A crazy idea to shake things to its core.

[Mike23Ua]

Lately I’ve been playing ALOT of shipwrecked and Hamlet and there’s a lot of differences between those and DST.. the dangers are more challenging (you can literally die from having a coconut dropped on your head at low health while trying to scramble to get food cause your starving) the world is significantly less predictable (there are mobs that will rummage through your storage chests taking what they want like Pog, The trees you chop or vines you chop have chances to spawn Snakes or Scorpions,) It occurs to me that DST a game that was advertised and sold to me as and I quote “Explore randomly generated worlds where everything hates you & wants you to die.”

When has this EVER been the case in DST? Most biomes ALWAYS have the same predictable mobs or resources and for a game that the developers feel so strongly about random loot percent drop chances (seriously the chances to get cookie cutter shells is highly annoying…) This game is actually LACKING RNG where it should matter the MOST.

Making the world less predictable repeating the same old routine over and over and over again.

So today I’m going to bring forth some (probably crazy) suggestions on how Klei can really change this game and add RNG where it should matter the MOST.. the first and most obvious of those things is making it so chopping trees ANY Trees of any sort in any biome will have a % chance to spawn a Mob of some sort- Could be a hostile Snake, Could be a hostile Scorpion, could be just a mostly passive bird or squirrel that steals the trees food source and scurries away with it so you have to chase them down and kill them to get the foods back- Whatever it is… it makes empty biomes actually have something to be engaged with.

It doesn’t just extend to chopping trees, Spiky bushes could for example: have a chance to spawn snakes when you attempt to pluck them.

Or Plucking Grass could have a chance to spawn a small bug like Weavole from the Hamlet DLC

Chopping Trees with food in their branches could have a chance of having that same Shipwrecked style gameplay of Kegging you on top the noggin.

Plucking Kelp in the ocean could be kelp.. or it could be a Kelpy monster in disguise as Kelp..

While we’re at it port over the stone slabs from hamlet you could flip over for resources and let THOSE also have a chance to spawn creatures.

I would even go so far as to say make the Boulders players mine with a Pickaxe once broken have a chance to drop the resources we so boringly know they will drop, OR drop these little guys which LOOK like rock chunks but are well this instead upon trying to pick them up-

My problem with DST is that it DOES NOT have these moments of unpredictable random encounters with mobs- so everything just ends up being this same old boring routine of go here, collect this resource- prepare for this boss or season rinse repeat…

And what blows my mind is your single player DLCs made things exciting again by adding that random chance of having scorpion, snake, Piko drop out your trees- And Despite DST being a NEWER game with constant monthly updates…. It still has yet to match up to anything on this scale.

And remember before anyone says NO to any of this Klei literally added a toggle option full of wonderful things you can toggle on/off more and less over- so if you don’t like the ideas brought about here: Then simply play with these RNG encounters off..

But I think everyone who is tired of the same old predictable routine of chopping, mining, gathering and strolling through large empty highly familiar biomes with no much to actually do in them would love this change.

Come on Klei… I Want DST to actually FEEL like a game that’s getting updates in 2022… You guys probably sit around your homes/offices thinking “how do we make our games as popular as Minecraft?” THIS is How, with the technology and gameplay mechanics you’ve had for YEARS that I see great potential within..

You guys added a menu of things players can toggle on/off more/less You’ve been tirelessly busting your behinds to update characters with new gameplay mechanics and utility… 

I feel as if this is the next Big step for the franchise- I can’t say for certain it will be.. but what I do know is with more power in our characters abilities and a menu to literally turn things on/off more/less as we see fit to do so: You guys should no longer be afraid of adding huge sweeping changes to the game- Even if these are toggled to OFF by Default… the people like myself who will flip through the toggles of what we can alter WILL find these experimental risky changes.

Its time we shake DST to its very core using mechanics and features you guys have been using in your dlcs & other Klei games for years.. Lets Amp things up to 11.

A game all about RNG loot drop chances needs some RNG in mob encounters.

If you took the time to read this thank you, just felt I really needed to get this rant off my chest today. Hopefully there are lots of other people who agree and actually want RNG mob encounters.

