My honest opinion about recent updates

[Uedo]

9 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

I’m glad someone finally understands my point, I did not “Beat” Don’t Starve before I jumped into Reign of Giants DLC looking for new World Altering Changes that weren’t present in Baseline DS, I did not “Beat” RoG before buying the Shipwrecked DLC to once again.. experience World Altering Changes, and I did not “Beat” SW before buying the Hamlet DLC.

Each of these purchases offered up new ways of playing the game by adding new biomes, mobs, weather effects & challenges to a World I had gotten far too familiar with.

Sure I’d get familiar with any new seasons Klei adds to DST at some point.. but that didn’t stop me from buying DLCs to change up my game experience.

I really liked Shipwrecked, hamlet was fun but I found myself wanting to be in my little house too much - The aporkalypse had only just come i think, herald didn't drop anything etc.

[Mike23Ua]

50 minutes ago, _zwb said:

 

So given this context, you mean

A) Mega-basers are not giving the most profit to Klei, and thus it would be ridiculous for Klei to change their content solely because they fear losing money from mega-basers not buying structure skins.

B) Klei fear adding base destruction to the game because people wouldn't buy the skins anymore.

If skins aren't Klei's major income then why would they not add hazards because it would effect selling skins?

Seems contradictory enough to me Mike.

Re-read what you just said & then answer a question for me.

at that point is Klei even making a Dont Starve Game anymore Or has it become more of a skins monetization project?

As I stated I, and I’m sure many others who liked Dont Starve for being DS.. would willingly buy more paid DLC expansions.. anyone who actually enjoyed the franchise for what it started out as would enjoy this if Klei went this route & only the few who dislike being challenged would complain.

It’s the same kind of arguments of did people like Wolfgang for who he was as a character and his personality.. or did they just enjoy having that extra speed and still hitting like a truck?

[GelatinousCube]

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

if Klei went this route & only the few who dislike being challenged would complain.

You dislike being challenged. Anytime you can't beat content you ask for it to be nerfed and refuse to accept help or strategies if they aren't the exact way you want to do it and think should be possible. Constant contradictory statements.

 

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

Re-read what you just said & then answer a question for me.

Holy Jesus Christ, re read what HE said you literally contradicted yourself yet again for the billionth time in the post he quoted. 

2 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

 

If I ever get Filthy rich I’m actually going to pay Klei a great deal of money to Re-Release DS but this time with 2 player co-op, and two brand new SW & Hamlet sized DLC expansions.

Not really how the world works.

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

It’s the same kind of arguments of did people like Wolfgang for who he was as a character and his personality.. or did they just enjoy having that extra speed and still hitting like a truck?

What...? This has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on anything being discussed. How does liking a character for their personality vs their abilities have anything whatsoever to do with anything else being discussed in this thread? 

2 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

 

I’d be willing to pay Klei 20$ for a new paid DLC expansion the same size & scope of SW & Hamlet.

Pretty sure almost all of us would. 

[Antynomity]

23 hours ago, GelatinousCube said:

Honestly I'd love to start a new long term world with some other experienced players and build it up together. 

Idk I don't really like starting again and pubs just have too many kids or noobs to be fun for me.

No friends to megabase with...? Haha... me too... it's gotten to a point I've started setting up for a megabase on water...

[GelatinousCube]

18 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

If I want to argue THAT point I’ll discuss the Twins of Terror Phase 2.. whom you can just “Avoid” fighting once they get to Phase 2 and then Resummon them again on some random unlucky player in the server rather they are or are not in their base.. ToT won’t care, and their angry dash will absolutely wreck your base up.

More spreading of incorrect information and lack of understanding the games mechanics. They only destroy walls. They don't destroy structures.

[Mysterious box]

2 hours ago, _zwb said:

. Farming is not that tedious without auto combo, you can still grow crops without combo and get 1 fruit 2 seeds, as long as you fertilise to full at the beginning.

2. Removing "perfect balance on its own" simply means more time spent in the garden fertilising, this is clearly a nerf, and you even said that in the first comment I quoted.

Fertilizing is part of farming so why wouldn't we make it matter more unless it's unpleasant to do? I did indeed say to nerf some areas of it but I also said we should ease the requirements of farming abit as well a give and take if you will. We can keep crop combos so long as it doesn't overshadow fertilization.

