UpUpAway95

On average, I think there is a little less loot concentrated in most areas on most (if not all) difficulties. For the first time in eons, I actually found absolutely no clothing in the Camp Office in Mystery Lake and only came up with a set of driving gloves between the fishing cabins and the fishing huts. On that run, I've found no guns and very little ammo in all of Mystery Lake... and baseline resources are set to high. I don't mind it, but it is going to mean that my one-zone runs are going to be more difficult overall.

In multiple starts in various regions and on various custom and standard difficulties, I've only found 1 rifle and no Vaughns. I have found a couple of revolvers. I have also confirmed that, for me at least, the memento keys are not spawning in custom modes. I've found them only in my standard starts (even when using guides to them that are popping up on Youtube. (I have sent in a ticket on this, but would mind it if other players on Xbox might confirm this as well). I have found one heavy hammer in one of the red toolboxes in Broken Railroad Maintenance Shed (so there is still a chance one will spawn there, but on interloper it may be blocked from spawning there if the player themselves spawns within that region (don't know yet). I've encountered a few other bugs, but nothing major (other than my startup issues - which HL have looked into and are unable to replicate). That they went to work on it so quickly is absolutely commendable... all in all I have no real complaints. For now, I'm continuing to run short "tests" in various regions and on various difficulties and probably won't start seriously playing the DLC Tales for awhile yet.

I said "much the same" not "exactly the same." Challenge badges are meaningless... they don't offer any in-game benefits to the player... so, do one run in stalker to earn the badge. I presume you were willing to do "Hopeless Rescue" not as an Interloper to earn that badge, right... so, the fact that you cannot get it in standard interloper now shouldn't stop you if the badge is what you're after. As for being able to play the Tale in Interloper - I've said it before... you're welcome to try to change HL's mind. I'm about Custom, so my concerns rest around Custom... so, here I am, trying to change their mind about not allowing feat progression in Custom and encouraging them to add a way to enable Tales separate from baseline resources in Custom. I really don't see why people are so against me on that. It has no bearing on their trying to change HL's mind about allowing the Tales to be played also in standard interloper. Essentially... we're on the same side... just different POV's. The fact remains - HL made their decision consciously and intentionally... they thought about it... and in either argument (yours and mine), it's quite possible they may not change their minds... and we don't know what their ultimate vision for Tales is when its complete. It is quite possible that they are planning an "Interloper" Tale... one that won't be able to be played in Pilgrim. We just don't know at this point.

I think you're confusing Feats with Challenge Badges. The challenges (e.g. Hopeless Rescue, The Hunted, Nomad, Archivist, As the Dead Sleep, etc.) each have their own set difficulty that cannot be changed by the player (that is, you are not asked to choose a difficulty before the challenge starts and cannot change it from within the challenge either). Conversely, feats are earned in any of the survival standard difficulties, including Pilgrim; but are not available in custom survival runs. You can also progress feats within Challenge runs. Feat progression can also take place over multiple saves of different difficulties (just not custom). The one challenge that also provides a feat is "Escape the Darkwalker" which gives the player the "Darkwalker" feat and the "Escape the Darkwalker" and "Escape the Darkwalker - Deadly Dreamer Badge. The new Tales: Signal Void badge is listed in the Challenge badges section; not the feats. There are also special events badges, like 4DON... those can be played in any standard difficulty, as far as I know; but not custom (I haven't actually participated in any of those events, so someone else will have to confirm or correct me on this). Since Tales: Signal Void is a challenge badge, I really don't see it as being much different than the other Challenges, like Hopeless Rescue, that have their own specific set difficulty that is not Interloper.

That doesn't preclude the fact that the feat can be earned on Pilgrim, Voyageur, and Stlaker, in addition to standard Loper. You don't need to forego the expedition parkas, etc. now to earn the feat... so why not open it to Custom as well where it's possible the player desires to earn the feat at a setting even more difficult than Loper?... instead of assuming everyone who plays custom is trying to play and earn feats at a setting easier than Pilgrim. If they want to lock the settings in Custom in such a way that the easiest achievable setting is equal to Pilgrim in order to open up feat progression to Custom games, I'm all for that... It would be hard to do because if you set everything equivalent to Pilgrim and then, say, turn off sprains, you have a game that is technically easier than Pilgrim... just the same as you get a game that is harder than Loper by starting with Loper settings and then turning off condition recovery (i.e. deadman).

Just stumbled across my first random plane crash in Mystery Lake (near the fire lookout). It wasn't easy to get to and the loot was pretty lack luster, but it was cool searching around it, perched on the side of that mountain as it was... it felt more grim... more emotional somehow picking through the wreckage than just searching old buildings. Great job, HL.

