Trader not being utilized by players.

[Slingblade2040]

Do people not use the trader for quests to get iron tools? Do they not buy tools from the trader? I'm seeing alot of talk about level gates and how you can't get a forge till level 20 yet I've had no issues finding working forges at either the traders or in a cabin. Same goes for getting iron tools from the trader so what exactly is everyone complaining about that it's impossible and difficult to get iron tools? Also you don't need the perk to repair tools or weapons it seems. Just need the require item for the repair.

[Sawth77]

I was under the impression that some people were having trouble finding them, but that could just be a few people and not a general issue. I agree though, when I see people complaining (not questioning, but just whining) about not having tools and who can't craft, I just wonder why. Granted that not every trader has all stations working, but even if it's just a forge, you can load it up from what you scavenge during the day, then put a bunch of wood frames in it for fuel and let it cook all night. It's not perfect, and you basically can't use it at night, but it's still better than trying to rng into items.

 

That also gives me a decent rhythm. Farm what i need and am going to shove in the forge during the day while scavenging, let it cook at night while i craft, explore, do quests, or try and cobble together a base and defenses. Maybe i'm just not having the same problems with the game others are experiencing, and i'm really liking the changes. Grinding doesn't bother me like it does some people, and while some things need adjustment (some of the gating for skills seems more restrictive that i'd prefer, items need balancing), I figure that is exactly what the experimental portion is for...finding what needs to be fixed and going from there.

[Hryllingur]

I think that most of the people just test it for a bit. Not really playing it. So they never see those free forges in the cabins.

 

Personally i wouldnt use the forge at the trader too. Why? I cant lock it

 

But hell, yes ... i gonna buy my stuff too. Found some useless weapons. Sold. Bought tools and armor. And everything is fine.

[HerrKingsley]

There was a quite big discussion on the traders when they where introduced. Some people simply dont like to have a trader beeing "mandetory" to progress faster.

And i tend to agree. I rather see one or two more options to get iron tools before you can buy the perk. (one is of course looting)

On the other hand Time management is REAL in this Alpha. So its not always a simple choice running doing trader quest instead of working on your base, depending on your play style.

 

Also its a bit odd you can break in doors and dig down to bed rock day one but you can till some dirt, which is basically flipping it over.... just saying. gating can be made in different ways.

[Slingblade2040]

That's the thing I've sold alot of stuff that I normally hold onto like duct tape, glue, electrical parts, etc...I know that ok I can't really use these items till X level so why horde them? Sell it off to the trader for money and exp to level faster. Which in turn let's me buy armor, some resources like forged steel or iron and tools and some nice weapons if he has them available. Also the air drop loot is ridiculous.

[myrkana]

That's the thing I've sold alot of stuff that I normally hold onto like duct tape, glue, electrical parts, etc...I know that ok I can't really use these items till X level so why horde them? Sell it off to the trader for money and exp to level faster. Which in turn let's me buy armor, some resources like forged steel or iron and tools and some nice weapons if he has them available. Also the air drop loot is ridiculous.

 

We got an air drop last night that was all canned food Q.Q it was so sad lol we need more ammo xD

 

 

 

we use the trader so much! I got 2 levels almost off of the trader. Kept selling random crap. Bought some nice tools for us and did 3 quests total so we could level a bit more

[Jugginator]

The complainers expect everything to be given to them at day 1 lol. I love this change and I hope they don't change it back; if they way a forge spitting out cement mix and steel on day 1 then let them use console commands/creative mode and spawn it in themselves, to be honest.

[Sawth77]

There was a quite big discussion on the traders when they where introduced. Some people simply dont like to have a trader beeing "mandetory" to progress faster.

And i tend to agree. I rather see one or two more options to get iron tools before you can buy the perk. (one is of course looting)

On the other hand Time management is REAL in this Alpha. So its not always a simple choice running doing trader quest instead of working on your base, depending on your play style.

