PC Surprisingly, they did listen

[Kalarro]

I was reading the a18 patch notes, and they started with this:

we combed through hundreds of community reviews and forum posts to compile a large list of the most common Alpha 17 feedback. You spoke, we listened, and committed a ton of effort and resources to address what the Team and Community felt needed improving.

Since I had been reading the pinned post where they listed a18 features, I was already angrily mumbling for myself thinking "yeah right".

But then I started reading the patch notes, and I saw several things that I hadnt read before about a18, and indeed they were things the community (me included) asked for / complained about a17.

XP Earning & Balance. players primarily play as one or more play-style archetypes that we have identified as The Killer/Looter, The Quest/Builder, The Builder/Gatherer, and/or The Miner. The testing team painstakingly played build after build purposely playing as these archetypes and collecting XP earning data, recording and analyzing the results

The team taking the time to really classify and annalyze the speed at which different archeatype players earn xp is amazing.

Stamina Balance

In several posts from somebody complaining about early stamina, Ive read devs answer with mroe or less: deal with it. So even if it wasnt any of my complaints, it's a nice surprise to see they really took the complains seriously

We heard many comments about zombie amounts in POIs and biomes in Alpha 17, and we also heard about the lack of smaller POIs that were simple to explore with few or no zombies.

OMG I can't believe this. Why the hell would they not say anything about this in so many months. This is such good news. Im one of those who while I love the new POIs, I miss the old ones. I love beeing able to quickly raid some POIs instead of every friking one beeing a dungeon. I cant believe they didnt say: ok, we will make this. It's such good news.

We’ve added classic item schematics back to the game

Again, asked by a ton of players, but unlike the other points this was no surprise, they said long ago they would do this. Seems to have turned out very well.

we added a swing arc to detect hits along the path of the weapon

This is frakin amazing. I didnt have any trouble hitting the right way, so Im not happy bc it will be easier. I just felt wrong. This (if done right) will make mele feel much better.

New Random World Gen

again, asked a lot, but not a surprise. I really hope it's good, since I only played random before a17 bc how good it was and only navezgane after a17 bc how bad random was.

Now there are brand new 3d surface boulders of each ore type identifying where matching ore can be found below

THANK YOU. When I saw one of the first perception build videos of Joel , I couldnt care about anything else but the new surface ores he showed us. AS a builder+gatherer type of player, this is one of the best changes.

The update seems absolutly awesome. I didnt list everything by far, just wanted to mention the things us players have been asking for on the forums. One big thing missing tho, a17 AI behaviour on horde nights. I have lurked this forum and subreddit a lot, and I can say that about 50% of the players who post didnt like the new AI. So they missed quite a big thing to tune in this awesome list. Even so, Im very happy with a18 patchnotes, much more than I would have thought, very nice surprises.

 

[Khulkhuum]

I think they did tune in the AI a bit, but i may be mistaken.

Considering all of the other points, there is simply one thing to say. TFP wanted to work in peace. Whatever they would bring up (from the ton of improvements and new things), it would sound like they were bending under the community pressure. They needed to talk things through, design the systems better, test various scenarios and come up with the best solutions.

Giving them some peace and quiet, but especially time to work on things resulted in a grand update that most (if not all) will like. I sincerely feel that way. Not everyone is perfect and people make mistakes. Maybe they rushed A17 a bit or had some grand idea about the changes they brought, but perhaps didn't polish everything enough wanting to give it to the players. Now they spent the needed time to put in all of this and also be sure to weed out the most annoying bugs.

There will be bugs for sure, but i'm 95% sure the result will astonish everyone. Me included.

 

[crazywildfire]

They did work on AI from my understanding and from what it looks like in the videos. Now it is still the same AI it isn't like it used to be before A17 but it looks as if it is improved from A17.

A17 was a big remake with the new unity and stuff. Looks as if they ran into more issues with it then they imagined. They got things in it they wanted just not how they actually wanted them to work and such. Kinda think of A17 as if it was A1. They got it into the game now they can balance and such from it. Sure A18 isn't going to be perfect and will still have work that will probably be done but it sure does look like it is in the right place now. Imo

 

[Kalarro]

Yes, in joels last videos the AI doesnt seem to do as much of a conga as it did. I only played until a17.2, it does seem better in those videos.

It still seems to me that it's way more efficient to try to make a ramp or any other contraption than a sturdy 360؛ perimeter defense, which was the cool for me thing tho.

 

[Khulkhuum]

I think still in A16 i made a kill pod of a "sturdy" concrete design. Small area surrounded by half blocks with just enough space to stand in the middle without being whacked from outside. Let's just say that was a very baaaaad idea...

Surely making a big, above ground "bunker" with at least double-block thick walls would be way better. On the other hand, it's still an enclosed little space that promotes zombies simply bashing on all of the walls. I still prefer standing above Zs and shooting them down, sometimes raining liquid fire on their heads.

 

[merlinfire]

The devil is of course in the details and we'll have to see how the balance looks, but overall from the patch notes I would say this will be a very good patch and addresses a lot of my biggest concerns.

 

[eXSe]

From what I've read, A18 will be a significant improvement over A17... at least for me. I guess the Zed AI is work in progress, but there are MANY things they've addressed and fixed that have bugged me.

Release the experimental Kraken!

 

[Hawk-X51]

The refurbished RWG looks amazing! I don't post much, but I reckon the skill and dedication that went into restoring the world to its former glory (nay, surpassing it!) deserves a few words of praise. The long wait was completely worth it and I'm super excited to jump back in on Monday. I knew y'alls wouldn't let us down! :hug: