Roland

I WAS being careful there

I agree and so does TFP. That's why the streamer event is only 2 days out of the 30-60 days A21 is likely to sit in experimental and then the 300 - 500 days that the game will sit in stable with various 21.x updates being released. You and everyone else will literally get months and months of time to experience A21 firsthand and report any information/opinions you develop about it. Next to that amount of time, 2 days is nothing. Just think about the fact that this same A21 version you want to get so badly right now is the exact same version that you won't care about in a year's time (give or take) when the streamers are playing A22 for a couple of days....

Many other users will have weeks and months to access the content and report bugs. Trust me that there will be some left for you to report after those first two days. I agree that if the experimental build was only for streamers during the entire period of its cycle and everyone else would only get it once it went stable then that would be ineffective. But the two days are simply a celebratory marketing event that also serves as a soft launch before it goes out to everyone. The streamers aren't even expected to report bugs. They are asked to simply play and have fun with their audiences.

On an upcoming undisclosed weekend…. Friday Afternoon: Streamers get the password to download the A21 experimental build. Saturday: 1000s of people enjoy participating in streams of A21 by watching gameplay footage, chatting with other fans about the game, and interacting with the host— especially via twitch integration for those who utilize it. Sunday: The fun continues Monday Morning: The event ends Monday a few hours later: The experimental branch which has likely been updated with any last minute quick fixes based on viewed issues, is released to everyone. 1) Fun for 1000’s of people 2) Soft Launch to 200 before full launch to tens of thousands helps smooth out the full launch 3) Many new people are introduced to the game 4) Many existing owners of the game get inspired to re-download it and play 5) many emergent bugs are noticed and tickets created as TFP staff watch various streams 6) Helps get the game trending in social media algorithms 7) Devs get to interact with many fans as they visit and chat in various streams 8 ) Fun for 1000’s of people

Yes. It is all a work in progress. What they showed will be released with A21 but there will be more work done in the future. I'm sure they plan to bring dismemberment to additional zombies.

You also won't get as hungry while driving! 🤣

Sorry RipClaw. I've been calmly answering the worried speculation for days now since the stream. Even people (not necessarily you) who have read my posts assuring them that it really isn't as bad as they are fearing come back in a new thread and voice the same fears again as if they never had the conversation with me. That's why I'm mostly convinced that the more part of the negativity about this change is simply that we are going to have to pay for something that used to be free. No one wants to admit that openly so they keep bringing up fears that the damage is too much and the car will explode and destroy all their loot over and over again despite being assured that when they play it they will see that it isn't bad at all. You can drive off-road in the wasteland all you want and plow into zombies all you want just like you can fire your machine gun all you want but your ammo for using your vehicle in that manner is repair kits. Too bad your machine gun can't ever explode....

Suggestion: Take a full stack Suggestion: Drive around the 5 scrap iron blocks instead of over them. People are letting their worries overcome their good sense. Why shouldn't you be punished for driving willy nilly over and on top of and through every obstacle you come across? Why shouldn't you be rewarded for driving well and effectively by avoiding such things? Going off-road and avoiding damage in the forest, snow, and desert biomes will be relatively easy. Going off-road in the wasteland and avoiding damage is going to be harder and you are going to pay for the choice to do so in repair kits. How MANY repair kits will depend on your skill as a driver-- as it should. If you aren't very skilled as a driver and don't want to have to repair a lot then stick to the roads and paths with your vehicle. This is classic risk/reward gameplay with player skill factoring into the costs. This is game design 101. Nerfing the damage down to where it is negligible and players don't have to use skills and good decisions and good planning and it doesn't matter because at most you'll just take a bit of damage that you can always repair when you get back to base isn't a good feature. There needs to be actual risk and an actual cost for how and where you choose to drive.

I only meant that his answer was correct. Of course you should. Why wouldn’t you? Don’t you usually have a few repair kits on hand for weapons and tools? All you need to do is add more to the same stack. I actually already used my vehicle inventory for a slot devoted to repair kits anyway before this change. Why does a developer need to suggest packing repair kits when going to the wasteland for a player to figure out that they should? If you notice a wandering horde and want to take them out with your car I suggest repairing it to full strength and then watching the percentage carefully as you kill the horde so you can drive a ways away and repair as needed before continuing to kill. I suggest eating when you’re hungry <shrug>

Yes you would. But people are acting like there is a chance for the vehicle to explode at any bit of damage. You have to let your vehicle get into negative numbers and then the chance for exploding starts and it is only a chance. Why would someone let it go that far? Like ever?

Asked. Answered. Those streams are the opinions of those streamers who haven't played A21 yet. You could probably find at least a dozen people who think that the hunger rate is too high or that stamina usage is too high or that radiated zombie regeneration is too high. If those people had the talent and equipment to stream then you could say pretty much all the streams are saying those things as well. I do have to repair my vehicles more often than A20 but not that much more often. If they reduce the damage then there will be almost no significant difference and then why have the feature? People have been asking for a difference between going off road and staying on the roads and now there is one.