 

Also its a bit odd you can break in doors and dig down to bed rock day one but you can till some dirt, which is basically flipping it over.... just saying. gating can be made in different ways.

 

I can see where people don't necessarily like having to use a trader for the stations, or choosing to use a forge in one place and a workbench half a mile away. OTOH, it fits what's needed at this particular point and gets the job done. If it changes later, that's perfectly fine as well.

 

For me, time management isn't bad. Example, i'll take the treasure quest and start going. While i'm on the run, i'll smack a few rocks and trees, loot a few things, and then dig for the loot. Since i need the clay anyway for the forge, that knocks out something i need to do anyway while i'm getting the quest done. While i'm running back (or generally when i'm on the move and not stopping at POI's), i'll start crafting cobblestone rocks. By the time i generally get back to complete, the cobblestone rocks are done, and i can figure what to do from there. Time management *is* important now, as it should be, and i think some people struggle with that a bit and can't (or don't want to) adjust.

 

I do agree that some of the gating and such require a little work, but likely those things will be addressed with updates later. I also notice most people who are having trouble play multiplayer, while i'm solo. Could be part of it there. I believe the larger problems will all come out in the wash though.

[mr.devolver]

Yeah, use free forge or don't because you first need to grind to high levels to get good use for it.

[Zourin]

There are a few problems with Traders, although I use them whenever I can.

 

1. You often can't find them. The tutorial often bugs out, leaving you without a clue to find a needle in a haystack (0.0M glitch)

 

2. They are often several kilometers away from where you end up basing, unless you get lucky or freebase nearby. This tends to push 'trading' to a post-vehicular activity, rather than an early game one, and now the early game lasts 20+ hours.

 

3. The tasks they give are never local, and often force you to travel several kilometers in an arbitrary direction. This costs excessively valuable time in travel both in getting to the trader, getting to the mission location, and in having to return to the trader, then back to base. You're likely forced to camp overnight in an unprepared location.

 

4. Early game players don't have much of anything to trade to make Dukes, except precious time needed to scavenge and prepare for the 7th day horde.

 

5. The trader often doesn't carry necessities like food or tools. They usually just have piles of scrap junk or overpriced ingredients.

 

 

Benefits:

 

1. Missions, particularly treasure hunts, can be a good source of early game food, antibiotics, and dukes.

 

2. Kill/Fetch missions often point you to a town, which can be useful for basing out of.

[Slingblade2040]

Dukes can be made by selling stuff. Things like cross bow, hunting knife, pick axe and fire axe are usually under 1.2k dukes.

 

Most traders have vending machines for food

 

So far from what I've seen traders are within 1km maybe 1.3km of a town a base can easily be setup in between both and from what I've seen you can usually find those cabins with the forge in them right in between both.

 

Looting can be done on the way to the mission along with killing any wildlife for meat and once at location for the quest if it's a fetch or clearing area quest you can loot once the zombies are cleared.

 

That glitch has been figured out to just head to 0,0 on the map and almost always the trader quest fixes and shows his/her location.

 

For multiple traders I can see needing transportation but for the first one I don't see the need for it. Like I said most folks aren't utilizing the trader because they think it isn't worth it when in this alpha so far shows how important they are early game.

[Reth]

Do people not use the trader for quests to get iron tools? Do they not buy tools from the trader? I'm seeing alot of talk about level gates and how you can't get a forge till level 20 yet I've had no issues finding working forges at either the traders or in a cabin. Same goes for getting iron tools from the trader so what exactly is everyone complaining about that it's impossible and difficult to get iron tools? Also you don't need the perk to repair tools or weapons it seems. Just need the require item for the repair.

 

Yeah, like forged iron to repair tools. There is plenty of it lying around - not. You can spend all your coin to buy an iron axe, cut a few trees with it and then what? It takes a couple of forged iron bars to fix and you just spent those to fix your only wrench or whatnot.

 

It only works in theory. In real game your simply don't have enough coin and /or repair mats to use tools beyond your level.

