PC is A17 removing the much beloved run and gun aspect?

When spamcrafting was removed a lot of people on the forum were sure they would miss the feature and argued they would have nothing to do at night. And maybe a few still do miss the feature, but on the whole most people found out that the game was better without it. And importantly the game was better, not the feature itself obviously. A game is always the sum of all features and you can't just look at a feature, you have to look at the whole game and how that feature influences the game and its balance.
I don't think most players look at the whole picture, they just look at a feature and their own personal use of it (without looking at the whole game) and that narrow view is not how a game designer should look at a game. And in my opinion nothing valuable will come if you listen to a cacophony of hundreds of these narrow views, even when a few voices in there actually have a broader view.
Even the comment, that people fear they have nothing to do at night, is not useless feedback, because it shows that the game does not offer something better to do than spamcrafting. It is also false to argue that all feedback from the community is useless, by cherry picking a comment that appears silly to the unenducated eye. There has been a large variety of comments about spamcrafting. I believe, I made some myself, and while I'm certainly an exceptionally interesting read, I'm not the only one.

I'm exaggerating a bit here, but it sounds a lot like you seem to have lost the fun with the whole game, just a little part of it still holds your interest.
That means you are an outlier now and your opinion is even less worth to the developers. You have mostly tired of the game as a whole and/or it moved in a direction that doesn't interest you. Should the developer of a team shooter listen to an RPG-player? Should a mango distributor listen to a strawberry aficionado?
"Accusing" people of being burned out when they criticise essential features of the game is another shaming tactic.

I give you an example. Once upon a time, if you chopped down a tree, you had to chop down the whole tree before you got anything. And what you got were logs. And you had to craft the logs to planks, and you could craft the planks to sticks. And you would need the different stages for different things. Planks for blocks, sticks for arrows. And such.

Then they "streamlined" the game. Now when you chop down a tree, you constantly get "wood" from it. An abstract idea of wood that is. It has no shape or anything, it's just "wood". You kinda chip away from the tree constantly, "wood" for "wood". For a block, you need so and so much "wood". For an arrow, I guess you need one "wood". For a stone axe, you need three or so. Three "wood". Ideas of wood. Abstract principles of the material "wood". You also need 5 "stone". A funny stone axe that is, made of five "stone" and three "wood".

Anyway.

The tree remains standing if at least one unit of "wood" remains. So you might have something that looks like a tree in front of you, but really, it is merely 1 arrow worth of "wood". Absurd, innit. Before, a tree (of course) also could be damaged to 1 remaining hitpoint, but if you hit the tree again, you would get all the logs, so it was just like it was almost cut through. Reasonable.

See, I don't like the new way. I like the old way better. In my modded game, I bring that back. But I also pick up the idea that you constantly get something from a tree while you're chopping it down, so you get "branches". Like branches would be falling down from the tree while you're chopping. A branch is good to make a stone axe or stone shovel or a stone spear. You can craft it into a stick too, that is good for an arrow and some other things. From the tree, if you have actually felled it, you get logs again, and to craft them into planks and then sticks, you need a "crude workbench" (which is just a log) and a tool. With a stoneaxe, though, you get less planks out of a log and less sticks out of a plank. You get more with a saw. A realistic approach, because I like realism.

Another large part is the skill system. I basically like a progression system, very much so, even, but I don't like the unimmersive spending of skillpoints and, particularly, the requirements, that block free progression. Sitting in a skill menu and planning what skills and perks to buy is terrible. I also don't like the elaborate gating system, that you cannot progress in skill so and so, if you do not have level so and so. So I reworked that as well.

Two examples of many. Does that sounds like or indicate that I lost fun with the whole game..? I don't think so. I think it sounds like I don't like the direction of the development. The dumbing down, so the game can be sold to each and every simpleton that's registered to Steam, and the attempts to control how people play. Let em play how they want, don't force them down routes.

Clarification: With the term "ok with" I meant people that were really positive about the change. So to make it very clear:
1) I am for reducing loot on zombies, absolutely positive. My two reasons: Reducing the loot grind, especially after horde night.
Well, I have read the poll-thread... kinda "again", didn't really follow it, and I admit that there is that one reason to like the change, which is that people don't like to go from gore block to gore block, open the container, often to get nothing. While the change, if that is true, makes it so that only a very few zombies drop a bag, so you know something is in there, and - which is what I am not certain of, only read it in player comments - that these bags contain approximately as much loot as you would get from zombies before. So, if you would've looted 50 zombies in A16 and get so and so much loot, now you loot a very few bags and get the same.

If that is indeed the case, y'all do have an argument and I was underinformed. If, however, and your 2nd reason indicates that's the case, loot is simply severely reduced, y'all have no argument, because if y'all just dislike looting corpses and are fine with a severe reduction of loot, y'all could just not loot corpses, but let us, who like the looting, continue to loot. Cuz we would we have to miss out, because y'all can't control y'allselves.

And making stealth on par with shooting as a scavenger strategy.
Not sure if I understand you right. Stealth means avoiding zombies. So it means not killing them, thus not getting loot from them. And you dislike that people who kill zombies get.. more loot? Is it more? Probably, because zombie killers can also loot trashbags, so they have more loot sources. But... Firstly I don't see why you would care how much loot someone else is getting, why it could be important to you, that someone else is getting less loot, because you don't kill zombies, and 2ndly, can you loot trashbags and whatnot while others kill zombies. While they kill zombies, they can't loot trashbags. So, time management. And if they still kill zombies when zombie loot is reduced (if it is reduced) then your stealth playstyle has the advantage. You don't "waste" your time with killing zombies, but loot trashbags instead. I spend my time killing zombies, but get nothing.

However, as I said, if the new mechanic will give me the same amount of loot, just compressed in less containers, your argument makes not only no sense anymore, I would even have a greater advantage, because I have to spend less time looting corpses.

Anyway. :-D

2) Someone made a poll in which one choice was positive to the change, one was negative to the change and one was "reserving judgement until I have played it". This poll was a draw, with most people having voted for "reserving judgement" and a nearly equal number of people having voted for and against the change.
A simple "vote" doesn't matter, I need reasons. And plausible ones, not "I don't need it", no "it makes no sense", no "I don't like the grind". If your gripe with zombie loot can be solved by simply not looting zombies, you have no good reason to like the removal. Might sound harsh, but those are the rules.

