PC Alpha 20 Dev Diary

[dcsobral]

Day 32: (difficulty 3/5, 2 hour days, loot (started at 50, then tried 75, parked at 100), 50% xp)

Dislike: 1) the Over use of invisible triggered zombie wakeup.. kinda negates all my agility point spending - i like to play stealth. Am doing tier 3 quests, again (moved locations so new trader), and a good portion of the quests with previous trader and with this trader involve "triggered" swarms - not a fan, but to each their own. 2) Acid is a little too rare (day 32 and only found 3). 3) to me, the hitbox for direwolves head seems "off" or smaller than the graphic, alot of my shots (gun and crossbow) go thru the head but hardly ever register a damaging hit. That's it so far...

now...

LikeS: far too many to list, however my top few would be 1) RWG, heck yes (i do however dislike that the paint on the streets actually take up a block-space and can't place anything directly overtop of it, but thats a minor meh) 2) love the builders-love we received, Blocks-O-Plenty (maybe paint/textures next?!?! i know i'm pushing my luck lol) 3) the ChaLLenge.. I have a few hours invested overall in this game and in my play thrus i die maybe twice each go.... A20 I've died 12 times thus far (triggered swarms x3, an explosion in a farm poi (still baffled by this one) x1, Direwolves x7 <<-- LOL, andddd a Bear x1.. need that meat!

I'm on the fence with the farming.. its good for what it is, but I cant see this as being "the" answer to whatever TFP is after. Something about it just feels off.. LotL 3 was a must to a "sustaining" farm - and thats expensive considering where points should go early on. This Alpha, I find myself hunting more (dont always go as planned hence the deaths lol). Still alot I havent seen yet sooooo, I'm looking forward to the next x-amount of hours. <<end update>>

You need 5 points for LotL 3. Increase Fortitude to 3 (2 points), wear the tough guy sunglasses (For +1), eat sham chowder (For +1), increase LotL to 3. Repeat sunglasses/sham chowder when harvesting/making seeds.

 

[meilodasreh]

I understand that a motorcycle is more maneuverable and passable, but usually I prefer a truck, as I often play in a group. The conversation was about speed

Yes, I guess a 4x4/truck is more fun with all the guys together in one vehicle...thank you for reminding me that I have no friends 

Considering speed...well how do you define speed?

Highest mph that the vehicle can reach and time to reach destination are two different things of course if your way isn't just a straight flat line.

Nevermind, maybe I'm just a bad driver with a steering wheel, I need handlebars. 

But I will definitely check out the A20 4x4 now, you all got me curious about its actual behaviour, just in case I happen to find one/the schematics/parts. 

 

[madmole]

One thing I've noticed is that weapon parts drop much less or in lower quantity in A20.  This seems to make weapon crafting somewhat pointless. I'm on Day 18 and just found the pump shotgun schematic. I was going to craft it but only had 1 shotgun part. I then turn in my next trader reward and got a Green pump shotgun.  I'm not sure what the value add of crafting is here.  There's no point crafting a blue pump shotgun when by the time I have enough parts I will probably have looted a purple one and I should clearly be saving my shotgun parts to craft a combat shotgun.  The lack of parts also devalues getting schematics. 

I scrap every weapon of the same class and buy tier 1 verisons from the trader and scrap them to get enough parts. It's worth it.

 

[dcsobral]

That said A20 has been amazing in my opinion. The sense of fear is back and I am not looking to mod things as fast as in other Alphas. This is a home run imo and the pois and danger present are amazing. Great work Mad Mole and the team! This is a huge step in the right direction!

I said on stream that Alpha 20 felt like the JaxTeller Edition. 

 

[madmole]

Alright, @madmole I finally got to plant and invest in "living off the land" Day 15 (day 30 in 1-hour days).

My opinion on farming:

Pros:

.You lose without investing at least one point : I like that. Makes the player give more importance to seeds and makes farming more "engaging".

. You get more yield than a19 with the Level 3 of the perk unlocked. Also cool.

