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Alpha 19 Dev Diary


madmole

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5 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

There are A LOT of blocks in 7D2D that need "side-glue" to be removed (e.g.: like bags of cement sticking on the wall from the side) so that the game will feel more realistic.

As long as they know, I could have went to that next platform and got that cement there too but after what happened I gave it a look, said '%$^$ that' and moved on.

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 Now that I've had some appreciable playtime invested in the latest experimental version I wanted to offer up some feedback on looting and traders. 

 

 First both me and a friend invested two ranks in lucky looter early on and in the early game stage this seemed to have no appreciable effect on loot that we discovered, but once we reached about game stage 25 everything took off. Suddenly we were finding tons of level 6 stone age gear, such as one chest containing 2 level 6 blunderbusses and 4 level 6 pieces of scrap/padded armor. That we're swimming in tons of level 6 stone age gear while only scratching the surface on finding level 1 iron age gear is screaming for attention for a little bit of fine tuning in the transition stage. 

 

 Secondly I was a low level (about 3 or so) upon completion of my first T1 trader quest yet had an immediate choice of 200x7.62mm rounds or 10 pipe bombs, with no points invested in trader rewards. Forgetting about the extended stone age aspect I took the 200 rounds but it was moot as I immediately discovered a lvl 1 AK-47 in the secret stash section for 400 Dukes, which was one T1 quest reward plus selling a couple of items. So much for using stone age weapons. 

 

 Quest Rewards remained very odd afterwards in choice, in one span of turning in 2 Tier 1 Quests at once I had the first choice between either (1) Chrysanthemum Seed Recipe or (200) 9mm Rounds and then either (1) Chrysanthemum Seed Recipe again or (200) 7.62mm Rounds. With me and my friend always taking the ammo rewards in those instances we've never run short on ammo, even taking horde nights into account, and so subsequently our forge has yet to be fed any diets of brass or lead. 
 

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5 hours ago, STyK_ said:

You must be late to the party. I've wanted everything better for this game, I give TFP #$%^ for the choices they have made that I believe are detrimental like candy over the skeleton key or a parachute, tower defense pathing, pretty much anything that takes away from realism and emersion, the problems with the all powerful frame, issues with pvp they don't want to bother worrying about till later, rules and balance ect. I even asked to be a tester back in A16 but got passed over. I don't want it to stray any further from what would make it a good game if I can help it. That includes pointing out exploits and bugs that you guys seems to want to try and keep so you can not play the game right and trying to sway 'the vision' if I can to what I believe with my knowledge as a life time gamer to make it better.

MM shuts me down all the time though. 

StyK i don't post here too often but i do come here every now than then to see what the devs are saying. I've been reading your posts over the last few days and i just wanted to say a few things. First i'd suggest you take a moment and think about how your current attitude is going to get any traction with the devs. You're clearly a skilled player with lots to offer the game and community in that area, I did find it interesting reading how you play the game and how you overcome the challenges that playstyle brings. I recently started a nightmare/insane/25%loot/horde night every night game, i had heard MM talk about it before and a player on my a18 server suggested it but i just never got around to it until now. after 11 attempts i'm on day 15 so far so good XD.

With that said, think about your current attitude and how likely it is to get the devs to make the changes you want. Think about it from their perspective, they have to make the game not just for skilled players and certain play styles but for everyone's. Now ask yourself if someone with a toxic attitude asked you to makes changes just for them, would you be very receptive to that? of course not. The devs have been bending over backwards just trying to be patient with you . The best way to get there attention is to provide a clear, polite and logical argument as to why you think something should be changed and if you can clearly demonstrate your case, all the better. But the devs will be very unlikely to look into issues brought to them in a toxic manor. I know some things can get frustrating, but you have to ask yourself will venting my frustrations on the forms in this way be the best way to get the devs to look into your issues?

