Sad About V.155

[GreyRook]

Hey guys (and gals),

I know I'm relatively new here and I loathe to start my time on these forums complaining, but I was SO excited for the new update. And then when I finally got a chance to play the new update (because of work and stuff and things) it was GLORIOUS. I died 3 or 4 times in a row, quickly. It was wonderful. The wolves were a constant threat and I loved every minute of it. I froze my butt off going out in the cold, like I should. The balance felt great (loves the new durability/rarity trade off).

And then I saw the hot fix and was a bit gutted.

I don't play this game to have things easy. On my Facebook page I have a running tally of all of the ways I've died. I had a wolf jump me and fought him off just to immediately be jumped by a second wolf. Brutal and I loved it! I'm thrilled when I find a hatch because holy crap I have a chance of making it for a bit longer. I was thrilled when I found a rifle (less so when I realized there was no ammo).

The game has done a great job of making every teeny small little victory count. Every minuscule measure of progress feel like I've conquered the world. Until this patch. I don't play this game to have things easy.

I shouldn't be able to just stroll down the road care free. I should be sweating every turn, unsure of if there will be a wolf and if there is, will there be one or many. I should have to choose my path carefully and make crazy wide detours just to avoid being mauled. I don't play this game to have things easy.

I'm here because I want a challenge. This new patch feels like it's taken that away from me. This makes me sad.

The patch that came with the new map was AMAZING. Any chance we can have that level of intensity back? Please?

I don't have the answer, but I don't play this game to have things easy.

Cheers!

Rook

[TarjaS]

I haven't yet updated from v.153 to v.155, but I must say I was glad to see the change list say the wolf situation has been changed. Like some people have said, it's not supposed to be a zombie survival game where wolves replace the zombies. I think the difficulty should come from the weather conditions, number and type of loot you find, etc., not from fighting the wolves. I'm not saying there shouldn't be wolves, just that they shouldn't be jumping on you every time you step out of the door.

[Burning Bridges]

I am also happy that Hinterland has quickly reacted to the situation, because I am not interested in a game that is mainly about escaping from wolfes, with a little bit if exploring and collecting food along the way.

I can't help noticing that there is a group of players who are seeking things in games that I would consider nothing but nervous stress. I think for example of horror games like Amnesia that use excellent visuals and sound to basically nothing but creating the maximum amount of unpleasant emotions. There are people who seem to enjoy games that portray hopelessness, depression, bleakness, etc, and I think that's their business but I find it strange.

I don't mind at all how other people play their game. And when it became clear what the update yesterday had done to wolves, I knew what would happen next, that people like you will come and say they liked it more. I'm absolutely in favor now of a "Wolf population" option, easy / normal / hard / insane to respond to that. With easy being what it was before .152 and normal being what the majority of players considers optimal, and insane obviously what you are after.

But please also keep in mind that not everyone loves repeated dying and restarting a game. Please don't force me to fight wolfes more than from time to time, because A) there are enough games about fighting just about anything on the planet, and B) the fighting in this game is not even that great (to be blunt it is rather bad).

[Pathadre]

I have to agree with the OP, I was definitely disappointed with the changes in v.154/155. I wanted to share the difference in my experience between v.153 and v.155:

First thing that went wrong, when v.154 released I was saved inside the forestry lookout on Mystery Lake so I was effectively trapped and had to start over (was only a day in playthough so no biggie). Yes, v.155 fixed that so all good, kudos to the dev's for being so prompt on fixing bugs in the game.

In v.153 I started on Mystery Lake and took 4 game days to go from the lake cabins/camp office to the Trapper's Homestead to the Forestry Lookout then across the ravine to the start of the new map, mainly because cold and fatigue limited how fast I could move through the map. In v.155, in 12 game hours I could go from Trapper's Homestead to the pond and lone cabin to Forestry Lookout, stopped at the Logging Camp, then went across the ravine to the first trailer in the Coastal Highway zone using 3/4 of the fatigue bar and running for at least half of that journey.

