UpUpAway95

45 minutes ago, JerimiahSettle said:

@UpUpAway95

See, I don't play loper as I am still new-ish to this game and I like being able to use all the item the game has, not just a certain few things.

But when it come to ptarmagans, I do have bad eyesight, so they are hard to see and hit, stones can be used, but once you throw one, even if you hit or miss, the other birds tend to startle and fly away resulting in only one bird if you're lucky.  Also, a bird in a snare flailing about might scare others away sure. But the rabbit doesn't do that in the game, so there's no reason for the bird to do it. Besides, the snare spawns a dead animal, not a live one. 

However, if you're going for any sort of realistic imagining about how the snare works, it doesn't catch a dead one, but a live one who later dies in the trap.  So, I'm pretty sure the rabbits likely struggle for a little bit although we never see that animated in the game.  

Similarly, why does a stone thrown that misses everything scare away the entire flock of ptarmigans and they don't come back immediately like the rabbits do?  Likely because HL wants to limit our ability to catch ptarmigans to one at a time for the most part and not make to too OP or easy.  If they introduce snares, the could easily apply that restriction by limiting the capture rate to one trap no matter how many are set within a "flock-size" radius.

At any rate - I said I had no objection to either suggestion, but I'm still unlikely to use it.  That is all.

ETA:  I wasn't always as good as I am now at stone throwing.  I've gotten lots and lots of practice doing 50-day one-zone runs where for most of them, stones are the only weapon you've got.  I have the best success hitting ptarmigans (and other animals with any weapon) if I line up the one I want to hit in the center of the screen.  It seems like the hit zone is a little more forgiving in that area.

TBH, I seldom ever use the rabbit snares, so I really can't see me using ptarmigan ones if they are introduced.  For me, stones are handy enough and I've not had much difficulty getting enough feathers to make the body insulation and to insulate a bedroll. 

Loper runs are about the only time I bother with a bow.  On those runs, using the fire-hardened arrows is handy for levelling archery without draining the materials needed for the regular arrows.

Also with stones or the fire-hardened arrows, I don't have to worry about getting back to the site the next day (My experience with the rabbit traps is that if I don't get back to the site the next day, anything caught has decayed and the traps are generally ruined at that point as well).  I would also suggest that one ptarmigan struggling in a snare should be enough to scare away the rest of the flock anyways.

That said, I have no objection to either suggestion - making the rabbit snares work on ptarmigan or making a special ptarmigan snare; so I guess I'm one of the people in the "don't care" category on this one.

41 minutes ago, AdamvR said:

Thanks for your explanation. I did not jump to a conclusion, but asked a question.
Why I think it might still be the case though, is that all of my tickets this year are open (black), only the ones from 2021 are resolved (green)
Have not heard a word from support this year, while in the tickets from 2021 we always had a discussion, providing further data, etc.

You're still putting the "overwhelmed?" spin on it in your title.  You could have instead just asked the question as to possibly why the numbers jumped without the spin. 

The fans can only speculate.  HL knows the answer, and there are other possibilities instead of them just being overwhelmed.  Even if they are having some difficulty keeping up, I don't think they will answer any post with a "Yeah, we're overwhelmed at the moment."  Seems like that would be a bad business face to put out there.

As for me,  I don't really see any bugs that I'm terribly concerned about right now.  For me, the game is still very playable.  Sure, I have preferences about things I'd like to see changed, but so far, I've not encountered any bugs that actually break the game for me.

4 minutes ago, AdamvR said:

It is about the ID of the opened tickets jumping by 46.000 within 3 weeks.
Even after the 'notorious' Tales update in April (?) it "only" grew by 4.000 in 5-6 months.
This is way off the chart...

(The list above is only the tickets I submitted; there are some resolved ones on the bottom of the page, from years ago...)

It still doesn't show how many of the increased numbers are unresolved bugs.  If they are all about 1 or 2 bugs, then HL is hardly overwhelmed.  If a number of them have been cleared, HL is hardly overwhelmed.  If the number system changed (possibly because of the number of issues resolved in QOL update), HL is hardly overwhelmed.  If it is a bot, again HL is hardly overwhelmed.  You're jumping to a wild assumption here, IMO.

Resolved bugs not appearing in the listing perhaps (that is, those applicably numbered bug reports have been cleared by HL, which would be instead a good sign).

10 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

Only time I ever use it is on speedruns, or in Story mode where I can drop a save at the top of the rope.

