So I posted this originally as a genuine question about how TFP were envisioning this system working out and when the answers I got seem defaulted to trying to defend the upcoming outfit system from someone not attacking it so I bailed on getting any sensible answers and left for a week. I still don't have an answer to my question on how they pictured this system working and can only assume they have never expressed what they thought players would do with it. If they thought they would swap outfits, mix it up or stick to one etc. So at that point the thread should have just died.
I'll be clearer this time. The devs intent is for players to use the outfits as they please. They can mix up the different pieces for four different bonuses in four different areas or they can wear a complete set to get the completion bonus as well. Players can change clothing as often as they desire or they can stick to one favored combination and never change clothes again. This is their intent. They pictured you finding farmer pants and replacing your fiber pants with them. Then you might find a miner top and you would wear that. As you find and perhaps come to craft more pieces you would wear the ones you liked best and eventually you might obtain a full set and change to that.
Did they imagine that some players would feel compelled to swap pieces on and off before doing anything so as to not miss out on the bonuses? Sure....but they rack that up to player choice. Not every player is going to do that. Many will find doing so to be entertaining. For those who feel that they MUST swap outfits constantly but hate the idea of doing it but do it anyway and are just miserable as they play....I don't know what to suggest. Therapy?
Just because I or anyone else do not like the concept or idea of these potentially upcoming outfit systems that could be wildly unbalanced or perfect in every way does not mean I shouldn't and cannot express it. My concerns did not boil into some heated anger because I saw the number 8 go down to 4 and after that all I saw was red. The only people who seem to have already come here with a predetermined opinion on the matter are the ones accusing people concerned about the outfit system as doing the same thing, saying that I can't not like it because it doesn't exist but they can defend what doesn't exist and just dismissing genuine worries as minmaxing crybabies that are just making a fuss because they don't like things changing or less options. If you cannot get past this simple idea then take your crappy attitude somewhere else.
You can express it and you have expressed it. But you do not get to express it in a vaccuum of thought. People with differing opinions get to chime in and push back and you get to push back and counter once again. BTW, I was not referring to anyone in this thread about the anger of 8 slots going down to 4. I was referring to when the announcement was first made and the kneejerk reaction to it happened. My point was not that we shouldn't discuss the upcoming feature and speculate on what it might entail. That kind of discussion is fun and creative and exciting. My point was that saying: "If so many people don't like the idea then TFP shouldn't do it" is a pointless and unconstructive line of discussion. That is the truly bad attitude stance to take. This is a development forum. We should be discussing what we want to see and what we hope to see with regards to what is being developed. "Don't develop that!" is the antitheses of what this forum is about.
But I don't like the idea of it though and I don't want to wait for the system to come out and find out that it's everything we worried about and won't be touched again for over a year until the next alpha hits
But you can't control that and this attitude dampens positive and constructive discussion on the topic. TFP has a plan for revamping the original clothing and armor system into something they believe will be better and will look better and they are going to do it despite people telling them, "I didn't ask for this so what do you think you're doing!?". Early access isn't about forming a community comittee that has equal development power to the TFP development team. It is about playing early what they choose to develop so we can give feedback and suggestions based on actual play. TFP has never listened to community input on whether they should or should not implement something. They have listened to community input on newly implemented systems to see how they should iterate on them. That is the relationship we have with them.
So why even bother changing everything anyway if at worst it could be a horrible system that were stuck with for 2 years or at best it not really impacting how we play anyway? Am I the only person seeing this as just a waste of time and resources no matter how it turns out?
They are changing it because it is a legacy system from the early days that looks bad when seen next to the other systems in the game they are polishing. They want the visual and technical presentation of their game to be as good as it can be and in their estimation the clothing and armor system is dated and ugly and the best they could do with it is not good enough for a shippable product. You have been playing all this time with placeholder mechanic and now they want to make it into a quality mechanic that will make everyone look really good and also provide more fun collection gameplay as well as bonuses. Also, since it is their time and their resources as stake-- again, it really doesn't matter what you or anyone else thinks. You are making a judgement call about their time and resources without even a clue of the full picture of what their time and resources and plans are. Its fine to speculate but what a negative and unhopeful speculation.
can we please for the love of @%$#ing god see a light at the end of this long tunnel now? Can we get that Alpha that seems to finally be shaping all the games mechanics and content into a lovely bow instead of remaking another aspect again?
What's wrong with this long tunnel? What do you imagine being different at the end of it? Why do you think that remaking aspects of the game that are not up to snuff is not supposed to be part of the development process? I'd say that revamping the clothing and armor system we had in 2014 is probably part of that process of shaping the mechanics and content into a lovely bow. How do you develop without remaking?
invested nearly 600 hours into
Playing a video game for 600 hours is not an investment. I'd call that the polar opposite of a time investment. Don't get me wrong. I waste time playing video games too. But I call it what it is....lol
Yet no matter how calmly or polite I act I could still be met with a perceived passive aggressiveness from the more active portion of the community for even expressing negativity.
And if the response to suggestions, concerns and criticisms of existing systems really boils down to TFP regardless of community feedback will do whatever they want anyway then why the hell are we even commenting here at all or bothering to give them any feedback to begin with?
At least you recognize that it is simply your own perception. I don't feel any aggression towards you. I disagree with your stance. If you view disagreement and passive aggressiveness as one and the same then why bother posting on a public board? Write your thoughts in your personal journal and you won't ever be pestered by contrary opinions.
As I stated earlier and I will state again for super clarity: TFP loves suggestions, concerns, and criticisms of existing systems and they often use that feedback to make alterations as they develop those systems. Community feedback has a huge impact on follow-up versions of existing systems.
TFP has no interest in armchair developers telling them what they should or should not do about future not yet implemented systems. Please don't spend your time on these forums telling them not to do it. Its pointless and it destroys constructive and creative dialogue. We are here to talk about development and not to demand that development not take place.
So why are we bothering to come here at all? You'll have to decide that on your own whether what TFP wants from us is what you are interested in giving. And being "stuck" with experimental partially done systems is what true early access is all about. It is proof that these developers take the early access label seriously and are not just using it for marketing with their already 95% developed game. It is a long tunnel and perhaps you didn't understand the length of it when you bought in.
It should also be said I'm not "mad" right now. So don't get the tone from my text as being mad.
Word and phrasing choices. Its probably why you felt I was attacking you even though I don't think of myself as attacking you personally. Word and phrasing choices.
And no smilies.
