Wagstaff's abandoned junk shouldn't spawn in the junkyard.

[finn from human]

A change I've been hearing a lot about from friends is that the "abandoned junk" Wagstaff leaves scattered around once lunar rifts are open is now entirely localized within the junkyard. I think that, while this change makes thematic sense, it won't feel very good in long-term gameplay.
The junk Wagstaff leaves around the world is a very passive gain of scrap, it's a resource I accumulate a lot by barely paying attention to it and just finding the junk lying right in my path as I walk from place to place, I hardly ever have to track it down on purpose. The junkyard on the other hand is an active way to gain scrap, by picking the junk piles and baiting the Scrappy Werepig to toss more. Logically, this is a pretty good setup: you have a passive way to gain scrap in small amounts, and an active way to gain scrap in large amounts, allowing the player to dabble in this new resource if they aren't focused on it while also allowing players who are super into it to seek out more. Unfortunately this doesn't play out in practice, as the Wagstaff junk now intentionally places itself inside the junkyard whenever it spawns. This removes the passive gain entirely, and makes the only way to obtain scrap be to go to one specific spot on your map (which, in my case, takes almost a full day just to get there), which is less than ideal for a resource that used to build up no matter where you were.

What used to be two options is now smushed together into just one, and I think that's sad. If consistently getting the blueprints is a concern, I think it would be fine to add them into the loot table of the junkyard's piles, seeing as you need enlightened shards to even utilize them.

[mkemal23]

It's unfortunate how you got the scrapyard but I think I prefer it this way instead. 

Previously, Sometimes Abandoned junk could have spawned in really bad spots. Making the already annoying RNG part even worse. Now, at least you know where they will spawn.

Also, it's still two ways to get scrap, it's just that now they are very close to each other.

 

[gamehun20]

I like the abandoned junk spawning randomly it gave me a reason to leave base and look around a little.

[Maxil20]

I spoke to this with a friend, and I think the best course of action would be 2 “sets” of Wagstaff junk spawns: one specifically occurring in the junkyard itself, and one being the random ones that spawn (with the Wagstaff hints always pointing to the latter). That way people that do like consistent spawns can still snag the junk structures, while those that want the more passive approach still have that option.

I personally like the junk being consistent in the scrapyard because it makes it much easier to know where exactly to look if you want a quick burst of scrap/the blueprints, but I will agree that having the random spawns are also fairly important as well, especially with the buff for them to try to spawn fairly close to a player when the check occurs. I think this approach wouldn’t disrupt the balance by too much while still leaving both groups pleased.

[-Variant]

33 minutes ago, Maxil20 said:

I spoke to this with a friend, and I think the best course of action would be 2 “sets” of Wagstaff junk spawns: one specifically occurring in the junkyard itself

Yeah, this!!

I was totally bummed to realize that the random locations were pretty much removed. I loved them for their passive gain, and more importantly to me, it felt like Wagstaff actually had more presence. Like he was running around writing notes and doing research, leaving his stuff lying around. It felt like he was actually in the world with me, off doing his own thing. I loved that!

[gamehun20]

Is the "it's too crowded here " dialogue also connected to this? Because i also keep getting that

[Mike23Ua]

9 minutes ago, -Variant said:

Yeah, this!!

I was totally bummed to realize that the random locations were pretty much removed. I loved them for their passive gain, and more importantly to me, it felt like Wagstaff actually had more presence. Like he was running around writing notes and doing research, leaving his stuff lying around. It felt like he was actually in the world with me, off doing his own thing. I loved that!

Wait they changed this? Omg why??? Does Klei just hate world immersion or something? I loved watching Wagstaff pop up on screen and run off in a direction that lead me to his left over structures/research.

[arubaro]

I like revisiting the junkyard to hammer machines but also i like the idea of looking for stuff so we revisit some biomes (even if wagstaff indicator could be better)

[ADM]

I think Scrap can be accessed uniquely enough with just the Werepig on its own to justify moving the Abandoned Junks in the Scrapyard on top. Clean the piles, taunt the boss, move a little away then watch (and run) as it rains piles o' junks. It's a bit funny, and rather consistent. Now with even the Abandoned ones inside… I don't know how I feel about that but I don't prefer it.

[CuteC]

In my experience I used to just see the funny "progress waits for no one!" man run off in a direction and then the scrap was in a completely unrelated world branch, also tracking those things down was a pain.