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Hardmode is not the way to go.


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And I'm honestly tired of waiting for an update I really care about again, was excited for this one and then realised it was just a skill tree update with a little bit of ocean stuff.

The skill-trees were powercrept once again, with no actual content for that powercreep to be needed.

I don't think Klei realises how damaging this stuff is for the game's experience, yeah sure... the player counts are up, but are there really more players reaching the end-game? I heavily doubt it. I am not happy with how the existing content from years ago keeps getting easier and easier, and more redundant.

And the end-game content that is in-game... it's disappointing. The bosses are boring after the first kill, brightshades are annoying but are now non-existant as a counter band-aid has already been introduced instead of making the mechanic any good first, or fleshing out the late-game 'hardmode'.

Why rework the telelocator to make it less resource draining and hard to set up for it to be useful? When you can just add teleportation for more characters.

Why balance stuff for the current game that exists? When you can just balance for something that... MIGHT exist in the future, all the while the direction for updates being all over the place, one hardmode update, one skill tree update, another hardmode update... and then skill trees and an ocean boss? Then an undoubtedly good QoL update... followed by an update with more unbalanced skill trees with QoL features missing from them (wurt not being able to properly get rid of her alliance merms) and a bit of ocean content on the side.

I don't believe we are ever getting a hardmode like Terraria does, at least not one that fits the game as well as that game's hardmode fits into it.

Don't Starve was not built for this kind of stuff, and it shows. Or maybe there isn't enough creative solutions being added, with generic powercreep mechanics being added in form of planar stats and then quickly after skill-trees that instantly account for planar, like it was never before, but also adding more powerful stuff into a game that really doesn't need it. Not right now.

Sorry if this sounds like a 'I quit' post, it isn't, I'll keep holding out hope for stuff to change and playing the game here and there like I've always did, but the direction, or lack there of that this game is heading in, is honestly just making me very upset.

I miss enjoying survival and the survival part of the game beignn the one most added onto, surviving from day to day in the game was very fun, and every time there was an ocean update, despite the many flaws of the ocean which will probably not get fixed any time soon, were fun to explore and utilise.... even though most of the stuff on there were sidegrades to land items which were easier to amass and use from day to day.

I like bosses, just not the new ones.

And sorry if this post is lacking direction, it's a bit hypocritical to say the game is lacking direction while my own post about it also doesn't have a lot of direction. I needed to leave this out somewhere, because like I said, I am not enjoying the direction the game has taken in the last few years, to be blunt, I very much dislike it, and I will have some actual feedback ready, once I come up with solutions to the issues I think are very much present with the game right now, even if in reality they won't be added into the game.

Thank you for reading if you did, but I also won't blame you if you stopped halfway through lol.

Ok so if not many people are making it to the endgame then how is "powercreep" not needed? 

I feel like DST veterans have been spoilt (for lack of a better word) by DST's insane and unreasonable difficulty, its some weird form of stockholm syndrome that because you have spent an unreasonable amount of time getting good at DST that you wrongly expect others to do the same.

Maybe these updates arnt for you guys? Maybe this should be a "i quit" post for all veterans with 10000+hrs.

Skilltrees are alot of fun and if they help new players reach the endgame within a reasonable amount of playtime then thats a massive win.

 

27 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

Maybe these updates arnt for you guys? Maybe this should be a "i quit" post for all veterans with 10000+hrs

people with less hours in comparison to that don't like new stuff too

27 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

Ok so if not many people are making it to the endgame then how is "powercreep" not needed?

it isn't needed because most people probably don't know how to do that instead of being unable to do that, there're almost no skill requirements for both quest lines if you do CC 1st for brightshade staff or use gunpowder

28 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

Skilltrees are alot of fun and if they help new players reach the endgame within a reasonable amount of playtime then thats a massive win

do they?