[Ulisesvolador]

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

I also think it’s a very very VERY Bad thing to just “Assume” That Mega-Basers is what is keeping Klei Afloat with Profit, this mindset is ridiculous to the maximum degree of Ridiculous..

You're somewhat correct here as most skins in the game are for characters or Items.

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

Solo DS didn’t have any skins at all Whatsoever.. but that didn’t stop people from buying paid DLC expansion packs to enjoy new Biomes, new Mobs, New Resources, New Weather Effects, New Playable Characters and Overall: More of what made Dont Starve, Dont Starve.

I don't know what's your point here, why people wouldn't buy content DLC's just because they have no skins?

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

at that point is Klei even making a Dont Starve Game anymore Or has it become more of a skins monetization project?

The money that is mostly used for the free updates you and I get, comes from the skins.
If it were a monetization project you would see a lot of pop ups when playing don't starve asking you to buy skins and spools wouldn't exist or they would be premium currency only obtainable by spending money.

2 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

As I stated I, and I’m sure many others who liked Dont Starve for being DS.. would willingly buy more paid DLC expansions.. anyone who actually enjoyed the franchise for what it started out as would enjoy this if Klei went this route & only the few who dislike being challenged would complain.

As long as the DST story is unfinished, I don't want content DLC's (unless they're developed by other team so we still get normal DST updates).

[Theukon-dos]

22 hours ago, MagicalStorm said:

As for ocean...how would y'all want to improve it? Don't say something vague like "make it less empty" or anything of the sort please, I'm genuinely curious on what people think! Be it the ocean itself, boat mechanics or something! I love ocean stuff in games but I still feel like DST's ocean is missing something

Well, sense you asked: 

General ocean/boat changes:

A lot of general/small changes have already been done by mods. Namely the mod "Sailing Rebalance". So I won't go into detail on those, there are only so many solutions to certain problems after all. But to highlight the changes it makes that I'd love to see; Fishing yield based on what species you catch and the fish's weight (Because why the hell does catching a Deep Bass give the same amount of meat as a Dandy Lionfish?), buffs/tweaks to a lot of ocean-based foods, and massive buffs to both Pearl's bottle shop and sunken chests.

Sails now turn much, much faster, so that they're more usable with exploration 

Bumper rework, Is now a single structure that protects the entire boat instead of a bunch of smaller structures that are placed on the edge. HP pool and resource cost increased to compensate. 

New mini-biome/setpiece that spawns anywhere but shallow waters that functions like wormhole, where something unseen and monsterous drags your ship down to the depths only for it to pop up on the other side. Unlike wormholes though, you can select which one you want to go to by using the map. Traveling this way though will put out any fires on your boat and completely soak anyone on board. 

New Tar-Like resource that can be used to patch boat leaks or be an effective fuel for lantern and flame alike, among other things. (This was done by Uncompromising Mode in the form of Sea Sludge. But it was my idea there too, so I'm putting it here anyways)

 

>Brine Shoals:

Salt Box is now a straight upgrade to the ice box. Or if that's too much, can atleast hold both uncooked foods, and spoilable items that can't go in the crock pot at all (Such as Light Bulbs or charged moonglass)

Salt Crystal freshness restoration only divides by 1/4th the stack size, as opposed to the entire stack size. 

Cookie cutter caps buffed. How? Not sure, but they need it.

 

>Waterlogged

Add figgy pudding. 

Knobbly Nuts can now be grown on dry land. However, they can only do so when either the world is wet, or they're planted on watered farm turf, which they will very rapidly dry. 

 

>Moon Quay and Pirate raids

Pirate waters are now marked by flags. These flags get more common and gain new colors the closer you are to the Moon Quay

Powder Monkeys and Prime Mates no longer drop cursed trinkets or equipped items. 

Cursed Trinkets are now replaced by Monkey Trinkets. These aren't bound to the player 'nor will they be turned into Wonkey once reaching 10, instead, these can be given to Pig King for 5 gold each or used to craft the Monkey Crew's equipment (Bandana, Battle Paddle, Cutless, ect.)

The Queen of the Moon Quey now trades a map to an island with a magic alter on it. This alter can be given a Monkey Trinket to turn into Wonkey, or a banana to turn back into your original character. 

