Alpha releases and things change again. You may call the whole "It's an alpha" thing a defense, but that doesn't change the fact that it's 100% true. This is an alpha being designed by people who many of which have never developed a game before. They're learning as they go, just as we are. I've personally enjoyed the ride, and I feel that if you sit back and just take it for what it is instead of what you think it should be, you would have a much more pleasant time with the game than you currently are.
Okay and when the (maybe minority, nobody can actually give accurate data on what players like/dislike outside of putting a survey or somthing similar in game) asked for crafting not to be dumbbed down or resources to not be made generic or for somthig as simple as the food/water bars being back on the UI...
Id personally say never developed software before let alone a game but thats beside the point.
I like the new AI, currently it is version 1.0 of it, and it will be tweaked more, including adding randomized "dumb classic zombies" into the spawns Its nice they can path to you easy, but the way they path is pretty mechanical and its very easy to exploit, you should see my current base. Its in the big church poi, and I have the zombies being forced to walk down a zig-zagging path full of barbed wire fences, theu the POI till the back which there is then a single staircase to get to me. They zigzag thru the traps to try to get up that staircase to get to me, as it is a clear path to the player. Think on day 7 horde night only 1 zombie managed to make it to the bottom of the stairs and that was because I mostly ignored that one.
Unfortunately it's a bit of a double edged sword. In A16 the zombies were stupid and offered little challenge, now they are much cleverer but they are also more predictable. Some sort of mish mash between those who go directly towards you and some who are a bit stupider and take different routes would be a nice addition (imo, of course).
I feel the issue with the temp buffs is they just don't last long enough, Recog and fort bites for example last about 60s. Recog I can kinda see why as it gives a 500%! ranged damage bonus for its 30-60s duration. But fort bites should last at least 5 minutes, as should most buff items like coffee etc. I mostly just do what you said and unload them on the trader, only one I hold onto is steroids as they last 10 mins and max out your inventory size for that time, and give a 50% melee dmg buff for 10 mins too. One mod I played in a16 was darkness falls, had a quest to collect 40 coffee beans, which nets you 1 Super coffee and the recipie to make more. Recipe was 10 coffe beans and a bottle of water (I think), the buff was the normal coffee buff except it lasts 30 real life minutes. Coffee in a17e I think lasts 2 minutes? its almost not worth using due to how little you can actually get done in 2 mins. Should be upped to at least 5 minutes imo. Don't get me started on beer with its 30 sec duration. I mostly use beer as vendor fodder now as the buff is so short its not worth using.
Sure it would not be possibel to keep Crafting Grid and the new Crafing System sure.
That is not my issue with the temporary buffs. How long they last is a balance issue that should get looked at (not until all features are fully implemented, but still)
