PC Zombie loot - negative economic review

What up, my brother from another mother! I agree with everything you said.
I thought I would hate zombies not dropping loot, too. 30+ hours into A17 and the state of the loot game is better than its even been.
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Same here. My OCD required me to hack up every stinking zombie corpse in A16 (of course I always had max blade skill, phear my shiv!). A17 Ain't nobody got time fo'dat!

To other people - Yes, bones were an issue, which they very quickly fixed with the animal gore blocks.

Being as biofuel isn't a thing anymore, fat is a non-issue. I mean how many torches/candles does 1 really need?

 
On bones: There needs to be a viable and replenishing source for them –AKA proper loot containers that can respawn loot. A few carcasses strewn about are going to vanish within a few days on an active multiplayer server. It's a "Cars 2.0" situation. Hell even for a singleplayer game the current availability of bones tanks players who like to mass produce stuff.How about giving the function of viable bones source to some of the more underwhelming (loot wise) POI, like the cemetaries and the funeral home?
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Hmmm...didn't think about that. We seem to be the only group on the server we play on. There's always animals. Make zombie dogs great again!

 
Let´s be honest. The only thing really worth to deal with all the bodies you gotta clean up, was guns. And they shower you with guns in A17. They are everyhwere from day 1. Had 9 firearms on day 3 in the morning. Including a .44. And i wasn´t even trying to get guns. I just played.
All the other loot was not so good tbh. Can all be found elsewhere easily.
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False, it was all about the BONES for me... Have to make paper for shotgun shells to put in my turrets!

 
I honestly don't mind the change as it lowers the amount of looting and busywork with harvesting bodies and lets me focus on exploring and being a murderhobo.

I just wish drop rates were a bit higher than 2% but like 6~10% would be prob fine.

 
On bones: There needs to be a viable and replenishing source for them –AKA proper loot containers that can respawn loot. A few carcasses strewn about are going to vanish within a few days on an active multiplayer server. It's a "Cars 2.0" situation. Hell even for a singleplayer game the current availability of bones tanks players who like to mass produce stuff.How about giving the function of viable bones source to some of the more underwhelming (loot wise) POI, like the cemetaries and the funeral home?
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Like the idea of more bones in POIs. Also, how about adding it so that all zombies have an X% to drop a loot bag that has X amount of bones, rotten flesh, and fat?

 
You do realize that bones and fat just lie around everywhere? Loads of carcasses everywhere. I think it´s even more bones available now, at least very early in the game.
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We'll see but keep in mind those random scattered gore blocks don't respawn. So the long term bone source is from animals. Idk if it is enough or not, not enough data yet to say.

 
I would like zombies to drop more clothes and other everyday items
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Agreed! While I think that the amount and type of loot zombies were dropping in A16 was both generous and unlikely, I do have a problem with 98% dropping nothing. I've never been wearing fiber clothes much past noon of day one before, and now it's day four before I had a coat, shirt, pants and shoes. Every zombie but the stripper has clothes and yet I can't take them any of them? I know most of it might be disgusting, but if it comes down to freezing or wearing stinky, I'd choose stinky. Survivors can't be picky.

 
New zombie loot is one of rare things i like on A17. I was bored to have to loot 50 corpses at end of red nights, and i find pretty exiting to see one of those new bags loot. Just make them to stay way longer, of even forever till looted, please.

 
Agreed! While I think that the amount and type of loot zombies were dropping in A16 was both generous and unlikely, I do have a problem with 98% dropping nothing. I've never been wearing fiber clothes much past noon of day one before, and now it's day four before I had a coat, shirt, pants and shoes. Every zombie but the stripper has clothes and yet I can't take them any of them? I know most of it might be disgusting, but if it comes down to freezing or wearing stinky, I'd choose stinky. Survivors can't be picky.
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Stinky? Downright unhygienic...you'll get zombie cooties for sure! Realism aside though (because ♥♥♥♥ realism) once you get a duster and BDU top & bottom you're done now. It isn't like the clothes sell for good money or have variety of colors & styles for the vain like A16. Getting that duster feels like an accomplishment now too since they seem somewhat rare. Getting some decent clothes is now a worthy early game activity almost up there with your first cooking pot. I actually after a couple nights freezing my ass off up on the roof of our base said "♥♥♥♥ this, I am raiding a house for clothes!" and even though I didn't find my black duster, I was thankful to find a sweatshirt and shorts (not to mention a ton of pigs, man that was THE house to pick...bacon and eggs for everyone for days!).

I'm happy with the loot now, it used to be a chore. Hell I don't even take the looter perk now.

I do agree the bags need to last longer though, sometimes hard to see them until it's too late.

 
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In the real word you could kill a Zombie and wear his underpants..
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You really want to touch a live strippers g-string, let alone an undead one?

Not like the good old days when a shot of penicillin cured everything...

 
You really want to touch a live strippers g-string, let alone an undead one?Not like the good old days when a shot of penicillin cured everything...
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They could be collectibles in the game.

 
You do realize that bones and fat just lie around everywhere? Loads of carcasses everywhere. I think it´s even more bones available now, at least very early in the game.
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Not enough, and they don't respawn. Regardless, I still want to get the bones from the zombies. It has a little bit of a Witcher appeal there - hacking up the monster for its parts.

