What do think is the most "useless" item in TLD?

[Strelok]

On 1/30/2022 at 4:49 AM, SpanishMoss said:

I call water tablets "water doublers" because you can use them to double the amount of water you make in the same amount of time. The flashlight in my opinion is useless, because not only can you not use it during the Arouca, but it cannot be used as a light source to craft in the dark. It's only use is for stouts wolves, that's it.

I like water purification tables. But i would call them "fast water". The time aspect is more to me when i go for expeditions and want to save time.

[peteloud]

11 hours ago, UTC-10 said:

Usefulness is situational. 

If I had to choose the least useful item I would pick the ballistic vest.  . . . .

Yes, I think I agree with you.  I never even considered that.  It is so useless that I left it in the prison in my last game.

[ChillPlayer]

Water purification tables and the flashlight. If I have time to to melt snow I most likely also have the time to boil it and I don't travel during auroras often enough to keep the flashlight in my pack. Next useless item is probably the antiseptic, I might pick a bottle in the very early game but it gets switched out for old man beard dressings pretty quickly.

The only use I ever had for stone caches are to glitch up steep slopes but I guess that's not their intendend use

 

[Bimbobjoejr.]

For me its gotta be either spray paint, or the flashlight. The flashlight isn't useful, even during an aurora. I've tried to use the high beam on the aurora wolves, and that barely ever works and I get mauled anyway. It also isn't helpful in tight spots because the beam doesn't have enough distance to widen the beam. Then with spraypaint, I just don't use it all that much. I usually know where the stuff I want to grab is, or the place I stashed that region's spoils. But I do believe the ballistic vest is barely usable as well. The downsides heavily outweigh the protective value of it.

[Mistral]

Spray paint

Water tablets

Antiseptic

Flashlight (not that it spawns on higher ones)

Ballistic vest

All skill books except for cooking and archery, and _maybe_ carcass harvest + fire skill

Edited January 31, 2022 by Mistral

[Guest jeffpeng]

I see myself using water purification tablets early on quite a bit. When time is a constraining factor (technically it always is, just sometimes more, sometimes less) they can actually save you quite a bit of time.

I also pretty much like the stone caches. They serve a rather well defined niche purpose. Yes, they are optional, but they do serve a purpose. Yes, you can just throw things on the ground, but don't tell me you enjoy picking up 384 rose hips individually.

Even the flashlight isn't useless as it provides a rather useful difficulty offset to dealing with wolves in an aurora. It's just that it's hard to justify carrying it around, so you never have it when you need it.

Painkillers definitely aren't useless as you need them to treat being moose'd, and also getting rid of the pain re-enables normal health generation. They just aren't "required" to have on hand.

Antibiotics after Cooking V (which is OP as heck) aren't totally useless as @stratvoxexplained, plus you actually just might bite into raw meat accidentally, and then what?

The vest ... yeah, early-midgame I see that thing have its upsides.

So I guess what I am trying to say: there really isn't any truly useless item in the game. It's just that a lot of things aren't really required. But they still provide a bit of depth to the game. I mean..... food variety isn't necessary either. The world could just be populated with arbitrary protein bars. Same goes for clothing. But it would be pretty dull. I guess it's not easy to put variety into a game and have everything have at least some purpose, and so far ...they actually have succeeded at that pretty impressively. So .... I think my vote is: there is no useless item in the game. (Maybe ... maybe blue tool boxes ...)

[UpUpAway95]

7 hours ago, Strelok said:

I like water purification tables. But i would call them "fast water". The time aspect is more to me when i go for expeditions and want to save time.

That's another good name for them.  I honestly don't understand why they are making this "useless" list.  Starting with 0 water in my inventory, I can have a nice cup of hot tea in less time than it takes to boil 0.50L of water.  If I have two cans, I can double that in the same amount of time and get the full 1L use out of a water purification tablet... and they aren't near as heavy as a flashlight or a ballistic vest... or even a can of spray paint (IIRC).

Edited January 31, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[UpUpAway95]

19 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

I see myself using water purification tablets early on quite a bit. When time is a constraining factor (technically it always is, just sometimes more, sometimes less) they can actually save you quite a bit of time.

I also pretty much like the stone caches. They serve a rather well defined niche purpose. Yes, they are optional, but they do serve a purpose. Yes, you can just throw things on the ground, but don't tell me you enjoy picking up 384 rose hips individually.

