The time has come!

[Trevindo]

Building on this wave of character upgrades, I think we should discuss the possibility of a surface biome/map upgrade. I think this is a priority point, not only to breathe new life into the game or to attract more players, but also because since the game's launch, the surface biomes are almost the same. I wish they received more love and that their particular characteristics were even more explored and marked, for new strategies and fun survival diculties, impacting games from day 0 until after a year in the game. This Image is from 9 years ago from one of the first versions of the game and if something looks familiar... it's because it really is:

 

[Mencken]

Agree 100%, it would add so much character.   You could also have a map with different temperature zones, tropical, temperate, wintry and icebound. like Antarctica.   

[Capybara007]

sounds like an extremely big and gamechanging update plugged into whatever other plans klei has right now

[Notecja]

actually maybe we could get ultra smoll worldgen for both performance and those who dont like too much walking....?

[maxwell_winters]

Maybe some kind of overgrown forest. There were vines on the roadmap art. I'm not sure if we'll get a new mainland biome even though it would be cool. 

[GelatinousCube]

As much as I would absolutely love a new biome or two on the mainland, not sure how this would work with existing worlds and retrofitting..

Might not be entirely possible which would be sad for those who commit to existing long term worlds (like me). 

What would probably work is a rehaul of seasons allowing you to pick from a few different types for each season or having a setting allowing there to be a chance of getting a different version of each season each in game year - like a new more brutal version of Winter with actual snowstorms and snow build up rendering certain structures unusable or only being partially functioning until the snow clears with new mobs and maybe even new flora that can appear in certain biomes. It could feature a new mini boss that spawns within the snowstorm - a takeoff on the Abominable Snowman. 

A new version of Autumn where there is Fog that again certain mobs or flora can spawn within but only in certain existing biomes. A version of winter where the middle is just non stop nights and batalisks or maybe even some new version of vampire bats will spawn on occasion replacing hound waves (reference to 30 days of night).

A version of Spring with strong winds that slow down player movement speed heavily when walking against the current but speed you up a bit when you walk in the same direction of the current, perhaps the strong winds have a small chance of blowing stuff like birchnuts, stone fruit and pinecones off trees without needing to actually chop them down. Tumbleweed speed is no longer based on player movement speed and they now get blown at extreme speeds but have a slightly different loot pool due to them being tossed all over the place and picking up/absorbing different items due to this. 

Basically allowing different versions of seasons to exist to breathe some new life into existing biomes that are lacking by introducing new mobs, flora and drops/items that only pop up during certain versions of seasons. Retrofitting would be easy and it could breathe new life into not only the seasons but also biomes that are currently lacking by making them much more exciting and worth visting. 

[Cheggf]

That picture shows DS has cooler world gen than DST. Anyways if the biomes were changes that would be a good idea to look at Mactusk. I don't like that he is always at moonstone then there's a 50% chance for a biome with 3 in a line. I wish there was more variety, like a 25% chance for the current triple tusk, a 25% chance for the triple tusk from DS, and a 50% chance to place 1-3 in random places. 

[cybers2001]

I would weep for my 5000 day world if the surface got a makeover. If anything, it should be the caves, since it’s still like 90% wasted space down there.

[Spear_]

Just thinking about the potential for a map generation update gets me so excited. While I don't necessarily think the game is being held back by the current world gen, since building multiple boats on different sides of the mainland is possible, I can't help but think about how much more fun sailing and exploring would be with a more fractured, revamped worldgen, instead of continuing to add more stuff into the relatively long, thin slivers of ocean around the mainland.

Although a total archipelago like Shipwrecked would be a little much when you consider how much more in-depth and tricky the sailing is in DST, I'd love to see the mainland separated into 3-4 mainlands with shallow expanses between.

Markers on the coast like new merm lighthouses or something could show players what direction to sail in order to get to the other mainland pieces, to avoid aimlessly searching for vital resources like in shipwrecked, there'd be little reason not to do it. The new straw boat and wormholes make it possible and cheap in the early game, and docks would make it easy to traverse later on.

It'd be good to see wider rivers that you can sail through splitting the mainland at least. They could theme the update after Wagstaff (accidentally?) teleporting a new island or something above the mainland and smashing it into separate pieces perhaps.

One of my favourite ideas is a new structure, a ramshackle lifting bridge operated by a lever, that would connect close islands together.
A new troll-themed creature would pop out from under it when you come near and guard the lever until you give it a 'toll' of food or something, at which point it would raise or lower the bridge for you depending on if you're on foot or a boat. It could allow you passage for a duration, similar to how mob hiring already works.
Of course, you could always kill it and operate the lever yourself, or just lure it away from the lever early game.
It'd be a great and engaging way to cross the new wider rivers, an alternative to crafting the new straw boat to cross, and a little extra engagement when sailing. Making them buildable somehow would allow dock bridges to be sailed through easily too.

A map generation update would be a big, impactful, and time-consuming update, but I also think it'd do a lot for the game, and allow much more flexibility for the devs when it comes to adding new content, rather than just dumping it somewhere outside the mainland or in a new shard.

And although I sympathise with people who would be sad to leave long-term worlds behind if they wanted to play with the new content, because retrofitting something like that would be practically impossible, I don't know that it's a reason to discourage ideas that would ultimately improve the game in the long run. Sunken cost fallacy and all that.

[Astraia]

I agree with this opinion 100%, sounds super gamechanging and very huge

[Trevindo]

22 hours ago, Capybara007 said:

sounds like an extremely big and gamechanging update plugged into whatever other plans klei has right now

But it really is a big update, as with the rework of all the characters, the question is how will it be done! For example, it could be done monthly as an update of just one or two biomes, as is done with character rework.

[MA7xGE]

Klei adds boats and all this seafaring stuff. People complain about boring and waste seas. :C

Klei does a surprise update, and gives us worldgen options to split the constant into islands. :0

Klei had planned it all along, people love the new worldgen and really want to use boats now. EVERYONE is Happy. : D

[Antynomity]

At this point I'd like the mainland to be broken up into at least 2 by some massive lore event in the future, once the ocean has a lot more content (not like it doesn't have a lot right now, it's just that a lot of it isn't really needed for the average player)