the "Brand" is an absolute gamechanger!! Hats off to Hinterlands

[cowboymrh]

For those who thought the game was too easy, Hinterlands has made the game much much tougher with the introduction of the "brand"!!

I started the "craft / scavenge everything" challenge a few days ago and I wanted to see how the new update would affect my character attempting that challenge.

All I can say is WOW!! What a huge difference in realism!! (FOR THE BETTER)

No more pulling out perfect torch after perfect torch after perfect torch out of a campfire, and then storing them in your backpack to make your early game survival so much easier!!

No more strolling through caves and mines "at will" without careful planning!!  No more making tons of torches to give you that 10 degrees of "bonus warmth" when you are traveling on cold days!!

I invite all of you to start a new character on say..... Timberwolf Mountain, and see the difference for yourself!!

For those of you who wanted more "realism" and a "tougher game" .............. I think you just got your wish!!

This will also make kerosene ( to make torches)  much more of a valuable commodity!

Hats off to Hinterlands!!  Well done!!

[nicko]

yep is great but what the f is a brand? why not call it what it is a Fire Stick? or something similar?

Might as well be saying I pulled a Nike or a Coke out of my fire

[Nervous Pete]

 

A brand as in a 'burning brand', being any sort of stick with a very hot end - can mean one that is used for branding cattle, or as in this case. That's how it's thought of here in the UK, anyway. A torch also is what an American would call a flash-light. 

I've only sunk in 21 hours into The Long Dark so far, but funnily enough I hadn't been making use of the 'torch' exploit anyway, as it never occurred to me that a burning torch could be carried around in one's backpack. Now, when I checked out the radial craft menu, I realised I could make these immensely handy things myself. Yup, still learning! 

[nicko]

A burning brand yes I get that a hot steel rod of some sort to burn and mark a skin. A torch yes modern day to light. what would you call a stick on fire if you pulled one out of a fire?

[random calliope]

3 minutes ago, Nervous Pete said:

 

the 'torch' exploit

Huh?  I didn't know there was an exploit.  That's what I get for putting the game down for a few months.  As far as I know torches always drop to the ground if they leave your hand.  I never really used torches anyway.  

[Scyzara]

1 hour ago, cowboymrh said:

All I can say is WOW!! What a huge difference in realism!! (FOR THE BETTER)

No more pulling out perfect torch after perfect torch after perfect torch out of a campfire, and then storing them in your backpack to make your early game survival so much easier!!

For those of you who wanted more "realism" and a "tougher game" .............. I think you just got your wish!!

Yeah, definitely. Even more so because wolves and bears aren't afraid of dropped torches and flares any longer, hence you can't "shackle" them with fire any more.

And even if you carry the torch/flare in your hand and brandish it, they might still attack you under certain circumstances. Not sure what exactly triggers this "ignore fire" behavior, but I guess it's either low condition or high fatigue. Already got jumped a few times this way.

Bears are also finally no longer afraid of campfires. Goodbye, cheap campfire-kills! 

This update has fixed a whole lot of animal AI and game mechanics exploits, definitely a great improvement in my opinion. 

[Patrick Carlson]

4 hours ago, cowboymrh said:

For those who thought the game was too easy, Hinterlands has made the game much much tougher with the introduction of the "brand"!!

I started the "craft / scavenge everything" challenge a few days ago and I wanted to see how the new update would affect my character attempting that challenge.

All I can say is WOW!! What a huge difference in realism!! (FOR THE BETTER)

No more pulling out perfect torch after perfect torch after perfect torch out of a campfire, and then storing them in your backpack to make your early game survival so much easier!!

No more strolling through caves and mines "at will" without careful planning!!  No more making tons of torches to give you that 10 degrees of "bonus warmth" when you are traveling on cold days!!

I invite all of you to start a new character on say..... Timberwolf Mountain, and see the difference for yourself!!

For those of you who wanted more "realism" and a "tougher game" .............. I think you just got your wish!!

This will also make kerosene ( to make torches)  much more of a valuable commodity!

Hats off to Hinterlands!!  Well done!!

Thanks for the feedback! We're definitely interested in how players take on some of the challenges presented by the new update. Don't burn yourself.

 

[Ruruwawa]

3 hours ago, Scyzara said:

Not sure what exactly triggers this "ignore fire" behavior, but I guess it's either low condition or high fatigue. Already got jumped a few times this way.. 

