120 hour playtime suggestions/notes

[Lawrence VIII]

Early access notes:

Crafting:
A lot of positives here, especially in the time-to-craft category.
Nothing takes more than 30 min which is a breath of fresh air compared to other games in the genre.
Would like some sort of system to pull from nearby chests for factory crafting but it isn't necessarily a game breaker.
The system for finding all of the crafting tools for the survivors is great, although I was able to cheese some of the items, like the Hunter's quest items.
The amount of building material you get from stone/etc. is great, really gets you into building large impressive structures quickly. Like that a lot.
Some items in the early access were obviously useless (i.e. any color fabric besides yellow). I'm sure that gets fixed on full release.

Equipment/Loot:
Would really enjoy an enchantment system of sorts, to make armor and weapons better, could even expand this to bags/rings, gliders, etc.
The randomization of finding loot is a double edged sword to me. You have the excitement of finding rare loot but at the same time it is lacking in the difficulty because of the re-spawning chests.
Just camp the gold chest on re-spawn timer for a couple days of game time and you'll eventually get what you want.
I'm not exactly sure how you make this more exciting/difficult.
Overall, though, the distribution of loot is good. I loved that fact that when I thought I had crafted the best gear at 23, I was still finding weapons and armor I hadn't even seen at level 25.

Exploration: Just something to make custom markers (actual text customization, not just symbols and colors) and then something to tell if a location has been explored or not.
More often than not I found myself flying past a location thinking I had been there when it was actually added from a quest or reading it on a scroll and I really hadn't been there yet.

Gameplay/AI: Enemies are too easy to cheese. Find high ground, shoot, kill. Most of them don't have any retaliation methods, especially bosses. The only elites that gave me any trouble are the Sicklescythes and those are hard, which is great!,
but most are just programmed to stand there and freeze up when they can't reach you. I advise giving more of them generic ranged attacks. I.e., the Scavenger Matron's attack is only lateral, not vertical, easily avoided. Give the Vuka Brawlers something to throw or allow them to jump, etc.
The companion ability in the hunter section of the tree needs a proximity re-work, when you ask them to follow you, the distance they follow at is pretty much useless and too slow.
Tweak that so they are at your side rather than tailing 50m behind, then it'll be perfect.
The best designed enemies are the shroud enemies because they are aggressive and try to jump, I didn't really notice others acting like this, maybe some of the more elite scavengers.
Skillshot and headshot damage with any ranged weapon seems under-tuned.

Building: Great system, add arch/curved blocks! And maybe an easier way to gain height, the scaffolds are kind of a pain in the ass to use. Suggest a free-floating building mode that doesn't require the character model to be nearby, like at the workbench and use a free-camera.

Progression: Well designed, unlocking survivors, getting their things for them, all good quests and good fun. The progression after that is just kind of... well, you know, there isn't really a protagonist labeled yet, only kind-of in the opening scene. I'm sure it'll all be great once added and finalized,
but in early access anything after the survivor quests just kind of felt lost and a chore. The chain quests really don't have much of a story and felt like work for lack-luster rewards, with the exception of the building material unlocks.

Wishlist:
PVP ability, maybe the option to create an "arena" that you can build and customize like a base, that would be AWESOME.
As far as ammunition goes, nobody likes making ammo. Either increase the amount made per craft, or allow the ability to make "ammo pouches", i.e. make quivers with certain arrows that suffer durability damage, like all other equipment on use, then require repair. You get like 250x shots out of one and then you need to repair or switch,
but it's a permanent piece of equipment like everything else. Same with spells, no more ammunition, just levels of eternal spells with varying degress of power/mana consumption.
Raids! The base is too safe, makes the game very enjoyable but also too easy at times, I feel like no matter where you create your base, nothing ever comes after you at night. I know that the intention is for it to be a little easier in early access, but hopefully some sort of raiding system is implemented to keep the entertainment value high. I'm not saying let enemies destroy your base, but give the player motivation to stay up through the night time. Make the last enemy slain during a raid drop a reward! Doesn't have to be equipment.
Enemy patrols along roads and in the wild, with the ability for them to randomly encounter other un-friendly factions and fight each other.
The ability to break down armor into runes like weapons and upgrade them similarly.
The ability to plant crops in formations instead of placing them individually.
Water is very slow to get and seems necessary for a lot of plants. Add a craftable automatic watering system (aqueducts, raincatchers, etc.), add dynamic weather!

Thank you!

[scoobdanoob1]

+1 i agree with most of your suggestions /comments,please keep adding more , also it was
very well written, well done :)