BloodDrum

Would be cool if the way we acquired the currency from sources other than traders was server temporary until we hit safe-zone. Would be a slight deterrent in server hopping if you introduce an event that gave a lump sum of currency, they would have to drop it on log-out or death to reduce grieving mechanics at the same time.

It is extremely realistic to one shot robots with the axe and spiked bat. I do it very consistently and you can even take out multiple with one swing. The melee attack only strikes forward, so you have to time the swing with your jump to get a one shot to the head. It may be too difficult for everyone, but you get used to the melee timing pretty fast. Other than that, most people in WarZ just sat on top of vehicles anyways, and that's doable in this too and that game had a very easy stagger mechanic on melee swings.

Everyone has a different view. I actually thoroughly like starting fresh with everyone else, especially when its 'oh' so necessary with the game state being pretty stale in my honest opinion. The most fun thing is the Pvp OF COURSE, but if you only want to Pvp why not play something like CS:GO deathmatch or Rust Kit Pvp servers? If this game is going to have looting as a part of the theme, it should make sense that its expanded upon and made relevant. My post here is only to expand on the possibility of what could be done depending on the route this game takes. If they want it to feel like you should go play by yourself for your very first day of playing get a stacked G.I. and transition to only Pvping until you need to spend one day a week if that to loot, then I would concede, but the roadmap isn't very in-depth and I can only base this off of how other loot and shoots felt.

