PC More or Less Grindy

[AtomicUs5000]

Might make an interesting play to try to avoid XP and see if I can build up stuff rather than abilities sufficiently before my gamestage brings the Demolishers!

I have been playing with the intent of gaining the least amount of xp possible since A16 when I fully understood what gamestage did... at least until I could confidently take on any horde with 64 max alive.

They made this really hard to do legitimately in A18 playing solo because of the importance of quests and the amount of xp you get just mining and building. There is a good way, but it’s ridiculous and exploits the death penalty. Keeping your gamestage low this way makes for the worst grind ever trying to loot high tier weaponry and armor, but it is possible to get nearly the best stuff before dealing with ferals and greenies. Besides, I play dead is dead, so such a method does not work for me.

So, staying away from that nonsense, the most I really do now to keep the xp gain under control is avoid killing zombies unless it’s a clear quest. For BM, lots of spike kills. It might be better to just lower the xp percentage in settings, but I would want it back at some point after I’m established. I know I could just switch it back, but I have this thing where I feel like changing settings while in mid game is cheating.

 

[Roland]

It's not about leveling up so much as playing efficiently and surviving, in my mind. If I'm going to pretend I'm a survivor in a zombie apocalypse I'm going to want to take the best route to surviving that I can think of. Survival is, after all, the name of the game and the ultimate objective.

If that were really the case you would avoid all confrontations with zombies in the first place.

Hence, the actually best method if you really want to play like an actual survivor is to remove xp altogether and simply award skillpoints according to amount of time survived. Then there would be no reason to mine, build, kill, or explore except for the value those activities give in and of themselves.

 

[Synvastian]

If that were really the case you would avoid all confrontations with zombies in the first place.
Hence, the actually best method if you really want to play like an actual survivor is to remove xp altogether and simply award skillpoints according to amount of time survived. Then there would be no reason to mine, build, kill, or explore except for the value those activities give in and of themselves.

I would love a mod that did just this, maybe have 10 skillpoints (or maybe 5 on 7, 10 on 14, 15 on 21 etc.) drop every 7 day horde survived, then its all just getting what you need to survive the week and the horde

 

[Jeraal]

If that were really the case you would avoid all confrontations with zombies in the first place.
Hence, the actually best method if you really want to play like an actual survivor is to remove xp altogether and simply award skillpoints according to amount of time survived. Then there would be no reason to mine, build, kill, or explore except for the value those activities give in and of themselves.

The best way to play like an actual survivor would be to practice making things, do target practice, exercise etc. You know, learn by doing.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

If that were really the case you would avoid all confrontations with zombies in the first place.
Hence, the actually best method if you really want to play like an actual survivor is to remove xp altogether and simply award skillpoints according to amount of time survived. Then there would be no reason to mine, build, kill, or explore except for the value those activities give in and of themselves.

You could extend on that to make it a little more interesting too. The amount of time survived could have a multiplier based on consecutive days alive. Death penalty resets it.

I think in order for this to really work though, the gamestage should be based on play time, not necessarily time survived. This way, if you don't keep up with improving your character, your arsenal, and your base, the game difficulty will overcome you. Essentially game over. Try again. Maybe you could recover after a few deaths if you really pull your act together... but it wouldn't be easy. Difficulty level would then adjust the amount of playtime required to increase the gamestage.

 

[Purpendicular]

I would say that the grind is currently appropriate if you are playing with multiple people, all having them spec in different things, forming a community. One person could be in charge of the gardening, one in charge of the heavy crafting, one in charge of mining materials, etc... and all spec in the attribute of their choice and do well.

However, if you are playing the game single player, and need one person who can 'do-it-all', then I would recommend modding the progression.xml to give 2-4 skill points per level, in addition to turning up the exp multiplier. Even then, it might not be enough.

 

[Laz Man]

Alpha18 don't give all positive by leveling. We can earn EXP effectively by just constructing/mining, but we always need something different with them. Otherwise, we'll get irradiated without descent firearms/ammo/base. This balancing is far better than A17 IMO.
I never feel rushed to earn EXP in A18, EXP is just bonus attached to looting/mining/building.

Same here. I will note though I learned pretty early that the higher the level the higher the gs. With that said, I never went out of my way just to level and I am happy with the pacing thus far. (Day 43, 60 min, adventurer diff., 12 max alive horde, SP)

Edit: I actually started with 8 max alive hordes but upped it to 12 so far for more challenge.

 

[SickPuppy]

Feels way less grindy these days and for the better imo. With the trader selling all kindsa gear and resources I'm mining way less than I used to. After 1000s of game time, mining is a real chore for me. So I buy up all the ammo and building mats, it's not enough to build a giant castle but I convert pois for a base and mainly use melee.

