What traits do you like/dislike using?

[Soto]

For me so far my best perks so far (in beta branch);

- Cat Eyes(2pts)
Really strong for me it feels like
- Graceful(4pts)
Helps avoid a lot of combat
- Inconspicuous(4pts)
Helps avoid a lot of combat


Some of the easy free points I feel like are;

- Underweight/Overweight
Really no downside since you can lose/gain weight easily enough
- Smoker
Feels way too easy to get cigarettes
- High Thirst
Plenty of water in default map its just too easy to sustain water



Also it seems some of the perks aren't that good like;

All thumbs - This feels like it should be a -6 perk seeing how hard it makes everything

First Aider - Can't really tell if its doing anything since you're dead from a bite no matter what

[Sanctus]

I actually really like hunter, it gives a good spread of skills for eight points which end up being 2 points per skill. The trapping point hasn't been super useful yet but hunter gives a good xp boost for when you're aim training or sneaking.

[Shrinkshooter]

Originally posted by Sanctus:

The trapping point hasn't been super useful yet

The trapping skill is primarily handy for creating higher tier traps. If Hunter starts with Trapping 2, then right off the bat you don't need to worry about trapping animals to level it and you can craft awesome Trap Boxes right off the bat once you find the magazine with the recipe for them. If it doesn't and starts with T1 that's still easier to get to the Trap Box than nothing.

[Silverbird]

Originally posted by Shrinkshooter:

Originally posted by Sanctus:

The trapping point hasn't been super useful yet

The trapping skill is primarily handy for creating higher tier traps. If Hunter starts with Trapping 2, then right off the bat you don't need to worry about trapping animals to level it and you can craft awesome Trap Boxes right off the bat once you find the magazine with the recipe for them. If it doesn't and starts with T1 that's still easier to get to the Trap Box than nothing.

I've found stick traps to be indespensible.
Repeat dig with trowel and you get worms to use as bait, load 6-9 stick traps up and you can have enough food to feed yourself from anywhere.

[Meat Machine]

Favorite positive traits:
Cat's Eyes
(makes nights much easier, especially since both darkness and light sources are much more influential for both Survivor and Zombie vision in the newest patch)
Dextrous
(allows you to make dangerous smash-n-grab looting runs, and minimizes downtime organizing inventory)
Lucky
(trash candy, cupcakes, cigarettes, not breaking locks and repairs - it is always, always paying off in small ways)
Organized
(BEST hidden value - it ALSO increases the capacity of all equipable bags and backpacks by 30%. Sometimes as good as an extra 2-4 points in Strength for overall carrying capacity)
Wakeful
(helpful for sustaining you on long field trips, or for the man who forages constantly)

Favorite negative traits:
Hard of Hearing
(if you play carefully and never let your guard down, you won't get snuck up on)
High Thirst
(with doubled water consumption, you still only need to fill your water bottle once a day)
Pacifist
(misleading description - it reduces weapon XP gain by 25%. Doesn't directly nerf your fighting ability. Essentially, it is Slow Learner, but only for weapons. Easily compensated for with professions, other traits, or higher strength and fitness)
Slow Healer + Prone To Illness
(don't get injured, especially by zombies, and they never affect you)
Slow Reader
(minor time-sink inconvenience to pay for a much better positive 2-point trait)
Weak Stomach
(don't eat rotten, raw, burnt, poisonous, or unidentified food, and its never a problem)
Smoker
(pays for Lucky, which in turn makes finding cigarettes, matches, and lighters a breeze; only a problem at the very start of the game, when you have no inventory and no safehouse to fall back on between scavanges and skirmishes)

The blacklist:
All Thumbs
(can't manage inventory at all unless it is completely safe, still takes forever, trash value)
Asthmatic
(can't run, and can't fight - both of which are of paramount importance)
Disorganized
(your backpack is a purse now)
Illiterate
(gates off all learnable recipes, skills, and XP-boosting books. Good for characters that I don't intend to last longer than 3 days)
Obese
(must nearly starve for weeks to shed the pounds)
Very Underweight
(boosts to strength and fitness are useful buffs, but nerfs to them are absolutely deadly and almost never recoverable)
Unlucky
(reducing the chances of pleasant surprises is just no fun at all)

Some negative traits are essentially freebies on easier difficulties, but can be nightmarishly punishing in harder difficulties. Anything affecting endurance, healing, or food and water consumption rates are far, far worse the harder the world settings are.

