Hello Guys.
I honestly think you are merging a lot of topics here. I see balance and difficult stuff, but also immersion and "reality like" points. This is kind of not productive. I would split up this way:
I) Balance and difficult are about tuning and changing parameters. For instance:
-Change the drop rate of something.
-Change the value of purchase.
-Change how long it takes to produce or how much material it needs to do so.
In this particular case(AKA.: Dew collector) :
If dew collectors are too OP (as in, provide too much water in too quickly). You can basically make them hard to be acquired (considering the early, mid and late game). Or make them provide less water per time.
II) Change immersion and reality like. For instance:
-Add a new game mechanic for something.
-Change/Remove a mechanic that doesn't fulfill it's purpose.
-Encourage or not something in game with rewards or in place mechanics.
In this particular case(AKA.: Dew collectors):
If they are not immersive enough. You could add a game mechanic that would fluctuate production according to weather. This would make them less predictable and reliable. Or a feature that the filter has a lifespan (like real filters do). As they are used, they become less and less effective, taking more time to fill up the dew up to the point it provides only 1 murky water a day. You could add the possibility of craft a purifier (using sand + coal + silver + nitrate). This would add an upkeep effort to dew collectors in mid to late game.
Now... a personal feedback regarding the new water mechanic:
Before:
-Honestly. Water before was irrelevant. It was easy and not immersive at the same time. You would start with a single water(with a glass) and you would basically need only a lake or a pool and a campfire to be self sufficient about water. Even with glasses and other stuff, you would basically accumulate them so easily and so quickly. And that make a lot of sense.
-Think about it, Plastic and glass bottles are literally everywhere around us and inside the game too. There are trash bins, trash bags, backpacks all around the place. The same didn't happened with most of the materials and craft in game. How did you carry sand, wood, food (yeah, no plates there), glue, and on and on.
Now:
-Cooking pot is in deed a priority and at the same time, something once you acquire some you no longer need to worry about. That makes sense as a balance perspective because you have to focus on searching it. And also from a immersion perspective since once you have acquired a few (in house kitchens) you no longer need to worry about.
-Dew collectors are much more coherent than grabbing water around and boil it. Boil water is not as the same as filter it. Imagine how much dirty, junk, and diseases would be in a pool. Or in a river that zombies swim inside. From a immersion perspective, do make a lot of sense IMO. In a balance perspective, I still think it´s better than before. But still require improvement (a lot).
-Not worry about containers such as glasses do make a lot of sense to me. From a balance and difficult perspective looks like something extremely complex to manage variables. For a immersion that would not be felt, since it would be handling like just another craft component. This overthinking in containers would make the game less fun and would require a lot of effort to feel really immersive. This effort is better applied elsewhere.
-I do not like the dew collector generating heat. I do understand it is a balance thing. But not a good one IMO.
Here are a list of few suggestions for the current water system:
1) Make dew collectors be affected by biomes and weather. This would make them less reliable and less predictable. [This is a high effort one and the last one IMO]
2) Remove Dew collector heat since they are the most passive thing possible. It's not immersive. [Low effort]
3) Use a wood burn like mechanic. Instead of wood, gas or paper. It would require water purifiers [Medium effort I think, its a already in place mechanic but it would require to be clone it and change it).
4) Water purifiers requires, as a "expendable material" that would "burn" in collector dews to be craftable. Stone, Sand, plastic, nitrate and maybe even silver could be a thing. [Low effort].
5) Add the water purifier recipe somewhere to be learn (maybe workstations, or one of those special books of survival). [Low effort]
6) Add air purifier to be scrapped form water filters around the map. [Low effort]
With this suggestions. I think it would be a immersive thing but also would require a upkeep effort. It would not only be build and go there once or twice a day to collect. 7dtd in mid to late game is also a time management challenge, having an upkeep would make it a tradeoff to have a lot of them around.
What you think about these suggestions?