Also depositing your frustrations on other users isn't going to help the situation either. There are many different types of players with many different types of playstyles. There is no wrong way to play the game as long as you're having fun and enjoying it that's all that matters. I think some things are cheesy/OP too. For example i don't like airdrops, i think they make no sense in an apocalypse. If you're a survivor and some how have access to a working aircraft, why would you throw your supplies out of the back so "maybe" another survivor can find it. It just wouldn't happen, plus the loot is too much in them imo. But i still kept them enabled on my a18 server even tho i never looted them, my base was surrounded with dozens of unclaimed airdrops that i just ignored, Why? because other players enjoy them, not everyone will like your personal preference and trying to force your style on others and put down anyone else that doesn't want to play on nightmare isn't going to make you any friends or earn you any respect. The people on this form are fellow survivors and if you just listen to what they say and discuss instead of judging their play style, you may find they can have interesting ideas and strategies that may even benefit yours. 

 

I wouldn't take being passed up on being a tester personally. I applied for A19 but was also never chosen, the thing you need to understand is they need people that will not just play the game but take the time to test issues thoroughly to make them easier to fix and easily recognisable as an issue. They also get hundreds if not thousands of applicants and only need so many people. I don't post on the forms all that often, i mostly live on the 7dtd admin coalition discord where i volunteer as tech support. I also build much of the 7DAC website, wrote a couple articles on the prefab editor, i've made mods for the community and spend over 1000 hours making a super aircraft carrier POI. I've even filled bug reports before the bug report form was even a thing. I lists these things not as a flex or because i'm mad i never got chosen, but to demonstrate that although i could have made significant contributions as a tester, they only need so many people and instead of taking it to heart and getting a chip on my shoulder, i instead collaborated with one of the people that did get chosen and gave them a18 issues to test in a19. Then when A19 went exp instead of just saying in a off hand comment this is bugged/broken and expecting the devs to fix it and refusing to write any bug reports because i mentioned the issue and it was never fixed, therefor there is no point in filling a proper report. I instead took the time to write out a report that clearly showed the issue with solid hard data to back it up. That report did get looked into by the devs and as far as i know it's the most viewed bug report for a19.

I'm telling you this not to try to put you down or flex to the devs in an attempt to get chosen next time. But because i want to show you how you can get the devs to take an issue seriously and how to make it more likely they will take action. I don't expect to get chosen for testing and even if they said i would never get chosen i would still contribute, because like you i'm passionate about the game and want it to improve. The only difference is how we approached the situation.

The reason i'm saying all this, is if you continue with your current attitude you're just going to have a day where you step over the line and end up getting banned. No one wants to lose members of the community just because of frustration. You have lots of insight to to offer the community and the game on high level play. So i'd ask you think about my suggestions and how you can contribute positively. It would be better and less frustrating for you and better for everyone. So please don't take this as an attack on you i just want to share some food for thought with you, thats all. Cheers

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5 minutes ago, SheeleMara said:

 Now that I've had some appreciable playtime invested in the latest experimental version I wanted to offer up some feedback on looting and traders. 

 

 First both me and a friend invested two ranks in lucky looter early on and in the early game stage this seemed to have no appreciable effect on loot that we discovered, but once we reached about game stage 25 everything took off. Suddenly we were finding tons of level 6 stone age gear, such as one chest containing 2 level 6 blunderbusses and 4 level 6 pieces of scrap/padded armor. That we're swimming in tons of level 6 stone age gear while only scratching the surface on finding level 1 iron age gear is screaming for attention for a little bit of fine tuning in the transition stage. 

 

 Secondly I was a low level (about 3 or so) upon completion of my first T1 trader quest yet had an immediate choice of 200x7.62mm rounds or 10 pipe bombs, with no points invested in trader rewards. Forgetting about the extended stone age aspect I took the 200 rounds but it was moot as I immediately discovered a lvl 1 AK-47 in the secret stash section for 400 Dukes, which was one T1 quest reward plus selling a couple of items. So much for using stone age weapons. 

 

 Quest Rewards remained very odd afterwards in choice, in one span of turning in 2 Tier 1 Quests at once I had the first choice between either (1) Chrysanthemum Seed Recipe or (200) 9mm Rounds and then either (1) Chrysanthemum Seed Recipe again or (200) 7.62mm Rounds. With me and my friend always taking the ammo rewards in those instances we've never run short on ammo, even taking horde nights into account, and so subsequently our forge has yet to be fed any diets of brass or lead. 
 

Traders are not yet in line with loot. Known problem.