I've had pretty good success with brandishing (more than I expected tbh), but I noticed the circumstances where it didn't work well too. Let me add one more: Overweight.  I already knew this affected wolf aggro but in my small experience with the update so far, overweight seems to be a very strong counter to any fear induced by brandishing. 

[Pillock]

What I don't like about them is that they begin to litter the floor around my shelter after a while. When they burn out, they're completely useless for anything (or have I missed something?) and they look like sticks on the ground - I find myself trying to pick them up all the time, which is annoying. Why can't we harvest them into tinder or something? A burning stick is still a stick after it's gone out, surely? I've actually taken to stacking up all my burnt-out brands on the jetty outside the mountaineer's hut just to keep them out of my way, which seems a little silly.

I do like the overall idea of changing the old-style fire-torches, though. It's definitely a gameplay improvement, and they look really cool. I especially like that you can tell by the flame when they're about to go out (not that that's terribly useful information any more, since you can't pull out another one and relight it from the flame!).

[cekivi]

Just something that's always bothered me about torches is wouldn't the kerosene evaporate by the time you need to use it? I'd rather need to add the kerosene/lighter fluid when I go to light the silly thing

[Pillock]

What it also does is make the torches that are lying around near some of the corpses into a proper good find!

[KD7BCH]

21 hours ago, cowboymrh said:

For those who thought the game was too easy, Hinterlands has made the game much much tougher with the introduction of the "brand"!!

I started the "craft / scavenge everything" challenge a few days ago and I wanted to see how the new update would affect my character attempting that challenge.

All I can say is WOW!! What a huge difference in realism!! (FOR THE BETTER)

No more pulling out perfect torch after perfect torch after perfect torch out of a campfire, and then storing them in your backpack to make your early game survival so much easier!!

No more strolling through caves and mines "at will" without careful planning!!  No more making tons of torches to give you that 10 degrees of "bonus warmth" when you are traveling on cold days!!

I invite all of you to start a new character on say..... Timberwolf Mountain, and see the difference for yourself!!

For those of you who wanted more "realism" and a "tougher game" .............. I think you just got your wish!!

This will also make kerosene ( to make torches)  much more of a valuable commodity!

Hats off to Hinterlands!!  Well done!!

Damn right we got our wish. And play the game is it not way better with the changes toward realism? Is this not the audience for the game the core players? Of course it is. Has play ability been sacrificed? No. In fact play ability has been enhanced! Well Done Hinterland. Well Done. You took a game with a 95% rating on STEAM to a game with 98% and made Hinterland a clear cut above the rest of the developers out there!

Torches just got a huge and realistic rational bump in utility. There by cloth also got a bump both rational and realistic in utility and there by the behavior of exploring which is a core component of the game rather than "camping" also got a bump. I'd call it genius but I think that would be understating the team's latest effort. 

[exeexe]

21 hours ago, cowboymrh said:

For those who thought the game was too easy, Hinterlands has made the game much much tougher with the introduction of the "brand"!!

I started the "craft / scavenge everything" challenge a few days ago and I wanted to see how the new update would affect my character attempting that challenge.

All I can say is WOW!! What a huge difference in realism!! (FOR THE BETTER)

No more pulling out perfect torch after perfect torch after perfect torch out of a campfire, and then storing them in your backpack to make your early game survival so much easier!!

No more strolling through caves and mines "at will" without careful planning!!  No more making tons of torches to give you that 10 degrees of "bonus warmth" when you are traveling on cold days!!

I invite all of you to start a new character on say..... Timberwolf Mountain, and see the difference for yourself!!

For those of you who wanted more "realism" and a "tougher game" .............. I think you just got your wish!!

This will also make kerosene ( to make torches)  much more of a valuable commodity!

Hats off to Hinterlands!!  Well done!!

I have always played the game like it is now ..

[Pasquinel]

I like the new torch/brand change too, though I really don't use either that much except in caves. At night while walking outdoors I prefer to not use a light source which made me think of something like having torches, lanterns, or brands effect night vision etc. Not sure how this could be implemented but it's a thought. If you have ever spent much time in the outdoors at night away from areas where there is light pollution you would be surprised at how well your eyes adjust to the night. 

 

I do miss being able to throw flares as I thought this was a practical and realistic use for these. A hissing, burning flare that smells of cordite should deter all but the most determined animal unless they are rabid or protecting young, and the flare size and weight is perfect for throwing.