PC Feedback for The Fun Pimps on Alpha 17

The one thing that makes A17 the best release so far, is it's toughness. It's a shockingly different playstyle and some cant adjust yet.Sure, easy-pezy early game "Oh! look at all the EXP I'm raking in! A few hours later... "OMG OMG! They're killing me!" :)

To me, playing A17 "Dead is Dead", the game is like landing a big fat plane with all the engines on fire and a small runway ahead. Land too fast (too much EXP, not enough good gear) and you die. Too slow and you die as you cant seem to catch up!

There is a sweet spot that depends on how quickly you can get an ammo economy going and find the key mods: Rad-X, Extended ammo and anything I can stuff in my steel armor is what I like. (Sledge for giggles)
I have not found any of the beta particularly hard, even solo, but this one is tedious and boring imo. The thrill of discovery and exploration is gone.

 
But it is not ... As A17 continues into A18. You are going to keep playing A16? When A19 is out, you still play A16? The mod support simply vanishes as mod authors are too busy with new alphas, trying to keep up to date.
Does it mean because the Pimp decisions, that a part of the community need to "shut up" and mod it themselves or keep running the old version. Last i checked, my money was as green as the next guys money.

Red herring:

* Mod it yourself

* Keep playing A16 forever.
Or you could wait until A18 or A19 and see what happens. They are listening to us, they have already rolled back quite a few things for us in the past 2 updates and are still doing so by working on options so we can all have our way.

There are plenty of alphas I didn't like and there are plenty of things in A 17 that I don't like.

They changed mining in A15, I hate it and no longer mine or go underground anymore but I don't go on Steam and drop my rating. Games die, Nether died. By bombing them you are doing damage and unless you want to see the game die for all of us this is not the smartest thing to do.

There are people who think the pimps are trying to screw them, this is ridiculous. The pimps want their game to succeed and they want it to be fun. They can't listen to all of us but they are trying to get as close as possible.

Yes your money is as green as that of the next guy but your money is long gone and spent hundreds of hours ago. All the hard work they have done since you spent those 15 bucks was free for you and will continue to be free as far as I know.

The game is unfinished and lacked end game content, it still lacks end game content. You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. They have to have the freedom to work and try things out.

I understand your frustration, trust me I do. I could make a list of things I hate currently but damaging the company that is developing a game I love is counter productive to my interests.

Like Roland said, the original post is a well written and propper way to give negative feedback and I'm 100% sure it has been read by the devs which is much much more than I can say for most game developers who just delete and ban those who give them negative feedback.

We all gotta wait and see what they come up with. Until then we have options like mods, access to older versions and the ability to give direct feedback to the devs because they do read this stuff.

If the reviews keep dropping so will their income and I wonder how people will respond when they start charging for updates because nobody works for free, I damn sure don't and I'm sure you don't either. Worst case they lose the funds to continue at all and then we are all screwed. I doubt that will happen but you get my point.

 
There are people who think the pimps are trying to screw them, this is ridiculous. The pimps want their game to succeed and they want it to be fun. They can't listen to all of us but they are trying to get as close as possible..
Well they have pretty much said the perk system is here to stay and LBD is gone forever, despite the playerbase's considerable dislike for both these facts. Shrug.

The game is unfinished and lacked end game content, it still lacks end game content. You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. They have to have the freedom to work and try things out.
They had well over a year and not only did they fail to add any end-game content, they REMOVED what little end-game content there was (gun parts), and also shortened the average play-through length to approx 30 to 35 days (the point at which the player is guaranteed to max out) when it used to be roughly 100 days (getting level 600 of everything).

It looks to me that a great deal of the development time for A17 *must* have been the dungeon POIs, since it is the closest there is to new content. The problem here is that no one really wanted that, and it has been supremely over-done, becoming old once you have been in only a half dozen of them. Waste of dev time much?

 
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The OP for this thread was a great example of how to give feedback that is negative in nature. If you can’t tell the difference between constructive negative feedback and the type of insulting and toxic rants that would put this forum on par with YouTube or Facebook or Yahoo...don’t worry, I can.
There are more changes coming in 17.2 and gladly they are the type of changes that are configurable through the options menu so that nobody will have to feel that TFP is giving in to one side or another.

