The Problems you have with the Long Dark

[Michael1986]

TLD is a good game but it is not perfect, so waht are your problems with the game

[Leeanda]

Not enough animals on pilgrim! For example this morning I spent 6 days in MT and all I saw was 1 bear ,2 deer and 2 bunnies! It felt like a ghost town!

[I_eat_only_wolf_meat]

The fact that it can be nearly broad daylight outside, but nearly pitch black in a human made structure with windows.  Hinterland did OK with low light conditions in caves - I don't see why they can't do the same inside the trapper's cabin (for example).

[ChillPlayer]

2nd Polaroid missing in AC

[gamesitwatch]

I have three suggestions, things I'd change, things that probably could be implemented relatively easily (based on my own game dev experience).

1. Give us the ability to turn any plant off in the settings, not just the animals. Food is still abundant even on harder custom settings unless you turn off all prey animals and limit predator spawns, why not give us an option to turn off cat tails instead and keep the deer or the rabbits. 

2. This is probably going to be controversial - I don't like having a method that reliably scares off wolves EVERY time. Once you learn this method, there's basically no incentive to sneak, no incentive to plot courses to avoid wolves, on the contrary, you're going to walk straight up to every wolf, scare them away and keep going. You can do this from literally day 1 of your save. They're just not a threat anymore. So how about turning this method into a last resort thing. Maybe every 1 wolf out of 10 should just ignore everything and maul you anyway if it gets close, forcing you to only use this method if you're cornered and/or desperate. (Suggestion: turn on the aurora wolf status during daylight for a random single wolf in the region, without the usual visual indicators (green glow) - maybe a different one every day. Just make sure you communicate this change appropriately, so people don't flood you with unnecessary bug reports.)

3. Make fall damage much more severe if the character already has a sprain. I'd probably also make sprains more frequent depending on the angle of the slope. (Anything to discourage excessive mountain goating, haha - as you can tell, I'm not a fan of the exploit. Rock climbing shouldn't be viable in -30 degrees with heavy backpacks and wearing a ton of clothes anyway.)

Granted, I can already role-play all of these by restricting myself (using self-imposed rules), but that's not the same.

Also want to quickly mention that I love the game, and will love the game even if you don't change a thing. It's an absolute masterpiece in every aspect as it is.

[Stone]

@gamesitwatch "Rock climbing shouldn't be viable in -30 degrees with heavy backpacks and wearing a ton of clothes anyway"

You've just described traditional mountaineering...!?

On the OP, I'd say sprains we're a problem (for much of the community!). They're much better now but it used to be possible to get a sprain walking over a small mound of snow in a path.

[Levelgrinder]

Why can't we make a fire just by rubbing two sticks together?

Eventually even the longest lasting player will run out of matches/flares/firestrikers.

[Kranium]

Can't harvest wood from fallen logs etc.

Sprains are a little silly (as in, occurs too easy/common), as is mountain goating. Gotta be a better balance. (how about actual broken arms/legs, craftable splints & walking aid (crutch), ability penalty + recovery time, like broken ribs)

skis & snowshoes

candles

360° view in vehicles

Why do some items degrade so quickly/at all?

...Mostly "realism" niggles, really.

I love the hell outta this game, regardless!

[Mistral]

11 hours ago, Levelgrinder said:

Why can't we make a fire just by rubbing two sticks together?

Eventually even the longest lasting player will run out of matches/flares/firestrikers.

You can already keep making fires forever with the mag lens so I'm not sure what was meant by this. HOWEVER I'd very much welcome this method to the game (with low chance of success) while simultaneously decreasing match spawns by around 95% + making mag lens unique single item

Edited November 7, 2021 by Mistral

[Levelgrinder]

8 hours ago, Mistral said:

You can already keep making fires forever with the mag lens so I'm not sure what was meant by this. HOWEVER I'd very much welcome this method to the game (with low chance of success) while simultaneously decreasing match spawns by around 95% + making mag lens unique single item

Try using a mag lense outside in a blizzard, or at night. Mag lenses last forever but can't be used everywhere or every time.

[piddy3825]

I love to read the comments from all the new players to have joined the forums!  I feel your pain and share your frustrations.