.This rebalance prepares the game for the new armor bonuses. Also good.

Cons:

. Living off the Land 2 is crappy and just a stepping stone as seed recipes are plentiful. It should have at least a small increased chance to get seeds as always 50% is bad for gameplay feeling in my opinion. A 5% or 10% more should be more than enough. Not more, as the rest will be filled with the future armor/legendary weapon buffs.

It's subtle, but I enjoyed more planting once than the current system. The biggest thing here was that it saved time. I would had preferred if the seeds were used in many food recipes like yucca seeds for yucca smoothie for example in order to make them important, so the current loot abundance remains unchanged. And also would  make it so you can fail to harvest crops, either with a occasional decreased yield or a model swap into a rotten plant (requires 1 rotten model per plant that gives 1 seed).

All in all, for non-focused fortitude builds, farming is worse in the feeling that it projects and most importantly in the time that it makes us lose, which in this game is crutial. 

The fact that it's actually quite better in the crops it produces (level 3 LoL) doesn't make up for it enough.

Maybe the a21 armors will change my point of view.

We are changing living off the land 2 to give you a 50% chance of another crop so its exactly between rank 1 and 3.

 

[dcsobral]

Just use some self restraint and don't do any repeat quests. Turn off loot respawn. It's not perfect but role playing through self restraint can solve problems. Its a multiplayer game we can't not reset POIs for new players to experience it.

It could be an option, though. Even on MP there's a place for a resource exhaustion gameplay, particularly on small groups. It's something I'd like to see as a finishing touch on gold.

 

[Morloc]

We are changing living off the land 2 to give you a 50% chance of another crop so its exactly between rank 1 and 3.

I think that'll be great. I love variable yields done this way.

-Arch Necromancer Morloc

 

[madmole]

This negative 7D2D review basically sums up the majority of negative reviews I'm seeing these days, excluding the other types of stupid ones like, "My Internet went down, downvoted."

(I post this in congratulations to TFP. This game was going places before, but now it's shot past the moon.  The positive reviews are coming in thick and fast. Take reviews like this one no notice.)

"I love this game and its concept - basically Minecraft with zombie survival - and periodically come back to it to see how it's going and what's changed. However, I cannot in all good faith give it a positive review for a very simple reason: it's still in Alpha.This wouldn't be a problem normally; games get prereleased all the time to fund their development. But 7 Days to Die has been in development for so long it's starting to give Duke Nukem a run for its money.I purchased this game in Alpha (pre-Alpha maybe, I honestly don't remember) back in 2014; I was single and living with my parents. I now have a wife and a small child, have a stable job and pay taxes. If a lonely, nerdy geek with a passion for Lego can do that in seven years, but a team of developers can't bring out a finished product, that's a very bad sign for said product.I have my doubts that this game will ever be finished one day. I'd love to be proved wrong; as I said before I love the game as a whole. The fact, however, that I paid for an unfinished product with the unspoken accord that it would be finished within a "reasonable" timeframe, annoys me no end, and is synonymous of a mentality that stinks of a distinct lack of respect to the players of the game.

The people who write a negative review after 1000's of hours about the game being in alpha too long, are the same people who will criticize you for going gold with bugs or unpolished elements still in the game. Clearly the guy is angry the game is more addictive than ever but he's too busy wiping butts and changing diapers to get any quality time with his PC and favorite game.

 

[Matt115]

Yes, it is years old, and just as low priority now as it was then.

i think it can  be done "special" - some company build this flat. they coudn't sell this so company just "barricade" windows and left until  they find what to do with this building but zombie outbreak begin and well.. it was forgotten. this happens sometimes in rly - imagine completed flat without anything because change of law

 

[madmole]

This. Or hell, not even that it saves time necessarily, just that I didn't need to go back over and repeat the process after having used up some of the harvest to craft seeds - in A19 I immediately knew how much crop I had to work with and I didn't need to spend the effort to craft and replant like in A16-. I'd much rather have lower yields but an intact plant if the crops are just going right back into the ground anyway; it's the same result, functionally, but with less fiddling around with seed crafting and replanting crops.