The value is the same as before. All the reasons you went off the road remain the same reasons you will do it in A21. The only difference is that there is now a price where there was none before. You feel the price is too high after watching a video in which the point was to damage the vehicle as quickly as possible to show it off. You may still feel the price is too high after trying it and that’s fair. It’s a tough balance like food. Some players feel the game is already too tough where food is concerned. They feel their fun is limited by stamina constraints tied to hunger always being a concern. Other players feel that hunger is barely relevant for survival it is so easy to overcome and maintain. We get feedback for easier food gameplay and feedback for tougher food gameplay. So do we make food even easier than it currently is because some feel limited by the current balance? I hope not. Normal driving—even off roading in the forest, desert, and snow biomes hardly damages your car unless you accidentally run into something. Then you’ll need to repair it. If you want to go rampaging on zombies you can but you should bring some repair kits to pay the price for that choice. Off roading in the wasteland is going to be more damaging and have more risk of collisions so bring extra repair kits. I’ve never had a vehicle even reach zero on me. I usually repair after it dips below 50% and that is not frequently having to be done.

All this boils down to is just annoyance at having to pay for something that used to be free... Its a good change. If it had been this way from the start you wouldn't even bat an eyelash. Everyone always ends up with stacks of repair kits. Adding new risks to this type of game is always a win.

If it helps at all I’ve never been close to having any of the vehicles blow up. It’s just too easy to repair them long before the risk occurs. I guess if you forgot or never noticed it could happen but as soon as you started seeing smoke you could just quickly repair. It’s practically instantaneous to do. None of us are going to play like we saw them do in the stream and so the damage builds up quite a bit slower.

We allow both. You are correct that streaming lends itself best for the short window of the weekend but there are some who make videos and don't stream and we let them do that.

Perfect! Have fun. See you when you return.

Don't call me Nathan.

Again, it is unknown whether they will decide to polish up the 3rd person perspective and make it a full option or whether they will drop it. Probably depends on time.

Our competitors are in trouble...

First of all, I did not say maybe July or August or maybe next year. That was all you. I said maybe June. That is really the latest it could slip to in my opinion. Secondly, what do you do? That kind of matters if you are going to compare your profession to video game development. Thirdly, what competition is there in the video game industry that would cause customers to fulfill all their gaming desires and make it so they can just replace this game with another one? So what if they get tired of waiting and go play something else? That's exactly what they SHOULD do. They can always return to play this game again later. People rarely leave a game forever and "take all their money with them"-- especially since there is no ongoing payments customers have to make. All updates are free. The way you are making the scenario that customers will either buy/play our game OR buy/play our competition's game is pretty silly. Most will buy/play both if they both look like something they want to play. Fourthly, "may" was given as an estimated target date and most people want to know that information so even though I can't say with certainty that they will be ready during the month of may--until we hear differently it will remain May. If we get past May 15th then I will probably change it to May-June. Sorry, I don't understand your hot an push sentence. I don't get what you think I was trying to do with my statement you quoted. Someone asked if there was an exact date. I posted the four possible dates in May it could be with some considerations to think about for some of them and then I said that it could slip to June. If that is some kind of "hot an push" maneuver then you'll have to help me see it...

That's what I meant...you can place multiple active LCBs in A21. How many are allowable can be set by the server admin.

It’s not known yet and all their focus right now is getting A21 out the door. My gut tells me there is a good chance character customization will get the axe for this game and there will only be presets. But I could be wrong. Animals are way down the list. I think they will spend every moment for A22 on finishing the human characters in the game.

Pick from May 8th, 15th, 22nd, or 29th. I think we’ll know in the next couple days if it is the 8th or not. Weekend of the 15th is Mother’s Day. Weekend of the 29th is Memorial Day which is typically a day off for TFP. Im guessing it’s either the 22nd or it’ll be June. Of course, mothers can turn like anyone else so maybe the 15th. Safest is to assume June honestly and then be pleasantly surprised if it happens this month.

Seeing as the opening quest of the game is a multi-stage quest, it is certainly within the realm of possibility for them to do more of those. I hope they will. I really hope they make the process for fan created multi-stage quests to be easier. Those would be great modlets to be able to add to an otherwise vanilla game.

Oh good. I thought with the new chunk reset option they were going to allow multiple LCBs for the first time since they removed them. I didn't realize they were enabled in A20. I agree that they are unlikely to make any changes to the base game that will alter the PvE experience. PvP will have to be a different mode or the game will need to be modded specifically with PvP players in mind. I'm surprised that there aren't more mods that remove the elements of the game that get in the way of PvP and add in elements that benefit it.