[Jugginator]

Yeah, like forged iron to repair tools. There is plenty of it lying around - not. You can spend all your coin to buy an iron axe, cut a few trees with it and then what? It takes a couple of forged iron bars to fix and you just spent those to fix your only wrench or whatnot.

 

It only works in theory. In real game your simply don't have enough coin and /or repair mats to use tools beyond your level.

 

Just because you can't do it doesn't mean it's only a theory... In a REAL game (my first 17, too) I hunted a trader down, because logic said I couldn't do iron for a while, and found one with a forge. Looted ♥♥♥♥ I found around the area and sold it to trader. Had enough to buy a steel pickaxe, and bought a couple bars. Used that to get some iron and got some clay and used his forge in between nights. Doesn't sound like a simply don't work theory to me.

[Feycat]

Do people not use the trader for quests to get iron tools? Do they not buy tools from the trader? I'm seeing alot of talk about level gates and how you can't get a forge till level 20 yet I've had no issues finding working forges at either the traders or in a cabin. Same goes for getting iron tools from the trader so what exactly is everyone complaining about that it's impossible and difficult to get iron tools? Also you don't need the perk to repair tools or weapons it seems. Just need the require item for the repair.

 

As usual, this is all about RNG.

 

The game my friends and I are playing, we found 2 traders within an in-game hour's run of each other. There are 6 forge houses within that circle.

 

There's not a single working forge in any of these locations. Trader Joel has a working workbench so we settled in near him. We visit both traders every time they flip inventory, to sell them all the extra guns that are everywhere now, and to look for tools to buy, and to pick up new quests.

 

Neither of them has EVER had a hoe.

 

It's not that people aren't using the traders, or not utilizing them. It's that they're not necessarily helpful.

[Sawth77]

As usual, this is all about RNG.

 

The game my friends and I are playing, we found 2 traders within an in-game hour's run of each other. There are 6 forge houses within that circle.

 

There's not a single working forge in any of these locations. Trader Joel has a working workbench so we settled in near him. We visit both traders every time they flip inventory, to sell them all the extra guns that are everywhere now, and to look for tools to buy, and to pick up new quests.

 

Neither of them has EVER had a hoe.

 

It's not that people aren't using the traders, or not utilizing them. It's that they're not necessarily helpful.

 

There certainly is a certain level of luck when you start a map, with reference to finding traders and working stations within them. I'm playing a map seed now that literally has 3 traders within a couple of hundred yards of one another. So far, the map is fun and i'm enjoying it, but i'm on day 5. We'll see how that goes.

 

So far, i've found the traders have somewhat limited goods, but i've seen them with every tool except the steel pickaxe. I might not be able to afford it all on day 1, but after a couple of ingame days, i'm usually doing ok. From the sound of it, most problems people have come down to sheer happenstance.

[AshaMarie]

I love the idea of earning everything through crafting or looting if possible and trying not to rely on trader. For that reason, I find it important to kill zombies as fast as possible which would be nice if trap kills gave xp even if it was reduced xp.

[Punchdrunk]

Started 7 different maps, 0.0m trader bug on every single one...

"Just use trader and stop whining" is not helpful.

Have not found an iron tool or crossbow either. Found a shotgun but the damage is laughable.

[SickPuppy]

Started 7 different maps, 0.0m trader bug on every single one...

"Just use trader and stop whining" is not helpful.

Have not found an iron tool or crossbow either. Found a shotgun but the damage is laughable.

 

Yer I've gotten the 0 0 trader bug in most of my maps too. But still I found forge houses and there's other traders dotted around the map don't have to go to that particular one.

 

And even on always run day 1 night u can run to that quest trader, zombies have really poor vision at night and they'll give up chase real quick. Only thing u have to look out for are military camps with mines but they're easy to spot even at night.