The biggest change is going to be options for xp gain rate to make progression faster or slower. Also, damage to blocks has been separated between player and zombie. Putting this together, the early game can easily be reconfigured to feel less grindy and tedious for those who feel that it is.

XP earning: 150%

Player damage to blocks: 200%

Zombie damage to blocks: 50%

Something like this could help make the early game tolerable as well as make building more viable for those who have felt it is not. The settings could even be changed later in the game if necessary.
And as they said when (if not just before) A17 came out... It was a complete re-write of the game... Too many times do I see where people can't remember things, or just forget them or just don't read and understand the complex implications of things like a complete re-write of the game. Needless to say about someone writing about a very complex issue and having multiple points about them with multiple questions... And only getting a response on one thing - usually the last thing 'on the list.' LOL

 
If the reviews keep dropping so will their income and I wonder how people will respond when they start charging for updates because nobody works for free, I damn sure don't and I'm sure you don't either.
Actually I would love that because if TFP went the way of paid DLC, then they'd be forced to listen to their playerbase and deliver what they want, if they want the DLC to sell. Unlike A17 which pretty much delivered everything we didn't want.

 
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I agree. It doesnt mean Im not having fun with a17, I am. But they could have skipped many of the changes they have done. Removing quality from items, removing recipes, changing the AI (they needed to improve it, as in beeing harder to cheese or get stuck, yes, but not change the behaiviour), changing RWG...

I like the additions, like mods, vehicles, quests, dungeons (if they were 1 out of 4 POIS, not the oposite), new engine, graphics...

And, the game is still the best survival out there. It's just.... why change what was working instead of just addint the new things and fixing/improving broken things?

A17 is good, but it could be better by just not having changed some stuff.

 
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Actually I would love that because if TFP went the way of paid DLC, then they'd be forced to listen to their playerbase and deliver what they want, if they want the DLC to sell. Unlike A17 which pretty much delivered everything we didn't want.
Both you and Benjiro are being extreme. You do not represent the playerbase. You just happen to be loud and persistent. By giving the devs zero credit for the compromises they’ve made and by being unwilling to meet them partway you really damage your own credibility.

TFP was dead set on not adding extra options until gold or at least beta but they listened to the playerbase and reconsidered. But because they haven’t given in to ALL your demands you still can’t say anything good.

Benjiro calls it a ploy and tries to paint the developers as con artists hoping to dupe the players into shutting up without “fixing” anything and you admit that you do hope they fail. This is beyond the point of giving constructive negative feedback and way into the zone of antagonistic burn the world motives.

In both polls I did about A17 the actual polls showed that the majority enjoyed or were ambivalent toward A17. Only a small portion voted that they outright hated it. Yet, if you went through and read all the posts they were by far mostly negative. If you looked closer it was the same several people repeating themselves over and over and over.

People who are happy play the game and don’t spend nearly the time posting about how much they love it. So they are vastly under represented in reviews and forum posts. This forum does not represent the playerbase but what it does clearly show in those two threads is that angry hating people will always dominate the conversation even when the more silent majority are those who feel love, like, meh, or dislike for an update.

The reasonable reader will recognize that TFP is listening to their playerbase and making compromises and options available to please many many more who initially were unhappy. The haters who will never be satisfied unless TFP gives in to their every demand can safely be ignored because they do NOT represent the playerbase.

I want to again thank the OP and all others who have given constructive criticism without insult or accusation. It is because of you that TFP is looking for ways to be as inclusive as possible as they move forward with development. They have been reading these forums, Steam reviews, Facebook, Twitter, and watching streams.

 
People who are happy play the game and don’t spend nearly the time posting about how much they love it. So they are vastly under represented in reviews and forum posts.
I saw that Roland had posted, so I wanted to check out what he said. I have no idea what has been said in this thread, but I just want to affirm Roland's point here. My friend and I are casual gamers (we play 5 hours per week max) and we love A17. Not saying that it is perfect, but we think it is an improvement over A16.

Carry on.

