Alpha 21 Dev Diary

[Teezer]

51 minutes ago, Magnus33john said:

Methinks stable should have been pushed back a week to resolve the issues going on. There the crazy world issues where you can be moving along and bounce into something invisible then rocket into the air.

The weird drone issues where they just disappear.

 

Then last but not least the vehicles being all messed up from either too slow or going from too slow all the way through light-speed into plaid is you are using a charger.

Vehicle damage is all over the place making little sense, a 1km a hour brush with a tree can destroy half your car but a full on run in with a iron node and do very little.

 

 

+ doors getting locked by themselves

+ trees with 0 hp standing still

+ Spanish sentences in French translation

+ No warning when you are getting too far away from quest

+ many more...

 

But i'll not complain that much about this release since it's one of the cleanest Alpha imo for now

[Jost Amman]

29 minutes ago, Teezer said:

+ doors getting locked by themselves

+ trees with 0 hp standing still

+ Spanish sentences in French translation

+ No warning when you are getting too far away from quest

+ many more...

 

But i'll not complain that much about this release since it's one of the cleanest Alpha imo for now

Sometimes when I kill zombies, they simply disappear (no death animation).

I don't know if it's related to the bug, but I'm using a bone knife. New game started on stable.

[Callum123456789]

13 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

Sometimes when I kill zombies, they simply disappear (no death animation).

I don't know if it's related to the bug, but I'm using a bone knife. New game started on stable.

That's likely due to the knifes getting a buff against zombie corpses so I'm imagining you get soke kills with glancing blows then your main strike lands as they die and destroys their corpse.

[Sephiroth87xz]

4 hours ago, meilodasreh said:

Then I guess this is the main thing why your crafting may not at all keep up with trader supplies.

Now with the new magazine system, you will find more magazines according to which perk you invested in.

 

So now you basically don't "adapt/act according" to the new progression system, so you can't really complain that it is not balanced 🤔

Perk into guns and knifes, and you will progress faster into better weapons because you find more magazines.

 

Independent from this, balance will be subject to further changes for quite a long while.

In fact we're out of an experimental alpha for only a few days, where a new progression system was first introduced.

Of course it isn't already perfectly fitting.

It is still an alpha, which really does say "not at all finished/polished" by itself, even when none of the devs would have mentioned it now.

 

5 hours ago, BFT2020 said:

They overhauled the crafting system based on player feedback for those that enjoy that part of the game.  That implies that they want people to craft if they so choose.

 

Balancing is always going to be a challenge as players who always want crafting levels to be higher than looted /trader items will be in conflict of those that wants to find it in loot.

 

You also pointed out that you have no weapon perks, which will slow progression even further.  I have perks in archery, knives, and pistols, and I been finding those weapons, parts, and magazines more in loot than the other weapons.  That is how the game knows how you are playing and increasing the odds of you finding those types of items geared towards your playstyle.

 

you also don’t have to use weapons and equipment you find in loot or traders.  Nothing is preventing you from only using gear you craft yourself.  I do that all the time and it makes the game play exciting.

 

You should read better.

 

I was saying i not have perks for the weapons i was finding in loot/traders/quests.

 

I was getting shoting and various rifles quality 3-5.

 

But instead i have perks for knife and pistol, at rank 3 or 4.

 

Basically loot/traders/quests was giving to me stronger weapons from types i don't even have perks.

 

With too much consistence to be luck, considered was over 50 days.

 

There is simple a problem of balance between crafting and loot/traders/quests.

 

Developer already answered so i will wait and see how they want to resolve this unbalanced situation.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Sephiroth87xz (see edit history)

[meilodasreh]

33 minutes ago, Sephiroth87xz said:

You should read better.

yeah and you should write better.

Maybe we should call it all just a big misunderstanding after all 😀

53 minutes ago, Jost Amman said:

Sometimes when I kill zombies, they simply disappear (no death animation).

To me it happens very often that I literally punch zombies half into the ground with my club when they die.

Maybe same thing to you, but they completely fall through the ground?

Have you checked by digging a bit? 😆

[NekoPawtato]

Random thought I had, it would be neat if there was a speedometer somewhere when on a vehicle. Would be easier to compare vehicle speeds relative to each other and how fast you are going using turbo vs no turbo.

