Glacia

2 hours ago, hozz1235 said:

Almost makes me wonder if there are multiple loot tables which "cycle".  I find that unlikely though.

I think so.

We can only know with further testing. With the current info, there is little evidence to a cyclical system on beachcombing.

1 hour ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I can't see why the "low-end" loot (i.e. stuff that has always washed up on the beach like flares) would now become region-specific.  I can see why some types of boats might be region specific.  Personally, I haven't done enough beachcombing to know... beyond my "blizzardless" test that resulted in no respawns of items on the beach in CH and no unusual loot to start with anyways.

Currently, there is no enough evidence to prove region-specific rewards or loots. Also, it seems the Boat can't spawn at least in bleak Inlet and old island connector.

On my old run, i have tested more than 100 days on bleak inlet beachcombing and i only noticed that certain items maybe have an internal "cooldown".

For a example, there are times where i find marine flares a lot but then more than 30-40 days without seeing a single one. The same applies to several non-common items.

However this can be pure luck.

This is one of the most suggested features of all time, and with good reasons.

You can play with candles using the candle light mod, recently updated!

It's an awesome feature.

2 hours ago, Mistral said:

Is it really that much work?

It makes too much sense.

Yes and no.

Yes, because merging all game modes in a customizable sole mode it's just removing the current options, and revamping the custom menu. 

No, because a sole mode fully customizable must have "templates" for easy choosing a gameplay style. This ends in a system very similar to the current, you can still select "voyager" or other game settings, just expanding the customizable options.

The problem lies about confusing new or non-veterans players, they surely can't do a good customization because they lack the knowledge of the game.

The best option is expanding the current custom menu a bit (But not merging all game modes), like a much more expanded BRA settings and other stuff. 

4 minutes ago, Mistral said:

TBH this needed more rebalance fixing than bringing "Tales" to Loper... beachcombing is horrendously easy now. Especially when blizzards are set to max.

I now almost wish to complete disable it via custom options if it's to be like this...

Changing the % of the loot tables or removing certain items it's more than enough to balance the system.

Im pretty sure HTL it's gonna address BC earlier or later, because actually the system even makes several game features meaningless.

1 hour ago, I_eat_only_wolf_meat said:

Did this actually happen on this forum?  I don't read every thread on here (not even close!) What I did see were some somewhat testy exchanges, and probably some elitism on the part of interlopers, but never anything I would characterize as "berating" or abuse.

Short answer: Very very rarely.

Thats my point about giving importance to something that doesn't matter or even creating a problem using an inexistent basis.

Using a very few specific cases to talk about an entire community isn't necessary. This game have achieved a healthy, diverse and friendly community, something impossible or unimaginable for most of the game industry.

There is no reason to give attention to steam comments, toxic people on social media or the very rare interloper players blaming others. 

Notes in cars are absent on most regions, likely a bug.

34 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

sadly, we've become used to that. It was to hear stories from people who *don't* primarily play using Interloper settings, saying how they are being berated by "Interloper players" in the community, or while streaming, being told that if they don't play using Interloper they aren't really playing the game, they aren't good at it, they should try this or that strategy or they aren't doing it right, etc. etc

This is true but i need to say that they are a minority inside an already minority. In fact, most players don't even use the forums or other social media and just play, and most of players here don't blame anyone for playing or not playing in any game settings.

This situation would have happened anyways even if Interloper never exists, also isn't only for TLD but for most games with complex systems or min-max concepts. It's something that can't be avoided but again, they are an incredible minority and there is nothing that can be doed to prevent or finish that kind of situations, just ignoring them.

40 minutes ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

It's easy to look at a change like bringing Signal Void to Interloper and behave like it's some victory of the players *over* the developers, or whatever

Again something mostly misunderstood; adding signal void to interloper it's a victory for the entire game, devs and players included. Speaks incredible well about HTL and let us know that devs care about what the playerbase feels or want.

This is never something related to pressure, again a minority of comments can be very toxic or arrogant, but most players are happy with the change.

Finally, you know better than most that no matter what you do or offer in a game, there are always toxic, disrecpectful and hateful people ready to drop their poison in social media. There is nothing to do against them, but it's very advisable to fully ignore and avoid all kind of problems, something that kathy is doing well.

While the vast mayority of the players really love the new beachcombing system, it's actually very overpowered and i think it needs a bit tunning.
Beachcombing was created to offer a renewable source of several resources, and historically it works as expected, now just it's much better.
The problem is, beachcombing actually gives a big amount of resources of all kinds, at the point to letting one survive almost endless exclusively with BC loot.

Several players have suggested changing the frequency of item washing, like every 2 o 3 blizzard rather than after every single one.
Im not sure if this it's needed, but indeed it's an option.

