Alpha 21 Dev Diary

[LostCauseDoge]

18 hours ago, Vaeliorin said:

I know the topic has kind of moved on, but I don't get the happiness about the removal of Sex Rex.  Instead of having to invest in one perk in one stat, I'm now forced to invest in 5 perks across 4 stats to get the same benefit to stamina for tool use that I did before.  Now, I need Salvage Operations (Wrenches), Miner 69'er (Pick/Shovel/Axe), Fists (to punch plant life), Rule 1 Cardio (presumably improved so I can still run around everywhere) and Knives (to harvest animals/gut piles.)

 

Then I still need to invest in a weapon (I hate the bone/hunting knife, so I'm not using those early game, and I'm not a fan of fists either) and if I want to use multiple different weapons (I've done builds where I used a spear on horde nights for the reach, but clubs while raiding because they're better for that...though maybe with the spear chances this won't be the case) I have to invest points in both just to be able to reasonably use them.

 

Sure, there are other benefits to investing in those perks, but I'm strictly referring to stamina use.  Sex Rex let me harvest my farm without constantly running out of stamina (sure, I could use a weapon I'm perked in to harvest, but then I'm wasting durability.)  It let me use the wrench unperked without constantly running out of stamina.  It let me run around without maxed Rule 1: Cardio without constantly running out of stamina.  The way the change is described, it's going to be like I'm playing without Sex Rex whenever using a tool/weapon I'm not perked in, and having tried that once, it's a miserable way to play the game.

 

I'm also not thrilled about needing to perk into a weapon early game (I usually don't until level 60-70+ when I've already got the must have QoL perks out of the way) or suffer with stamina.  I just see it as me ending up needing to use many more points to cover stamina issues than I had to previously (it was something like 12 points to max out sex rex, iirc, versus probably 50 to cover everything now.)

This would be a valid post but if you havent fully read the update info theyre changing leveling of  skills to where you need magazines and not skill points to level them that would include all the skills you mentioned above so you would just need to have luck in finding them in loot not that you have to invest skill points. Having perks be leveled through magazines makes looting so much more enjoyable and i have a better reason to loot certain vuildings. Hope this clears it up.

Edited December 19, 2022 by LostCauseDoge (see edit history)

[meilodasreh]

Although you're specifically talking about the snow biome, where you wouldn't need a powered fridge to keep stuff cool and fresh (ambient temp would be cold enough) 

yeah I agree food spoilage would be nice.

I myself have a strong hoarding tendency, and end up every time with crates full of raw meat, veggies and other stuff all together, which is weird.

 

On the other hand, bears and other vicious animals...you're clearly talking about rather advanced weaponry.

Otherwise a bear does NOT just stand around and is downed within seconds by a few shots.

And at that point of the game, food should still be a struggle? 

 

btw ever tried combat augering those animals to save that precious ammo slot 😃

 

[RipClaw]

23 minutes ago, LostCauseDoge said:

This would be a valid post but if you havent fully read the update info theyre changing leveling of  skills to where you need magazines and not skill points to level them that would include all the skills you mentioned above so you would just need to have luck in finding them in loot not that you have to invest skill points. Having perks be leveled through magazines makes looting so much more enjoyable and i have a better reason to loot certain vuildings. Hope this clears it up.

Sorry but you are wrong. The magazines are for crafting only. Skills like Javelin Master, Pummel Pete or Rule #1 Cardio still require that you invest points.

[IzPrebuilt]

37 minutes ago, meilodasreh said:

Although you're specifically talking about the snow biome, where you wouldn't need a powered fridge to keep stuff cool and fresh (ambient temp would be cold enough) 

yeah I agree food spoilage would be nice.

I myself have a strong hoarding tendency, and end up every time with crates full of raw meat, veggies and other stuff all together, which is weird.

 

On the other hand, bears and other vicious animals...you're clearly talking about rather advanced weaponry.

Otherwise a bear does NOT just stand around and is downed within seconds by a few shots.

And at that point of the game, food should still be a struggle? 

 

btw ever tried combat augering those animals to save that precious ammo slot 😃

 

 

Food spoilage is the #1 most unpopular thing I'd add to this game. People always get really whiney when i say i like that mechanic in games to make food more challenging to stockpile, unfortunately for me there's a decent chunk of this community that loves the RPG/Lootershooter feel to newer updates and they will get really stroppy about adding survival mechanics sadly.

I mean, as far as survival goes, it's a pretty cool mechanic. I'd have to actually plan my food crafting around the idea that I can't just make hundreds of stews and never touch it again, and using non-perishable items in perishable food would be a genuine trade-off in the case you let some of that spoil, thus wasting non-perishable stuff.

