So, the new perk system. Quite the point of contention. On the whole, I find I don't like it though. Here's why:
1) I dislike the way they're organized. While the idea of having 'stats' that govern particular 'perks' is common in games like Fallout (which is what I think this alpha was very heavily influenced by) it doesn't make much sense in a game like this. Skills you commonly use in the same playstyle tend to be spread across multiple stats, and not in an equal way, which means some playstyles - especially base-builders and treasure-hunters - require their points spread all over the place while others, especially combat characters, only need to focus on 1-2. This works in games like Fallout because you start out with points spread across multiple stats, which means you can easily enable a playstyle that needs multiple stats right from the beginning, but you can't do that in this game. This greatly handicaps multiple-stat builds without slowing down combat-lovers at all.
2) The level-gating. Some things are gated so high that by the time my friend and I are more or less operating with impunity we still don't have them unlocked. Now, this would be a bigger problem if not having those things actually mattered, but we've found that by the point we're at even getting steel doesn't even feel like an achievement. It's not meaningfully better than what we're already using for how long it took to get. Gone is the feeling of 'Hooray, steel! Let the games begin!' as it has been replaced with 'Steel, about ****ing time.' The fact that steel tools don't seem to be a big improvement over iron ones (I found a Q6 steel fire axe and I can't feel the difference between it and the Q4 iron one I've been using the last 60 levels) sucks all the achievement out of it. And everything else that can be made from steel unlocks way before steel itself does, and usually doesn't need steel to be repaired, so I can just harvest steel or buy it from traders and the end result of being able to make it is profoundly unsatisfying. This is all on top of the fact that we've resorted to actively luring screamers to our base and letting them howl their little lungs out just to farm experience so we can progress, which is less 'survival horror' and more 'MMO farming.' Even clearing PoIs has nothing on Screamageddon.
3) While there may be an increase in potential choice (I haven't run the numbers) there is a sharp decrease in practical choice. Some perks are so mandatory that you have to take them and some perks are so useless that you only take them if you want a challenge. Further, some stats are essential, some are sub-optimal, and there is significant optimization built in to the system which eliminates meaningful choice. As an example, eventually everybody is going to want a high Strength. Regardless of what you're doing or how you're playing Strength and some of its perks always help you. You dig faster, break things better, melee harder, carry more, and use less stamina while doing it. Strength becomes less of a choice and more of a requirement, it's just a matter of how much you take how quickly because you will eventually take it and will eventually max it. Now let's look at Intelligence. Everybody is going to want it, but almost everybody is going to rank it up to exactly the same point at exactly the same time every game. Since quality level is largely meaningless, crafting speed bonuses don't persist if you walk away from a crafting station, and most Intelligence skills either situational or effectively gated behind Hammer and Forge, you generally only want as much Intelligence as you need to grab the next level of Hammer and Forge and you want to get it as close to that point as possible because there is no other point to taking it, barring certain very specific trader-oriented builds. Finally, let's look at Agility. For my playstyle, and indeed for most of them, the most valuable thing you get from Agility is the bonus from taking points in Agility itself. Most of the perks aren't great for general use (the sneak perks are okay) because they either become redundant quickly (Rule 1 Cardio is obsolete the instant you get a bicycle) or actively make things harder (Melee is already damaging and janky enough without trying to use Charging Bull) that the only reason you bother taking Agility is to get more Stamina, and I'll be honest, I'm playing as a builder - the most Stamina-heavy build type - and I still don't feel the pain from having never invested in it at all because my activity is gated more by stamina recovery (which this doesn't help) than by maximum stamina. This means that SexRex, under Strength (which I already want for Mother Lode and Miner 69er), actually helps me with Stamina issues more than Agility does. Where's my motivation to invest in it early, or even at all?
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TL;DR version since I'm long-winded sometimes:
1) I don't like how the perks are organized and think it could be improved by orienting them more towards their intended role than making an arbitrary stat.
2) Some things are level-gated so high that by the time you unlock them you either don't need them or can't make good use of them because you've grown used to not having them. Steel is the best example.
3) The new perk system eliminates a lot of meaningful choice because there are strong incentives to optimize and several very obvious points of optimization.
