[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

2 hours ago, Roland said:

No more playing drunk…

is this another puzzle?

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

If TFP is in need of new names for the Flurry Of Blows perks that are gonna be in each tree I have my suggestions

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

I am lost

[Alpha 21 Discussion Overflow]

4 minutes ago, Roland said:

 I think you make some assumptions that aren't true:

 

 

 

The hydration system change is anything but a streamlining change. Attaining hydration security is now a much more complex and goal oriented process than it used to be. You are essentially building a water farm and until you are able to get it implemented there is a scarcity of water that forces you to make choices about how you will utilize your water. I encourage you to change your jar recipe to make jars harder to craft and see if that yields the same results as the A21 change to hydration survival.

 

 

They develop through iteration and they always have. Maybe you didn't pick up on the pattern until recently but it is how they have done everything since the beginning. Maybe if they would have done all their iterative development behind closed doors so you never witnessed the intermediate versions you would be a lot happier. But they have allowed those wishing to participate in early access to go through the process with them. I've personally been very intrigued by their process. I learned early on not to let myself get too attached to any one version of any particular feature. I think most who are still enjoying the development of this game are of this same mindset.

 

 

So what? Why should they listen to masses of people who have never tried it and have only heard incomplete descriptions of it and who are filling in all the gaps of their knowledge with the worst case scenarios that their worried minds can concoct? The game has had some form of learning by reading mechanic since about Alpha 11 and this is the latest iteration of what has already been part of the game.

 

 

The purpose of the change was not to simply make it harder to obtain large amounts of water. It was to give murky water more of a presence in the game, to bring glass jar containers into alignment with all other containers in the game, to add a new type of farming to the game, and to make water survival more interesting. Having played the system, in my opinion, the change they went with accomplishes all of these things.

 

 

The 600 quality levels and the new system are so completely different from each other that it really shows your lack of understanding of the new system which is fair since you haven't been able to play it. What is not fair is to act like you understand both equally and so can lump them together as the same thing. Even in the 600 point system once you got your stone axe to 600 your fireaxe and steel axe were also automatically 600. The new system is different in that you are going to progress through the quality levels for all tiers of weapons and tools which not only means more crafting but also means no automatic skipping of about 70% of the progression. The depth of crafting the new system adds is completely fresh and not at all in any way the same as what might have been lost when we went to 1-6 quality levels.

 

 

Bandits have always been referred to as bandits even during the kickstarter campaign. NPCs were also mentioned and were inclusive of traders and bandits. Followers were considered but ultimately dropped.  Everything I have read and written about bandits is that in their first iteration they will be basic-- like zombies with weapons but that would simply be the very first implementation of them. Now that they have been pushed to A22 they will probably be more sophisticated. But I have never read a single official source that has stated that the dev's intention is to make bandits like zombies with guns and end there.

 

 

Nothing has been completely revamped or redone from scratch. Everything has evolved from already existing versions. I know it makes it sound so much more dramatic to say but it just isn't true. You show me a system you think was redone from scratch and I will show you how it developed over time from one version to the next. Even the new learn by reading system which was a dramatic change simply separated the crafting recipes from the perks and used magazines to unlock them. Nothing about the concept is a complete start over from scratch. The perk trees remain mostly the same from A20. I guarantee that nobody is going to be confused about how to use a magazine.

 

 

This I agree with. Building is a lot more simplistic than it used to be. That was definitely a tough decision the devs had to make. Both Joel and Rick enjoy the building aspect of the game and see it as very important. Only they can say why they decided to streamline the building the way they did. They obviously want plenty of shapes to be available (there are many more coming in A21) but for some reason the various upgrade paths weren't as important to them.

 

Shado's gonna hit Roland with the:

[Alpha 21 Discussion Overflow]

15 hours ago, meganoth said:

 

Advance engineering improves mining? What strange mushroom have you been smoking

 

 

 

Well it does reduce the cost of the things you make in the forge like forged steel and cement. So in a wider sense it does get you more final resources for what you mine. It's a lil bit of a stretch but i see it.

 

EDIT: are mushrooms smokable?

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

 

Whoa mama! Hummina hummina hummina bazooooooooing! *eyes pop out* AROOOOOOOOGA! *jaw drops tongue rolls out* WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WURBLWUBRLBWURblrwurblwurlbrwubrlwburlwbruwrlblwublr *tiny cupid shoots an arrow through heart* Ahhhhhhhhhhh me lady... *heart in the shape of a heart starts beating so hard you can see it through shirt* ba-bum ba-bum ba-bum ba-bum ba-bum *

[Alpha 21 Discussion Overflow]

17 minutes ago, MechanicalLens said:

Overall in my opinion this change regarding Sex Rex is a fantastic design choice and should encourage build diversity. Mining tools wasn't covered in the changelog, so I assume that Miner 69er will govern their own individual stamina reduction bonus per rank.

