Not even that, since min-maxing is by definition something extreme.
@Roland let's not confuse trying to be efficient to survive with min-maxing. Let me give an example:
I mostly tend to play this game with 6 rl friends. When zombie kill xp was first introduced (was even more than it is now), our merry team of survivors suddenly became bloodthirsty zombie-hungry hunters. Did they suddenly become "min-maxers"? They weren't before. No, as Meganoth said, this is a balance problem - one you can't brush off by saying "it's your choice" or "just roleplay".
RPG-related elements in the game should be purely complementary. One reason why recipe perks shouldn't be tied to leveling and survival perks shouldn't be so drastic. Player activities at a time should be more about "what supplies am I missing" and "how can I prepare to defend my base", not "how can I level faster" in the first place. And that is something that should be determined by the game design, not each individual player. And even if there is a way to gain experience slightly, as you said, more easily for these complementary elements than the other ways, I guarantee you that none will complain or "min-max".
But it's your choice whether to grind... just kidding. True. Lack of balance can't be excused with "the player chooses to impose finding the best way to level on himself". Each playstyle should be rewarded by the game as equally as possible.
With the exception of Vic's meltdown this has been an interesting discussion. I tend to use the terms min/maxing synonymously with playing the game as an efficiency puzzle. In other words maximizing xp gains by doing the most efficient path to minimize the time it takes to get to the top. I did look up the term and can see that it does mean something else. So I will not use that term any longer as that other definition is not what I mean when I use it.
I am not making any kind of judgement valuation on the new progression system for A17. I find it quite a bit of fun. I also found the automatic skill system that progressed naturally with actions without need for spending points also fun. I would be happy if they returned to that system or if they remain with this one. So accusations by angry persons that I'm somehow trying to advocate for this new system are just wrong. I'm pretty ambivalent. Honestly, I had a lot of fun with the game before there ever was such a thing as xp to be earned and when I killed zombies, crafted, built, mined, chopped, farmed, and scavenged it was simply to survive and those actions helped me do that.
My point in the OP was that there are those who say that the new system is flawed because you MUST spend points from killing zombies on perks for improving farming. I wanted to point out that because of the myriad ways we receive xp points don't have to be only from killing zombies. I went further saying that if a player wanted to roleplay the idea of learning by doing they could do that by choice with this new system. "Learning by doing" is often a buzz phraze used to describe the process of doing an action repetitively to get better at it. With the automatic skill progression people could do a lot of mining and their mining skill would increase from it. So in my OP I was saying that if that game mechanic was truly what someone valued they could simulate it easily by doing a bunch of mining before giving themselves the perk that would improve their mining. All of this would be voluntary. Nothing in my OP would in any way affect how someone else played the game.
Those who value the playstyle of efficiency puzzling out the game to find the optimal path of reaching the pinnacle of progression as swiftly as possible need not do this. I never said they did. When those who admitted to this playstyle posted and said that my suggestion would not help them I agreed with them.
The game is, of course, not perfectly balanced yet. However, for those who just play and aren't bothered by where this xp point came from and where that xp point came from the game is balanced just fine. There is zero necessity to only play one way with the caveat that I'm excluding competitive PvP gameplay from this statement.
I disagree with statements that playing less than perfectly optimally means you aren't really surviving. As you say, survival happens when you think in terms of tasks: get food and water, develop a renewable food source, find shelter, fortify shelter, get clothing and armor, secure weaponry. These are the tenets of survival and there is zero requirement to only do the one most efficient action to gain xp in order to secure those things. Playing without considering efficiency is still viable and for those who want more of a feeling of learning by doing, taking some extra time to voluntarily practice an actions before improving it can provide some fun.
Now I never intended this thread to be one for those who know they'll hate the new system to vent their feelings but I'm happy to provide a pressure valve.