I've accidentally flung myself off the top of a rope once or twice by missing my grab.  I was too stunned to even think about trying to grab the rope on the way down.  Hopefully, I won't need to ever use it, but it's worth remembering it as an option in case I mess up ever again.  Otherwise, I think I'll stick to old-fashioned goating my way down when a rope isn't an option. 😀

I tend to do one-zone challenge runs, but if I am doing a run that allows moving between zones, I tend to set up a mini-base in each region anyways rather than trying to set up a main base that would involve bringing stuff from other regions to the point.  I make notes in my journal as to what items each mini-base has and what it might be missing (e.g. a forge with no hammer yet) so that I can just bring whatever duplicates I find to a mini-base that currently lacks it.  That means that by the time I hit the mid-length run, I'm pretty much well set up no matter where I go on the map.

In pilgrim, the protection value isn't a factor; so really what you're looking to juggle is warmth, wind and waterproofness while maintaining a good level of stamina.  There is at least one area of the map where having the least restrictive amount of clothing on you is very important.  Generally, the warmest and heaviest clothing is also the most restrictive on movement - and you don't need them in pilgrim.  People have successfully done long-term "naked" runs; so as a general rule - go with the lightest and least restrictive clothing that keeps you warm enough.

6 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

Quote from Raph from Milton Mailbag - Dispatch #26

Thanks for digging that up.

5 minutes ago, Mistral said:

- Beachcombing ON/OFF

- Bunkers ON/OFF

- Indoor temperature changes ON/OFF

- Minimum Temperature range at end game X

- Glimmer fog ON/OFF

- Tales ON/OFF

- Poison gas ON/OFF

- Scurvy ON/OFF

- Toxicity animal behaviour ON/OFF

- Aurora animal behaviour ON/OFF

- Aurora electricity effect ON/OFF

- Ptarmigan LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/VERYHIGH

- Cougar LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/ VERYHIGH

- Trader ON/OFF

- Healing repices ON/OFF

- Torch pulling from fires ON/OFF

- Minimum skill level for harvesting 1/2/3/4/5

Etc etc etc badly needed!

Agree.  One thing though - I'd add an "off" setting to the cougar since it is anticipated it will be a predator and to keep it in line with the settings already there for other the other predators.

6 minutes ago, hozz1235 said:

True about Fallout (and other games such as Assassin's Creed).  Perhaps those companies sought "permission" from those entities before replicating them.  I'm not about to dig into that level of research

I rather doubt that they sought permission from the owners of every landmark they've used in the game.  It would be an impossible task even for larger companies.  I suspect there's some allowance for using landmarks that are well known by the general population and that their appearance in general is not a copyrighted thing.  I suspect it's more just that Raph wanted to disguise the island(s) used for his inspiration and gave HL some liberty to deviate from the IRL map of the West Coast.  In that respect, it is clearly a fictional island.

Still, I find the amount of industrial development on GBI and the pre-apocalypse association with the mainland more in line with Vancouver Island's history than the more pristine islands farther north along the Coast - and that's merely why I personally favour a theory about the earthquakes changing the shape of Vancouver Island (or even creating the fictional GBI in that area) and the geomagnetic activity changing the weather over selecting Banks Island simply because it is farther north and has one coast that is somewhat shaped like GBI's.

Terms like "The Great White North" have been used historically to describe all of Canada - so perhaps Great Bear Island is somewhat representative of the entire country as well.  Famed Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, has strongly associated Canadian identity with survival aspects in her book "Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature."  A concept I remember well being taught in my Canadian studies classes, although it is considered somewhat outdated today.

From Wikipedia:

"In Survival, Atwood postulates that Canadian literature, and by extension Canadian identity, is characterized by the symbol of survival.^[81] This symbol is expressed in the omnipresent use of "victim positions" in Canadian literature. These positions represent a scale of self-consciousness and self-actualization for the victim in the "victor/victim" relationship.^[82] The "victor" in these scenarios may be other humans, nature, the wilderness or other external and internal factors which oppress the victim."

52 minutes ago, hozz1235 said:

I agree.  I'm sure HL was inspired by many things when creating GBI, but if for nothing else, likely made it a fictional place. 

Perhaps there could be trademark/permission issues if you exactly replicate something IRL.  For this reason alone, I personally, would make it fictional.

You're probably right, but I would like to point out that the Fallout franchise uses many IRL locations and landmarks in their games (e..g from Fallout 3 - Lincoln Memorial,  Capital Mall.  Fallout 4 - Boston Public Library, Old North Church, etc.) - not exact replicas, but at least somewhat accurately placed within the map, despite the map being significantly scaled down.  Now, these are US landmarks and Bethesda is an American company, so perhaps the regulations on that sort of thing are a bit different in Canada; but I don't know why that would be the case.

