Wolves ignore shots fired now?

[AmericanSteel]

I have been out of pocket for the last six weeks or so: take home work in spades, vacation, taking kids to distant relatives, 4th, etc. Here I am checking out all the new toys today, my first day back out in the cold. I clear out PV, no axe and no bunker to be found. I have a bear skin, a few dear skin, a few wolf pelts and about 20 guts hanging out in the PV farmstead like I am the newest cast member of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Clothing repair options for heavier coats are a bit steep and the curing curve will take some getting use to. Again, I don't have an axe so I cant test out the bow. That said, I am sitting on about 25 rifle rounds and more meat than a corner butcher.

Decided to press my luck and hit the coast. Is it just me or do wolves ignore warning shots now? I had one charge me, bang goes the rile, missed the shot and we are rolling in the snow. We play stabby, stabby and the wolf runs off. Another wolf just comes piling on over the hill. WTF over?! I play stabby, stabby again and the wolf runs off. I make it 10 yards and I notice another one coming on in fast. It is like the rifle rapport is the new dinner bell. I kill that wolf with a serious case of lead poisoning. Low and behold another one is coming in. I drop him like a bad habit too. I then look out over the ice and the first McStabby is taking a dirt nap. No clue where the second one went. I make tracks back to the mini base as I don't want to get killed performing first aid. As soon as my hand is on the door handle, I hear a nearby bark and I am inside. Three dead wolves, one bleeding wolf off somewhere and "maybe" another wolf appearing in like a minute. Maybe it was the wounded one coming back. Dunno.

I decide to test this dinner bell rapport. I head outside after tending my wounds and mending my tattered gear. I look out over the ice and see three wolves. Before I can take a bead I hear the bark and spin. I catch the wolf coming in off the road about 30 yards away. I take a shot nearby to see if it will bolt. Not having it. Not sure if it is the dinner bell or it is just in full on feast mode. I chamber another round and luckily get a snap shot off before we tumble out over the ice. I then spin back around and notice the other wolves nearby are not doing anything. They are not running off and they are not coming in either. Must be out of range. So I come in a bit close until two of them spot me. I let them come in a bit and take a warning shot. One turns and runs.. but the other starts to pick up speed. Dinner bell? I put him down like a bag of hammers before he gets close. The one that was running is WAY gone. I then hear it, another bark. I turn to my 9 o'clock and see another wolf starting to pad on in. He was on the far side of the rock outcrop and I never even noticed. It then breaks into a charge. I hit escape and exit the game.

Well, I was at the Coastal Village. I swear there was a cargo ship relocating wolves that ran aground nearby. They need to change the name of Coastal Village to The Belly of the Beast. Sheez. In all seriousness, does the rapport of the rifle no longer scare the wolves?

[Anelyn]

Are you saying that you just fought 4 wolves one after another and you're still alive? Since you killed 3 of them and scarred off last one, this means you had the fight going for a while and as far as I know to straight up kill a wolf in mano a mano you need to land 1 weak hit and 3 fully powered ones (10% + 30% x 3). During those 4 hits a wolf should do at least 25-40% damage to you (depending on what clothing / durability you have). So you were very very very lucky to survive the 4th wolf (I only experienced this once myself, when I was wearing the wolf coat and after 1 hit on a wolf with the knife he runs off).

Anyway regarding the noise from firing the rifle. You need to do it before the wolf commits to attacking you (when he's still in stalking mode) - same for throwing the flare. Once he's charging at you if you shoot and miss, you end up in brawling mode (he will run past the flare as well ignoring it).

Haven't been to CH yet, hanging out between PV and ML - so you could be right that the wolves there could do something different - also maybe you just got unlucky to be at the x-road of several wolf patrols and they all spotted / sniffed you in quick succession.

[AmericanSteel]

Are you saying that you just fought 4 wolves one after another and you're still alive? Since you killed 3 of them and scarred off last one, this means you had the fight going for a while and as far as I know to straight up kill a wolf in mano a mano you need to land 1 weak hit and 3 fully powered ones (10% + 30% x 3). During those 4 hits a wolf should do at least 25-40% damage to you (depending on what clothing / durability you have). So you were very very very lucky to survive the 4th wolf (I only experienced this once myself, when I was wearing the wolf coat and after 1 hit on a wolf with the knife he runs off).

I only fought two knife to claw. The others died by the use of a rifle. I ended the first knife fight around 60% health and ended the second on the high side of 20% health. The reason why I went inside to bandage because I knew I would not survive another round of melee combat.

Maybe the wolves are going from stalker to striker mode quicker than I am use to. I guess that would be another reason why the Village in CH is so bad. You have a hill on one side and a rock outcrop on the other. Couple that with a few homes, a boat or two and some high snowbanks and you have a recipe for disaster. The wolves know you are there but you cant see them. I can easily recall a dozen times walking out of a house in the Village, hearing a wolf bark and immediately going right back inside the house. Better to take a cat nap for 2 hours and hope the wolves have cleared out. I clear that place out and then store all my loot on the little house up the hill... to avoid that death trap village from that session on.

[Anelyn]

If the area where you have your base is near patrolling wolves / bear (like the Camping Office in ML) you should crouch as soon as you exit the door, check wind direction (if blowing) and slowly peak to see if you can spot any wolves.

Also walk, don't run. When you hear / see a wolf that notices you, crouch and slowly move towards nearest object (obviously panning around to identify / spot the wolf). Once you see the direction he's coming from, continue to crawl backward maintaining eye contact (he's walking towards you at same pace you're moving away from him - as long as you don't stop - he won't get into attack mode activation range and will continue to stalk you until: a) something else picks his interest - rabbits / deer b) he looses sight of you due to an object blocking line of sight for a short amount of time - if wind doesn't blow from your direction, you don't carry raw meat etc).

Sometimes is best to just drop a decoy and be on your way (don't run!) instead of fighting / killing the wolf (especially when you're near encumbered or have plenty of food / skins).