But it happened, explanations were given, at least for the loot reduction. Naturally it is easy to miss the relevant discussion in a thread 2000 pages long.
See above, I listed my reasons and if you need longer explanations I can explain in detail. The developers had further reasons, a big one being performance and another one that zombies should not be seen as loot bringers.
Feel free to add more detail, I'm unsure what your reason is.

That noone asked for the changes is, sorry to say that, a silly argument. Noone asked for removal of spamcrafting, and still it was done and it was good. Noone asked for mods instead of parts and still it was done. You seem to be slightly confusing here who leads the development and who follows that lead.
One could even say noone asked for a minecraft-survival-horror-tower-defense-shooter mix, and still it was implemented.
Isn't it kinda funny that I have forseen exactly this response and wrote a disclaimer, pointing out it's not an actual argument, but an additional indicator..? It does make me lol, so.. guess it is kinda funny.

 
People, as far as I remember, and btw, did complain about spamcrafting. For example server owners, because of dropped stone axes that slowed down the server, or people on servers who spam their stone axes in containers and block them. Another complaint was that you had to spamcraft certain items if you wanted to get them to a higher quality, particularly armor was a problem. I am, however, not sure if these complaints and arguments came before or after the change.

The removal of spamcrafting came with the introduction of skills, right? To increase the quality of your stuff, you have to buy crafting skill levels (perks, actually). That is not good. That is clumsy. I admit that it is more convenient than having to spamcraft, but I believe to have found a better solution. Fortunately I love to hear intelligent people with good ideas talk, so I'll gladly explain. :)

Many items have properties in the XMl, like the stone axe:

Code:
	<property name="ActionSkillGroup" value="Construction Tools"/>
<property name="CraftingSkillGroup" value="craftSkillTools"/>
Action skill feeds xp to the noted skill when the item is used, crafting skill when the item is crafted. So here - though it is obsolete - you gain XP in "craftSkillTools" when you craft the item. When you got enough xp to level up, the quality of the crafted item and some other aspects improve. Here's the XML code of the skill, that, though, now is a perk, meaning, that you don't level up by feeding xp, but by spending skill points, but the principle is the same:

Code:
	<perk name="craftSkillTools" max_level="10" skill_point_cost_multiplier="1.26" skill_point_cost_per_level="3" exp_to_level="5000000"
icon="tool_smithing" description_key="craftSkillToolsDesc" title_key="craftSkillTools" group="tools" exp_gain_multiplier="0">
	<requirement perk_level="2" required_player_level="5"/>
	<requirement perk_level="3" required_player_level="10"/>
	<requirement perk_level="4" required_player_level="20"/>
	<requirement perk_level="5" required_player_level="30"/>
	<requirement perk_level="6" required_player_level="40"/>
	<requirement perk_level="7" required_player_level="60"/>
	<requirement perk_level="8" required_player_level="80"/>
	<requirement perk_level="9" required_player_level="100"/>
	<requirement perk_level="10" required_player_level="120"/>
	<effect name="CraftingTime">
		<multiply skill_level="0,1" value="1.0,0.95"/>
		<multiply skill_level="1,2" value="0.95,0.90"/>
		<multiply skill_level="2,3" value="0.90,0.85"/>
		<multiply skill_level="3,4" value="0.85,0.80"/>
		<multiply skill_level="4,5" value="0.80,0.75"/>
		<multiply skill_level="5,6" value="0.75,0.70"/>
		<multiply skill_level="6,7" value="0.70,0.65"/>
		<multiply skill_level="7,8" value="0.65,0.60"/>
		<multiply skill_level="8,9" value="0.60,0.55"/>
		<multiply skill_level="9,10" value="0.55,0.50"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="CraftingQuality">
		<setvalue skill_level="0" value="25"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="1" value="50"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="2" value="100"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="3" value="150"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="4" value="200"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="5" value="250"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="6" value="300"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="7" value="350"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="8" value="400"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="9" value="450"/>
		<setvalue skill_level="10" value="500"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="RepairTime">
		<multiply skill_level="0,1" value="1.0,0.93"/>
		<multiply skill_level="1,2" value="0.93,0.86"/>
		<multiply skill_level="2,3" value="0.86,0.79"/>
		<multiply skill_level="3,4" value="0.79,0.72"/>
		<multiply skill_level="4,5" value="0.72,0.65"/>
		<multiply skill_level="5,6" value="0.65,0.58"/>
		<multiply skill_level="6,7" value="0.58,0.51"/>
		<multiply skill_level="7,8" value="0.51,0.44"/>
		<multiply skill_level="8,9" value="0.44,0.37"/>
		<multiply skill_level="9,10" value="0.37,0.30"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="RepairAmount">
		<multiply skill_level="0,10" value="1,1.2"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="RepairQualityLoss"> <!-- .666 for Fixer.  Loss at no Fixer skill and QL 600 = 40,32,25...6,5,4 -->
		<multiply skill_level="0,1" value="0.0670,0.0533"/>
		<multiply skill_level="1,2" value="0.0533,0.0425"/>
		<multiply skill_level="2,3" value="0.0425,0.0338"/>
		<multiply skill_level="3,4" value="0.0338,0.0269"/>
		<multiply skill_level="4,5" value="0.0269,0.0214"/>
		<multiply skill_level="5,6" value="0.0214,0.0170"/>
		<multiply skill_level="6,7" value="0.0170,0.0136"/>
		<multiply skill_level="7,8" value="0.0136,0.0108"/>
		<multiply skill_level="8,9" value="0.0108,0.0086"/>
		<multiply skill_level="9,10" value="0.0086,0.0068"/>
	</effect>
</perk>
So before it became a perk, these things improved when you crated the stone axe, better quality of the item, faster crafting and repairing, etc.