[VirgilEngineer]

I agree with this. Heck, why not make those random encounters happen after certain day? Or increase it's chances Of happening? The same way the treeguards spawn more often after some time. I would love to see more variety in late Game, more danger in late Game (the only thing that kills me in late Game are those hound waves). I want the world to feel alive and dangerous, in a rewarding way that doesn't frustrate You. Also please Klei make some resources renewable by those same random encounters. 

Like, You need fossils and bone shards? Make a random event after day 100 in some graveyards at night to spawn skeletons who drop loot (Spears, hats, armor, You know, things that players use), and those shards and fossils.

Need more berry bushes because all of them were burned? Make a Crow type Of merchant  who appears randomly at spawn or at your base (Like in the cawnival event) who sells you rare and non-renewable loot with gold! You end up with a Lot Of gold anyway. Etc, i can give ideas all day.

[Baark0]

3 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

 the first and most obvious of those things is making it so chopping trees ANY Trees of any sort in any biome will have a % chance to spawn a Mob of some sort

treeguard

also all it really sounds like youre suggesting is mobs that are going to have less than 300 hp and arent going to change gameplay at all, other than waste your time when trying to cut trees. if an animal steals pinecones (im assuming you mean the nuts when you say animals that steal a trees food), then this hardly matters early game since 1) most people dont grab pinecones early game and 2) just cut a different tree down. sure i guess it makes the world feel more alive, but personally i just find it annoying when im trying to get wood in hamlet and have to deal with some scorpion. the coconuts in shipwrecked are stupid btw, it's practically unavoidable damage just for trying to cut down a specific type of tree, the only tree that spawns treeguards in that version. all these changes would do is reinforce bearger being the best tree harvester around

idk, if you want those random events then just play hamlet/shipwrecked, i personally am fine with dst being taken in the direction of being more of a sandbox game

[Mike23Ua]

1 hour ago, Baark0 said:

treeguard

also all it really sounds like youre suggesting is mobs that are going to have less than 300 hp and arent going to change gameplay at all, other than waste your time when trying to cut trees. if an animal steals pinecones (im assuming you mean the nuts when you say animals that steal a trees food), then this hardly matters early game since 1) most people dont grab pinecones early game and 2) just cut a different tree down. sure i guess it makes the world feel more alive, but personally i just find it annoying when im trying to get wood in hamlet and have to deal with some scorpion. the coconuts in shipwrecked are stupid btw, it's practically unavoidable damage just for trying to cut down a specific type of tree, the only tree that spawns treeguards in that version. all these changes would do is reinforce bearger being the best tree harvester around

idk, if you want those random events then just play hamlet/shipwrecked, i personally am fine with dst being taken in the direction of being more of a sandbox game

Omg.. I can’t play Shipwrecked or Hamlet WITH FRIENDS.. And because I’m On console I can’t even install a MOD that does those things.. the entire point of this suggestion is to give myself and my friends more to do, more to fight, and more survival tactics then just what is currently available in DST, it’s entire DESIGN is to be annoying..

If you want to use Bearger for harvesting then no ones stopping you, if you want to turn off these random small mob encounters completely, again no ones stopping you from doing that either.. But I can tell you I’ve bought this game for about 15 different friends and they all pretty much say the same thing:

“Running around in large empty biomes gathering the same old resources is BORING.” And I highly agree with them..

Shipwrecked and Hamlet had great game features that would transfer over well into DST Shipwrecked and Hamlet are also old DLCs that are several years outdated now.

And to further rest my case: When MINECRAFT gets an update rather you like what they add to it or not- too bad your just tough out of luck because you can’t choose which mobs, biomes or features you want to turn off.. what they UPDATE is what your Stuck with..

With DST-  it’s different because There’s literally a menu full of things that lets you turn on and off most of if not even ALL of the games mobs, features and gameplay elements to play exactly HOW you want whenever you feel like playing that way.

So instead of dismissing this as something that shouldn’t happen at all- Explain why I should go play Single player DLCs instead of hope Klei incorporates those mechanics over into the Multiplayer version of the game so I can enjoy those additional mechanics and challenges with a friend?

Im not asking for them to port the entirety of Shipwrecked and Hamlet to DST- (though small themed islands would be great..) I’m asking them to take those same MECHANICS and apply them to some new wacky mobs exclusive to DST throughout the entire game world and not just in certain areas.