A new ocean fish called a "Banana Eel" that spawns in pirate waters. These; as the name suggest; drop bananas when killed and give a way to buy off pirate raids before finding their island. 

Spoiler

Also known as the Goldentail eel or the Bastard Moray. 

Other misc. changes: 

Give characters a lot more ocean/lunar based perks. Woodie can upgrade his idols with lunar magic, WX and Walter get a lunar circuit and lunar rounds respectively, ect.

Greatly expand on the items that can be made at the lunar altar. Not necessarily ruins-tier loot, to be clear. But definitely good enough to entice players out to the island. 

Make summer the dedicated sailing season. There are a lot of ways this could be done, but given that Summer is nigh-universally hated, I think it would be a good choice to overhaul. 

Integrate the mod Unlockable Sunken Chest. I know that saying "Just add this mod lmao" is generally considered bad form. But I'm sorry, this is genuinely one of the simpelest, most intuitive, and most impactful changes that could be made to the ocean.

[Antynomity]

On 7/3/2023 at 10:34 PM, Mysterious box said:

snip

Removing items wouldn't be a good idea, rebalancing though, yes, changing how you obtain them or how good they are would be the way to go, overall I agree with most of these but do I think that anything like this will ever happen? Sadly not, but who knows maybe the core game enhancement updates will do something about this game's early game balance and progression.

12 hours ago, Theukon-dos said:

snip

 

All of this, yes please.

[_zwb]

17 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Re-read what you just said & then answer a question for me.

at that point is Klei even making a Dont Starve Game anymore Or has it become more of a skins monetization project?

As I stated I, and I’m sure many others who liked Dont Starve for being DS.. would willingly buy more paid DLC expansions.. anyone who actually enjoyed the franchise for what it started out as would enjoy this if Klei went this route & only the few who dislike being challenged would complain.

It’s the same kind of arguments of did people like Wolfgang for who he was as a character and his personality.. or did they just enjoy having that extra speed and still hitting like a truck?

As far as I'm aware it's still a don't starve game. At least it's not some pay to win garbage like DS new home.

Why did you say "re-read what you said"? I just pointed out how contradictory your comment is and you kind of just... ignored it? Could you answer the question "are you contradicting yourself" directly?

[Mike23Ua]

14 hours ago, Ulisesvolador said:

You're somewhat correct here as most skins in the game are for characters or Items.

I don't know what's your point here, why people wouldn't buy content DLC's just because they have no skins?

The money that is mostly used for the free updates you and I get, comes from the skins.
If it were a monetization project you would see a lot of pop ups when playing don't starve asking you to buy skins and spools wouldn't exist or they would be premium currency only obtainable by spending money.

As long as the DST story is unfinished, I don't want content DLC's (unless they're developed by other team so we still get normal DST updates).

I mean.. there really isn’t much story to DST.. I hate to say it this way cause it sounds like I’m completely discrediting Klei’s work.. but we literally had an entire story arch titled Return of Them and we never found out who “Them” was or Why they were Returning..

All we got was some cryptic message in the end “They’ve been here all along..”

Like what? And that’s how that story arch ends?? What about this new “From Beyond” Arch? Klei promises we would dive deeper into what Charlie and Wagstaff are up to but other then them just randomly showing up after you kill a boss and you giving them a resource to trigger Wild Rifts, we don’t actually know WHAT they’re up to or why yet..

I’d also prefer Klei NOT finish the entire story before doing DLC.. otherwise you end up with the situation one of my favorite episodic Tv series “Complications” had- They told their entire story in one season and couldn’t renew for a new season.. there was no point.

[Antynomity]

9 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

I mean.. there really isn’t much story to DST.. I hate to say it this way cause it sounds like I’m completely discrediting Klei’s work.. but we literally had an entire story arch titled Return of Them and we never found out who “Them” was or Why they were Returning..

All we got was some cryptic message in the end “They’ve been here all along..”

Like what? And that’s how that story arch ends?? What about this new “From Beyond” Arch? Klei promises we would dive deeper into what Charlie and Wagstaff are up to but other then them just randomly showing up after you kill a boss and you giving them a resource to trigger Wild Rifts, we don’t actually know WHAT they’re up to or why yet..