Here is the code for the action skill, that still is a skill and is improved by using the item:

Code:
	<action_skill name="Construction Tools" exp_to_level="500" icon="resource" description_key="constructionToolsDesc" title_key="constructionTools" group="tools">
	<effect name="BlockDamage">
		<multiply skill_level="1,10" value="1.00,1.32"/>
		<multiply skill_level="10,20" value="1.32,1.45"/>
		<multiply skill_level="20,30" value="1.45,1.55"/>
		<multiply skill_level="30,40" value="1.55,1.63"/>
		<multiply skill_level="40,50" value="1.63,1.71"/>
		<multiply skill_level="50,60" value="1.71,1.77"/>
		<multiply skill_level="60,70" value="1.77,1.84"/>
		<multiply skill_level="70,80" value="1.84,1.89"/>
		<multiply skill_level="80,90" value="1.89,1.95"/>
		<multiply skill_level="90,100" value="1.95,2.00"/>
	</effect>
</action_skill>
Only the block damage is increased. Also note that the crafting skill (perk) now has requirements. You can only buy level 2 if your player level is at least 5. I particularly dislike this, if I want to focus on a certain perk, let me spend my skillpoints as I want to.

My solution to the spamcrafting problem is that I have both of the skill groups, the one for crafting and the one for using the item, feed into the same skill. Like so, for stone axes:

Code:
	<property name="ActionSkillGroup" value="Stone Items" />
<property name="CraftingSkillGroup" value="Stone Items" />
So you level up that skill by crafting and by using the stone axe (and other items made of stone). The skill looks like this:

Code:
<action_skill name="Stone Items" exp_to_level="100" icon="resource" description_key="Stone ItemsDesc" title_key="Stone Items" group="tools">
	<effect name="BlockDamage">
		<multiply skill_level="1,10" value="1.00,1.32"/>
		<multiply skill_level="10,20" value="1.32,1.45"/>
		<multiply skill_level="20,30" value="1.45,1.55"/>
		<multiply skill_level="30,40" value="1.55,1.63"/>
		<multiply skill_level="40,50" value="1.63,1.71"/>
		<multiply skill_level="50,60" value="1.71,1.77"/>
		<multiply skill_level="60,70" value="1.77,1.84"/>
		<multiply skill_level="70,80" value="1.84,1.89"/>
		<multiply skill_level="80,90" value="1.89,3.00"/>
		<multiply skill_level="90,100" value="3.00,4.00"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="CraftingTime">
		<multiply skill_level="1,10" value="1.0,.95"/>
		<multiply skill_level="10,20" value=".95,.90"/>
		<multiply skill_level="20,30" value=".90,.85"/>
		<multiply skill_level="30,40" value=".85,.80"/>
		<multiply skill_level="40,50" value=".80,.75"/>
		<multiply skill_level="50,60" value=".75,.70"/>
		<multiply skill_level="60,70" value=".70,.65"/>
		<multiply skill_level="70,80" value=".65,.60"/>
		<multiply skill_level="80,90" value=".60,.55"/>
		<multiply skill_level="90,100" value=".55,.50"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="CraftingQuality">
		<setvalue skill_level="1,100" value="6,600"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="RepairTime">
		<multiply skill_level="1,10" value="1.0,.93"/>
		<multiply skill_level="10,20" value=".93,.86"/>
		<multiply skill_level="20,30" value=".86,.79"/>
		<multiply skill_level="30,40" value=".79,.72"/>
		<multiply skill_level="40,50" value=".72,.65"/>
		<multiply skill_level="50,60" value=".65,.58"/>
		<multiply skill_level="60,70" value=".58,.51"/>
		<multiply skill_level="70,80" value=".51,.44"/>
		<multiply skill_level="80,90" value=".44,.37"/>
		<multiply skill_level="90,100" value=".37,.21"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="RepairAmount">
		<add skill_level="1,10" value="1,5"/>
		<add skill_level="10,20" value="5,10"/>
		<add skill_level="20,30" value="11,105"/>
		<add skill_level="30,40" value="15,20"/>
		<add skill_level="40,50" value="20,25"/>
		<add skill_level="50,60" value="25,30"/>
		<add skill_level="60,70" value="30,35"/>
		<add skill_level="70,80" value="35,40"/>
		<add skill_level="80,90" value="40,45"/>
		<add skill_level="91,100" value="45,65"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="RepairQualityLoss">
		<multiply skill_level="1,10" value="0.0670,0.0533"/>
		<multiply skill_level="10,20" value="0.0533,0.0425"/>
		<multiply skill_level="20,30" value="0.0425,0.0338"/>
		<multiply skill_level="30,40" value="0.0338,0.0269"/>
		<multiply skill_level="40,50" value="0.0269,0.0214"/>
		<multiply skill_level="50,60" value="0.0214,0.0170"/>
		<multiply skill_level="60,70" value="0.0170,0.0136"/>
		<multiply skill_level="70,80" value="0.0136,0.0108"/>
		<multiply skill_level="80,90" value="0.0108,0.0086"/>
		<multiply skill_level="91,100" value="0.0086,0.0005"/>
	</effect>
	<effect name="StaminaDegradation">
		<multiply skill_level="1,100" value="1,0.5"/>
	</effect>
</action_skill>
It combines both skills from vanilla, so I increase the block damage and the quality and the crafting time and so on, and I feed xp by using and crafting the item.

 
I know what you will say: "But Kubikus, now people can spamcraft and not only improve the quality of the item, but also the block damage! Your solution is poop!" Well, to begin with, my only issue with spamcrafting is that you had to do it. Just using the stone axe and only crafting a new one when it broke was not fast enough. Talking realism, I also believe that it makes sense that if someone crafts stone axes all day, their quality will improve and he will get more familiar with the tool, so he also is using it more effectively. But I still added a little something to counter spam crafting, which is a craft time:

Code:
<recipe name="stoneAxe" count="1" craft_time="60">
<ingredient name="branch" count="1"/>
<ingredient name="sharpStone" count="1"/>
<ingredient name="yuccaFibers" count="2"/>
</recipe>
Look at that beautiful recipe, btw, and compare with crude vanilla:

Code:
<recipe name="stoneAxe" count="1">
<ingredient name="rockSmall" count="4"/>
<ingredient name="yuccaFibers" count="2"/>
<ingredient name="wood" count="2"/>
</recipe>
Four rocks. Where do they go? How do you need two wood? Look at the stone axe model in your hand, where are the stones, where is the wood? What an ugly recipe.

