PC If you want looting to stay important...

aptalley

New member
Equipment degradation...it could not be more clear that things need to (in some way) degrade over time, most likely by repairing. Possibly adding some sort of mechanic where repairing at a workbenches has a lower chance, but in the field a fairly high chance to degrade.

Also, not sure why we haven't explored rng with the quality of crafted gear, where the chance of higher quality increases by perk or skill level.

The parts system is actually ok. We had this part system back in A14-16 and I actually found it to be the best version of specifically gun crafting. I had to loot constantly to keep parts around to make new guns as old ones got worn out.

Bottom line is, if gear doesn't degrade, looting WILL hit a hard stop at some point in the game. You can turn loot down and delay it, but it WILL happen. Do we really want to scrap endless Q1 and 2 pieces of trash loot to finally find a Q6 piece? Or get the excitement of finding Q6 reasonably regularly, but realize that we need to hold on to that, because we will need that when our current gear wears out, and guess what...we gonna keep looting after that for more.

 
Well, q6 cant be crafted, they are nerfing loot, removing q6 from traders, I think that is gonna be enough. Degradation doesnt sound appealing to me personally. Besides I dont think goal is to keep the player looting for 1000 hours on the same map, but to give us something to look forward to even mid-late game.

I would rather see work on more important systems they already have in place, than see them bring back something that is just going to be annoying when your amazing item you spent forever finding degrades into meh.

 
degrading loot on repair sounds nice.

Although it shouldnt be a whole level.

A 5% chance that a weapon degrades a stat (calculated for each stat seperately) loses 10% of its value.

That is, I think a good idea which would finally make the durability much MUCH more appreciated!

Love this idea +1 from me.

 
I would not use degrading on repair, but a % chance to completely break the item (unreparable, until you have a high enough repair skill in that item category)

This will make players be careful to use and repair high level items, and use lower grade ones, until their skill increases.

 
Can we please not return to the Bad Old Days of things deteriorating on repair? The changes to loot in general, and the removal of Q6 items from crafting and Traders is more than sufficient motivation for looting, in additions to finding books, schematics, and food.

 
Is... that a common opinion? That degradation on repair was bad? o_O I LOVED that. To be fair you could combine items so that would leave a whole now that you cant... but I absolutely loved that mechanic. It felt real. It is only so many times before you can glue together your headphones.

Every time you do the total quality degrades slightly.

It makes sense and is an advantage game mechanic wise as it gives a reason to loot.

Especially Katitof:

you said it. There is no more spamcrafting so this isn't an issue anymore.

You want to lose your stuff every now and again. Like... not as a player, but as a gamedesigner, giving you an endless endgame is good. And this would be one step in that direction.

 
Is... that a common opinion? That degradation on repair was bad? o_O I LOVED that. To be fair you could combine items so that would leave a whole now that you cant... but I absolutely loved that mechanic. It felt real. It is only so many times before you can glue together your headphones. Every time you do the total quality degrades slightly.

It makes sense and is an advantage game mechanic wise as it gives a reason to loot.

Especially Katitof:

you said it. There is no more spamcrafting so this isn't an issue anymore.

You want to lose your stuff every now and again. Like... not as a player, but as a gamedesigner, giving you an endless endgame is good. And this would be one step in that direction.
That only sounds appealing in the current state, where we are swimming in purples and good stuff is NOT rare. And its not like in the past where we could combine items to recover our degradation.

I would rather wait and see how things end up with the incoming balance changes than get on board with something I see as too much effort to implement and too many possible drawbacks for the player.

They could use that effort for something so much cooler than degradation imo, only so much they can squeeze in.

 
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Yeah I'm okay with not bringing the terrible degradation back. I mean I get the whole 'but it's realistic!' portion but it's a game with acid spitting zombies. Realism got tossed out the window years ago.

I'm okay with a lot of things, but making things tedious for the sake of being tedious I simply do not enjoy. At least not in any way it existed prior. If there could be some cool and unique mechanic with it, sure, but not without some way to get the item back in shape if I so choose to.

 
The degrade system could be a option, but i think first they need to get all the loot balanced out. and see how easy it even is to get high level stuff. right now it seems like a good idea because getting purples is easy. and loot seems turned up high. my packs fill so fast these days.

 
If your gear degrades over time doesn't that take away the joy of finding an item with high randomized stats? Would make it kind of less of a value to me if it's just going to degrade anyways.