And by the way getting cracked in the head by a large hard fruit is hilarious- Thats why you should wear head armor trying to gather those fruit- Or as you said exploit a mob into being a lumberjack for you.

[zacqiang]

11 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

And because I’m On console I can’t even install a MOD that does those things.. the entire point of this suggestion is to give myself and my friends more to do, more to fight, and more survival tactics then just what is currently available in DST.

That's why the PC version and Steam workshop exist ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Time to invest in a PC to solely play DST with mods like the Uncompromising mod and The Forge / The Gorge ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[GenomeSquirrel]

You might not get the excited reaction you want. 

In most cases, I'd tank the snake for 3 seconds and get back to chopping wood.

In a more lazy mood, I could just plant trees near pigs/rabbit people/merms/spiders and let them kill it, or I could just burn switch to burning, hammering, and reconstructing a sign, switch to burning beefalo wool, ect

Remember that despite appearing innocent, many seemingly docile mobs have a hidden dark sides. Pigs turn evil full moons, Beef turn evil in winter, Rabbits turn evil if you have meat, Penguins turn evil after they get hungry enough. Vultures turn evil if you take their seed, Trees will eventually fight back, a giant bipedal deer with materialize from thin air to destroy everything around you, like the coconut in your post, rocks can fall from the caves and murder you, and Catcoons and Moles will rob you blind.

There's a lot of unexpected behavior, but after experiencing it, the thrill is gone. A hambat, some helmets, and a handful of perogis solves most of the games problems, and it's hard to shake things up when the game conditions you to preemptively solve them.

 

[Mike23Ua]

1 minute ago, zacqiang said:

That's why the PC version and Steam workshop exist ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Time to invest in a PC to solely play DST with mods like the Uncompromising mod and The Forge / The Gorge ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Unfortunately me buying a PC isn’t going to magically allow me to play the game with the other 15 people I’ve bought the game for.. the only thing that’s going to pull their interest back into the game is by Klei changing the entire foundation of the game- 

Lately Klei has been doing that by letting us make aspects of the game as easy or as hard as we want them to be with the QOL toggles.

Thats the Advantage DST has over Minecraft, you have a menu of things you can toggle on and off more or less over, With Minecraft you just stuck with whatever they choose to update the game with (really hate those skeletons who spawn in large groups on horses in a rainstorm by the way.. they kind of ruined Minecraft for me) but with DST- If they add something I don’t like (cough cough Seastacks) I can choose to have less of them or None at all.

And personally it’s not much different from someone building and neglecting a RWYS garden so it spawns flies right in your base.

[Gi-Go]

Who dosen't like random monsters out of nowhere? Yes, please more. 

[Baark0]

4 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Omg.. I can’t play Shipwrecked or Hamlet WITH FRIENDS.. And because I’m On console I can’t even install a MOD that does those things.. the entire point of this suggestion is to give myself and my friends more to do, more to fight, and more survival tactics then just what is currently available in DST, it’s entire DESIGN is to be annoying..

If you want to use Bearger for harvesting then no ones stopping you, if you want to turn off these random small mob encounters completely, again no ones stopping you from doing that either.. But I can tell you I’ve bought this game for about 15 different friends and they all pretty much say the same thing:

“Running around in large empty biomes gathering the same old resources is BORING.” And I highly agree with them..

Shipwrecked and Hamlet had great game features that would transfer over well into DST Shipwrecked and Hamlet are also old DLCs that are several years outdated now.

And to further rest my case: When MINECRAFT gets an update rather you like what they add to it or not- too bad your just tough out of luck because you can’t choose which mobs, biomes or features you want to turn off.. what they UPDATE is what your Stuck with..

With DST-  it’s different because There’s literally a menu full of things that lets you turn on and off most of if not even ALL of the games mobs, features and gameplay elements to play exactly HOW you want whenever you feel like playing that way.

So instead of dismissing this as something that shouldn’t happen at all- Explain why I should go play Single player DLCs instead of hope Klei incorporates those mechanics over into the Multiplayer version of the game so I can enjoy those additional mechanics and challenges with a friend?