Anyways: I counter spamcrafting with the craft time of 60 seconds. You practically can't spam craft anymore, it'd block your crafting queue. And since I have a lot more to craft (for example stone arrow heads, you can't just tie a rock you find on the ground to a stick and have an arrow), that is very impracticle. And who manages to micromanage all that: Dude, let em "spam"craft away, they deserve the benefits.

And now I would like you or anybody else tell me, how the solution the "Fun Pimps" use, which is "buy a perk", is in any shape or form fun, realistic/immersive or overall better than mine. Certainly might I overlook something, but until someone can show me, I can't help but find my solution superior by far. And it is even simpler. The (overly glorified) new player does not have to know they have to buy that certain perk, and they do not get blocked by annoying requirements. Craft a stone axe and use it, and that makes you better at it.

I have, btw, other solutions for other items.

Especially the people with strong opinions are not going to change them. When these opinions conform to the opinions of the developers, what does it help them? Nothing. If the opinions are contrary, what does that help them? Nothing, because it just means the vision of the developers differ from the vision this gamer with the strong opinion wants.
With strong opinion I mean an opinion that the one who has it can lay out in detail and that they can argue for eloquently. I'm not talking about stubbornness. And when someone knows exactly why they like something, that can help the devs to understand why something is liked. If they understand why something is liked, they can design the game to satisfy such a predilection. As many as possible. Instead of closing doors and nailing them shut.

What I and Morloc and Jedo, you and even the "mob" can contribute?
No. Why you guys have so little faith in yourselves that you believe you have NOTHING to contribute.

Apart from the bug hunt we will play the game from beginning to end, for hours. After actually playtesting the WHOLE game we can give our opinion what works and what not. And we can tell them how we played.
If for example 80% of all players stay on a roof at night doing nothing in A17 then they could decide to change something about that. Even if the players say they liked staying on the roof all night! But lets say now before A17 released dozens of players would say "Hey, from what I heard about A17 I'm sure I will stay on a roof all night and will be doing nothing." TFP would be mad to act on this. This is my point: Player's feedback before they played the game is worth nothing. What they do when they play the game for a while, that is valuable.
You illustrate your point with a completely absurd example. That strongly suggests that your point itself is absurd (just like Morlocs list of moronic comments). Because for good points, you have good examples. Like so:

When the devs decided to reduce backward sprinting speed immensely, they might not have thought about people who literally love to fight hordes of running zombies on the ground. They might've only thought about making melee more difficult. I'm not sure, but it is possible. So they might've overlooked something relevant to the design change. Had they announced the change before, I could've told them what I am now laying out afterwards, and they could've considered it. There are indications that they actually did not consider this. Kinyajuu for examples says that FPSish playstyles don't suffer. So it sounds much like he is not playing like me, because it clearly suffers. Gazz said he strafes mostly, so he might not be playing that way either. Joel only talked about melee when he mentioned the change. Nothing indicates they considered a playstyle, that is "much beloved" by at least a few players (but combined, certainly dozens, probably hundreds, maybe even thousands).

Making changes to changes afterwards, might be problematic, because the architecture of the change was not designed to easily allow the desired alteration, and might lead to the devs arguing against it overall. That's human nature. If something is inconvenient, your brain starts producing arguments not to do it. Cuz always remember: They're men. Not gods. And if it only affects a few, it is all the more "plausible" not to invest the effort.

Furhtermore, if they announced the change beforehand, along with a reason why they want to change it, what their intention is, like, I believe, in this case making melee more difficult, experienced players might have an alternative solution, as I provided one by suggesting to have the player accelerate when starting to sprint. If the player needs two seconds to get to full speed, the intended difficultisation of melee would be achieved, while the beloved playstyle would still work.

On top of that. "Even" said playstyle could've been questioned and overhauled. Reasonably, cuz now, it is not "realistic", as Staff and some players advertise it as. It'd be realistic to move backwards much faster. I would not at all mind to make that more challenging and more realistic, as long as it still works. I would be fine with reducing backward sprinting speed to a reasonable value.

Is there one bit of useful information in all above?
Of course.

You used "of course" to denote something which is obvious.
See.

So no need to tell them, obvious is also obvious to them.
We're talking about wether or not I'm able to know things, how I like things, before they happen. Not "them". You insist I can't know if I will miss a beloved feature that is being removed. It'd be merely speculation. If I have a dog and love it much, I could not be certain I'd be sad if it died.

That's your logic.

But the interesting question is what will the mass of players do with the whole game if this or that small part is missing or added? No feature is an island (except for players who are only interested in one small feature instead of the whole game)
The game certainly won't break, if that's what you're asking.

I hope I could show you above that this is absolutely, definitely and glaringly wrong.
Just because you might indeed have 1 weak argument, I'm not the wrongest person in the known universe, so calm down a little. See, another upside of discussing upcoming features is that person A can show person B an advantage of the feature B did not notice by themselves. And you contributed to my enlightenment, so be proud of yourself, your feedback is valuable.

Explain? The most often cited reason is "I like looting zombies". Now if that reason were enough, a game having just a large area full of lootable zombie corpses would have to be a massive success. And strangely for a few players it really is, the success of games like "Cookie Clicker" demonstrates that. But TFP does not want to produce a cookie clicker game and because of that reasons like "I like looting zombies" are nearly worthless to TFP, at least at this point in time, before anyone really has played the game.
Actually, people explain quite well why they are in favor of loot. Yes, it is simply fun to loot corpses and be happy to find something good. Because some zombies drop really good stuff, weapons, tools, materials. Getting the loot is itself a reason why people like looting zombies, as it gives you stuff, is a resource, just like loot you get from trashbags and other containers. Another guy argues that on servers static containers can often be empty, so zombies are a good source. Having a source for fat, rotten flesh and bones is another argument I heard multiple times.

They are a great source if TFP needs information about how much iron you need in end game. They are a terrible source if TFP needs information about how a novice player would feel in the game at any time. I have hundreds of hours in the game. I never ever will feel like a novice again, the best I can do is trying to remember bits and pieces of playing a different version of this game a long time ago.
According to that logic, the company should only allow people design the game, that know it for < 100 hours. Fire the dev team every 3 weeks.