Even the flashlight isn't useless as it provides a rather useful difficulty offset to dealing with wolves in an aurora. It's just that it's hard to justify carrying it around, so you never have it when you need it.

Painkillers definitely aren't useless as you need them to treat being moose'd, and also getting rid of the pain re-enables normal health generation. They just aren't "required" to have on hand.

Antibiotics after Cooking V (which is OP as heck) aren't totally useless as @stratvoxexplained, plus you actually just might bite into raw meat accidentally, and then what?

The vest ... yeah, early-midgame I see that thing have its upsides.

So I guess what I am trying to say: there really isn't any truly useless item in the game. It's just that a lot of things aren't really required. But they still provide a bit of depth to the game. I mean..... food variety isn't necessary either. The world could just be populated with arbitrary protein bars. Same goes for clothing. But it would be pretty dull. I guess it's not easy to put variety into a game and have everything have at least some purpose, and so far ...they actually have succeeded at that pretty impressively. So .... I think my vote is: there is no useless item in the game. (Maybe ... maybe blue tool boxes ...)

Well said.  Even tinder after Firestarting Level 3 can be used to mark trails or previously visited areas if the player wants... Heck, even car visors (which never yield us anything) can be used in that way.  The unused flashlight can still be turned into scrap metal (particularly useful if you're find one near a forge and you happen to be 1 metal short to make what you need).  Blue simple tools are useful... until you find a quality set.  I usually take the ones I find to the nearest workbench and leave them sitting on top of it.  That way, I'm almost never very far away from being able to repair my hacksaw.

Edited January 31, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[turtle777]

On 1/30/2022 at 4:30 PM, Leeanda said:

Just a thought...

How many people use the ballistic vest? 

Not me. Too heavy!

In early IL game, when you have no weapons, it can be a life saver. 

It really only applies if you spawn in BLRK. You would never go there before hitting a forge if you spawned outside of BLRK.

-t

[twyn1]

I mostly play on Pilgrim, sometimes Voyager, so it's definitely different than the tougher levels...

I never use the Water Purification tablets so those would be first.

Flashlight is useless except to harvest or to search better if you just happen to pick it up during an aurora.

I now keep 1 good Antiseptic until I have some Old Man's Beard ... even on Pilgrim I have been attacked by a wolf  (got caught up between a rock wall and a rabbit that the wolf was trying to kill and he jumped me instead -- I got him with the hatchet, but had to run around finding Old Man's Beard to stop the infection)

If I have it on me, I will use Spray Paint on searched fishing huts at Coastal Highway & Mystery Lake, and then to mark the one where I have a bedroll, wood and other supplies -- also mark turn offs to my base house (good if it gets foggy) and sometimes to mark the best path in mines -- I occasionally use Cat Tail Heads to mark paths as well, but otherwise dump them.

Ballistic vest is interesting, but WAY too heavy to drag around, and the path to get it doesn't really give much in the way of other loot.

[Guest jeffpeng]

4 hours ago, turtle777 said:

You would never go there before hitting a forge if you spawned outside of BLRK.

Not so sure about that. I've found a bedroll both times I visited BARK (it's BARK, really), once in the mine, once in one of the buildings in the prison. I didn't note to what loot tables they did belong, but there might be a case to be made in some games spawning in either AC or TWM where getting a bedroll in BARK is actually not the absolute worst idea.

[manolitode]

Any unique time that looks truly inviting to use but is only part of the environmental decor. Such as the two-handled saw.

[A Lamp]

I think the most useless item for interloper are car batteries lead and bullets. What's the point of wasting time for something you can't even shoot?

But for stalker and easier modes i would say the heavy hammer and hacksaw are useless. What's the point of blacksmithing if you can find a rifle, revolver and tools that weight less (-0.25kg) and do the job faster? Surely there are people who like the bow more than the rifle, but still you use it once or twice and then leave it to freeze in the corner. Also some people keep the hammer in their inventory because it is probably one of the best struggle tools to end it fast, but it is kinda heavy and the hatched weighting 0.5kg less can still do the same thing, injuring the wolf however. 

The hacksaw, early to mid game completely useless but for late game where you don't have scrap metal you can harvest metal furniture to get few pieces for a kinda expensive price of fatigue, thirst, hunger and daylight.

