Once again, incredible stuff. It was well worth the long wait for A17, but there's just one thing that's being a downer for me and that is how progression seems to work now. Keep in mind that I have no qualms with the amount of TIME it takes to progress, I enjoy a game that is hard to chew through and I lose motivation if exp comes too quickly.
My issue is with that fact that the bulk of your progression comes from killing zombies, bar none. I didn't feel like I was doing something worthwhile towards personal progression while digging in and setting up defenses, building and crafting.. And kept finding myself running out to kill zombies to get that one extra level to level up my perk to help me dig better instead of actually DIGGING to dig better.
The system you have now is entirely amazing, though. How everything is categorical under the different stats with the stats themselves having benefits of their own. I do suggest, however, that the exp gained from zombies is cut down a few notches and distributed among the other methods of exp gain with each stat having its own pool of "exp type" that is attained through activities pertaining to the skill set under it.
If you kill a bunch of zombies with a melee weapon? You should get good at killing zombies with a melee weapon.
If you kill a bunch of zombies with a ranged weapon? You should get better at killing zombies with a ranged weapon.
If you craft a bunch of stuff? You should get better at crafting things.
Then you would have smaller methods of exp gain that spread into two territories of stats I.e If you are hoofing it back home while overburdened you are taking a risk (perhaps your hunger and thirst gauge would be taking a harder than normal hit as well due to extra strain) and doing so would offer a steady trickle of small exp gains towards your strength and endurance exp type pools with a scaling bonus depending on just how overburdened you are compared to how much you can carry through whatever perks you've bought.
Things like harvesting/disassembling things might offer perception exp(within reason of course), scavenging and finding buried treasure as well.
Killing things with a bow would offer a bulk of perception exp and a minor amount of strength exp(as it does take a good arm to launch arrows like that) with this sort of format considered across the board. Head shots could offer mild bonuses to perception exp gains while perhaps a required, set amount of headshots might bar you from progressing to the next level of the BOOM! HEADSHOT! perk.
"Requirement 0/10 Headshots".
These are just random examples as opposed to an entire essay of "Game changes I the back seat coder think you should make" in hopes that you might like them and find some sort of inspiration to go in this direction in some form or fashion. It is probably just a personal irk and I in no way shape or form want to downplay the sheer amount of great work you've put into this game and this recent update.
I realize you sort of strayed off from this sort of direction a while back, away from how you individually leveled up skills via doing a thing that pertained to it (Chopping down trees, digging and chipping away at rocks increasing mining, etc) and I know some of us miss that. This seems like the best of both worlds, and I do mean the best as I very much like the way the system fundamentally works in A17.
If this is not to your liking no worries! I'm wrapping up on learning programming skills of my own and I'll maybe mod it for my own sake, and perhaps for those who want this sort of thing. Thank you for taking the time to read this, if you have and I look forward to what's in store for 7 Days to Die.
My issue is with that fact that the bulk of your progression comes from killing zombies, bar none. I didn't feel like I was doing something worthwhile towards personal progression while digging in and setting up defenses, building and crafting.. And kept finding myself running out to kill zombies to get that one extra level to level up my perk to help me dig better instead of actually DIGGING to dig better.
The system you have now is entirely amazing, though. How everything is categorical under the different stats with the stats themselves having benefits of their own. I do suggest, however, that the exp gained from zombies is cut down a few notches and distributed among the other methods of exp gain with each stat having its own pool of "exp type" that is attained through activities pertaining to the skill set under it.
If you kill a bunch of zombies with a melee weapon? You should get good at killing zombies with a melee weapon.
If you kill a bunch of zombies with a ranged weapon? You should get better at killing zombies with a ranged weapon.
If you craft a bunch of stuff? You should get better at crafting things.
Then you would have smaller methods of exp gain that spread into two territories of stats I.e If you are hoofing it back home while overburdened you are taking a risk (perhaps your hunger and thirst gauge would be taking a harder than normal hit as well due to extra strain) and doing so would offer a steady trickle of small exp gains towards your strength and endurance exp type pools with a scaling bonus depending on just how overburdened you are compared to how much you can carry through whatever perks you've bought.
Things like harvesting/disassembling things might offer perception exp(within reason of course), scavenging and finding buried treasure as well.
Killing things with a bow would offer a bulk of perception exp and a minor amount of strength exp(as it does take a good arm to launch arrows like that) with this sort of format considered across the board. Head shots could offer mild bonuses to perception exp gains while perhaps a required, set amount of headshots might bar you from progressing to the next level of the BOOM! HEADSHOT! perk.
"Requirement 0/10 Headshots".
These are just random examples as opposed to an entire essay of "Game changes I the back seat coder think you should make" in hopes that you might like them and find some sort of inspiration to go in this direction in some form or fashion. It is probably just a personal irk and I in no way shape or form want to downplay the sheer amount of great work you've put into this game and this recent update.
I realize you sort of strayed off from this sort of direction a while back, away from how you individually leveled up skills via doing a thing that pertained to it (Chopping down trees, digging and chipping away at rocks increasing mining, etc) and I know some of us miss that. This seems like the best of both worlds, and I do mean the best as I very much like the way the system fundamentally works in A17.
If this is not to your liking no worries! I'm wrapping up on learning programming skills of my own and I'll maybe mod it for my own sake, and perhaps for those who want this sort of thing. Thank you for taking the time to read this, if you have and I look forward to what's in store for 7 Days to Die.