Feedback from people who know the game well is valuable. However, feedback from people who are new is either.

 
Example? I note that, in 1 sentence, among many more, that deal with the thread topic, and a mod shows up and write a fairly lengthy post only about that 1 sentence, denying it is true. No "hm...", no "yeah, but...".

Instead "No!" If I was using unsubtle phrasing, I could say he's beatin my criticism to crap.
wut?

 
Sure.
In 1 sentence, that is part of a much longer post, I criticise moderation a bit. You pick up that 1 sentence - ignore most of the rest of the post, cept you kindly examine the xml-files, as I asked - , and write a fairly lengthy post to declare my criticism wrong. You, as I phrased it in my unconventional style, "beat my criticism to crap", instead of considering that it might be valid.

So the way you deal with my criticism is an example of what I criticise and - isn't it ironic? - evidence that my criticism is valid. Not proof, certainly, but it is not the only evidence and example, however, I did and do not wish to have a lengthy discussion about it, that would lead this thread off topic.

Speaking of XML: Might you be willing and allowed to share some more information about those? To pass the time? I'd be interested in an array of things. Could you maybe even provide the complete xml-files, so I can have a look? Certainly, other modders would be interested too. If any of that is possible, I suggest you open a thread in the modding forum or prompt me to do so.

 
Speaking of XML: Might you be willing and allowed to share some more information about those? To pass the time? I'd be interested in an array of things. Could you maybe even provide the complete xml-files, so I can have a look? Certainly, other modders would be interested too. If any of that is possible, I suggest you open a thread in the modding forum or prompt me to do so.
hahaha how adorable... and highly unlikely

 
"Accusing" people of being burned out when they criticise essential features of the game is another shaming tactic.
I made it clear that it was a hypothesis and I also offered the alternative hypothesis that the game might have gone in a direction that is not where you want it to go. Which seems to be the correct explanation judging by your next few paragraphs. No sweat, I believe you.

If that is indeed the case, y'all do have an argument and I was underinformed. If, however, and your 2nd reason indicates that's the case, loot is simply severely reduced, y'all have no argument, because if y'all just dislike looting corpses and are fine with a severe reduction of loot, y'all could just not loot corpses, but let us, who like the looting, continue to loot. Cuz we would we have to miss out, because y'all can't control y'allselves.
First of all, yes, in sum the loot on zombies will probably be less than A16. If you find loot on a zombie, it will be much better than now, but it doesn't look like it will fully compensate for all the empty corpses. But loot in pois will be upped and THAT should compensate for less zombie loot.

And yes, I could elect to not loot corpses. Have done that at the last horde night actually. Small disadvantage would be I could not walk or run at normal speed around my base in SP, or at least two of my friends on our MP-server would not like our good looking base looking like burried unter s***.

Another disadvantage would be if the loot stays on the zombies it won't be found in the pois. Balance between me as scavenger and my co-op players (one other scavenger, two builders/minser) on our servers might also not work as good as intented.

Another thing is immersion. It just doesn't work as well if you have to pretend that there is nothing when clearly there is something there.

I would have no problem with installing a mod to change it, except that making the mod myself is a lot of work and more importantly combining such a mod with another mod (like Darkness Falls for example) is almost impossible at the moment. And we often play a mod on our server.

Yes, I could elect to not loot corpses if it is really neccessary. But still it would be much better if it is already in the base game.

So if someone asks me "Would I like the game better if it had less loot on zombies than in A16?" my answer would be "yes".

Not sure if I understand you right. Stealth means avoiding zombies. So it means not killing them, thus not getting loot from them. And you dislike that people who kill zombies get.. more loot?
No. It has nothing to do with other people. It has to do with a balanced game. Just like I prefer in an RPG that I reach the same level and get the equivalent loot irrespective of my choices (i.e. it should not matter if I kill everyone or use the diplomatic route) I want to look at a zombie without making the meta calculation that stealthing around will disadvantage me. I probably will resist that thought most of the time, but I can't avoid making this comparison in my mind all the time and be influenced by it. And it will diminish my immersion and pleasure playing the game.

So if someone asks me, again, for that reason I would say yes. It is also my opinion that it makes a better game out of it, because just on a theoretical level all players are given a choice which is balanced. And yes, it is balanced, you might save ammunition if you stealth but are disadvantaged if you are discovered and stealthing around can take more time than blazing through with your guns.

A simple "vote" doesn't matter, I need reasons.
I brought up my opinion and the vote because you stated that you have not heard of anyone positive about the change and a huge opposition. I disproved this, not more, not less.

...

When the devs decided to reduce backward sprinting speed immensely, they might not have thought about people who literally love to fight hordes of running zombies on the ground. They might've only thought about making melee more difficult. I'm not sure, but it is possible.
Yes, possible. They make many changes and for each change they compare advantages and disadvantages, where they want to go with their game and how it fits in with all the other changes and existing features. And I'm sure in very very seldom cases there really might be a reason they 1) had overlooked and 2) is relevant to how they want the core game to be and 3) is strong enough to make them reconsider even BEFORE trying it out.

The question is: Would it be efficient to keep the whole forum up-to-date on any change they do and why they do it and how it is linked with other features and changes. Then listen to the whole forum posting hundreds of illogical arguments, emotional arguments, arguments based on wanting a different game than what they want (and each argument multiple times) to find that one reason in one case of many that really makes them reconsider?

TFP might know. Maybe in the first few alphas the forum was small enough to do this. I don't think it is efficient.

Backpedaling probably can be reversed in less than 10 minutes. Loot drop rate probably in 1-2 hours with a revision control system no problem, to just give an estimate about the two changes we are talking about. Would elaborate more if it wasn't 5 in the morning now. Maybe an indicator how much time developers could waste in a forum :smile-new:

Just because you might indeed have 1 weak argument, I'm not the wrongest person in the known universe, so calm down a little.
I used strong words because you dismissed/redefined my previous approval of loot-reduction as merely "acceptance" and then ignored this and the story about the votes totally to make that conclusion. Took me quite by surprise how I could be so much misunderstood. I wanted to make sure I don't have to argue that point a third time.

