[2020] Question for people saying that the game 'isn't hard'

Originally posted by RasaNova: Common complaints I've heard are "this hasn't been challenging since version X" or "I've been playing for 7 years and the game is so easy today"

Isn't part of the issue that many of us are hardened vets who could wade in to the shotgun factory with nothing more than a wooden club? (And then wade out with 12 more wooden clubs, but thats another story!)

Most of those who think its easy know how to get set up, how to melee a zombie, ow to build quick and effective bases, where to go for what types of loot, the best ways to stay fed, and do on.

Its no as much an issue of the game being essy or shallow as much as we're just GOOD at it. Are there many people starting with A19 that think its too easy?

Have to agree with this. The large majority of people who complain it's too easy have 100+ hours if not much more, and have long since progressed to insane difficulty with always running zombies, and 25% loot abundance.

The game hasn't really gotten so much easier over the years....It's just that for most of these people, they have so much experience under their belt that the changes made in each version aren't really impactful to their progress. Each new version that makes things harder gets conquered in less time than the version before just on the grounds of player experience in the game, And so it becomes viewed by them that each subsequent version is 'easier' than the one before.

But A19 is, more or less objectively, and for contested reasons, one of the hardest versions to date- It's now much harder to get access to good gear, It takes much longer to gain levels, zombies are more threatening than ever with the new critical hit system, But...None of that matters, because players that have been playing for 1000 hours have so much experience and prior knowledge that these changes barely affect them. Player can't find good gear? "Okay since I only have a wooden club and stone spear, I'll build a base to capitalize on what I do have, Easy peasy." - Past knowledge from run after run lets them know immediately how to build a base that capitalizes on a certain weapon, Or a lack of a ranged weapon due to limited ammunition, or for a number of different circumstances.

Heck, The devs actually reduced the default Difficulty setting from Nomad to Adventurer because A19 was objectively made more difficult than the last few versions before it.


A fair number of newbies on the other hand have blown through and levied complaints that it's way too hard to start out.


There are a few things that have gotten easier, though, for certain. But many things have gotten harder, not easier over the years. Building is easier with the shape menu. Mining is 'easier' now that there are surface nodes that directly point you to ore veins- But before there was gravel patches above ore nodes that gave it away, so this isn't that much easier. Getting a forge was made easier should the player opt to spend points that way; Previously it often took till day 3 or 4, but now it can be done in 1 if you dont mind spending a skill point- This gives you iron weapons and arrows a few days earlier. Temperature management has been simplified, and is recognizably easier. Horde night ending early makes early game hordes more managable, Gamestage balancing means the game is, on the whole, scaled to your progress so it's always at a managable difficulty; Where previously the game got harder week by week whether you were prepared or not.

But zombies have gotten harder, Managing injuries has gotten more complex and gaining injuries in combat is a real danger.. Armor is absolutely imperative now where it could be ignored for a long time before, due to bleed and infection chances. Managing food and water has gotten harder, for good or ill. Zombies can no longer be stopped by a concrete wall and totally ignored; The player can no longer build an underground bunker 2ft under the ground and be totally untouchable by zombies, and a lot more......


Not every player is happy with these changes, of course; But they objectively make the game more easy or difficult respectively. On the whole, The game is much harder now. It's just not recognizable to long time players because we've gotten so used to just adapting to whatever change comes and/or gave up adapting and only play on whatever version floats our happy boat.