Im not asking for them to port the entirety of Shipwrecked and Hamlet to DST- (though small themed islands would be great..) I’m asking them to take those same MECHANICS and apply them to some new wacky mobs exclusive to DST throughout the entire game world and not just in certain areas.

And by the way getting cracked in the head by a large hard fruit is hilarious- Thats why you should wear head armor trying to gather those fruit- Or as you said exploit a mob into being a lumberjack for you.

pretty sure klei doesnt want to port over things because then thered be no reason to play single player ds, thats why boats have a whole unique way of moving them instead of shipwrecked's wasd movement. also personally i dislike the excuse "you can turn it off" as an argument as for why things should be added. since the march qol update, the only thing that has been added to the world settings page has been midsummer cawnival, cant increase figs, gators, etc.

to the people who find running around biomes boring, why are they just wandering around biomes? dst is a game about setting your own goals, thats why there arent any achievements (at least in the pc version). but just to prove a point, lets say klei adds the random monsters youre suggesting, what does that change for them? now theyre running around empty biomes BUT with the chance of a random enemy spawning when they try to gather resources? that doesnt really make the biome any more full, newer players would probably just run away from the mob and get resources elsewhere, and veteran players just get annoyed that they now have to kill whatever spawned because they wanted to cut down a tree, not to mention people who are trying to decorate with trees now have to deal with random mobs spawning while theyre just trying to build. you could say hounds are the same thing, but hounds give ~30 seconds warning time.

youre entitled to your own opinions, but id rather klei focus on adding meaningful content to the game rather than small little nuisances. dst has always been a game about biomes having certain resources anyways, thats why reeds and cacti cant be moved. if you want to give your friends more things to do, try to set some goals for youselves, maybe kill 5 champions back to back, build a cool base.

[Baark0]

i mean if you arent finding food in a biome wouldnt that be a sign to leave the biome and go to one that does have food? youre also able to bring food into biomes, it's not like cube world where items are region locked. now i usually rush bq for bundle wraps so bringing food to places isnt hard, but even without bundle wraps food still lasts a decent amount of time, and ice chester exists too (albeit getting 9 blue gems early game can be somewhat difficult). the guano biome not having veggies is more a problem with the caves being empty as hell, if anyplace needs things shaken it, its the caves. thats kind of just one of those character specific quirks that you need to plan around, like wormwood healing for bosses

again, going back to my point of biomes having specific resources, some biomes are have food, some dont. you go to grasslands for berries/carrots, savannah for meat, forests for spider meat, etc.

idk maybe its just the tryhard 3.4k hours side of me saying food isnt an issue, i havent struggled to survive early game in years. random events sounds like a cool idea, the events should just be meaningful/interesting instead of the occasional random enemy from a tree or rock that dies in 3 hits.

[Mike23Ua]

8 hours ago, Baark0 said:

random events sounds like a cool idea, the events should just be meaningful/interesting instead of the occasional random enemy from a tree or rock that dies in 3 hits.

Well you see, RNG Mob encounters Are in DST & they have been part of the franchise since forever, But they have been Minimalistic & mostly obscure like this:

Yes that’s an enemy mob jumping out of a random tumbleweed I decided to open.

Its only in the DLC Expansions Shipwrecked and Hamlet that Klei really “Doubled Down” on these random small mob encounters.

It gives the players more to actually do, less they can actually predict, and something to laugh about with their friends like “Oh heck dude I just got attacked by Snake while just trying to chop a tree for resources”

And To your own point of wanting to build a base that has resources and no small mobs interfering: a new toggle to the QoL world settings and world generation options for something like

“Random small mob encounters while gathering resources?: Yes/No/More/Less”

[MisterMartin]

 

I strongly support that idea.

[DarkPulse91]

On 9/17/2021 at 12:30 PM, Mike23Ua said:

My problem with DST is that it DOES NOT have these moments of unpredictable random encounters with mobs-

Well, the ocean has a bit of RNG mob encounters. but the only issue is that most people dread said encounters. those being the useless rockjaws that do nothing but ruin your day and the annoying gnarwails that feel like they need to jump constantly and make waves everywhere and ruin your ability to catch fish.

So.. there are currently SOME KIND of random encounters, but they suck. we need better ones

[Mike23Ua]

I added game clips to the original post encase some Forum members have never played Hamlet. 
Enemies will also spawn from “Smashing Pots” but I don’t have a clip of that. 