I'm mostly okay with Living Off the Land being necessary to really do any farming, but even with t3 LOtL the effort involved in replanting isn't something I'm looking forward to repeating over and over, especially when introducing "downgrading" plant harvesting was one of the things I feel A17 did right. I'm sure there's a way to balance recurring-harvest plants that accounts for the lack of busywork involved as compared to A20's system.

I'll probably cope.

Any time you take the player out of the game they feel less attached. Replanting seeds is a good mechanic and makes players feel more invested in their crops.

 

[Golevan]

don't you notice anything strange?
 

Spoiler

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[Matt115]

The people who write a negative review after 1000's of hours about the game being in alpha too long, are the same people who will criticize you for going gold with bugs or unpolished elements still in the game. Clearly the guy is angry the game is more addictive than ever but he's too busy wiping butts and changing diapers to get any quality time with his PC and favorite game.

Honestly-  i usually complaining a lot but - you guys can be proud of yourself  because you made rly good game so don't give up, you are doing good job ^^ well i hope we will hear about your new game soon  (maybe news about yours new game as christmas gift? )

 

[madmole]

Screamers with feral sense turned on are way meaner.  They sometimes scream without 'seeing' you and often spawn additional screamers.  I had a 60-70 zombie screamer horde recently.  Felt like a mini blood moon.

Yeah I had a screamer show up and it rapidly turned into what felt like a full on horde night!

Not sure how well the stealth is working, but right now I am typing this as I wait out the night... underground... in a city... in the wasteland. I shall not as much as scratch my nose until I hear that morning jingle. I have not perked into stealth at all except for one level of Hidden Strike, but that's just a damage bonus, gives me no extra stealthiness.

This is only my second time in the wasteland this playthrough, the first was an amazingly fun super scary night of WHAT THE F EVEN IS THAAAAT... NOPE... I am shocked I survived(albeit barely). I had not even yet been to the desert, nor the snow, and THOUGHT I was just taking another "Restore Power" quest in the forest biome, but Jen sent me to the wasteland... restore power is a night thing... it was on a farm, a big open farm where every high level Z could see and join in. And they did, I ended up cornered in a little shack with hatches on the doors, my trusty turret, and a dream of seeing daylight once again.

Was one hell of an intro to how much biomes stage things up. Haven't been that challenged in a long time... except for right now as I listen to all the footsteps above me, just waiting for me to make the slightest sound before I go up and clear that Level 5 skyscraper... in the morning of course.

This really is a substantial alpha TFP, I only started in A16 but have over 3k hrs already. Heard many stories about how cities used to be scary AF, had to imagine that, but not anymore. Too many awesome things to congrats you on this time around, wish me luck(I'm in danger). 

This was a great read!

 

[dcsobral]

Screamers with feral sense turned on are way meaner.  They sometimes scream without 'seeing' you and often spawn additional screamers.  I had a 60-70 zombie screamer horde recently.  Felt like a mini blood moon.

Is it truly without seeing you? Remember that diagonals between blocks do provide line of sight (like with ramps connected only diagonally), and ground is essentially transparent.

 

[meilodasreh]

Yeah I had a screamer show up and it rapidly turned into what felt like a full on horde night!

Now we're really going the right direction!

We came from "too many Zeds on the screen is no good for your framerate".

Now we're at "screamers summon screamers summon screamers summon...".

I love it, and I don't blame you when my PC goes BOOM because it died on duty (me having fun) 

 

[spacepiggio]

Still scares the @%$# out of me, I think its even scarier now that a good Stanima balance is making it harder to run away earley game. It feels like a more realistic confrontation wise with the Z's. Ive mentioned many times that it was too easy to run away from the Zed's, much funner & scarier now.

 

[madmole]

All of this is true.

Before I say this I want to express how great this alpha feels so I am not trying to be troll-y with my comment. But sometimes it feels like this is being balanced by three different teams. You have some areas that are quite easy, then some that are perfectly balanced. Then there are the times when things seem to be veering to please hardcore players. It feels very janky and un-coordinated in some areas and does not feel cohesive.

