Alpha 18 feedback and balancing thread

[KidInTheHall]

I stopped reading here because you need to respect my time and limit forum conversations to something most people can digest. A hammer would have some knockdown capability which as an INT guy that would be the most valuable. A bleeding zombie is still a dangerous one, so if you were smart (INT) you would want something that slows them or incapacitates them IMO.

 

Damn (n-word-wtih-the-a-at-the-end), that was kinda rude. You don't have to read everything all at once, just either ignore it or make a mental note to come back to it. (n-word-wtih-the-a-at-the-end) was just trying to be helpful.

[Guest El_Thac0]

Perception is about laying down land mines to take care of the zombies you can't kill in time with your rifle. The problem is they don't give XP so nobody wants to use them. You have to use choke points with a perception build too and let them pile up at a framed doorway where you can penetrate several with one shot. That combined with pick up land mines should be pretty fun and effective, and you should get a silencer for your sniper. We have some stealth improvements planned as well so you can get multiple stealth shots off if you are shadowed and hidden at a good distance.

 

You might want to move the 'pick up mines' perk lower in the tree then. Right now it's at tier 5 of The Infiltrator which takes a long time to get (and the first 4 levels of that perk aren't very interesting).

 

I like the idea of the careful sniper laying down mines as insurance, but then if you don't miss any shots you have a bunch of mines in your way unless you're very leveled up (10 PER + level 5 perk).

 

 

Edit: Had a thought. Caltrops. Made from iron without a workbench. You can place them on the ground and pick them back up with E. If anything steps on them they break and cause a bleed. Bleeds cause a slow so you've got a simple level 1 'mine' you could perk early in that playstyle.

[dcsobral]

Random stats and quality stats on armor is bonkers, and I don't know a single person outside these forums who doesn't think so. What I think would make sense, and still be close to how it's presently implemented, would this:

 

* Armor ratings be spaced out by at least 2, and random stats be a fixed +/- 1, instead of percentage. So good iron armor can equal bad steel armor, for example, but no armor can beat the protection rating of the next tier of armor. Or, have it go from -2 to +2, so a good ones can beat bad ones, but still with armor rating spaced out by 2, so scrap iron can never be better than steel.

* Have quality influence effect resistance, mobility, stamina and noise, since good fitting would improve all these things in real life, so it makes sense, and it makes quality more relevant without changing the armor rating itself.

[iamnuff]

You might want to move the 'pick up mines' perk lower in the tree then. Right now it's at tier 5 of The Infiltrator which takes a long time to get (and the first 4 levels of that perk aren't very interesting).

 

I like the idea of the careful sniper laying down mines as insurance, but then if you don't miss any shots you have a bunch of mines in your way unless you're very leveled up (10 PER + level 5 perk).

 

 

Edit: Had a thought. Caltrops. Made from iron without a workbench. You can place them on the ground and pick them back up with E. If anything steps on them they break and cause a bleed. Bleeds cause a slow so you've got a simple level 1 'mine' you could perk early in that playstyle.

 

That would actually be really cool.

You can technically use spikes for this, but zombies path around them and removing them afterwards is a pain because they have four(?) stages of health, so you need four hits, even with top-level tools.

 

There's a barbed-wire item in game (barbed wire over wood), and there used to be one that was flat like a glass pane, but I think that was removed.

Frankly, the one that's still in, is just an inferior wooden spike. Having it be place/pick-up like a chair, but only have one hit-point as a trade-off could make for a trap that's useful out in the field.

 

Or like a roll of razerwire. have it drop in a line 3 blocks across by one block thick.

Each square of it has separate hp but it can't be picked up (because picking it up when it's half-destroyed wouldn't make sense)

That'd be useful for blocking off corridors in a hurry.

 

The Light-Foot perk that lets you walk over mines without setting them off should make you immune to it too, so you can walk over your own traps.

 

Plus, unlike mines or caltrops, it wouldn't be very easily to lose in the grass and then step on without noticing.

 

Frankly, I'd be happy to trade out a tier of landmines for that. We don't need four(?) different kinds of landmines.

[iamnuff]

That is completely subjective. Some developers may love it and get whatever out of it. A lot of developers know what they want and are simply looking for like/dislikes or problems players have. Other developers don't care and read nothing or only read what seems related to their own job.

 

MM was and I am letting you know that we as a general rule skim or skip over large posts. That lets you know, you can keep writing large posts knowing that we may only read the first paragraph or two or you can put what you care about most, up front in a smaller post, knowing you have a better chance of one or more of us reading it. If I'm posting on a company forum, I would like to know that.

