is this game to grindy?

[icarus the improviser]

i have never heard of griding in a hunting game, untill this very week, and it left me with a question.

is this game to grindy? does it take to long to unlock cool ♥♥♥♥? will i be forced to play with a pea shooter in the first 20 hours? will i have to grind for hours to buy decent ammo? i see you have to buy scopes as well, and i don't have good eye sight, so do i have to grind to buy a decent one?

thanks for the responses.

[icarus the improviser]

i am not saying i have a problem with grinding, if its not excecive, what i am asking, is if the game is to grindy, like annoyingly so.

Originally posted by $ D@rk Re@per $:

buy all weapon packs and you'll have everything you need to hunt every animal without grinding.

[dbump]

I may have used that term; I'd clarify that for the most part, the "grind" is actually pretty fun, and I think it helps the initial gameplay. There are some good weapons in the DLC, but some of the best equipment in the game is locked--even DLC ones--until you reach a certain level or unlock points in a weapon group (rifle, pistol, shotgun, bow). I think it's very satisfying to work your way towards those locked weapons while playing, rather than starting out immediately with the most powerful weapons, and it makes it more satisfying to use them when you do unlock them, because you appreciate how useful they are, having the experience with the weapons that led up to them.

[Mr L]

Don't worry- Be Happy!

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Not really, I think it`s just about right. Getting everything handed to you immediately is not half as fun, gradually unlocking better stuff makes the lizard brain happy.

[CaptainNebulous]

IMO the grind actually gets easier after about level 20. But at no point is the grind all that slow.

[CaptainNebulous]

Originally posted by $ D@rk Re@per $:

Originally posted by CaptainNebulous:

IMO the grind actually gets easier after about level 20. But at no point is the grind all that slow.

The grind gets easier only when you are able to hunt all species on the map

You can basically do that from the start if you have all of the weapon packs. In particular you get to start with the solokhin and 30.06 (can't remember if you get the M1 for free or not) and between those two rifles + the 243 and .22/shotguns you pretty much have it covered.

Of course playing totally vanilla and starting from scratch you need to work your way up but you can still take out up to class 4 pretty easy.... especially once you get to upgrade to polymer ammo. So basically murder every deer and coyote you see for a while.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Maybe I`m too used to grinding with five years of War Thunder, compared to that the grind here is just quaint, should have all maps unlocked with fast travel, max level and all weapon scores needed from about 250-300 hours played.
It`s not too casual but not that bad either.

[DeepFried]

Originally posted by TheRedTsunami:

I would say YES this game is way to grindy. You spend months getting a reserve up to a playable standard. Getting need zones finding animal migration patters just to have the devs do a reset and you loose all you hard work and have to start again from scratch. The hot spots are no longer good ect. Totaly sucks.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

[CaptainNebulous]

Originally posted by $ D@rk Re@per $:

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

Maybe I`m too used to grinding with five years of War Thunder, compared to that the grind here is just quaint, should have all maps unlocked with fast travel, max level and all weapon scores needed from about 250-300 hours played.
It`s not too casual but not that bad either.

i played 300 hours and i have unlocked everything from basic game but i don't use anything except .243 from basic game.I feel good with only DLC weapons.DLC weapons look better than basic and they perform better than basic.Pay-to-win!

The 7mm is still one of the best all-around weapons in the game and that's in the base game. But you obviously need to work towards it. There is nothing in regards to kill potential you can't do with the base game weapons that you can do with DLC weapons. All it really is is convenience. DLC weapons tend to have more followup shot abilities, but on the same token 7mm tends to rarely need a followup shot.

[gabcik&kubis]

Originally posted by icarus the improviser:

i have never heard of griding in a hunting game, untill this very week, and it left me with a question.

Yes and No.
There is some basic grinding to get better weapons ammunition and scopes especially if you have base game only. You need experience points for unlocks and money to buy. Weapon DLC can give you weapons you need, reserves gives you missions with money.
If you want to unlock and buy everything, there is some grind. But once you learn few things it is not so bad and some parts can be fairly accelerated by the proper approach.

Originally posted by CaptainNebulous:

The 7mm is still one of the best all-around weapons in the game and that's in the base game. But you obviously need to work towards it. There is nothing in regards to kill potential you can't do with the base game weapons that you can do with DLC weapons. All it really is is convenience. DLC weapons tend to have more followup shot abilities, but on the same token 7mm tends to rarely need a followup shot.

Hudzik .50 Caplock: Hold my powder flask

[eagle74]

Last August 2019 with the TruPatch release they added some items to the starting load out. They said: "The loadout when starting a new game has been updated to include more items (these items have no level requirement anymore and some are available for free for returning players)"

IDK what items were added. But the game is probably not as much of a grind as it was b4 this. And I did not find it to be that hard b4 the change.

