There should be more focus on making earlygame more fun

[GamePlayer42]

As of recently, the majority of updates are really geared to more experienced players, i believe that there should be a shift to make the earlygame more fun and entertaining as it becomes repetitive and annoying after too long, or make it more easier to get up to endgame content

also i am back after 4 month hiatus

[Antynomity]

I agree, at least update all the boring cave, ocean and mainland biomes in the game slowly, they all feel so similar and dead after a few playthroughs.

[SomebodyRandom]

 

[Masked Koopa]

I want them to add player houses tbh. It'd be really cool, so long as they don't come with all the environmental protections the slanty shanty has. So it'd leak during rain, not have perma light, not be insulated during winter, etc. And maybe hounds could bust in through the windows.

[BezKa]

We barely got a couple updates that can't be accessed straight out of the portal. Let us have just a bit before we go back to early game.

[Golden Daemon]

They have already mentioned that they are going to focus their next few updates on changing early game and late game progression.
I really hope that they can make the starting part of the game a bit less linear and somehow make each start a bit more different different than the rest, after some time it becomes somewhat tiring whenever a new world is generated and all the steps that the players are going to take are already figured out and is only a matter of time spent on taking those steps.

Some people hate the resource variations (juicy berries and twiggy tries) but i think they are a very good opportunity to make each world a bit more unique by adding more variation to other resources and entities if done right.

[nimzowitsch10]

i would say the opposite. late game is a snoozefest and early game is the most fun for me

[Ryusuta]

I actually rather enjoy the early game. I like the tangible feeling of exploration followed by establishing your base, taking root, and growing in power.

That being said, I think it would be interesting to have more (OPTIONAL) challenges to make the early game more difficult.

[00petar00]

The more late game content is in the game it becomes more fun because late game content is always relevant or has its uses. Early game is fine currently, it just needs to be more transparent to players what they need to do to progress.

You aren't limited by time to progress as you can take as long as you need, it may  take you a while to kill CC as a newer player and you can slowly improve and progress faster but does early game need more content oriented updates? I don't think so as when you get a bit better you can breeze though the early game quite fast and these items or early game content won't have much use.

[Mike23Ua]

I toggled Wild Rifts to ON in a Day 1 World, now I know that by under normal means this is meant to be late game content, BUT it does make the early game more “Fun” and you get some crazy OP gear once your able to kill as little as two Brightshade plants.

Brightshades are one of the easiest mobs I’ve ever fought in DST, their fight is simple, fun, and rewarding.. you will honestly NO JOKE Struggle more trying to kill a dang Pigman/Merm than you will trying to kill a Brightshade, because of how they try to hit you, move away and hit again- Getting the Kiting pattern against them (especially on Consoles using Analog Sticks..) is a pain in the backside AND to this very day I just put on armor and TANK their stupid/cheap Hits.

Brightshades on the other hand, you can kill them with no Armor on at all very easily.. These really should be Early game TBH..

Now the “Rifts” make old familiar biomes a little more Unpredictable because you can be walking along and all of a sudden you come across a Rift in a place you’d been through 1000 times.

Once you get the BrightSmithy set up you get some CRAZY Powerful Gear & Armor which will make things like fighting Deerclops & Eye of Terror so so soooo Much Easier.. (especially if you are a SOLO Player and have always struggled fighting them alone)

Hambats spoil overtime, Darkswords deal 66 Damage with Constant Negative Sanity Drain.. on top of the Sanity Drain you already take just by being by the boss.. Brightswords deal 72 damage with no negative effects whatsoever.. 

In short: It makes getting to the “Late Game” Faster by Speeding up the “Early Game Process” 

things I once struggled with and had considered deleting the game and giving up completely due to the way almost EVERYTHING was geared towards Group Based Challenges I am now actually having FUN doing in Solo, and because I have these non-spoiling, no negative side effect swords.. I am bravely taking on Content I normally would have avoided Altogether.

I even assembled my first set of Lunar Alters yesterday.. even though that content was added towards the START of Return of Them..

I was finally able to craft Glass Cutters to make fighting Nightmare Creatures even more of a Breeze..

AND more importantly… as of last night DST was #3 right now as most played/bought games on Xbox Live.

