A17 is insanely fun, am I the only one enjoying this?

[chinothepony]

As for me, I tired to hold many full crates of those parts and combining them. The current systems is a such relief! I can play game actually more, and less of micromanagement with all these infinite numbers of parts, combining them, etc. After I played for 20 hours, I understood how dumb was the old system with so much clicking inside chests and workbenches.

 

The quality of the whole game went up. There are lot of places for improvement as usual, though .

 

LOL, yeah, I don't miss the chest that was completely devoted to gun components after all.

[InSanity]

Well, we're on day 44 and that's the furthest we've gotten in the past 5 alphas so, yeah, we're enjoying the heck out of it.

 

Things I miss:

 

-Old quality system with 1-600 and where quality degraded with repairs and higher quality items were more effective.

 

-Individual skills in addition to perks.

 

-Weapon and vehicle parts...they really gave a deeper purpose for looting

 

I'd agree with this, I liked the more in depth quality system for tools and weapons along with the vehicle and weapon parts vs just whole weapons and 1-6 being the only differing factor. And I definitely agree with individual skill alongside the new perk system as I think that would create a nice balance and quell a lot of the complaints thus far in terms of "grind" and "realism".

[The-Walking-Dad]

I know how to remove the death buff, but would like to know how to remove irradiated health regeneration. Appreciate your help on that one.

 

I'll paste the text later, after work and once the boys are in bed.

[grieferbastard]

I'm loving it. I wasn't a big fan of the constant maintenance in the old system, though stretching the new one out a bit would be good. Mods do that to a degree but given their RNG nature instead of skill unlock nature they're just like a lucky penny, not a goal.

 

The weapon and vehicle parts were nice because you were constantly searching and upgrading. Now once I can craft level 5 or 6, everything I find is just scrap. The value of loot is gone - I'm just searching for raw materials and mods.

 

I'd love to see it stay the 1-6 but a return of the components in some form or fashion, or modded gear where if you scrap something any mods on it go into your inventory.

[InSanity]

That's kinda Game Design 101, though.

If you put in an ability, make it awesome so you can see how it works and what it interacts with. Balance later.

 

IMO the compound effect of some of these perks is a weeeee bit over the top but it's experimental.

 

Absolutely, some balancing is needed but overall I'm really enjoying this alpha, had to adjust my play style a bit as it starts off a little slower now but you guys clearly made a lot of progress and it shows.

[KusiPussi]

One big problem with A17 for me is: ZOMBIE KILLING HAS BECOME A CHORE. Stupid sleepers everywhere, you don't even feel like looting any given house anymore, as you know it will have some insane amount of sleepers inside, 10-20 easily. And the ones you eventually manage to kill with that stone arrow, hardly ever drop any loot.

 

I just am not sure I like A17 at all, too much was changed, and the damn sleepers is the worst part. There is no way to quickly have a sleepover at a house during a journey, as clearing the sleepers takes too much time and is so damn boring. There should be some xml variable that would let us set some probability for an EMPTY house.

 

It's like now I stand on a mountain and see a village in the distance, and I don't wanna go there because all houses will be occupied 100%.

[IgnyteZero]

Just to answer the original question:

 

No, you are not the only one enjoying it. Me, my wife and friends are still definitely enjoying it. We are however worried about the balance and impact of certain new features. Some things are more enjoyable than before, others are way less enjoyable than before. We fear too much of a streamlined actionrpg approach. But we're definitely still having fun with the game.

[chinothepony]

One big problem with A17 for me is: ZOMBIE KILLING HAS BECOME A CHORE. Stupid sleepers everywhere, you don't even feel like looting any given house anymore, as you know it will have some insane amount of sleepers inside, 10-20 easily. And the ones you eventually manage to kill with that stone arrow, hardly ever drop any loot.

 

I just am not sure I like A17 at all, too much was changed, and the damn sleepers is the worst part. There is no way to quickly have a sleepover at a house during a journey, as clearing the sleepers takes too much time and is so damn boring. There should be some xml variable that would let us set some probability for an EMPTY house.

 

It's like now I stand on a mountain and see a village in the distance, and I don't wanna go there because all houses will be occupied 100%.

 

I do understand your view and frustration. I agree, it's not just easy to cut your journey short because you're running into night and to clear out a house now takes a while. I do personally have my days set to 2 hours to help rectify that.

