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What does the community think of the state of dst?


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Hello, new thread.

So in late 2019-early 2020 the forum community was engaging in some discussions regarding dst's difficulty and old mechanics like sanity. I've made a few threads where I talked about progression, someone proposed the idea of expanding the Y axis and another person made an open letter to Klei.

Whether it was those threads or not the devs decided to put this in the 2020 roadmap:

image.thumb.png.58e98be825bc46d02e207272d7d6be60.png

Back then I thought the devs meant 'This isn't our focus right now because we're working on the Wendy's rework' but apparently that meant 'This isn't our focus right now because we're worikng on RoT'. I'm saying this cuz imo the devs didn't make any significant changes to the game's difficulty or old content.

Anyway...

That means that there's still room for the devs to address community's major requests. However those requests from the last year might be outdated.

Which is why I wanted to check what does the community think of the state of dst, 8 months after the roadmap? Do your wishes regarding dst differentiate from the ones you had in 2019?

That's it. This isn't my regular 'rambling about dst's mechanic'- thread

Discuss... I guess

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Hm, yeah overall we get new content on new part of the world so most of the previous game aspects haven’t changed much, even QoL updates, however good they're all, are more about implementing technical features. We did get some cool feature tho, survivor's favorite foods, cook book... a lot of these but none is about increasing the game base difficulty, all are about difficulty for going further (which is something players asked for and I'm happy about this decision) it's very little but progress have been made. Special mention for the Nightmare and Celestial war we unlock after the Archive activation...

Other than that, I don't think we have more to expect with RoT in regard of the player suggestions, Klei has probably enough to do with the planned story and roadmap. So the QoLs are probably the best candidates to do something with the redundancy topics : Disease, Beef Domestication, global re-balancing...

Maybe we could be more helpful to improve the game if we had the major axes of these updates in advance

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to me it really depends on my mood when it comes to difficulty so ill take whatever they can make the game harder and i will be okay with it they can also make it easier and ill be okay with it  

but what do i think of the state of dst?well the answer is simple its great.now personally im pretty new to dst (got it last year during December)so my opinion could for sure be different to a person whos been playing dst for longer than i but in my opinion dst is great its always nice to come back every month for a new update which will bring me some fun and enjoyment. the gameplay is simple yet really fun. the characters (who have been reworked)all feel unique and different from each other and generally the game is just fun 

thats all i really got to say hope you all have a wonderful day or night based on wherever you are in the world 

k bye

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I think there’s still a ton of things Klei plans to do with DST, when you look at it on paper DST is Klei’s version of Minecraft, Rainbow Siege or GTA Online- AKA Games that just continue to get updates for years and years and years rather then just releasing a whole new sequel.

Return of Them is what they’re Currently working on, which features RoT content, and alongside that Character Reworks, and alongside that QoL updates if need be.

CURRENTLY we Know the rest of Klei’s content plans for 2020/January 2021.

Were getting another “Big” Return of Them update in beta branch this Month, as well as that updates full release alongside Wintersfeast in December, after that in January we get Year of the Beefalo- Klei will then take a well deserved holiday break from creating content then (hopefully) go back to regularly planned content schedule.

I think considering how Covid-19 completely wrecked the entire world and colossally caused the gaming industry as a whole to have complications & delays- The content Klei has been putting out has been SuperB in light of all those complications.

But things like Elevated plots of land, harder difficulty modes, Archipelago style world generation, SW/Ham content compatibility, Gorge/Forge return, All of that is stuff that COULD be in their pipeline but isn’t the current focus right now.

Dont forget they’ve heavily hinted they want DST to be Cross-Platform capable, which that alone would be pretty huge in extending the amount of rooms you can find to join at any given time.

As an Xbox One player I can confirm that after most the kiddies go to bed our servers hit staggering lows of only 4-6 at night. During the day there can be 40-70 But that’s JUST Xbox One.

Making the game Cross-Play means that hopefully I can find more rooms to join after all the kids on Xbox Live have gone sleepy night night.

So that is a BIG Feature Klei teases often that I want to see happen.

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It's fine as it is. I don't have an opinion, one of the biggest reasons a good chunk of people miss when they make suggestions is that other people have different playstyles than them and therefore a varying view on something in the game. Another thing thing is that there's also people on places like Steam, Xbox, and Playstation. The people in those places have their own opinions as well. Or sometimes they're not very focused on it, or sometimes it may fit into the game it ones eyes but not in Klei's. 