Now sure.. you can chalk that up to the game being on sale for 1$, Or the more likely reason… Klei added content that finally brought back old players who had lost interest in the game.

I can’t speak for EVERYONE, but I can say that personally Brightshades are a fun, fair, easy fight for me… with insanely rewarding craftables that has made the slow “early game” more “Fun” by getting me to Mid-Late Game FASTER so I can actually experience and enjoy the content that I had yet to experience.

and with freaking toggles to reduce damage taking by 40% if I wanted to??? The game is more accessible then it has Ever been to a larger variety of players.

Now of course: I obviously would LOVE more things to do/see/interact with in the “Early Game” but until then…

Toggling on Late Game to Speed through Early Game has massively improved my own personal enjoyment of the game. I am now able to play this game with ALL of my Noob Friends by hooking them up with good gear, weapons & armor- All from fighting a few easy to kill Brightshades.

 

[GenomeSquirrel]

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

AND more importantly… as of last night DST was #3 right now as most played/bought games on Xbox Live.

Now sure.. you can chalk that up to the game being on sale for 1$, Or the more likely reason… Klei added content that finally brought back old players who had lost interest in the game.

Pubs is a graveyard of new players, from people that don’t know night is lethal to Webbers you know are doomed to death by catcoon/pigmen.

[Zeklo]

While I wouldn't mind more early-game focus, I really just want better progression from just stepping into the ruins first thing and coming out maxed for 90% of the game.

[PetulantPansy]

To clarify, there are at least 2 types of midgame players/playstyles

1. Got a basic base set up and are looking to make progress in the game storylines

2. Survive a year and just continue building out the base without pursuing any quest lines. Most bosses are viewed as too difficult and are completely ignored.

I was player #2 when i started out and the game got boring quick by year 3 before i realized that dfly wasn't too difficult to solo. (and then i started fighting other bosses)

To get past my mid-game slump, i technically "cheated" by watching yt videos and the wiki to figure stuff out. Without those 2, I probably wouldn't be playing the game anymore.

[Szczuku]

4 hours ago, Ryusuta said:

wat

9 hours ago, GenomeSquirrel said:

Pubs is a graveyard of new players, from people that don’t know night is lethal to Webbers you know are doomed to death by catcoon/pigmen.

 

[GenomeSquirrel]

5 hours ago, PetulantPansy said:

To clarify, there are at least 2 types of midgame players/playstyles

1. Got a basic base set up and are looking to make progress in the game storylines

2. Survive a year and just continue building out the base without pursuing any quest lines. Most bosses are viewed as too difficult and are completely ignored.

 

I'm a 2, but instead of too difficult, the lazy side of me says they are not worth the effort.

I like building stuff from bee boxes, to mush planters, Bernie armies, pig villages, meat effigies, while bosses generally give a hat, to one person.

[PetulantPansy]

2 hours ago, GenomeSquirrel said:

I'm a 2, but instead of too difficult, the lazy side of me says they are not worth the effort.

I like building stuff from bee boxes, to mush planters, Bernie armies, pig villages, meat effigies, while bosses generally give a hat, to one person.

No worries. It is a sandbox game after all. You aren't the only one either. I personally think that those who dont progress through the boss fights/quest lines are missing out on so much but that's just me.

 

But DST doesn't give much guidance on this stuff so such outcomes aren't particularly surprising either 

[Ryusuta]

8 hours ago, Szczuku said:

 

My bad. I misread it.

[Mysterious box]

21 hours ago, GenomeSquirrel said:

Pubs is a graveyard of new players, from people that don’t know night is lethal to Webbers you know are doomed to death by catcoon/pigmen.

This beyond anything else is the most likely the reason new additions to the early game that involve more hands on survival or combat will likely stay on content islands or be shoved in a cave somewhere. Love it or hate it this is probably the best solution without telling struggling and new players to "git good" I do understand people's frustrations with handling it like this on both fronts though.

[GenomeSquirrel]

2 hours ago, Mysterious box said:

This beyond anything else is the most likely the reason new additions to the early game that involve more hands on survival or combat will likely stay on content islands or be shoved in a cave somewhere. Love it or hate it this is probably the best solution without telling struggling and new players to "git good" I do understand people's frustrations with handling it like this on both fronts though.

