I also have to agree with aprone, though it'd be nice. lol AFK mode will never be a reality on swamp.

As far as the stamina system, I have a hell of a time judging how far a zombie is away, and now I'm really not sure when to start swinging to maybe get in the first hit. If the zombie gets in the first hit, he has the chance to, break my equipment, give me bloody clothes, and just give me a whack for a certain damage amount.
So that's kind of why I'd like for the stamina to kick in for longer than the seemingly 4 swings also. Its with maybe 6 or 7 swings I come in contact, and I've been trying to adjust for that, but the weapon swings drop off so drastically it can get painful.

Anyway, I'm sure you and your testers will come up with the best solution, you have a good team there. Just my two cents.

Well, I honestly don't know how to feel about this. I agree with the points Aprone raised about how making an AFK mode would be unrealistic. However, I don't like this stamina system in its current implementation. I think that four or five swings is really not enough, seeing as how sometimes you get mobbed, and shooting in those situations isn't ideal because you have to stop and aim, all the while wasting valuable health points and possible armor. I admit to running through a mob while swinging madly, particularly if I have a bunch of bloody clothes, because that means they're all on my heels anyway. The sledgehammer helps enormously with such situations. Maybe I'm just a crappy player? In any case, whatever you decide to do with it, I respect your position, because no other developer of an online audio game that I know of has actually tried as hard to make it a pleasant, balanced experience for all.

I also think this will hurt new players badly. I can only assume that there aren't a whole lot of them, or this wouldn't have been implemented in the form it took. I can guarantee that if it had been this way when I first started out, I wouldn't have continued playing. I mean, it's different if you have friends who will feed you weapons and ammo, but that makes me feel slimy, asking people for, or even just having them give me things they worked hard to get. It would be even more humiliating for me personally if I did that in the public chat. I abhor being a leech. Maybe others don't feel that way, but I absolutely would, and perhaps others would as well. It would probably be a huge struggle for them to claw their way out of such situations.

Hi guys
So I understand all you have said so far Aprone, but I still wonder why.
I mean, why is it that the melee weapons need to be nerfed? I my expirience the melee weapons never would outdo a gun. I have only played normal, but I figure, that a hardcore character would rather use a gun, if he has ammo for it, than use a melee weapon.
And even if someone autoswings the entire day, who would, or should, care.
I have never seen a person write in chat: Oh I just hate the autoswingers, there life is just so easy compared to mine.
I mean, on a solomission, who cares if the person takes a 5 hour break? No one. On a mission with others, well if the mission-leader does care, guess what, you'll get kicked.
And the mentality of why should the game consider your real life... simply cause, why not. i know that it might sound weird, but i just don't understand, why you shouldn't be able to take a break. It doesn't make the game easier, you still need to do the same work, just over less missions. And diezel is not "that" hard to find. It would simply just make life easier, not the game. And if it is no breaks you want, then make it so the longer you take, the more fule you burn. I know it makes no sense, but it neither makes sense, that all mission members have there own escapetruck...
Of course all of this is just my thoughts. As you might have guessed, I am a fan of the mentality: Fun before difficulty. Both are important, but i would rather have the fun a bit higher on the list than making changes that just fucks you over.
And to the person typing in the "well if you don't like it, stop playing" right now, i just have to say: I will do everything in my might to keep playing, but sometimes you have to protest. I will keep playing, but if these are the only kind of changes comming, I don't know how long it takes before I either lose interest or just can't support the game...
For me, this is just as much a dislike of the consept of making these sorts of things, instead of adding something new and fun to do. I know you can't make something exciting everytime, I just don't understand why you would do something like this instead of working on something new, or fixing the bugs...
I completely agree with the previous post. I hate when changes make the game harder without adding to the overall experience
I hope you will listen, and
i maybe will make a difference on the games futurei spend quite some time thinking this over so... please...
Have a nice day.

