[2021] Will the game ever become challenging again?

Yknow, you say it's gotten consistently easier...but it's the opposite, actually. It's quite a bit harder than it used to be, in most respects.. To the point that with A18 and the addition of the new injury system, they lowered the default difficulty by one step.

Only two things have gotten notably 'easier' over the last number of alphas, imo;
1: Food and water are a bit easier, in general, to acquire and maintain.
And
2: The temperature system rework, which arguably made it easier to deal with since it can no longer kill you and is easier to understand/manage.

What has changed significantly though, is your skill at the game. Your knowledge of the game. Your understanding of how to deal with the various situations you end up in.

Originally posted by bumbaclad: Log in new single player game, told to craft bedroll, dog attacks, no escape, die. That is the biggest problem right now imo with difficulty. I imagine a new comer to the game will experience this and just uninstall refund.

When loading into the game at a player level lower than 5 (which all players are with a new game), it creates a zone within which zombies and other hostile entities literally cannot spawn. This zone expires after several ingame hours, When the player leaves the area, Or if the player enters a nearby POI.

So, If you spawn in, And literally follow the tutorial like a new player would, (That is to say, not running around like a pro and actually just punch the nearby grass and pick up the nearby wood/stone)you almost certainly won't even see a hostile enemy until you've finished the tutorial and started on your way to the trader you're pointed to; Let alone get jumped by one.

Originally posted by bumbaclad:

Originally posted by Shurenai: When loading into the game at a player level lower than 5 (which all players are with a new game), it creates a zone within which zombies and other hostile entities literally cannot spawn. This zone expires after several ingame hours, When the player leaves the area, Or if the player enters a nearby POI.

So, If you spawn in, And literally follow the tutorial like a new player would, (That is to say, not running around like a pro and actually just punch the nearby grass and pick up the nearby wood/stone)you almost certainly won't even see a hostile enemy until you've finished the tutorial and started on your way to the trader you're pointed to; Let alone get jumped by one.

I logged in this morning to play for little bit wondering if they made the single player start better yet. Collected grass and crafted a bedroll. Then it said place the bedroll, looked to my right and there was a trailer so walked for 2 seconds, opened the door to place the bedroll and dog comes up from behind and attacks. I was playing as if a new player in a new single player game.

You entered a POI, which as mentioned, breaks spawn protection. Zombies and enemies spawn in POI's; So if you enter one, they start spawning.

Also..Most new players, the ones I've seen at least, drop the bedroll at their feet and move on into the rest of the tutorial. It's fairly rare (again, in my experience) for them to do something besides that.

Most new players dont even really know WHY they're crafting a bedroll, or what it does; And so do not think 'i should put this in a safe place since I'll spawn on it, oh look, a building ill go put it there'.