So, I dunno. I just wanna kick back and see how it goes. If it happens, it happens.

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I wish that Kiel was focused on getting things focused on something instead of these one thing updates that leave people who have game burn out going: Oh cool but this feeling will only last a day until I feel burned out again, what is a reason to come back to the same unaccomplished feeling of being forever in a state of being unable to get to a point where you can feel proud about how much work you've done. :concern: You feel a lack of accomplishment after days of playing the same thing over and over and crave something intresting to happen! Why not be ABLE to BE IN the war between either the Moon or the Grue/THEM, like how the Celestial altars = Mysterious Energy  why not something that is like the opposite where you can JOIN the Grue to fight the moon? And each have advantages and disadvantages to make it feel balanced but super fun!  (Am I the Only one who wishes to see what that could be like?!) :rolleyes:  

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1 minute ago, Pinkamena11FazP said:

I wish that Kiel was focused on getting things focused on something instead of these one thing updates that leave people who have game burn out going: Oh cool but this feeling will only last a day until I feel burned out again, what is a reason to come back to the same unaccomplished feeling of being forever in a state of being unable to get to a point where you can feel proud about how much work you've done. :concern:

Taking a break is fine, burnouts are inevitable to players and it's pretty much impossible for the dev do to anything about it. Play something else and return when you feel like it. :encouragement:

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1 hour ago, ADM said:

Maybe we could be more helpful to improve the game if we had the major axes of these updates in advance

Do you mean like the knowledge of the update months before it's released? I don't think that's possible.

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I think the most important factor here is that we should all just give Klei time, no one in 2017 (I think that’s when I bought DST) would have ever been able to predict that two years later the cardboard cut out purely cosmetic ocean would become its own living breathing sailable thing.

For people to sit & say Ideas like Elevated foundations of land will Never happen, Is a direct Insult to the things we thought would never happen, & Klei went & did anyway.

 

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10 minutes ago, Szczuku said:

Do you mean like the knowledge of the update months before it's released? I don't think that's possible.

It could, right ? I'm only talking about quality of life updates and before the development starts, so we can discuss, maybe vote then plan what could be better... sure it's a lot to ask for but that could avoid possible mistakes we often see during 1-2 weeks of beta testing once almost everything if finished

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I don't think the core game has really changed in any substantial way since launch. QoL updates have helped, but they are still small compared to the content that was removed.

(Edit: Character refreshes have been a mixed bag, Wendy was over buffed but over all good, Wigfrid seemed to fail to have any impact, and Woodie has turned into a completely different character from DS)

 

In fact, we lost the Dragonfly as a seasonal giant, and she was replaced with sinkholes, the most pathetic """threat""" in the game.

You can no longer overheat in caves, and sandstorms completely delete wildfires, so summer over all has been heavily nerfed.

And the Gmoose doesn't land near players bases, instead they have fixed spots.

 

People seem generally mixed on the resource variants, no one seems to like them over vanilla for the most part, and disease was dropped from ever becoming something more interesting.

Klei is focusing on mini game / time wasting activities that don't seem to have much of an impact on the core "Uncompromising Survival" tagline of the game, I hope that once Return of Them is complete they will focus on adding content that you HAVE to interact with, rather than content you CHOOSE to interact with after becoming bored of the main game.

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maybe this is just because i started on solo and have been on the other side of development but i am quite impressed with all the constant updates and upgrades. things like the clean sweep from totally normal trees and the ability to finally build against water and the reduced fertilizer requirements in advanced plots on top of a whole new character, an entirely new biome AND gobs of recipes including ones that utilized a very old resource(leafy meat) i cannot be anything other than impressed. things have moved swiftly and in a larger quantity than pretty much any other game i have ever been in the community of/worked on. i know that people who are ignorant of how game development and production works will not have an understanding of the extreme multitude of things that all have to happen for even tiny changes to be made or small things to be added but as someone who does know it i wouldnt even dare accuse them of slacking and am consistently pleased even when the update isnt for me specifically

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How to change Meta: Play with random Season Start Times & Random Season lengths- When you wind up fighting Deerclops or a Bearger for the 16th consecutive time in less then a 40 day span.. you’ll Wish for one of two things-

Bosses to have adjustable health sliders because if they have to be that damn frequent they have to be easier to deal with- OR you’ll just turn them off completely and ignore their existence which is what I do when I play under Random Season & Season Length.

