Dst needs either new mechanics or an overhaul of the old ones

[Szczuku]

1 hour ago, Shosuko said:

Ah look - a repeat of the last thread.  Only difference is this time you're not giving your ideas directly, now you're hoping the players give their ideas instead

You completely missed the point of this thread. It's not a cry that the game's too easy or that certain items are op. It was made to discuss how outdated certain (or rather most) mechanics are and how they're limiting the game's growth.

When I said that Eyebrella and Tam completely negate Wetness and Insanity I didn't do that to show that those items are broken. I did that to show that these mechanics can be countered with a single item (or 2 if you want to use multiple-players servers as an argument so badly).

If an entire mechanic is negated with a single item then there's absolutely nothing new and interesting related to that mechanic Klei can add.

[Yuuko]

36 minutes ago, Szczuku said:

You completely missed the point of this thread. It's not a cry that the game's too easy or that certain items are op. It was made to discuss how outdated certain (or rather most) mechanics are and how they're limiting the game's growth.

When I said that Eyebrella and Tam completely negate Wetness and Insanity I didn't do that to show that those items are broken. I did that to show that these mechanics can be countered with a single item (or 2 if you want to use multiple-players servers as an argument so badly).

If an entire mechanic is negated with a single item then there's absolutely nothing new and interesting related to that mechanic Klei can add.

Things that aren't getting used because they are too unwieldy could certainly use an update - not to make room for new content but rather to make that old content usable.  If people are utilizing wetness prevention items to prevent wetness, I don't see the problem.  That's literally an item just doing its job.  Also there are plenty of ways to add new content without competing with existing content.  The tam has been in Don't Starve for a long time - but that doesn't stop people from crafting sanity stations, or cooking green caps or cactus, using bee queen crown, ect.  The tam isn't the one stop sanity solution you purport it to be.

You're taking an overly simplified view of game content (because x exists y problem is rendered inconsequential) and using a strawman (because x does y no new content can be made about y) to complain about game interactions you don't like (WhY bUnNyMaN fIgHt??) when that isn't even the most egregious exploit in the game...  If you take away bunnyman fighting bunnyman you don't do anything to stop bunnyman farming.  Hardly an inconvenience.

Fact is bunnyman farms aren't even the best way to sustain a server full of people.  In your last thread you claimed we couldn't get new food farms because bunnyman farms were OP, yet RoT already brought us Stonefruit which provide a better food source than bunnyman farms, also providing us a path to farm without disease, also resistant to wickerbottom exploitation, and they didn't need anything to change about bunnyman farms to make this happen.  /thread

[Mike23Ua]

34 minutes ago, Szczuku said:

You completely missed the point of this thread. It's not a cry that the game's too easy or that certain items are op. It was made to discuss how outdated certain (or rather most) mechanics are and how they're limiting the game's growth.

When I said that Eyebrella and Tam completely negate Wetness and Insanity I didn't do that to show that those items are broken. I did that to show that these mechanics can be countered with a single item (or 2 if you want to use multiple-players servers as an argument so badly).

If an entire mechanic is negated with a single item then there's absolutely nothing new and interesting related to that mechanic Klei can add.

Exactly- Which is why I want that Uncompromising Mode.

This game was originally advertised as a quote “Totally Uncompromising Wilderness Survival game with randomly generated worlds full of things that want you dead.” That may not be the exact quote word for word but it’s close enough.

Don’t Starve Together is NOT however less difficult then Solo DS because certain features exist in DST that did Not exist in Solo DS such as- Thermal Stones having a Durability.. and animals in your inventory like Bees & Rabbits starving if not fed.

The thing I keep trying to stress and no one seems to listen to because I guess you guys are used to public dedicated worlds (which by the way still don’t exist on Xbox) is that this game can be as Easy or as Hard as you personally want it to be.

Toggleable server settings that let you tailor your gameplay experience to your desired playstyle. if for example you never want to deal with Winter, Summer, Spring or Hound Wave Attacks you can toggle all that off and have a Newbie mode Server to learn the basics before other seasons or Hazards bother you.

Like playing as Woodie chopping Endless Trees but don’t like Treegaurds? Turn them off.

