Observations on A17

[Jamey]

I’ve done a couple of trial games so far with A17, starting with b197. The first two were one day and two days respectively. The third got to day 5, but my computer is now having issues so I cannot continue until it is working again. I’m writing up my thoughts from memory, so please forgive any faulty recollections.

 

1) Bleeds seem pretty out of control.

 

It looks like at least one bug (100% bleed rate) got fixed relating to this. However, bleeds are still my largest HP loss and the cause of every single death I have had. My first game I quit after one day because every time I got hit, I bled to death. I found almost no clothing and no cotton because I was in the snow biome, so I could not craft bandages. That combined with the huge HP numbers on lumberjacks really combined for a frustrating introduction on A17.

 

Suggestion: Lower bleed chance. Also, I’d like to see a basic bandage recipe that uses plant fiber because it is available in every biome.

 

2) Starting biome is too impactful.

 

As mentioned above, the snow biome was super frustrating. My second start was in the desert. It was also frustrating due to a lack of bandages and a lack of meat. I wound up cheating in a stack of bandages just to be able to keep going for a while. I also got very frustrated with the heat in the desert, as it was causing debuffs, I think both to hydration and to stats.

 

In short, as someone who had not played for months, both the desert and snow biomes were quite annoying to start in. If I were playing the game for the first time, I’d probably have ragequit at this point.

 

Instead, I went for one more restart. This time I wound up in the forest biome, which provided cotton (and cloth directly from a camp). The forest biome also provided a lot of meat from large animals, including at least 2 each of wolves, deer, and boats. I was also lucky enough to find a forge house near a trader, which let me repair tools.

 

 

3) Lucking into a forge is too impactful

 

With a forge before the perk, you can make forged iron to repair tools as well as iron arrowheads. You can also craft basic cooking tools, allowing more efficient food. Those things are massive improvements to your ability to survive. I would not want to play A17 in its current form without an early forge because the stone axe and stone arrows just plain suck.

 

My suggestions here:

A) Make the forge always craftable, but with the first forge skill unlocking recipes as currently.

 

B) The stone axe needs a power attack to make it maybe viable for harvesting. That, unfortunately, would make it no longer usable for building tasks. Perhaps a stone hammer should be added to make up for that, or the base attack harvest rate on the stone axe should be improved.

 

 

4) Skill progression is too all or nothing

 

I found myself shrugging and saving points as I got past level 10 because I wanted to save up for the level 20 unlocks. The level gates as currently implemented simply impact progression too much. The development curve right now is too discrete. It needs to be smoother somehow for it not to feel like you’re just waiting for the next big unlock level all of the time.

 

 

5) XP is too tied to killing zombies and selling to traders

 

As far as I can see, the only substantive sources of XP are killing zombies and selling items. Those are both good, but it makes harvesting, crafting, and building feel like unproductive activities because they don’t meaningfully develop your character. When playing MP with my friends, I feel like the people who enjoy mining and base building will simply lag behind.

 

That said, I like the idea of shared XP. I’m looking forward to trying that with my MP gaming group when A17 is stable enough for us to be able to get into it (we play together a couple of hours on two nights a week, so we’d be constantly restarting with the experimentals).

 

 

6) Equipment progression and mods needs to be looked at

 

First off, I’ve only gotten a handful of mods, mostly from various special crates I’ve opened. Currently equipment only improves its durability from its rating, so there is a real lack of progression in early game equipment because you have no mods (also because higher tier equipment like iron tools require a forge to maintain). That really needs to be thought about, as it leads to an unsatisfying first week.

 

I like the idea of the mod system (I especially like it way more than the weapon parts of A16) it has just felt super limiting to me so far. Maybe that changes later on, but I feel like it has had very little impact on my gameplay.

 

 

7) Detection seems really inconsistent

 

Sometimes every zombie will beeline towards me from many meters away. Other times I will pick off the zombies in a POI one by one. I’m really not sure why, as I’m normally fighting them unstealthed to get as many as possible to come at me.

 

 

8) Zombies appearing from nowhere and silently attacking

 

I was in the trailer with a trader. It was clear of zombies and I closed its door because there were zombies outside the fence that I planned to deal with after trading. Instead, a zombie appeared in the trailer and attacked me while I was talking to Bob.

 

I had a similar experience while I was fortifying a gas station for night 1. I’d put down my bedroll and built doors (and a roof hatch) to seal all entrances. I still got attacked by a zombie while I was boarding up windows and such.

 

In both cases (and several others), my first knowledge that there was a zombie was my screen going red because I was bleeding out. I heard nothing from the zombie until I had been hit. This has been an ongoing problem since I started playing 7DtD. I’d really like better audio cues for nearby zombies that want to eat my brains.

 

9) I like the quests

 

The quests are a nice way to add some structured content as well as rewards to help you progress in the game. I’d like them to give more XP. I’d also like them to have better loot rewards. At least half of the quests I’ve done I’ve taken the most valuable thing to sell it because there was nothing that was super impactful on my gameplay.

 

10) The game greatly improves with a vehicle

 

I cheated in a bike to try it out. It’s a game changer because it lets me readily get to more distant POIs and quest locations. I’d really like to see the bike made much more available in the early game.