Entirely disagree, and my experience with everyone I've watched says so, as well.
The new controls are more streamlined, offer more precise controls, and are pretty easy to adjust to. Nostalgia is great, and new things are scary, but the new controls are definitely not bad compared to the older, clunkier ones where you had to hold ALT to drop something.
Pray tell, how is losing the ability to collect things while you're holding a tool or container "more precise"? Or, say, the metal detecting and digging example someone else brought up later in this thread?
What exactly is more streamlined about trying to use a container, but accidentally grabbing it because I didn't wait quite long enough, and flinging it around as I move the mouse because I was expecting the menu to open up? And many more instances of use vs grab or hold vs collect shenanigans brought about by turning the controls into a QTE? Even boons such as precise placement are affected: are you yet to experience the frustration of placing a book on a hanging shelf, and accidentally
Like I said at a later point in this thread, there were far better solutions and alternatives to Alt being annoying. Something I've yet to see anyone provide, is lived examples and experiences where the new controls actually made their workflow smoother in ways that only tap-vs-hold and the removal of most action menus could.
And I must point out again: "It's just nostalgia!" and "You're just scared of change!" are not actual arguments. They're rude attempts at dismissing others' experiences and opinions.
You mean... Pressing R to pick something up or holding it to equip it instead of having to scroll through the menu for the option, the menu of which changes based on the object? Holding R to put it down again? Pressing E to pick something up HL2-style (same key as HL2, too) or holding the key to just use it? Having to hold E instead of scrolling down a menu again to find the proper option to access a container? The button press duration of which being entirely customizable in the options, specifically so you can avoid nearly all the 'QTE' issues you're apparently having? Having the option to drag large props with E or drag specific points by just pressing Shift and E? Not having to hit ALT to drop things — a modifier key that hasn't been commonly used by mainstream Steam games aside for 'alt-tabbing' purposes, for close to 20 years now?
And no, I haven't run into the problems you're using as examples, I'm sorry to say. If anything, any of the hurdles I did bump into would've been made worse with the old controls and lack of precise placement.
On the topic of anecdotal experiences, just about every other interaction has been made easier and a lot smoother for me — and the vast majority of players I've watched play the game recently. The only thing I'd agree with you about is not being able to pick up loose objects with a tool in hand is the tiniest bit inconvenient, something that I just assumed was a symptom of this being an entirely new control scheme in an experimental build.
If you want examples of my own; one of the games' main tasks—manning the terminal stations—has been made a lot easier and faster for me.
Total buttons needed: 2
No multi-button presses needed.
You can absolutely say you dislike it or that you have grievances with it, but that's literally more streamlined than before. Like, objectively. By definition.
And, you're right. The "nostalgia" and "afraid of change" comments aren't proper arguments, I'm sorry if that offended—but it does still ring pretty true. I haven't heard very many arguments here for the old controls being better other than just, "I preferred it" or "I was used to it".
Like I said in earlier comments, too. I would much prefer if the game gave players the option to either stick with the new controls or use the old ones. Aside from the work needed to implement it, there'd be literally no downsides to that, in my mind.
Ok, I need to reiterate: I'm talking about improvements that can only come about only as a result of the hold-based controls and the removal of context menus.
I like the precise placement tool. I like the capability to put held items in containers without worrying about my own inventory's capacity. Both save me plenty of time juggling with the basic controls, and (this part is important) would have been just as helpful under 0.8's Alt-based controls. Because these tools work and are useful regardless of the controls or steps (...within reason) required to access said tools. And, as an added point, I consider collecting items while you're holding something to be as much a capability and as niche as storing held items. And you can bet I'd be complaining about the later being removed too if that ever happens.
Now, only tapping E once to grab something instead of having to hold E? That is valid as a control. And it's a change that I absolutely love. I don't think I've mentioned it, but I had to rebind all my controls from E to LMB just to reduce the strain induced by having to hold down E. I've been referring to these controls by the default bindings for convenience. But back on point: Thing is, it is valid as a control change yes, but not as a control change that can only exist under a hold-based scheme - There is nothing inherent to an Alt-based scheme that would preclude this change from being available in 0.8.
(And by the by, yes, as you may surmise from how I like not having to hold down E to grab, I conversely really dislike having to hold E to scroll through the few context menus there are now).
Also, I must point out that having the option to drag large props with E or drag specific points by just pressing Shift and E is how the game already worked, just swapped around: in 0.8, holding E on a large object drags it by a specific point, it just didn't make it visible with a line as it does now. And holding Shift+E dragged said object around as a whole, a capability I think was added on 0.8, if not 0.7. I do believe it to be a fantastic change to swap these around and to make the original drag-by-point highly visible and understandable to the player: accidentally tipping tables over was a major source of frustration to new players. The one new change here with 0.9 I believe may be that now dragging an object as a whole also allows you to rotate it with mousewheel, bypassing the need to drag by point to rotate furniture, and inherent tipping risk. And of course, these all are changes that were perfectly possible under 0.8 and by no means exclusive to 0.9's scheme, by virtue of the fact most of it already existed at the time.
As for your drive example I must preface this by saying it took me a while to understand what you were showcasing, and I even had to boot up 0.8 trying to se what the difference was (since far as I recall you only needed E to grab and move around drives), before it clicked that you were showcasing the ability to swap held items with hotbar items. Again, a welcome change, but not one that required a hold-based scheme to exist. The default key uses middle click if I recall? But I may be interpreting your video wrong still, do tell me if that's so.