My approach to a more balanced BC tables it's the following:

- Pilgrim/Voyager/Stalker:
* Remove Hatches, Knifes and other tools from the loot tables.
¿Why? One of the core aspects of the game, even on easier settings, is searching for tools and keeping them in good state.
¿Whats the function of the cannery or the whetstones if every blizzard spawns new tools with good condition?
* Reduce the amount of broken arrows/arrows considerably. 
* Exchange quality tools lot for scrap metal.
* Possible other changes.

- Interloper:
* Reduce frequency of carcasses considerably, for balance reasons.
* Exchange quality tools loot for scrap metal.
* Reduce massively the frequency of fish washing on the coast, again for balance reasons.

- Miscelaneous:
* Add a possible spawn of all books, not just fishing ones, albeit very rare. This also enables lopers to get all skills at level 5 

2 hours ago, Sherri said:

This is 100% the right decision & the reasoning behind why it was not in interloper originally was very enlightening & informative. I don't think Hinterland was wrong at all to be so cautious regarding preserving the difficulty of interloper and not wanting to add something so hard with little gain.

This!

There are situations where both parts of the topic are right, and do not contradict each other. Hinterland have a valid point about the risk-gain scenario of the tale, but players do not care if the reward isn't worth, it's just about the experience. Im very happy with HTL quick decision.

10 minutes ago, SuperStriker16 said:

I hope there will be more justice for interloper players and stand with Glacia on the many improvements we can make.

Closing the gap between Interloper and other settings was an idea suggested to fix certain problems of excluded mechanics or items, and making the balance easier for upcoming patches. With the addition of the tale, prepper caches and every new feature to Interloper, im not sure if anything it's needed.

I mean, indeed certain features could be very cool to add, but i think it's not necessary. Im pretty sure that HTL it's gonna handle well Interloper balance around the year, this first change it's a good direction for the game.

50 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

If everything on the wish list had been granted this game would've been something else entirely..  

Every update there's an uproar about something , and this one has been the worst so far..    I doubt any one wants to come on here and read half of what's been said lately.    I skipped most of it.. 

I understand your point but this is the first time where HTL changes something quickly due to players asking for it. 

Even raph says they are not usual reactionary, this is an exceptional issue and HTL quicky adressed because it's very reasonable.

This doesn't happen with other contents added to the game, even if the people complain, nothing changes.

1 hour ago, Leeanda said:

Really?     A bit arrogant .  In my opinion.

I was just celebrating, not being arrogant.

Im happy with HTL choices and indeed they add tales to loper due to players asking for it. There is nothing bad with this, everyone it's happy!

Sorry if my post have been confusing about my intentions.

WE DIT IT BOYS!!! 

This masterpiece for Aurora nights:

BC it's incredible overpowered right now, mostly on voyager/stalker.

The amount of arrows, tools, and other resources it's just too abundant to let a player almost survive exclusively with BC resources. Also, giving the players tools with a quick beach trip, makes searching for tools early game useless (On stalker).

I think a good start to balance the system could be:

- On any non-loper settings:  Remove tools (Or make an extremetly rare drop) from the BC tables, nerf the amount of arrows (Or again, remove them) and other core resources and fish.

- Interloper:  Reduce the amount of fish from the BC table, the other items are balanced right now.

As said before, most players do not care if the final reward it's a stick or a stone. It's all about the experience.

However i think adding an special reward for interlopers it's a wisely change 😉

Actually i use my Lantern a lot, because living in bleak inlet gives infinite kerosene. The bonus warmth, exploration without wasting matches, more time for crafting at night. It is not the best item in the game but it's very decent if you live in regions with fishing. Otherwise very forgiving.

I like the idea! 😁

With a full year of upcoming content and updates, most players have concerns about certain and specific features announced in the DLC page.

The most recent controversial topic it's the exclusion of the first tale on interloper.

Im not talking about common concerns and people saying "I dislike this thing", which always happens! . Im talking about very controversial features that most players talk about, like the trader.

I ask the devs if it's possible to release information about certain features before an update, to gather the players feedback before droping a controversial new content to the game. With the players feedback it is possible to know if a feature should be better if changed before adding it.

An example:

Imagine if the exclusion of tales on interloper could have been announced various weeks before the patch. Likely the story should be different today.

This of course do not apply to minor features like Acorns, it's just for a very few things that most players already are concerned, like the Trader, the Cougar at pilgrim, and the other tales.

I think giving info before an update can make upcoming patches much more healthy and less controvertial.

I use loper template, just changing BRA and guns. BRA actually changes a lot of things, loot avaliability included.

Even if you let the container and other settings loper default, the BRA still makes loot very abundant.