 
The one thing that makes A17 the best release so far, is it's toughness. It's a shockingly different playstyle and some cant adjust yet.Sure, easy-pezy early game "Oh! look at all the EXP I'm raking in! A few hours later... "OMG OMG! They're killing me!" :)

To me, playing A17 "Dead is Dead", the game is like landing a big fat plane with all the engines on fire and a small runway ahead. Land too fast (too much EXP, not enough good gear) and you die. Too slow and you die as you cant seem to catch up!

[...]
The one thing that makes A17 the worst release so far, is how horribly easy the game has become. It is shockingly trivial compared to A16. Some people just can't adjust yet. AI exploitation aside, In A16 you had to build a solid base to be safe. In A17 you don't. A huge portion of the game became irrelevant overnight.

 
There are players who seem to like to hate. The disdainful, insulting and totally subjective critics really have a negative effect on the forum and surely counter-productive on the devs.

Well, now I'm waiting for blind people to write negative reviews because the game is not in braille (no offense to the blind who will read this).

 
Another "My Group's Feedback on a17" Thread

Roland has said that they're adding options for XP gain, player block dmg, and zombie block dmg. This is GREAT, but I already modded in these changes weeks ago and can provide feeback on the game with them.

In general my group and I went from playing a16 every day for a couple hours, to not wanting to play at all even with the changes. I'm the only one really still playing, and even then I have to admit I'm just not feeling it the same as I was with a16.

The main reasons I'm hearing\experiencing:

RWG map generation.

Nav is great for a first playthrough, but RWG is what we keep coming back for. Issues / solutions listed here.

Zombie AI.

It's great, don't get me wrong, but even with zombie block damage lowered, once they start swarming a single spot as they do with laser focus, even lower settings don't make much difference. The problem is that higher number of zombies tear through single points quickly but low number of zombies take forever. It makes single zombies trivial. My fix for this would be instead of changing zombie block damage, limit the number of zombies that can hit the same block. (Maybe have the rest wait their turn behind like in most zombie movies?)

Also, I do think that they're *too* smart. Ideally most of the zombies would be a bit dumber with a % of *smart* zombies that draw the dumb ones to them. Or maybe zombies only do smart pathing with a *smart* zombie present, something like that.

Stamina \ Hit Rate.

  • Everything "feels" slower, and there's seemingly a lot more time spent waiting to catch your breath.
  • I've looked at the values and they don't seem much different than a16, but my group all "feel" like it's just really slow and painful compared to a16.


General Grindyness.

  • Game seems much more "grindy" in general and feels like a slog.
  • Level gates seem to add to this, as does the stamina \ hit rates as specified above.
  • Leveling up certain skills from usage felt more satisfying than spending perk points.


Looting.

  • Looting is not as fun for us in a17 (Although weapon\item mods are a great start!)
  • Schematics were great fun discoveries and a much preferred way to make new stuff than spending perk points.
  • Current schematics are a great idea, but we generally don't have the items (or perks) to build them so they aren't as "fun" to find. With the old schematics you "learned" to build it so there was an immediate gratification even if you didn't have any of the parts. With a17 you just stick it in your backpack and then go put it in a crate somehwhere and forget about it.
  • Item quality is almost irrelevant now. Yes mod slots are great if you have mods, but we really miss higher quality items being *much* better. We're just generally not excited to find good quality items anymore.
  • Personally I think it would be greatly improved if all schematics were found instead of unlocked via perks. Balance could be achieved by gating loot / trader spawns for certain schematics (crucibles, vehicle parts, etc) so you have both the randomness of looting and balance of gating.


POI Dungeons.

  • a17 POI Dungeons are both fantastic and not. I feel like fewer prefabs should be "dungeons" or at least more should be just regular buildings with "dungeon" parts instead of the whole thing being designed as one.
  • I think part of the problem here is that they "feel" like dungeons instead of cool buildings to explore.
  • We find ourselves skipping many buildings because we don't feel like doing a dungeon.
  • In a16 we always wanted to explore buildings because they usually had cool or funny designs \ features.
  • In a16, it felt like you were exploring a cool building and then *boom* you get hit with a trap or something unexpected.
  • In a17, you pretty much expect it by the 3rd one and it feels less organic than some of the a16 ones.


More Serious.