By the by, booting up 0.8 has also made me realize a couple things, one you might like and one you might not:
Last but not least, the two points I've yet to address. My QTE and my R to hold/collect issues, for which I'd ask you to reread what I said earlier, but I'll summarize:
So, to answer directly:
Yes, I do mean pressing R to pick something up or holding it to equip it instead of having to scroll through the menu for the option, the menu of which changes based on the object. I do mean holding R to put it down again. I do mean the button press duration, of which being entirely customizable in the options does little to help with the 'QTE' issues I'm having.
However, no, I do not mean anything else out of what you've listed, because on top of being positives, they were already possible under the old scheme. And a big part of this is so because most of what you list are capabilities, and not controls per se.
I appreciate your preferences but, respectfully, your response kind of reinforces my take that the predominant issue people have with the new control scheme isn't that it somehow is worse than the old one, but because they just preferred it arbitrarily out of habit. To be clear, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, you're absolutely allowed to prefer it for any reason you want, but it isn't a fair argument against nor a valid criticism of the new control scheme either.
I'm going to try and keep the reply to the examples concise:
For the drive example, I was also showing the notably improved flow where I didn't have to press Alt+R to drop something, which was an incredibly tedious yet incredibly common action the game requires throughout it's play time. I could pick something up with R, hot-swap it in the inventory, use the next item in the queue, and then drop the initial item - with the same button. Like I said in my earlier comment, that's an improved, streamline control scheme, by definition.
Am I saying that the old one bad as a result? No, not necessarily, but it was more obtuse and harder for new players to learn.
I'm also going to say, I'm not really happy or unhappy with what you do like or don't like about the old/new systems. I'm not trying to be petty and score points against you or trying to prove that your preference for something is wrong. My entire argument is that the new control scheme is, in fact, objectively streamlined and simpler than before. That doesn't mean it's better, if only because that becomes an entirely subjective point.
Ironically, I don't miss the context menus. At all. I appreciate that they're still there to a capacity in 0.9, but I never use them unless I have to. Like in the case of the backpack and microwave, I wish it were gone and that I could Active and Use the item just by pressing/holding a button instead of having to scroll down every time. Same with the garbage collecting. You say it's incredibly convenient to just have to scroll down once, but it resets for a variety of reasons. I would know. I launched 0.8.2 and tested it. If your mouse hovers over a different item, like a stone, or a piece of trash, it'll reset and you'll need to scroll down again. Compare that to just pressing R. There's no resets, no accidental misinputs - I just press R for everything I need, and I don't need to worry about it.
As for the QTE argument, I... Just don't see it. I'm sorry.
You say that it's a choice between a "harder QTE" or wasting time when you, in an earlier paragraph, praised the old control scheme for having to scroll down a context menu for nearly every action. You objectively waste much more time doing that, especially if you overshoot the option you want, doing that than just... Pressing R for literally 0.5 seconds longer — or more, or less, depending on what you prefer. I'm not trying to be disrespectful when I say that's an argument born entirely out of preference for the older system. You're valid in preferring it, but I don't accept that as a critique of the new system.
Likewise, you're right. The collecting-heavy phase of the game, where you clean up the base and spruce it up, is very reliant on the controls being able to flow smoothly. And again. The new controls are better for that. You say that having to hold key presses are a drain on your sanity, but I flew through it even when I was still unfamiliar with it. The millions of context menus in 0.8, and earlier builds, and having to scroll for each one were a drain on my sanity, because the game never wanted to make doing something direct and easy.
If the issue you're having is that you don't like re-learning the controls — totally fair. But that's, again, an argument based on "I just prefer what I'm already used to" and not any sort of tangible feedback that could help improve the new controls or convince anyone to abandon it.
And, of course everything I listed was possible in the old control scheme. My argument was that it was easier now. Simpler.
Your response was literally:
"What exactly is more streamlined about trying to use a container, but accidentally grabbing it because I didn't wait quite long enough, and flinging it around as I move the mouse because I was expecting the menu to open up? And many more instances of use vs grab or hold vs collect shenanigans brought about by turning the controls into a QTE? Even boons such as precise placement are affected: are you yet to experience the frustration of placing a book on a hanging shelf, and accidentally.
Like I said at a later point in this thread, there were far better solutions and alternatives to Alt being annoying. Something I've yet to see anyone provide, is lived examples and experiences where the new controls actually made their workflow smoother in ways that only tap-vs-hold and the removal of most action menus could."
And I listed almost everything you did, and more, as well as provided my own example of how the new control scheme did, objectively, streamline the processes and were not as cumbersome as you made them out to be. I took issue with what you said because you used hyperbole and made it seem like the new controls were just so much worse in general, for anyone who used it. That simply isn't he case. It's the exact opposite in fact. The new controls add in more capabilities and improve the controls, no matter how you wish to define them.
To quickly add: You're valid in preferring the old system regardless, but calling my earlier responses dismissive, as if I just replied with "get good lol", instead of challenging arguments based off of subjective opinions is not fair nor productive. And I'm so far not convinced that I was wrong. But all the same, I apologize if I sounded or if I'm even coming across now as stand-off-ish. That's not my intent.
Alright, look, I promise to get to the rest of your post later when I can, but for now while I'm on break I've only time to address one here and it's the one that's puzzling me most because clearly our experience with the context menu are being completely different for some reason :
If I scroll to an option, look away, then look back, the option remains. It remains if I look at a different, 3 option object (including tables). it even remains selected if I look at 4 option object, such as notebooks. It does, indeed, reset when I look at a 2 option object, in this case drive boxes. I scroll again, and this time rather than looking around, I spam E and collect everything: once again, the option remains selected unless I look at drive boxes.
I have to point out this is 0.8.0, rather than 0.8.2, as it is what I had immediately available, so I can't rule out something having happened since that would disrupt this behavior.