 

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12 minutes ago, SheeleMara said:

 Now that I've had some appreciable playtime invested in the latest experimental version I wanted to offer up some feedback on looting and traders. 

 

 First both me and a friend invested two ranks in lucky looter early on and in the early game stage this seemed to have no appreciable effect on loot that we discovered, but once we reached about game stage 25 everything took off. Suddenly we were finding tons of level 6 stone age gear, such as one chest containing 2 level 6 blunderbusses and 4 level 6 pieces of scrap/padded armor. That we're swimming in tons of level 6 stone age gear while only scratching the surface on finding level 1 iron age gear is screaming for attention for a little bit of fine tuning in the transition stage. 

 

 Secondly I was a low level (about 3 or so) upon completion of my first T1 trader quest yet had an immediate choice of 200x7.62mm rounds or 10 pipe bombs, with no points invested in trader rewards. Forgetting about the extended stone age aspect I took the 200 rounds but it was moot as I immediately discovered a lvl 1 AK-47 in the secret stash section for 400 Dukes, which was one T1 quest reward plus selling a couple of items. So much for using stone age weapons. 

 

 Quest Rewards remained very odd afterwards in choice, in one span of turning in 2 Tier 1 Quests at once I had the first choice between either (1) Chrysanthemum Seed Recipe or (200) 9mm Rounds and then either (1) Chrysanthemum Seed Recipe again or (200) 7.62mm Rounds. With me and my friend always taking the ammo rewards in those instances we've never run short on ammo, even taking horde nights into account, and so subsequently our forge has yet to be fed any diets of brass or lead. 
 

I'm not trying to make it sound like your analysis is without meaning, but the points you have shared here will be irrelevant possibly within the next alpha if everything goes to plan. Yes, traders as a whole are unbalanced, if not a bit strange, in this current build of the game, but the plan is for that to change. Absolutely provide your feedback, it's always welcome, but to save you a bit of time and effort, bringing up situations like the trader offering a near complete stack of ammo isn't as valid since the plan, at least to my knowledge, is for that to be altered at some point. Just my thoughts. :)

 

My perception on the ammo situation, for example, is that it would be more fruitful if a discussion were to be had on what quantity of ammunition would be acceptable - attractive, but by no means exorbitant - instead of stating the obvious, which is that a full stack or slightly less is quite overpowered. I'm sure this could apply to all quest rewards and stock, although I firmly believe that TFP have a plan regarding this.

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1 hour ago, meganoth said:

 

The zombies in that video try to jump over a low obstacle but some other block prevents that from succeeding. You probably can find a similar exploit in A16 which everyone seems to equate with simple AI zombies. I.e. it has nothing to do with pathfinding to weak spots for example.

The only simplification of the AI that would work here would remove the ability to jump over low obstacles. That would mean low blocks are unpassable for zombies and must be destroyed first. Worse is that they can't even go up stairs made of blocks. Do you really want that?

 

I think, they just should press forward, then it will not matter if the stairs in front of them or the door, the oblique block or the floating one.

They should hit the blocks and not jump on them.

Most likely, they will also be subject to some exploits, but this will not be so ridiculously and don't waste CPU time. The chaos in their actions will help fight exploits. Zombies take the number and not the mind. Let many of them fall into the ditch so that others will pass over their bodies.

Then it will be scary and not funny.

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7 hours ago, DaVegaNL said:

Hi man! To be honest I haven't played much 7 days recently, I only checked out A19 when the first experimental came out. I just love checking the forum with my morning coffee.
Also, I'm not sure how much available play time I will have in the near future, given that my wife is 38 weeks pregnant today :)

And for that dungeon.. Well.. I used to have a key, but I think I left it with Snowdog.. Don't know where he put it 😛

Just remember, if you hear baby crying, you are not in wasteland ! Keep kicking @%$*#! and hope you have the time for all you want :)

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, meganoth said:

IMHO a general solution would be that zombies should have a high chance to go into destruction mode when they do a jump and land on the same spot they jumped from.