For example, upgrading blocks is a more efficient use of time to level xp then actually killing anything, to the point where going out to loot feels like a waste of time. POIs themselves are difficult at times early on, which is wonderful but the payoff just isn't there. If you get infected (which is very often almost every time you get hit) there are almost no stumps in the world and most times they give nothing back. With how often infection occurs this is terribly unbalanced at times.

Making a base at first seems like a waste too. Zombies can see you quite clearly in a base on day 1-3 so taking a poi is the best bet. To the point you feel pigeon holed to do it every time. 

Perks are a whole other topic. I'm forced to sink points into what i feel is a useless endeavor to get stations. I don't care for or want perks for batons/electric/turrets but i must sink them there for access to vehicles and benches. Why? its an attempt at a janky class system. And lets not talk about why anyone would want to take clubs or blunt weapons when bleed on knives is always a better bet. Even pipe batons are better than a club.

Not sure where i was going with that but everything just feels uneven.

Whaaattt??? I totally disagree, but let me preface that everyone plays different, and has different skill levels and choices that influence how a particular build can play out.

I prefer to build my own base. The time wasted plugging holes and wasting mats on a temp base, is simply that time wasted.

Upgrading blocks requires gathering materials, which in itself sets you back in terms of what technology and books you can acquire looting. There is no way it can keep up with killing XP either.

Why are you forced to sink points into workstations? You don't need workstations right away. But from the sound of it you like staying home and upgrading blocks so maybe getting out there and bashing heads in isn't appealing to you. I find workstation schematics in loot and vehicle schematics are found or purchased. I never put a single point into INT and had all I wanted on my last play through.

Clubs are WAY better than knives. The range and damage are superior. At least early game. Eventually my knives got ok but I remember the club always feeling superior. But you need to get sex rex and the right mods to really make it shine. Sure with agility I had unlimited knife power attacks late game with sex rex as well, but with a club you don't need unlimited power attacks. Personally I feel fists are better than knives. But I don't like running around as my enemies bleed out, I like to pulverize them to bloody pulps with my fists or clubs.

It all depends on what you FEEL like you need. After all it is just a FEELING and not a factual statement. Workstations are a convenience but not really a necessity early game. Eventually you might feel the pressure of not having one, but I tend to raid about 5 tier 3's a day and get loads of loot and find a schematic for one fairly quickly. I did get hosed by the random gods on my chem station though and paid double for glue and GP until level 50 or so. But still I didn't NEED one, it was just a convenience to have one.

 

Ok I’ve done this before where I log out right before day time after a horde night after I’ve finished my horde night early. But then I logged back in and the horde started again but I’m not at my base and I die. Can this be changed? 

You log in at the exact place you logged out at.

 

[Jost Amman]

I play at 120 mins/day because I like to have time to explore, loot and do whatever I like feeling in a real apocalypse.

When you play like me, you can build your own base in time for the first blood moon. It's great.

If you spec on STR, you can dig/mine the necessary materials.

If you spec on INT, you can buy the necessary materials.

There's an option for each style of gameplay: that's why this game is great!

 

[Khalagar]

It's so nice seeing the big skyscrappers, nearly 800 hours before A20 and I'd seen a grand total of like 2 before lol

Now if only my junk turrets weren't unusable in them because they fall through the floor T_T

"Oh, you're surrounded by zombies and getting beaten to death? It'd be a shame if I . . . . ran away and saved myself" ~ Both of my junk turrets, multiple times, 2021

 

[meilodasreh]

You log in at the exact place you logged out at.

I guess he meant that he logged out when standing outside of his base, after looting the bags and checking for damages.

So he's not inside his base and when the horde is somehow reset after login, and then he's f***ed up.

I assume it's because in early game stages the spawn stops before 4AM after so and so many Zeds, but if you relog before 4AM again it's checked "bloodmoon night between 10PM and 4AM, so here we go again"?