Want less resources to appear in your world so you spend hours looking for 1 flint or gold? Toggle them less or off.

Crazy like me and want your game to be even harder where Spider Warrior Attacks now real poison damage? Until Klei makes a dedicated setting for it.. your only option is a Mod.

my point is that if ANY Game can be custom tailored to fit player skill level it’s this one.. and those settings that most of you leave sitting at default can really offer up fun and varied ways of playing your game.

Can you handle a world where Ice never spawns? Would Summer be your undoing in a world set up like that?

What if Klei Truly randomized biomes??? We all know the game is made of certain set pieces and certain items and resources can only spawn in their respective biomes.. but what if Tentacles randomly pop up out of the Beefalo savannah?

What if there was world gen settings for an Archipelago like world where each Biome is broken up into its own little island and to get there you need to travel by boat, through wormholes, or cave tunnels?

I guess what I’m trying to say is that a game franchise established in 2013 should be making leaps and bounds in new experiences in the year 2020.

Its like comparing GTA 4 to GTA V or Batman Arkham Asylum to Batman Arkham Knight.

————————————

The TL:DR- Don’t Starve Together (Released on Xbox One in late 2017) is a SEQUEL to a game that came out in 2013.. it’s about time that it started to feel like it.

 

[Pikapikap]

I see trees of green, red roses too ~I see them bloom for me and you~ and I think to myself, what a wonderful world

[CaptainChaotica]

But it IS different from the original Don't Starve.  I mean, maybe not in overall feel, but DST has a _lot_ of new/different content and mechanics that the original doesn't have.  Why play singleplayer in what's supposed to be a multiplayer game, why not just play regular DS instead?  That's why.  The new/different stuff.  New bosses, pets, SAILABLE OCEAN IN ROG INSTEAD OF SHIPWRECKED, fences and gates, disease, juicy berry bushes, grass geckoes and twiggy trees, moon rocks and meteors...

If you MUST have tentacles popping up out of the beefalo savannah (shudders) the More or especially Lots settings in worldgen will DEFINITELY do that.  I speak from experience.  It doesn't just put _some_ more of things in their already accustomed biomes, like you'd expect.  It puts TONS more, and some are nowhere near where they should be.  You should try that sometime, actually--the more of everything Chaos World?  It's fun.  But apologise to your computer afterwards...

I'm all for using alternate ways of dealing with stuff, but NOT at the cost of _removing_ the popular ones, or nerfing them to the ground, etc.  Also you will take my thermal stone over my cold/overheated dead body. It's one of my favourite items and I already sacrifice an inventory slot for it ALL summer and winter...and on my worlds those might be longer than normal.  (I just finished a 40-day summer on my Wendy world! That's as long as it CAN go!) 

Also...the eyebrella may be amazing, but I manage to get by just fine with a regular umbrella and football helmet.  Am I the only one here who does that?  Football helmet provides a little extra drying AND, bonus, if anything suddenly leaps out at you, you're less likely to get one-hit.  (I didn't say impossible.  Just less likely.  Depending on how low your HP was at the moment.)  And it doesn't lose durability from being worn, so, why not?

Of course, everything I just said is probably more fuel for the "NERF EVERYTHING USEFUL THAT'S EVEN SLIGHTLY EASY TO GET!  BURN IT TO THE GROUND!" types, because, see, how _can_ you have armour that doesn't wear out constantly?  That can't be!  It's good, and noobs will use it! How _dare_ a food restore 40 HP, even if you do have to do some setup to get the ingredients for it?   But...some of us don't want to be forced to tangle with bosses every time we have a problem with ANYTHING.  Let the lesser, easier things exist.  Does it hurt YOU, that they do? Is it affecting _your_ gameplay at all, when you can just completely ignore them?  No? Then let things that make the game enjoyable for "lesser" players, be.

(I've NEVER done any kind of "(Noun Here)"-farm, for the record.  That's how universal of an overused strategy that is.)

...Notorious

[pecknxck]

there are 2 things I really want overhauled;

the normal overworld (not sailing, just Average Land) and sanity. 

the overworld has basically just been basic RoG since early access; just adding the occasional boss set pieces, twiggy trees n juicy berries, n grass gecks, at least afaik. Honestly, I wanna see new biomes especially. Something new and fresh to poke around in that you don't gotta reach mid to late game to even see. Somewhere that isn't a birch forest to camp in, hah.