Being as biofuel isn't a thing anymore, fat is a non-issue. I mean how many torches/candles does 1 really need?
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Bones = glue

Loot was removed/changed because the gore blocks you were looting were clobbering performance for some people (they never despawn until hacked up). And there was a dupe exploit associated with them as well.
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Goreblocks did not lie around forever - they unspawned after a short time. I'm aware of the exploit - I experienced it by accident once or twice, but that is a reason to fix it, not remove it entirely.

 
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I've had 3 or 4 Z's drop loot, for me they were all sleepers, because that's all that I try to kill unless an active one starts headed towards me, this new game I've got a bloated Z dropped some N-V goggles!

I look at like this, I'm going to try to retrieve my arrows anyway, so I need to go to where the Z fell, they normally don't drop loot so I don't have to worry about spending 6 seconds to find out this Z had no loot anyway, and now the backpack they drop is a bright yellow, so you can't miss it if they do drop loot.

I'd say TFP needs to change the backpack to green and red, because now it feels like Christmas when the Z's do drop loot. :D

Not that it's a bad thing, I don't mind the change to no loot, because I'm still playing like I did before, only killing sleepers so I can get the loot that was left behind in POIs or out in the world.

 
I'd like a config entry that lets us set the percentage of zombies that drop loot.

I can see the merit to the economy argument of having loot delivered by a blood moon but the "realism" argument of that is bunk. The infinite loot comes from the infinite hordes. And the harder the zombie, the better the loot. That is as it should be. Otherwise there is no compelling reason to waste ammunition or resources on killing them.

As for loot in buildings, people can still loot buildings for those schematics that are functionally useless. Why, I've just spent hours looting buildings for schematics, finding that I was too encumbered to make it home alive due to the enormous weight of 19 pieces of paper... only to find that the schematics aren't actually schematics. They're ingredients for items that you STILL can't craft because you don't know the recipe. If a schematic is not a "recipe" then it is scrap paper. Useless.

Please also give us a config setting to return schematics to their role as schematics or, better still look up the word schematic.

Also in my wasted hours, I came across some curious (and absurdly heavy) pieces of paper that imbue the reader with special powers like the knowledge of how to use pockets to carry more things without being slowed to a crawl. Unfortunately, something about these papers grants the reader amnesia that causes them to forget what was written before they can make practical use of it. The absurd weight of these papers and their nondescript appearance means they're impractical to save for an opportune moment. Scrap paper is already too abundant. Curiously, the amnesia doesn't affect the ability to read maps or craft basic items. If only there was an intellect perk that made readers NOT forget vital information. Also curiously, selling this scrap to the trader seems to make him forget that he's supposed to be an impolite bastard. Some obviously think this is a satisfactory trade off. I don't.

 
So I got to level 120 (starting over again now) and into the day 40s. Loot stops being an issue pretty early on because there's so much to be had in the environment.

Zombie loot is XP. It's more valuable than anything you will ever pick up. In the new system you can consistently craft better stuff than you find; by like level 60 or so (out of 300) you're making better weapons than you ever find.

Not having to chase down and search every single dead zombie (you'll kill thousands) is a relief in the end. I like the new system, I don't miss zombie loot and have plenty of whatever I need by level 100 or so.

 
I like the zombie loot in current form. At least when something drops it is useful. I do not like that once I find a shotgun messiah that I walk out with 7-10 guns. That kills it.

 
On bones: There needs to be a viable and replenishing source for them –AKA proper loot containers that can respawn loot. A few carcasses strewn about are going to vanish within a few days on an active multiplayer server. It's a "Cars 2.0" situation. Hell even for a singleplayer game the current availability of bones tanks players who like to mass produce stuff.How about giving the function of viable bones source to some of the more underwhelming (loot wise) POI, like the cemetaries and the funeral home?
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Having bones in the POIs you mentioned is a great idea that should be implemented as a matter of course ...but that doesn't address the problem you've described. The bones will be cleaned out of the POI and you're back to sitting around, stuck for bones until the loot magically respawns.

If the problem really is performance issues caused by gore blocks and the suggested fear of players being overly-rewarded for the number of zombies they kill, then in my opinion at least, it's a poor attempt to solve it. A solution that works is allowing the bodies to be hacked up in the time it currently takes them to despawn. The bodies should take 3 or 4 hits from a stone axe to be harvested. They currently have 1000 hit points. Reduce it. If players don't reach the bodies in time, they lose their chance at loot. Performance not hit, economy not flooded after every bloodmoon, some interesting base design and gameplay challenges introduced.

 
As I understand it, this change is for two reasons...

1) Zombies dropped too much trash that nobody wanted anyway.

2) Performance. Too many gore blocks, which are essentially containers that probably use a lot more memory than standard items.

I think in A16, they made it so that if the gore blocks fell onto each other, one would get destroyed... but it still didn't really solve any problems.

Here are my thoughts and what I would like to see:

1) Either keep this system of dropping bags or put back dead bodies, doesn't really matter to improve performance considering #4.

2) Go back to zombies dropping loot of specific type. The zombies lack character without this.

3) Increase the probability of dropping loot just a tad. The items don't have to be awesome every time... just keep it less garbage. But, some garbage sometimes is good too. You have to keep the lower level player in mind. The probability and quality of items should be influenced by difficulty of zombie at least a little.

4) If bags/bodies pile up or are next to each other, let the items from each merge into one to reduce container instances. This means increasing the available space inside each container a little to make room in case this happens, but it keeps the number of these containers at a minimum.

 
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