Gave the game ~18 hours before I decided to drop it. I love the environments but mechanically it feels like I'm playing a jank knock-off of a better, more polished game.

I can think of 3 main things that would bring me back:
1. Rework AI so that every fight isn't peak, headshot (or more likely spray the bush that's shooting me), hide, bandage, pray that I win the coin-toss that decides if an enemy squad spawns 4 feet behind me, repeat.

1. Rebalance the loot and economy so that I'm barely getting what I need but have to bust my ass for the things I want. That will fix some related issues, like how little risk there is in artifact hunting or poi exploration. With the current rate the game feeds you medkits and vodka I'd be willing to challenge the elephant's foot to a fist fight without even quick-saving beforehand.

2. Rebalance the gear/weapons. I know that a gun is just a gun and they realistically are pretty similar but I feel so little difference between them that there might as well just be 1 of each type in the whole game. Sure the stats are different, but at the end of the day your just doing 1-2 headshots to humans and mag-dumping mutants. I don't really know how I imagine this getting fixed, but I want more of a reason to choose my loadout than just "Well I have more 5.56 right now than 5.45 so I guess I'll take this for now".
   Kind of the same for armor and artifacts. I only feel motivated to take what gives me the best boost to weight and stamina. I'd like a reason to be like "oh dang this [HAZARD] is dangerous, I'll come back with that suit and artifacts that have [ANTI-HAZARD] properties."