As for sanity, it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but I REALLY wanna see more done with it, giving more incentive to keep it up. Maybe low sanity could make other player's words incomprehensible, or you could accidentally fail a crafting recipe. More mobs could change form, maybe trees could flicker every so often to add an element of fear; is that birchnut tree really gonna turn poisonous or is it just my sanity?

It's a really fun mechanic in concept, but it just kinda spawns shadow creatures and beardlings/lords. I wanna see my character go INSANE. like, SEE it happening.

[Mike23Ua]

I once referenced state of decay 2 as a video game that properly balances player skill level between adjustable difficulty.

Settings that don’t just say okay let’s decrease the amount of damage players do and increase the damage the zombies do.

the difference between playing SoD 2 on Normal compared to Nightmare Mode are so vast that it really is like playing a different game.

On Normal you’ll find plenty of unlooted up locations full of useful supplies, zombies will be very few as if the outbreak just started last week, finding vehicles in working condition and with gas already in the fuel tank will be on just about every street corner.

Now lets flip the script- Put said player in Nightmare Mode.. All buildings are nearly empty to simulate they’ve already been looted up by survivors before you, the outbreak is in full force and the special freaks are now gathering in mass hordes together, their attacks also now inflict you with blood plague... and finding a vehicle AT ALL is going to often be like hunting for a needle inside a Haystack, and the vehicles you do find will be fully totaled and out of gas.  Needing both repair kits & gas cans before they will be operational again.

Dont Starve Together has these toggle options for features where you can toggle between None, A lot Less, Less, Default, More and A lot More (although on consoles it only goes to Default..  ) 

Dont want to ever fight Bearger? Toggle None! Prefer to have random meteor showers crash down on your head? Set them to where they happen more frequently.

The MOBILE Version of DS and DS Shipwrecked even lets you toggle on Reduced Health or Toggle completely Off Insanity effects and Shadow Creatures. Quality of Life features & choices that could only help DST be more accessible to a wider variety of audience playing the game.

The TL:DR of this post is that if ANY Game on the planet can replicate State of Decay 2’s massive shift between Normal difficulty and Nightmare difficulty it should Be DST with all its options and configurations it should by all means have expanded upon someday reallllllll soon... @Klei When’s that Quality of Life update coming?  

[Canis]

I agree with OP entirely. Hell, I founded Uncompromising Mode with this very mindset.

The whole challenge and attraction of DST to a new player is an unforgiving, unknown world in a very charming Tim Burton style with a cast of unique, memorable, and relatable characters. However, after sinking a few hundred (or thousand) hours in, the game stops being unforgiving and unknown. When you walk around at night wielding a torch, you have no fear; as long as you're in an area you have explored before, you know EXACTLY what is in the darkness. In other words, the game doesn't throw many surprises. Players like myself don't want to pack their things, play another game, and leave DST in the dust is because of the aforementioned irreplaceable charm. Players have to find a way to entertain themselves after they get past the difficulty. You could say other games like Minecraft do this, but Minecraft is the pinnacle of a sandbox, and gives you the tools to make anything. DST, while commonly called a sandbox, lacks the player tools necessary to let a player's imagination run wild, limiting them to the confines of making your base prettier and more efficient. (with few exceptions)

After you learn every single nook and cranny of the game, you feel as if you saw the man behind the curtain. In other survival games, players are still commonly at risk no matter their skill level, but in DST there's not much the game can do to kill a player that knows exactly what they're doing.

How do you fix this? RNG. No, not "Randomly die" RNG, but RNG-based situations in the game. You could use your lantern and gather resources in the night, but you would never really know if you would come across something lurking in the darkness. Nature itself could throw an unexpected and unplanned challenge at you, and while a player could learn the ins and outs of said challenge, they will never truly know when it will happen, giving them a sense of uncertainty and lack of safety. And what if there was more than one challenge? Suddenly, the game stops being solely about preparation, but instead reaction.

