Dear Devs

[TerranceFarrel]

I've been dreading the release of i21 for some time now.
There are two chief reasons for this.

The first is based (I admit it) in rumor. From what I'm hearing, 7dtd intends to make skills matter less, and random treasure picks matter more, in the form of magazines.

I don't know why a company would go all this way, then ban intelligent character design in favor of being at the mercy of pure random chance. But again, I'm out in rumor land.

The second reason i21 worries me, is that i20 has only two flaws.
The Farming Mechanic, which I won't discuss, since so many have so loudly, and the new rivers.

And rivers are the main reason I'm writing.
I miss rivers! I miss the roads and the bridges. They used to be scenic and now they're just made of gimcrack and sadness. A short stream, that S curves and does nothing. A disappointed character, who can literally see at a glance that the river came from nowhere, goes no where. It's not merely that the river lacks any point. It's that it's existence is inexplicable.

But here's the thing. I know you guys are good and I know you can fix this.
The roads used to be pointless and random.
You made them good.
I look at the map maker, it's never been better. Toss in rivers that make sense, and it's golden.

Stoopid streams (if I may call it) isn't going to thwart you guys from greatness.
i20 is so very close to perfect. It might be as easy as rolling one or two features back.

Here's rooting for you guys!

[SylenThunder]

Originally posted by TerranceFarrel:

The first is based (I admit it) in rumor. From what I'm hearing, 7dtd intends to make skills matter less, and random treasure picks matter more, in the form of magazines.

Don't knock it until you've tried it. Most of the hate is misdirected because of lack of information and filling in the blanks with guesses.

Originally posted by TerranceFarrel:

And rivers are the main reason I'm writing.
I miss rivers! I miss the roads and the bridges. They used to be scenic and now they're just made of gimcrack and sadness. A short stream, that S curves and does nothing. A disappointed character, who can literally see at a glance that the river came from nowhere, goes no where. It's not merely that the river lacks any point. It's that it's existence is inexplicable.

This is a known issue with the current RWG, which is something still being worked on and developed. Information you might know if you researched it a little bit. You would also discover that the current implementation is not the final product and is being worked on.

Please, before making a post like this one, at least take the time to do some real research beforehand.

[Crater Creator]

Yeah, it stands out how the rivers are all the same ‘stamp,’ just with translation/rotation/scaling for variety. I’ve been able to massage the libnoise algorithms to make interesting, meandering rivers, but that was several alphas ago. I suspect they’ll always look a little off, since the water’s all at the same height instead of actually flowing downhill.

As for intelligent character design versus random chance, remember they’re literally stacking the deck in your favor.

Perks slightly affect the probability of finding like-themed magazines and parts for those recipes. Perk into shotguns and you will notice more shotgun magazines and shotgun parts appearing in the world. It isn't a significant bonus but it does prevent the player from being screwed over.

We’ll have to see whether this cheapens the looting experience. But the fact they’re adding such a system, and can tweak it to be more or less impactful, suggests they still care about your character build choices making a difference.

[xVALERAx]

the very first learn by doin system was great, the current one is magic. and the upcomming one will be random and the point why I quit alot of most lately since the random getting day one or day 100 requied loot just sucks

[xVALERAx]

ps, new map generator also put the game down hard, the towns look the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ same, just need some banjos plaing

[mathaniel]

Well it`s sad you put any stock in rumors and gossip friend. Well informed research bodes a player far better results, or understanding as it were, of what`s really happening with this game. While opinions are healthy, there are no oracles or future predictors try as they may.
The proof is in the pudding eh? Don`t stop asking for what matters to you in the game because no matter what "some" say on here, constantl I might add, methinks the devs do listen, and do care, and do try to find a happy medium between developing their game the way they want to go while walking that nano filiment tightrope that is called the player base who all want something different and think each should be entitled to have the game their way. I`ll wait and see. just sayin. Cheers

[TerranceFarrel]

Alright so the sum of this seems to be do some "real research'.

I'm going to assume SylenThunder and Mathaniel are far better informed, and ask for a link to the real information. So far, all I'm getting is 'try it, you'll like it' so I'm not ashamed to ask for help from guys who have inside info or better Search-Fu.

