Some thoughts on perks -failures and good features-

[Pichii]

I dont remember where but i recall someone from TFP saying something akin to 'we attempted to make people specialize but it ended up being the oposite again'

I just wanted to talk a lil about what a possible solution could be for the perk system going into A19- without totally ditching the current system.

Lets talk Pros first.
With the forge adv bellows and fasting crafting based on INT perks, Cement is no longer a multi-hour process with few rewards.
Likewise, gunpowder and gas having larger, more efficent recipies definately improved what the game was about in the later levels.
Farming for the first time since I can remember seems close to 'balanced' with a few noteworthy exceptions I dont want to get into on this post (Candy a GREAT idea and should be expanded upon!)
Combat perks make me feel BEEFY with each point so I feel like the extra points needed are worth it.

-Cons-
You have to spend multiple points in every area to be a 'solo survivalist'
Multiple point costs dont make sense on certain 'effiecency' perks.
First aid is tied to yeah science! Which has a minimum INT req of 3-4? O.o

So, my suggestion here is actually a simple one:
Add a "General" tab for skills in the perk lists.

In this tab should be:
All armors, all gardening/food perks, all bomb perks, all digestion perks and the basics of crafting (Benches/forge specifically), Miner 69er, Motherlode and basic healing supplies like bandage, first aid bandage and health kits.
Each of these perks should have no governing stat. Each one 'could' cost seperate perk costs, as the armor as an example keep its current perk point costs but lose the END raw stat requirements. -Can also increase perks needed for higher levels to balance out the lack of governing attribute.
whereas the food perks can cost 1-2pt ea.

This not only opens up the other perk trees for MORE perks (Nomnomnom) but also eases the burden of the system on the devs. No more having to try and force skills to go in weird places where they really dont fit or make sense from mechanics to logic.

 

[meganoth]

Sure, that suggestion came up a few times already. And on one hand it makes sense (especially if you look at the attributes to mean what they do in general or in other RPGs), but on the other hand the specialization is minimal that way. Ok, you might take a different gun next time, but nothing will nudge or force you to do some different setup in the utility skills. And this isn't a pure shooter where only the gun play is important, in this game it also counts what the source of your money is, where you get resources from and how you recover hit points.

This is just my personal opinion. But if you don't have any difficult choices in your perk list, then there is no choice there. Since perks for the most part provide only half the boni and the rest is provided through equipment and loot, there is nothing you can't live without as a solo survivalist. This is a big difference to typical RPGs where you and enemies scale up so much that most skills/perks that you don't skill up sufficiently get useless very fast. When your enemy hits you for 60 HP in a single attack, being able to craft potions for 8 HP is rendered useless. This doesn't happen in 7D2D

Think of the attributes not as attributes but as specific characters with strengths and weaknesses. Strength isn't strength but "Miner Bob Jenkins" who has a natural knack for mining and a natural body strength so that very little workout results in superior gains than normal people would see. Int is "former Scientist John B." who has enough common knowledge so that he can build a chem station with a lot less experimentation and effort and prototypes, because some knowledge helps him avoid typical mistakes. He is able to come up with a good medicine kit once he remembers a small fact about how to sanitize stuff efficiently with primitive means while normal people need to find the right book or really sit down and experiment for a few weeks until they find the same method

 

[Pichii]

Thanks for the explination  Sorry I missed the other threads on this topic.

[SenpaiThatIngnoresYou]

I feel that things have been balanced very well. it seems that the important solo survivor stuff can be unlocked with the first 5 points, and everything else is gravy.  I do think that some of the finial tier perks are a little expensive: it costs 6 skill points to unlock the finial level of pummel pete, that is six levels. At the same time it's not necessary anymore to do so. You can clear a tier 5 poi with 4 levels of pummel pete, + all 4 levels of heavy armor. 

Now my big question: what happens to the perception, fortitude, and intel based guys? do they have a satisfactory defense + offensive combo? Or does specializing in those trees by themselves screw people over?