Farming would make more sense as you'd need sustainable fresh food regularly. You could even go as far as to add refrigerators that like 0.1x the spoilage of food at the cost of having to keep your generator on. Which would be the only non-horde night survival reason to keep power on because lights aren't really an important survival mechanic.

It's hardly unique or original but I think it'd really make food more interesting in the game. Perhaps food spoilage could be adjusted and toggled in the menu for the casuals- i mean people who don't want that mechanic at all.

Alas, i'm likely just dreaming. Mods probably exist for this though.

[Laran Mithras]

1 hour ago, IzPrebuilt said:

 

Alas, i'm likely just dreaming. Mods probably exist for this though.

Indeed. Some enterprising individual...

 

[crazywildfire]

I would love food spoilage but my only issue is I'm the opposite. As in hardly any meat. I play on 2 servers. First server is normally 6 to 10 of us and food doesn't last that long until late game as it is. 2nd server is a discord server with 8 to 16 people on server at once with ay least 50 people total that play on it. Animals hardly spawn when we have 10 people on at once. So unless the animal spawn rate can get addressed when X amount of people are on at once then I'll have to decline food spoilage as it would kill a server no having any meat what so ever because what little meat you did get spoiled because you wasn't online and then when you do get online animals are not spawning to resupply.

[Gcf2099]

Is that character overhaul still coming in a21? It's one of my most wanted features!

[Maxley]

On 12/18/2022 at 1:23 PM, faatal said:

No, but I may change that tomorrow.

It is possible, but the particle alignment looks best on horizontal surfaces. There is currently an issue with particles sometimes colliding with moving colliders and stopping in the air.

Yes, they were fine. The changes were to make the number of repair kits needed to be different and reasonable for each type of vehicle.

would it be possible to allow vehicles to flip over. I think it would improve the driving experience if you have to drive more skillfully in order to avoid flipping over. One thing I really enjoyed about driving a warthog in halo was when you made a ridiculous jump and you almost flip over but you just barely teeter back onto four wheels. And if you do flip over then it would just kick you out of the vehicle and you would have to pick it up and place it back down.

[Laz Man]

1 hour ago, Maxley said:

would it be possible to allow vehicles to flip over. I think it would improve the driving experience if you have to drive more skillfully in order to avoid flipping over. One thing I really enjoyed about driving a warthog in halo was when you made a ridiculous jump and you almost flip over but you just barely teeter back onto four wheels. And if you do flip over then it would just kick you out of the vehicle and you would have to pick it up and place it back down.

 

 

[Matt115]

22 hours ago, Laz Man said:

 

You might be pleasantly surprised...😉

Skeleton?

[Aldranon]

8 hours ago, meilodasreh said:

Although you're specifically talking about the snow biome, where you wouldn't need a powered fridge to keep stuff cool and fresh (ambient temp would be cold enough) 

yeah I agree food spoilage would be nice.

I myself have a strong hoarding tendency, and end up every time with crates full of raw meat, veggies and other stuff all together, which is weird.

 

On the other hand, bears and other vicious animals...you're clearly talking about rather advanced weaponry.

Otherwise a bear does NOT just stand around and is downed within seconds by a few shots.

And at that point of the game, food should still be a struggle? 

 

btw ever tried combat augering those animals to save that precious ammo slot 😃

 

I have found out that once the food problem is solved then everything else usually is to, 90% of the time.  But if I never find an auger, the "Experience super train" moves slowly.  Even slower without a Nail gun (another somewhat OP item).

 

I will eventually pick a spot near a snow biome, as I don't want to wear all the super warm gear instead of my military armor.  Which IMO is the best armor with max pain tolerance.  "If they almost never hit you, then it's the best armor!"

 

I normally respec (the 57K "Forget This" drink) into Machine guns whenever I find or could make a tier 2 or better MG.  Tier 3 MG with a drum means 120+ 7.62's so it's GG, but I continue playing for the lol's

So, with that I only need between 1-5 bullets to take them down.  The cougar is the hardest for me, if I don't "one shot" it as its movements are comically jerky.

However, the first 2-3 seconds you see them, they don't move.  So, a reflex (hop off the motorcycle (best vehicle in game), crouch and shoot.  Rince and repeat).

 

I found out how terrible the auger is in combat, so I don't do that again on purpose. 

[meilodasreh]

4 hours ago, Aldranon said:

I have found out that once the food problem is solved then everything else usually is too

[...]

I found out how terrible the auger is in combat, so I don't do that again on purpose. 

So we did identify one challenge left for you in the game.

Take it on.

Exclusively combat augering playthrough it is.

 

[IzPrebuilt]

On 3/16/2022 at 6:02 PM, Roland said:

• • Each attribute will get its own version of Flurry of Blows as an additional perk for the melee weapons within that attribute

 

Apologies if this has already been asked. Will this new version of flurry of blows in each perk affect all melee weapons? or JUST the one handed ones?