Otherwise you WILL fight these bosses to the point you groan and get sick of hearing so much as their announcement sounds.

When I hear the Meta of DST hasn’t changed I laugh my butt off at that thought- Willow became the self designated best nightmare fuel farming source in the entire game.. How is that Meta NOT changed?

oh wait- Pick Willow = Ban cause I’m scared of her super Spooky lighter, I guess that makes sense.

My POINT is that there’s been wide sweeping changes to DST that you may not see it, but definitely DO change the way people play.

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1 hour ago, Scrimbles said:

In fact, we lost the Dragonfly as a seasonal giant, and she was replaced with sinkholes, the most pathetic """threat""" in the game.

Sinkholes occur throughout the summer though, while DFly only spawns at the end of summer. Sure, DFly is a lot more of a threat to a whole base, but getting sinkholes as early as 7-8 days with little warning time can do disasters things to new players.
 

1 hour ago, Scrimbles said:

You can no longer overheat in caves, and sandstorms completely delete wildfires, so summer over all has been heavily nerfed.

Going to split this up into caves and sandstorms:

Caves: You carried one additional inventory slot with you, and did one of the two methods: Either hold a thermal stone and swap it in an icebox (which at that point, you can spare a gear to prebuild an icebox) once a day, or use a luxury fan once a day. Keep in mind you also had tier 3 insulation against heat the entire time. Dealing with summer heat in caves was a 10-20 second inconvenience per day at best. This applied to winter too, which DST lacks insulation for (in fact, it even rains down there frequently as well)

Sandstorms: It's a single biome. If that biome happens to be very small or in an suboptimal location (I have a meteor field next to mine, for instance) you cannot do anything about it. I would much rather go into the caves if I want to escape the summer wildfires, the same as I did in DS.

DS also has the advantage of basically making anywhere be wildfire proof via the magic conch or dribble pipes. Or if you really want to stay in one world, a telelocator staff is much more consistent for rain in DS then it is in DST.
 

1 hour ago, Scrimbles said:

I hope that once Return of Them is complete they will focus on adding content that you HAVE to interact with, rather than content you CHOOSE to interact with after becoming bored of the main game.

I really don't like more content that you must interact with, especially in DS/T where you will just use the easiest method to deal with it. For instance, when Hamlet added the aporkalypse clock, it's far easier after the first time to just build 2 focuses and manually reset the clock to right after the aporkalypse ends, so it just turns into something you need to deal with after 8 hours, and all it takes is a minute of downtime, 6 purple gems (in Hamlet, no less...), 40% of a staff, and 100 sanity.

I already get annoyed with hound attacks being something forced and inconsistent (ranging from 3-7 days is a significant timeframe of unpredictability), and unless the new content has a unique way of sufficing something or has a highly unique gimmick I don't think it will be tolerated well at all.

(Everything else I don't really have a major opinion on, one way or another)

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No doubt the core of DST has changed very little. The game is a survival game for the first year, and then shifts focus to base-building & optional challenges henceforth. It's hard to even imagine it going back to its survival roots because that would essentially push back the base-building aspect. After a full year, like 8~ hours, you're more or less 'free' of things getting in your way, so you can build to your hearts content. Let's say they add new challenges to year 2, year 3 or beyond(as many, myself included want). This would ultimately considerably push back when that other portion of the game comes into play (16+ hours).

A lot of the new content just feels tacked on, because that's exactly what it is. Reign of Giants was the last DLC/update that added to the core loop. We got new environmental dangers, new core biomes, and new encroaching bosses. Other than Antlion (which essentially just replaced Dragonfly), we haven't gotten anything like that—Ewecus kind of? 

It seemed like "Through the Ages" was going to provide the exact ever-changing world that some of us were looking for, but that died out after the addition of a couple alt resources in favor of "A New Reign". I very much wouldn't mind this update being returned to, expanding on resource variants, disease and the like. But no doubt some core-mechanics need to be looked at as well—primarily farming & cooking.

I've always gone on about how interesting it could be if the world was more "alive". What if the ocean wasn't sailable until part-way through spring? You're just minding your own business and then you hear a SPLOOSH as giant waves crash into the mainland. The Lunar Grotto in the caves naturally spreads (up until a point), and the Archive is only revealed after a certain earthquake. You start hearing horrible sounds coming from the Sinkholes because you haven't explored them enough yet. Maybe the bees start becoming super hostile year round, spreading quick, and attacking quicker. Lunar Mutants start reaching the mainland because you haven't done 'something' on the Lunar Island yet. Or waves begin flooding the beaches because Crab King has finally awoke from his slumber. Heck, if we're talking something new—maybe later hound waves include Vargs but there's a massive Wolf Boss that spawns somewhere which can be killed to reset the wave difficulty.