*yawn* so many complainers as usual with a swamp or any audio game update for that matter....then you guys wonder why devs take long breaks from games, or just abandon them.....learn how to adjust.....a game is not going to be a piece of cake all the time, wipe the tears away, and accept a challenge for goodness sake....you complainers just don't understand how much you guys get under my skin man....anyway thx for the update aprone, its greatly appreciated....keep up the good work

I do think this is a bit of a valid point to raise with regarding to the new melee/shield system. Since the game already has no viable "pause" option, and I agree, it'd be too easy to abuse, if, say during being swarmed on a mission, a family member comes into the room, wife, gf, whatever, and needs to talk to us, in the old days, at least you can try to answer them while holding down the trigger on the hammer, or set the shield blocking, and hope for the best while trying to explain to your pesky wife where you left her ipod... Risky, but better than nothing.
Keep in mind that unlike many sighted players, most of us cannot carry on an effective conversation with external destractions while still able to see what's up on screen.
I've seen many sighted gamer friends who simply mute the audio, keep their eyes on the screen while carrying out complicated domestic discussions with/against their spouses, parents, or even kids.

So now that autoswing and reliable continuous shield blocks are not really an option, if said gf, or wife, busts in just as we're being swarmed and demands to know where the cat is, or the ipod, or the TV remote is not working... We're immediately placed in a very uncomfortable position-

Happy marriage 101- which of the following will hurt less:

1: Tell her to f-off, you're busy trying not to get killed and lose your sh*t.

2: Go tend to her need, die and then get bad tempered about it.

3: Whine at the dev and hopefully something can be done to prevent this kind of marital atrocity from happening...

and here's my answer to this. it's a pretty bad idea. just look at how is it used on redspot and after that start wondering why aprone will never add this feature. or at least i hope he won't ever do that.
now regarding the complainers well, i am for the criticism but this criticism should be a constructive one, not things like, your game sucks or f off with your game.
right now how people were expressing their opinions on this topic seemed pretty decent ones. so yes. keep doing it, so aprone understands what you guys want. but like i said, be patient and keep in mind that this is not his only job. also, if some suggestion are refused my advice is to understand why, cause knowing aprone he is pretty opened about suggestions annd he's refusing some of them if they are seriously over the border

"At least a few of those players even admitted to muting all zombie sounds because hearing them is pointless when you can just pretend they don't exist."

That is very true and one I've heard of as well. I was horrified when I first heard people say they mute zombie sounds, cause to me, then you're not playing swamp lol.

And I also do agree the way the melee and shield have been used was definitely unbalanced in the extreme, and I agree that changes are needed to bring them more in line with how this should work. Seeing how some people just run through hordes of zombie with bayonets on auto swing, killing zombies left right and center without breaking stride, was always at the same time quite awe inspiring and disturbing in a "wow, this shi*t is unbalanced!" sort of way.

Funny that Aprone mentions people running through warehouses with shields, enver stopping to fight zombies while grabbing up crates... I remember this very same conversation during the game several times, when many players would brag/say something like "I never kill zombies during missions, I just shield up and run past them, that's how it's supposed to be." And honestly, I started to wonder if they're all doing it right, and those like me who have to stop and fight were doing it wrong lol.

hello everyone this new system for melee is hard for new players very hard

No worries.  I've been quite happy to read and reply to the messages on here about the game changes.  Discussions like these are almost always productive, and hopefully no one thought I was upset at any point during it.  It's sometimes hard to judge how people are feeling based on text, so I try to slap smiley faces (and other junk) into mine when I think something light-hearted could be interpreted as annoyance.

I'm still gathering bug reports from people, and I'm happy to report that while at work last night an idea popped into my head that may solve a coding problem I've been a little stuck on for over a week.  If it ends up being a solution, there may be some extra exciting stuff coming in the next update.

no i didn't because apart from the weekends i live alone but it is obvious now you come to think of it. you do pretty much isolate yourself when playing an audio game and especially 1 like swamp because of the type of game that it is and the level of concentration it requires. you can't just have a conversation with someone by that i mean something important.

hi
well, at least this doesn't affect me at all honestly i'm not even using the melee that much. i'm very carefull loading my sport rifles at the right time and that's it. there's no need to bitch about the melee. so let's say that you have a hammer and you work on fixing something. so you hit it as it requires but do you do it using the same rithm? no, you slow a little bit down because you get tired. it's honestly the reality, i am for fiction, but this game is a mix between fiction and reality, so it has elements from one and other too.
as another suggestion. how about a new weapon too? like the eagle for example? that would be a pretty cool thing.