 

Yes, and it's gonna make the shovel cultists even more zealous.
 

20 hours ago, Roland said:

As you perk into tools it also reduces stamina use so Sex rex has been incorporated into tools as well.

 

[Alpha 21 Discussion Overflow]

20 minutes ago, Matt115 said:

Removed : throwing spear,  water, now this - no this is "classic" elements -  like guns in toilets. "balance" I think is the best favourite arguments here with "make game funnier" - no - better to just some things as they are because are unique - most games don't have spear throwing, i think jar huting (because you lose them during making food) was pretty "meme" but in positive mean - sexual T-rex with miner 69ner was "meme" too. It's like - fix roarch in witcher 3. Could be done but better to left just because is classic. But nah "maker game funnier"

 

"most games don't have spear throwing"

Rust, Medieval Dynasty, Ark Survival Evolved, Conan Exiles, The Forest and pretty much every other survival game which has spears, has throwable spears. It's absolutely not a certified 7DTD original concept. "Classic" cannot apply to spears in this game anyway they were added like 3 updates ago. Throwable spears are not to this game what diamonds are to minecraft.

 

 

[Alpha 21 Discussion Overflow]

55 minutes ago, SnowDog1942 said:

@Roland

 

II like the sex rex change ALOT, it frees up skill points.  Also,   not unlocking recipes via skill points also frees up points (which is also amazing).   This must feel great to play more freely and have points to spend.  However-- does it make the game way easier since you have tons of skill points to spare and put wherever you want?   or are there challenges that offset this?

 

IMO the freeing up of those skill points could make more playstyles more workable. All the crafting and combat bonuses of STR and INT likely had a disproportionate amount of players putting most of their skill points in those trees.

Maybe TFP wanted to even it out a bit more and make the previously weaker weapons more enticing now that strength doesn't have the jewel that was Sexy Rex?

 

As for the skill points freed up by Learn By Reading, i wanna guess and say that the new crafting system is going to be brutal(ly annoying) and will make that a lot harder and traders have obviously been nerfed a bit now too. So while our builds will be easier to make and more workable, the progression seems to be balanced much slower in A21 (from what we've seen obvs)

 

So my guess on how it's gonna go would be:
-Making a well rounded character is gonna be easier/faster.

BUT

-Getting better gear and general survival (thanks to water rework) is gonna be harder.

 

Which tbh, is a welcome change for me because this is meant to be a survival game so the main factor of your survival should be your own actual player skill rather than your characters in-world skill.

 

Maybe Roland will let us in on their TFP insider wisdom and confirm or absolutely smoke my wild speculation.

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

2 minutes ago, Roland said:

Those responses read as a pure desire to be helpful and not as any kind of mansplaining condescension. Maybe you should just relax a bit since you’re claiming to just being cheeky in the  first place. For someone who simply posted out of snideness you seem a bit too defensive about not needing to be taught anything.
 

I learned something from them with my thousands of hours so I’m glad they responded from a place of loving the game and wanting to share. 
 

One man’s pure pointless masochism is another man’s pure challenging delight. Just turn down the difficulty to the point you feel using intellect and agility works for early game. That way those who can play those builds at a tougher level don’t lose their….masochism. 
 

The trees don’t have to be equally proficient in exactly the same way. That makes them play differently and maybe for one particular person they can play insane nightmare using clubs but might only be able to manage warrior jog using knives. Changing the knives just so he can finally do knives at insane nightmare ruins it for others. 

 

ya im probably just being cynical and jaded, assuming everyone is talking down to me to be fair. My bad BFT

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

5 minutes ago, BFT2020 said:

 

FranticDan has already made some very good points, so I won't repeat those; but I will add some more that I use when I play:

 

Ladders in hotbar are a must (to quickly climb up walls) along with spike traps.  Roof tops are great if you get into a pickle and crouching while using it to block their line of sight causes them to lose interest in tracking you down.  Spike traps are great to get them to damage / kill themselves and slow them down.  I have had times where my line of placed spike traps delayed some zombies that sensed me with Feral Sense on.