This is POI related, but I heard so much feedback about this I wanted to break it out. It generally feels like a17 has shifted to more "serious". Not a ton, but enough to garner a bit of worry. We loved finding funny stuff inside POI's but it feels like there's less of that. Please Fun Pimps, don't forget your company name, we like that silly zany stuff!

Open Cabinets.

This might sound like a nitpick but it actually impacted our enjoyment. I wish you could just right click -> upgrade all "open" blocks to their closed versions. Having a ton of open cabinets makes POI's less "move in ready" and makes them kinda ugly if you set up shop there. I love the idea of it as it saves looting empty stuff, but in practice it makes it so you have to gut these perfectly good shelves and make a saw table and a bunch of other stuff just to try to get them "closed" again.

Lack of Clear Information.

  • First and foremost, it would be great if the Localization.txt was changed to an xpath xml. That way I \ other modders can fix these issues ourselves easily without having to worry about update \ other mod compatibility. Descriptions ideally would be able to include actual values in the text so they change automatically if the item's parameter value is changed. (Perks, items, etc. Would make modding and game development \ maintenance a lot easier.)
    .
  • Inconsistency of information. Some items tell you what they need for repair, some don't. These types of things would be better if automatically done via the actual values.
  • Most descriptions are not clear enough or have details so you understand if they're good or not.
  • Mod schematics are a big one, it's hard to tell what exactly many do or by how much.
  • Item stat comparison is a bit odd. Ideally you would automatically compare the item you're wearing to the one highlighted, but it seems to be acting up in weird ways so it might be a bug.
  • All in all it makes for a lot of reading \ research by the players. I know a lot of this is likely already on the todo list, but it just gets amplified because of how reliant the players are now on perks and the new item mod system.



Stuff We Like.

Mostly everything else.

Zombie AI is generally a great improvement, as is their jumping ability.

Weapon\Item mods are fantastic, I'd love to see at least 10 times as many along with 3x as many weapons.

New vehicles are awesome! (Just not crazy about them being perk related. I'd like to see just the bicyle as a perk and all the others as schematics \ parts you find in the world to learn how to assemble.)

New building blocks are amazing and new POIs look beautiful.

I actually love that you now pre-generate the RWG maps, makes things so much smoother when running.

Overall, I love what you guys are doing, but all together these problems have made my group generally not excited about playing anymore. I'm going to try modding a few other things in desperation, but I think I'm going to be going back to a16 to so I can salvage the group and keep them from moving on to other games.

 
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Both you and Benjiro are being extreme. You do not represent the playerbase. You just happen to be loud and persistent. By giving the devs zero credit for the compromises they’ve made and by being unwilling to meet them partway you really damage your own credibility.
Takes a bow to your answer Roland... You know that little point that a lot of other people pointed out. Discredit the players who do not agree ...

My credibility is open to see... I posted several system over the years for fixing issues. Going back to Craft Spamming, Underground solution(s), Perk fixes, Content scaling issues etc. But hey, you know, i am a extremist it seems, he Roland.

Issues that bugged the developers, did not bug the community in the same extend. Issues that had minor solutions got ignored for complex solutions. But i am also a developer Roland, so i know the mess projects can become. And its easy to see they had the "itch" as we like to call it. The itch to rewrite a lot of code they simply did not like anymore. Because their own vision of the game changed over time and part of that was: How do we make the game uniform. This is much easier to develop ( i know ). But in doing so, you also cut out part of what made the game more unique. And this is what the Pimps do not seem to understand.

In this same topic, i posted the experience of my brother in law with this exact same game ( and no, he has not written any negative review ). The points where he was struggling with. Does this also count as being extreme? No ... you ignore that because it fits your narrative of negative trolls posters who are out of burn the game down.

TFP was dead set on not adding extra options until gold or at least beta but they listened to the playerbase and reconsidered. But because they haven’t given in to ALL your demands you still can’t say anything good.
Being honest ... If they left the game at A16.4 and released it with some patches. And later doing DLCs, might have been better for them. And this let modders solve issues. Nobody asked for this massive change in the XP system, especially mod authors who are now struggling with the new system.

