Build 42 seems easier for everyone?

[Davyboy]

I'll try to go into some details.
I started playing build 42 after a friend said that there have been some major improvements. Went in, my first play through, vanilla everything. Took some time, but after 50 or so hours didn't really find anything to different. In fact I found the game easier. Achieved the self sustaining aspect with water and farming. Then I started getting cows and chickens, well 3 cows so far in this run. After a few hours of testing these out I had to quit because it just became a base defense/farming sim.
Started playing another playthrough. Ramped up the difficulty by powering up zombies and lowering loot. About 31 hours in I'm now back at the self sustaining. Also, found more animals to tame. Killed some wildlife that just seems to spawn more than the zombies, which kept me fed in the early game. Turned off water and electricity.
Skills seem to not matter, or half of them anyway. I leveled up the few to survival and building. Then took a few times of looting and hoarding zombies away from specific buildings. In the end, it was just a base defense/farming sim, again.

Was build 42 intended to make the game more simplistic? Are they going to nerf anything before build 43? Was build 42 specifically for multiplayer so there would be more randomness? Can the helicopter event happen more than once, vanilla? Is there a map randomizer tool, that isn't a mod? Does build 42 seem easier for everyone?

I am not going to do mods or give myself imposed rules outside of the games challenge difficulty. To me that's just a dead game if mods or self imposed rules are the only thing I can do to make the game up to par with how long and few the updates are.

PS: Don't clown me, don't give me awards for this. I'm just curious

[Narrowmind]

I have a feeling that most people would look at both builds and come to completely opposite conclusions. In fact, many of us would say it's overcomplicated and grindy to excess.

No one is going to call muscle fatigue easier than no muscle fatigue. No one is going to think that having the zombies have enhanced vision and hearing, or not being able to see in the dark automatically, at least a little bit, easier. The gas being allowed to run out is.. somehow easier?? Not too many are going to think a year long crop growth or hitting a rat and destroying their vehicle easier.

[kris40k]

Where the game is currently at in B42, it supports both a base-building "cozy farm sim" style of play, a roaming, scavenging, zombie stomping style of play, a primitive living out in the woods with nothing style, and everywhere in between. As far as not needing all the skills, that is correct. No one needs to engage with the crafting system if they chose not to, and just want to loot gear instead. But, for folks that like crafting, that is an option to play with in the sandbox.

Some metas have shaken out, and yeah, like getting some cows or sheep that produce milk and settling down in a farm away from the high population areas is the safest/easiest/BIS/meta way to survive, But that's only what some people *like* to do.

"I an not going to do..."

Look, man. Its a sandbox game, and there are a lot of ways to play in it. You can be open minded, and decide how you want to play in it by giving yourself artificial "imposed rules" and mods like RV Life, do nomad runs, spawning into Louisville day 1, no farms just scavenge, etc.

Me, I have a nice farm in Riverside right now doing exceptionally well. I also started a run where I ran out into the woods day 1 with a sheet bag, a paring knife and a skillet. That ones a little more of a struggle bus, but working. I also installed RV Life and have been considering getting a RV nomad run going.

[ultra]

Mb he play without prelooted buildings and start 10/10

[Puppers]

Honestly I haven't really thought about this at all because I find myself enjoying combat too much with how zombies work(vision,speed,etc) and have a much higher chance of survival in build 42 over 41 for me. I just play vanilla and apocalypse 12 month later but pre looted buildings on max from day 0 with loot rarity on default, I find that it meshs well with how I enjoy playing.

I usually go play a challenge map if I want something more "difficult" otherwise I quite enjoy all the new features and sustainibility animals and crafting have to offer if I want to do them so yeah maybe it is a tad easier but all i need to do is go tinker with settings to make myself suffer, id rather not lol.

[Steve10393]

I think all the added systems makes the game easier once you learn how to take advantage of all of them. The only real downside is melee with a weapon is weaker than before due to muscle fatigue but once you learn how to manage that it's no big deal.

Hence I use pinpoint hearing and eagel vision zed now - just increase the difficult of the zed.

[Doko]

Originally posted by Narrowmind:

I have a feeling that most people would look at both builds and come to completely opposite conclusions. In fact, many of us would say it's overcomplicated and grindy to excess.

No one is going to call muscle fatigue easier than no muscle fatigue. No one is going to think that having the zombies have enhanced vision and hearing, or not being able to see in the dark automatically, at least a little bit, easier. The gas being allowed to run out is.. somehow easier?? Not too many are going to think a year long crop growth or hitting a rat and destroying their vehicle easier.

Yeah, the impression I get when I see someone saying "game is too easy" or "I hit the still not fully fleshed out end-game content fast", is that they didn't crank up the optional settings within the game to make it harder for themselves.

Like B42 is already filled with a muck of grinds and obtuse stuff to craft (that requires multiple skill trades just to craft the one thing, which I already find tedious), and I don't see how OP would go about it, seeing as how it already is what it is, making it more of that will just put people like me off the game over time, when all the user could do was crank UP the settings, so I don't have to be the one to crank down the settings.