 

But I really enjoy the POIs and how many zombies are around now, mostly because they weren't for A16. The A16 zombies felt very secondary, like background creatures that you would once in a while have to take out. Now the zombies are back in the forefront and I personally love all the changes that revolve around them. I do enjoy the perk and skill up system of A16 better though I think. But melee combat with a burning machete (mod) just never gets old now! I love dismembering their legs and watching them die from bleeding and fire.

 

Bow shots feel so good now that it leaves the arrows in them. And I always carry an AK for when I get swarmed, which usually eventually happens at any POI. I think TFP really worked hard on these POIs and I know not everyone accepts them. But I think to take something of a sandbox format and put in elements there that aren't hardcore scripted, and watching them pop out of everywhere and spook the $**# out of you--it's the sweet spot in a game to me. Where sandbox meets scripted events.

[Ghostlight]

I love A17 but it becomes too easy after you reach midgame. A problem that is not new with the game though.

Hopefully the final product will have more long term challenge.

 

The problem is that A17's mid-game comes too early (much earlier than it did in A16), and it has no end-game. I am level 103 on day 30. And I have EVERYTHING...

 

- All perks I deem necessary are maxxed

- I have all weapons at tier 6 and with 4 or 5 mods in each

- Same with armour

- I have all vehicles

- I have 200k Dukes

 

What now? Other than getting gunpowder and other basics, I have no need to even leave the base. Exploring is pointless. Looting is pointless. The trader is pointless. I should add that I have looted a grand total of half a large town on my map. That's it. I looted half a town and I have everything in the game. WTF

 

If this was A16, all my guns would be level 200 or so, and I probably would not even have a Magnum or Sniper Rifle. The on-going search for gun safes would begin!! [in A17 I ignore gun safes as they take too long to open and there's nothing I need in there].

 

Game "ended" in A17 much earlier than any other alpha I've played. It is shocking. It was such a design mistake to let us craft everything, and to let just killing zombies allow us to max all perks. Just made the game stale and bland and SHORT. Basically whatever you consider the end of a run in this game (and it varies from person to person) you are going to get there far quicker in this alpha than any other before it. And the journey is going to be bland, predicable and pre-ordained. You want <something>? Don't go explore for it, just kill zombies until you have the level to just GET it on demand. Same as everyone else.

 

It's like now I stand on a mountain and see a village in the distance, and I don't wanna go there because all houses will be occupied 100%.

 

I wish. My thoughts on seeing that village are: what's the point of going there when I have everything?

[Ghostlight]

I know how to remove the death buff, but would like to know how to remove irradiated health regeneration. Appreciate your help on that one.

 

Don't do it! Somewhere around level 90, with the right perks, the player becomes super OP. Zombies are a joke. All types. You'll wish you had the "challenge" of irradiated enemies.

[chinothepony]

The problem is that A17's mid-game comes too early (much earlier than it did in A16), and it has no end-game. I am level 103 on day 30. And I have EVERYTHING...

 

All perks I deem necessary are maxxed

I have all weapons at tier 6 and with 4 or 5 mods in each

Same with armour

I have all vehicles

 

What now? Other than getting gunpowder and other basics, I have no need to even leave the base. Exploring is pointless. Looting is pointless. The trader is pointless.

 

If this was A16, all my guns would be level 200 or so, and I probably would not even have a Magnum or Sniper Rifle. The on-going search for gun safes would begin!! [in A17 I ignore gun safes as they take too long to open and there's nothing I need in there].

 

Game "ended" in A17 much earlier than any other alpha I've played. It is shocking. It was such a design mistake to let us craft everything, and to let just killing zombies allow us to max all perks. Just made the game stale and bland and SHORT.

 

But I think this is a good baseline for A17, don't you think? We are on experimental and it seems to be quite a stable build and something they can just pour more content into.

 

I don't want to go back to the gun parts system. If you think about it, were they to flip it around: give you whole guns up to A16 and then introduce the gun part system in 17, people would really complain and accuse TFP of inflating the game time superficially.

 

But I think you and I can come up with an agreement on this subject, because I don't like how everything is behind perks now.

 

For me, A17's current end game is hunting down more mods. I get real excited finding things like Bunker Buster that does 50% more to rocks.

[Ghostlight]

The mod hunt only goes so far, as you don't need that many of them. I also have a chest full of them with no item to put them on. Just put points into Daring Adventurer and grind quick and easy trader quests for a day and you will have plenty. I agree there is potential but right now there is nothing to loot after day 30. No need to explore whatsoever, except for the sake of exploring. The biggest finds for me where I am now would be Glue and bones.