Some of these could just be one-off's while some could be every X in-game years or so (not necessarily every year). Doesn't matter either way, just something to promote & push the players into exploring more of the Don't Starve world.

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3 hours ago, Pinkamena11FazP said:

I wish that Kiel was focused on getting things focused on something instead of these one thing updates

Let's not forget, Klei stated they could either release updates incrementally (which is what they chose), or release 1 giant update which would have taken much much longer to complete and deliver. I'm pretty sure this statement/Klei's decision happened pre-covid. Had they chose 1 large update, there is no telling what state the update would be in right now. 

I like they route they took, and I'd imagine it gave them a lot more room to make changes/additions on the fly.

As for the state of the game, I'd have to say it is in a good place. I like to remember DST is an old game at this point. To be honest it was pretty much right where it needed to be before all the big updates started arriving. The fact that Klei continues to add substantial content, pretty much all free, is amazing. I won't lie, even being a proponent of all the new water content I was a bit surprised that the focus stayed on the water for so long, but the recent update feels like the direction has been turned back toward the "Return of Them", which I think is what we all really want to see.

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What I would like is a lag prediction model that isn't detrimental to the player.  If lag prediction is only 100% client side that just screws up anyone using it. Being the early game queen of resources that is Wendy is great, but I'd like to play other characters too and not feel like I chopped my left arm off.

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58 minutes ago, Maxil20 said:

Sinkholes occur throughout the summer though, while DFly only spawns at the end of summer. Sure, DFly is a lot more of a threat to a whole base, but getting sinkholes as early as 7-8 days with little warning time can do disasters things to new players.

For NEW players only, anyone who has experienced sinkholes for the first time can simply walk out of base for a few seconds, and the problem is over. Compared to the Dragonfly, who is a huge destructive force and the hardest giant in the game.

59 minutes ago, Maxil20 said:


Caves: You carried one additional inventory slot with you, and did one of the two methods: Either hold a thermal stone and swap it in an icebox (which at that point, you can spare a gear to prebuild an icebox) once a day, or use a luxury fan once a day. Keep in mind you also had tier 3 insulation against heat the entire time. Dealing with summer heat in caves was a 10-20 second inconvenience per day at best. This applied to winter too, which DST lacks insulation for (in fact, it even rains down there frequently as well)

DS also has the advantage of basically making anywhere be wildfire proof via the magic conch or dribble pipes. Or if you really want to stay in one world, a telelocator staff is much more consistent for rain in DS then it is in DST.

The fact is you still have to prep for the problem, and if you decided to delay that prep or take certain risks, you can put yourself in a situation where you will suffer hard.

Now there's just no need.

Also, you're talking about making areas fire proof by using two items that come from a DLC, or having to use up a purple gem and staff charge just to temporarily delay wildfires, both of which still take effort, are temporary, and are outclassed by sitting in a biome and avoiding the problem with no effort.

1 hour ago, Maxil20 said:

Sandstorms: It's a single biome. If that biome happens to be very small or in an suboptimal location (I have a meteor field next to mine, for instance) you cannot do anything about it. I would much rather go into the caves if I want to escape the summer wildfires, the same as I did in DS.

Assuming its anywhere near a decent location it is worth basing in an Oasis, and like you said, if not, you just go into caves.

Where you then don't have to bother combating over heating anyways.

 

1 hour ago, Maxil20 said:

I really don't like more content that you must interact with, especially in DS/T where you will just use the easiest method to deal with it. For instance, when Hamlet added the aporkalypse clock, it's far easier after the first time to just build 2 focuses and manually reset the clock to right after the aporkalypse ends, so it just turns into something you need to deal with after 8 hours, and all it takes is a minute of downtime, 6 purple gems (in Hamlet, no less...), 40% of a staff, and 100 sanity.

I already get annoyed with hound attacks being something forced and inconsistent (ranging from 3-7 days is a significant timeframe of unpredictability), and unless the new content has a unique way of sufficing something or has a highly unique gimmick I don't think it will be tolerated well at all.

Winter, Spring, Summer, Deerclops, Gmoose, Dragonfly, Bearger, Lureplants, Hounds, Hunger, Sanity, these are all things you are forced to prepare and interact with.