Like will I be able to boost the melee swing speed of spears, sledgehammers and tools? (and would that apply to power tools?)

Obviously you might not be allowed to comment but i figured i would ask for clarification there.

[Jost Amman]

35 minutes ago, IzPrebuilt said:

Apologies if this has already been asked. Will this new version of flurry of blows in each perk affect all melee weapons? or JUST the one handed ones?

Good question.

[Rabbitslovecactus]

If finding drivable vehicles ever gets implemented, could you guys please make it so the status of all vehicles are unknown. The only way to know it's status is to try and start it (with a low chance of it actually starting and running). This would then allow us to know what parts for repairs are needed. I think it would add to the looting suspense. And if we actually find a vehicle that works, it would be like winning the wasteland lottery. 

[Old Crow]

1 hour ago, Rabbitslovecactus said:

If finding drivable vehicles ever gets implemented, could you guys please make it so the status of all vehicles are unknown. The only way to know it's status is to try and start it (with a low chance of it actually starting and running). This would then allow us to know what parts for repairs are needed. I think it would add to the looting suspense. And if we actually find a vehicle that works, it would be like winning the wasteland lottery. 

 

I actually like this idea a lot. We should still be able to build our own vehicles, but being able to find drivable vehicles in the world would be cool as well.

[Roland]

7 hours ago, IzPrebuilt said:

 

Apologies if this has already been asked. Will this new version of flurry of blows in each perk affect all melee weapons? or JUST the one handed ones?

Like will I be able to boost the melee swing speed of spears, sledgehammers and tools? (and would that apply to power tools?)

Obviously you might not be allowed to comment but i figured i would ask for clarification there.

 

The perception version increases the speed of spears

The agility version increases the speed of knives

The strength version increases the speed of clubs AND sledgehammers

The fortitude version increases the speed of punching

The intellect version increases the speed of batons

 

That's it. They don't do anything for tools.

[IzPrebuilt]

27 minutes ago, Roland said:

 

The perception version increases the speed of spears

The agility version increases the speed of knives

The strength version increases the speed of clubs AND sledgehammers

The fortitude version increases the speed of punching

The intellect version increases the speed of batons

 

That's it. They don't do anything for tools.

 

Nice, thanks for that clarification.

 

Can't wait to see a bonus swing speed sledgehammer.

[POCKET951]

We don't know when A21 experimental is coming out, but every passing day we inch closer to that goal, even if we don't know exactly where the goal post is!

[maxousara]

Rick has talk about alpha 22 this spring. I supposed alpha 21 Will be very short if that happened. Devs stream start 2 months before release and no devs stream at the horizon for now almost january. Alpha 22 Will be pushed in october 2023. Is that spring ?? No

[KenGross]

4 hours ago, Roland said:

 

The perception version increases the speed of spears

The agility version increases the speed of knives

The strength version increases the speed of clubs AND sledgehammers

The fortitude version increases the speed of punching

The intellect version increases the speed of batons

 

That's it. They don't do anything for tools.

that is a shame.  i rather enjoy killing things with an axe.  still thank you for the information

[crazywildfire]

54 minutes ago, KenGross said:

that is a shame.  i rather enjoy killing things with an axe.  still thank you for the information

 

Who said you can't kill things with an ax? Maybe it will have it's own perks of some kind... depending on how much is changing with the magazines part. If they happen to still keep what they have. When you read all of them the fire ax can be pretty good. Either way I'm sure some kind of perk will come with the ax. 

Edited December 21, 2022 by crazywildfire (see edit history)

[beerfly]

1 hour ago, KenGross said:

that is a shame.  i rather enjoy killing things with an axe.  still thank you for the information

The axe is more of a tool, not much of a daily weapon anymore. 

[Vaeliorin]

On 12/19/2022 at 2:44 AM, Jost Amman said:

It's called SPECIALIZATION, you know?

You need to make choices, you can't just be good at everything.

 

IMO, it makes much more sense this way.

Specialization would be fine if I played multiplayer, but I don't.

 

My complaint is this is going to lead to me needing to spend a bunch of time waiting around for stamina regen until I have tons of perks in all these skills.  I tried playing once without perking Sex Rex and it was miserable.  This is basically forcing me to play without Sex Rex for a long time, unless I completely misunderstand it.  Making your players stand around doing nothing is not a good gameplay loop.

On 12/19/2022 at 10:52 AM, IzPrebuilt said:

 

That's a lot of words to say "i don't like the removal of sexual tyrannosaurus because i'll have to use more perk points to achieve the same thing"

Which is the point. Sexual Tyrannosaurus is too strong, too versatile and disproportionately used. AKA Overpowered. Which is bad. They're trying to balance their video game. Also the "not thrilled about needing to perk into a weapon early game" the average player currently does that instantly. You have an uncommon playstyle that the devs did not consider when making the change clearly.