[Owlrust]

To be fair, if we did add a new mechanic to the game, people would figure out how to completely nullify its effects within hours of it being added anyways. Furthermore, if we changed any of the older mechanics, the same scenario as before would happen on top of that it would make new players' lives harder when they find out that suddenly a lot of things they're learning about the game have changed out of nowhere.

[TL;DR]

I (personally) think the reason why veterans want changes to the game is because they're bored of the same process every time they play. Build some stuff. Farm resources. Fight enemies. Build some stuff. Fight some enemies. Farm resources, etc. And honestly, I understand a bit; it is frustrating to not be excited by anything anymore, to not look forward to anything, to see every action as a chore, to conquer everything, and have the concept of death become an imaginary thought. You would want change, or at least enough to make things as cool, adventurous, and as difficult as you either used to remember or as difficult you wish you could test your mettle and go all out on. Unfortunately I (in my own opinion of course) don't think this game will ever be what it used to a long time ago, nor do I think it will ever change itself to fit our expectations because frankly, I don't think we would be pleased anyways; and (in my opinion) I don't really want it to. I don't really play this game at all anymore, but I still check in on it every so often because of what it meant to me. I'm fine letting everything I loved about this game fly away from me because I've had my fill of fun and memories, and I love seeing this game give more memories to new players as well. This game, like all other games being worked on, is still growing despite being as old as it is; and games only stop growing when they stopped being worked on. We can look forward to a lot of new content from here on out, but I don't think that changing what it is will satisfy us anymore than it used to.

[Szczuku]

ALRIGHTY! 

I guess I just have paranoia. 

The game's clearly perfect and there's no reason to worry about its future

[Mike23Ua]

17 minutes ago, Szczuku said:

ALRIGHTY! 

I guess I just have paranoia. 

The game's clearly perfect and there's no reason to worry about its future

Lol I wouldn’t be too concerned about that if I were you, Klei is one of the few development teams that I have seen taking fan feedback seriously. They've even acknowledge that we want to see big changes with the game.. imagine if something like Elevated plots of land ended up in DST... no longer will you run a straight line from point A to point B sometimes there may be a elevation blocking your progress until you find the correct route to reach that elevated area. 

Something that simple makes big changes to your gameplay.. and Klei knows this, it’s all stuff they’ve probably been testing out privately for years, maybe to add in a sequel, maybe to scrap and never add at all or maybe to be used in a game completely unrelated to DS... the thing is- When Elevated plots of land was suggested, it blew up instantaneously as something they don’t have to guess about.... they KNOW fans want to see.

Will it ever happen? Maybe.. maybe not depends on what all is actually possible, how much of their time and resources they want to put into it.. or if they want to hold some ideas for a future expansion or sequel. 
 

What we all know for absolute certain though- is that Klei does listen to their fanbase, and maybe not just your idea, or my idea or any single individual here’s ideas they listen to the Majority.. and as long as that’s happening.. I’m excited to see where the future of the franchise goes from there.

The TL:DR- Adding a totally uncompromising mode that flips well known gameplay upside down on its head... will NOT effect people playing outside of Uncompromising Mode. Simply only being able to heal strictly by healing items only would go a long way in making the games foods & tents Feel less important.

And that’s something that should exist!! Entirely optional for those who want it, and entirely avoidable for those who don’t want anything to do with it.

[Yuuko]

1 hour ago, Szczuku said:

ALRIGHTY! 

I guess I just have paranoia. 

The game's clearly perfect and there's no reason to worry about its future

Ah, the passive aggressive exaggeration fallacy lol

No one is saying the game is perfect - but for real, Klei has shown that they can add new content in RoT which can still be powerful without having to remove other things.  There are even times when Stonefruit isn't your best bet.  A dedicated Wormwood can do well without them, especially if they have a Wicker to grow things quicker.  Warly would also prefer traditional crops for his spices as well.  The great thing is that nothing stops you from still building a bunnyman farm if you want.  There are certainly things we could term "meta" such as walls for dfly, or weather pains for toadstool or fuel weaver, but just because something can be done one way doesn't mean it has to be - it also doesn't mean there isn't another equally effective strategy waiting to be uncovered.

