Three points that will change the gameplay and replayability.

[SabinSnake PS5#1]

I haven't been playing this game for long. I like its potential and flexibility. The in-game settings are set to maximum difficulty from the start—I haven't even tried the others. The point here isn’t to forbid doing something, but to limit stake spam and diversify interaction with the world. We don’t complete trader quests because they introduce significant imbalance; in the end, you become not a survivor but a hoarder.
It would be different if the trader simply shared interesting rumors with the player about locations in the style of: "I heard that workbenches/weapons/electronics were delivered to that warehouse," and so on.
As for stakes, a limitation is needed, but not an explicit one—for example, making their placement take longer, like an upgrade, 3–5 seconds. This wouldn’t hurt building and would reduce spam. People instantly chop down a tree and fill hordes with stakes, getting loot without any effort. But later, they either hide in a bunker or lose because all that time they weren’t really playing the game but trying to outsmart it.

But in a real life zombie apocalypse scenario, you would be a hoarder, cause it would be every man for himself then and people would more than likely kill eachother for food, water, medicine and weapons and ammo to survive. Not sure if The Walking Dead is a good example of how society would be like in a real life zombie apocalyptic situation, but i'm sure it's pretty dam close.
Edit: If you want the game to be more challenging, get rid of airdrops! In an apocalyptic situation, there wouldn't be any airdrops, period. Unless somehow Arizona is the only state in the entire US that's affected by zombies and is somehow conveniently quarantined from other states around it (which makes no sense).

 

[Suxar]

But in a real life zombie apocalypse scenario, you would be a hoarder, cause it would be every man for himself then and people would more than likely kill eachother for food, water, medicine and weapons and ammo to survive. Not sure if The Walking Dead is a good example of how society would be like in a real life zombie apocalyptic situation, but i'm sure it's pretty dam close.

In real life, the corpses would rot within a year. And in the cold season they would simply turn into ice sculptures that you could just have fun smashing with a bat. As for the survivors, the gangs and marauders will not live long, a year, maximum three, and they will either have slaves or die of hunger.

You should not evaluate the game from the point of view of real life.

 

[Mr_Heavy]

Friends, we've strayed pretty far from the original topic I started. I just added my thoughts here to point out a few mechanics that could be slightly adjusted. Let me emphasize a couple of things.

I've said before that this is an interesting game, and I still think so. But there are moments that clearly break it. Regarding the abundance of loot bags — on my settings, there weren't that many until we progressed. After that, their contents became largely irrelevant. The bags could be left as a bonus up until day 10–20, but beyond that, they seem unnecessary and just get in the way.

As for the building restriction — specifically, adding a timer to placing spikes — I was trying to address the area outside the land claim block zone. The idea was that you either prepare a defensive position before heading into a location, or you boldly go and explore a military base without spikes. The concept was to prevent instant spike placement anywhere in the world, allowing it only within the claim block zone.

The drop-on-death mechanic can indeed be turned off — retrieving your backpack often takes more time than it's worth. There's an option to disable it in the menu, so no complaints there.

Regarding the source of my thoughts about the game — just open any 7 Days to Die YouTube channel. Eight out of ten videos show people throwing down spikes at the start, then grinding 200 trader quests and building an impenetrable little hut for the next 1000 days. My thoughts lean not toward restricting this mechanic, but toward making zombies hate those huts — and all other structures — with a particular passion. But work is clearly being done in that direction. I've read that in the future, zombies will be more eager to dig through the ground — very interesting.

The most important thing: everyone should play the way they want. But certain rules or mechanics could make this world more diverse and engaging. I started creating YouTube content myself precisely to break up the monotony of those cozy 2x2 cubes with some solid face-to-face defense. We're waiting for updates. For now, it's not scary yet — and a base with spikes, well, how could we live without them?

 

[Kire]

What would prevent me from bringing land claim blocks with me? Could just place them and remove them after clearing the POI. You can have up to 3 total (unless im using a mod i forgot about) before the one in your base breaks, and even that is not an issue.

 

[Riamus]

Friends, we've strayed pretty far from the original topic I started. I just added my thoughts here to point out a few mechanics that could be slightly adjusted. Let me emphasize a couple of things.

I've said before that this is an interesting game, and I still think so. But there are moments that clearly break it. Regarding the abundance of loot bags — on my settings, there weren't that many until we progressed. After that, their contents became largely irrelevant. The bags could be left as a bonus up until day 10–20, but beyond that, they seem unnecessary and just get in the way.

As for the building restriction — specifically, adding a timer to placing spikes — I was trying to address the area outside the land claim block zone. The idea was that you either prepare a defensive position before heading into a location, or you boldly go and explore a military base without spikes. The concept was to prevent instant spike placement anywhere in the world, allowing it only within the claim block zone.

The drop-on-death mechanic can indeed be turned off — retrieving your backpack often takes more time than it's worth. There's an option to disable it in the menu, so no complaints there.

Regarding the source of my thoughts about the game — just open any 7 Days to Die YouTube channel. Eight out of ten videos show people throwing down spikes at the start, then grinding 200 trader quests and building an impenetrable little hut for the next 1000 days. My thoughts lean not toward restricting this mechanic, but toward making zombies hate those huts — and all other structures — with a particular passion. But work is clearly being done in that direction. I've read that in the future, zombies will be more eager to dig through the ground — very interesting.

The most important thing: everyone should play the way they want. But certain rules or mechanics could make this world more diverse and engaging. I started creating YouTube content myself precisely to break up the monotony of those cozy 2x2 cubes with some solid face-to-face defense. We're waiting for updates. For now, it's not scary yet — and a base with spikes, well, how could we live without them?

I don't think imposing how you think people should play on other people is a good thing. You already have the options available to play the way you want to while others can play the way they want to. Who cares if YouTube creators want to cheese the game? It doesn't affect your own game. The sandbox settings that will be coming this year will give even more options for those who want to play differently from other people, including turning off traders and/or quests if those bother you and you find you aren't able to ignore them if they are there.

There is no good reason to force people not to use spikes out in the world. There are reasons to allow it. For example, anyone playing PVP will most likely not use land claim blocks (they make it easy to find bases) but will want to place spikes where their hidden bases are. And some people just want to use them. I personally see no reason for using spikes while clearing a POI, but I also see no reason why that is a problem. If anything, it's less efficient than just killing enemies. They are basically a crutch, imo. But there's nothing wrong with using a crutch if you need one or want one.

Let people play the way they want to play. You can play the way you want to play. If you're playing on a server with random people who don't play like you and it bothers you, look for a different server with people who have similar ways of playing as you do. Forcing others to play your way isn't ever going go over well here.