 
Sure.
In 1 sentence, that is part of a much longer post, I criticise moderation a bit. You pick up that 1 sentence - ignore most of the rest of the post, cept you kindly examine the xml-files, as I asked - , and write a fairly lengthy post to declare my criticism wrong. You, as I phrased it in my unconventional style, "beat my criticism to crap", instead of considering that it might be valid.

So the way you deal with my criticism is an example of what I criticise and - isn't it ironic? - evidence that my criticism is valid. Not proof, certainly, but it is not the only evidence and example, however, I did and do not wish to have a lengthy discussion about it, that would lead this thread off topic.

Speaking of XML: Might you be willing and allowed to share some more information about those? To pass the time? I'd be interested in an array of things. Could you maybe even provide the complete xml-files, so I can have a look? Certainly, other modders would be interested too. If any of that is possible, I suggest you open a thread in the modding forum or prompt me to do so.
I think you are seeing things that aren't there, mate. You were having a discussion with Meganoth and as part of it you made a claim about me. I looked into it and disagreed. Your response was that you just quoted the wrong post or something. So here is my post you are claiming is ironically an example of the poor way in which I criticize criticism.

Now wait a sec.
On the first page I re-read my post and there isn't an ounce of condescension to it. I was strictly informative friendly....maybe a bit cavalier in saying that backward sprinting was the lesser of the two changes that would affect running and gunning-- the worse one being horrible accuracy unless you stop and aim. I tried to read it every which way I could to make it sound snide and condescending and just couldn't do it.

er....Projection maybe...? ;)

Now post 29......yes, I'll cop to that. But in fairness that was someone exaggerating timelines and it had nothing to do with the thread topic. Timelines are simple math and I got the sense he was being dishonest to try and make a point. I do tend to get snarky in the face of dishonesty. True.

I take it this part above is what you refer to as me pick out one single line of your post.

My opinion right now on this topic is that the removal of backward sprinting is good for combat with walking zombies. I can understand the criticism of its removal when battling running zombies. I personally think that being able to run backwards at the speed we can in pre-A17 while shooting zombies is unrealistic and puts the game in a more arcadey feel than a survival horror feel. However, I also know that by making this shift they are removing something that is admittedly fun which is always disappointing. The running and gunning abilities we had in A16 and earlier tend to reduce the fear you have in going out at night or meeting a feral during the day. Sprinting backwards means that if you keep your wits you are almost guaranteed to win in such a battle. Not being able to run and knowing you can't means going out where running enemies might be is going to be a huge risk. It makes it thrilling and scary knowing you very well could die if you get more than two enemies that can run hunting you.
It is a tough one and we will have to see how things go during experimental. I have no idea whether backwards speed is moddable which is why I didn't answer. Where would I look for player character attributes like speed etc? I'm happy to try and find it and see if there is a value on it that can be changed.
And this part right here is where I then criticize your criticism and "beat it to crap"?

If that is what you are saying and how you feel then I really do apologize as it wasn't my intent. I simply felt you were wrong about me in the post you referenced and wanted to defend my honor so to speak. Then I simply expressed my own opinion about the topic. If you wanted me to acknowledge the parts of your argument that I agreed with I'm happy to do so. I agree with you that removing the backward run is going to erase the fun that people who like to run and gun vs running zombies have enjoyed in the past. I think you brought up good points about how tedious it is to run forward and then turn and get a couple shots off before having to turn and run forward again. I can understand the sentiment about wanting to have an option or at least a value left in the xmls to be able to mod it so that those who have that fun can still enjoy it if they want without harming those who are fine with the nerf and want to play the game vanilla. I also agree that if TFP can continue to work at improving melee combat in general that would be great. I haven't played Dead Island so I can't speak to whether I would like that personally or not.

I agree that acknowledging other viewpoints to show I've heard and understand and mentioning those areas of common ground we might have is a more civilized and gracious form of discourse rather than simply staying silent about the things I might agree on and only debating the parts I disagree with. I'll try and raise the bar going forward. I don't agree with some of what you have posted about criticism but I'll keep it focused on the positive and just say thanks for your feedback about the way the mod staff handles criticism in the forum and we will strive to improve.

 
I think having a % chance to trip running backwards would actually be really cool and realistic. Make it a 33% chance of falling down if sprinting backwards and hitting an object other than the floor. That to me feels somewhat balanced.

 
I think having a % chance to trip running backwards would actually be really cool and realistic. Make it a 33% chance of falling down if sprinting backwards and hitting an object other than the floor. That to me feels somewhat balanced.
That isn't going to satisfy the critics of this decision. The criticism, if I have understood correctly, boils down to the opinion that nerfing backward movement is not fun for those who enjoy battling it out with running zombies and lessens the fun of melee combat in general because the player will feel less agile.

Slowing backward movement will ruin the fun.

Tripping the player 33% of the time will ruin the fun.

The only way to not ruin the fun in the minds of the critics is to leave rapid backward movement in the game. Critics who know how to mod say they would be happy with a way to mod backward movement speed.

At the end of all the metaphors about strawberries, mangoes, pineapples, and parallels about spam-crafting it really just comes down to how people like to have fun and in that sense the criticism is perfectly valid. TFP IS removing the old fun and it IS disappointing to those who enjoyed that fun.

 
it really just comes down to how people like to have fun and in that sense the criticism is perfectly valid. TFP IS removing the old fun and it IS disappointing to those who enjoyed that fun.
This really is the heart of it, but then it comes down to a segment of the player base that want to impose that particular playstyle on all others. I'm more of a fan of being able to customize, which is admittedly something that really has no place in Alpha because it interferes with the devs attempting to bughunt and optimize.

As an example, I'll go back to my suggestion re: tripping. Assuming it was implemented, it would only need two variables to be exposed in order to be modded back out: "chance to trip percent" and "backwards run speed max". OTOH, it would be difficult (read probably impossible) to mod tripping into the game without large portions of code being exposed, the idea of which Kinjayuu so wisely squashed- because 1) it opens up the possibility of exploits; and 2) it would permit someone to plunder TFP's hard work and use it themselves elsewhere for free.