 

Also, we do only spend x amount of time per day reading these forums. Everything posted is competing for our attention and a lot of it is never read by a dev. You want to get read by a dev, then I would post in a manner that gets their attention in a good way.

 

I can make one big post that gets straight to the point, or lots of little posts that say the same thing but in twice as many words, because I need to keep stopping/starting over and over again.

 

Sure, you could read five small posts in the time it takes to read one large one. So what? Does that mean that the five smaller posts are more worthwhile to read than the large one?

Depends what those posts contain, obviously, but you can't know what they'll contain before you read them.

 

You can say that the 'value' of a post is subjective, but unless you're running a poll with a simple thumb-up/thumb-down binary answer, then bigger is better, because more information = more useful, in almost 100% of cases.

 

Even that is missing the point though. You don't have to read the post. Like I said, there's no obligation here. He could have just skimmed over and ignored it.

Like you said, not all posts get read on this forums, because it's luck of the draw what catches the developer's eye. That's an unspoken agreement that you sign up for when you decide to spend your time trying to make useful posts in a place like this.

 

There's no call to be rude though.

Wasted effort is one thing, belittled effort is another.

[Gazz]

I can make one big post that gets straight to the point, or lots of little posts that say the same thing but in twice as many words, because I need to keep stopping/starting over and over again.

The main problem with a feature that is presented in "a long post" is that it's usually way too complicated and over-designed to be of any use.

[DaVegaNL]

The main problem with a feature that is presented in "a long post" is that it's usually way too complicated and over-designed to be of any use.

 

.. Like the current hunger/health/thirst/stamina system?

[agrastiOs]

.. Like the current hunger/health/thirst/stamina system?

 

I don't see how the system is overdesigned. Plays fluid to me.

Less HP?Medicine.

Less Stamina? Eat.

Water drop? Drink.

 

That's really the basic gist of the mechanic. All what is needed to know.

[worf3k]

questing

 

Hey guys!

 

This is our feedback thread, please post suggestions and feedback on A18 in this thread.

 

For ideas outside of balancing please visit our dev diary.

 

For any bug reports and the latest known issues please visit our bug report thread.

 

Find the A18 Release notes on our official website.

 

We hope you guys enjoy Alpha 18!

 

questing in alpha 18 is really bad the rewards suck the xp sucks even more now that is the only complaint i have besides the trees having 1 hitpoint on accasion and popping in out of no where.

other than those two complaints i'm loving alpha 18 over all.

[faatal]

I can make one big post that gets straight to the point, or lots of little posts that say the same thing but in twice as many words, because I need to keep stopping/starting over and over again.

 

Sure, you could read five small posts in the time it takes to read one large one. So what? Does that mean that the five smaller posts are more worthwhile to read than the large one?

Depends what those posts contain, obviously, but you can't know what they'll contain before you read them.

 

You can say that the 'value' of a post is subjective, but unless you're running a poll with a simple thumb-up/thumb-down binary answer, then bigger is better, because more information = more useful, in almost 100% of cases.

 

Even that is missing the point though. You don't have to read the post. Like I said, there's no obligation here. He could have just skimmed over and ignored it.

Like you said, not all posts get read on this forums, because it's luck of the draw what catches the developer's eye. That's an unspoken agreement that you sign up for when you decide to spend your time trying to make useful posts in a place like this.

 

There's no call to be rude though.

Wasted effort is one thing, belittled effort is another.

 

I think you missed my main point. It does not matter how you or your friends or the president would want to read something. You want to get read by devs? Do it in a way they will most likely read.

 

If I say I only read blue text, then you best be posting in blue text or it is not getting read.

 

Yes, we should all try to not be rude, but we all need to remember that we all have bad days (sick, tired, frustrated, the crap of life....).

[faatal]

questing in alpha 18 is really bad the rewards suck the xp sucks even more now that is the only complaint i have besides the trees having 1 hitpoint on accasion and popping in out of no where.

other than those two complaints i'm loving alpha 18 over all.

 

Questing will get better.

 

I'm pretty sure the tree issue is from using an a18.1 game in a18.2. I don't think new chunks you visit will have the issue or a new game.

[wolfbain5]

Questing will get better.

 

I'm pretty sure the tree issue is from using an a18.1 game in a18.2. I don't think new chunks you visit will have the issue or a new game.

 

incorrect, started new world in 18.2 with wife in MP my server. she still get them, I dont

 

new world as in newly genned. also, ending up with the occasional poi with rooms filled with clay or stone

 

edit: this is with a game wipe and file validation

edit 2: this was also going from 18.2 exp to public, which should not have made a difference

[beerfly]

Questing will get better.

 

I'm pretty sure the tree issue is from using an a18.1 game in a18.2. I don't think new chunks you visit will have the issue or a new game.