 

Been trying to use minibike without turbo to save on gas and have been wondering just how much faster is it really compared to holding shift on a bicycle.

Edited July 2, 2023 by NekoPawtato (see edit history)

[fragtzack]

Hard to believe I paid around $14 for this game. So much time spent in 7D2D and a21 absolutely rocks...   7D2D and Kerbal Space Program are probably tied in best value for the time  played ratio.

[Scarman422]

2 hours ago, NekoPawtato said:

Random thought I had, it would be neat if there was a speedometer somewhere when on a vehicle. Would be easier to compare vehicle speeds relative to each other and how fast you are going using turbo vs no turbo.

 

Been trying to use minibike without turbo to save on gas and have been wondering just how much faster is it really compared to holding shift on a bicycle.

 

This is from 7 Days To Die Wiki. I'm not sure, but it seems that turbo doesn't have an impact on fuel usage based on this wiki.

[NekoPawtato]

3 hours ago, Scarman422 said:

 

This is from 7 Days To Die Wiki. I'm not sure, but it seems that turbo doesn't have an impact on fuel usage based on this wiki.

Thanks! Not sure how up to date that one is though, since some vehicle speed changes were done only just recently, and it doesn't mention what the speeds can be with the supercharger mod. (I might go poking around the xmls if I can make heads or tails of the data)

Edited July 3, 2023 by NekoPawtato (see edit history)

[Sephiroth87xz]

12 hours ago, meilodasreh said:

yeah and you should write better.

Maybe we should call it all just a big misunderstanding after all 😀

To me it happens very often that I literally punch zombies half into the ground with my club when they die.

Maybe same thing to you, but they completely fall through the ground?

Have you checked by digging a bit? 😆

 

I doubt.

 

because this is what i writed

 

"And from weapons class i don't have any perks.

 

I playing knife pistol only and i have found multiple first/second tier quality 3-5 rifle and shotgun.

 

In loot i found only 2 pistol and one knife and from trader only the magnum."

 

This is what your readed

 

"And from weapons class i don't have any perks."

 

When the real problem is the quality difference between crafted weapons/tools and what you find in loot/trader/quests.

 

 

Yeah better close it now.

 

After all developers already acknowledge the balance problem situation and will resolve it in future.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Sephiroth87xz (see edit history)

[Old Crow]

16 hours ago, Teezer said:

+ doors getting locked by themselves

+ trees with 0 hp standing still

+ Spanish sentences in French translation

+ No warning when you are getting too far away from quest

+ many more...

 

But i'll not complain that much about this release since it's one of the cleanest Alpha imo for now

 

You don't see the red border when you approach the "you're leaving the quest area" distance?

[fragtzack]

Regarding the biome/POI threat  meter on GUI:

 

 This is a good tool tip, but be nice to turn this off as an advanced setting option. 

 

 In addition, seems that this biome/POI danger tool tip is not needed to be constantly displayed. Rather once moved  into  a new biome/poi the biome meter should appear for about 60 seconds than disappear. 

[BFT2020]

4 hours ago, Sephiroth87xz said:

 

I doubt.

 

because this is what i writed

 

"And from weapons class i don't have any perks.

 

I playing knife pistol only and i have found multiple first/second tier quality 3-5 rifle and shotgun.

 

In loot i found only 2 pistol and one knife and from trader only the magnum."

 

This is what your readed

 

"And from weapons class i don't have any perks."

 

When the real problem is the quality difference between crafted weapons/tools and what you find in loot/trader/quests.

 

 

Yeah better close it now.

 

After all developers already acknowledge the balance problem situation and will resolve it in future.

  
From what you posted, it reads like you were not perking into any weapon classes.  Easy mistake if something is written  in broken English.  What I would have written is “Even though I have perked into knives and pistols, I am seeing mostly rifles and shotguns.” 

 

Sometimes people, including me, can misread something when the structure is off.  Mistakes happen

[Teezer]

1 hour ago, Old Crow said:

 

You don't see the red border when you approach the "you're leaving the quest area" distance?

Is it really a thing?