I remember mod authors begging for fixes like the menu lag and yet, every Alpha this got ignored. Sure, you can ignore players but when you also ignore mod authors complaints, then what?

And check my history, i do mention good things about A17. Unfortunately, they get overshadowed by the more radical changes.

Benjiro calls it a ploy and tries to paint the developers as con artists hoping to dupe the players into shutting up without “fixing” anything and you admit that you do hope they fail.
Please point out where i admit that i hope they fail. Because if you read this in my text, you are dead wrong. I do NOT want the developers to fail, because that means 7D2D is simply dead. That is not to any advantage for me or other people who complain.

Maybe at times i get too negative, because every change we see simply keep putting paint on the issue and not actually solving it.

The changes they are making are not fixing the core issues of the game Roland, its like putting paint over a rusted car. Sure, it looks great until you drive it for longer then 5 minutes. Those changes are easy to see that it can not solve the balancing and content issues.

But one thing i learned a long time ago, is at time you NEED to kick the developers in the behinds. Because they really have the habit of not being happy with X, and then reworking it to a totally new system that only half works. When people pointed out solutions for X. As even the Mod authors solved it this way.

This is beyond the point of giving constructive negative feedback and way into the zone of antagonistic burn the world motives.
Said the Moderator who had no issue attacking several big mod authors for disagreeing with the game direction.

In both polls I did about A17 the actual polls showed that the majority enjoyed or were ambivalent toward A17. Only a small portion voted that they outright hated it. Yet, if you went through and read all the posts they were by far mostly negative. If you looked closer it was the same several people repeating themselves over and over and over.
Roland, ... i read those same polls. You had a almost 50/50 score. If you only want to count the people who hate it, sure, you get a minority and you can claim its 80% that like A17. But it was not. If you only counted the people who loved A17, i can claim that 80% hated it. Twisting things to meet your end does not change the fact that A17 is definitely not as beloved as you claim it is. Nor is it as bad or horrible as i claim it is. A17 has good things going for it but its those 2 or 3 major changes, that changed the game in such a way, that it lost its soul, that is what angers a lot of people.

And regarding the posts on this forum. You state its the same people repeating / being negative but do tell, how can those same negative people keep voting 7D2D down on Steam? They can not ... Just as you only want to see the positive and claim only a few negative people keep reporting, you are ignoring that a lot of people who are negative, never express this on this forum.

People who are happy play the game and don’t spend nearly the time posting about how much they love it. So they are vastly under represented in reviews and forum posts. This forum does not represent the playerbase but what it does clearly show in those two threads is that angry hating people will always dominate the conversation even when the more silent majority are those who feel love, like, meh, or dislike for an update.
See above.

The reasonable reader will recognize that TFP is listening to their playerbase and making compromises and options available to please many many more who initially were unhappy. The haters who will never be satisfied unless TFP gives in to their every demand can safely be ignored because they do NOT represent the playerbase.
The pimps can not give into people their demands simply because they made a mistake. Nobody asked for this XP/Perk system, this was a decisions they made themselves. Now they are trying to fix issues by putting paint over it and you call this "TFP is listening to their playerbase". I call this being stubborn and unwilling to admit they messed up.

I want to again thank the OP and all others who have given constructive criticism without insult or accusation. It is because of you that TFP is looking for ways to be as inclusive as possible as they move forward with development. They have been reading these forums, Steam reviews, Facebook, Twitter, and watching streams.
Good for them. And we can only hope that in the future when they want to make radical game changes, they first poll the community before pushing out massive changes like this.

I hope that 7D2D recovers from this and goes back to its core. But if you really think i am too negative, i will refrain from posting here anymore. This will probably make you very happy, one less critical voice. But if you think this solves anything, it does not. As we see with the negative reviews and posts made by other people, this what you call negative minority seems to be bigger then you claim it is.

So please, prove me wrong how the Pimp will salved this mess. Have fun and a bye ...

 
Both you and Benjiro are being extreme. You do not represent the playerbase. You just happen to be loud and persistent. By giving the devs zero credit for the compromises they’ve made and by being unwilling to meet them partway you really damage your own credibility.
TFP was dead set on not adding extra options until gold or at least beta but they listened to the playerbase and reconsidered. But because they haven’t given in to ALL your demands you still can’t say anything good.