[Valky]

Originally posted by SylenThunder:

Originally posted by TerranceFarrel:

The first is based (I admit it) in rumor. From what I'm hearing, 7dtd intends to make skills matter less, and random treasure picks matter more, in the form of magazines.

Don't knock it until you've tried it. Most of the hate is misdirected because of lack of information and filling in the blanks with guesses.

Originally posted by TerranceFarrel:

And rivers are the main reason I'm writing.
I miss rivers! I miss the roads and the bridges. They used to be scenic and now they're just made of gimcrack and sadness. A short stream, that S curves and does nothing. A disappointed character, who can literally see at a glance that the river came from nowhere, goes no where. It's not merely that the river lacks any point. It's that it's existence is inexplicable.

This is a known issue with the current RWG, which is something still being worked on and developed. Information you might know if you researched it a little bit. You would also discover that the current implementation is not the final product and is being worked on.

Please, before making a post like this one, at least take the time to do some real research beforehand.

Heyo there big fan, does 7DTD have a Discord Channel i could join?
If so please send me the link.
"Also keep up the awesome work, you guys never gave up on this game and that's all that matters"

[TerranceFarrel]

Good thought.
Seems to be this.
https://discord.com/invite/7daystodie

[Shockwave]

Yeah going even more RNG for crafting as well as loot finding is making me leery of coming back for 21. There is no implementation of "crafting books" that can realistically work well.

[deanseever]

What is the point of building a character if the character build is determined by random gen? Why even give the player a choice in the first place? Maybe next they can random gen a base in for you that you have to build instead of building your own base. Maybe they can finish the game instead of reducing choice in an "open world" game?

[VideogameAddiction]

Originally posted by deanseever:

What is the point of building a character if the character build is determined by random gen? Why even give the player a choice in the first place? Maybe next they can random gen a base in for you that you have to build instead of building your own base. Maybe they can finish the game instead of reducing choice in an "open world" game?

Cause open world games don't ever limit the player in some way?

[deanseever]

Originally posted by VideogameAddiction:

Originally posted by deanseever:

What is the point of building a character if the character build is determined by random gen? Why even give the player a choice in the first place? Maybe next they can random gen a base in for you that you have to build instead of building your own base. Maybe they can finish the game instead of reducing choice in an "open world" game?

Cause open world games don't ever limit the player in some way?

You must have missed the part where they changed it from level and learn by doing to level and learn by random. If you are playing as a group what is the point of trying to build a character that is the miner vs the character that is the looter? Isn't choice in an "open world" game a good thing?

[VideogameAddiction]

Originally posted by deanseever:

Originally posted by VideogameAddiction:

Cause open world games don't ever limit the player in some way?

You must have missed the part where they changed it from level and learn by doing to level and learn by random. If you are playing as a group what is the point of trying to build a character that is the miner vs the character that is the looter? Isn't choice in an "open world" game a good thing?

Yea I know, learn by doing (the placeholder unity asset).
You know the skill levels are still going to be there in A21 right?

[Van N00b]

Originally posted by TerranceFarrel:

I don't know why a company would go all this way, then ban intelligent character design in favor of being at the mercy of pure random chance.

Console Sales / catering to "the masses" with a 30 second attention span?

[deanseever]

Originally posted by VideogameAddiction:

Originally posted by deanseever:

You must have missed the part where they changed it from level and learn by doing to level and learn by random. If you are playing as a group what is the point of trying to build a character that is the miner vs the character that is the looter? Isn't choice in an "open world" game a good thing?

Yea I know, learn by doing (the placeholder unity asset).
You know the skill levels are still going to be there in A21 right?

You missed the point. As a group in the past, you could build a diverse team, for example, where the mining guy leveled up his mining skill by mining, and the looting guy leveled up by looting. Now, every player has to focus on the same thing to level in different areas. The fun of working as a group has diminished to make way for an "everybody has to do the same thing to level" dynamic. It is obvious that the "have fun with your friends" style has been pushed aside for the "have fun with randos in a fortnite style" instead. The most fun I have ever had in this game was with friends in a long form, not in jumping in to a random map just to kill zombies. This game is so much deeper than "killing zombies to level up" that it seems like an insult to ask the players to ignore the rest of the game. What is the point of it being a voxel building game if you want people to mainly interact with the environment via entities and not the environment itself?