Building earns a ton of xp so it's not just a zombie grind fest. Maybe next play through I play nomad no base, no need to grind mats. Different ways to play the game = less grind.

 

[Laz Man]

Feels way less grindy these days and for the better imo. With the trader selling all kindsa gear and resources I'm mining way less than I used to. After 1000s of game time, mining is a real chore for me. So I buy up all the ammo and building mats, it's not enough to build a giant castle but I convert pois for a base and mainly use melee.
Building earns a ton of xp so it's not just a zombie grind fest. Maybe next play through I play nomad no base, no need to grind mats. Different ways to play the game = less grind.

Excellent point, I think I bought alot of cobblestones (relatively cheap) in the early game to save myself time mining since I'm not specced heavily into mining.

 

[Ghostlight]

Survival games should be grindy. And at the same time you should not feel the grind, because that's what survival games are.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

Building earns a ton of xp so it's not just a zombie grind fest. Maybe next play through I play nomad no base, no need to grind mats. Different ways to play the game = less grind.

I'm going to try that as well. I usually play nomad, but I mean with no base. BM in the streets too. The base has always been the number one focus for me in every game since I started playing, so this should be fun. I will miss having a coffee farm though, and I would probably need it more than ever. One thing I do normally is I place little stations throughout the world with supplies. Maybe I could extend that concept to include mini-farms of coffee.... say one every 500 meters. I feel like I need some kind of end goal now though, otherwise it's just wandering around on the map 24/7. I'll have to think about that.

 

[Ac75]

All someone has to do is look at the XP spreadsheet for A18 and witness how much XP you need to level up.

It's 10 times more grindy than ever. After lvl 20, the XP you need is exponential.

So yes, it is now much more of a grind than ever.

- - - Updated - - -

Lol......

Looking at the Poll results, I see not many of you have seen the XP spreadsheet. I saw it on Discord.

The XP requirements needed to level are very much higher than any previous version. The answer to this question is extremely easy. It's definitely more grindy with age, and the XP requirements in A18 illustrate this.

 

[AtomicUs5000]

All someone has to do is look at the XP spreadsheet for A18 and witness how much XP you need to level up. It's 10 times more grindy than ever. After lvl 20, the XP you need is exponential.

I'm pretty sure they just added a cap to that.

 

[Alphado-Jaki]

Not everyone are rushing for level cap. Once I reach level 50, further grinding is not needed. In fact I keep my 5-10 ish points when I reached 70.

I was rushed to level 150-ish on A17 though.

 

[BobTheBard]

All someone has to do is look at the XP spreadsheet for A18 and witness how much XP you need to level up.
It's 10 times more grindy than ever. After lvl 20, the XP you need is exponential.

So yes, it is now much more of a grind than ever.

- - - Updated - - -

Lol......

Looking at the Poll results, I see not many of you have seen the XP spreadsheet. I saw it on Discord.

The XP requirements needed to level are very much higher than any previous version. The answer to this question is extremely easy. It's definitely more grindy with age, and the XP requirements in A18 illustrate this.

Grind is about more than raw numbers. It's about how much you need rather than how high the number goes. And frankly, in A18, you don't need a whole lot of levels to reach the endgame. A18 is much more dependent on equipment over levels. You can easily get by with level 40 or 50 if you spec right and don't take a lot of useless perks, while level 70 is plenty good and readily attainable. So I don't buy the argument of 'it's grindier because spreadsheet' because that's not a practical expression of the grind, that's how much you need to completely maximize everything.

 

[Prodigy]

It's 100% grind.

It always has been.

The difference though?

Now, the grind feels half pointless.

It used to feel rewarding. Like, I'd have to grind, but my overall status improved, I felt I was accomplishing something.

Now? The feeling of reward or improvement? It happens at about the same pace as continental ♥♥♥♥ing drift.

Between that and overall design choices, I uninstalled about a 4-6 weeks ago I think? I haunt the discord due to enjoying the community, and seeing if they'll hopefully reverse course, but I gave up that hope as I've started seeing more items become loot gated.

 

[Ramethzer0]

I used to feel that the grind was a certain way in earlier alphas, and over time that grind has just shifted to other things. I don't feel that it's gotten more or less so, just that the focus changed.

Large POI's feel grindy after a while, partially because im not a 'run in all guns blazing' kinda guy. If you do them back to back for a while, I usually have to take a break from that, or start searching for a reason why I think I've championed that particular map.

I'm so glad though, that I'm not chopping up bodies and making epic repairs every time a horde comes around. The upside to current pathing is that the damage is way more predictable and thus easier to see where I need to do base upkeep. Before that AI was implemented, big bases like the ones I used to build could suffer damage that I'd not even see until I stumbled across it. Zeds would just facetank my bases from all angles and sometimes I'd not see everything right away.