What would make you come back?

[knott]

I have been a member for two years I believe in total. I must say I think I have pretty much seen and done it all.

Proper TrackIR support and Occulus Rift in the future may certainly draw me in. May require a rewarped game engine with proper viewing distances which mean weapon skill come more into play.
For me it´s not that much about new content or amount of content as to make the existing better. I would sacrifice all this for new better version even on a smaller scale initially.

[Smella]

I'm still here.

But if i left, I suppose a new reserve and a new animal. I hear they are coming soon.

A .22 rimfire rifle and/or handgun would be nice.

Are we just stating what we would like in this thread?
A desert map
endless view range
a skeet field
weapon's ballistics as accurate as possible, forgetting about game balance

that's all I can think of off hand.

[ElusiveShadow]

I have only just returned from a moderate absence and, since I have joined year ago, my entire tenure has been one of arriving, playing, leaving, returning etc.

The problem, i feel, is that it is easy to burn out on the game. Which in my case, requires a break from the game. Possible reasons for this:

1. I sometimes just get exasperated starting at the same lodges, walking the same paths, in the same foliage. The new reserves have done quite a bit to help this, as have tents, but sometimes I do load up and just sigh to myself.

2. The game still feels lacking in variety. I want Africa. I want Highland Scotland, Canada, snow...more variation. Sometimes when I go from Loggers Point to Whitehart...the lack of difference is actually a bit underwhelming.

3. We are certainly on the right route, but more customization and personalization would be nice.

The game is epic and I fully expect it to continue to evolve and grow. Im also quite sure I will continue to subscribe for a year then take a breather before i resubscribe.

[L3M182]

I have only just returned from a moderate absence and, since I have joined year ago, my entire tenure has been one of arriving, playing, leaving, returning etc.

The problem, i feel, is that it is easy to burn out on the game. Which in my case, requires a break from the game. Possible reasons for this:

1. I sometimes just get exasperated starting at the same lodges, walking the same paths, in the same foliage. The new reserves have done quite a bit to help this, as have tents, but sometimes I do load up and just sigh to myself.

2. The game still feels lacking in variety. I want Africa. I want Highland Scotland, Canada, snow...more variation. Sometimes when I go from Loggers Point to Whitehart...the lack of difference is actually a bit underwhelming.

3. We are certainly on the right route, but more customization and personalization would be nice.

The game is epic and I fully expect it to continue to evolve and grow. Im also quite sure I will continue to subscribe for a year then take a breather before i resubscribe.

my feelings exactly. sometimes you have to not play the game to enjoy it.

respect for the people who clock up 40+ hours a week. that's like a full time job. but the 3 big issues i have with this game are

1. tbf they are trying to remedy this with the most recent releases(waterfowl,rabbits and turkey decoys) but all the big animals are just different shapes responding identically. it calls, i call, it makes a beeline to my exact location i shoot. all the animals just feel a little too "samey". given bears are different because they have bait sites and no caller, so a completely different hunting style is needed to get the best results. and that's why there great. If there was just a bit more contrast to make all the animals a bit more unique.

2. kind of ties in with number 1. this game would appeal to me 10x more if the difficulty was upped by 2x.(no disrespect to anyone challenged by this game). once you have got the initial grasp of how the game works, this game is easy. the animals are just too dim. its not the shooting ,stalking or tracking that gets you a trophy animal. its simply if you have spawned into or moved through an area with a big trophy about then your gonna get a big trophy. Once its called its as good as game over. Total random chance, and that's why spawn-mashing was such a problem. It was simply how many time you can role a dice. now you get 10 chances to role a six and its as difficult as that.

3.this is the big 1 for me. there seems to be an unwillingness to move forward with this game in terms of overhauls. graphical or otherwise. the game is 6 years old and is showing its age. and if you expect people to walk through the woods for hours on end to find a deer, the wood need to be looking good and the deer needs to be spectacular. and the more content and reserves they bring out for the game in its current state tells me they aren't looking more than a few months into the future at a time. id trade it all in to go back to what the game had in its early days but with a total major overhaul. and just start building from there like they have done. TheHunterII

[0celot]

I think at least in principal I agree with everyone here, which leads me to be curios about specifics...

For example, 2x difficulty? What needs to be more difficult? I know some people say walking up to animals for instance.. But, when I'm out in the woods, in wilderness, I actually do walk up to them. I take my time, even talking softly and then stop at respectful distance, take my shots (camera), observe and leave. So I find animals in this game to actually be too skittish to be real lol. I also honestly believe they aren't hostile enough when you don't respect their space.. Even deer (the bucks obviously) will teach you a lesson if pushed enough.. So, per difficulty.. Is it weapons handling maybe? Trails to easy? I think a greater variety in trail clues could be interesting and actually increase difficulty. Maybe you find more scratching, shed, partial foot prints instead of full.. Etc. but then we'd need options or a choice of difficulty since so many find this hard to begin with.

The other one is customization.. I find in games, if it makes logical sense you almost can't have too much lol.. Because it becomes just another education after that. What do need more options for?