[Lotus Elise]

Originally posted by Neren:

Here's my take on the traits:
Cat's Eyes:
I remember it being pratically mandatory in build 40 but I think they changed the way lighting works during the night? Either way I rarely get it in the new build as I seem to do just fine without it.

Agree. This trait is not needed in SP but it is highly recommended in MP to hunt raiders in the night.

Originally posted by Neren:

Outdoorsman:
A must in my latest runs, makes weather conditions waaaaay more tolerable.

Hm... I never take this trait in SP. The game is much more interesting without Outdoorsman trait. But Outdoorsman is good for MP... very useful if you want to take revenge on the offenders and forced to start a bastards 'hunt'.

Originally posted by Neren:

Angler:
I don't think I've ever fished in this game but if you want to make a wilderness oriented character that actually might be a really good one for the +75% Fishing XP.

In reality, fishing is something that you can pay attention to. Hunting is trash. The farming skill is not needed at all. But fishing is useful and interesting. (At least it is not so bad and boring as is others of food sources).
[/quote]

Originally posted by Neren:

Gardener:
Same as Angler, didn't use it much but is probably really nice for a wilderness survivor.

No. No needed at all. You may not even read books of farming.

Originally posted by Neren:

Sewer:
I have no idea why anyone would ever take that trait. The only situation I could think of is if you ramp up clothing degradation to max and have no clothes spawn on map in sandbox.

The same as for metalworking - cost of this traits is too high. Useless skills = low price.

Originally posted by Neren:

Gymnast:
I only take that trait if I'm making a sneaking character which is rare.

Gymnast is great. hm... What for the Sneak skill? I try to play with this but for now I think it is a useless trash...

Originally posted by Neren:

Hunter:
Only trait in the game that gives you Aiming skill bonus. Pretty damn expensive though since it adds a bunch of disparate skill bonuses though, not a great one imo.

Only trait in the game that gives you Short Blade skill boost.

Originally posted by Neren:

Thick Skinned:
A must have on any survivor you want to last if infection is turned on.

Waste of points for not beginners.

Originally posted by Neren:

Sunday Driver:
Bad one: it greatly affects your driving for just 1pt.

Not bad in MP if there are no cars in the world.

Originally posted by Neren:

All Thumbs:
Even in single player with time acceleration this one in a pain in the arse, waaaaaaaaay underpriced for the effect it has, don't take it.

Agree 100%. It must be +4 points.

Originally posted by Neren:

Disorganized:
Really not a trait you'd want to have on a long playthrough. Tolerable though as long as you know enough carpentry to craft some crates, have a nice backpack and have decently high strength otherwise.

Free point. In MP or hard SP games the volume of bags, crates etc is the last thing to worry about.

Originally posted by Neren:

Prone to Illness:
Big nope if infection is turned on. The devs removed Hypochondriac but that combo could be pretty funny when that trait comes back.

Free points.

Originally posted by Neren:

Asthmatic:
I don't use it but it could be useful if you're a stealthy character rather than a kick ass then leg it character like I tend to play.

At a high level of difficulty, stealth is impossible.

Originally posted by Neren:

Slow Healer:
As long as you don't get your feet / legs injured, which affects your movement speed, it's tolerable, especially if you avoid combat.

Really bad trait if you play MP or hard SP. No food no healing. I always take this trait, but I hate it so much.

Originally posted by Neren:

Illiterate:
Good on throwaway character, terrible for long playthroughs. There's just so many things you need to be able to read.

Not so much, really. And skills boosts can compensate for the lack of skill multiplication from the books. And yes, it’s very difficult and dangerous to find books in a the game with hard settings.

Originally posted by Neren:

Thin-Skinned:
Fine if infection is turned off. Terrible otherwise.

Free points if you can play. (I hope there are no people who play with no infection here.)

[isotope23]

Both positive and negative I usually go only for things that go away or that cant be gained via improvement.

Negatives - thirst, underweight, unfit, slow healer.


High thirst is fairly minor in the long term if you set up near the river.
Slow healer - You get bit/scratched you may as well camp to see if you turn or not so not a big cost.
Underweight - just eat all the fresh crap at the start.
out of shape/Unift - probably the biggest but you can improve over time especially with fast learner.

Positives - cat eyes, fast learner, dexterous, fast reader (not always) graceful, inconspicuous and lucky.

All are pretty much skills you can't learn/improve. Everything else you can improve over time.

My current playthrough I'm 4+ months on Apoc and almost to lvl 4 fitness.