In v.153, from that trailer going down the snow covered road to the main highway I dodged at least 3 wolves and got attacked once or twice. In v.155 I saw 1 wolf not threatening at all. Looking at the large frozen lake (it might not be a lake but that's what it reminds me of lol) I counted at least 6 or so wolves walking over the frozen water in v.153. In v.155 I saw 2 at most. In v.153, when I arrived at the coastal village there were at least 5 or so wolves patrolling the village trapping me in the gas station. In v.155 I saw 2 wolves in the village. I was streaming the game tonight and was demonstrating by walking in circles around the village twice just trying to see if there were more wolves that I missed. Only once or twice they got close enough I had to run away, knowing I wouldn't get fatigued doing it.

Don't get me wrong, I still love this game very much and would recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone. Was the game hard Wed during v.153 - yes. I didn't die though came close many times and loved every minute of it. I was rather deflated though playing the game after the hotfix seeing how much things got nerfed. This is still early alpha and I know there will be further balance changes, and have every confidence that the dev's will have a great product on release. But after seeing a taste of what the game could be in v.153 I would hope they will consider that the changes they made may have gone a bit too far.

[Burning Bridges]

In v.153 I started on Mystery Lake and took 4 game days to go from the lake cabins/camp office to the Trapper's Homestead to the Forestry Lookout then across the ravine to the start of the new map, mainly because cold and fatigue limited how fast I could move through the map.

4 days for what .. 5km?! This is slower than the NASA crawler. Do you see how this is a little odd to some people?

[Burning Bridges]

On my Facebook page I have a running tally of all of the ways I've died. I had a wolf jump me and fought him off just to immediately be jumped by a second wolf. Brutal and I loved it!

And how long do you think this game would last, if it keeps throwing wolfes at you like that? And while I can see how it can be very interesting to keep records of "all of the ways that you died", I seem to disagree with you in a very very important point: that this is not a game about dying, it is a game about survival

[Dark]

As long as the wolves do not respawn, i think that a little larger population could be good. But i still have to test the current version to make a final verdict / opinion about this topic.

[Trandor]

I can see both sides and kind of agree with both. But you cannot suit both tastes. Sometimes I want to explore and test things, then the high wolf population might bother me. Other times I want hard and gritty survival, then I'd want wolves struggles to be harder. I didn't check up yet on at what rate (if any) wolves respawn, but I think we'll have to accept lower wolf populations for now. And maybe we will see new predators as soon as in the next major update.

[fiatal]

It definitely seems like there's a big split between people who want more wolves and people who want less. I'm in the latter group - I want a survival game that isn't about fighting, where stumbling across an unexpected wolf makes me panic, not go, "ugh, again?" But I totally respect that other people want different experiences. A wolf population slider seems like the easiest way to go, but we'll have to see what the devs want to do.

[Survive757]

.155 is fine, I still have fought more wolves then i have ever before, but its not to the point of ridiculousness that it was earlier, hell i' had to kill 3 wolves I simply couldn't escape in just this day alone, that is far more then all of my previous play throughs combined. and i have escaped wolves twice by JUST making it to the door.

[Dark]

The wolves seem to respawn, i have killed 10 of them and it seems that there are still many around my camp with sea view. Currently i have at least 10 Days of wolf meat in my fridge. If somebody wants to come over he / she is invited, we can have a barbecue and drink some grape soda. Hmm... we need BEER in this game!!!

The problem is with respawn that you cannot make a place safe, therefore there are always too many wolves in certain places. So it seems to me that Wolves, Deers and Rabbits are resources that never run out.

[Survive757]

The wolves seem to respawn, i have killed 10 of them and it seems that there are still many around my camp with sea view. Currently i have at least 10 Days of wolf meat in my fridge. If somebody wants to come over he / she is invited, we can have a barbecue and drink some grape soda. Hmm... we need BEER in this game!!!

The problem is with respawn that you cannot make a place safe, therefore there are always too many wolves in certain places. So it seems to me that Wolves, Deers and Rabbits are resources that never run out.

omg dude you are so right, how can we be in Canada and there's no freaking beer around this is clearly a HUGE oversight by the devs and needs immediate hotfixing!