Benjiro calls it a ploy and tries to paint the developers as con artists hoping to dupe the players into shutting up without “fixing” anything and you admit that you do hope they fail. This is beyond the point of giving constructive negative feedback and way into the zone of antagonistic burn the world motives.

In both polls I did about A17 the actual polls showed that the majority enjoyed or were ambivalent toward A17. Only a small portion voted that they outright hated it. Yet, if you went through and read all the posts they were by far mostly negative. If you looked closer it was the same several people repeating themselves over and over and over.

People who are happy play the game and don’t spend nearly the time posting about how much they love it. So they are vastly under represented in reviews and forum posts. This forum does not represent the playerbase but what it does clearly show in those two threads is that angry hating people will always dominate the conversation even when the more silent majority are those who feel love, like, meh, or dislike for an update.

The reasonable reader will recognize that TFP is listening to their playerbase and making compromises and options available to please many many more who initially were unhappy. The haters who will never be satisfied unless TFP gives in to their every demand can safely be ignored because they do NOT represent the playerbase.

I want to again thank the OP and all others who have given constructive criticism without insult or accusation. It is because of you that TFP is looking for ways to be as inclusive as possible as they move forward with development. They have been reading these forums, Steam reviews, Facebook, Twitter, and watching streams.
Roland its always interesting, you would also tell the People the Sky is Pink and if someone tells you its not your reaction would be telling this person he is blind or stupid or need to learn the different colors.

Sure they listen to Playerbase but only in this Parts it would not "ruin" the new Vision they have. Cause before 16 there was no Sign the Vision is a FPS Zombie Shooter with easymode Crafting and Survival.

If they woudl Listen to Playerbase and i mean Playerbase and not only the "Fantastic i love it" Faction they would add back Features many People miss.

you really cant tell me it would be impossible or such a big Work to bring back Weapon Parts. Also having a Assembly and a Attach Mod Window would be Possible.

So Roland can you give me 1 only 1 Really good Reason why it would be impossible to add back this Parts with the Quality System, and no the its not the Vision Part does not work, cause we talk about listening Playerbase.

And at same time make it toggle, if enabled you have Gun Parts and Assembly Window if disabled you have no Parts and no Assembly Window.

Also at same time, why always the People should mod it who dont like this Permanent Feature Remove from the Pimps and not the People who dont like as example Weapon Parts?

And if People who want this Stuff back should mod it, then give this People the needed Features to bring such stuff back, it will not work if Pimps remove all the needed Code from the Sourcecode.

Yes Alpha 17 also has some nice things true, but also many many bad things and some of this Bad things are Removal of Features and Items from the Game and at same time making it again more and more Easy Mode if it comes to Survival, Crafting or Building.

 
alot of good points. theyve taken the game in an entirely different direction and theres a certain charm that appealed to alot of players that seems to be lost now. it kinda feels like its trying to hard to copy other games. imo 7 days to die was the game that shouldve been copied from.

 
The one thing that makes A17 the worst release so far, is how horribly easy the game has become. It is shockingly trivial compared to A16. Some people just can't adjust yet. AI exploitation aside, In A16 you had to build a solid base to be safe. In A17 you don't. A huge portion of the game became irrelevant overnight.
Lol.. A17 easy compared with A16? In what universe?

 
Roland, ... i read those same polls. You had a almost 50/50 score.
Clearly you didn't. The first was 75% at ambivalent or above; the second was 65%. Roland was pretty clear with where he drew the line. You can argue that he should have drawn the line differently, but your numbers do not accurately represent what Roland stated.

You accused Roland of twisting things to meet his own ends, so I thought I would share the facts to help you avoid doing the same. ;)

 
Lol.. A17 easy compared with A16? In what universe?
Having played a good bit of both A16 and A17, I have to say he's not wrong. A17 feels harder than A16 initially, but it turns out it's not harder, it's simply more time-consuming and tedious if you play it sub-optimally. Once you get the techniques down and figure out an optimal perk order it becomes pretty trivial, especially thanks to the addition of themed crates, quick leveling via campfire screamer parties, and the trader turning into Wasteland Wal-Mart. Of course, this encourages a lot of sameness in the early game because there is now definitely a best way to play it.