I’d also prefer Klei NOT finish the entire story before doing DLC.. otherwise you end up with the situation one of my favorite episodic Tv series “Complications” had- They told their entire story in one season and couldn’t renew for a new season.. there was no point.

You did not just compare DST to a TV Series...
The only things that Shipwrecked and Hamlet has in common with Don't Starve is the characters and the core mechanics of the game, other than that they are completely separate gameplay experiences. Oh yeah and you can merge them with other DLC worlds for replayability and fun I guess.

[chirsg]

17 hours ago, Uedo said:

I really liked Shipwrecked, hamlet was fun but I found myself wanting to be in my little house too much - The aporkalypse had only just come i think, herald didn't drop anything etc.

Thanks to being in the house too much, I actually played the game at my pace and started a first ever unkillable run.

I learned how to fight all the bosses at my speed and dealt with seasons only after I was ready to do so.

Did so well, that I was shuffling across worlds without any shelter or food before I knew it. 

I think bringing in the shanty would be beneficial in dst.

[NNOUS]

On 7/3/2023 at 3:09 PM, Dreadle said:

Sandboxing and survival both play a significant role in the game design and should be balanced accordingly. However, I find that mega-basing heavily relies on micro-transactions. Without the use of skins, base structures are an eyesore. This is why the argument for mega-basing falls short, compared with games like Terraria or Minecraft, where the limit of the build is your creativity - in DST build the limit is your skins. A clear example of this can be seen in the Decorations, Shrines, and Base Designs thread, where many designs are essentially the same structures with different skins.

Problem for this cuz the world is in dst is flat, there is such for 'rooms' or walls. It would look fantastic if we could have paintings hanging in the wall, or different carpet, table that could put food or fruits on etc, etc. There is a huge area that can be explored

[Mysterious box]

7 hours ago, Antynomity said:

Removing items wouldn't be a good idea, rebalancing though, yes, changing how you obtain them or how good they are would be the way to go, overall I agree with most of these but do I think that anything like this will ever happen? Sadly not, but who knows maybe the core game enhancement updates will do something about this game's early game balance and progression.

I agree that it's highly unlikely that the changes would happen but I do feel removing items is necessary the game is a completed game with content being added around it all the necessities are on the main island greatly limiting the survival gameplay loop and there's not really a good fix to this without cutting some times to don't starve. I'd considered other ideas as well but felt they didn't work. For example the football helmet at first I thought we could nerf it all the way down to 60% but would people consider the cookie cutter hat for just a 10-20% increase with the added work involved in the latter? Then I thought of making the football helm very expensive or moving the materials out to sea or the caves but ultimately their too similar and the changes wouldn't make sense for various reasons. That's just one item but there are too many mainland items that hinder newer content because they solve but the floor and ceiling too well.

[Antynomity]

7 minutes ago, Mysterious box said:

I agree that it's highly unlikely that the changes would happen but I do feel removing items is necessary the game is a completed game with content being added around it all the necessities are on the main island greatly limiting the survival gameplay loop and there's not really a good fix to this without cutting some times to don't starve. I'd considered other ideas as well but felt they didn't work. For example the football helmet at first I thought we could nerf it all the way down to 60% but would people consider the cookie cutter hat for just a 10-20% increase with the added work involved in the latter? Then I thought of making the football helm very expensive or moving the materials out to sea or the caves but ultimately their too similar and the changes wouldn't make sense for various reasons. That's just one item but there are too many mainland items that hinder newer content because they solve but the floor and ceiling too well.

fair enough then, still I don't think any item would ever get removed especially since a lot of the good items that do actually make it hard to make other stuff enticing already have a lot of skins

[Mysterious box]

9 minutes ago, Antynomity said:

fair enough then, still I don't think any item would ever get removed especially since a lot of the good items that do actually make it hard to make other stuff enticing already have a lot of skins

I agree honestly.

[NoodlemanNed]

back in my day we blamed speedrunners for ruining the game, not these bubble blowing base sitting megabasers.