It's why I dislike this whole "game too ez, every game should be like Dark Souls and be hard as the default setting", like no, just crank the difficulty up if that's your thing, don't make everything balls to the walls difficult/tedious as the default (because that's how you scare ppl off too early, or folks who don't want to crank down a load of settings, and PZ is one of those types already).

Also mods, they could just go with mods like roaming hordes and such to make life more challenging in the game.

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by Doko:

Originally posted by Narrowmind:

I have a feeling that most people would look at both builds and come to completely opposite conclusions. In fact, many of us would say it's overcomplicated and grindy to excess.

No one is going to call muscle fatigue easier than no muscle fatigue. No one is going to think that having the zombies have enhanced vision and hearing, or not being able to see in the dark automatically, at least a little bit, easier. The gas being allowed to run out is.. somehow easier?? Not too many are going to think a year long crop growth or hitting a rat and destroying their vehicle easier.

It's why I dislike this whole "game too ez, every game should be like Dark Souls and be hard as the default setting", like no, just crank the difficulty up if that's your thing, don't make everything balls to the walls difficult/tedious as the default (because that's how you scare ppl off too early, or folks who don't want to crank down a load of settings, and PZ is one of those types already).

I would say certain games can have their hardness turned up. But games that require reflexes/agility (using controls) are probably not the best example. They already eliminate quite a few possible players.
If a game requries thinking, thinking outside the box etc. then you can turn up the difficulties. (I would say Against the Storm managed to do it splendidly. It is a game where difficulty can be progressively increased, and they also managed to adjust the difficulties quite well. 23-24 different difficulties, map modifiers, special quests and finally they even added QHT. I would say it can actually be an example how to do difficulty well.)

[JimmysTheBestCop]

If you go straight to animal, farming, base, foraging route in the wilderness it is easy because well you will never see any Zeds.

If you want to swing some long blunt weapon day 1 and clear 100-150 zeds every day then it is pray to PZ Gods.

[Corncob Collins]

Originally posted by JimmysTheBestCop:

If you go straight to animal, farming, base, foraging route in the wilderness it is easy because well you will never see any Zeds.

If you want to swing some long blunt weapon day 1 and clear 100-150 zeds every day then it is pray to PZ Gods.

i dont know, im more of an aggro the whole town, not accomplish anything i set out to do, hide in my base watching dogoblin and pretend those 40 zombies arent going to hear the tv kind of guy my self.

[NecromancerPig]

Been in these forums a while now, and I've never read anything as ♥♥♥♥♥♥ as this.

[CarryMeツ]

Originally posted by NecromancerPig:

Been in these forums a while now, and I've never read anything as ♥♥♥♥♥♥ as this.

Yep people arguing about a Build thats not even out yet.

[Doko]

Originally posted by Nordil(Hun):

I would say certain games can have their hardness turned up. But games that require reflexes/agility (using controls) are probably not the best example. They already eliminate quite a few possible players.
If a game requries thinking, thinking outside the box etc. then you can turn up the difficulties. (I would say Against the Storm managed to do it splendidly. It is a game where difficulty can be progressively increased, and they also managed to adjust the difficulties quite well. 23-24 different difficulties, map modifiers, special quests and finally they even added QHT. I would say it can actually be an example how to do difficulty well.)

What I mean, is that OP can and should go into the game's setup modifiers to change the difficulty for themselves, rather than just outright citing the game as "easy", and complaining that it should be made difficult as the default.

If you listen to people like that (or the Dark Souls crowd, where they dislike having difficulty options), you end up with a higher barrier to entry for your game, and then you'll get ppl asking how it can be made easier, and then that crowd gets told to tweak around.

Really those looking for a harder challenge SHOULD be the ones to go about tweaking the game and going through all the settings to their hearts content, not the other way around.

Besides, most of us here already know you can ramp up the difficulty via modifiers, mods and generally setting your own goals to make the game more challenging. I'm baffled as to why OP hasn't even considered any of those 3 options, instead opting to make this thread.

[Davyboy]

This is the level of the PZ community? What a disappointment.

Who knew putting "Ramped up the difficulty by powering up zombies and lowering loot" meant, must not have been able to read.

Also stated, if mods are the only thing being said about making PZ harder or the only solution, the game is dead.

Please learn to read before commenting on this post. Please.

[NecromancerPig]

Originally posted by Davyboy:

This is the level of the PZ community? What a disappointment.

Who knew putting "Ramped up the difficulty by powering up zombies and lowering loot" meant, must not have been able to read.

Also stated, if mods are the only thing being said about making PZ harder or the only solution, the game is dead.

Please learn to read before commenting on this post. Please.

"The game is dead" - is this a reference to the game's quality or the game's financial viability? I need clarity.

[Loken]

Ahh a just curious kinda guy eh.. Im just curious why you havnt tweaked the settings to your liking? or installed some mods.