However for inteloper the hammer and hacksaw are a gamechanger for obvious reasons.

And i do use the vest even if i have to pay dearly because sometimes im retarded and i make alot of mistakes, some are accidental while other i make them knowing the consequences just to keep the next day or weeks a bit more interesting and hard.

To show my dumbness: i like wrestling wolves alot, that's why clothes hate me.

[Mistral]

On 1/31/2022 at 7:03 PM, UpUpAway95 said:

That's another good name for them.  I honestly don't understand why they are making this "useless" list.  Starting with 0 water in my inventory, I can have a nice cup of hot tea in less time than it takes to boil 0.50L of water.  If I have two cans, I can double that in the same amount of time and get the full 1L use out of a water purification tablet... and they aren't near as heavy as a flashlight or a ballistic vest... or even a can of spray paint (IIRC).

As Deadman player I'm constantly making fires for travelling/buffs/harvesting/whatever, and simultaneously almost always producing water. And that is even if I don't need it (around 2 liters on the packpack is optimal) and decide to leave it behind. Because why not. There's always excess water and excess waiting besides fires, I have never felt the need to try to fasten the boiling process for just regular water. As for teas, one should always have few of them on the go warming up besides the fire anyway.

Besides even if I accidentally pick up those tablets, they always seem to detoriate to 0% before I remember to ditch em =P

Edited February 2, 2022 by Mistral

[UpUpAway95]

2 hours ago, Mistral said:

As Deadman player I'm constantly making fires for travelling/buffs/harvesting/whatever, and simultaneously almost always producing water. And that is even if I don't need it (around 2 liters on the packpack is optimal) and decide to leave it behind. Because why not. There's always excess water and excess waiting besides fires, I have never felt the need to try to fasten the boiling process for just regular water. As for teas, one should always have few of them on the go warming up besides the fire anyway.

Besides even if I accidentally pick up those tablets, they always seem to detoriate to 0% before I remember to ditch em =P

I'll put it another way... why not use the water purification tablets as you find them so that you can leave 2x the water behind at those locations whenever you return to them later in the game with better closing so that you don't have to make more fires just to have water then?  Just because you don't use them doesn't make them useless even in dead man.  By your reasoning, birch bark teas should be on the this list because dead man runs don't take advantage of their health regeneration feature and you can get the same calories from reshi, rose hips or any other teas.

The bottom line is that water purification tablets take no time to use and making drinkable water takes less fuel and time when you use them.  Even from the weight perspective they are more efficient.  Making 0.5L of boiled water takes 40 mins (starting cooking level) and 4 sticks (which weigh 0.1 kg each).  Therefore, making 1L takes 80 minutes and 8 sticks.  Total fuel weight burden is 0.8 kg

Conversely, each water tablet weighs 0.06 kg... making 1L of purified water is then reduced to 40 mins, 4 sticks of fuel and a total weight of resources of 0.406 kg.

ETA:  It also means I can start my warm nap 40 minutes sooner without having to worry about my water boiling away as I sleep.

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[Mistral]

3 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I'll put it another way... why not use the water purification tablets as you find them so that you can leave 2x the water behind at those locations whenever you return to them later in the game with better closing so that you don't have to make more fires just to have water then?  Just because you don't use them doesn't make them useless even in dead man.  By your reasoning, birch bark teas should be on the this list because dead man runs don't take advantage of their health regeneration feature and you can get the same calories from reshi, rose hips or any other teas.

The bottom line is that water purification tablets take no time to use and making drinkable water takes less fuel and time when you use them.  Even from the weight perspective they are more efficient.  Making 0.5L of boiled water takes 40 mins (starting cooking level) and 4 sticks (which weigh 0.1 kg each).  Therefore, making 1L takes 80 minutes and 8 sticks.  Total fuel weight burden is 0.8 kg

Conversely, each water tablet weighs 0.06 kg... making 1L of purified water is then reduced to 40 mins, 4 sticks of fuel and a total weight of resources of 0.406 kg.

ETA:  It also means I can start my warm nap 40 minutes sooner without having to worry about my water boiling away as I sleep.

 

I almost never make fires "just to make water", as I said for me water production merely functions as simultaneous byproduct of having fires for other reasons. And no I won't use water purs "as I find them", because why would I carry or store non-boiled water with me just in case I happen to find those tablets somewhere... 