[Yuuko]

On 7/3/2023 at 2:34 PM, Mysterious box said:

For starters unpopular as it may be I'd start by removing some content and improving the value of the ocean, mainland, and caves a bit more for some examples:

1. I would remove hambats and football helmets
2. Add a new tier to silk called refined silk that only drops from depth dwellers, sea striders, and a new tier to webber's beard when shaved.
3. Refined silk would now be required to make umbrellas, raincoats, and rain hats possibly more
4. Eyebrella removed and replaced with a new deerclopes drop(I know this is probably the most controversial but it'd simply undermine the changes listed above)
5. The new shadow umbrella becomes the old eyebrella attaching itself to your head 
6. Move the dark sword and night armor to the completed psuedoscience station
7. Add a new ocean weapon.
8. Weaken the overall value of crockpot dishes that don't involve ingredients from the ocean, caves, or farm plots while raising the lower values of the ones that do.
9. Ease the requirements a bit for farming a bit more but remove crop combo farming.
10. Add a crockpot dishes for each crop that doesn't have one.
11. Make crops that don't thrive in winter stop growing.
12. Have seasons effect the spawns and behaviors of more mobs such as if they respawn, how often, and how aggressive they are.
13. Bundling wraps now spoil food at 25% of their normal rate but you can see inside them at all times.

 

What you're doing here is about the same as when people try to ruin Winona by doing things like forcing you to play as her to use her crafts.  Its not a good way to make a game, at least not a game like DST.  Maybe if you're into a puzzle game where there is 1 correct solution to every problem you can force people to find that one piece you required they have BUT in a game like DST featuring emergent gameplay the idea is to have less restrictions, not more.

For example - the problem with the ocean isn't that the hambat or football helmet are too strong, its that the ocean lacks anything that covers those roles.  Unless you put a pig on your boat you're going to need to return to land for resources.  The ocean content requires combat with things like cookie cutters, sharks, etc but does not provide the tools needed.  Similarly boat patches require bee stingers, other crafts require rocks and gold, etc.  This is one of the reasons people feel the ocean is empty, it has these content voids that require you return to the mainland rather than continue your journey.  No nerfs are needed to address this, the ocean just needs these things added in some way*

As for versioning spider silk - I think that is a bad idea.  There is nothing special about these harder spiders that they should be giving out t2 silk, or special about an umbrella that it should require super tier 2 silk.  Its enough that the tree spiders act as a source of spider silk while at sea, we don't need to require you go fight them, they are just an option for getting these resources without leaving your boats.  Similarly the spiders on lunar island, or in the caves are more dangerous ways to obtain the same resources without returning to the mainland / surface.

Silk is needed on boats, and these spiders fill that need for silk.  Again we don't need to make these any different then they are, we just need to fill the gaps in ocean content.

Similarly nerfing eyebrella is nonsensical.  The problem here is largely that there isn't much else to do with an eyeball, so everyone builds an eyebrella.  Seriously, unless you're hard farming AG and resetting ruins you're going to have more eyeballs then guardian horns, and those are literally the only two crafts you can make.  If we give eyeball more crafts then the competition might lead some players to use something like a raincoat for wetness protection instead.  For heat the eyebrella kinda sits alone, but that is again the problem - the eyebrella is alone.  We need more summer options so the eyebrella isn't the only solution.  tbh the umbraella is a step in the right direction here, especially if their intention is to give it a deployable feature - that would easily compete with the eyebrella, again no nerfs required.

*

Spoiler

This is why I really feel Klei should focus on fleshing out these areas of the game.  The ocean has a lot of content gaps that prevent the player-fantasy of ocean exploring from being fully enjoyed.  They should look at the user experience of a new player who wants to be a pirate or treasure hunter, and track that journey.  What resources should they need before launching?  What resources should they seek after launching?  What obstacles are they going to encounter while traveling, or what challenges should they overcome for a higher tier reward?  These are all things the current ocean iteration lacks.  The content voids in the ocean drive players back to the mainland, creating an economy where a player builds a boat as close to the desired ocean resources as possible, and makes only a quick trip out and back.  The experience is minimized by this mainland-dependent design.

It could be so much more, but in order to do so we need the missing content.  We need to complete the user journey.  And not in the locked-behind-a-raid-boss kinda way, we need armor and weapons readily available out there, in different tiers just as they are on the main land (spear => hambat => darksword.)

 

[Mike23Ua]

The 2023 Roadmap states that the content they’ll be adding throughout said Roadmap will be “Vital” To your Survival as you progress throughout ALL Areas of the Game.