TL;DR: it's probably easier on the devs to try new things that other players might like to have in the game while allowing for them to be modded out for other playstyles, than to try to rely on modders for additional gameplay

 
First of all, yes, in sum the loot on zombies will probably be less than A16. If you find loot on a zombie, it will be much better than now, but it doesn't look like it will fully compensate for all the empty corpses. But loot in pois will be upped and THAT should compensate for less zombie loot.
Where are these informations coming from, btw?

And yes, I could elect to not loot corpses. Have done that at the last horde night actually. Small disadvantage would be I could not walk or run at normal speed around my base in SP, or at least two of my friends on our MP-server would not like our good looking base looking like burried unter s***.
Another disadvantage would be if the loot stays on the zombies it won't be found in the pois. Balance between me as scavenger and my co-op players (one other scavenger, two builders/minser) on our servers might also not work as good as intented.

Another thing is immersion. It just doesn't work as well if you have to pretend that there is nothing when clearly there is something there.

I would have no problem with installing a mod to change it, except that making the mod myself is a lot of work and more importantly combining such a mod with another mod (like Darkness Falls for example) is almost impossible at the moment. And we often play a mod on our server.

Yes, I could elect to not loot corpses if it is really neccessary. But still it would be much better if it is already in the base game.

So if someone asks me "Would I like the game better if it had less loot on zombies than in A16?" my answer would be "yes".
But you still could (just) elect not to loot corpses. That would solve your... issue. Cuz it's not really a problem. You wouldn't (even) have to pretend there is no loot, just stand by your decision that you prefer to spend your time with something else. I don't loot every trashbag in sight, it's not worth my time. I don't loot every zombie I kill either. And btw, if zombies are already dead, what's the big difference between looting a zombie and looting a trashbag? It's the same process. The killing itself makes the difference, and it's time consuming and it's resource consuming, it can be risky, so loot as a reward is well deserved.

Btw would it be simple to remove loot from zombies. Just make an empty loot list use it for every zombies. 10 minutes of work max.

No. It has nothing to do with other people. It has to do with a balanced game. Just like I prefer in an RPG that I reach the same level and get the equivalent loot irrespective of my choices (i.e. it should not matter if I kill everyone or use the diplomatic route) I want to look at a zombie without making the meta calculation that stealthing around will disadvantage me. I probably will resist that thought most of the time, but I can't avoid making this comparison in my mind all the time and be influenced by it. And it will diminish my immersion and pleasure playing the game.
So if someone asks me, again, for that reason I would say yes. It is also my opinion that it makes a better game out of it, because just on a theoretical level all players are given a choice which is balanced. And yes, it is balanced, you might save ammunition if you stealth but are disadvantaged if you are discovered and stealthing around can take more time than blazing through with your guns.
I don't quite get the whole "balance" argument. Do you not get enough loot from other sources than zombies? Does the loot outside zombies have to be increased? And is that only possible if loot inside zombies is decreased? I wouldn't know why. Zombie loot is relatively low quality, bit of brass, bit of lead, bit of metal, glass jars, some canned food.

It sounds much like you decide not to utilize a playstyle, that is killing zombies, but expect the game to give you the loot it gives to someone who does utilize that playstyle on top of your playstyle - and if it does not, it should not give that loot to the other someone. Why should the game do that? If you stealth, you don't use your weapon, you don't need to craft ammo, gather the resources, you take less of a risk. Furhtermore, when loot is being removed from zombies, people who do not kill zombies have the advantage over people who do kill zombies. Killing zombies offers barely a reward anymore, then.

I either still don't quite understand or you're simply selfish. If you can't have it, because you don't want to put in the work, others, who do put in the work, also should not have it. That would not have anything to do with balance.

I brought up my opinion and the vote because you stated that you have not heard of anyone positive about the change and a huge opposition. I disproved this, not more, not less.
It's much like people who argue with "realism" in the backpedaling case. I simply don't count them. I might, if they'd argue to make everything in the game as realistic as possible. But as long as they're just fine with making something they don't use or care about realistic, but want to keep unrealistic features that they happen to like and use, they are... well... Let's call it "inconsistent in their reasoning". Which invalidates their reasoning.

The argument, however, that looting hundreds of zombies is tedious, is valid, and if a few lootdrops would give you what many gave you before, if loot was concentrated in those bags, and we'd not have empty corpse containers anymore, I'd too vote for it.

Yes, possible.
See. That's all we need.

They make many changes and for each change they compare advantages and disadvantages, where they want to go with their game and how it fits in with all the other changes and existing features. And I'm sure in very very seldom cases there really might be a reason they 1) had overlooked and 2) is relevant to how they want the core game to be and 3) is strong enough to make them reconsider even BEFORE trying it out.
We don't know how rare these cases are, though, and things already are being discussed on the forums, before they go into the game, so once more: It's a perfectly plausible practice.

The question is: Would it be efficient to keep the whole forum up-to-date on any change they do and why they do it and how it is linked with other features and changes. Then listen to the whole forum posting hundreds of illogical arguments, emotional arguments, arguments based on wanting a different game than what they want (and each argument multiple times) to find that one reason in one case of many that really makes them reconsider?
TFP might know. Maybe in the first few alphas the forum was small enough to do this. I don't think it is efficient.
It's so funny how you portray the concept in the worst possible way. Devs have to spent thousands of hours to read millions of moronic comments.

C'mon.

Backpedaling probably can be reversed in less than 10 minutes. Loot drop rate probably in 1-2 hours with a revision control system no problem, to just give an estimate about the two changes we are talking about. Would elaborate more if it wasn't 5 in the morning now. Maybe an indicator how much time developers could waste in a forum
Plays not much of a role if it's easy or not, when it's not being done. 1 block ingress is not moddable, the static spawner is not moddable, chessboard cities are not moddable.

I used strong words because you dismissed/redefined my previous approval of loot-reduction as merely "acceptance" and then ignored this and the story about the votes totally to make that conclusion. Took me quite by surprise how I could be so much misunderstood. I wanted to make sure I don't have to argue that point a third time.
I'm not sure I misunderstood you at all. I don't think the one good reason in the vote-thread is your reason. I don't think your "balance" reason is valid. I don't think your "I don't like the thought that there are loot containers that I don't loot" argument is valid. That's like I would vote for removing electricity because I don't like using it. Or vehicles. Or gardening. Or hunting. Remove what I don't use, so I don't feel bad for not getting the advantage those who do use it get.