Birch bark tea isn't on my list since it doesn't even exist on Deadman so why put it there... just as is the case with guns, they don't exist. Now, I did put flashlight on the list even though it's just Stalker loot but that's my bad... it's very useless for other players anyway so I forgive myself 

As for water production while sleeping... If I'm outdoors while sleeping next to the fire, I usually sleep in one hour intervals. Water in 2x half liter cans, put to boil just before sleeping won't vaporize during that time, there's couple minutes left before it is burned when you wake up.

One thing I will say is that if the toilets were to give you unclean water, then I might consider the tablets to be kinda handy because dragging that spoiled water with you for boiling sonewhere would be very annoying. But alas, right now toilet water is just a free bonus (or livesafer before you have matches...) and water tablets are useless. For me anyway

Edited February 2, 2022 by Mistral

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, Mistral said:

I almost never make fires "just to make water", as I said for me water production merely functions as simultaneous byproduct of having fires for other reasons. And no I won't use water purs "as I find them", because why would I carry or store non-boiled water with me just in case I happen to find those tablets somewhere... 

Birch bark tea isn't on my list since it doesn't even exist on Deadman so why put it there... just as is the case with guns, they don't exist. Now, I did put flashlight on the list even though it's just Stalker loot but that's my bad... it's very useless for other players anyway so I forgive myself 

As for water production while sleeping... If I'm outdoors while sleeping next to the fire, I usually sleep in one hour intervals. Water in 2x half liter cans, put to boil just before sleeping won't vaporize during that time, there's couple minutes left before it is burned when you wake up.

One thing I will say is that if the toilets were to give you unclean water, then I might consider the tablets to be kinda handy because dragging that spoiled water with you for boiling sonewhere would be very annoying. But alas, right now toilet water is just a free bonus (or livesafer before you have matches...) and water tablets are useless. For me anyway

I still don't see why you won't use them if you find them someplace and then turn around and make your fire (for heat) and boil some water and some extra water to leave behind... Why leave them in the cabinet to deteriorate?  They're there, handy... and don't cost you anything to use them.  It makes no sense to me, but you can certainly play your game your way.  It still doesn't make the tablets "useless."  They have a use... your choice whether you use them or not... and difficulty level makes no difference at all.  As I said Birch Bark Teas are useless in Dead man mode (actually they would be too useful/OP and that's why there is the option in custom to turn them off).  The flashlight doesn't spawn in interloper, but then neither does the revolver.  We still find casings in interloper which are, in those cases, more useless than the water tablets.

Overall, for me, the flashlight is the most useless item in the game.  It only does anything during an aurora and it weighs too much for me to pack it around on the off chance that an aurora will happen when I want to scare off wolves.  Is it completely useless... no.  If I find one near a forge, I can use it as scrap.  I suppose, if I find one in the cannery and now the prison, I can use it to scare off wolves there since I'll be there during an aurora to forge ammo (on the runs I do where I do use rifles and revolvers).

ETA:  If the thought of doing up 1L of water the issue here... also note that the tablets will purify "up to 1L" of water.  That means you can pull your can off the fire after melting the snow and use up a tablet to purify that 0.5 L right away... you don't have to carry around "unboiled" water to use them up.

Edited February 2, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[turtle777]

11 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Not so sure about that. I've found a bedroll both times I visited BARK (it's BARK, really), once in the mine, once in one of the buildings in the prison. I didn't note to what loot tables they did belong, but there might be a case to be made in some games spawning in either AC or TWM where getting a bedroll in BARK is actually not the absolute worst idea.

True, but you'll always find a bedroll in ML or Winding River.

If you were to spawn in TWM or PV, would you really go to BLRK to get he bedroll ?

-t

[Guest jeffpeng]

On 2/2/2022 at 7:01 PM, turtle777 said:

True, but you'll always find a bedroll in ML or Winding River.

If you were to spawn in TWM or PV, would you really go to BLRK to get he bedroll ?

-t

I actually went to BARK right after TWM after spawning in AC, yes. Although it wasn't a "lets do the smart thing" decision, more a "yo? yolo!" kind of decision. I mean if you wanted to, you could make an argument for it:

First of all: better weather. With better weather there is less wind which means your chance of standing naked without a torch is much lower. Second: if you get eaten... well, it's not your 500 days loper that bites the dust. Third: loot is actually halfway decent.