Agreed. In general, I think the same high chance of destruction should be applied when they fall down too. The junk sledge is a nice addition, but there aren't considerations to think about before using them. Zombie loops using ramps/walkways where they fall and repeat should be a reasonable tactic... but, again, the work needed to prevent destruction after they fall pulls it out of the "cheese" category.

 
I can see that sometimes zombies do indeed enter this destruction mode randomly. However, it never seems to last to make an impact. Add something like a door or hatch in the paths and open/close them, and it almost immediately resets their behavior and they are back to same old.

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2 minutes ago, AtomicUs5000 said:

Agreed. In general, I think the same high chance of destruction should be applied when they fall down too. The junk sledge is a nice addition, but there aren't considerations to think about before using them. Zombie loops using ramps/walkways where they fall and repeat should be a reasonable tactic... but, again, the work needed to prevent destruction after they fall pulls it out of the "cheese" category.

 
I can see that sometimes zombies do indeed enter this destruction mode randomly. However, it never seems to last to make an impact. Add something like a door or hatch in the paths and open/close them, and it almost immediately resets their behavior and they are back to same old.

I wouldn't worry about keeping that tactic in tact, 'they' will make it work anyway, it may not be as easy as it was before but they will find a way, they always do. There are content creators committed to this type of thing. image.jpeg.ea1e2e8d3b3889bb508ec53fce6e192a.jpeg

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1 minute ago, STyK_ said:

I wouldn't worry about keeping that tactic in tact, 'they' will make it work anyway, it may not be as easy as it was before but they will find a way, they always do. There are content creators committed to this type of thing. image.jpeg.ea1e2e8d3b3889bb508ec53fce6e192a.jpeg

Indeed, it is a system that is a work in progress, it will be interesting when bandits are added for example. How will their behavior be when they meet a horde for example, or if we have a quest of where we should clear bandits from a building, and some random horde decide to join the party. (and that is just a small example of situations)

 

Who is gonna kill who, who is gonna act viciously hungry for brains or for duke coins and territory. 

We`re about to see. 

 

Btw the slogan of us biologists is #lifealwaysfindsaway, good one. 

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1 minute ago, STyK_ said:

I wouldn't worry about keeping that tactic in tact, 'they' will make it work anyway, it may not be as easy as it was before but they will find a way, they always do. There are content creators committed to this type of thing. image.jpeg.ea1e2e8d3b3889bb508ec53fce6e192a.jpeg

I kinda am worried. Like you, I want all this easy stuff patched up... but I think it still needs to be done carefully or you could end up in a situation where there are very few ways to make and defend a base that is effective throughout the gamestages.
In other words, I do not want to see all the people making statements like "TFP wants us to play one way, their way, or no way" actually be correct when saying it... because I really hate that line with a passion.

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14 minutes ago, AtomicUs5000 said:

I kinda am worried. Like you, I want all this easy stuff patched up... but I think it still needs to be done carefully or you could end up in a situation where there are very few ways to make and defend a base that is effective throughout the gamestages.
In other words, I do not want to see all the people making statements like "TFP wants us to play one way, their way, or no way" actually be correct when saying it... because I really hate that line with a passion.

Making walls around your base has become useless, making anything remotely realistic has become useless (no, putting iron bars as your ground to shoot through isn't realistic), catwalks, improving a PoI and turning into a defended base (which is what i do) has become useless.

 

Want a good way to survive any horde? Climb on top of a relatively tall building, and know some passage ways out (for example the triple building with the shotgun messiah as one of them, just knock 2 blocks of the bridge on the roof). I barely survive hordes in my base anymore, i pretty much do quests and loot all day, then work on the base, then realize it's probably not ready (and it isn't) for the bloodmoon, and just "wait" it out in a random unprotected building.

 

A16, and I will take this to the grave with me until proven wrong, was the best alpha for bloodmoons.

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1 minute ago, RhinoW said:

Making walls around your base has become useless, making anything remotely realistic has become useless (no, putting iron bars as your ground to shoot through isn't realistic), catwalks, improving a PoI and turning into a defended base (which is what i do) has become useless.

 

Want a good way to survive any horde? Climb on top of a relatively tall building, and know some passage ways out (for example the triple building with the shotgun messiah as one of them, just knock 2 blocks of the bridge on the roof). I barely survive hordes in my base anymore, i pretty much do quests and loot all day, then work on the base, then realize it's probably not ready (and it isn't) for the bloodmoon, and just "wait" it out in a random unprotected building.