From my perspective the game is ambush deaths, and adding more ambushes just reinforces the idea that everything will betray you and safety is an illusion until you study something for a year. 
 

Death is an exciting yet bitter learning experience.

[Mike23Ua]

2 hours ago, Mysterious box said:

This beyond anything else is the most likely the reason new additions to the early game that involve more hands on survival or combat will likely stay on content islands or be shoved in a cave somewhere. Love it or hate it this is probably the best solution without telling struggling and new players to "git good" I do understand people's frustrations with handling it like this on both fronts though.

To play devils advocate here- when DS (not DST) first came out on PC in its early Beta days Klei was always adding/changing content, and while I wasn’t around to experience any of that- I have watched some extremely lengthy videos of every update Klei has done to both Solo DS & DST (these were their official channel videos too not some random YouTuber) things like well uhh this I suppose-

that shows what all content the game started with, and was added in over time.

I feel no logical reason why Klei should suddenly change the way they design content JUST to benefit newer/lesser skilled players… 

Why leave the Early Game mostly untouched, when the above video shows they’ve always added to/changed the game up?

Klei has the ability to create a “Classic” world preset where any drastic changes remain unaffected and the game plays largely the same as it does now.. while at the same time- being more bold with new ideas.

Personally if it was up to me new players would be put on a “Starter” Island, like just a small area designed to act as a Tutorial (like the introduction segment of solo DS Adventures Mode) they need to pass that Tutorial to access online play with other players.

It would cover the most basic of stuff, like night time killing you, or tents restore health (you learned all this information in Solo DS thanks to a bunch of set pieces Maxwell set out in front of you by the way..)

So putting them on a Tutorial Island isn’t going to “ruin” the game, it just gives people who did NOT play Solo DS a chance to learn the same information that players who Did play Solo DS Learned before plunging them into DST with other players.

What Klei COULD do is drastically reduce the size of the starting island & then break every other biome up across the ocean.. that would allow the starter island to be smaller but Untouched by new updates, while the rest of the game can have a better “Early Game” experience added to it.

But I’m just giving out ideas, I’m sure Klei has their own game plan.

 

[Mysterious box]

34 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

that shows what all content the game started with, and was added in over time.

I feel no logical reason why Klei should suddenly change the way they design content JUST to benefit newer/lesser skilled players… 

Why leave the Early Game mostly untouched, when the above video shows they’ve always added to/changed the game up?

I agree here but at the end of the day gaming has changed to focus more on being as accessible as possible and with the early game remaining so largely unchanged for so long they would have to deal with the massive backlash that would follow if they do decide to shake the early game up too much in it's most meaningful area the mainland. 

 

41 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Klei has the ability to create a “Classic” world preset where any drastic changes remain unaffected and the game plays largely the same as it does now.. while at the same time- being more bold with new ideas.

People seem to hate the idea for one reason or another that they need to change the settings if they're not satisfied with a particular mechanic would most likely circles back to accessibility (this isn't to discount balance issues sometimes being a cause however). I imagine the implication that they dislike or can't handle the default is unappealing to most which is why a fair amount of the gaming landscape(but not all) has become easier overall to compensate lower skill levels.

53 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Personally if it was up to me new players would be put on a “Starter” Island, like just a small area designed to act as a Tutorial (like the introduction segment of solo DS Adventures Mode) they need to pass that Tutorial to access online play with other players.

It would cover the most basic of stuff, like night time killing you, or tents restore health (you learned all this information in Solo DS thanks to a bunch of set pieces Maxwell set out in front of you by the way..)

So putting them on a Tutorial Island isn’t going to “ruin” the game, it just gives people who did NOT play Solo DS a chance to learn the same information that players who Did play Solo DS Learned before plunging them into DST with other players.

I do agree we're at a point where I feel a tutorial is necessary for the game and I honestly don't get why people are so resistant to the idea of one being implemented. I'd also argue that all character interactions should be learnable without consulting a wiki or update notes.

56 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

What Klei COULD do is drastically reduce the size of the starting island & then break every other biome up across the ocean.. that would allow the starter island to be smaller but Untouched by new updates, while the rest of the game can have a better “Early Game” experience added to it.

But I’m just giving out ideas, I’m sure Klei has their own game plan.

This could only work if sailing became more interesting but I'd personally be against going about it this way.