You should have seen what it was like when I first started playing.  At least back then, the dev team listened to some of the many suggestions by the community to
fix common problems and subsequently introduced many improvements and refinements to the game. 
If you wanna see the progress that has been made in the last 6 years, you oughta try playing the maps from the time capsule.

I hate to say it, but I think the game has reached it's pinnacle and now the only other thing that will be forthcoming (besides adding BlackRock to survival mode,) will be the final chapter in the story when Episode 5 is finished and released.   In the mean time, however, keep those ideas alive and continue to express your wishes for improvements in the game, for perhaps you'll see them realized after all.   

And, if not, then maybe some of those ideas will manifest themselves in TLD II...   

 

[gamesitwatch]

On 11/6/2021 at 11:16 PM, Stone said:

@gamesitwatch "Rock climbing shouldn't be viable in -30 degrees with heavy backpacks and wearing a ton of clothes anyway"

You've just described traditional mountaineering...!?

You're arguing about semantics because my sentence is poorly constructed, instead of arguing about the guiding principle behind me saying it. What if I modify the sentence and say: rock climbing at that pace without proper gear for it, sticking to the wall like Spiderman shouldn't be viable in those circumstances. Does this still sound like traditional mountaineering?

[Mistral]

6 hours ago, Levelgrinder said:

Try using a mag lense outside in a blizzard, or at night. Mag lenses last forever but can't be used everywhere or every time.

That's why you use your mag lenses every time there's a window for it... and make excess water and tea preps even if you don't need em. Also even if there's technically no sun in horizon you can often catch a mag lens window right there at the dawn

Edited November 8, 2021 by Mistral

[Stone]

@gamesitwatch I really was just amused that you'd seemingly overlooked the contradiction in your perfect description of mountaineering. I'm not out to challenge you're view that goating is a problem. I would say the current sprain system seems 'right' after many variations and past issues. It doesn't remove the exploit you're highlighting though.

@Mistral Ooo, thanks for the dawn mag lense tip! And you've given me a thought:

Problem: a 10 hour fire can get blown out and apparently all the wood disappears. 🤔😠 That is silly.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Stone
typo

[gamesitwatch]

3 hours ago, Stone said:

@gamesitwatch I really was just amused that you'd seemingly overlooked the contradiction in your perfect description of mountaineering. I'm not out to challenge you're view that goating is a problem. I would say the current sprain system seems 'right' after many variations and past issues. It doesn't remove the exploit you're highlighting though.

Got ya, and true, on all counts.

Which is why I actually suggested a slightly different approach in a Reddit post, but apparently failed to mention it here: why not slow the character down even more substantially on a slope with a 75+ degree angle, increasingly, as the angle gets closer to 90, all the way to an absolute crawl, so it's simply not worth taking the shortcut.

For example, you can climb up far enough on the slope from Bitter Marsh, and then go sideways to the right at basically normal walking speed, sticking to almost perpendicular walls, to get to Homesteader's Respite at the moment - in order to avoid the need for a rope. However, if your speed would automatically drop to a quarter of normal on the 85 degree slope, you would start freezing a long way before you get there, costing you a lot of condition - making it a trade off, and keeping it somewhat realistic.

I also think that just like with ropes when you're exhausted, there should be a chance of slipping and falling if the wall is steep enough. Sadly, I don't think this is realistic to implement, because of how the game engine handles collision. (Granted, I'm not a coder.)

[gamesitwatch]

3 hours ago, Stone said:

Problem: a 10 hour fire can get blown out and apparently all the wood disappears. 🤔😠 That is silly.

Never thought about this, but couldn't agree more.

[Mistral]

3 hours ago, gamesitwatch said:

Never thought about this, but couldn't agree more.

Well yes true but magical 10 hour fires that require no restocking in between are also very much work of fiction, so it kind of balances itself out

Edited November 8, 2021 by Mistral

[Stone]

@Mistral You can also put a stick on a fire to get +1 degree/+10mins burn time. Then take it off as a torch - the fire gets -1 degree / - 10 mins burn time but you get a torch which I believe is +3 degrees warmth and could last about 45mins (game time) at the end of which... you can get your stick back.

Don't get me wrong, I think the balance in this game is incredible and testimony to its evolution with a great, engaged Dev team. So these 'problems' in no way put me off. They're good for in game problem solving.