Let me preface, this suggestion is to remove some of the information we have around picking our battles to make looting more immersive. If it is an intended feature for players to avoid all confrontation with other players in every situation then this whole post is moot. Even assuming the bulk of this has no practical implementation, hopefully there is still a brainstorm that can result from some of the ideas I want to present. An issue I notice due to the small active player base, quite obviously, is there are not many active servers where you can Pvp. This is a given, since the game is still in development, but players who want small scale Pvp, or want to loot on a mid-tier pop and maybe run into a duo, isn't really a common occurrence at the moment. If I join a server with 1 person, right now, that other player within 5minutes will leave. You may think that its silly for me to go into a '1 pop' server, but for the sake of my preferred game-play, I only join first person servers, and I will take what I can get. That is really lame, and perfectly up to them to join and leave to avoid losing loot. At the same time, I asked my self, "Is that fun for me?" Of course, what I want shouldn't infringe on what another player wants, but where it stands, their avoidance of me when I join the server reduces my chance of actually playing the game and interacting with other players, even if I am probably just going to go kill them. So I thought of some ideas to very reasonably increase small scale Pvp but not infringe on the present game-play for those who just Pvp in the '35 pop' server that is active for the day. Ranges My first idea was that it would be very effective to have the server lists in ranges for the players in them. For example, a server with less than 10 people could display the same range as a server with 1 player. What I mean by this is, a server with the following amounts connected to them, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 would say on the server list: Players: 1-9. At the moment the server list describes the exact amount of players in each server. Certainly these ranges could, and should, be adjusted upon adoption of this idea and with the future change to max server sizes. Now once you join, you can hit P and look who is there. That would be nice and all, but for the 'lame occurrence' that I described earlier, if a loot oriented player wants to avoid the interaction of other players, then they join a '0 pop' and hit 'P' every time they pick up an item. They would then leave the server, and it would in no way conform to my ideal I am trying to achieve. Player Menu So to in conjunction with the player range on the server list taking on a nature similar to what I described above, I would find it necessary to remove the player menu while out in the world. A great way to keep this in the game would be to provide use of the player menu while in the safe-zone to view the list, or to put up an in-game bulletin board in both safe-zones that would have to be visibly viewed or interacted with to bring up the player menu. This bulletin board could also be ripped out of this whole suggestion and put into the game as a way to view leader-boards in-game and the player profiles that are being added in the future. That was slightly off-topic, but an example of how, even though my whole post here has a focus, these ideas can be spun in other ways. Now, with the inability to view how many, and specifically who is in your server, via the player menu, it could result in an uneasy feeling, personally, I would describe that as immersion. Thinking you saw a robot aggro, then you hit 'P' and you completely disregard any doubts as the server is empty, would instead be a really embarrassing but momentarily thrilling moment for some players. Event Log I am aware that with the new events some of the players feel the urge to go to them to Pvp, and that's great. But I brain stormed some really good ideas to provide a very similar game-play experience that benefits more people.Everyone thinks, especially when you are solo looting with no one to talk to. With that same mentality I thought about why the white 'fists' weren't turning red because there was a great chance to loot at a compound event shown on the map. What I came to realize, those solo looters avoided the 'fist' or purposefully activated and drove away on ATV s, to protect themselves from being found on a low population server. This is a much better way for players to avoid confrontation than just leaving a server. On the same hand I think this could be expanded upon and made more meaningful and immersive. My idea is to have an event log, and in this log, it has relevant events normally shown on the map. I know that an airdrop de-spawns on its own, the exact timer not so much, but for the sake of explanation I will say 15 minutes. The same thing occurs for crashed helicopters, which I know to be 25 minutes. When an airdrop spawns, people on the server get an audio cue saying, "We've got some supplies on the way, we've marked it on your map." What change could be made here is the airdrop audio cue could say, "There is an airdrop (insert direction) of your position." or, "There is an airdrop in the (quadrant) of the map." Without actually displaying its exact location, it could display on the map in a general area, just keep the big red signal flare we already have. I don't know what message you get for the newer events, given that I have only seen one helicopter crash on first person so far. But my idea can easily apply to the new events and even compound events(fists). The event log would be like another server chat menu, and it would fade away like the chat does when there isn't a recent update to it. We could get a hotkey for viewing it, and it could self clear relevant events. I don't have any visual aids for my ideas, so bear with me for an explanation. Upon server restart, your first time in a server, all the compound events should be able to be activated(white). Of course you don't get audio cues for them presently, but with this event log it could say, "A compound in (F3, C4, or in C5) is up for grabs!" Being that you just joined the server, you wouldn't get an audio cue at this time of course, because it would be all 3 at once, or annoying having to listen to each one play out. Which is why I see they aren't presently given an audio cue because the 'fists' could very easily re-spawn on a server at the same time as an airdrop or another 'fist' and that would be a lot of unnecessary noise. I still think there is merit to a feature like this, it would increase immersion, because you aren't just handed a very accurate map with a clear indication of where something is. For newer players it would be a little bit like exploring, most of us know exactly where the compound events are, and will know where the 6 helicopter spawns are in time, but this event log is future assurance for other features. But my favorite part would be how airdrops would be handled. It could be the airdrop's location is somewhere in a marked area, either by circle, or highlighting grid boxes. The airdrop message in your new event log chat would clear its self with-in 15minutes, as would helicopters messages with-in 25minutes, as thats an indication that a relevant event is no longer relevant. Another way the messages would clear, is if you were nearby when the airdrop was looted, but if not in a set range, maybe 510 meters or whatever render distance for players is, it wont clear on your event log until the de-spawn clear takes place. This would result in players doing a short scavenger hunt and running into each other. To reduce this being a boring occurrence, airdrops could be moved to places with actual things to do, which would normally just be looting or other features in the future. Sadly, this system that I described doesn't hold up very well in a small player base. Since it is more immersion based, certain elements I described only work if there is other players to run into. But when the player base grows, I think this system would hold up to a much greater standard for new players and veterans alike. The way the game is at the moment, is its either you run towards gunshots, or you run towards ROCKDALE. This is a poor generalization, but that is all there is to do to interact with other players when there is no events up. But since the events are so streamlined and clear cut where they are and what not, they are over saturated in a very large upheaval the moment they spawn or are activated. Then when there is not much going on, a majority of players head back to ROCKDALE or they might bait each other with messages similar to this one: "Whoa I found a sniper in REDSVILLE CITY, but my E key is broken!" None the wiser that they need the E key for most of the letters in the sentence. Obviously they know, but people don't care, when the events are down, there is nothing to do if you have a really good 'G.I.'. I made a previous post that explains why the loot is too common and how that's causing a staleness in game-play. ~~If you have an questions, or something doesn't make sense, please reply. This is for improving the game, and if something doesn't make sense, we can not have a conversation and collaborate. Even if its just to agree, let me know what you think because all of us as a present player base have a voice and you should make yourself heard.

