This bug fix was huge and overlooked

[Bird Up 2176]

I played for about 5-6 years and this bug had been around since as long as I can remember. 

On 10/22/2020 at 12:57 PM, Jason said:

Fixed a bug causing shadow creatures to stop spawning sometimes.

If shadow creatures entered the unloaded part of the screen, they used to stay there indefinitely until it was reloaded. This meant that if you had 2 of your shadows in the unloaded screen, then you would never get shadows to spawn near you so long as those 2 shadows stayed unloaded (2 is the max number of shadows you personally can have spawn on you). This has been a part of the game as long as i can remember, and thus it's been the game that we have all played for years. Now that this bug was fixed, nightmare creatures by definition are going to be appearing a lot more often than not. Shadow crawlers used to end up in the unloaded screen all the time because they are very slow and you can outrun them, and also they easily became unloaded when you jump in a wormhole. I'm wondering if the ultimate effect of increasing nightmares in general was intended. The bug fix makes it so that if shadows enter the unloaded screen, they immediately vanish instead of staying there indefinitely. When they vanish, they can then spawn around you like normal. 

I play nomad style, always running long distances, not stopping much, so shadows always trailed behind me, so I experienced this glitch all the time - probably every game I've played. In recent days I've noticed this bug was fixed because I can't do anything I used to do without having to kill a shadow every 20 seconds if I am insane. 

I've listed what I know and my perspective, and I understand that this will DEFINITELY encourage raising your sanity well above the sanity threshold, because you can't escape shadows no matter what. That is maybe the intent behind the change - sanity is much more important since after thursday's patch. I'm wondering what some long time players think about the change and if they have noticed it as much as I have. 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Bird Up

[ShyRo-Zyerenzy 171]

more nightmare fuel but hurts boss fights, so .. yes more preparation 

[Caochu 812]

F I N A L L Y

Spoiler

EdgyRick got karmaed really bad for badmouthing Warly on Youtube I guess 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Caochu

[Bird Up 2176]

Looks like my days of being insane 24/7 are over 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Bird Up

[KeshS 4245]

Back in the day when Woodie was only beaver, I occasionally made speed runs to scout the whole map. Having a terrorbeak chase you all the time proved better results, running is still a viable option.

On the bright side I don't have to wait forever for shadow creatures to spawn when I play Maxwell.

[ArubaroBeefalo 6001]

now works like it should. Was so ridiculous to be at 0 sanity for hours and any shadow disturbing you even in boss fights. That and turning off insanity effects = insanity does nothing

now the mechanic works and you need to have in mind that you will fight shadows

[Pikapikap 1462]

Glad klei fixed the bug

[Well-met 4339]

This explains a lot of things lol

[SonicDen220 2113]

I'm kinda glad this bug got fixed, because with it farming nightmare fuel was way slower than it should be.

[Mike23Ua 8377]

I personally like it, Wendy’s biggest Weakness that Abigail will just stand idly by and not help her with AT ALL.

[Well-met 4339]

1 minute ago, Mike23Ua said:

I personally like it, Wendy’s biggest Weakness that Abigail will just stand idly by and not help her with AT ALL.

play willow then

[ArubaroBeefalo 6001]

3 minutes ago, Well-met said:

play willow then

he is right. This bug made wendy stronger since she could avoid fighting the only thing that she fights with 0.75 damage

[Mike23Ua 8377]

I have played Willow and I love her rework  but Wendy will always be my main, I enjoyed Willows refresh though 100%
 

I’m starting to think that DST might actually have some of those features that piles more monsters into the game.. based on how many players are in the world/ have been in the world.. because- You say only two shadows can spawn after a player at a time, but I’ve had 5 or more attacking me at once.. there were other players In the server.. but none of them near me.

The same thing happens with hound waves- you get significantly less hounds after you when playing alone.. but if other players join the session it’s like the game spawns more hounds to try and force team work.

I like that players can’t just out run shadows anymore and actually have to fight them now, I’m pretty sure this change ALSO effects the at Sea Insanity Mobs like TerrorClaw.

Also they changed the name of Terrorbeak to Nightmare Beak probably because people confused it with being too close to TerrorClaw?

[Viktor234 5236]

3 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Also they changed the name of Terrorbeak to Nightmare Beak probably because people confused it with being too close to TerrorClaw?

Terrorbeak and Nightmarebeak are two totally different mobs: The Terrorbeak spawns via insanity, targets only insane characters or characters who attack shadows and grants +33 sanity if killed. The Nightmarebreak spawns via nightmares, targets everyone and doesn't grant sanity on death.

[x0-VERSUS-1y 6337]

Yes, is good this bug/exploit was fixed.

Was even funny how certain people complained in past Insanity mechanic "isn't a real threat/is a joke" ..but were the same people using the Shadows-unload bug to escape insanity con. Now, whatever one does, sooner-rather-than-later one needs to fight Shadow Creatures when Insane; and if one persists being insane, constant Shadows fighting will happen - as intended. And imo is a good thing. Glad to see KLei finally addresses the bug/exploit issues.

