it's normal to adjust things and try them out to get feedback
That's not what's happening with these numbers for the most part, though, and you all know it. How many quests to complete a tier? Seven? No, ten? No? Seven? No? Ten? How many screamers to a spawn? One? No, two. Think we should make it three for more "difficulty"? How much of a heat index to spawn screamers in the first place? 100%? 20%? No? How about if someone sneezes --.you know, for the sake of "difficulty"? How about a "new enemy type"? Why don't we just replace all those lumberjacks with a Yeti no more difficult, but maybe more annoying, than a regular zombie. Too many? Yeah? Well, there were too many lumberjacks, too.
No. Every change is a change either to slow the player down (because zombie combat AI can't exactly be all "Dark Souls-like," can it?) or make everything sheer drudgery to do or because we just can't seem to make up our minds or...for no apparent reason, really. Too many complaints (as opposed to suggestions)? Change it back. Meanwhile, it takes 20 real-life seconds to put together a forge, complete with stone and mortar, and six real life minutes to build a workbench made of wood with no animation whatsoever. Do we suppose that's more sensible than 100 pieces of cloth to make a pocket for your jeans?
These numbers -- especially recipes and recipe numbers -- have been played around with so arbitrarily, none of them make any sense. It's ridiculous. Please, make them make sense and if anyone has a problem with that, let them mod them their liking. Kindly consider not designing your game around the preferences and playstyles and supposed "exploits" of a few YouTubers and Streamers while you're at it and we'll be good.
And those timers? My God. You'd think they were placeholders for yet to be implemented animations or "minigames," like searching a car or picking a lock, but no. They were just hella easy and cheap to put there as placeholders while the devs got on with more important things. Now? Put them there and leave them there while driving players up a wall trying to think of something else to craft or somewhere else to go, especially early game when they have few resources, while those timers run...and run and run and run, leeching away our real lifetimes in the process. I suppose we should give people "perks" to lower the six minutes it takes to boil up a few teas, so they won't notice their real lifetime slipping away. Distraction (aka "stuff to do") and time sink is all they want from a video game anyway. Isn't it...? Isn't it?
Meanwile, major portions of the game are still unfinished after over a decade in development. It's no wonder faatal has too much to do and no time to do it in. He's being piecemealed to death changing numbers from .02 to .03 and...probably back again.
As for loot bags...
The loot in zombie drops is about as cookie cutter as it gets.
When it comes to the tougher enemies, they're talking specifically about the relatively rare red (or orange depending on your eyesight) bags with a chance for a good
something. I don't get the impression people are taking on Dire Wolves -- with marked trepidation, especially early on, I might add -- for funsies. Nope. They want that loot bag. As for the rest, people are making mods to tweak those numbers -- for solo play balance opposite multiplayer numbers too ridiculous for solo; to make a modicum of sense; and/or just to their liking.
I don't make the rules. I just observe.