[Chepaco]

I will be 4 years old in TH next month. I've been here through the thick and thin, and have read every single status update since the day I started playing. TH is a good game, nay, a GREAT game, a game that really sucks you in to its stunning beauty and surreal hunting experience...a game that is numbingly stagnant and completely unrewarding beyond the satisfaction of hunting an animal.

I don't play nearly as much as I used to. I do come back once in a while, but after 4 years of TH, my subscription is about to expire and I do not believe I will be renewing it for two reasons: 1) Half of the new content is buried deep in a very offensive microtransaction payment model within a game that already costs a AAA box title price to play; 2) Most of the new content released has absolutely no appeal to me. I have no interest in shooting Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Porky the Pig, or about 6 other species. This also means that some of the new reserves I've never stepped foot in because I have no reason to be there, and I really don't believe I'm the only player like this. I understand some may LOVE to hunt those species, but without a reward for harvesting them, why should I hunt them?

So here's what would make me come back:

1. Reward us for harvesting animals more than just upgrading the weapon's level, which is pretty much useless. Imho, the majority of players who are either currently playing this game or considering purchasing this game could care less about 1/2 to 3/4 of the huntable species, and if a player could care less about shooting a moose, he may very well think twice if he stumbles across a giant moose that will reward him with something if he harvests it. So reward each animal harvest with "points" that can be used to purchase weapons, lures, treestands, tents, etc.. Then add rpg elements to our character such as the typical "strength" "speed" "stamina" "presence" etc., and allow us to spend these "harvest points" in upgrading our character. The better that animal scores, the more "points" it's worth. Every day make one specific species a "2x points per harvest" that day to encourage hunting all species in the game.

I can't tell you how many times I call in a female animal that I stick with an arrow or spook on purpose just so it will leave me alone and shut up. They're annoying because I'm not rewarded for hunting them (except for the occasion "total weight" competitions that I don't compete in).

2. Make antlers unique. Good grief, I've been playing the self proclaimed "Most realistic hunting game" for almost 4 years now, and we're still stuck in the stone age where each species has a "base-model" antler configuration. DH 2005, almost a decade old, is more realistic that that. For players like me to keep coming back, we need to feel like we're having a unique experience every time we press play...But looking for the animal that has the same EXACT antler model as every other competition winner is immensely boring and completely unrewarding. Y'all remember the huge deal they made about TruRacks? You would not believe how excited I was about TruRacks. I thought "Finally, we're going to have realistic antlers"...psych! Apparently TH is a world where only perfect antlers grow. Where are the drop tines? Split g2's? Broken tines from fighting? How about that sky-scraping 8-pointer whose base is 3 inches thick that has a better B&C than the 12-pointer standing next to it?

Everyone knows which model to look for when hunting any of the deer species. And when that buck that's been grunting at you appears and isn't the model you're looking for, what do you do regardless of whether it looks big or not? Like I said above, either shoot an arrow at it or spook it away so that you can walk away and keep blowing your grunt call without him following you. Yeah, that's realistic. But if antlers were randomized, or hundreds more "models" are created for each species, you may think twice before spooking that 10pt whitetail that may very well outscore any 16-pointer in the woods.

[L3M182]

I think at least in principal I agree with everyone here, which leads me to be curios about specifics...

For example, 2x difficulty? What needs to be more difficult? I know some people say walking up to animals for instance.. But, when I'm out in the woods, in wilderness, I actually do walk up to them. I take my time, even talking softly and then stop at respectful distance, take my shots (camera), observe and leave. So I find animals in this game to actually be too skittish to be real lol. I also honestly believe they aren't hostile enough when you don't respect their space.. Even deer (the bucks obviously) will teach you a lesson if pushed enough.. So, per difficulty.. Is it weapons handling maybe? Trails to easy? I think a greater variety in trail clues could be interesting and actually increase difficulty. Maybe you find more scratching, shed, partial foot prints instead of full.. Etc. but then we'd need options or a choice of difficulty since so many find this hard to begin with.

The other one is customization.. I find in games, if it makes logical sense you almost can't have too much lol.. Because it becomes just another education after that. What do need more options for?

the ingame animals are extremely predictable, and i dont know what you have been taking photos of but you will never ever ever walk up on a coyote or fox. are you honestly telling me while playing this game you spot an animal and you think "i need to be carful here or i might not get this 1."

[0celot]

the ingame animals are extremely predictable, and i dont know what you have been taking photos of but you will never ever ever walk up on a coyote or fox. are you honestly telling me while playing this game you spot an animal and you think "i need to be carful here or i might not get this 1."

Ok I'll grant you that. As far as skittishness goes.... it depends on the animal. But I get you, I do think as un-glamorous and costly as it is, that AI for existing animals needs to be revisited regularly (every other year at least) to improve behavior, add animations, etc. But who wants to do that? New content is flashy and offers monetary opportunities... lol... oh well.

Walk up to a fox? No, of course not. But even yotes will state you down and see what you're about. Naturally thats not true of all yotes, they are a cautious species. What I really meant by that is deer species. I don't know how many times I've gotten to stand of sit within 10m of a deer. I even had a young doe come up to me once and lick of the salt off the palms of my hands.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the trophies really are tough sometimes lol.