When the loot was set to be heavily dependent on player population I was pretty excited. Too be fair, at the time, I had all the loot in my 'G.I.' I'd ever need, and I haven't really been able to stash loot from a kill since I was level 25. I only play the game when there are people on since I refuse to farm robots for EXP anymore at level 35. Of course there are items here and there I can cut out, but I was already filling up with Scar-Ls before AR-15 nerf. I also feel like the guns are way too close in variance but I see on the roadmap that something similar to bullet drop and actual travel time might be introduced, which may be a necessary delay for gun balance. I remember one of the staff, I think it was Joshua himself, said that when he changed the loot to 800-2400(rough numbers) for low to high population respectively. Then many people complained and he buffed low population loot spawns. Honestly though, why did we not just get a 'G.I.' wipe at the same time as a loot table shift? When all these people were trying the game for their first time, DURING the loot nerf, a lot of us were already stacked in our 'G.I.' and we just run around killing people. That would be a reasonable thing to be frustrated over and I assume a lot of the complaints were from that. The other half of complaints I can only see being from strictly looters, and if you want to balanced the game for them, then go for it, I am not telling you who to balance your game for. But if you are trying to satisfy everyone, you will never reach that point. Some people complain because they see something they assume is a 'problem' and they suggest 'solutions', or the only 'solution' that practical is something that creates a different problem. We can't always know whats best for us, and of course I myself even don't always know best, but I do know what is stopping me from playing and what would be very likely to motivate me to play once again. Personally, I view that previously mention problem as the staleness I feel in the loot. I really, like the new civilian bunker and helicopter crashes, and thank god you doubled the crate openings so I can run into someone at it. But the same issue persists, common loot, is simply too close in balance to rare loot. I am mainly referring to the AK and Scar-H being rare, and use the rarest AR ammo type, yet the Scar-L's recoil goes in one direction, UP. Sure the AK has an easy recoil and I hope still two taps to the head since latest change, but the same issue with the AR-15 before is going to show in the Scar-L, hell it was showing before the AR-15 got nerfed. I just checked the recoils as I was typing to make sure its still the same, and it is. An airdrop, as far as I know, is a guaranteed gun, and unless someone is a very poor shot, all the ARs are pretty reasonably similar at most ranges but close up for a majority of the player base. My point is that, unless I am at range, and I get two clean head shots with an AK, my time to kill is the same with any of the ARs. Which is fine, because close up the balance starts to show itself more, but since, again, a majority of the player base like to play third person, hold angles and quick peek or get a jump on you. There isn't much in the difference in gun you use in those situations unless you want to argue some ideal scenarios, all the guns kill, which is fine, and expected. I feel like this game at the moment is a handful of people hopping on with friends, gearing up at safe zone, running to the Pvp, dying or winning, stash or move to next Pvp spot until you die, rinse and repeat. Maybe its just me, but a bad day makes your 'G.I.' look like its shrinking, but a good day overfills it by far. I actually started bringing out 4 medical kits, 3 nades, and 2 drones in excess to my normal kit every run, because I want to stash loot again, and I shouldn't have to de-spawn my items. I totally understand that there may come a time, especially for people who play more, that might just hit that 'G.I.' cap, but I have been there since my second day playing, and it was alright at first because I leveled quickly. I come from the better half of the previous loot and shoots, and in every one I have played, I have needed to do solo looting pretty much every day to refill my 'G.I.' with one item or another. Let me say this, my favorite feeling is the adrenaline rush from those fights where I am solo looting in the morning or near noon, and my friends aren't on yet, and I run into a duo, or ANOTHER SOLO, and we fight over the privilege to loot the town and the hard earned loot we have already been grinding for. But in XERA: Survival, I kill other players in order to find loot and I wouldn't dare go out of the safe zone without a full kit of gear because I almost would rather lose items than receive them. Now of course, how can I only point out my view of problems with out an ounce of constructive solutions. I think the loot needs to be scaled with population at a pretty drastic value, perhaps the original 800 was too low, but its a good place to use as reference. But this nerf of the loot tables needs to be in conjunction with a G.I. reset. Some people don't see this as a problem, I truly don't see how, aside from people who don't have the opportunity to play the game a lot, and some of the younger generation that are quick to choose instant gratification sources of entertainment. If 'all' loot across the board is made more rare, then when your 'rare' loot happens to be an AK or another desirable gun or item, it will feel really good to acquire it, like a treat on what already is a slight grind. It goes without saying, that while new guns will be coming in the future, and we already have a new vest, the present balance doesn't match with rarity. On the other end of the spectrum, instead of nerfing guns below the rare guns, it would be just as realistic to close the gap of drop chances. On top of a which, I think an easy way to do gun rarity is to make newer guns stronger than present guns upon release to make a surge of players to farm the new gun. I can completely understand this may read as slightly extreme, but there is a middle ground somewhere for loot balance and I am trying to point that out as an extremely important aspect of the game that needs to be addressed. Point Breakdown (TL;DR: Loot tables need to be reevaluated to balance rarity of item with how well item performs, and should be taken seriously.) Pick an audience to focus on and don't cater to a minority group of players in a way that impacts the majority Loot balance and G.I. wipe (need to go hand in hand) Gun Balance with matching rarity (or looting isn't satisfying)