 

Inventory management is required - if you are encumbered, you are asking to become a zombie snack.  Secure storage boxes ready to place down are a must.  Only carry what you need right that moment, don't worry about building up resources for crafting later game items.  If it isn't something you can use that minute, then it is better to come back for it later.

 

Crouch / walk most of the time.  You need to spot the zombies first, getting that first sneak shot arrow hit is key - headshot is best.

 

Go slow at first, especially beginning game.  Pick out easy POIs to clear out first.  First week as I am trying to get armor, better tools, and weapons, I will only do one POI a day (60 minute days), unless there are two low level ones next to each other; but I always leave time to get back safely to my night location as quietly as possible and undetected - which may require backtracking - a lot.

 

If you are playing with the 4 easy perk points at the beginning, I tend to spec into Deep Cuts (Q2 bone knife and slow on bleed), Cardio (stamina regen when running), hidden strike (for extra damage), and parkour (for reduced jumping stamina).  From the shadows is also a good one to get them to lose interest in your faster (along with archery for better bow and damage).

 

One zombie is easy to handle if you follow the above.  Two is tricky, but doable.  Three or more, it is better to use ladders you already placed in strategic areas to get out of harms way and try to get them to ignore you.  Then pick them off with arrows (sneak damage).  Zombie dogs - forget them.  If you haven't seen me yet, back off unless you got a lot of arrows and a high ground they cannot reach.

 

Don't engage zombies just to get extra XP.  If they are running away (like a wandering horde), let them be.  Right then, they are not doing anything to you, so why not just let them go?  🙂  Don't get focused on that one zombie.  Hit them and run away, keeping an eye for any additional Z's that get interested in what you are doing at that moment.

 

You make a mistake and it will cost you, maybe even to the point you die.  But that is the whole point of Insane / Nightmare speed, to challenge you. 

 

It's just like a youtube comment section. You make a snide remark meant to be taken as pure cheek and someone takes it as an invitation to talk at you for 6 paragraphs. So THAT's where those comments come from? Neato.

 

I have thousands of hours. I'm aware of everything you are saying, my point is that having to do all that when a club or sledgehammer just has to left click is an indication of some kind of a more optimal playstyle. Your grand strategy of using a pipe baton is a house of cards that is frustrating to play, and at what benefit? Being still weaker than a strength build? Pure pointless mashochism.

 

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

13 minutes ago, BFT2020 said:

 

Both knives and batons are great early game melee weapons, but are always complained about in the forums - probably because they are not OP like the clubs which don't take much to use.  Both weapons favor hit and run tactics which seems a tactic that others don't want to use.  Also clubs are more forgiving if people get in a pickle so more likely chosen over viable alternatives like the baton and knife.

 

I can't recall the last time I used the club as my main melee weapon, I just know I had one until I was able to get my hands on bones to make a bone knife or materials to make a pipe baton.

 

How exactly are we supposed to hit and run if we're playing a difficulty setting where the zombies run at the same speed as us (or even faster)? You mean hit,turn around and run and then get hit 3 times while you run away? Only to not have enough stamina to attack back? because we ran?

Great. Fantastic Insane-Nightmare strategy. Works 100% of the time 0% of the time.

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

1 minute ago, Morloc said:

 

 

You're really taking a chance there without the Sugar Butts!

 

 

-Arch Necromancer Morloc 💀

I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING GAAAAAAAAH

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

8 minutes ago, Jugom said:

Still nothing about the "C", huh.

EDIT: wait.. I get and even like stamina being tied to the weapon. no more perk in strength regardless or what melee weapon will you use. 
but how will that work with stamina drain while sprinting?

 

Sexual Trex doesn't currently do anything for stamina drain while sprinting so presumably it'll be exactly the same?
The stamina perk for sprinting is Rule 1 Cardio in Fort.

Sexy Rex currently reduces regular attack stam drain by 25%, power attack drain by 50% and gives 30 stamina on kill. No sprint related stuff at all.

Or did i misunderstand the question?

[Alpha 21 Dev Diary]

Watch this guys I got this.

 

Hey there TFP.

 

*eats some sugar butts (or whatever you do to them, chew them? idk im sure i'll be fine)*
*puts cigar in mouth*

*eats pumpkin cheesecake*

*drinks grandpa's awesome sauce*

*takes better barter rank 5*

*pulls out 44 magnum (not loaded :])

 

Give me specifically the alpha 21 update. I'll give you 20 dukes and 2 really neat pictures of a goose.

 

Do you accept my bartering offer?