Sure people complain about the glass cutter, and the strident trident, and how they aren't worth using... but the glass cutter is definitely a good weapon to take to the ancient fuel weaver fight.  Especially if you're doing the kiting method for the woven shadows as you wouldn't have weather pains clogging your inventory.  The strident trident may still prove effective at more than just fishing since RoT isn't over yet.  Who knows what next boss we'll be fighting on the high seas.

Asks for buffs for older content has been going on for a while too, and I'm not sure why Klei has never addressed farm / superior farm production issues, or other weaker items people want to use but can't really justify...  But Wormwood is a unique solution to people who want to farm regardless of meta strats.  You would probably still build some farms for the crops you want to grow regularly, but for just spamming seeds to try and find the garlic, or dragon fruits Wormwood does a great job.

[Szczuku]

19 minutes ago, Shosuko said:

Ah, the passive aggressive exaggeration fallacy lol

Bruh I litteraly 'laid down my weapon' and admitted that I must've been wrong

If so many people want to defend old content, farms and all that then clearly there must be nothing wrong with them.

[Kelloggs Dogfry]

I don’t know, at least for me, the game isn’t exactly going to all of a sudden become infinite in terms of interesting gameplay it’s going to provide from an overhaul anyway. I acknowledge that some things can benefit from change, but if one is to believe the game is in a “doomsday” state where it needs to make a choice and change, I don’t think that your interest is going to last long after those changes anyways. If that makes much sense. For me it’s just accepting that I’ve learned the game and I don’t have much to surprise me. I still enjoy it through other ways, and come back when there’s new content or friends want to play. Rng elements can spice things up certainly, but they will be learned to a degree and a veteran will once again inevitably become bored if they’re meant to be bored. I would think a healthier thing is to take some time to play a new game or learn a new craft rather then expect a change to save its lifespan relative to you. Come back after a while! Though that’s not to discourage asking for change, but I just feel that some people are expecting a lot of different things from Klei and hoping that it will infinitely sate them.

[BeeClops]

you guys gotta understand tho, that if u take any random day into consideration, i'm quite positive to say the majority of players can't fight shadow creatures, or will barely survive the first winter, just because it's "too hard". Despite the game going deeper and bosses ment for experienced players, and despite the devs trying to make things more interesting for those players, i think it's main target is casual players and always will be. So in my opionion doing even half of those suggestions would make the game unplayable for lots of newcomers, wich would directly hit klei.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

11 hours ago, Shosuko said:

Things that aren't getting used because they are too unwieldy could certainly use an update - not to make room for new content but rather to make that old content usable.  If people are utilizing wetness prevention items to prevent wetness, I don't see the problem.  That's literally an item just doing its job.  Also there are plenty of ways to add new content without competing with existing content.  The tam has been in Don't Starve for a long time - but that doesn't stop people from crafting sanity stations, or cooking green caps or cactus, using bee queen crown, ect.  The tam isn't the one stop sanity solution you purport it to be.

You're taking an overly simplified view of game content (because x exists y problem is rendered inconsequential) and using a strawman (because x does y no new content can be made about y) to complain about game interactions you don't like (WhY bUnNyMaN fIgHt??) when that isn't even the most egregious exploit in the game...  If you take away bunnyman fighting bunnyman you don't do anything to stop bunnyman farming.  Hardly an inconvenience.

Fact is bunnyman farms aren't even the best way to sustain a server full of people.  In your last thread you claimed we couldn't get new food farms because bunnyman farms were OP, yet RoT already brought us Stonefruit which provide a better food source than bunnyman farms, also providing us a path to farm without disease, also resistant to wickerbottom exploitation, and they didn't need anything to change about bunnyman farms to make this happen.  /thread

Stone fruits get disease.

Tam o doesnt stop us cocking green caps because it doesnt fully negate sanity auras but eyebrella totally remove a entire season mechanic which is not that bad but makes spring pointless, just a farming season with no penalty (even the seasonal boss was remove in a way that i like but remove after all)

Its like in sw, if you find the dumbrella in a chest you dont need more

[Yuuko]

19 minutes ago, ArubaroBeefalo said:

Stone fruits get disease.