“Vital” means you will most probably Die without these items right???

So far nothing added in the 2023 updates have been Vital to survival & I’d even go so far as to argue that without the items that’s been being introduced lately you’d still survive just fine.

And for those items to be “vital to all other areas of the game”- Means Klei will have to shake up the very heart & core foundation of the game that we currently know it to be..

I won’t get my hopes up too high, JoeW likely used the wrong choice of wording when creating the Roadmap.

I just would like some clarity on if things will actually be “Vital” to all areas of the game, or if those items can arguably be completely ignored & you’d still survive just fine?

 

 

[GenomeSquirrel]

7 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

The 2023 Roadmap states that the content they’ll be adding throughout said Roadmap will be “Vital” To your Survival as you progress throughout ALL Areas of the Game.

“Vital” means you will most probably Die without these items right???

So far nothing added in the 2023 updates have been Vital to survival & I’d even go so far as to argue that without the items that’s been being introduced lately you’d still survive just fine.

And for those items to be “vital to all other areas of the game”- Means Klei will have to shake up the very heart & core foundation of the game that we currently know it to be..

I won’t get my hopes up too high, JoeW likely used the wrong choice of wording when creating the Roadmap.

I just would like some clarity on if things will actually be “Vital” to all areas of the game, or if those items can arguably be completely ignored & you’d still survive just fine?

 

 

Can you progress if there is no end?

 

Perhaps for the next superbosses, or perhaps the super boss after them; anticipate planar damage to melt you if you don’t have the right armor, and for the boss to out armor or heal without the right spear

 

perhaps the next superbosses will literally be a key piece like those detestable crabs.

 

perhaps like with forge or gorge, Klei may alter plans.

 

I anticipate it requiring FW or CC to be defeated first, but I’ve been wrong before.

[Masked Koopa]

8 hours ago, Shosuko said:

 If we give eyeball more crafts then the competition might lead some players to use something like a raincoat for wetness protection instead.  For heat the eyebrella kinda sits alone, but that is again the problem - the eyebrella is alone.  We need more summer options so the eyebrella isn't the only solution.  tbh the umbraella is a step in the right direction here, especially if their intention is to give it a deployable feature - that would easily compete with the eyebrella, again no nerfs required.

I don't know if that's right, truth be told. Deerclops is a relatively easy boss with a fair few cheese methods, such as leading her through trees to spawn treeguards, although obviously a new player can find ways to have trouble with her. She's not only cheesable, but practically mandatory if the player doesn't lead her away from their base and just leave her there. The reward you get from that is something that outclasses every other rain-based gear by a massive margin, while having unlimited pontential use via the sewing kit. And thanks to hostile flares, you can even get multiple eyeballs, so the old issue of multiple players wanting eyebrellas is all but gone. I think you could make a pretty good argument for nerfing eyebrella if you were concerned about invalidating the other rain gear items.

IMO the best way to go about it if you were to nerf it would be to lower the durability of the eyebrella by a fair bit. You could cut the 9 day durability down to 2-4 days or so, and make it an item with a fair bit more upkeep than the other rain and summer gear alternatives, at the benefit of full protection. Sure, you wouldn't use more sewing kits, but you'd have to stop what you're doing to repair it more often, instead of spamming right click a couple more times.

Gotta be clear that I'm not personally too worried about the state of the eyebrella, or other similar gear myself, but I do think there's a valid argument for a nerf to be made.

My own take on the ocean (not related):
I think in terms of the ocean, the biggest problem is that there isn't a good gameplay loop going on. The reality is that right now, you go to the ocean for the sake of getting x y or z thing on land that you want right now, not for the sake of going sailing itself.

IMO a good way to make the ocean a more engaging place would be to (in a practical and low-rng way) let players gather a lot of the materials they would otherwise gather on land. Add sea stacks that contain gold, or perhaps a new gold-fish mob that drops gold nuggies. Or hell, make the Year Of The koi fish spawn in the base game, and make them drop normal gold nuggets when it's not a Year Of The event. Make it so that the mud balls in the ocean spawn far more frequently, and in larger clusters, acting as a sort of "tumbleweed of the ocean", containing far more grass and twigs than they do currently. Or perhaps let us turn kelp into rope somehow. As for silk, perhaps add solo above average trees around the world, with a single sea strider nest on it, so you don't need to find one of only three biomes.