Playing gunloper makes me think how interloper could have been if everything was avaliable since the introduction of the game mode. Like firearms avaliable but incredible rare, tools but one or two in the entire world, and so on for all the other excluded features.

I think it could have worked as expected if not better.

3 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Then the solution is to make the custom menu more easily understood in the context of a "normal" difficulty.  Anyone playing a harder difficulty should have familiarized themselves with the game enough to understand the custom menu (especially if it is presented to them at the start of the game rather than buried below four other standard difficulty settings.  If they were "perfect" as they are, why are so many Lopers inclined to suggest changes and complain every time HL changes something... e.g. (a few I've heard over the years): Birch bark teas added - Lopers response was too OP; T-wolves added - AI sucks... Blackrock added - Lopers have no reason to go there....... Why aren't they "homogenous" in there assessment that the settings are "perfect?"  Answer - Because they aren't.

If they leave the current templates in the default menu, then you could still select Loper, Stalker, Voyageur, or Pilgrim from within the Custom menu.  Those settings just become part of the custom menu rather than standing out alone on the main menu page.  Throwing it all into the custom menu streamlines the startup process.  If they add new templates that reflect some of the more commonly loved custom games - e.g. gunloper, NOGOA, NOPE, Deadman, etc., then that would save players having to look for the unique codes for those games as well... or perhaps they could give players a way to save their own templates, so they could "quick start" their favorite custom game without having to type in a code each time.

As I see it, it opens up a world of possibilities.

This sounds much better! However i don't see this happens due to the work involved with a change like this.

Im recently switching a bit from standard Interloper to a more expanded custom settings, exactly interloper with guns enabled (Gunloper) but also the BRA in medium, so all items are avaliable and tools spawn as usual.

I have a mixed feelings about this settings, mostly because i think it's not bad at all but certain things are just dissapointing.

First of all, the avaliability of tools feels unrealistic, with a very little exploration you can get all tools without effort, and there are a lot of them scattered around the world map. I remember playing stalker two years ago and seriously getting tools was much harder than now!  Im pretty sure the loot update have changed this.

The second curious point lies about 'Early game power spikes':

In fact, you are still playing on interloper settings with cold and bad weather/massive animal damage, this is not a walk in the park. But if you manage to loot core locations, likely PV plane, AC and TWM summit, you end with 95% of the best clothing pieces and almost all resources needed!

This is exactly what im experiencing right now, more than 10 days without losing a sole point of condition for freezing, because my clothing have more than 32*C. At day 50 this power spike ends and you actually face 'Interloper' again, no matter what clothing you manage to loot. You can experience a very easy early game until the days 40-50 temp limit, where things becomes harder again.

¿Overall?  Complete and diverse settings, fun to play but largely ruined by massive loot/resources locations and easy locations for core tools.

6 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

So then, why not eliminate the standard difficulties altogether and just use the custom menu right off the start?

Because every survival game (With various difficulty modes) needs some easy and understandable options for new players. 

Imagine a new player buying the game and not even knowing what is a timberwolf, how the mechanics works and basically nothing. The game settings are perfect as they are, custom only needs a few tunning options like the feat progress and other suggested features.

On 4/11/2023 at 1:09 PM, ManicManiac said:

I can understand the disappointment and all... but all things considered; I'd say that Interloper was never "feature complete" (in terms of game content).  I might remind folks that rifles, revolvers, hunting knives, hatchets, top tier "manufactured" clothing items (Expedition Parka and so on...), and the majority of TWM cargo containers were always absent from Interloper.

This isn't 100% true at all. Interloper was always feature complete in terms of mechanics and gameplay, except for the gunsmithing and related items/features for the firearms.

The firearms are not the feature, the feature it's hunting and self-defense. You can do that with just a bow, it's just a different way to do but enables the player to do all tasks related to hunt.

The same applies to improvised tools, inferior clothing and so on. Even with regions nerfed like the cargo containers and CH absent houses, you can still do the content just with changes.

This is completely different if we talk about the tale. The tale is not just a 'Loot finder' tool, involves repairing several new structures with new items, mandatory navigation during auroras, new mechanic with the handheld radio and of course, the lore.

Signal void it's a completely new concept, even if it uses most of the base game mechanics. Most players do not care about the new balaclava or special food, instead they want to experience the tale.

FINALLY!

Boat on Interloper at CH, only two fish however 

For me, it's the cannery worker residences. May sound weird but there are not predators once you kill the bear, fishing and beachcombing right in front of your cabin and auroras almost every night. 

Chill and safe !

After firestarting nv3 tinder/cattails head and other items becomes fully useless.

I see no reason to not let players use newspaper or another common tinder items as another stick-like item, giving no more than 5 minutes of burn but still noticeable if you have a good amount of them.