2 hours ago, Leeanda said:

No worries😊.   

I suppose there's always doubt  and concern when something new turns up..  I get that not everyone likes everything ,signal void is certainly split but until we get in there and try it we won't know how it's going to work out..  

There certainly are some things that we all can't explain and we make our own theories up to cope with it..😊

I'm just hoping they spend some time and love updating the custom options so that they catch up to the new mechanics that have been added.  We really should have an option to turn off the glimmer fog (and change its frequency would be nice as well).  Hopefully, they will add an option for scurvy and for the poisoned affliction.  Overloading the game with innumerable parameters to remember is not always an enjoyable thing for some people.  There are all sorts of IRL challenges people face (as in disabilities).  The amount the devs allowed us to customize it is one of the biggest reasons I fell in love with this game, but it's a menu that's not been kept up very well recently.  Please HL, consider giving it some attention and love.

11 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

Okay, fair enough... I apricate the additional observations.

The tragedy for me then, is that I've been on a "no hunting" sort of a stalker run (as an additional proviso to my personal challenge).  So, of course... that's when the game decides to be overly generous.  

Yes, of course (lol).  I don't know how the game knows, but I swear it does somehow.  Good luck on your run!

30 minutes ago, Enigmaecho said:

Spawn times seem to be unchanged but damage thresholds are WAY higher now I shot a bear 7 times in the face before it went down, wolves taking two shots to break off attack charges, Timberwolves morale is back to being obnoxiously hard to break

I seldom try to take down a bear with multiple shots if I can avoid it.  I take one long shot (preferably from a location where he doesn't really know where the shot is coming from), check my journal to confirm the hit, and then run off and hide and let him bleed out (checking the journal to confirm when he's gone down) - and then I use the crows to find the carcass.  It can take a day (depending on how good my shot was), but it seldom fails.

Both moose I've killed since I started playing again (i.e. since the QOL update) have gone down in 2 rifle hits.

3 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

Fair enough... perhaps that's the case.  In any event that was years ago... perhaps @Admin could shed some light on it.
In either case, I can't imagine that finding three moose in one day is intended behavior... but who knows, maybe it is.

If it's the new normal, then that's fine... I just think I liked it better when moose were rare and harder to find.

I think it might just be your RNG.   I'm not finding them to be particularly more frequent than before, even on files where I've increased their spawn rates to the max.  In fact, in a few different starts in certain regions, I'm getting fewer active moose spawns than ever.  For example, 5 starts in Mystery Lake with moose spawns pushed to very high have only yielded 1 moose.  I've yet to get a moose to spawn in Broken Railroad in my last 5 starts there (and that zone used to be very reliable for me).  I did get one start where a moose spawned in Milton Basin and the adjacent moose in Marsh Ridge also spawned at the same time (or immediately after I took out the one in Milton Basin).

I say - count your blessings and never look a bunch of gift moose meat in the mouth!

I don't think HL needs to do anything.  The choice of how to spend the 500 days and where should remain in the hands of the player.  I don't like the idea of locked off regions, particularly when the spawn can be random.

45 minutes ago, LostRealist said:

That's a fair point, but then again I'd argue that being able to 100% certainly cure almost any of the current afflictions in the game is technically quite a stretch. Gonna need a lot of lichen in real life to heal up a bear mauling...

But these are things that could reasonably be threats in this environment. Dysintery, infected wounds, food poisoning, parasites... a dog-bourne diseases like rabies, or others, for that matter, lines up better to me than getting instantly symptomatic toxic poisoning from a canine bite.

Again, I'm not saying it's "wrong" for the game to go that way or anything, not trying to fight anyone. Just arguing my reasoning for what I would have preferred. I see that the choices HL made appear to be quite popular as far as the kind of new content they introduce, so I wouldn't have any leg to stand on anyway.

Well, I would prefer that they avoid suggesting that a disease like rabies can be cured with a "home remedy" lest someone think they can actually use something like that.

All the announcement says is that their bites can leave you with a new affliction that they've called the "poisoned affliction."  We don't yet know the mechanics of it.

3 hours ago, LostRealist said:

This is surely true, wildlife in such an area would be very badly affected by that. But them being exposed to environmental toxins wouldn't make them straight up venomous, as in, poison you upon contact. That is, at the very least, extremely far fetched.