You can, at least since I started during Early Access kill the standard robot with a melee without taking damage. Your melee attack is ALWAYS directly in front of you at shoulder level, to raise the height of the melee you have to jump as you melee, or melee after you jump. It takes some getting used to, but I do it with ease now, actually, its so easy in fact that I found a way to kill at most 3 robots with one swing. It requires you to turn your mouse while you jump melee, super useful. Of course exploding robots still explode >.< and Super Robot you should shoot.

The loot scaling is a complete necessity, I have trouble figuring out what items to get rid of half the time, I PvP with a duo or trio sometimes and how easy it is to be overburdened with loot is ridiculous. Yes, I have a lot of free time and farmed a lot when I started, but now I can't be bothered, its silly, I run into groups of 2-6 fully geared players just like me. We all have all the loot and just run at each other and PvP. To be honest, the problem might be how you are looting, I don't know about anyone else, but going to airport or the military base on a 4 pop you fill up a large backpack after like 15minutes with ar-15s. Armor might be a little rare, but NVG helms are way too common, and if you just actually looted keys/opened boxes you get plenty of meds from redsville, you could even server hop low pops and loot it. My problem is the super common loot is extremely decent(like ar-15/mp5/NVGhelm), and the rare loot (heavy armor/30%helmets/milipack/ak) are clearly better but rare enough that some people don't have multiple. And I am losing the instant gratification of popping a pinata and getting a second set of gear, and I know other people are too. When the game is popping with 20-35 in 10 different servers at prime time, you will find a group of people on the roof camping, if you kill them, they have multiple kits from previous fights, still PvPing with full inventory, probably because they don't care or have so much in G.I. that it won't even fit. Sadly, since people who have more time on their hands, started before you, or found that one efficient trick before the loot scaling was put in, they are in fact ahead of the curve and the only realistic fix would be time(waiting it out), or wiping(which people hate for silly reasons). After all this PvPing every day loot will despawn, it'll even out eventually, hopefully the game doesn't die for no good reason. The good ol' days of WarZ were when you got into PvP fights WHILE you were looting, not 1 hour of looting then 1 hour of PvPing. Some people will disagree with me probably, but I enjoy the adrenaline rush of risking 15-30minutes of farming on a fun fight, or killing two grabbing their shit and praying this robot/player doesn't kill me while I log with it! None of that in Xera: Survival. Don't get me wrong, it is super fun, but that's my take on the looting part of a 'loot and shoot survival' game.