 

I used to love the gun part hunt. Finding a purple part or a gun with a purple part was a great feeling. In fact all parts were great since you could combine then, so everything had value. Finding that blueprint you needed was also awesome. More importantly, NOT finding that blueprint made your current playthrough different and memorable.

[chinothepony]

The mod hunt only goes so far, as you don't need that many of them. I also have a chest full of them with no item to put them on. Just put points into Daring Adventurer and grind quick and easy trader quests for a day and you will have plenty. I agree there is potential but right now there is nothing to loot after day 30. No need to explore whatsoever, except for the sake of exploring. The biggest finds for me where I am now would be Glue and bones.

 

I used to love the gun part hunt. Finding a purple part or a gun with a purple part was a great feeling. In fact all parts were great since you could combine then, so everything had value. Finding that blueprint you needed was also awesome. More importantly, NOT finding that blueprint made your current playthrough different and memorable.

 

A16 really struggled with mid to end game content as well. On top of that, A16 became easy mode after Day 7. So I do find more to do in A17. The game went really flat leading up to A16, and this new alpha seems to have spiked the punch up a bit. Also I think you and I might value things a bit differently. I gain more excitement finding strange new mods then hunting down gun parts. I'm a big time collector in games though. SO while you say you don't need a lot of mods, I can't get enough of them until all my steel armor, tools, and weapons are full of them. That is quite the process in itself.

 

Btw, thanks for the advice on getting Daring Adventurer. Working on my Lucky Looter now, but def going to get that one as I see myself doing plenty of quests to fill that late game void.

 

I think the only true fix would be to get the Duke and his super mutant army in here and make him an active conquest target throughout and into late game.

[Ghostlight]

I believe I have all mods there is to have, at least looking at the XML file. Without really trying.

 

A16 may have become easy mode at some point, but at least at that point you didn't have everything you could possibly have, and at top tier, so there was still plenty of player progression if you wanted it. I remember several A16 runs where I didn't max out everything till after day 100, and some where I never managed it all (Magnums were a bitch to get to 600). Here not only does this occur at ~day 30, but it is guaranteed because you can craft what you want at quality 6 and max the relevant perks.

 

Also, the mods soon become eclipsed by the perks. My Sniper Rifle has 5 mods but one of them is a Dye. Doesn't matter, it still one shots almost all zombies, because of the perks.

[SoberSean]

Loving this build, but to be fair I loved the last one. I don't take the game very seriously like "this is my entire life and I've got all my eggs in this basket so if it's not perfect then I'm a broken man with no will to live so with my dying breath I will curse the family name of anyone involved with the development as well as anyone who finds any of this change to be acceptable when it's clear that the sky is quite literally falling" type or anything like that.

 

I wish the engine (combat/lighting/new RWG) of this build and some of the new systems were added to the "feel" of the last build instead of almost completely scrapping the feel of the last build to complement the new features.

 

Before you crucify me for saying I like the RWG that's after I've gotten into the xml and done some tweaking, it's much more powerful now and I'm sure you all will see once they adjust it from it's current placeholder status. Man, really screenshot worthy landscapes now are possible with some understanding of what pushing those generator range numbers around do.

 

I love the new ragdoll along with the new melee hitboxes and the more fluid transitions in zeds being knocked down to when they get back up again but I do miss the dismemberment, sad to see it go.

 

Loving the new archery game it's on point and brings me back to my skyrim days. Never felt better than this push!

 

I love the new vehicles, but please don't waste any more dev time with those we have more than enough now but not enough zombie skins so I'd love to see them focus on the meat of the game instead of the side dishes.

 

Loving the new trader system with the quests, made me build a base next to the trader since he's my boi now even though he's still a giant prick. I like how he is actually useful now though for real, helps in the early game so much when you don't have the perks for everything yet.

 

Loving the enhanced lighting, game looks sweeter now than ever.

 

New PoI's are fabulous, I'm the type that likes to take over a PoI and make it a home base and some of these old survivor bases are glorious for that and super inspiring. Haven't even scratched the surface of all the new PoI's yet, and that's the kind of development I like to see, more actual content instead of revamping systems that were pretty good to begin with. This is content here actual content! (now more zombie skins please? I'm one track minded I know but it's important!)

 

Loving the new modifications system has great potential for some ape♥♥♥♥ stuff down the road from modders. I can see guns that shoot freezing bullets out of them if you have a cryo mod or something, make this!

 

Really don't like the new stamina system but I'm not alone there, in my opinion needs to be able to be raised just as easily as your max health so the actual bar goes to 200 quickly like your max health does that may help.