The only thing I know is that they should make a non-resettable timer, which appears clearly, like in Apex or CoD when you are out of map and you need to return to the battlefield

[Winkiss]

or add a second frame: yellow - warns, red - cancels the quest.

[fyiiamaheavy]

There is a bug i discovered the other day. When knifing zombies/animals on a block that is a an angled block (ramp) or any of the none flat blocks knifing a zombie or animal on said block will shoot the zombie flying up into the sky like 200 m and about 300 mm away from me.

[Syphon583]

22 hours ago, Teezer said:

+ No warning when you are getting too far away from quest

There definitely is a warning. Always has been. There's a distance indicator in the quest tracker that goes from green to yellow to red the further away you get. Problem is it wasn't very clear, so in A21 they added a barrier to the world that glows red when you approach it. It's still a little subtle IMO. They could increase the range of when it appears so that the warning comes up sooner.

 

4 hours ago, Teezer said:

Is it really a thing?

The only thing I know is that they should make a non-resettable timer, which appears clearly, like in Apex or CoD when you are out of map and you need to return to the battlefield

It definitely is. You just wouldn't see it unless you approach the warning barrier without completing the objectives of the quest. I like your idea, though. Have a timer that prompts the player to return within 10-12 seconds or so.

 

3 hours ago, Winkiss said:

or add a second frame: yellow - warns, red - cancels the quest.

We don't need more colors, honestly. The devs also need to think about players with accessibility issues. For some, adding a second different color will not register because they all look the same. Simply increasing the range of when the warning appears should be sufficient.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Syphon583 (see edit history)

[meilodasreh]

8 hours ago, Sephiroth87xz said:

After all developers already acknowledge the balance problem situation and will resolve it in future.

Yes it is oviously a "sender/receiver" problem after all.

All faatal said was that balance is a subject to change until gold, not that they acknowledge that you have identified a balance problem, and have it fixed in the way you like better.

But anyhow, no pun intended, I apologize if I have misunderstood your talking,

and I hope the game balance will be adjusted according to what you want.

 

I still think though, there always has to be some grade of "luck factor" within this system, e.g. I have not invested points into mechanical engineering, so I will progress very slowly in vehicle crafting.

Right now I'm at day 23 and have way under 20 "vehicle magazines", so still in the "bicycle age" and there's very low hope to get to crafting the gyro at all.

So my intent is to buy it some day from the trader, when it's in stock and I can afford it.

If that wouldn't be possible, it would be bad balance because one would have to invest into vehicle crafting just for the sake of being mobile in later game stages,

which is obviously a very important part of the game to be able to get to far away locations fast.

So there has to be a chance that the stuff you didn't invest points into, still is available for you at the traders.

Seen from the perspective of a player who actually invested points into vehicle crafting, it of course then seem odd, because he will also be offered this stuff.

And then he's like "why am I being offered stuff that I also can craft, and sometimes the offered one even in better quality"

 

Maybe the "trader loot tables" could be adjusted in a way that they will not offer you stuff that you perked into, or at least not often, but "concentrate" more on stuff you didn't invest points.

Don't know if that's possible, but I think this would help preventing the situations you described (if I finally did get you right? 🤔)

[NekoPawtato]

20 minutes ago, meilodasreh said:

I still think though, there always has to be some grade of "luck factor" within this system, e.g. I have not invested points into mechanical engineering, so I will progress very slowly in vehicle crafting.

Right now I'm at day 23 and have way under 20 "vehicle magazines", so still in the "bicycle age" and there's very low hope to get to crafting the gyro at all.

So my intent is to buy it some day from the trader, when it's in stock and I can afford it.

If that wouldn't be possible, it would be bad balance because one would have to invest into vehicle crafting just for the sake of being mobile in later game stages,

which is obviously a very important part of the game to be able to get to far away locations fast.

So there has to be a chance that the stuff you didn't invest points into, still is available for you at the traders.

Seen from the perspective of a player who actually invested points into vehicle crafting, it of course then seem odd, because he will also be offered this stuff.

And then he's like "why am I being offered stuff that I also can craft, and sometimes the offered one even in better quality"

I could be wrong but I think the forgetting elixir is actually a lot cheaper now. Personally once I have certain magazines maxed out from the INT tree (workbench/vehicles) I plan to re-spec and put those points elsewhere

[meilodasreh]

23 hours ago, Teezer said:

+ Spanish sentences in French translation

I can top that.