Since the update on the Xbox Series X, I have had instances where the game refused to launch an existing save file and a couple of instances where it would not let me get past the "name sandbox" screen when creating a new file. Not sure if this is in any way the same as the problem you've experienced. In my case, the workaround was to exit the game, quit it entirely while on the Xbox homepage, and the restart the game. I figure it is some sort of compatibility issue with the Xbox Series X's "quick resume" feature since quitting the game completely using the "manage game" menu from the homepage cancels the quick resume. Just a guess though... I sent HL a report yesterday.

It's a 3-hour DLC that you would have to play through only once on Stalker to earn the badge... after that, the fact that you couldn't earn that badge on a "custom" run becomes irrelevant, doesn't it? ETA: After all, you probably earned all the challenge badges at whatever difficulty HL set for them (i.e. not baseline resources low or Loper)... I don't see this as very much different really.

Even though Pilgrim is not the "easiest" difficulty any more than Loper is the "hardest" one, I agree. I have always felt that custom games should be able to earn feats. They can earn achievements, so why not feats as well?

Yes - an action button would be nice as well.

Heating canned food does not alter its condition; that is, the percentage shown in the inventory before and after cooking is exactly the same. Cooking meat, however, does significantly change its condition. Food poisoning chance is based on the condition of the food, so, I really believe the answer is definitely no... heating food does not lessen the chance of getting food poisoning from it. OP - I think you just got really lucky.

I had no problem getting a torch to light from a stove today.

I'd try any red toolboxes in the zone first. As others have said, spawns are random; but it wouldn't surprise me if, somehow, containers that somewhat match the intent of the item have a higher probability still (e.g. I look for clothes in dressers and lockers; tools in toolboxes, food in kitchen cabinets, etc.).

Again - nothing prevents players from taking days and days to read books to artificially level up. You're making the points available and when you do that, someone will find a way to exploit it - be it a Pilgrim or an Interloper. The logistics are just a little more difficult on Loper (in that you have to provide a big source of food and water near where the books are foun and avoid cabin fever); but it can be done... and some players would likely do it rather than play the game... as is they do in a million other games out there (e.g. building shelves in Survival Mode in Fallout 4 to leave Sanctuary at Level 20). Some players would shoot a moose near a significant source of books and "camp" and read for as long as they could... and then walk over to the next heavy book site. Shoot some food, rinse and repeat. No moving of the main base would be required. It's my opinion... I've given it. 'nough said.

How are you going to allow the game to determine when the player has completely read that "random" book (that is coded the same as many other such random books in the game? You are now suggesting that each one has to be coded separately (like a skill book already is) so that the game can keep track of how many hours in each book have been read. Why not, then, just convert some of those random books to actual skill books (and keep some control over how many skill points are available in the game overall)? Also, I said I just shot a moose - which gives me lots of food for days and I need to wait for the hide to cure anyways. In a place like Carter, which I said can be done, even on Loper.

On Xbox at least, the various steps to process acorns are found only on the first main tab of the crafting UI; whereas, other items are also shown under more specific tabs (e.g. Prepared Reshis are shown on the first main tab and also under the "medical" tab. Since acorns are probably the first food item that is not also a medical item that we have to craft, can a food tab be added to the UI (in anticipation that, someday, we'll be preparing foods other than acorns) or, alternatively, could acorns be added to the medicinal tab and perhaps the icon be changed to accommodate both medicinal and food items?

Why does that matter that Pilgrim players have it easy anyways? An exploit is an exploit... it discourages the player from going out and actually playing the game - easy or no. Take let's put an interloper player in my example - I just shot the moose outside Carter, there's ample wood inside the dam, I can set up my fire in the dam yard so as to avoid cabin fever and read my little heart out for days gaining skills. Note: skill books also require at least 5 hours (correction 4 hours) of reading before you get ANY points at all (5 to 10 points). Your proposal offers 2 points for just a 1-hour quick read of a book that is probably found right beside your fire almost everywhere in the world anyways... IMO, too easy, even on Loper. Oh, and how many books do you think might be in Milton? or in the PV Farmhouse or at Thomson's Crossing?

You don't have to carry them to use them to start fires since many of them are found in areas right near place you start fires. That's what also makes them too convenient for reading... too easy to get those skill points and you're proposal opens up a lot of potential, easy skill points... easier than finding the skill books and carrying them around for a small increase in only the skills they are assigned. Most loper players burn the skill books as it is and don't bother reading them. I see it as something that could be easily exploited - Players on pilgrim (for example) could sit inside for days at, say, Carter dam (where there is also ample water and food available, along with 15-30 books), and artificially boost their skills before heading out anywhere early game.

