loriaw

I agree with you 100% except for the new mechanics forcing me to change 'my' playstyle. My playstyle is mine. If I'm not 'playing', I'm not enjoying. I'm not looking forward to playing. If I want to play something with that much of a funneled, linear path, defined more by RNG than skill, I'd choose Monopoly (which actually has more choices at this point). At least if I rage quit and toss the board across the room I only have to pick up the pieces. I'm playing on a brand new custom rig and I'm sort of protective of it lol. I could care less how guided and limited Story mode is ~ but a sandbox should be a sandbox. In a single player game you can't even throw sand at another player, and how or why a person plays the way they do should not be a concern of the devs. Whether a person dives in and immerses themselves, or only plays to cheat shouldn't matter. It affects no one but themselves. We lost the leaderboards because people were cheating (and I'm using the term 'cheating' with the devs definition) ~ which is when I lost interest in the achievements. They gave us feats but limited them according to level (nevermind that players could easily have done so themselves ~ the end result was losing another choice). A few people carpeted their homes with wolf pelts and we lost the only true balance between 'us' and 'nature' (ignoring the fact that those wolves are the central danger) ~ the rifle ~ for a long time. Oh, it was there … but you had to pretend to be drunk to use it. The added the bow but we aren't allowed to sneak or crouch to use it until level 5. The rifle and the limited ammo is more like a nerf gun until level 5 (speaking as someone that OWNS the real rifle). Sorry, but the game version … sucks. The list is rather endless after three years. Hold out something new with one hand while the other one is sneaking around taking things ~ things that made the game enjoyable. There have been far more 'mechanics' added than content, and every one of them has no basis beyond funneling players into 'their' vision. That is not a sandbox, and that is the crux of my discontent. I consider playing on custom and turning off blizzards and food poisoning a 'cheat'. That is also part of why I'm just not enjoying the game at this point, despite the fact that it is a reflex to the myriad mechanics. I don't cheat ~ and there was a time when I didn't have to just to try and grind out an hour of play. There were days when both myself and my husband binged on this game, ordered pizza so we didn't have to stop playing other than to answer the door, and were totally engrossed. I've already altered and changed and adapted 'my' playstyle to the point where it is not MINE. I don't want to juggle mechanics, I just want to play a game. Shrugs. Apologies again because this isn't aimed at 'you'.

The rant isn't a rant so much as a lament ~ and it isn't directed at you. It is about player control over their game, the constant mechanic jiggles that force each of us to redesign and change our playstyle, and in general make it burdensome rather than enjoyable to just play this game. Why should I change my trek from my preferred paths to those that don't show an annoying red blotch on the screen (and incidentally guide every player closer to wolves) after four years of learning paths that keep me away from the fuzzy demons? Why must I change the amount I've carried from point A to point B after four years for the same reason? The bottom line, for me, is that there are better reasons and time fritterers to cause me to fill up my swear jar. The devs need to control how everyone plays in sandbox mode as well as in Story mode has made the game just about unplayable for many (not just this last update ~ it is cumulative). For three years I've watched them add a fetric muckton of 'mechanics' that overshadows the content. If they had spent more time on immersion instead of fretting about those who found ways to spam the mechanics, they would have an end product that would be hard to beat. Instead, playing has become the equivalent of trying to clean a house full of toddlers (for lack of any better description). I'm too old for that.

I'd cheerfully pay the current full price for a hard copy of the game with just ML lol. I prefer an actual hard copy of games that don't require the internet, even though there are some advantages ~ but for 'finished' games, the internet is not necessary. If I'd known what I know now I'd have kept that version on a separate computer without internet access. Sigh.