There's a funny typo translation for one of the trashbins into german.

These lil thingys are literally translated as "cursed trash cans" 

I assume the origin typo is "doomed" instead of "domed".

But I will not report it as a bug, it's just too hilarious......never searched one of these though, too afraid it might like bite my arm off or whatever when I try to loot it 🤣

[Laz Man]

Anyone build any cool horde bases in A21 stable yet?

 

Here is my meager uninspired base in my recent A21 stable playtest.  Crafting base on top of gas pumps.  Horde base in truck trailer.  Needs some paint but will call it the "Fizz Cola" Kill box... 😆  Coming up on day 7 on default settings so should be more then enough I hope...

 

 

 

 

[meilodasreh]

7 minutes ago, NekoPawtato said:

I could be wrong but I think the forgetting elixir is actually a lot cheaper now. Personally once I have certain magazines maxed out from the INT tree (workbench/vehicles) I plan to re-spec and put those points elsewhere

Ah yeah right, that might actually be the intention of the devs.

I saw the cheap princing more as a temporary approach, to make it easier for the player to change his mind while trying around with the new skill magazine system.

But you might be right, it could also be this exact solution and therefore stay like it is.

So when you reached a certain point when you don't want to progress any further, this is a way to adapt the probabilities.

Good idea!

Edited July 3, 2023 by meilodasreh (see edit history)

[Professor-Pip]

9 hours ago, Sephiroth87xz said:

In loot i found only 2 pistol and one knife and from trader only the magnum."

 

This is what your readed

 

"And from weapons class i don't have any perks."

 

When the real problem is the quality difference between crafted weapons/tools and what you find in loot/trader/quests.

 

 

Yeah better close it now.

 

After all developers already acknowledge the balance problem situation and will resolve it in future.

 

From what I've read in your posts, you are comparing apples to oranges here.

 

There are two different factors to consider: Loot Stage and Trader Stage. 

 

TS was added in A21 and will no doubt need more work as it goes along, but this is what determines what you see in the trader's inventory. Loot Stage determines what you find in loot. The devs have said that your TS should allow you to see higher level items in the trader's inventory than what is found in loot. This allows you to progress a little faster if you concentrate on doing quests for the trader. It sounds like these are working as intended but perhaps there is a way you can mod the xml to slow trader stage progression if that is what is bothering you. 

[meilodasreh]

24 minutes ago, Laz Man said:

[...] meager uninspired [...] should be more then enough I hope...

...and what does that say about you and your work as a member of the dev team anyway? 😀

 

I'd like to say "good job", but "good luck" seems to be more appropriate 😛

 

Here's what I came up with:

Just attached a platform at the backside of the box factory. (inside "engine room" just added/filled up as a whole "staircase scenario"

 

 

fighting position held up fine for day 7 and day 14 horde so far (day 7 just as a wood platform with the "stair case entry choke point")

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by meilodasreh (see edit history)

[Riamus]

On 7/2/2023 at 1:59 PM, Sephiroth87xz said:

I was saying i not have perks for the weapons i was finding in loot/traders/quests.

 

I was getting shoting and various rifles quality 3-5.

 

But instead i have perks for knife and pistol, at rank 3 or 4.

 

Basically loot/traders/quests was giving to me stronger weapons from types i don't even have perks.

A couple notes- your perks have nothing to do with what the trader sells or what you get for quest rewards.  (Other than that Daring Adventurer increases the Trader Stage and therefore it can sell better stuff).  If you perk into knives and pistols, you will still have a random chance to find any weapons in quest rewards and trader inventory.  No bonuses there.  The perks will help you only in what you can find in loot.  However, it doesn't guarantee you'll find specific stuff in loot and it doesn't mean you won't find other things in loot.  It's still RNG.

 

I haven't noticed any noticeable increase in specific weapons dropping in loot based on perks.  I think it's a very low increase in chance.  Magazines get a big increase but parts and weapons/tools don't seem to get much increase.  It is possible the increase needs adjusted or it is also possible that it is bugged.  But it is also quite possible it's just RNG.