Which is it? You are saying that he both wants to keep them and do away with them?
"Not only". There can be multiple ways to give them to the player.
As I said before, rng is perfectly adjustable. This means for example that with layered rng, you can make absolutely certain that the player will get something eventually and approximately at the point you want him to and you can always have failsafes in place.
They way anything works can be changed, nothing is set in stone...
What mandatory minimum? Level? No. Preparation/increased difficulty, yes.
Very rough to implement? Elaborate please. One must be able to support what one states. Not fixed trader quest/rewards, that would be roughly the same with just having perks (a bit better though, since the int tree is by far more essential than other trees atm because of them).
You said and say again that you will feel forced/"compelled" to ignore almost everything in order to get these necessary schematics. How come you don't also feel compelled at the moment in A17 to get them? What's the difference and A17 makes you feel freer than ever?
While one could argue with something along the lines of "it is my playstyle, mind your own playstyle" in this unfortunate day and age, I agree that these methods are silly and that they should have been fixed/prevented by diminishing returns etc.
Keep in mind though, one reason the player could nonchalantly do that, was because of A16's exemplar gameplay synergy of: medicine was pretty much useless ---> because death was inconsequential/beneficial ---> player could afford to mutilate himself on cactuses all day and spam medicine, why the hell not.
For your first 2 points, Guppy said remove perks, move them to books, and keep the other ways to achieve those skills. The only way to obtain the skills I mentioned ( making workbench, chem station, forging steel, etc) is through perks. There are no other ways available to get those skills. So for those, that would leave the only way to get them per Guppy as books since he specifically stated to remove perks. His statement to use all the other available ways is ingenuous since there ARE no other ways to get them except perks so once you move the perks to books, books become the only way he states he wants them obtainable.
Regarding your 3rd, 4th and 5th points, I asked HOW you are proposing to ensure those things are obtainable, since the statements about layered rng and gating behind radioactive zones and such in specific poi's was your idea. What if your world doesn't have those poi's in those zones? If you are proposing items be gated to specific zones in specific poi's, there would HAVE to be a way to guarantee those poi's in those zones actually spawn in every world. Or else you could be unable to ever make steel even after clearing every poi on the map because the specific poi in the specific zone did not spawn in your world.
For large worlds and multiplayer, even if you require all worlds generate with at least one of your specific poi's in a specific zone, It may spawn just one and in the extreme NE of the map. That's an awful lot of mandatory exploration to learn to forge steel, and in multiplayer if some jerk got there first, looted, and then destroyed the poi a lot of people are gonna be upset. Even if they don't destroy the poi, if the book is already looted when you find it there are more problems. You would have to camp out nearby but not so close that loot doesn't respawn (if it is even set to respawn) and try to keep anyone else away who come looking for it.
Perhaps TFP could analyze all the possible obstacles with your idea and find solutions to them that work, assuming their vision of their game is compatible with your idea. But to me, your idea as stated is very vague and relies a lot on a "I'm sure it will all work out fine" attitude without any real thought to the problems your ideas would also create. I have a hard time evaluating what my opinion is without a more fleshed-out idea. There seems to me to be a whole lot of problems that would need solving.
Regarding point 6, the difference in a17 is that I know I will get them. I also know that the time I get them will be appropriate for my game stage. You are not guaranteed to get a rng book, much less getting it by the time you REALLY need it.
I don't mind waiting til level 10 for a forge. I can easily get along without one til then with scavenged iron tools repaired with scavenged iron, or if necessary just using a stone axe. I can get along without one til level 15-20 easily (and when I usually build it in a17) because that's about the point I really want to start upgrading my wood spikes to iron because the wood breaks so easily it is starting to become useless. I can wait for everything that is level-gated because it is about the level that they gated it at or just above that level that it starts to feel mandatory to me.
I am fine with waiting to get something until it is really necessary. I am not fine with possibly never getting something necessary to me. You say you would make absolutely certain everyone could eventually get those things. You also say not through fixed trader quests. I am asking how you will make absolutely certain. Because if you have a specific workable idea for that then I could possibly get behind it.
Regarding your last point, you do realize diminishing returns would have just made those skills even more useless. As far as I know, it was not possible to naturally level armor. As someone who did not afk on cactus and who also got hit by zombies more often than I should have, by level 100 or so my armor never got above 10 in any playthrough in a 1-100 system.
The people who leveled armor by afking on cactus didn't do it that way because meds were useless, because death was inconsequential, or anything like that. They did it because that was the ONLY way to do it. I doubt anyone did it nonchalantly. They did it because they couldn't stand being level 100 and having lvl 7 in armor... something that you wear most if not all the time in game after that starter quest to put on your plant fiber armor. I'm not saying they shouldn't have been ABLE to do it that way. I am saying they shouldn't have to do it that way or else be unable to level it beyond 10 or so.
They should have been removed or reworked. TFP chose to remove them. I'm ok with that. If LBD remained, I would also be fine with armor leveling by landing melee hits or keep it at taking damage but vastly increase how fast it levels so that with anything close to "normal" play it would be at least 30-40 by level 100.