Ideally, you would be able to set sail on nothing more than a grass raft, and simply collect the materials required to build a more advanced boat as you sail, as well as generally progress in terms of science and loot. That way going sailing wouldn't be a matter of collecting all the materials you need on land, as you'd be able to get those materials on the ocean just as easily.

[Antynomity]

31 minutes ago, Masked Koopa said:

My own take on the ocean (not related):

I think that a huge issue with the ocean right now too is that it's self serving like the rifts are, you get stuff on the ocean that are only needed on the ocean for the most part.

[Yuuko]

54 minutes ago, Masked Koopa said:

I don't know if that's right, truth be told. Deerclops is a relatively easy boss with a fair few cheese methods, such as leading her through trees to spawn treeguards, although obviously a new player can find ways to have trouble with her. She's not only cheesable, but practically mandatory if the player doesn't lead her away from their base and just leave her there. The reward you get from that is something that outclasses every other rain-based gear by a massive margin, while having unlimited pontential use via the sewing kit. And thanks to hostile flares, you can even get multiple eyeballs, so the old issue of multiple players wanting eyebrellas is all but gone. I think you could make a pretty good argument for nerfing eyebrella if you were concerned about invalidating the other rain gear items.

IMO the best way to go about it if you were to nerf it would be to lower the durability of the eyebrella by a fair bit. You could cut the 9 day durability down to 2-4 days or so, and make it an item with a fair bit more upkeep than the other rain and summer gear alternatives, at the benefit of full protection. Sure, you wouldn't use more sewing kits, but you'd have to stop what you're doing to repair it more often, instead of spamming right click a couple more times.

Gotta be clear that I'm not personally too worried about the state of the eyebrella, or other similar gear myself, but I do think there's a valid argument for a nerf to be made.

 

The maximum rain protection you can get is 100%.  The eyebrella has 100%, as does the rain coat.  The eye is more automatically delivered, but besides being addicted to backpacks nothing makes the eyebrella better than the rain coat.  Due to the nature of rain, anything less than 100% is pretty much worthless, nerfing either of these doesn't make any other options better.

The eyebrella doesn't need nerfs.  We have a new umbraella which gives us a second 100% rain protection option, and with its deploy mode (presumably coming) it would definitely push the eyebrella out based on the situation.  If eyeballs had a craft worth doing besides eyebrella, that would also divide its use making other items more appealing.

But no matter what - any combo of less than 100% rain protection won't be used really.

21 minutes ago, Antynomity said:

I think that a huge issue with the ocean right now too is that it's self serving like the rifts are, you get stuff on the ocean that are only needed on the ocean for the most part.

The ocean is far from self serving.  In fact most things you get on the ocean are either useful on the mainland, or part of the CC questline.  Very little of it is actually for the sea only.  Salt, cutter shells, kelp stocks, tree nuts, grass gators, stone fruit, docks, bananas, etc there are tons of things to get from the sea for mainland basing.  Its just people discover where the things are and take a little trip, dart out and back with what they want and never go back.  That isn't really the problem though - like pick / swap characters I don't feel its right to just pound people over the head with a mallet to force them to play how you want.  If someone wants to swap to Winona and set up catapults and swap back, let them.  If someone wants to dart in and out of the ocean let them.  What I'm focused on are the people who want to play Winona, want to live that boat life, and what their experience is like.

The ocean is not self-serving enough.  I think that is the biggest problem - things you need on the ocean AREN'T available out there.  It needs more resources to support actually thriving out there.  It needs at least mid tier weapons and armor, and all of the basic resources as well as having either more resources made available or some crafting requirement changes (bee stingers for boat patches really???) so that you can actually sustain out there.

A lot of what @Masked Koopa is on point here.  It needs ways to get gold, stone, flint, more twigs and grass, etc.  I think giving the Shark a unique drop like a shark jaw that you could use like a tentacle spike would be cool.  Definitely need to find a way to bring back the cutlass supreme too.

[Antynomity]

8 minutes ago, Shosuko said:

snip

tldr I dropped a cold one here, crap, yeah I agree