I am not going to reopen the original conversation (and regret even bringing it up again). But I do find this tidbit interesting:
they reverted the highly unpopular A17.2 experimental version of RWG
I was not aware they did this. I am only now noticing the single patch note about it in A17.2E B27 (from A17.2E B20): "Ruleset for 17.1 RWG is used again."
I'm sure this will make a lot of folks happy, especially those who want to use Magoli's Compo Pack.
On the other hand, I personally don't care either way that they did this. I was not specifically unhappy with A17.2E B20 RWG, but with RWG throughout all of A17 (including A17.1 and A17.0 stable).
Not that anyone should care, but this is what I had to say about A17 RWG:
https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?109608-RWG-Just-When-you-think-it-can-t-get-any-worse&p=946357#post946357
All of those issues have been present throughout all A17 versions, at least in my limited experience (and in my casual reading of the bug reports).
But as I said there, and will say again: TFP have made RWG a high priority, and we shouldn't count RWG out yet. At that time Madmole hadn't yet posted WIP pics of RWG. Now that he has, I have even more confidence
it will, when finished, be great.
Also:
Is there anyone here that ENJOYS randomgen more than previous versions? The terrain is more natural, there are mountains, burned out sections of towns (though I still question how things can be on fire 150 years later), and the graphics are simply amazing.
In terms of
current A17 RWG, I obviously disagree. But as for the graphics - 100% agree with you, A17 is miles beyond A16.
Hint: if you turn down your resolution you don't even have to mess with anything else like draw distance. I'm playing on a mid-level card from a few years ago, and can play with all settings maxed out.
I also think it's great that TFP recently added an option to turn off texture streaming. It didn't make any difference in my case, but I've seen a few posts from others where it did.
On the subject of significant positive changes:
The recently added blood moon frequency settings are a game changer. I'm trying a new playthrough style right now, and in addition to other changes, I have blood moon settings that are both incredibly infrequent and incredibly random. I think it's set to a base two weeks with a random offset of seven days (maybe both are even higher, can't remember now).
I
love what this does to the game. Blood moons are no longer something you can reliably plan for. You don't know when they're coming, so they're like a sword of Damocles hanging over your head. Plus, since they're so far apart, the blood moons themselves are perceived as being far more destructive when they finally do arrive. You can't judge one blood moon by the previous, since your game stage has increased so much in that time.
One frustration I've had with 7D2D (and most non-plotted games generally) is that it's difficult to find a way to keep players invested at higher levels. The game is pushing you towards surviving better, and by the time you've "won" the game, it gets boring.
I'm trying to see if infrequent blood moons counteract this, and so far I think they will help tremendously. Say you set blood moons to the absolute rarest they can be. When they're not happening the player is lulled into a sense of false security, and when the blood moon finally hits, now your entire work is gone and your base destroyed, and you have to almost start over.
As a comparison, it's like blood moons create the early seasons of TWD. First you set up camp in the woods - and at the end of the "season" that camp is destroyed. Next, you set up in Hershel's farm - and at the end of that "season" it's destroyed. Next you set up in a prison... and you can see where this is going.
Hopefully TFP will get NPCs into the game before the first beta (though it sounds unlikely). If this happens you'll have the ability to not just play a zombie survival crafting game, but create player narratives and world-building that will rival TWD. Or, given TWD's latest seasons, probably surpass it.