 

+1

 

I Confirm that it does happen that way.

 

Wipe is good before update guys (not you devs), everyone bring the risk when avoiding it in a matter to continue latest game.

[beerfly]

.. Like the current hunger/health/thirst/stamina system?

 

Cheer up. Will be better in A21

[beerfly]

incorrect, started new world in 18.2 with wife in MP my server. she still get them, I dont

 

new world as in newly genned. also, ending up with the occasional poi with rooms filled with clay or stone

 

edit: this is with a game wipe and file validation

 

Oh, I started new one on my second account, day 4 vanilla, also wiped and verified, gonna go nomad anyway and will explore if this exist. I am interested. Thanks for adding the edit.

 

P.S. non wiped version from a18.1 to 18.2 have the problem, till day 4 on wiped version on the other account is not yet found. (fingers crossed)

[Deathknight68]

Hello guys!! Me and my friend has an issue, the wood and the iron hatch is buggy can't place it without it being destroyed.

We are playing on the experimental version.

[Perlin_Worm]

Unless you have XP cranked up to max or play in a party that just isn't the normal use case. I don't start seeing ferals until about day 28 and they are sparse. Radiated until level 40 to 50... demolishers even later. What settings do you use to get GS so high so fast?

 

Sorry I did not mention. I am playing MP with two others, all default settings. It is absolutely chaotic on day 21.

 

Would also like to congratulate you on a very successful alpha. The game is downright fun and addicting now.

[Jay_ombie]

It should be compulsory to start a fresh game and map if you play on RWG at each build.

 

Its the only way to be sure for clean reports and error referencing.

 

So far, new game 18.2 and no issues to report. (so far)

 

 

I did find a purple pistol on day 2 I think it was, that correct (seems way to generous) ?

[Perlin_Worm]

Deleting old saves is also a must from what I recall

[AKMrTumnus]

This is likely in the works so i apologize for any reiterations of previous conversations. Melee hit boxes aside; which work wonderfully for me on either hosted P2P, dedicated server, or joining my friends. I think that the range of melee weapons is perfect and requires a bit of skill to anticipate and react to Z's that have been struck.

What I think would add great balance to the game is additional skill books for each of the melee weapon types. I've seen talk of spears, but sledges, stun batons, machetes, etc. Need some additional bonus'. Currently the baseball bat is the most superior weapon due to the ability to get those additional perks from Batter Up. Which i love! But no other weapon sees those benefits (of course all ranged weapons have their skill book).

Otherwise this game and the community are fantastic. Cannot wait to see the additional changes that come with the rest of A18 and moving into A19.

[dcsobral]

Deleting old saves is also a must from what I recall

 

That I don't understand. Why does the presence of old saves causes issues on a new game?

 

For bug reporting I use a 7d2d shortcut that sets UserDataFolder. That way I can painless delete the bug-reporting UserDataFolder, without forsaking my saved games.

[rdunham3]

I did find a purple pistol on day 2 I think it was, that correct (seems way to generous) ?

 

There is a very small chance to find exceptional loot, including purples, any time. It's like winning the toilet lottery.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

That I don't understand. Why does the presence of old saves causes issues on a new game?

 

Generally it shouldn't and doesn't, but there was that one alpha where it did matter. Something about reading the save games for the list of which one to load up and continue caused a problem. As a matter of paranoid caution this and other events have caused the generally accepted wisdom that saves, configs, previously generated things of all types ought to be purged between version changes. Some even recommend deleting and reinstalling the game.

 

Voodoo is also unreasonably popular.

[rdunham3]

Hello guys!! Me and my friend has an issue, the wood and the iron hatch is buggy can't place it without it being destroyed.

We are playing on the experimental version.

 

If it's being placed somewhere that doesn't really have support it will sit for a moment, then fall. However, putting support beside or below it should let it remain in place. For underneath, try a ladder. For beside, any supporting block ought to do. I like doing both...even if it's just a plate or something similar on one side. I've done so in both 18.2 alpha builds and had it work fine.

[dcsobral]

Voodoo is also unreasonably popular.

 

I see nothing unreasonable with supernatural solutions, given the supernatural nature of the problems.

[MarcusBrutus]

You want to get read by devs? Do it in a way they will most likely read.

 

If I say I only read blue text, then you best be posting in blue text or it is not getting read.

 

 

Might I ask, WHY isn't this information included in the forum rules?!?

 

Also limiting the post lenght might do the trick. If 10000 characters is too much for you, maybe a limit of a 1000 characters will get the message accross?

 

I only ask since I'm new here and I wrote my initial two post in detail because ... I could.