This games has a lot of potential but needs a lot of work. AI, Loot, Qol

[lost pine]

My first post was removed not sure why so here it is again.

My girlfriend and I have been playing quite a bit since the game came out. We started with mostly ISO raids because she prefers PvE, but recently we've been getting into PvP more. Here are some of our thoughts on the current state of the game.

AI Improvements

The AI has a clear vision, but the current implementation is often frustrating and unrewarding. Several improvements are needed as soon as possible.

• Flower Men: I don't think their armor is too bad, but it shouldn't be able to tank every round in the game; the .50 cal and sniper rounds should penetrate it. The real issue is their behavior. They run way too fast, glitch through objects, jump super high, and don't always follow their own rules. They are supposed to stay near their nest, but on multiple occasions, they have chased us very far from it.
• Distorted: The Distorted's teleport ability needs a 2-3 second cooldown so they can't just spam it. Right now, it looks less like a cool ability and more like they are lagging. Adding an animation would also help. Their aggro is also very strange. Sometimes you can silently kill enemies in a room with a suppressor or melee, but other times, doing the exact same thing will aggro the entire building.
• Dogs: They just don't stop sometimes. Their info card says they are supposed to be in forests and on the edge of towns, but they are everywhere. It's not uncommon to face pack after pack, which is incredibly annoying. It's not that they are hard to kill; it's just unfun to fight one pack and then immediately engage another 30 seconds later. Their aggro is also very strange. For example, my partner and I were slow-walking through a neighborhood and hiding in a building from nearby players. Suddenly, a whole pack of dogs ran through the city, made a beeline right for our house, and broke down the door, completely blowing the cover we had spent several minutes trying to maintain.
• Devourers: I don't have too many issues with Devourers, but they are a little too tanky against anything other than shotguns, even at point-blank range. It's also very frustrating when they attack you through walls and floors.
• Soldiers and Scientists: I actually think their aim is perfect and wouldn't change it. They are just difficult enough that they can kill you but don't typically just 180-degree turn and one-shot you.
• Lightning Balls: These feel a little silly right now. Not only do they seem to respawn almost instantly if you break one, but their radius is huge, even through walls and floors. On multiple occasions, they have hunted me in strange ways; even if I'm super slow-walking and hiding, they just blow up and hit me through a wall.
• Statues: These should be killable by more than just grenades.

Edit for spelling

Loot and the Economy

There is no loot in this game that makes you think, "I need to leave right now." Nothing gets your blood pumping.

• Most enriched guns are just worse than guns you can buy or replicate, and they hold so little value-to-volume that they aren't even worth carrying. The same goes for armor plates. I can loot one boring POI on Headquarters and have enough ammo, plates, pouches, and grenades that loot which should feel cool is just boring and not worth the weight.
• A lot of the higher-tier guns, like the M110, should be in-raid or airdrop only.
• To add to the loot problem, I ran 4-5 "goofy" Free Kit raids last night for the first time, and it made me realize how pointless it all is. In every Free Kit raid, my partner and I just hunted for PvP and wiped the lobby a few times, leaving with big bags and guns. We unfortunately only ran into one squad running M110s; we killed two, but the third got us. The point is, being able to endlessly run free gear, risking nothing but gaining everything, makes this feel more like a COD battle royale than an extraction shooter.

Other Minor Things

• The film grain and red screen visual effects from the unstable zone are way too heavy and visually cluttering. Also, almost everyone I ran into in the unstable zone was running free kits.
• ISO raids should just be a standard game mode with no passes required; just add more PvE enemies.
• Enemy respawn rates need to be turned down. If I just cleared an area, why am I clearing it again moments later?
• Mines and gravity traps can feel very cheap, especially when a building is filled with nothing but gravity traps or when they spawn inside a bush.
• Stash volume is way too small. I can barely keep items because I just don't have the room to store them, let alone keep things for crafting.
• Bag volume is also super small. The big bag is only 100 volume larger than the one before it, and at 900 volume, it still feels pretty small.
• Some magazines and ammo take up an insane amount of volume for no good reason. Ammo should take up half the space it currently does.
• Tier progression happens too fast. I think this is partly due to not enough items in the game. You basically skip the small bags and are instantly running medium or hiking bags. The same goes for guns.
• Shop prices are a beaten-to-death topic; just read the main thread on that.
• Sleeves either need to all have the same number of armor slots or offer really good trade-offs for having fewer. Why would you run anything other than the Hunter or Shadow sleeves?
• SMGs are just bad. Even the best ones feel horrible compared to anything else. They are worse than some pistols.
• Weapon mods need to show real stats, and guns need more modding options. Every stock says it "reduces recoil," but by how much?
• The home base feels very empty. I would like to see it change as you unlock levels.
• Quests are very bland. Most are just kill quests, which are starting to feel like a chore.

Just to clarify, I really like this game and the overall concept, but as it stands, it has a lot of work ahead of it.