 
I've never seen loot to where we weren't swimming in purples by day 30+. Degradation not only makes sense, but it allows for other playstyles to get in there as well. I remember essentially being like a mechanic/quartermaster for my team. Repairing and handling new guns, assembling parts and repairing guns. That was a fun time.

All this "need to be straight in the action killing zombies" all the time thing is not what this game built its following on. It may be the vision they have for it now, but this game was so, so, so much more in previous alphas. Shiny graphics and updated models and animations do not make up for shallow gameplay.

Also, hate it if you want, but LBD was the best thing this game has lost too.

 
I think the best and simplest idea that I read was that with each repair the max durability drops a bit until eventually the item can’t be repaired for any durability or in other words it is broken beyond the ability to make field repairs. But it doesn’t change quality or stats.

The level five perk for each weapon type could then include the ability to fix that particular item back to 100% at a workbench.

So most items will eventually wear out and need to be replaced but your specialty item can be restored.

Madmole claims that the random stats will keep players looking for replacements without the need for entropy but I think the game gets interesting when my best tool is gone and I have to downgrade for a time until I can find or craft another epic one.

But you all realize we are sharing mod ideas right? Item degradation is never going back in the base game. It’s our cup of tea but Madmole’s gallon of piss— as well as several others’ who chimed in on this thread. It’s definitely like food spoilage: not universally loved by a long shot...lol

 
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I think the best and simplest idea that I read was that with each repair the max durability drops a bit until eventually the item can’t be repaired for any durability or in other words it is broken beyond the ability to make field repairs. But it doesn’t change quality or stats.
The level five perk for each weapon type could then include the ability to fix that particular item back to 100% at a workbench.

So most items will eventually wear out and need to be replaced but your specialty item can be restored.

Madmole claims that the random stats will keep players looking for replacements without the need for entropy but I think the game gets interesting when my best tool is gone and I have to downgrade for a time until I can find or craft another epic one.

But you all realize we are sharing mod ideas right? Item degradation is never going back in the base game. It’s our cup of tea but Madmole’s gallon of piss— as well as several others’ who chimed in on this thread. It’s definitely like food spoilage: not universally loved by a long shot...lol
that's sad that item degradation is considered bad (I mean its 100% realistic, just sped up because we would use tools daily and days are only 60-120 minutes long)

I mean, I snapped a drill bit a week ago and yeah it sucked, but I got another one to replace it (easy IRL would be harder in 7dtd but would be worth it/needed if it was vital) i've had wrenches warp, hammers lose heads, and a shovel head completely snap while digging in winter (frozen pipe replacement, not fun)

Tools wear out, its realistic, and easy to represent in games as either max durability loss/quality loss

 
that's sad that item degradation is considered bad (I mean its 100% realistic, just sped up because we would use tools daily and days are only 60-120 minutes long)
I mean, I snapped a drill bit a week ago and yeah it sucked, but I got another one to replace it (easy IRL would be harder in 7dtd but would be worth it/needed if it was vital) i've had wrenches warp, hammers lose heads, and a shovel head completely snap while digging in winter (frozen pipe replacement, not fun)

Tools wear out, its realistic, and easy to represent in games as either max durability loss/quality loss
Agreed, but the evidence is here in this very thread that for whatever reason there are players who hate that brand of realism and think it is unfun and tedious and horrible in a game.

When the lead dev is the president of that particular faction watcha gonna do but hope to mod it?

 
But you all realize we are sharing mod ideas right? Item degradation is never going back in the base game. It’s our cup of tea but Madmole’s gallon of piss— as well as several others’ who chimed in on this thread. It’s definitely like food spoilage: not universally loved by a long shot...lol
I agree, I think leaving it to a mod is the best decision. Lets fresh players experience the base game, and then experienced players can customize with mods for a more challenging experience.

 
I agree, I think leaving it to a mod is the best decision. Lets fresh players experience the base game, and then experienced players can customize with mods for a more challenging experience.
Well I don’t agree per se but I’m resigned :)

Now....how to do it?

 
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I know it may be a pipe dream, but it would be cool if some of the ideas to add more depth/difficulty to the gameplay could be part of the advanced settings in the game.

Don't want degradation? Turn the option off.

Don't want food spoilage? Turn the option off.

But I have no clue on coding at all, so wouldn't know the difficulty of implementation.

 
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