 
I think you are seeing things that aren't there, mate. You were having a discussion with Meganoth and as part of it you made a claim about me. I looked into it and disagreed. Your response was that you just quoted the wrong post or something. So here is my post you are claiming is ironically an example of the poor way in which I criticize criticism.
It all began here:

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?86652-is-A17-removing-the-much-beloved-run-and-gun-aspect&p=843156&viewfull=1#post843156So overall: Yes, I do believe that Joel didn't know that people dislike the changes. If he did, he must've lied/pretended in his video. I also believe that the company overall might be a bit out of touch with what the players really want and what they are passionate about, because the forums are heavily moderated. Youtube comments seem to have no moderation, go to Joel's videos and compare the climate there and here. There, blunt criticism is very prominent. Here, blunt criticism is either moderated or responded to with a wide array of rethorics. For example, the backpedaling is sorta playstyle shamed by Gazz. It'd be some kind of cheap trick to play that way. In #46 he calls it a "cheesy backpedaling "tactic"", in #79 he writes "The thread title is also highly misleading because it's really about infinite backpedaling with trivial risk, not run&gun gameplay." It's not run & gun when you run with your gun and fight running zombie hordes, and the greatest risk available in the game would be "trivial". Kinyajuu said "Also I'm an avid FPS player and run n gun is not at all going to suffer in a17." in post #20. Roland's posts on the first page at least are fairly condescending, when someone makes a mistake or so, see #29.
I made two mistakes: I speak of "posts", when it really is just one that is fairly condescending, and it is not on the first, but the 2nd page. You do, however, make condescending posts frequently, that's why I used the technically wrong numerus.

Up there in the quote you can see the context why I mention you in 1 sentence. Compare (probably unmoderated) Youtube comments with the local forum. Big difference. So there might be a disconnect between the company and the customer. Might. I'm speculating.

I also mention that in the post here:

https://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?86652-is-A17-removing-the-much-beloved-run-and-gun-aspect&p=843323&viewfull=1#post843323

I write 1 sentence about moderation and such. Well. Actually it is, if we count my explanation that your post, that I mention before, was on the 2nd, instead of the 1st page, 4 sentences. And then I write a bunch about the thread's topic. I also lay out, in some detail, a method that I use to make the game more difficult, one I consider to be much better (and more elegant) than just crippling the player.

Now, I don't mind if you ignore all that, but when you write me a novel about some mild 1 sentence-criticism of how this board is moderated and ignore much more sentences about the game, it looks like you're fairly interested in beating criticism to crap. And not so much to discuss alternatives to the devs' solution to make the game harder.

Btw, when I write "I don't mind if you ignore all", that does not mean I'm not interested. I would indeed be interested what you think about my solution. What you think about the game's design of making zombies very weak. Already on the first day, if you wear no clothing, no armor and have only 100 wellness, a trash mob can hit you ten times before you die. When you are maxed out, 250 wellness (max wellness in my mod is 150 btw), best armor, it should converge towards 50 times. And when they look for way to make the game harder and "zombies more dangerous", they don't tweak that, but remove abilities..? Reduce fun? Melee already was stale, compared to other games. Now it's getting even more boring. I doubt the power attack will change that, you cannot use it often and the actual gameplay is barely different from a normal attack. You hold the mousebutton down longer. At least the animation looks different, that's a big plus. Moving backwards fast is much more dynamic, because it changes your position. Much more happens, with movement, you create "a new situation", so to speak. Really, the more you think about it, the more you wonder what they were thinking. No surprise the only argument you hear is "it's more realistic" and some "git gud" rethorics. No u! At designing interesting game mechnics. Plz no ban tho. -.-

That isn't going to satisfy the critics of this decision. The criticism, if I have understood correctly, boils down to the opinion that nerfing backward movement is not fun for those who enjoy battling it out with running zombies and lessens the fun of melee combat in general because the player will feel less agile.
Slowing backward movement will ruin the fun.

Tripping the player 33% of the time will ruin the fun.

The only way to not ruin the fun in the minds of the critics is to leave rapid backward movement in the game. Critics who know how to mod say they would be happy with a way to mod backward movement speed.

At the end of all the metaphors about strawberries, mangoes, pineapples, and parallels about spam-crafting it really just comes down to how people like to have fun and in that sense the criticism is perfectly valid. TFP IS removing the old fun and it IS disappointing to those who enjoyed that fun.
Being one of those critics, I may repeat what I already said: I would not at all mind some alterations to the mechanic, as long as the playstyle itself is not destroyed. I still want to have that satisfaction of shooting running zombies in the head while I'm running myself.

If falling would be possible, I'd propose a mechanic like this: The chance of falling is increasing over time and can be reset by stopping for a while, either running forward or standing still, in any case, the backward running key has to be released, say for something like 5 seconds. So running backwards is mostly save for a while, maybe... 5 - 10 seconds, but if you wanted to run for minutes, the risk would grow and grow. Very arcady and gamey and unrealistic would be if you could decrease the risk by killing zombies. So you'd get a reward for precision.

I guess because you are not pimps staff. Period. Nothing fancy at all.
Cheers
Call me crazy, but I find that argument a lot more adorable than my request. *shrugs*

you can still run and gun, you just have to do it in the direction non mutants can run (i.e. forwards)
Oh, realism had been mentioned once or twice already. Did you know the game's chainsaw is powered by a car engine..? As long as there are such absurdities in the game, realism is quite certainly not the reason for any changes or removals. And in this case, the reason is to have the player die more often. The creative minds over at TFP studios think the best way to achieve that is to cripple the player.

 
@kub

1 block crouch is most definitely moddable. At least 2 different methods.

Check Medieval Mod and any of Sphereii's mods.

 
@kub
1 block crouch is most definitely moddable. At least 2 different methods.

Check Medieval Mod and any of Sphereii's mods.
Lemme guess: It's dll modding or SDX? The stuff with the long and steep learning curve, that allows modding things that aren't meant to be modded by the devs? If not, I'd love to learn how it can be done with XML modding.
 
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