Why should i bother reading this entire post when you start by not even bothering to properly represent the poll results. The other poll you mention, 30% prefer it, ~30% are happy to tolerate it for the few improvements with hope the rest will be fixed (aka they dont like it as is but have hope) and the rest are ambivalent or dislike it.
ANd you never actually pointed out how my premise was faulty? Just misrepresented it completely. Responding to me actually explaining the fault in your premise with the same accusation doesn't make it true. Digging to bedrock and mass crafting was never efficient in A16, let alone the most efficient. Are you incapable of making an argument without relying on completely fabricated exaggerations? Also what is your issue with being able to do something else to level other skills when that is what this entire patch revolves around? Except now it IS the most efficient way to do everything, instead of being slow and innefficient like it should be.
Gating is not the only way to create progression, A16 arguably had more progression than A17, just because you say it didn't doesn't make it true. Especially as you can't back it up by making all the different skills you needed to actually work on disappear. There is actually a really good post in another thread that explains how gated perk trees came into being and why they are not suitable for this game style. They are an archaic form of artificially slowing progression for end game boss fights. Something this game doesn't have. They work best for story driven games, something this game is not. A gated perk system in a survival sandbox is lazy and bad game design. The old system was rich and diverse, giving varying rewards for different playstyles, the new one gives the same rewards for the one optmal playstyle. Replayability is dead with this update. Every playthrough will feel the same as the last because you don;t have options anymore.
This isn't a crafting survival horde rpg anymore, it's an action game with lightweight rpg, survival and crafting elements now.
Madmole is dedicated to the perk system because it's simple, and unfortunately, he is rather simple minded, as he has proven extensively with his response to the criticism of this update and his innability to understand why people are so unhappy.
No. 32% dislike it. 10% are ambivalent. 48% prefer it. I get that it doesn't jive with what you're trying to say but that's because what you're trying to say is flat out false.
A16 digging to bedrock and in fact mining of any sort was the best, easiest way to get get XP.
You're conflating risk avoidance vs risk taking as equal 'playstyles' in a zombie survival game. They are 'playstyles' in the same way 'running past everything to open loot boxes then running to the exit' is a playstyle for a level shooter like Doom. Can you do it? Sure. Is it going to reward you anything like what clearing the level does? No, of course not, because that would be ♥♥♥♥ game design.
You have more options now than you did in A16; just that the easiest options are no longer the fastest ways to advance. That's the issue. Avoid zombies, mine and craft for XP, fight only when you have to. On horde nights stay on the run or swim into the middle of a lake or get into the top of a skyscraper. Your argument is fundamentally flawed because you absolutely can still play risk averse you're just going to level up slower and it's less convenient because you've got to work harder to find places to hide, you can't just lock away and craft for hours day and night with no risk.
Level gating was always in since the skill system went in. What form its taken has changed. Level gating is not and has never been in any game design about boss fights. It's about slowing the rate of content consumption regardless of the form that content takes. Be that level gating areas or resources or equipment or skill unlocks their purpose is to extend the time spent within each frame of content. Unless your game design has no actual progression and all content is of equal value then the game's going to have some form of gating to slow progression to give a purpose and value to the content itself outside of top tier. For an ungated system you'd need to have stone and iron tools just as useful and relevant and steel ones or else there's no real reason to use stone and iron save for an incredibly short period while you get the resources to make steel.
Your ad hominem insults about Madmole just drill down on the same point of your arguments being fundamentally false. No idea who anyone at TFP are but I'm pretty confident that they all understand the criticisms and why, just that they realize the answers to those criticisms are not 'Gosh, you guys are right' ergo they won't make you happy. You keep couching your desire for a risk free game environment
as the default game experience. You can still do that via turning zombies off when you don't want them coming after you and back on when you do. You can make them walk at night. I'm all for a 'digging' toggle. All for a means of adjusting the XP gain you get from crafting way up via a slider.
However the default experience for the game in A17 is more in keeping with the stated design of the game on the steam page and matching risk with reward. If the intent of TFP is to make an actual zombie horror survival game with a progression of tools and weapons and goods then A17 is vastly more like that then A15 and A16 ever was.
So, again. You can still play a non-combatant and avoid zombies. It's harder and slower than it was but you can. That was not removed. All that changed is making taking higher risks pay higher, faster rewards and the ability to go to advanced tools and equipment has been slowed down, giving relevance to the early tier content.