 
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I don't think anyone here wants the game to crash and burn.

Actually, I would go so far as to say the people who are extremely vocal are the ones who have the most desire for the game to succeed and the reason they're angry because they're seeing the game go in a direction they don't think it should go. BTW I am not sure I read all of the posts that is referred to here, so I'm making a few assumptions on that.

A17 has lots of great features IMO. I just hope we can later integrate some of what made A16 great into 17. In the spirit of "Compromise" between the devs and the vocal playerbase, I think this totally fits the bill of compromise, because its not sticking with 16, nor is it sticking with 17, it is indeed "meeting in the middle" as previously suggested IMO. The dev's deciding to add more options and sliders is a welcome addition, but I really don't (personally) consider that as part of the compromise, because that's not a compromise on the games' actual hard-coded settings that sliders do not adjust.

Additionally, many of the "Demands" are not extreme in the slightest nor do I even consider them a compromise anyway. For example - there is really no reason why we can't have our cake and eat it too in a few cases. Specific case: Gun parts. I've read posts here that suggest that gun parts were done away with because dev's thought just finding parts were not rewarding or helpful for survival. That's a fair point. And most people don't have just parts lying around anyway, so that makes logical sense, that's fine (except gun enthusiasts perhaps). The solution then? Make it so parts don't drop BUT you can strip down guns you do find. This is a great example of how you can make ALL people happy, and its really not even a compromise, I see zero reason why ANYONE would hate this kind of system. See where I'm going with this? Be creative. Come up with a solution that makes everyone happy. Is it easy to do? Not always, but it's sure as heck worth it to give an effort to do so. Best part? You can make messing with the parts 100% optional. Full firearms will drop like always, and you never even need to dissemble a single firearm, if you don't want to. (There would be benefit to do so though, like you could do like before and build up to a better firearm by scavenging parts from old ones. Right now there's just no excitement to find new firearms if they're low quality, and they are quickly scrapped or sold. This would solve that problem too. Win-Win. People who are too lazy or dislike this system can always just wait until they roll the lotto and find a 6 quality firearm or just craft one from scratch. This would reward the players who put the effort in stockpiling bunches of older firearms, while not necessarily hindering those who don't.

With some thought, I could probably even come up with an idea that lets you integrate both A16 and A17 perk systems without much compromise either. I do admit that one is a tougher nut to crack, but I don't believe in impossible tasks.

Rather than argue back and forth about whether A17 is objectively better (hint - its not, everything is subjective) let's talk solutions. I'm an engineer professional. Fixing problems and coming up with solutions is what I do for a living. Arguing for the sake of arguing has never been my style, the end-goal of my posts is to come up with solutions. Correct me if wrong but I don't see a ton of discourse over SOLUTIONS. Rather we just see a lot of disgruntled posts with no clear goal in mind.

I will grant you that not 100% of the complaints can be rectified without a 100% effective solution, so lets work on fixing the ones that can be, at the very least, that's a good start. So let's start with the easy ones like the gun part example I made.

 
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Very good points, but I have to vehemently disagree about zombie AI being a plus.

Zombies need to be stupid and attack only via line of sight. When zombies magically know how to traverse a maze, they aren't zombies anymore.

The other day I was about to do a quest and came upon a building with some scaffolding outside. There was a dog roaming the road which I thought I'd better take care of before I start the quest, so I climbed up on the scaffolding and took a shot at the dog. I was expecting the dog to run to the bottom of the scaffolding and start trying to break it down, and of course my plans were to finish it off from above before it got that far. Instead, the dog ran to the house and started breaking the door down. Once inside, it made its way upstairs , through the roof, across a plank and onto my scaffolding.

That's a problem. This is both a zombie and a dog - neither of which should be able to figure out that route.

Edit to Add

@Roland, I notice your smart zombie, dumb zombie poll is closed, or I would have asked there. I read in that thread that the new intelligent AI is needed in preparation for the bandits, which of course, is fine, but...will the zombie AI be adjusted down to line of sight pathing, or will the bandits and zombies have the same level of AI?

 
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