Wolves


alex_leach

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Why is a flare seemingly no deterrent at all to wolves? If they aren't guarding a fresh kill why would they risk attacking a human with a loud bright flare alone? 4 Games and all of them but 1 I died to random wolves that popped up behind me even while holding a flare to try and scare them as soon as I heard them.

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Why is a flare seemingly no deterrent at all to wolves? If they aren't guarding a fresh kill why would they risk attacking a human with a loud bright flare alone? 4 Games and all of them but 1 I died to random wolves that popped up behind me even while holding a flare to try and scare them as soon as I heard them.

Flares are a partial deterrent (you might even scare some away throwing the flare at it) -- but once they're within a fight or flight radius you'll likely be battling to see who gets to eat who... As well, the geomagnetic even has also thrown off some normal pattern habits.

You have to learn to watch for the wolves, find ways to have them help you stay alive [they can provide many good meals for you], and judge when they're ready to stand their ground, or even stalk you as you walk. If in doubt (and you can) RUN!!!!

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Why is a flare seemingly no deterrent at all to wolves? If they aren't guarding a fresh kill why would they risk attacking a human with a loud bright flare alone? 4 Games and all of them but 1 I died to random wolves that popped up behind me even while holding a flare to try and scare them as soon as I heard them.

Flares are a partial deterrent (you might even scare some away throwing the flare at it) -- but once they're within a fight or flight radius you'll likely be battling to see who gets to eat who... As well, the geomagnetic even has also thrown off some normal pattern habits.

You have to learn to watch for the wolves, find ways to have them help you stay alive [they can provide many good meals for you], and judge when they're ready to stand their ground, or even stalk you as you walk. If in doubt (and you can) RUN!!!!

Appreciate the post, unfortunately I already knew all this already. I just think the balance seems a little off. If not having the flares do more then I just think there should be less wolves as its just too brutal at the moment.

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Appreciate the post, unfortunately I already knew all this already. I just think the balance seems a little off. If not having the flares do more then I just think there should be less wolves as its just too brutal at the moment.

The flares serve many purposes -- including some heat and light... plus they'll like help more in the future as the fire starting in enhanced.

For the wolves, it's part of the learning curve... it takes a while to learn how to manipulate them for your needs.

As for being "too brutal", don't forget this is still alpha stage... a lot is still being tuned, refined, and added. This is still the base groundwork portion -- and yes the wolves are scary nasty (but it wouldn't have the same challenge if you could just wander without dangers)... Even after a lot of playthroughs, most of us are still trying different techniques and approaches to handling the wolves.

The devs will also eventually give us more defense tools too -- all in good time.

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Appreciate the post, unfortunately I already knew all this already. I just think the balance seems a little off. If not having the flares do more then I just think there should be less wolves as its just too brutal at the moment.

The flares serve many purposes -- including some heat and light... plus they'll like help more in the future as the fire starting in enhanced.

For the wolves, it's part of the learning curve... it takes a while to learn how to manipulate them for your needs.

As for being "too brutal", don't forget this is still alpha stage... a lot is still being tuned, refined, and added. This is still the base groundwork portion -- and yes the wolves are scary nasty (but it wouldn't have the same challenge if you could just wander without dangers)... Even after a lot of playthroughs, most of us are still trying different techniques and approaches to handling the wolves.

The devs will also eventually give us more defense tools too -- all in good time.

Ok again, this comment does not help me at all. I am here saying they are "too brutal" so that they can get some feedback from their users on how to direct the tuning of these things. It's called constructive criticism. I feel like I am being talked down to and dismissed for no good reason here.

Right now there is an abundance of wolves, and flares impact on them is so limited it is not noticeable to the average user.

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Don't know what else to tell you, so I'll just let someone else try to answer. Not sure what you're trying to find out about them. Sorry I wasn't able to help.

If it's play feedback for the devs, then that would go in the Alpha forum thread where other alpha version players are providing the feedback and getting input from Hinterland.

That may be where the confusion is -- I thought you were looking more for general info by posting in this section.

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I think I was perfectly clear, I appreciated your first post attempting to help however you reiterated the same stuff without really addressing my point which was that I do not feel like flares have any noticeable effect in managing the most prominent killer of the game when intuitively it feels like they should. The Idea that I cannot be seen as giving feedback when I am in a forum that is titled "General discussion about all things relating to The Long Dark." seems ridiculously over critical, sure maybe its better suited elsewhere but it fits just fine in here.