Remember if you do not want these type mob encounters, then just like with Hunt Surprises I’m sure they can be toggled off.

[Mike23Ua]

I used to think that the reason random mob encounters were not in DST was because DST was a multiplayer game and having more enemies on screen could cause severe lag/server problems.. I USED TO THINK THIS- Until Klei added the QoL toggle that quite literally lets us increase the amounts of mobs that spawn in the game (aka Cookie cutters set to lots, etc.)

So with a clear example of Klei not being afraid to allow us to add “more” of a particular mob- Why is RNG encounters still not in the game?

Is it because they want to reserve that type of gameplay for very old dlcs for a single player game from 2013 Klei literally updated DST to include Reign of Giants DLC expansion as part of the core game, who is to say they don’t plan to do the same for Shipwrecked or Hamlets content?

Doesnt it make sense in a game with multiple players roaming around for THAT Version of the game to have the RNG mob encounters instead of just having that stuff tied exclusively to a now outdated single player version of the games DLC expansions?

The TL:DR- add a DST version of smashing pots from Hamlet so we can break those open for loot &/or not so fun enemy mobs.

Tumbleweeds (although very rarely) ALREADY do this in DST… it’s just in the Shipwrecked & Hamlet DLC’s Klei really doubled down on what DST is currently still after all the updates it’s been getting lacking: The Element of Surprise!

(no I will not count at sea encounters with RockJaw and Gnarwail because those simply aren’t nowhere near comparable as busting a vase in hopes for resources to be mauled by some enemy mob inside.)

I really wish someone at Klei after 3 years worth of content updates will at the very least explain WHY Don’t starve Together continues to lack these RNG elements of surprise encounters with non-boss common every day mobs.

[Mike23Ua]

I want to bring this thread back up from the Dead, partly because it’s October and Dead things rise again in the month of Spooky.. & more importantly because Personally I don’t see RNG small Mob encounters as being too much different from the current Hunt Surprises- What your looking for could turn out to be the Koalephant, or it could be something much worse.

I really hate any type of game that falls into a highly predictable pattern of do this, build that, wait for this to happen etc.. and I think Hunt Surprises is an excellent example of how even KLEI wanted to break up the games predictability.

I would like this to expand far beyond just the examples I’ve listed in my posts above though: Why can’t we have a chance of fishing up a hostile Skittersquid when we are out fishing as is clearly seen here?

For the people who don’t like it- in the same way players can toggle OFF Hunt surprises, These RNG mob encounters could also be toggled on/off as well so literally everyone who wants this type thing can have it without hurting the group who never wanted this to happen.

Some of DSTs biome’s feel really really empty with not much to even do in them- but an idea like this (which was used a lot in Shipwrecked & Hamlet) would almost guarantee there is something keeping the player on their toes & guessing.

Massive resource & time sink boss fights are not & never will be my cup of tea for enjoyment, I’ve always enjoyed just wandering around exploring the map, something like THIS where I can go around smacking small creatures with the Spears & Hambat without ever needing any more powerful tools to fight these minor threats off- would really keep me engaged with the game more then it has been as of lately.

I absolutely HATE predictability..  it’s what has turned me completely away from liking many “critically acclaimed” games- I want things like this that will always keep me guessing,  I am quite literally drawn to games that let me explore randomly generated worlds full of randomly generated things that want me dead.

If this were to ever happen: & RNG was added to the game where it should matter the most: this would easily be my favorite content update Klei has done for DST surpassing all their previous ones by miles.

Please Make it happen Klei! This is what I’d like to see in the 2022 updates next year. 

[Capybara007]

Predictability isnt always in a bad spot, so many rng options become from interesting to just a headache by the time they arent hard but annoying, if i am at lategame and i want to farm steel wool and i get a varg, its annoying, if would get a random mob spawn when chopping a tree it wouldnt be hard either, it would be annoying to not be able to cut trees peacefully, and overall rng patters arent the only way to make a feature of the game more interactive and enjoyable.

 

[HumanBean150]

Ah yes, rng dependent challenges.

 

Like wildfires.

Or disease.

Or frog rain.

Or hound waves..

Or hunt surprises...

