A few thoughts from a player

Absolutely. I’d keep your main points and your frustration, but make it sound like constructive feedback rather than an attack on the developers or veterans. I also wouldn’t over-polish it to the point where it stops sounding like you. Feedback on the Direction of Last Stand: Dead Zone First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this. I would like to share some ideas and thoughts that I feel represent the opinions of a significant portion of the player base, especially regarding the direction of the game. To Suli and the rest of the team: I am genuinely grateful that someone decided to pick up the torch and bring back Last Stand: Dead Zone, a game that so many people remember with a lot of nostalgia. I think the fast changes we have seen, whether people agree with all of them or not, show that the game is in capable hands and that the team is willing to work quickly toward getting the game updated, improved, and eventually ready for its final version with additional content. That being said, I don't think trying to make the game 100% identical to the original is necessarily the right direction. The game has new tools, a new development team, and, most importantly, a player base that has also evolved. I believe the game should eventually be allowed to follow its own path instead of being restricted by every mechanic from the original version. A lot of these changes could simply be quality-of-life improvements that make the game more enjoyable and accessible without changing what made Last Stand: Dead Zone special. One example is the 24-hour cooldown. I understand why this mechanic existed in the original game, but I don't think it works particularly well for the current audience. Players on platforms like Steam and Epic are accustomed to being able to play a game when they want to. Having to wait 24 hours after reaching a certain point can make the game feel unnecessarily restrictive. From a player-retention perspective, I also worry that these kinds of long cooldowns can discourage people from coming back. Many games from that era, including mobile games, eventually moved away from extremely long waiting periods because they made it harder for players to stay engaged. The same applies to progression. The 24-hour restriction may prevent players from progressing too quickly, but it also limits the amount of meaningful content they can interact with. Even though the entire map is available, that doesn't necessarily mean players have many useful options for finding weapons or gear appropriate for their level. Sometimes it feels like there are only a few places worth visiting, which can make progression feel more restrictive than it needs to be. I also want to mention something that I think is important for the community. Veteran players obviously have valuable knowledge and experience with the original game, and their feedback should absolutely be considered. However, I don't think the game should be designed exclusively around preserving the preferences of veteran players. There is a difference between protecting the identity of the original game and making every old mechanic untouchable. The developers should have room to make decisions based on what they believe will make the game healthier in the long term, even if some veteran players disagree with those decisions. For example, I personally thought the 30-second recycler was a great change. With the amount of loot players receive, being able to recycle items quickly made the overall experience much smoother. I would like to see more decisions like this based on how the game plays today rather than on how it worked years ago. Finally, I am concerned about moving toward a closed beta so soon, especially when the donation goal was so close to being reached. From the outside, it can feel like the situation with the community has become frustrating enough that the development team is being pushed toward closing things down rather than continuing to build on the momentum that was already there. I don't think the answer is to ignore criticism or to ignore veteran players. I think the answer is to find a balance. The community needs to give the developers room to develop the game, and the developers should feel comfortable making changes that improve the experience, even when those changes don't perfectly match the original game. At the end of the day, I think everyone wants the same thing: for Last Stand: Dead Zone to succeed and have a healthy player base for years to come. Thank you again to Suli and the entire team for the work you have already put into bringing the game back. I hope you continue to listen to feedback from different parts of the community while also trusting your own vision for where the game can go. I believe there is a lot of potential here, and I would hate to see that potential limited by the idea that everything has to remain exactly as it was. Theres a few more things i would like to talk about specially with the community drama but meh, tired of typing

i APOLOGIZE FOR THE THING AT THE BEGGINING, I HAD TO LEAVE AND I TEXTED EVERYTHING very poorly, all of this ideas are mine and the emotion it represents its also mine, i just asked helped to quickly fix the typing mistakes

im so ashamed lmao

ACM here. Most of what you said is already in motion to be changed such as the lockdown timer and the recycler. The recycler has been 100% been confirmed to be toned down or reverted back to normal. In order to make the recycler change faster, put it in the idea box so it can be addressed by the server, then us the moderation team can go over it and get it fully finalized. If the game heads towards a closed beta, it is fully up to Sulivan, whichever way he goes, we will keep the unbiased raffle in mind. We appreciate your feedback, however, thanks for also giving us a ChatGPT summed up message.

i think you have a bit of thoughts in your AI

I swear on the life of my 7 cats, that i wrote the whole thing, but i typed so fast in english which is not my main langauge so i asked to just correct the spelling mistakes , and to make it make sense gramatically keeping respectful.

If you use AI to give an opinion, it doesn't count, bro 🗣️

I have made clear this thoughts in game chat multiple times, english its my third langauge and i wanted to make sure it made sense, yall acting all mighty about AI usage its crazy work when you probably use it for less important things lmao. Again i am ashamed of the copy paste mistake, but if you recognize me from the game, you know i strongly agree on this ideas. its just lower down and polished langauge wise.

Prof tyle, i trust you RAHHH