You have to look at the game with fresh eyes. To those of us who played the game with no loot caps it feels punishing to now have those things but for a brand new player who never played the game any other way, loot caps are exactly the type of exploration incentive that will make the game fun. When they learn that the burnt forest will have better loot and then the desert will have even better loot and then the snow biome will have even better loot and then the wasteland will have even better loot they will want to go to those places with higher risk for the higher rewards.
It is possible to shake off the old way and embrace the new. Some people are able to do it better than others. If it is impossible for you then you can turn off the biome progression and still have the storms. But if you can manage to forget about how it used to be there is a lot of fun and the idea that as you explore into the more dangerous areas you will find better loot really is a much better mechanic than being able to find everything everywhere.
The other plus to this is that people can more easily control the way they play the game. If I want to mostly craft everything then I can stay in the forest and find books that will eventually push my ability to craft beyond the loot caps so I won't be finding stuff that is better than I can craft and I can play a very crafty style game. But if I like finding the good stuff and don't necessarily care about crafting my own gear or don't want to wait until my crafting ability progresses via magazines then I can push ahead into the tougher biomes and find loot beyond what I can craft and play a more scavenger centric game.
I agree with the sentiment, but a few caveats.
Loot caps are not, IMHO, what make exploration fun in a sandbox game such as this and I think that is evident enough with the feedback from the community both on you-tube and on the forums. What does make exploration fun is encouraging players, not through hard caps, but through adventure. Exploration is fun because you are excited to see new things, new biomes, etc. There in lies the issue. There is nothing really new in the biomes save for 1 new enemy in the desert and snow biome (a step in the right direction mind you).
The other issue is the lack of interest in a lot of the biomes for many. Also, some prefer the look of the Forest and don't like the high tinting of the Burnt Forest or Wasteland as an example. I think both of those biomes could use some overhaul in their aesthetics. This is subjective, but that is another reason why loot caps shouldn't exist in the way they do currently.
I think whenever you reach the next biome tier (in this case whatever represents the badges) the previous biomes should then match your current biome tier (badge). So if I were to unlock the equivalent of the Wasteland Badge and have all the badges the Forest Biome and all other biomes should match the loot stage. I don't see a need other than arbitrary to force people to play the rest of the game in the Wasteland. You can keep some semblance of progression without forcing people out of viable biomes. You can say whatever colorful language you want at the end of the day it is disadvantageous for the average player to build in the forest biome at game stage 300.
Also, smoothies and badges don't seem to be the correct way of going about it. Change the badge slot to a biome gear tab and use quests/rare reward items to fill the gear. For example you could use a Thermal Suit with 4-5 pieces, Radiation Suit, Hazmat Suit, and U.V. Clothing or something to that effect.
Furthermore, I would make such gear be progressive as in a little investment can allow you to visit for a run, a moderate investment can allow you to live there with downsides (such as needing more water/food) and a full kit would allow you to live there freely with no weather limitations.
This combination of gear combined with questing/looting would make it more logical and impactful. It would make more sense and would increase the duration of stay in each biome to get an actual reward, not something that can be accomplished in 30 minutes. Furthermore, since you could still play in the biome, but with restrictions it wouldn't hinder free progression nearly as much as the current model.
Now let's talk about the storms. They seem very neat. If you could see them. Having to hide inside removes the fun of storms to a degree. You can do one of two things IMO. The first is to keep the duration and appearance similar and have them show up more frequently but only last a small duration. The difference is that the gear you get would mitigate and eventually remove the damage taken. At worst your visual acuity would be hindered and possibly movement speed. In this way you can actually see the storms and play inside them without having to hide in a hole or house. The second would be to increase the severity of the storm as it goes on and at maximum threshold it deals damage and you need shelter, but the storm is longer in duration and rarer in occurrence. In this way you still get to participate in more of the weather phenomenon and only have to hide in actuality for some of the storm's duration.
All of this combined would be my dream fix for the new content. As it stands now the storms seem to be tolerable but, I will always have biome progression off because I don't enjoy all of the biomes equally. The Wasteland being the worst aesthetically for me anyway. I know I can toggle it off but I still think the core concepts have value they just could be better implemented.
It would be the perfect POI for the zombie clown I made for my "ZombiePack" mod, all the variant colors of clowns spawning in there, haha, fun and terrifying at the same time.
. Pretty please hehe
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