Still not enough of a reduction to my taste... I mean there are probably 15-30 books in the Carter Hydro Dam alone. I know there's at least 10 in the Maintenance Shed & Hunting Lodge. That's still a lot of skill points you're making available for little effort. By late game, many players have max'd out the skills they use anyways, so by the time the books are "useless" for their increasing the chance of a fire starting, they are probably "useless" for adding needed skill points as well. If HL wants to increase the available reading material in the game, they could just decide to change some of those "burn only" books to actual skill books instead.

For custom games only (since I'm not sure how this might be implemented in a standard difficulty anyways) - Create a toggle that enables the player to initiate an auora-based "disaster" which would result in previously collected resources (food/clothing/tools) that the player has stashed around the world (effectively causing a world reset to the starting point) AND automatically increases the difficulty by one step (e.g. lowering the baseline resources setting by one notch, increasing predator spawns by one notch, etc.). Items on the player's inventory at the point of reset would not disappear, so the player would have an opportunity to preserve the items they fell are most important prior to initiating the "disaster." If the settings are already at interloper levels, then things like condition recovery could be eliminated at that point (which would effectively move the file into a "deadman" state). While not as intimidating, perhaps, as starting a new file at these higher difficulty levels, this would enable players to increase the difficulty of their files when they feel somewhat prepared to do so, but without the benefit of having massive stockpiles of supplies to rely on. ETA: Alternatively, the "disaster" event could happen at a random time in any save file (including standard ones), with an added option when starting the file save to turn it off (for those players who have no interest in ever increasing the difficulty of their save file).

I'm only going to comment on the one - reading the random books. I feel there are just too many of those random books in the world (even on Loper) to allow them all to be read for skill points. It would essentially take no real effort to get to high level skills and their associated perks with that much available reading material in the world. One would not even have to carry them from place to place, since there is usually one or more lying around in almost any place one might go to seek shelter and a night's sleep (unless playing outerloper). Certainly 5 random points is far too generous for only one to two hours worth of reading. As handy fire-starting material (since they are found near burning barrels and fireplaces all over the world and have an improved chance of the fire starting), they are already a useful item.

Pot calling the kettle black?... instead of answering the question... why not advocate for greater liberty to define "tone" in the game through custom options rather than questioning HL's right to control what goes into a "standard" difficulty? I never said I couldn't understand why they would be disappointed. In fact, I said, you're welcome to try to change their minds. Still, the question remains, if you're unhappy with the standard as a standard, why not ask instead to be able to deviate from that standard in an expanded way? HL doesn't have to have any more reason to set the standard they want beyond that's the way they want it.

I think it is very much a possibility. Would anyone blink if HL decided to leave the upcomping cougars out of Pilgrim mode instead of making a "passive" version that runs off with its tail between its legs? What if the Tale for that segement involves the cougar? Wouldn't it seem likely then if that particular Tale was not accessible in Pilgrim mode?

They are DLC... so, yeah, not part of the main game. If it is about "tone" for you, then why not suggest they expand the custom menus in ways that would ensure that, regardless of the way the DLC goes ahead into the future, you can reproduce the specific "tone" you like, regardless whether or not it matches a "standard" difficulty envisioned by HL? For example, I'd like to see the sliders that affect loot amounts to be given an even broader range so that I could play a run with less than loper supplies in containers... changing the "tone" of that run. If I were able to also change the custom sliders without starting a new run, I could craft a run where the loot in containers completely disappears after so many days in the file or different types of loot starts to appear... again, customizing the tone of that run and, perhaps, avoiding the mid to late-game boredoms that so many players complain about. Instead - you're just challenging HL's "reasoning" for deciding to leave a single Tale out of Interloper... not considering that only know what they are planning for when this DLC is complete. I don't think it's me that has it backwards.

It's not... but also think about the possibility that the next Tale might be created as an "interloper only" challenge and that will balance things out... encouraging staunch standard stalker players to step out of their norm and play something a little differently. What's unreasonable is the claim that interloper players are "being ignored" or that they cannot still play the DLC... and the insinuation (blanket assumption) that non-interloper players don't like difficulty as much as interloper players do. The release vid tells me that HL did not make this choice without thinking about it... and it doesn't preclude the notion that interloper players can still play a custom stalker game where they've manipulated the other existing tools to increase that difficulty back up to and even beyond standard interloper difficulty. A standard difficulty is HL's vision regardless of which one it is... Pilgrim, Voyageur, Stalker, and Interloper and I respect their choices - whatever they are - in that regard. HL has historically only given the player the ability to craft their own experience within Custom; so. I don't think it is unreasonable to ask them to continue to expand on custom (and I don't think "interloper" players should necessarily assuming that "custom" players are only driven to make the game easier than loper.)