A21 thus far, and wishes for A22

[Kauldric]

Finally was able to figure out a new play style for A21. At first, I tried to play the new alpha as I was any alpha after A17, but there'e something different now.

In essence, systematically looting every POI in order no longer works very well, and this is great. Now, you have to actually go to specific POIs to get specific books. Before, it didn't matter if you were going to a house, a hardware store, or whatever. You would eventually get an item or parts and that was good enough.

Now, if you want to get a motorcycle (and craft it) then you need to focus on pass & gas boxes. If you want to make tools, you need to focus on tools boxes, etc. This is really great to see and how it should have been.

Here is what I would love to see implemented in the future:

1. How about moving away from the boring early alpha block-like loot crates and fully replace all of these with themed loot containers, such as tool boxes, medical bags, etc. I imagine this has to be the ultimate end state and it's weird it hasn't been pulled off yet.

2. How about instead of putting all the loot at the end, put the loot thematically were it belongs. Instead of putting hardware boxes *always* at the end of some progression, put those loot boxes where you kinda expect to find them: the garage, a kitchen, a toolshed, the bathroom, etc. It would be a lot less immersion breaking to see that and I figure the "end loot" was really just a placeholder until the game figured itself out.

3. Given the renewed emphasis on crafting (hooray), the game would make more sense if QL6 weapons were only craftable, or at least the crafted weapons were just better. Given the tremendous effort it is to invest in crafting (which is rewarding) then at least it would be cool if you are building up to being able to build QL6 stuff, vs. realizing that you can't and you have to loo them, and your effort was kinda for nothing.

4. All workstations should be upgradable and higher QL should only be craftable in upgraded workbenches. To give a little bit more of an edge to the game, would love to work towards being able to upgrade the workbench, possibly with semi-rare materials / crafted materials. It would fit the theme given the forge is already this way, so just go all in. Would give more depth to the game.

[James]

1) Agreed. What's even more strange is that some of the loot containers already exists in the game that would work better as a themed container if they were utilized in a better way.

Take the small weapons bag for example. I always thought it looked more like a travel bag for doctors than anything else, so why not use it for the medical loot instead. Likewise, for the medical piles you find spread out in POI's. This would also be more fitting.

Similarly, they already have a tool box in the game so why not use this as a tools loot container instead of the boring working stiff box. Use the broken workbenches, chem stations, campfires, forges, and mixers for the end loot associated with each of them instead of getting junk like 11 clay and 7 iron. Use the bookshelves, desks, and other similar things for books instead of crack-a-book boxes.

Minor changes like this would go along way to make the world feel more 'alive' and less gamey.

2) I second this as well, but I highly doubt TFP would ever do this since they seem to be against letting players play the game how they want. They prefer players to play how they want and what they want is for you to have to go thru entire POIs to get to the loot instead of finding it in obvious places throughout the open world.

3) Agreed. Crafting is almost non-existent now since you can find, buy or reward everything in the game. I have always said it would be more of an incentive if everything you crafted was better than what you could find or buy. They could still keep the +/- RNG but the highest T2 axe you can find or buy is never going to be better than if you crafted one yourself.

4) This is how it used to be and I'm not sure why they took it away. The chem station used to required a beaker and 2 other items that I can't remember and the workbench used to require a hammer, wrench, and something else. You couldn't craft certain items until you installed the upgrades associated with them. I'm not sure why they went away from this but yet we still have 3 upgrades for forges and campfire. It makes no sense to me.

[Mithrandir]

I've adapted to A21 too and I support all ideas trying to help crafting be even more rewarding than it is atm.

So I would add :

- I wish they eventually cap the quality of any vendor gear to Q3, including any mission rewards. Higher quality gear should only be available from crafting or looting the tougher biomes or POIs (both for Q6). ATM, rewards or sold items are regularly beating the progression of my main spec crafting gear by 2 tiers and are almost always Q6.

- I wish they implement a rule for POI's design : no zed should trigger-spawn in line of sight of the player, ever. I don't mind hidden ones busting out of places like hidden walls, I don't see them spawn, but those that spawn right before my eyes are just bad design IMO.

[Pizzarugi]

Honestly, you should be allowed to craft up to Q6 items now. With the book system in place to slow you down, you're far more likely to find a Q6 of the highest tier long before you read enough books to craft a Q5. I specialize into shotguns, stun batons, and turrets and I found a Q6 auto shotgun, stun baton, and one T5 turret before I found enough books to start crafting any of them.

To be fair though, trader quests are broken OP for rewards. Nerfing that might bring loot progression more in line with crafting.

[Cosmoros]

Crafting items is always not worth it, you tend to get better tiered items from lootin poi much faster then crafting it. On top of q6 being uncraftable leading to 0 need of ever needing to craft.

[art]

EAC is excluding Mac and Xbox players. Again. I don't care about new features - Please, adress old Problems before creating new ones.

[JErosion]

Ive put my time into A21 and what I think the game needs is a shake up to pop up in the mid to late game. Like how Demolition Zombies start rolling in during horde night. I think the game needs to add something to do a table flip.

Like a massive Wandering Horde.
A pack of pale gray dire wolves that only attack when its foggy and disappear when the weather clears.
new rare zombies that pop out of no where.

I know this will be partially addressed by the addition of Bandits. Raiding a bandit base. possibly being raided by a bandit group. maybe hearing a group of bandits fighting in the city somewhere and decided whether or not if you want to pick them off from a distance.

[Serious]

The only thing I hope for is that the developers will completely rework the entire combat system someday. Because right now it's just terrible. Zombies are incredibly boring and every time I go to complete another T6 quest I cry because I realize that I now have to fight for an hour or more with these incredibly boring creatures. The only thing that is more interesting in this game than in any other zombie survival game is base building, if not for this I would have quit playing a long time ago.

[PinkPanther]

Originally posted by Serious:

The only thing I hope for is that the developers will completely rework the entire combat system someday. Because right now it's just terrible. Zombies are incredibly boring and every time I go to complete another T6 quest I cry because I realize that I now have to fight for an hour or more with these incredibly boring creatures. The only thing that is more interesting in this game than in any other zombie survival game is base building, if not for this I would have quit playing a long time ago.

This.
And bandits.

It just got dull real quick after A17 and the game can't keep ppl invested of longer

[Kauldric]

Originally posted by JErosion:

Ive put my time into A21 and what I think the game needs is a shake up to pop up in the mid to late game. Like how Demolition Zombies start rolling in during horde night. I think the game needs to add something to do a table flip.

Like a massive Wandering Horde.
A pack of pale gray dire wolves that only attack when its foggy and disappear when the weather clears.
new rare zombies that pop out of no where.

I know this will be partially addressed by the addition of Bandits. Raiding a bandit base. possibly being raided by a bandit group. maybe hearing a group of bandits fighting in the city somewhere and decided whether or not if you want to pick them off from a distance.

I agree with this. Once I can craft tier 3-4 weapon the game becomes super easy even on insane and in the wasteland. We even made a huge base with over 8 forges, workbenches, and chemstations all going at once, never ending screamers, etc. was fine, killed them all.