 

I love not worrying about parts for gun and I know the community is divided here but for me that stuff was busywork/clickwork and I'll pass. Why in the 7 hells (to die) would I find gun *parts* out in the world in 'Murica? No I would find guns. Just like we do now so that is more satisfying. Source=I live in 'Murica. Not many gun parts round here but yup, plenty of fully assembled guns and the unassembled ones are right in the case with the other parts not scattered around the house, shed and attic in different cupboards or in the toilet for some reason.

 

 

Loving how zombie dig now, don't feel safe underground and I always thought I loved that did feel safe? I dunno but being topside has it's perks in the form of better vistas and being able to see the sky and whatnot, underground now feels rightfully claustrophobic to me especially after this morning when I was mining for iron in my diggy hole and I heard some groaning behind and saw a wandering military/hazmat horde shambling down my tunnel after me with dudes dropping in from above, freaked me the hell right out and I was telling my wife later that I was so happy I was wearing my brown pants that day, what a stroke of luck!

 

Let's see, lots to love. What I don't love is yet to be seen and the list is obviously far shorter but I don't think I'm having many of the problems that others are complaining (ahem, offering their opinion) about here, zombies don't destroy my base because I fortify it, just a thought but spikes and barbwire are still a thing and still easily built by day 7 so yeah...not having a problem with being bored because I'm "too powerful" or anything like that because I like to build anyway so there's always something for me to do in the game, maybe if I didnt' like to build I could see that but I could also see myself not playing building games if I was like that too...just a thought.

 

Will see! Only thing that chafes my strap is stamina but maybe coffee is the answer I dunno, works in real life maybe I'll make a farm later to try it out. Speaking of coffee mines about done time to go back into my world and build stuff and try really hard to find little things to get super angry about so I come here and vent my spleen.

[Krougal]

You can find all the mods so crafting them from schematics is merely an option that gives you access to more mods earlier if you perk into crafting.

 

OK then, I think needing to search for MODS AND mod recipes offsets the loss of hunting for high QL parts as an activity.

 

Better?

This wasn't a complaint by the way, I think it is a good thing.

[Krougal]

Agreed to an extent, and let me explain. I am having a ton of fun playing A17e, but not because I think the new system is good. Nor do I think it's inherently bad either. I enjoy a lot about it, but I certainly would have done it different if I were the developer. What makes this game fun for me is playing with my friends. I used to start my streams with my SP and then switch over to my MP dedicated server. I've pretty much abandoned SP altogether and I don't have any specific reason why, just not enjoying this format SP.

 

.....also, totally bored at work and that is why post a lot lmao

 

Weirdly, with my own server up. I don't wanna play SP so I can advance in it instead. Normally I'm all for SP but for some reason not right now.

 

Yeah, I'm not really enjoying SP anymore either, and I've always played SP prior to A17. Actually very pleasantly surprised how stable and smooth MP has been, and of course everything is more fun with friends.

[Snowydeath]

Yeah, I'm not really enjoying SP anymore either, and I've always played SP prior to A17. Actually very pleasantly surprised how stable and smooth MP has been, and of course everything is more fun with friends.

 

Everything is more fun with friends that's for sure! I don't like PvP so I stick to PvE only (Sometimes I accidentally kill someone cause we weren't allied haha) I still enjoy SP and playing alone on the MP server, I just have sooooo much fun when playing with friends that I only wanna do that for a bit. Gotta switch my Server Host though, 7d2dserverhosting has awful ping and ping spikes! Know any hosts that let you choose where your server is hosted? Idk where our server is even at physically...

[beHypE]

We're enjoying the game aswell with my friends. But at the same time, we would probably have enjoyed A16 just as much.

 

About gun parts, I kinda miss them. Sure, they were a chore to maintain/pickup because of inventory management, but at the end of the day it felt super rewarding to be able to finally assemble a whole gun because you found that last part that you were missing for days. Also, you could upgrade it more and more. I think it had way more possibilities to be expanded, and mods could have just supplemented the old system instead of replacing it. Finding complete guns left and right and having no way to actually make them better overtime is just boring to be honest. At least, even if you found a lvl 100 hunting rifle while yours was already lvl 200, there was a chance one of the parts was actually better than the one in your gun. Right now, you just leave it on the floor because it's useless to pick it up other than to sell it.

 

But the biggest thing I miss is the schematics. Seriously, being able to unlock virtually everything just by putting points where they are needed is not rewarding in the slightiest ! Nothing will ever bring back that feeling of finding a bookstore because you just knew you were going to improve your crafting capabilities a lot. Now, you just find 30m buffs and mod schematics, it's not even close to the excitement of finding that one blueprint you really wanted for weeks but couldn't find (yes minibike, you know i'm thinking about you !).

