Feedback on 2.5

[meganoth]

That seems like a lot of hits. I don't use clubs, but they shouldn't be that bad. Are you doing headshots and power attacks? Or just regular attacks anywhere on the body? Even with the Q1 wooden spear, I'm knocking them down with a single headshot power attack. One more is usually enough to kill most of the ones you find in the first day. The ones with more health might take an extra hit or two. That's with 1-2 points in spears for day 1. But maybe clubs really are just that low damage.

I use the club and play at 1 higher than default difficulty (that means 50% more damage from zombies, 50% less damage done by me and more rage). If I play AGI I'll switch to bone knife pretty fast but usually have only 1 point in it in the first days. And knife needs lots of running for and back, so even though the attack is low stamina, the whole combat is comparable to club.

As far as settings, I use 2 hour days as I've mentioned, but that doesn't change my ability to find food or water. It just means that if I say a day, it's equal to 2 days for you. And the initial water lasts me one day without a problem on 2 hour days, so should really last you 2 days on 1 hour days unless you're constantly running or mining or something else that uses a lot of extra water. I am currently on default difficulty for experimental. I'm assuming you are as well, so no difference there.

As I said, difficulty one higher. And 2 hour days are definitely easier. This is why people often choose longer days because they seem more comfortable. The comfort comes from being able to accomplish more tasks you can't easily divide, i.e. quests.
When I finish a quest at anything past 7pm I may decide that I can't start another quest or poi clearance right now because after giving back and going to the new location I would have to clear the POI partly at night which is a nogo for me with the equipment of the first days. I could waste a lot of additional time that way.
As I said, on the first day I usually have time for just 2 pois, one of which I clear for being my crafting base/secure base for the night, after that I normally don't have enough food and water to get back to the same state I started with, so day 2 is usually done with less stamina and feeling hungry and thirsty, making progress even slower.

I have played 70 and 90 minute days as well sometimes so I know firsthand what a difference that alone makes. Even the difference between 60 and 70 minutes per day is noticeable.

Scarcity isn't running out of water. Sure, I'm not stacking up a lot of unused water immediately. But I have enough without drinking from a water source or using empty jars. I do clear tier 1 POI very quickly. They aren't exactly difficult. So maybe I just find a lot more. I also loot everything with E followed by R, so I don't spend time dragging stuff to my inventory or anything like that, which can certainly slow you down significantly.

Yes, I loot everything with E R, and usually set up a storage box in front of the POI so I am not encumbered while fighting in the POI. The usual.