Wolves and Parasites

[Dirmagnos]

2 hours ago, Boston123 said:

I understand that, but why do you instantly want to go back to using stone and bone tools? Contrary to what people posting on here think, making tools from stone and bone is not easy. Knapping stone and glass is a learned skill, much like forging metal, and it takes hours to grind down bone into a usable point/edge without power tools. I know, I've done it, and by far I prefer using metal tools.

Meanwhile, it takes about 10 minutes to hammer out a spoon-broadhead, and anyone with a vise (aka any crafting bench) and a hammer could do it.

Or, sharpening the tip of the arrowshaft and charring it in a fire. Again, fast and something anyone could do.

Part of the problem is that the game has removed almost everything that I would logically expect to be present, all in the name of "balance". Why can't I go into a house and take out/use a kitchen knife, or take that blanket off the bed and wrap it around myself? Why can't I pack that refrigerator full of snow and use it to keep food cold? Why can't I break down those cardboard boxes and stack them on the floor for use as a sleeping mat?

So on and so forth.

 

I dont wannt instantly to go back to stone and bone, i wannt an option to go there. To the most basic/primitive forms of crafting, if i feel like it, if situation warrants it, if there is no other option.

"And homeless near a thousand homes i stood, and near a thousand tables pinned and wanted food." William Wordsworth

There is a ton of natural resources that supposedly surround me, yet i cant do nothing with them. Hell, i cant even "see" them according to the game.

Yes, metal tools may be easier to make, may last longer and be more efficient(altho it should depend mainly on player skill, how fast he can make, if at all, something and of what quality). One will eventually run out of spoons/knifes, while stones will always be plentiful(relatively).

And yes, be it blanket, refrigeration or boxes building ideas, they all are logical. Instead we get stuff that dont even make sense.

37 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Or rip out interior (non-structural) walls for firewood if you're desperate enough or light a fire in/on the stove. Drag a barrel inside any home, etc. 

The problem with limitless possibilities is that the devs don't have limitless time to program them

@Dirmagnos: Parasites are really a non-issue unfortunately. I have yet to get them and the penalty is very minor versus other afflictions in the game. I think they are a good mechanic overall... but they still need a lot of work... Just like wolf behaviour. I was commenting on a video I was recording that wolves have devolved from a threat to a nuisance. Hopefully, they become threatening again in a future update.

Yet they have time to add parasites, a feature that is not just unnecessary, but dont even make much sense.

I actually find parasites to be absolutely the worse feature of the game. It feels absolutely disbalanced, not to mention unneeded. Like stopping a nosebleed by making a tourniquet... on a neck.

Problem, at least the way is see it, was an overabundance of food, especially meat, due to easy of predator hunting/killing.

Instead of beefing up wolves and adjusting their behavior we got stupidity that is parasites, while maintaining wolves on the same level as be4, being weak as kites. Plus they seem to have some serious issues in late updates. Pretty much every ingame day i see one wolf going bananas - he cant see me, but suddenly start running somewhere(there is nothing there), like hes fleeing from something or chasing something(keep in mind, there is nothing there and im far far away, far outside of its detection range), then he can make a 180 turn and run in a different direction, then again turn and again. In most cases at some point he get stuck and continue to run on one place, at that point i can just walk past him(or even shoot and kill him), hes completely unresponsive.

In addition to that hunting bears for me became completely pointless. Its a waste of ton of perfectly good meat. With no way to preserve it(and continuously spoilage at the speed of light in subfreezing temperatures) and parasite threat on top of it, im forced to throw away at least half of it or deal with parasites that require more antibiotics(and pls dont even mention shrooms, those are not that abundant either) that average map has on it just for one full course of treatment(in my current game im almost done scavenging ML for basic supplies and have 3 more days left of parasites - i have no antibiotics left and already used up 2 shroom teas). WTF !

Wolves havent been a real threat for long time by now, i can barely remember when they used to be a real danger. Yet their strength has not been modified in a long long time. On Stalker theres just a lot more of them, which doesnt really make game more challenging, unless need to constantly dodge them can be considered difficulty.

Currently, the way i see it, game has 3 difficulties: very easy, normal and annoying. I would prefer wolf strength to be varied based on difficulty, like 100%/150%/200%(and making their amount fairly same in all difficulty settings) and condition regeneration halved in general from current and restoration amount altered to 100%/75%/50% of base value. Id say that over 80% of current exploits are based on simple fact that amount of condition regenerated from sleep is completely ridonculous(in general many aspect of condition management feel like they have been made for casual game, aside from regeneration, like the fact that bear cant kill you, but merely maul you by certain percentage of current condition; and it feels that many aspects of the game in general have been made by completely different people, some ridiculously easy, like wolves patiently waiting while player attempts to light a fire, while others being completely out of place, like same parasites, stretching gameplay to absurdity) - player can be almost dead in the evening and in perfect health by the morning(making need for any type of condition management non-existing). Adjusting values like this and making negative statuses cumulative and reducing effectiveness of certain features or canceling them altogether under certain conditions would account for majority of difficulty adjustment(so that player cant live off one piece of meat per day and then just regenerate lost condition while sleeping for a few hours), instead of some crap like intestinal parasites, that dont make sense(cooking meat for 20 minutes would kill if not all but 99.9% of parasites; not to mention freezing option... that we still dont *cencored* have in the game that is set in winter, that would kill, again, most parasites after about a week of storage).

There are a lot of whys. Why i cant clean bite wound with boiled water ? It wouldn't be as effective as antiseptic, but its better than sitting there and waiting for an inevitable end. Something that also dont make much sense. Something that could actually use some rng, instead of being set in stone. Something that could use some skill. Something that people have been doing for thousands of years and actually surviving, long be4 antibiotics.