On your question about rifle scopes, you used to start out with a decent 1-4x scope. You had to work your way up to unlock the 4-8x & the 8-16x.

Some of the callers had a fairly steep level requirement to unlock, EG red deer at L27 & moose at L35. IDK if this is still accurate.

Your starting rifle was the 243 & soft point ammo, so you should not be trying to go after anything bigger than a class 4 deer. Or you can get frustrated. EG we see posts where the OP shoots moose or bison with the 243 & is dismayed when they get only flesh wounds & the beast doesn't go down.

As others have said, you can buy weapon packs to eliminate most of this grind. But, doing it the old fashioned way is rewarding & fun in its own right.

[licker98]

It's nowhere near as bad as Classic. It's also much much easier to find animals than in Classic, and they don't spook from quite as far a distance. DLC weapons give you more "optimised" weapons in the sense that they fill some gaps between base game weapons and are more suited to specific situations in some cases.

[jjs82xx]

Is the game too grindy? --> No.

Will you be forced to play with a peashooter for the first 20 hours? --> No.

You will get the .243 with base ammo (as much as you want, free). That is good enough to drop fox, coyote, Roe Deer, Fallow deer, black tail deer, white tail deer, and Red Deer (though you need judicious shot placement on the last four with a poly tip bullet or else you will have to chase them through the woods for a while). You can use it on rabbits, too, but you won't pass the harvest check; so reduced cash, XP, and rifle scores for the bunnies.

You also get a handgun, shotgun (though I never use them), binoculars, and can buy a starter bow (6,000 in-game cash, which is about what you will net from your first ten harvests with the .243), which bow is plenty good all the way through Class 6 animals (Red Deer). So your starter bow is good for everything in the Hershfelden reserve except the Bison (and I imagine many folks have taken Bison with it, just not me).

You probably do not want to go boar hunting with the .243, even though you would pass the harvest check (assuming the boar did not kill you before it died); but the starter 60 lb. bow with 420 grain arrows is quite adequate for skewering piggies.

It will probably take you 20 hours of play to grind to the poly tip for the .243, another 40 hours to unlock the .270 plus poly tip ammo (which is a noticable upgrade to the .243), and another 40 hours to unlock the 7mm and poly tip. (which is a really nice rifle; and a noticeable upgrade in punch, over the .270). The 7mm can take out any large animal, and is quite sufficient for class 4-8 with anything approaching a well placed shot with a poly tip bullet. So that is every animal in the base game except European Bison (Class 9). The 7mm includes class 9 in recommended animals, and I am sure there are scores of people reading this who have taken out Bison with the 7mm. I am saving my first Bison kill to be a 600 grain arrow from the 70 lb. bow I just unlocked .

Here is a data point on grind: I have 196 hours into the game, no DLCs other than Tents/blinds and tripods/treestands. (Specifically: no weapons packs... yet). I have unlocked and bought every weapon, ammo and piece of equipment that I want and that the base game offers for rifle and bow hunting, except the highest end range finder (The rangefinder I have works well). That includes all the fancy sights and scopes (except one rifle scope I do not want, and the super fancy range finder, which I read was bugged, and so I will get later). Haven't bought the .338, because I am going to wait for Yukon DLC to go on sale, and I'll get the Canning .300 instead. Oh, and I have bought about 5 tents and 5 tripods (in addition to the free ones which come with the DLC, for a total of 160,000 in-game cash, which would have bought the fancy rangefinder and the .338 Rangemaster twice over). I have zero progress in handguns and shotguns.

Another thought which addresses your question: I unlocked every nice toy and all rifles I wanted for rifle hunting, then took up bows almost as an afterthought. I wish I had gone to bows earlier. You can be taking out Class 4 through 6 animals, reliably, much sooner going the bow route, if you have a tripod (the tripod protects you from boar attacks). And the in-game cash would therefore pile up faster. I did it all with the starter 60 lb. bow and the starter sight it came with. The zeroing perk, rangefinder, and callers help. With just that gear, I raked in many scores of class 3-6 animals. Lung shots on piggies, Fallow deer, and Red Deer net you lots of cash, XP, and archery score.

[Sparky862]

Originally posted by CaptainNebulous:

IMO the grind actually gets easier after about level 20. But at no point is the grind all that slow.

This.

Also with the DLC packs you will level up extremely fast given you can just shoot what you like.

I would infact let them make the grind more as I find leveling up way too fast for my liking.

[icarus the improviser]

Interesting.

Altough i dont l Really like to hunt with a bow in a modern setting, fells out of place for me.

I am glad the grind inst bad, i will buy the game as soon as i upgrade my pc, wich will happen in the next 2-3 weeks, then i will play it, and hunt with the rifle.

I will buy the tents and throphy lodge dlc with it, the tents because it was recommended, and the throphie because that sounds ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cool.

Thanks for all the help everyone!