Don't Starve is BUILT upon these threats to survival. I fail to see why people have just stopped caring about the content that MAKES Don't Starve the game it is.

 

I fail to see any of the logic in the arguments above, you are pointing out that yes, the threats aren't as much of a problem in Don't Starve Together as they are in Don't Starve. And also that you don't like the Aporkalypse.

And of course people are liking your post because its a bunch of people who recognize me and are okay with the game no matter where its headed, because they don't care.

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4 hours ago, Dr. Safety said:

I think it's fine. I'd personally prefer them to focus more on character refreshes before venturing further in game content, but I'm the minority for that so I'm absolutely fine with what they have been doing.

I kind of agree with you but the problem is I feel like had they done this people would have began to hound them for new content in the world.

But I'm pretty happy with how things have been going with DST, admittedly I was bummed when the focus of RoT became more about the ocean than the lunar stuff, but I know they couldn't have left the ocean empty, so I don't fault them too much for that. I'm hoping as we seemingly reach the climax of RoT that will see more Lunar content.

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I like the game just like this. It lets you plan ahead and take "routes" when killing Bosses and then starting to base build. Just to make the resources farm easier and stacking items to keep building the base in a desired area. After that you start working in little projects while also not forgetting to farm the bosses like a schedule. It really has a perfect balance and i like the devs understand that. New biomes that need puzzles to interact and solve stuff was a great idea with the last addition. 
Maybe the axis thing its in standby but besides that.. i trust Klei direction of the game. 

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54 minutes ago, Scrimbles said:

For NEW players only, anyone who has experienced sinkholes for the first time can simply walk out of base for a few seconds, and the problem is over. Compared to the Dragonfly, who is a huge destructive force and the hardest giant in the game.

Except for dragonfly, you can also do a similar thing: prep 20 ashes, walk away from your base, feed the ashes to DFly, wait for it to sleep, and walk away. New players can easily do that, and I highly doubt they would desire fighting it for scales.

Even for experienced players you can get caught in the sinkholes. It's not likely, but I have certainty had mistakes before involving them.
 

58 minutes ago, Scrimbles said:

The fact is you still have to prep for the problem, and if you decided to delay that prep or take certain risks, you can put yourself in a situation where you will suffer hard.

You have like 4 days of warning time when summer starts in the caves before you overheat. I never in any circumstance had major issues involving getting prepared with summer in the caves either. 2 thermals are only 20 rocks, 10 flint, and 4 twigs, which you can and will find in the caves. Heck, you could even find one of the cave bases with an icebox so you don't need to go into the ruins.

 

1 hour ago, Scrimbles said:

Also, you're talking about making areas fire proof by using two items that come from a DLC, or having to use up a purple gem and staff charge just to temporarily delay wildfires, both of which still take effort, are temporary, and are outclassed by sitting in a biome and avoiding the problem with no effort.

I would much rather go out of my way to get these items then sit in a single biome for 2 hours every single time summer rolls around. And as I said, DS/T caves are my go to anyways.
 

1 hour ago, Scrimbles said:

Winter, Spring, Summer, Deerclops, Gmoose, Dragonfly, Bearger, Lureplants, Hounds, Hunger, Sanity, these are all things you are forced to prepare and interact with.

The only realistic threats that comes from DS are bearger/deerclops/DFly, and every giant is not even guaranteed to spawn each season (It's a 67% chance). Meanwhile in DST deerclops's timer mechanic makes it spawn extremely consistently, Moose/Goose could cause multiple problems depending on how the nests are laid out, and Bearger never goes away. And don't forget, DS hounds can be pan fluted, so even that threat is trivial.

Hunger/HP/Sanity are the same things you deal with in DS: eat food, wear clothes, wear your armor, profit. I would even go as far as saying DS stat management is easier due to their always being only one player and armor stacking making you take miniscule amounts of damage from fights.
 

1 hour ago, Scrimbles said:

I fail to see any of the logic in the arguments above, you are pointing out that yes, the threats aren't as much of a problem in Don't Starve Together as they are in Don't Starve. And also that you don't like the Aporkalypse.

Well, at least you got the aporkalypse part right.
 

1 hour ago, Scrimbles said:

And of course people are liking your post because its a bunch of people who recognize me and are okay with the game no matter where its headed, because they don't care.

These people also care about where the game is heading. It might not be where you want it to go, but they do care about where it goes. 

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