Navezgane's Early Game is a terrible intro to the game.

[Makimoke]

I've been dragged into the game recently by a few friends to try it out, and had quite a lot of fun playing with them on a random worldgen server, but I didn't understand much of what I "needed to do", so I created a solo game to get a good idea as to what to do after a few games.

For a "named" generation that seems more like a "story progression/tutorial" part (at least from what my friends had told me), Navezgane just straight up sucks early game and almost made me just disinterested in playing the game on my own time.

POIs are completely separated off from Trader Joel, which sends you between 800m to 1.2km ON FOOT, when in other types of generation or other traders on the other kinds of worldgens, POIs are often around 200 to 400m away at most.

So not only do you have to slog yourself all the way through a whole km on foot, you then have to slug back super slowly with encumbrance (if there's no steroids on the POIs), get a single reward, then struggle for a whole trip again on yet another km away back and forth.

Especially with non-quest POIs being very sparce and rough to find (or outright too high in tier), on top of requiring quite a few books to craft anything... Which you can't find because there's no POIs around Joel!

Like, I wanted to learn this game properly and have fun with it, but this map just feels like I'm running a marathon with a sparse few dangers that will just reset my progress like sleeping on the wheel in Desert Bus.

I would understand if we had access to a vehicle at that point (like a bicycle), but there's nothing, unless you're stupidly lucky in loots, or you have good knowledge of the POIs around already, which would defeat the point of having a more "focused" map to learn the game with.

But that whole experience just makes me want to stop the game and just wait until I can play with them again to try and have a better way to learn, or just abandon all the work I put into that particular world and just use the better worldgen to help with learning things out.

This sucks, because I enjoy the game a lot otherwise. Is there any plans on making proper changes to it, or am I condemned in just dropping this and making a new world?

[julyan]

Agree with OP on all points. I'm a new player as well and Navezgane has been quite the walking simulator.

Nobody expects random world generation to be better streamlined than the custom designed map.

As a quickfix maybe hardcode a somewhat damaged bicycle near the village entrance or so.

[Kryzx]

I felt exactly the same way with Navezgane when I tried it solo. You really are better off just playing one of the PREGEN maps instead to have a better "new player" experience.

(I like playing on PREGEN8k the most in A21. On A20, I was playing mostly on PREGEN10k. Why the PREGEN maps and not a RWG? Because RWGs I've generated don't have as much T4/T5 POI variety compared to those maps.)

I think Navezgane probably works best if you're in a group playing CO-OP and you can split up and try various builds. Like, a couple of players will go out and do quests, one focuses on making a horde base near the trader, one for mining/salvaging, etc.

I will say though, once you get better at the game and understand what works best for you, to give it a shot again afterwards. I liked the challenge of going out far for those quests while trying to cobble together some kind of horde base in the first 7 days. It's such an adrenaline rush on harder difficulties solo! Plus, you get to see all the unique POIs you won't find anywhere else in the game, which is a treat itself with all the secrets hidden about.

[FT]

The included Pregen1 Pregen2/3 maps are all RWG maps that were included if you want to try some that'll still be the same map that many others are playing.

[Aoshi Shinomori]

Navezgane became a harder experience in alpha 21. I started three different saves and had to go for a RWG because Navezgane is a f walking simulator.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

First off, always use a random map they are just better.

Second off always try to live near a trader, it's just way more convenient.

Even better if said trader is in a city because then you never need to travel more than 500M for any given quest. That's literally the trick.

[Lemon]

I think people are missing the point, the game is introducing you as the first choice of the world to be Navezgane, its supposedly the start map everyone should start up on and then learn bits of the story doing the POI's at specific locations with visual hints on whats going on, but like the post said, the first trader you are introduced too is way too far away from most POI's, i played on Navezgane in A20 and the same thing applies there aswell, its not that good of a map to start on if you want to get into the game quicker and build interest since everything just takes longer and 7 days to die is a deep enough time sink as it is

[Lemon]

Originally posted by Crimzn:

1 minute run wayyyy tooo far i need that instant travel booiiiiiiii

thats uncalled for, he has a genuine point that most people will agree upon, hell most people gave the response of "random generated maps are better" which literally proofs OP's point, hes not alone on this one and its a genuine point for new players, which most games strife from and its important for their revenue so they can keep working

[Lex]

A new player´s opinion about the gaming experience matters more than the response of 100 players with over 500 hours of play and who may have bought 7dtd 5 years ago. Is the game very easy for you? After 500 hours of play if it's not easy, get checked by a specialist. When this concept finally enters your head, you will stop defending without ifs and buts, any changes made by the developers as if you were a victim of stockholm syndrome.
Without controversy, but this forum is to help improve the gaming experience based on feedback. If things always go well for you, why do you answer?

[VonRuger]

I felt the same and was annoyed the first trader it sends you to is so far away from anything. So now after i visit him to finish the quest, i make my way to Trader Jen or Bob. Then it is no problem (but first time players dont know where Jen or Bob are is an issue for them)

[Aki87]

Nave can be brutal due to the distances. I do like seeing the older POIs tho

[Grumpy Old Guy]

Originally posted by Crimzn:

.
Myself i hate running slow so i modded my run speed to be slightly higher than default any map period. Except online in others servers.

Complains about people not wanting to run stupid distances

Admits he mods his run speed so he's faster and can run distances faster than he should.

Dude you literally are nothing but a contrarian just trolling to troll.

[Pain Weasel]

Yes, there is a lot of distance to cover but that means fewer trader quests per day, which means slower, steadier progression. Trader rewards are extremely unbalanced at the moment, so while you can absolutely get some great gear by blitzing a bunch of trader quests it is a better introduction to slow things down. You can probably do 2-3 or so trader quests per day before you get a vehicle and that seems like the pace the game was designed for. That is great for learning the game rather than more or less skipping the early stages thanks to trader rewards.

Where I do agree though is that where Joel is positioned now he sends players to the snow and burned forest biomes way too early. In one case I think he sent me into the wasteland on a t2 or 3. That would not be a nice introduction to the game.

[Nasabot]

I agree with all complaints.

[minisith]

Originally posted by minisith:

Originally posted by Nasabot:

I agree with all complaints.

Yes the game is too ez, we need less water n food.

[Mithrandir]

I agree. Navezgane Joel is painfully away from city centers and it feels like a walking simulator.

It's a challenging setting as you can't do more than a quest a day, but I completely agree with OP that it can be a bad experience for a new player.