Or all those other rng dependent "problems", which are only an inconvenience to older players, but hurt newer players even more when they first pick up the game.

We don't need more pointless "difficulty", because the older players know how to manage it just fine. Its only purpose would be a nuisance to players with more experience, and just another random reason that they died to newer players. And newer players definitely don't need any more random ways to die (besides the 30+ which are already in the game)

Klei would be much better off working on something else, which more players can enjoy.

[Mike23Ua]

7 minutes ago, HumanBean150 said:

Klei would be much better off working on something else, which more players can enjoy.

Yeah.. do you mind going into detail on like what exactly? The last big story content update “Eye of the Storm” added content into the game that very very few people have STILL yet to experience because it was tied behind having to do like 5-10hours+ Of other stuff just to Activate this content.

An Entire Update that because people aren’t “End Game Players” felt like nothing new at all was even added to the game.

THIS would be something right in your face from the moment you spawn, this would be new content players notice immediately without having to go reach maximum happiness with pearl, get her pearl- slot it into & kill crab king, locate tributes, bring them back to island, activate tributes, fight moon boss.

If you don’t like RNG encounters Turn them off.. but to tell me Klei’s time would be better spent doing something else- is just plain biased towards not wanting it.

[xhyom]

21 minutes ago, HumanBean150 said:

Or all those other rng dependent "problems", which are only an inconvenience to older players, but hurt newer players even more when they first pick up the game.

Must point out that it don't need to be a new challenge, for example: the Hamlet squirrels that spawn from trees (which i'm a big fan because how vivid they make the environment) just steal a sapling a run away when you cut down the tree they are hiding, not a big deal just a funny interaction, not that snakes are a big of a deal, actually snakes are kinda of good because how important snake skin is on Shipwrecked.

[Linxxxx]

If the encounters added new mobs/item's that'd be cool. But there comes a point when getting constantly annoyed while resource gathering becomes repetitive. If toggled off and there's meaningful content/item's behind the mobs then most people would leave it on, as to not get locked out of said content. Sure you can toggle off optional things in the game like ruins clockworks, monkeys, etc. But when you have something that interferes with the gameplay loop (gathering) and also has additional content it resorts to people just leaving it on and having to deal with it. 

Now if this was just to add mobs that have no drops and/or mobs that are already in overworld/caves I personally don't see it being really that beneficial, maybe for the first few times when I'm about to pick up a birchnut, and it turns into a birchnutter it's cute but in the longterm it would be tedious. 

Either way, still excited for hallowed nights

S 

[Mike23Ua]

They’re only thinking about how this will make their game more agitating instead of thinking about how it will HELP the game.

More Mobs= More food sources, Snakes & Scorpions in particular offer up new ways to obtain Eggs.. (not a big deal if everyone’s shoving a bird into a cage and pumping it full of Monster Meat for endless supply of them..) but- what happens when Klei adds a option to disable the ability to get endless eggs from your safe little birdcage? Your EGGS now have to be obtained in glorious bouts of battle..

From things like Pengull, Tallbird, Mushgnome (why not? he looks like an egg omelet anyway) Snakes & Scorpions.

this allows the Wigfrids to find more meat in biomes that would otherwise be empty of meat, and if Wurt could eat leafy meat.. any mobs that drop that as well.

RNG mob encounters Pros- Unpredictability, New meat & egg sources, bringing otherwise lifeless biomes to life with content.

RNG mob encounter Cons- Minor annoyance that some players will get agitated with.

[Capybara007]

Thing is that most of the playerbase doesnt finds them enjoyable, maybe you do

[SmallBirdHungry]

Honestly I don't care what they add as long as I have the option to turn it off. If they were to add a chance that misery toadstool could spawn when harvesting grass I wouldn't care as long as I can disable it. I play single player only basically and so the option to make some thing slightly easier is wonderful for me. I love the fact that I can change things around to be a bit of help, but its not going to impact the boss fights with thousands of health. Just make early game a bit faster and less tedious. So if they were to add more random chance stuff, I always love new content. As long as I can disable it at will.

[Seero]

On 9/17/2021 at 3:30 PM, Mike23Ua said:

unpredictable

 

Nothing in SW or hamlet is unpredictable except for the giant bird only because it comes so infrequently