 

A16, and I will take this to the grave with me until proven wrong, was the best alpha for bloodmoons.

I really want to get to the heart of what you are saying here, but most of this is either just untrue or highly exaggerated to the point I can't see it.
I do play this game, as so do obviously everyone else here... and this is simply not the case.
What I do get is you have the same concerns as I do, but blowing things out of proportion isn't going to help others see eye to eye on those concerns. 

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2 hours ago, Naz said:

I recently started a nightmare/insane/25%loot/horde night every night game, i had heard MM talk about it before and a player on my a18 server suggested it but i just never got around to it until now. after 11 attempts i'm on day 15 so far so good XD.

I salute your effort to play the game on a more challenging difficulty! I don't know if I could do horde night every night on Permadeath Insane Nightmare 25% loot no nerd polling. Eventually maybe I'll give it a shot.

 

2 hours ago, Naz said:

The best way to get there attention is to provide a clear, polite and logical argument as to why you think something should be changed and if you can clearly demonstrate your case, all the better. But the devs will be very unlikely to look into issues brought to them in a toxic manor. I know some things can get frustrating, but you have to ask yourself will venting my frustrations on the forms in this way be the best way to get the devs to look into your issues?

I started with this before and in this recent dev diary and got 'oh this can't be done' 'this would be too detrimental to the game' and it is frustrating. Especially when here I am proving these things can be done and it is not that detrimental to the game. At this point it seems like I'm being ignored out of spite which has turned me toxic.
 

2 hours ago, Naz said:

Also depositing your frustrations on other users isn't going to help the situation either. There are many different types of players with many different types of playstyles. There is no wrong way to play the game as long as you're having fun and enjoying it that's all that matters. I think some things are cheesy/OP too. For example i don't like airdrops, i think they make no sense in an apocalypse. If you're a survivor and some how have access to a working aircraft, why would you throw your supplies out of the back so "maybe" another survivor can find it. It just wouldn't happen, plus the loot is too much in them imo. But i still kept them enabled on my a18 server even tho i never looted them, my base was surrounded with dozens of unclaimed airdrops that i just ignored, Why? because other players enjoy them, not everyone will like your personal preference and trying to force your style on others and put down anyone else that doesn't want to play on nightmare isn't going to make you any friends or earn you any respect. The people on this form are fellow survivors and if you just listen to what they say and discuss instead of judging their play style, you may find they can have interesting ideas and strategies that may even benefit yours. 

 

Its the fact that is a survival game, no other survival game would allow this. This game does have things some survival games don't have but I don't think that should give it a pass to allow exploits and cheesy tactics. IMO.
 

2 hours ago, Naz said:

I wouldn't take being passed up on being a tester personally.

I've mostly got over it. What stings the most is that alot of them are streaming on twitch now which I'm trying to build towards doing in perhaps the worse time in content creator history to try and do so. I'm not saying they don't deserve it, they totally do and they definitely have the people skills I lack as you can tell with the way I respond to others.

You sir have definitely put more effort into trying to get there then I did. 

 

2 hours ago, Naz said:

i want to show you how you can get the devs to take an issue seriously and how to make it more likely they will take action.

I believe alot of things I've suggested won't come to pass because of the 'vision' and the fact that this game has to be released, I'm pretty sure everything is content locked now trying to get the game out. Also just out of spite.

 

2 hours ago, Naz said:

The reason i'm saying all this, is if you continue with your current attitude you're just going to have a day where you step over the line and end up getting banned. No one wants to lose members of the community just because of frustration. You have lots of insight to to offer the community and the game on high level play. So i'd ask you think about my suggestions and how you can contribute positively. It would be better and less frustrating for you and better for everyone. So please don't take this as an attack on you i just want to share some food for thought with you, thats all. Cheers

Honestly I'm surprised MM hasn't band me already, hes got patient over the years, it wouldn't be the first time. I will try. 

