This will be the last post I make. Yes I said this before, but I actually had some sort of interest The balance issues
I have not played enough of A17 to give more balancing issues, as I've only reached lvl 25, day 10. Thats why most of this is bound to the early game. (Also nothing with levelgates is mentioned because I hope they will remove that soon)
-block hp/zombie blockdmg
-spawnrate of ferals in pois/quests (should not appear before a certain gamestage, maybe not even before day 7)
-spawnrate of zombies in pois/quests
-too many guns
-nests are everywhere (900 feathers and 90+ eggs on day 9) burnt biome should not have any (or at least very very few) nests, because they all burnt and because you can see them so insanely well
-a "lucky gun find" early is worse then a crossbow. only perks make weapons viable.
-running takes too much stamina. I get why mining should take a lot, but stopping every 150 meters (non desert) to get a breather (even with lvl 1 perk) is just not enjoyable
-loot from zombies should be more frequent, and more specific to the killed zombie (hazmat guy dropped an ak... instead of hazmat clothes, nurse dropped water instead of healing...)
-loot in cars is absolutely insane. Got 20+ 7.65 bulltes on my very first car and more
I'm level 106 in my current playthrough. The focus of looting in the game is definitely changed: Guns are plentiful, but ammo is not. Brass is much easier to obtain, but lead is sparse. Far more difficult to obtain than gunpowder(via mining rocks). Given how many recipes require glue/duct tape, bones are a premium, so looking for roadkill and animals is a must. That said, I'll address your balance issues one by one:
-Block HP/zombie damage: Yes this is an issue, but not an insurmountable one. Spike traps do a substantial amount of damage, and they are relatively cheap to craft, so don't skimp on them. My friend and I live in a box base, completely surrounded by spikes and wandering hordes/chumps die very quickly on them. It will also deal very well with your first three horde nights, depending on game stage. If they die before getting near the blocks, then zombie block damage is not an issue.
-spawnrate of ferals in pois/quests: Honestly I haven't bothered with the quests, but I do POI's regularily. Yes, ferals are a very real threat. This is good, because regular zombies are just...not. That said, I don't think I would enjoy doing POI's in single player.
-too many guns: I actually like this. This is what you would expect in a zombie apocalypse: Many guns but little ammo left. Guns are an excellent source of mechanical parts and ammo. Once I get a decent one, I just scrap/sell any subsequent ones I find. You typically get a full reload of ammo from each one. If you are melee-ing generally (which we do), you end up with a nice cache of ammo in your base come horde night.
-nests are everywhere: Again, this is good, because before being able to find guns, feathers are a must for arrows, and bacon and eggs are a staple diet for a long time.
-a "lucky gun find" early is worse then a crossbow. only perks make weapons viable: At a low gamestage (depending on difficulty) guns should not be necessary. Invest some points in strength and sexual tyrannosaurus and melee is far better until you can invest some points in gun skills, at which point you will have enough ammo saved up to make the gun perks meaningful.
-running takes too much stamina: Rule 1, Cardio, and invest in agility. Find a nice base spot near a town and get used to walking, instead of running. It's not so bad once you get used to it. It's painful at the beginning, but eases off pretty quick.
-loot from zombies should be more frequent: I think that recently got buffed. Even so, sitting around farming zombies is not really how the designers really envisaged you playing the game. Go out and loot stuff. It's more interesting/exciting, and generally the reward is better.
-loot in cars is absolutely insane: Agreed. It's a fantastic source of brass(radiators), lead(batteries), coin(engines), and iron(raw, springs etc). If you need lead (and you will), and you aren't specced for miner69er, it's better than a full day mining. Getting ammo from cars is good too. I actually like this because I detest mining.
My main (and only real) gripe about A17 is the 30 minute death penalty: in the A17 update, they went from rewarding death avoidance (wellness system) to punishing death. From a game design perspective, I don't like punishing players; rewarding is a way better choice. At higher gamestages, the death penalty can(and does for me) lead to chain deaths, meaning you are better off sitting somewhere safe for half an hour, real time. It was so annoying, and detrimental to my gameplay experience, I ended up editing the XML files to reduce the duration to 5 minutes. If you die, having to travel several km to retrieve your gear, potentially unarmed and on foot, is punishment enough.
As a game mechanic, in essense, NearDeathExperience responds to your finding the game difficult, by making the game yet more difficult. One could make the argument of death reducing gamestage(and thus game difficulty), but this only applies if you are the character with the highest gamestage, or are playing in single player. In MP where you are the "second" character, it has no effect on gamestage, and as such, is not consistently reducing difficulty until the debuff is gone. Add to this that the debuff can make you temporarily unable to craft certain items due to the primary stat penalty, and it is seriously deleterious to gameplay experience.
