The level requirements are too high. The grind is unacceptable.

[Arsonide]

I've been playing this game for three days now, and I have unlocked these items: a rifle sight, a coyote caller, and an antler rattler that only works on deer in germany, which is useless to me in the Pacific Northwest.

I have a skill that improves my use of scents, but there are no scents available to me. It's literally the first skill in the Ambusher tree, but it takes nine levels to unlock the first scent. In one more level I will unlock elk scent, but nothing else. I mean, how much harder is it to spray deer pee on myself than elk pee?

The game is fun, and I agree that there should be a progression of some sort with gear unlocks, but the grind is unacceptable at the moment. It would take me months of gameplay at this point to unlock some of this gear.

This is not a massively multiplayer free to play game. It's singleplayer and small scale cooperative multiplayer. I shouldn't need to grind for months on end just to access a better rifle than the peashooter you start with. The current progression isn't encouraging me to hunt, it's encouraging me to ruthlessly annihilate the local wildlife population with undo prejudice, which is ridiculous in a hunting game.

[dgeesio & ronMctube]

i think that because there is a long road to unlock things it gives a long life to the game.in classic it takes a long time to level items up. also learning the differences helps.

[Arsonide]

There is already a long road to unlock skills and perks, what benefit does locking equipment behind more grind do for a non-free to play game? You already have to pay in game cash for them anyway.

I mean, this might make sense for weapons, since you buy them once, but you have to be level nine to spray pee on yourself, or level eleven to use a first aid kit. You have to be level eleven to use a band aid. That's dumb. Just make first aid kits cost money, job done. They're already consumable so they already represent a time and money sink. Same thing with scents.

The fact that scents have such a wide range of level requirements doesn't even make sense. It arbitrarily limits player choice. I've unlocked elk scent, but elk are both rarer and harder to kill than deer. Why does elk scent unlock first? What if I want to go hunt moose? That's entirely possible with the introductory gun, but the level requirements are much higher for ... reasons? The scents already cost money, why am I being forced to hunt elk?

Add perks that are required to use certain guns, remove level restrictions from consumables, or add a level restriction for all consumables equally, like at level five you can use scents in general.

[Skez]

Personally I have no problem with most of the level requirements but I have to agree that some of them doesn't make much sense.
The scents for example. I can't access the game at the moment but roe deers are very easy to lure close to you with just the caller and still their scent spray requires a high level.

[ThesaurusPG]

Totally agree. You need to grind 40-50 hours for the next better rifle, the .270...

[Xanton]

Originally posted by Arsonide:

I've been playing this game for three days now, and I have unlocked these items: a rifle sight, a coyote caller, and an antler rattler that only works on deer in germany, which is useless to me in the Pacific Northwest.

I have a skill that improves my use of scents, but there are no scents available to me. It's literally the first skill in the Ambusher tree, but it takes nine levels to unlock the first scent. In one more level I will unlock elk scent, but nothing else. I mean, how much harder is it to spray deer pee on myself than elk pee?

The game is fun, and I agree that there should be a progression of some sort with gear unlocks, but the grind is unacceptable at the moment. It would take me months of gameplay at this point to unlock some of this gear.

This is not a massively multiplayer free to play game. It's singleplayer and small scale cooperative multiplayer. I shouldn't need to grind for months on end just to access a better rifle than the peashooter you start with. The current progression isn't encouraging me to hunt, it's encouraging me to ruthlessly annihilate the local wildlife population with undo prejudice, which is ridiculous in a hunting game.

I somewhat agree. I think the nature of the game requires there to be some sort of grind to extend gameplay... but... i don't think the game should be in a position where it needs a massive grind. Classic had a similar system whereby you improve your skills by harvesting/tracking/spotting animals. This is technically the exact same thing, but classic had other means by which players could sink countless hours into the game, e.g. trophy shots/competitions/leaderboards, which all created drive to play the game more. Generally I dont even think there should be an exp requirement on weapons. I think any levelling system should be species/weapon specific just like in classic. That way, every new species/weapon released created a tonne more potential gameplay and allows players to specialise in the weapons they want, and in hunting their favourite species.

Basically, the game should be like classic without the horrible payment model... instead of whatever the hell this is supposed to be xD

[Brechnor]

Originally posted by DamZe:

Well said OP, the item progression is completely off at the moment, there is nothing wrong in grinding for XP to level up a skill/perk, but to have simple items and weapons require an absurd level is beyong tedious and only forces you to go an murder spree rather than encourage realistic hunting behavior.

Hmmmmmm, do rarer animals not give much better XP then?

[Sajanus]

Have to agree, I just levelled up enough to get an antler caller. Then noticed some of the level requirements 51 for a moose caller.... REALLY!!
The money wall is enough of a grind just skip the level requirements. ie I now need a bow/ammo/jackrabit caller to do a mission, I currently have 6k left after getting the caller and thats after playing for 2-3 days so another 3 days to get the money for these is more than enough of a grind as it is.

[pinwolf]

First DLC for 15€: Instant Level EXP Potion.
When you have one year membership in Classic you get it for half the price. :]

[SmokeyTheGoat]

I agree on this too. The whole system either needs tweaking or a complete reworking.

[fцику мцику]

The grind is ridiculous. Yeah I can see it now, microtransactions to speed up the experience

[Frostz]

I agree. In my opinion they should remove the store level/score requirements entirely.

[Dr. Bloom]

It has taken me 3 days to get 8000 rifle score, 26000 to the best rifle... That doesn't seem difficult at all.... The grind is nothing, leveling will take a lot longer but already being 20 doesn't seem like it will take long to unlock everything else.

If anything the $$$ gain seems too high, I have way too much cash and nothing to buy, I guess I can waste it on Ammo and Sprays but even then I will be making more per animal then I can spend on those 2 things.

Compared to other grinds I have had to do in other games this is nothing, especially since just playing the game is progressing towards weapons and levels, its not like its some kind of side content I have to grind... Just play the game and enjoy

[Arsonide]

Originally posted by Spunkmyers:

Compared to other grinds I have had to do in other games this is nothing

That isn't the point though. Yes if you compare the grind to Warframe it's not such a bad grind in retrospect...but this is not a Korean MMO, and it's not a free to play game. Why are we grinding? They gain nothing by dragging out the level treadmill, and you gain nothing by slogging through it.

This is a singleplayer and/or small scale server based multiplayer game, and one based off of hunting at that. Having a small scale RPG progression on the scale of Diablo is fine. Deer Hunter 2004 and Deer Hunter 2005 had light progressions like that. Having a long term grind where 90% of the skill tree will be unavailable for a few weeks, and you only get one weapon to use is not fine.

Hunting is about relaxing, and carefully and meticulously selecting your prey...whereas a long grind such as this encourages you to kill every doe or Bambi that has the misfortune of crossing your path. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if there were a larger selection of starting weapons, so at least I had a bit of choice? As it is, you want to have alternatives, which means you want to level up as fast as possible, which means you kill every living breathing thing in your wake.

That isn't hunting, it's extermination.

[Markus Kruber]

I have a honest question to all that are bothered by the way you have to unlock stuff in this game: Why do you want it unlocked so fast? Why not just enjoy the game and play with the gun(s) you own and just have fun? Then it will unlock all by itself over time!

Stop being so fixated on unlocking stuff..

[Voltz]

As far as the thread topic goes.....things do need to be tweaked a little.
The grind? Short of landscapes....the whole damn game in unacceptable for a release.