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12 minutes ago, STyK_ said:

I started with this before and in this recent dev diary and got 'oh this can't be done' 'this would be too detrimental to the game' and it is frustrating. Especially when here I am proving these things can be done and it is not that detrimental to the game. At this point it seems like I'm being ignored out of spite which has turned me toxic.

<snip>

Honestly I'm surprised MM hasn't band me already, hes got patient over the years, it wouldn't be the first time. I will try. 

I've been reading the same posts... and I haven't seen anything bad coming from you in here. There are people full out arguing in classic "I know you are, but what am I?" in here. All I have seen is good debate and you at times having to defend yourself. I went back a couple weeks in posts and it appears to me that a few people just simply do not like you because you disagree with them and even attempt to make you seem bad by explaining how they are better.

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11 hours ago, wolfbain5 said:

@madmole you ever gonna bring the cigar in line with the stat glasses price wise at the trader? I mean seriously, purchased for 90 dukes for a +1 str?

I can probably do that now that they aren't crafted exclusively from plant fibers. I didn't want players getting rich crafting cigars.

11 hours ago, Phoenixshade35 said:

I think it would be neat if the traders offered a special quest to find a series of items, basically multiple places you have to go to, can even have digging quests, once this long quest is done you get yourself either a legendary item, or a part of the legendary item for them to craft for u later, that could be a neat incentive

We have talked about some procuring quests where you gather/craft some things.

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Talking of new quest types, it'd be cool to have quests where a horde is summoned at a PoI and you have like a short window to reinforce it.

 

Could be difficult to implement though, especially if somebody takes the time and resources to reinforce it before triggering the PoI reset, but I always like the early game days where you just try to patch up a small house to hole up in. Maybe could have the quest be "spend the entire night in X PoI, expect wandering hordes to arrive."

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6 minutes ago, Vintorez said:

Talking of new quest types, it'd be cool to have quests where a horde is summoned at a PoI and you have like a short window to reinforce it.

 

Could be difficult to implement though, especially if somebody takes the time and resources to reinforce it before triggering the PoI reset, but I always like the early game days where you just try to patch up a small house to hole up in. Maybe could have the quest be "spend the entire night in X PoI, expect wandering hordes to arrive."

 

That could work with special POI's designed for it that reset fully when the quest is activated. With the goal of protecting a certain percent of the blocks so if the zombies destroy to many blocks you fail. Even better would be if it limited the amount of blocks that you could place in the area with out failing the quest. As well as having a large area around the POI be included in the reset and the zombies spawn with in the boarders of the reset to avoid cheesing it.

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2 hours ago, beerfly said:

Indeed, it is a system that is a work in progress, it will be interesting when bandits are added for example. How will their behavior be when they meet a horde for example, or if we have a quest of where we should clear bandits from a building, and some random horde decide to join the party. (and that is just a small example of situations)

 

Who is gonna kill who, who is gonna act viciously hungry for brains or for duke coins and territory. 

We`re about to see. 

 

Btw the slogan of us biologists is #lifealwaysfindsaway, good one. 

I think bandits should be AI players, they should definitely fight zombies and zombies should fight them. It will create unique scenarios. If I see a bandit in the woods fighting a zed I'm going in for the cheap shot while hes busy with the zed with the hopes of getting so loot, bandits should do the same thing, just as it would be in Pvp with zeds being the common enemy.

This could create problems like a group of raiders trying to get to your base running into zeds but that can be easily fixed, spawn them next to or near the player base like they do with the spider on day 5 night or spawn them in on a random edge of the chunk.

Clearing bandits that have similar weapons to yours will add a hole new dynamic to the game and having a horde role in during a fire fight would be the icing on the cake.
 

Like players cheesy strategies alone should not work on Bandits. People have been building walls around fortifications for how many thousands of years, seems to me if we got stone aged like this we would be reverting back to old ways making a solid perimeter a defense mandatory but nothing would stop the player from opening up the doors or purposely destroying a wall portion to there fortification on horde night to let the horde in for they're cheese strategy to work.

 

As the game stage gets higher a group of bandit should be showing up with a rocket launcher tapping on your defenses meaning business and pissed off you've been alive killing and evading them for so long.

 

This is all IMO of course. How I see the game should be often seems to scare others so we'll se how good TFP want to make them.

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