Why not wolves with rabies instead? Same mechanic, much more immersive to me because it's much more believable. Plus it wouldn't have to be confined to one region in this ever more common "Hey look, this is the place with this one very specific gimmick" approach. Because I agree that it certainly wouldn't be beneficial if HL kept adding regions that are just the same over and over - I guess I would just like this game's universe to be closer to realism than the game wants to be. I'm not saying that's objectively bad or anything, it's just me who's disappointed that the game is now leaning into a different direction than I thought it would back when I got it.

I'm not really equating this to their being "venomous"; but rather that they carry toxic bacteria in their mouths that results in a sort of infection.  We already have a small infection risk from wolf bites and I'm thinking this might just be a elevated risk with a worse infection resulting.

Why not rabies?  Well, rabies requires a very specific series of shots (rabies immune globulin and rabies vaccines) that must be administered before there are any symptoms.  It's not the sort of medicine that Will or Astrid could whip up from ingredients found on the island.  Once there are symptoms, death is almost 100% certain.  To put it in the game and offer a "band-aid" cure for it would be science fiction, IMO.

6 hours ago, LostRealist said:

I know nobody really asked for it, but here's my view: I liked when this game was straight up about survival before a somewhat mystical background.

Now we've got electrostatic fog, running around repairing radio transmitters, poisonous wolves. Feels like a Gauss Rifle and Pseudogiants are to be expected at some point, if you get my reference. We're straying.

I don't like Sci-Fi games. I don't think the game needs more and more outlandish stuff like that, I don't care for it. Unlikely I'll be visiting the new region ever.

I don't think wolves poisoned by mine tailings is sci-fi.  Seems to be like it's a believable consequence of irresponsible operating of a strip mine.  Also, it's DLC; so it's not like it's being added to the main survival game and Wintermute's story should be complete without it.  Uninstalling the DLC is also always an option.

8 minutes ago, PilgrimReaper said:

Aren't there two cooking spots at the forge? Honest question, I can't recall.

The forge only has one spot on top.  Same with the forge in Forlorn Muskeg, Broken Railroad, and Desolation Point.

8 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

I mean ya can't tell me you don't see just a BIT of a similarity....
 

Of course I do and I'm not denying that.  That still doesn't place it anywhere on Banks Island.

I'm not going to try posting a picture, but look up an image of the Victoria Regional Correctional Facility (which is on the island).  It also employs the "castle-like" architecture.

13 hours ago, James Hickok said:

Its a known cheesy mechanic doable but borring. The way to fix this would be to extend the duration of breaking down torches. 

Not worth doing by players, which makes it not worth HL's time to fix either.

55 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

I'm glad you can manage with the fog,even in small doses..    I know it's a challenge in itself.

The rope is the only way up there?   Id be making multiple climbs lol..   

I do remember the trailer but I think I saw no rabbits there...there were a few  round the tower though,and wolves,it's what my son  mostly lived on while he was there...(even though he had tons of canned food)😅

The rope isn't the only way, but it cuts a lot of distance off the trip - making the hangar reachable before getting afflicted by the glimmer fog.

1 hour ago, stratvox said:

I don't know that the specific history is that important, but that said, mining has been a big big thing in BC since forever. Also, wrt the Pen, here's a pic of the BC penitentiary:

And here's Black Rock: 

However, BC Pen is in New Westminster, a suburb of Vancouver, and definitely not anywhere near the general area of The Long Dark. There are no pens in northern BC AFAIA, so I think we can chalk that up to artistic license and nods to the landmarks in the province. Sort of like how Ash Canyon resembles the area near Golden BC: 

Pretty sure this is going to look at least a little familiar to a lot of people here. Here's a link to a map showing you how to drive from Black Rock to Ash Canyon; as you can see it's not like it is on the island at all

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qMgaozBsQyrWetYd6

 

I'm aware that the province of British Columbia has had big mining history as well as penitentiaries.  I was asking specifically about what historically has been developed on Banks Island.  The Queen Charlotte Islands are noted to be one of the most naturally pristine areas of the province, which doesn't smack of a lot of development, but Banks is closer to the mainland than the Queen Charlottes, so I don't really know the level of development it had. 

Vancouver Island, however, as all of that - natural areas combined with ample amounts of industry, mining, airports, highways. railways, etc.  That's why I personally favour it as the location and an earthquake event along the Cascadia fault that significantly destroyed the island and ultimately changed it's shape.  As a result, I think that Will's starting point is in or near Vancouver City (i.e. on the mainland side of the strait) and he is an actual "mainlander."

The Ash Canyon bridges remind me of the Capilano Suspension Bridge (North Vancouver); and Vancouver Island has some, too.

https://vancouverisland.travel/2019/03/28/blog-from-way-up-high-suspension-bridges-on-vancouver-island/