@gamesitwatch I had a thought reading your comment - how about they introduce strong gusts of wind in breezy weather that actually made you wobble (as when on <10% condition). That would make any goating vulnerable to changing weather and getting blown off! Just a thought

[piddy3825]

7 hours ago, Stone said:

strong gusts of wind in breezy weather that actually made you wobble (as when on <10% condition). That would make any goating vulnerable to changing weather and getting blown off! Just a thought

yeah, there should be some consequences from strong wind.  Since it actually slows your walking speed down, it should also push you around when it gusts, making walking over a rope bridge that is violently swaying in gusty winds potentially another way of dying if you were to fall off.  At the very least, it should push you off course when you are walking along during a raging blizzard raising the chances that you become lost in the whiteout.    oh well...

[Levelgrinder]

15 hours ago, piddy3825 said:

yeah, there should be some consequences from strong wind.  Since it actually slows your walking speed down, it should also push you around when it gusts, making walking over a rope bridge that is violently swaying in gusty winds potentially another way of dying if you were to fall off.  At the very least, it should push you off course when you are walking along during a raging blizzard raising the chances that you become lost in the whiteout.    oh well...

Might be a dumb question, but can you actually fall off a rope bridge? I assume you can, but I've never experienced it. I've run across heaps of them, sometimes swaying madly, and I always seem to make across fine. Maybe just been lucky I suppose.

[Pınar51-06]

30 minutes ago, Levelgrinder said:

Might be a dumb question, but can you actually fall off a rope bridge? I assume you can, but I've never experienced it. I've run across heaps of them, sometimes swaying madly, and I always seem to make across fine. Maybe just been lucky I suppose.

Yes you can fall. I wonder about this since Ash Canyon release and ı wanted to try it in episode 4 around the mine. You fall and fall slowly ( about 5-6 seconds ı suppose) and ‘you faded in the long dark.’

[piddy3825]

7 hours ago, Levelgrinder said:

Might be a dumb question, but can you actually fall off a rope bridge? I assume you can, but I've never experienced it. I've run across heaps of them, sometimes swaying madly, and I always seem to make across fine. Maybe just been lucky I suppose.

Yes you can, but honestly you really do need to "try" to fall.   Next time you cross, pay attention to those areas on either side of the rope bridge that are missing a piece of rope.  if you angle it just right, you can walk right off the swaying bridge and fall to your death.  You ever see when people cross over an old rope bridge in the movies and how intense those scenes are?  music pounding with a furious cadence designed to get your heartbeat racing?  yeah, not the same in the game is it...

[Stone]

(Getting off topic, sorry OP) I found the whole ash Canyon experience really good, bridges included. Crossing the the first time was scary, then you get used to it, I'm just fine with that! It's like the trestle's broken rail - just enough fear, not too much risk.

[past caring]

I think the thing that I would most like to see is something which makes a visit (or a return visit) to each region worthwhile. There's no issue on your first play through - at least if you play as intended with no maps off the Internet etc. - but once you've done that, with some regions there's no real reason to return after looting them. For me, that would include Broken Railroad, mainly because I cannot see any reason to walk past the forge at Spence's in Forlorn Muskeg in order to get to the forge in BR. 

Similarly, once I've cleared out Timberwolf Mountain, there's no real reason to return.

Some of that is of course down to the fact that BR and TW are at "the end of the line" and regions which are central like Mystery Lake and Pleasant Valley you have to return to, if only to get to others. But I'm not sure that has to be the case - I keep returning to Desolation Point and Bleak Inlet.

Quite how to change this though, I'm not quite sure.

Also the map. I'd really like something that would actually allow us to map ourselves, rather than simply "reveal" the map. Or at least allow us to annotate the map.

[Kranium]

On 11/8/2021 at 8:19 AM, Mistral said:

Well yes true but magical 10 hour fires that require no restocking in between are also very much work of fiction, so it kind of balances itself out

There's a few different ways to make fires last the long. I myself have used the long log method a few times when doing a minimalist wilderness trip, and I can attest that with minimal effort it'll last sunset to sunrise, at least. Haven't tried other ways, like this one:

Quote

burned for over 14 hours and weathered a downpour of 1 1/4 inches 6 hours in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejfSv3raPDo