Edit: BTW I have just noticed the Alpha boards now anyway so it seems when I posted this my account was not yet granted access which is why I posted here as the others weren't even in my list. Thank you for pointing me in that direction anyway.

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Wolves have a fight distance that will render flares ineffective, When you're holding a flare, a wolf will stand still and not advance.

While you're staring him down, eventually he will run away, unless you advance into his fight zone.

Seen here @14:50:

[bBvideo 560,340:77xzd9n5]

[/bBvideo]
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  • Hinterland

Hey! Thanks for your feedback.

We're constantly tuning the game so it's possible that flares will become more (or less) effective moving forward, and that wolves may come more (or less) hostile/dangerous, depending on how other things change in the game.

Currently some people find them too punitive, some people find them just right, some people would like them harder. We find the right balance based on feedback and also our own feelings of how we want the game to play.

I think the guys above are trying to help you understand how the current mechanics work with regards to wolves and flares, to ensure you weren't just having bad luck or misunderstanding how things worked. This is pretty understandable given the "no hand holding" nature of the game, since we don't explicitly state how these things work. You have to figure it out.

As far as the wolve's aberrant hostile behaviour is concerned, we're breadcrumbing worldbuilding and story content that will become more clear later on. That said, we do state this pretty clearly in the Disclaimer screen:

"As a result of the geomagnetic disaster which serves as part of the fictional foundation of the game, we have taken liberties with our portrayal of wildlife behaviour."

Thanks for sharing your opinion!

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  • Hinterland
I can live with the lack of pack behaviour (so far) and hyperagression of the wolves with the Event being used as a justification... realistic wolf behaviour would turn them into a distant sound effect most of the time.

Pack behaviour is on THE LIST for down the road...I'd like to see our Wolf AI evolve to account for hunting together. But first, we need to get some *other* wildlife in the game. Oh, and people. :)

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Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies.

Even without a flare, wolves are way too confident in the game. I find it very annoying that they just attack us like rabid beasts.

Are they all rabid?

Theyre not that hard to avoid if youre paying attention.

I know. I was talking about their behaviour when they spot the player.

Anyway, if it is explained in the story, I am finally fine with their agressive behaviour, though I hope it will become more subtle.

Other than that, the sandbox is truly great, I could not stop playing last night. Now that I can see the "Alpha Tester Area", I will try someday to put more constructive feedbacks there.

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I can live with the lack of pack behaviour (so far) and hyperagression of the wolves with the Event being used as a justification... realistic wolf behaviour would turn them into a distant sound effect most of the time.

Pack behaviour is on THE LIST for down the road...I'd like to see our Wolf AI evolve to account for hunting together. But first, we need to get some *other* wildlife in the game. Oh, and people. :)

From what I've seen of the wolves from gameplay vids so far, this sounds terrifying.

Are grouse and snowshoe hare on the wildlife wishlist? Rabbit starvation would be an awesome game mechanic :).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wow that does sound neat.

Just wondering, what are some hints for melee? Right now I've figured out the flare... Even scored some freshly killed elk :) the rifle is a God send lol... now if only I could track down more ammunition (only 3 precious, precious rounds left lol).

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Awesome discussion. I am glad to hear that the wolf behavior is going to continue to change and develop. Dealing with a lone wolf is bad enough, dealing with two or more...well...need a little smiley face here with little crosses over the eyes.

OI, forgot I wanted to throw in the odd melee suggestion which is the ye olde bite stick, aka jamming something other than a bit of arm, leg, or face into the mouth that's trying to eat you, preferably something sturdy. Buys a couple of seconds anyway which maybe then you can get away with some sterner forms of discouragement.

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OI, forgot I wanted to throw in the odd melee suggestion which is the ye olde bite stick, aka jamming something other than a bit of arm, leg, or face into the mouth that's trying to eat you, preferably something sturdy. Buys a couple of seconds anyway which maybe then you can get away with some sterner forms of discouragement.

In real life it'd earn you ~one second of life assuming you were lucky enough to jam the stick into wolf mouth ;)

That thing doesn't work too well even with dogs... got my hand hurt trying to do that while playing with my own, so I very much doubt you'd be lucky enough to save your life with doing that trick on a real, aggressive wild animal. :roll:

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