Sorry in advance for the large post, but id rather get it all out in one go.
I am loving the new 'stone age' period at the start of the game.
Having better versions of low tier items at the start of the game feels good to me, i dont think in any other version i would have ran around with a tier 6 stone weapon, so having that as an option is great.
I think the bows need a buff in general, ammo still doesnt seem to be a problem, so their main selling feature of 'free' ammo isnt that great, though having more iron arrows in loot is nice.
The blunderbuss feels really good now, not sure if it was buffed or if it was always this destructive. Giving more stone age ammo is a huge boost, one of my biggest gripes with the blunderbuss in past versions was that by the time i could craft one i would already have better weapon options, and gunpowder was very scarce in previous versions so i wouldnt waste it crafting ammo for a lower tier weapon. It feels just about perfect now, though i would love to get a musket and a flintlock to go along with it!
I still feel like the magnum is a really bad weapon considering its massive reload time, low clip size and it doesnt work with many mods. Would be nice seeing it drop earlier and more frequently so that i could use all the .45 ammo i get but cant use.
The sprite feature that shows item locations on the screen is excellent! i love it. It helps so much with getting your orientation right.
Digging quests are significantly more fun with the dig zone shown on screen and the shrinking zone size, you never really feel bad for digging because each block gets you that one point closer to the treasure, so it feels much more rewarding.
I still think int needs a normal weapon tree for it to use with 3 tiers, i think something like a flamethrower would be good. Stun baton i think needs 3 tiers, it might just be an issue of perception but without the power progression i always assume it will never reach the potential of the other weapons, and stunning is useless when you could use another weapon and one shot a foe.
I think melee weapons in general need some more niches outside of combat, currently the steel axe feels like its the best weapon, then the sledgehammer considering that i want to take the least backpack space up and those two can offer pve power. knives can skin things, would be nice if they did more damage to cloth and leather items for a start(curtains and couches), spears could be better for digging and overlap with shovels (not so much because it makes sense but doubling up items would help), and fists could just get more generic block damage, and the stun baton i always thought would be cool if you could strike electronic items and power them up briefly, like being able to activate dormant vending machines, might be a nightmare to code though.
Harvesting tools will reward players with more materials when harvesting.
I dont mind the tool items being good in combat, but they shouldnt be as good as the other items, maybe lower their entity damage and add a mod that makes them stronger for non melee focused players?
In my current playthrough i am swimming in ammo, i think this might need to be tuned down a little to incentivize melee and archery builds. currently i am using my guns on purpose just so that i dont fill my bags up while looting.
I still think some perks could be adjusted, particularly crafting perks that dont offer anything else. When the weapon crafting and combat perks were merged they felt amazing, some other ones dont feel so good. Also worth noting is that nearly all crafting perks are attributed to intellect, and most craftables are unlockable with manuals, meaning they often have little longterm value, not to mention only needing one or two items from the craftables (like 1 motorcycle or 2 workbenches).
My suggestion would be shuffling some of the crafting perks into other trees that lack craftables and merging them into existing perks.
Move physician perk into Fortitude and combine it with healing factor so that there is a passive effect and unlockable crafting aspect.
Move advanced engineering into perception and combine it with salvage operations.
Strength already crafts heavy armor and agility already crafts light armor, along with having their affiliated weapons that go along with them.
