Madmole has talked about legendery items many times in the dev diary. You probably heard it there.
* Clubs 4 tier +Baseball bat 3+bat
* Sledgehammers 3 tier
* Knuckles 3 tiers
* Knifes 3 tiers (i might be wrong on the tiers here) + machete 2+machete
* Stun Baton
* Spears 3 tiers
* Axes (these are tools) 3 tiers
* Pistol pistol + smg is considered same line lacking 1 tier (9mm ammo)
* Revolver magnum+desert vulture
* Shotguns 4 tiers
* Bows 3 tiers
* Crossbows 3 tiers just two
* Machine guns 2 tiers 3 tiers ak , assault rifle ,m60
* Rocket Launcher
* Rifles 3tiers hunting rifle marksman rifle sniper rifle
all i say is cross out wrong ones and pointfact you have complete chaos in weapons + tiers probably meaning you probably didnt seen some of them too much
Now this is realistically 12 ranged weapons, so in total we are sitting on 21 weapons. In a normal playthrought you will find all stone age gear in like 5 loot boxes what means that theres just not enough items in the rotation to justify any limitations.
yeah yeah day 24 i still didnt see 1/2 " stone age stuff"
Now the problem as you said is that plenty weapons feel identical is because they are practically just tiered versions and our combat is kind of "lame". Dont get me wrong i like whacking zombies but the only difference between whacking with a club VS sledgehammer is the attack speed. The feeling is missing.
The melee can easily by expanded with the following:
- Boomerangs: basic hitting animations and a throw plus return mechanic, emphasis on stun effect
- Chakrams: slashing animations with a throw plus return mechanic, emphasis on bleeding effects
- Whips: Long range attacks and big sweeping style power attacks.
- Swords of all kind: Sweeping slashing attacks and stabbing attacks
- Hatchets: Axes but throwable
- Maces: The middle ages solution to some guy wearing armor, emphasis on stun effects
- War Crime weapons: The stuff the Geneva Convention forbids like the knife what creates a permanent bleeding wound
- Metal Baton: Its not electric but hits hard creating slowing effects
- Gunswords: We are already pushing it with the blunderbuss so might aswell have one of these one-shot crazy creations
boomerang chakram hatchet = yeah lets take uniqueness of spear tby making bunch of throwing weapons with very minor differences ( boomerang especially as spear have emphasis on stun already
metal baton = 100% same as club as clubs are focusing on stuning / knocking down
whip = we already have spear uniquer by large range but weak damage .. sweeping attack is just boring minor change
mace : soo metal club with stun effect ? 100% same as what we have
sword : yeah different animation /attack degree will make it sooooo unique just kiding .. reskinned sledge that already have sweep heavy attack leading just to ridiculousexperience seeying guy witk AK on back running around with sword lol
rapier would fit more ... but still ... 0 uniquenessas both axe / sledge have quite wide aoe attacks
War Crime weapons : when people complain knives that both knives and machette are bland boring and outclassed weapons because zombies die before bleed matter .. yet someone comes with idea to bring longer ( and presumably weaker to balance it) bleed
gunsword : the only "unique" idea ... bit bizarre clumsy to use (sacrificing power attack button to shot?) probably with insanely bad stats for both sword and the gun itself (gun miniaturized + lacking barell/sword alot heavier than machette/sword because the gun)
not to mention all the mods that give you those featureson any weapon you want want more stun ? sure ... bleed on club ? no problem ... more stun on shovel ? fine burning fireaxe ? ..... we basically have enought melee weapons to feel them too similar to each other .... making base item even more cosmetic by all the universal mods
a18 example
new spear = unique by range weak dmg and throw .. throw with stun effect is only thing that makes it relevant due to unique gameplay
stun baton = club that sometimes root zombies .. pointless compared to classic club that knockdown them (more often) and with more damage
everything doubled by the fact melee weapons become obsolete midgame (significantly weaker than guns used just to save ammo on slow zombies (even fireaxe one shot those) especially now with " critical injuries" when zombie hit you for 1 dmg and you lose 25-50 from injury instantly leading to people playing safe = ideallyf rom range more than ever
The idea is that by expanding the avaible choices of the player you can still limit their progress but in a less apparent way. The current looting system seems to be created for the sole reason to slow down early gameplay so players realize later that theres no endgame but at the same time it manages to make players realize just how little stuff we have.
I heard somewhere here that its in the plans to release a "legendary" tier weapons something like T7 equipment unique and hard to find only in the designated pois.
Im not sure where i heard it maybe it was from
@meganoth, i cant remember exactly so if i mixing stuff up sorry.
well endgame exist ... its actually too long as chasing perfect roll t6 is slow enought to bore you ( god i reached day 150+ in a18 withou seeing t6 military leg armor thats better than my t5

)
they slowed looot like this because people had high tier weapons /steel tools during first week often most tools iron /steel during first day making stone tools completely pointless and progression close to none thats why they first locked crafting them behind high tier perks... just to realize they can be easily looted and slow down loot in next alpha
a17 locked steel weapons to level 80+
a18 removed lock on level because people cried but removedthose tools early from traders and force us to get parts for them
a19 delayed steel tools in loot = they appear more and more commonly after week
t7 doubt ... they may or they may not but they made many steps to make t6 legendary tier ( its not sold at traders, it cant be crafted, its single tier with most mod slots= t1=1 t2-3=2 t4-5=3 t6=4) so you basically have to loot it from high tier chests and its forced to be unique