Tam o doesnt stop us cocking green caps because it doesnt fully negate sanity auras but eyebrella totally remove a entire season mechanic which is not that bad but makes spring pointless, just a farming season with no penalty (even the seasonal boss was remove in a way that i like but remove after all)

Its like in sw, if you find the dumbrella in a chest you dont need more

When you crack a stone fruit open you have a chance to get a bulb, which when planted is immune to disease.

While eyebrella negates getting wet in the rain, so does literally any other combination of wetness protection gear...  That's kinda the problem with cookie cutter cap.  It has a higher wetness protection, but doesn't have any piece it can synergize with to reach 100% that a football helmet can't.  So its like eyebrella vs umbrella?  Not a big deal really.  I've played many games where I used the first eye for a shootious and just used umbrellas through spring.  Its really not a big deal.  Removing eyebrella wouldn't change the game much at all.

I think its a bit funny though - we have this camp here that thinks deerclops eye, a boss loot, is game breaking because it gives 100% wetness protection and Tam makes sanity inconsequential, and then we have people who think boss loot is worthless when toadstool gives a light source that can almost last a full in game year, and is infinite if you manage to get your world through winter feast, and bee queen gives a hat that reverses sanity auras...

[ArubaroBeefalo]

4 hours ago, Shosuko said:

When you crack a stone fruit open you have a chance to get a bulb, which when planted is immune to disease.

While eyebrella negates getting wet in the rain, so does literally any other combination of wetness protection gear...  That's kinda the problem with cookie cutter cap.  It has a higher wetness protection, but doesn't have any piece it can synergize with to reach 100% that a football helmet can't.  So its like eyebrella vs umbrella?  Not a big deal really.  I've played many games where I used the first eye for a shootious and just used umbrellas through spring.  Its really not a big deal.  Removing eyebrella wouldn't change the game much at all.

I think its a bit funny though - we have this camp here that thinks deerclops eye, a boss loot, is game breaking because it gives 100% wetness protection and Tam makes sanity inconsequential, and then we have people who think boss loot is worthless when toadstool gives a light source that can almost last a full in game year, and is infinite if you manage to get your world through winter feast, and bee queen gives a hat that reverses sanity auras...

ye you can survive with umbrella (i have a hamlet world where i survive 300 days without eyebrella because the danm deerclops didnt come in the first winter i pass in rog) but what i try to say is that 1 item totally killing a ingame mechanic as easy as eyebrella does is not healthy but i will not complain about it 10 years later

for toadstool loot, im totally agree with you, people only want op things. Maybe they spect a mushsword that kills bosses in 1 hit..

[Well-met]

I've personally modded the napsack recipe from 1 wart 1 poison canary to simply 2 warts, and let me tell you frog skin is actually worthwhile now. 

Spore grenades are a great substitute to pan flutes.

[Charlie Dark]

23 minutes ago, Well-met said:

I've personally modded the napsack recipe from 1 wart 1 poison canary to simply 2 warts, and let me tell you frog skin is actually worthwhile now. 

Spore grenades are a great substitute to pan flutes.

Oh, about that, you can just duplicate shroom skins by using a deconstruction staff on the nap sacks, you get 4 per craft, if you deconstruct them all, you have basically duplicated the item.

[Well-met]

3 minutes ago, Charlie Dark said:

Oh, about that, you can just duplicate shroom skins by using a deconstruction staff on the nap sacks, you get 4 per craft, if you deconstruct them all, you have basically duplicated the item.

lol forgot about that

[Hornete]

18 hours ago, Shosuko said:

snip

Yeah! It's really crazy resource sink to build a boat! To make a boat like this, along with a fishing rod and spinnerbaits

It would require

        -102 logs
        -60 rocks
        -30 grass
        -22 silk
        -6 gold
        -6 charcoal
        -1 boneshard
        -1 gear
       -2 driftwood(One for tackle, one for bobber)
         - Mushrooms of all kinds for all the spinnerbaits(But I usually get away with only getting red caps and green caps for their respective baits)
        -Beefalo Wool( For spinnerbaits, but you can just use the regular flyer spoon baits

It's a very rough estimate but should give the idea. And of course you'll need the bare essentials to survive, and even after all that. I usually end up dying because im too afraid to say no to people wanting to board my boat and come along with me, haha. Although I actually really like this resource sink and all the diverse resources, it feels like im taking something from each biome in the game and creating a boat out of all of it.