 

I cannot fathom why your current complaint seems to be "change bad because i have to make a decision now" I read dozens of comments related to 7dtd every day, and I see some insane playstyles, complaints, choices etc but level 70 before you take even ONE damage perk is BEYOND anything i have ever seen. Is this why people complain that "insane makes zombies too spongey"? IS THIS WHAT THEY ARE DOING? oh god

 

 

 

 

Yes, I play differently than you do (though I do find your videos interesting).  I play 7D2D mainly to build.  I basically don't raid more than 1 POI a week after Day 14 or so.  And I'm usually level 70-80 by Day 7 (I play with 2 hour days.)  My horde base mainly kills things with traps.

 

I also don't play on insane.  I play on whatever the default difficulty is, usually.  I've even considered removing zombie spawns outside of horde night.

 

This has never been an issue up until this point (and I have 1700 hours played.)

 

And it's nothing to do with "I have to make a decision now."  It's "playing without Sex Rex was awful, and now you're going to make me basically play without Sex Rex for 40%-50% of what I do in the game (which would be more like 80% if I didn't always max Miner 69'er and Motherlode first) until I've invested a ton of points."  Having to stop halfway through harvesting a car or bear sucks.  Having to rest for stamina 3 or 4 times while harvesting my farm sucks (my default vanilla farm is 300 plots.)  Sex Rex made this not an issue, even when I hadn't invested into the related perks.  As I understand this change, this is going to be an issue until I've dropped tons of points into all these skills.

 

Yes, Sex Rex was really strong, and always taken.  If they wanted to get rid of that, it seems they should just make the benefits of Sex Rex the default state of the player (probably without the refund on kill) instead of spreading it out across a ton of skills.  And it's possible that they've increased base stamina regeneration, but I haven't seen anything about that.

On 12/19/2022 at 2:43 PM, LostCauseDoge said:

This would be a valid post but if you havent fully read the update info theyre changing leveling of  skills to where you need magazines and not skill points to level them that would include all the skills you mentioned above so you would just need to have luck in finding them in loot not that you have to invest skill points. Having perks be leveled through magazines makes looting so much more enjoyable and i have a better reason to loot certain vuildings. Hope this clears it up.

My understanding is that the magazines are solely for crafting, not actual perks. 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Vaeliorin (see edit history)

[katarynna]

On 12/18/2022 at 7:18 PM, Vaeliorin said:

I know the topic has kind of moved on, but I don't get the happiness about the removal of Sex Rex.  Instead of having to invest in one perk in one stat, I'm now forced to invest in 5 perks across 4 stats to get the same benefit to stamina for tool use that I did before.  Now, I need Salvage Operations (Wrenches), Miner 69'er (Pick/Shovel/Axe), Fists (to punch plant life), Rule 1 Cardio (presumably improved so I can still run around everywhere) and Knives (to harvest animals/gut piles.)

 

Then I still need to invest in a weapon (I hate the bone/hunting knife, so I'm not using those early game, and I'm not a fan of fists either) and if I want to use multiple different weapons (I've done builds where I used a spear on horde nights for the reach, but clubs while raiding because they're better for that...though maybe with the spear chances this won't be the case) I have to invest points in both just to be able to reasonably use them.

 

Sure, there are other benefits to investing in those perks, but I'm strictly referring to stamina use.  Sex Rex let me harvest my farm without constantly running out of stamina (sure, I could use a weapon I'm perked in to harvest, but then I'm wasting durability.)  It let me use the wrench unperked without constantly running out of stamina.  It let me run around without maxed Rule 1: Cardio without constantly running out of stamina.  The way the change is described, it's going to be like I'm playing without Sex Rex whenever using a tool/weapon I'm not perked in, and having tried that once, it's a miserable way to play the game.

 

I'm also not thrilled about needing to perk into a weapon early game (I usually don't until level 60-70+ when I've already got the must have QoL perks out of the way) or suffer with stamina.  I just see it as me ending up needing to use many more points to cover stamina issues than I had to previously (it was something like 12 points to max out sex rex, iirc, versus probably 50 to cover everything now.)

Sex rex decreases stamina used for melee weapons and tools. It does nothing for stamina use while running, so you will have no need to perk rule 1 cardio if you don't already.

 

You say you already perk miner 69'er due to focusing on building, so no extra points there. You can easily use a stone ax both to harvest your farm and to harvest animals. The durability isn't a big concern because repair is just one stone. You will have the sex rex benefit for the stone ax.

 

So you will need to perk your wrench and your melee weapon, which does mean twice as many points as just sex rex. You get the benefit of extra benefits for both though, so it doesn't seem like a horrible exchange to me.

 

But it is only 4 times as many perk points if you are being stubborn. It is never 5 times as many, since you already perk miner 69er.