 

I'm also kinda disappointed in the "pure content addition" aspect. There's new stuff but a lot has just been reworked to function differently, we still lack bandits, tamable pets and so forth. Each part of the game has been stretched out to make the road longer to the endgame, but the endgame really isn't that different than A16's, just longer to reach.

[Randomdude]

nothing will ever bring back that feeling of finding a bookstore because you just knew you were going to improve your crafting capabilities a lot. Now, you just find 30m buffs and mod schematics, it's not even close to the excitement of finding that one blueprint you really wanted for weeks but couldn't find (yes minibike, you know i'm thinking about you !).

 

so true!

[Snowydeath]

so true!

 

While it is true, I guarantee down the road with tweaks and added mods we might get closer to that feeling we all previously felt. It will never be the same, but that is okay because we are definitely heading in the right direction! I'm sure there will always be people who miss old features that have been replaced but, we must not let it blind our enjoyment of the new ones!

[Demeaner]

What if instead of whole guns dropping, just a generic "Pistol Parts" or "Rifle Parts" dropped and you would have to collect 5x parts to craft the gun?

Takes away the tons of crappy guns I'm scrapping anyway and lets me craft one relative to my power level.

 

No looking for a barrel, a grip, and a stock. Just "parts".

 

 

I also think the item scaling should be 1-10 instead of 1-6...

[chinothepony]

I believe I have all mods there is to have, at least looking at the XML file. Without really trying.

 

A16 may have become easy mode at some point, but at least at that point you didn't have everything you could possibly have, and at top tier, so there was still plenty of player progression if you wanted it. I remember several A16 runs where I didn't max out everything till after day 100, and some where I never managed it all (Magnums were a bitch to get to 600). Here not only does this occur at ~day 30, but it is guaranteed because you can craft what you want at quality 6 and max the relevant perks.

 

Also, the mods soon become eclipsed by the perks. My Sniper Rifle has 5 mods but one of them is a Dye. Doesn't matter, it still one shots almost all zombies, because of the perks.

 

I can't argue you there. I remember how long it would take me to find enough pieces for a purple magnum or sniper rfile. And once again like I said, we prob def agree on how too much is now governed by the perks. First time I got my iron pick in A17 I was so happy, then I realized I hit rock at about the same pace.

 

I do like A16 skills and perks better. And maybe since I got tired of the gun component system, it would still be cool to be able to have the old quality range but with intact guns. I actually found it real refreshing to find guns right away and it didn't take away too much from the struggle in the beginning.

 

But just don't give me the zombies for A16. Combat in A17 is a sheer winner to me. They were so terrible they'd rather eat your doors than you.

[Greslin]

I'm enjoying A17 pretty well so far, mostly I think because I'm keeping in mind that it's not fair to compare a17 experimental with a16.4 STABLE. This one's going to be rough around the edges, just like the early a16s were. It'll work itself out by the end of the a17 dev cycle.

 

There are a few things I'll end up modding if they're not rebalanced/redone in stable. I'm not at all crazy about having the forge locked behind a level 20 gate, or a workbench likewise locked so far beyond the initial forge. The level gates in general need work. But really that's a pretty trivial issue, considering how easy it is to rewire that in the XML.

 

It bugs me that the basic difference between the stone axe and the iron pickaxe is that the iron pick is a better combat tool, has better durability and has a power attack, but that otherwise the stone axe is actually the better mining tool stat-wise. Seriously? Come on, guys. Give me at least an extra point in base block damage here. I've been waiting for the forge to get me out of the stone age, but turns out a flat rock punches through stone better than sharpened iron does. Again, XML.

 

My favorite a17 moment so far came today. Going through a large house, keeping an eye out for zombies stashed away in closed closets for some weird reason (did someone stack them up? did they go in themselves, carefully closing up behind them?). Pretty sure that closet right there has something nasty in it. Let's shoot the door with a basic stone arrow from a lev 2 wooden bow, maybe wake up whatever's in there.

 

Door explodes to splinters. Ooookay. Yep, zombie biker dude just chillin' out. And even got my arrow back!

 

So now I'm keeping my bow on hand for all POI incursions. KNOCK KNOCK BABY!

[SickPuppy]

Sticky arrows alone has been worth the wait.

 

Seeing a zombie full of my arrows like a porcupine does not get old.