11 hours ago, Canis said:

I agree with OP entirely. Hell, I founded Uncompromising Mode with this very mindset.

Stop acting like you've created the best mod in existence.

[MondayNight]

3 hours ago, Shosuko said:

I think its a bit funny though - we have this camp here that thinks deerclops eye, a boss loot, is game breaking because it gives 100% wetness protection and Tam makes sanity inconsequential, and then we have people who think boss loot is worthless when toadstool gives a light source that can almost last a full in game year, and is infinite if you manage to get your world through winter feast, and bee queen gives a hat that reverses sanity auras...

Depends in what part of the Survival Sandbox spectrum you lean further. People more into Survival over Sandbox usually are deeper into fighting and nomad play-style plus are the ones demanding harder general world setup in mid-to-late game. They are the ones pointing at survival-oriented gear for said play-style as being "OP"/"negating game aspects" (Eyebrella, Tam O'). On other hand, people more into Sandbox over Survival usually are more into base-building with decorative elements, elaborate stationary farms and automation. They are the type cherishing base-building loot like Toad's bp lights, while the Survival-centered crowd disregard such items as "worthless" (and for their respective play-style it might very well be the case). Aside some bias, it's ok to have such opinions. Problem is when you lobby for one play-style over the other, thinking yours is the default/as-intended one and all people should use it in various degrees. And then is the extreme case of a tiny-but-vocal minority from the Survival/fighting-enthusiasts camp on these forums demanding basically DST becoming a giant mob/boss-rush Battle Arena with their profuse wave-mobs/bosses periodical attacks proposals (multiple hostile mob-waves and all raid bosses becoming mandatory seasonal variants perpetually chasing players no-matter-what) alongside environmental dangers that practically invalidate any form of base-building aside disposable minimalistic camps (to top it off, some of these lobbyists even slide well into the low-end Dunning-Kruger effect-sample) - and imo they are "tripping hard" and out-of-touch firstly with what the core of this game is and was: Survival Sandbox - both facets with a large foreshore of possibilities in between.

 

Regarding OP, I believe some old mechanics could benefit from small QoL tweaks, nothing major (no total revamps). For example Insanity at 0 levels for extended periods of time could spawn 1-2 more variants of regular Shadow Creatures or make current iterations a bit stronger via increased HP and slightly different attack patters. Plus new mechanics like weather/atmospheric effects (hail, blizzards, chilly and sunny hot rain, fog over land and sea in different seasons or/and when raining, ice patches over Ocean close to shore, icebergs on the open Seas, etc) occurring after certain in-game years passed so as to not further steepen DST's learning curve (won't be fair to newcomers in relation to past/current requirements from beginners). Years of general famine when plants wither and animals become scarce could also be a direction and variation on the 4 normal seasons, via an RNG component after, again, some in-game time passed. And ofc there's the theoretical 1-step-incrementation in difficulty via some major FW-like boss take-down (DST "hardmode" player-side trigger) upping general Survival elements we talked about in past - a possible direction to go with. Time will tell what "Return of Them" might ultimately bring, yet hoping for some mechanics akin the old "Through the Ages" concepts.

[zVince]

I think the developers don't want to change the game progression in early game too much. The proof of this is the addition of the new mechanics (Boats, Enlightenment, fishing...) more focused on Mid-Late Game. I agree that the game needs new mechanics, it's been a long time since something challenging is added (like the additions of New Reign). A clear example of mechanics that could make the game more fun/challenging are some things added in the mod "Uncompromising Mode".

[Hornete]

3 minutes ago, zVince said:

The proof of this is the addition of the new mechanics (Boats, Enlightenment, fishing...) more focused on Mid-Late Game

Really? I've always seen boats, fishing and what not as an early game thing. And I'm really happy with it too! It's more playstyles for surviving and I absolutely love trying out new playstyles to survive instead of sticking to one thing.

Something I hope to see once RoT is done, is the lunar island/moon magic stuff be a sort of alternative to Ruins stuff. You could choose to go either the ruins or the lunar island first which I would really love. The idea of either moon magic or nightmare magic is a really fun idea I find