 

In same train of thoughts the Gate-out-of-Boarders-into-Abyss and massive Krampi spawn via killing Glommer with the N-Blowdarts-stuck-in-diagonally-placed-wall exploits when will be fixed as well? (just pointing 2 of the more problematic ones from plethora of DST bugs/exploits)

Edited October 27, 2020 by x0-VERSUS-1y

[Maxil20 1234]

Honestly it is a nice chance. I always hated shadows being inconsistent, and this definitely makes them have a presence.

As for impact, I honestly can’t say I haven’t noticed much. Granted my sanity is usually above 50% 90% of the time, but lapsing into and out of insanity hasn’t been too bad for me, since there’s usually one crawling horror when you enter insanity. Once you kill it you don’t have to deal with them for around 3 minutes, depending on outside sources. Chances are if you Engage shadows, you likely are away from other threats as well.

Now for boss fights it does get a lot more complicated, but a bit of extra prep isn’t the end of the world. Just bring a few cactus or whatever sanity sources and most Raid bosses shouldn’t be a threat, with the exception of Fuelweaver (which already needs a load of sanity food or items, anyway).

[Cheggf 1294]

On one hand, now nightmare fuel will be easier to collect. On the other hand, now you can't ignore the possible penalties of low sanity and will have to deal with the consequences of it or prevent it from happening.

Both hands are good. I'm going all in.

[ShadowDuelist 7633]

The new insanity changed entirely how to play the game, I mean shadows spawning so often IS a threat. Even if you know how to fight them perfectly, you will get tired or distract, sooner or later: being sane is something desirable in the long run.

I've also been dropping a bernie (as non willow) whenever I know I'll be working for an extended period of time on a specific task and insanity is a possibility, so I can finish the damn thing without having to fight every 40 seconds.

Woodie's weregoose got an indirect nerf as well, if you run around the world through the water like I used to do while seeking the lunar island, you will get the new water shadows teleporting right in your face and sucker punching you sooner or later, as they keep teleporting to you non stop.

On the bright side, I think I got a chest of nightmare fuel passively just defending myself, in less than 100 days. I now just litter nightmarefuel everywhere I go, since I have much more than I can use. (Perhaps it opens a window of usage for nightmare lights?)

I'm not sure how I feel about this change, it is pretty annoying, but maybe I just have to adapt my playstyle again to at least try to be sane more often.

[ArubaroBeefalo 6001]

2 minutes ago, ShadowDuelist said:

The new insanity changed entirely how to play the game, I mean shadows spawning so often IS a threat. Even if you know how to fight them perfectly, you will get tired or distract, sooner or later: being sane is something desirable in the long run.

I've also been dropping a bernie (as non willow) whenever I know I'll be working for an extended period of time on a specific task and insanity is a possibility, so I can finish the damn thing without having to fight every 40 seconds.

Woodie's weregoose got an indirect nerf as well, if you run around the world through the water like I used to do while seeking the lunar island, you will get the new water shadows teleporting right in your face and sucker punching you sooner or later, as they keep teleporting to you non stop.

On the bright side, I think I got a chest of nightmare fuel passively just defending myself, in less than 100 days. I now just litter nightmarefuel everywhere I go, since I have much more than I can use. (Perhaps it opens a window of usage for nightmare lights?)

I'm not sure how I feel about this change, it is pretty annoying, but maybe I just have to adapt my playstyle again to at least try to be sane more often.

lureplant farm has become a must xD

[Mike23Ua 8377]

I throughly enjoyed the difficulty of DS single player, DST has been significantly easier then DS single player for such a long time now that it almost felt like a complete genre flip- We went from intense survival game, to mostly peaceful base building friend simulator.

I used to die ALOT in DS single player because of things like obsidian walls that block progress to the resources I desperately need that require me to reach a certain sanity threshold to by pass- THIS paired on top of other challenges (such as trying not to freeze to death or die to the shadow creatures that won’t stop chasing you) made the game much much harder then DST ever dreamed of being.

I like this change- maybe more people will die in Winter because they can’t balance running for their life from the pursuing shadows long enough to go into an eating animation or keep their Thermal Stones heated up so they don’t freeze to death.

DST needs to bring back at least SOME of DS single player levels of difficulty, even if that harder content is placed somewhere off on distant islands across the ocean.

 

[Bird Up 2176]

Springs will be pretty messy. Everyone loses their sanity to wetness and sits at base. There's going to be a lot of nightmare fighting at spring bases :P

I'm fine with fixing bugs, biggest point I make is that the bug was super common, and therefore shadows will be around a lot more. I'm not a game designer, but if one fixes a bug which then makes shadows appear more often, then sometimes bug fixes like that would be compensated by lowering the nightmare spawn rate a little. 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Bird Up

[ButterStuffed 1921]

About time.

Wonder if Bernie will see more use now.

[Shosuko 2565]

Its a good fix.  Now they need to do something similar with the merms.  When they get unloaded they should get a timer and go back to their homes.  I hate losing merms in the world randomly lol