[Luzifer]

Well i hadnt found a single trader yet in that huge town i try to keep my survival together and the startquests marker had 0.0km so it was essentially not existant. Either bugged or i dont have Traders on that 16kx16k map. gonna try a 8x8 map next to see if stuff happened cuz i was greedy

[Blazer777]

the problem with ppl not being able to find them is their to busy whining about nstead of spending that time looking

[Zourin]

the problem with ppl not being able to find them is their to busy whining about nstead of spending that time looking

 

Because running around accomplishing nothing isn't a completely idiotic in a crunch-heavy game like this?

 

If you get the 0.0 distance thing, you're bugged. Restart the same map and finish the tutorial sequence again. That usually fixes it, eventually.

[Kalarro]

The complainers expect everything to be given to them at day 1 lol. I love this change and I hope they don't change it back; if they way a forge spitting out cement mix and steel on day 1 then let them use console commands/creative mode and spawn it in themselves, to be honest.

 

Let's gate the forge to level 100 better, and if you find it too much, I'd just say "players want everything at day 1" with a smug voice

 

The balance problem goes far beyond wanting everything at day 1. The problem is this is turning into a zombie farming game. I kill zombies very easily, even more than in a16. With a few perks, my lvl 1 wood club kills them so fast. The problem is that anything else I want to do besides killing zimbies, needs me to just farm zombies for days. I find that boring. This isn't a good combat game, it's a good building game. And the xp of anything besides killing is wasting time.

[Scyris]

Yeah, like forged iron to repair tools. There is plenty of it lying around - not. You can spend all your coin to buy an iron axe, cut a few trees with it and then what? It takes a couple of forged iron bars to fix and you just spent those to fix your only wrench or whatnot.

 

It only works in theory. In real game your simply don't have enough coin and /or repair mats to use tools beyond your level.

 

Really? I have no problems keeping my tools repaired and such, I usually have more repair materials than i'll ever need, I don't know what your doing wrong but your doing something wrong I think.

[Scyris]

Because running around accomplishing nothing isn't a completely idiotic in a crunch-heavy game like this?

 

If you get the 0.0 distance thing, you're bugged. Restart the same map and finish the tutorial sequence again. That usually fixes it, eventually.

 

If you get the 0,0 thing, hit f1, type dm, hit escape warp to 0,1 it'll fix it. then you can just re-enter your old co-ords to get back to them.

 

I mostly use the trader to offload junk, and to buy materials I am unable to make yet like forged iron/steel at day 1, so I can repair those tools if I find any. I love getting a sledgehammer early, it makes exploring poi's easy, as its power attack un modded, does over 150 block damage to stone or metal (less on wood). Its garbage for harvesting so its solely a kill zombies/bust walls/safes/doors weapon. It actually has higher block damage on power attack then the steel pickaxe does. I usually just use it as my melee weapon to save a slot.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Let's gate the forge to level 100 better, and if you find it too much, I'd just say "players want everything at day 1" with a smug voice

 

The balance problem goes far beyond wanting everything at day 1. The problem is this is turning into a zombie farming game. I kill zombies very easily, even more than in a16. With a few perks, my lvl 1 wood club kills them so fast. The problem is that anything else I want to do besides killing zimbies, needs me to just farm zombies for days. I find that boring. This isn't a good combat game, it's a good building game. And the xp of anything besides killing is wasting time.

 

Maybe they could do what Ark survival evolved does? you get exp in ark just for surviving, sure you get more for killing things, but even just surviving has a steady trickle of exp.

[Brian9824]

Do people not use the trader for quests to get iron tools? Do they not buy tools from the trader? I'm seeing alot of talk about level gates and how you can't get a forge till level 20 yet I've had no issues finding working forges at either the traders or in a cabin. Same goes for getting iron tools from the trader so what exactly is everyone complaining about that it's impossible and difficult to get iron tools? Also you don't need the perk to repair tools or weapons it seems. Just need the require item for the repair.

 

The problem I have is there is no time to travel 2-3 km to do 1 quest at the begining, then run 2-3km BACK to turn it in. That eats up most of a day to turn in 1 quest. You need to farm tens of thousand of wood to try to make base defenses otherwise you die.