So, no, not just to get the bedroll, but since it has a few more goodies ... maybe. But probably not.

 

Also, on topic: I feel like some people undervalue time, especially on loper. If water tablets save me 20 minutes sitting around four times over the course of a few days that actually is a measurable advantage. It's the same with some people generally harvesting by hand since they don't want to damage their hacksaw. I'll never get it. Especially early time is your ultimate resource.

Edited February 3, 2022 by jeffpeng

[turtle777]

22 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

Also, on topic: I feel like some people undervalue time, especially on loper. 

Totally. That's one of the reasons by in IL, Spence's has such an advantage compared to BR.

To to get to and from BR is 2 days lost.

But that's stuff for another thread: 

 

-t

Edited February 3, 2022 by turtle777

[Leeanda]

On 2/2/2022 at 4:15 AM, twyn1 said:

I mostly play on Pilgrim, sometimes Voyager, so it's definitely different than the tougher levels...

I never use the Water Purification tablets so those would be first.

Flashlight is useless except to harvest or to search better if you just happen to pick it up during an aurora.

I now keep 1 good Antiseptic until I have some Old Man's Beard ... even on Pilgrim I have been attacked by a wolf  (got caught up between a rock wall and a rabbit that the wolf was trying to kill and he jumped me instead -- I got him with the hatchet, but had to run around finding Old Man's Beard to stop the infection)

If I have it on me, I will use Spray Paint on searched fishing huts at Coastal Highway & Mystery Lake, and then to mark the one where I have a bedroll, wood and other supplies -- also mark turn offs to my base house (good if it gets foggy) and sometimes to mark the best path in mines -- I occasionally use Cat Tail Heads to mark paths as well, but otherwise dump them.

Ballistic vest is interesting, but WAY too heavy to drag around, and the path to get it doesn't really give much in the way of other loot.

How did you get attacked by a wolf? I've walked straight into one whilst it was eating and not got bitten. I didn't think they could on pilgrim, only bears and moose are supposed to be able to .

[piddy3825]

21 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

How did you get attacked by a wolf? I've walked straight into one whilst it was eating and not got bitten. I didn't think they could on pilgrim, only bears and moose are supposed to be able to .

It isn't common but does occur on occassion.  My niece who plays Pilgrim mode exclusively claims she is  practically able to trigger the attack behavior at will.  
it seems to work most often when pointing a weapon at the wolf while they directly facing you while they are eating a fresh kill.  She's only been able to make
it work in DP however?  

[UpUpAway95]

29 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

How did you get attacked by a wolf? I've walked straight into one whilst it was eating and not got bitten. I didn't think they could on pilgrim, only bears and moose are supposed to be able to .

Nah... The description says that animals can attack if provoked on pilgrim.  It doesn't exclude wolves from that.  Moose and bears will also run away just like the wolves if they detect you before you get too close... unless you provoke them as well.  I think getting too close before they are aware of you or if they are already wounded is what generally causes them to attack on pilgrim.  The difference is that on stalker and interloper, they will generally come towards you even from far off if they see you ro catch your scent.

Also, as piddy said above, if a wolf is looking right at you in Pilgrim when they are eating and you aim your weapon at them rather than back away, they will sometimes attack rather than scare.

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[Leeanda]

4 minutes ago, piddy3825 said:

It isn't common but does occur on occassion.  My niece who plays Pilgrim mode exclusively claims she is  practically able to trigger the attack behavior at will.  
it seems to work most often when pointing a weapon at the wolf while they directly facing you while they are eating a fresh kill.  She's only been able to make
it work in DP however?  

 

That sounds more like a bug to me given that it only works there.  I've walked up to and through them  while they were eating. The worst I've had is a bit of a growl before it runs off.

[piddy3825]

2 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

 

That sounds more like a bug to me given that it only works there.  I've walked up to and through them  while they were eating. The worst I've had is a bit of a growl before it runs off.

try aiming your weapon at them while walking up to them, see if you can trigger that behavior.  If you can, then the mechanic probably works as advertised.  
at any rate, if you do intitiate the wolf struggle, then at the very least, you'll be getting a little taste of what playing Voyager mode is like!  lol!