28 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

I feel like DST veterans have been spoilt (for lack of a better word) by DST's insane and unreasonable difficulty

rifts' quest lines don't have it, making the game hard's optional, you can always use cheese or get a lot of stuff if you don't want to use hard strats, you do waste more time because of being bad at the game but that's how games work, you get something for getting better at the game, why don't people in communities of other games complain about being unable to do stuff fast because of being bad at the game? some people even still think that doing things fast isn't fun and people that do things fast're idiots that torture themselves for no reason even though they've fun that way, why did people start complaining about things requiring a lot of time to do if you're bad at the game even though that's how it's in practically all games? or what's even the issue with getting the ability to do things fast as a reward for getting better?

:wilson_dilemma:It can only be said that the survival of games is indeed decreasing, and games have become much easier than before. From the perspective of gameplay, survival seems to be no longer the most important thing. This is a sacrifice made to expand the market. We only hope that after the skill tree is updated, there will be more real updates on the nature of survival that are different from the quality of life updates.

1 hour ago, zhangsheng said:

I don't quite understand what you mean. Do you think games have become easier or more difficult? Or is it becoming simple or complex?

Or do you think the game has become more formulaic? Or something else

More formulaic, I don't mind if it gets harder or easier, but it's gotten both easier, without getting much new hard content to compensate, while having new formulas that dont really work that well for new content.

44 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

Ok so if not many people are making it to the endgame then how is "powercreep" not needed? 

I feel like DST veterans have been spoilt (for lack of a better word) by DST's insane and unreasonable difficulty, its some weird form of stockholm syndrome that because you have spent an unreasonable amount of time getting good at DST that you wrongly expect others to do the same.

Maybe these updates arnt for you guys? Maybe this should be a "i quit" post for all veterans with 10000+hrs.

Skilltrees are alot of fun and if they help new players reach the endgame within a reasonable amount of playtime then thats a massive win.

 

Yeah but is it really?

Heres my take and I’ll use Winona’s Skill Tree as an EXCELLENT Example.. because she can unlock every bit of her skill tree without having to do ANY end game content.

The problem however comes from the fact that Willow Players and Winona Players are now walking around with Lunar/Shadow infused Bernie Dolls & Catapults before the mobs those mechanics are meant to directly interact with are EVER introduced to the game..

And for newer or less skilled players in particular, they have access to content that goes hand in hand with super late and highly obscure content they MAY NEVER SEE.

I think this mindset “but it’s still hard on newbies” yeah that needs to change… nothing about Webber getting free completely passive tents out in the wilderness is “hard on newbies”

It makes him a more unique fleshed out character for sure.

But your lying to yourself if you think it’s fair for WX78 to have Infinite Night Vision in a game mode labeled “Lights Out.”

I don’t claim to be a DST veteran, but I know when to call bs when I see bs, and I think it’s well beyond time we stopped trying to cater to newbies, make us ALL (Veteran, Casual, Newbie..) learn to survive all over again, with new rules, new weather, new A.I. Behavior, Etc..

Why? Because that’s what Klei expected you to do when you bought Shipwrecked or Hamlet for solo DS…

Thats what Fortnite expects you to do Everytime they remove gun rotations and alter the game world map..

I really think this “it’s already too hard on newbies” mindset is now more harmful for the game then it is actually doing any good.

Maybe the game should start them out on “Relaxed Mode” so they can get the hang of things from now on before bumping up to standard or higher difficulties?

After so many years playing, the game forces you into a state of cope if you want a survival experience. You have to either force yourself to forget things intentionally to spice things up (and that's reeealy not fun) or is forced to lean into a casual gameplay of infinite never ending tasks for a weirdly made animal crossing-like (without the npcs) open world experience. A game not meant for something, turning into that something while it's old self is hardly hanging on. DST nowadays feels like a transition state.

1 hour ago, Gashzer said:

Ok so if not many people are making it to the endgame then how is "powercreep" not needed? 

I feel like DST veterans have been spoilt (for lack of a better word) by DST's insane and unreasonable difficulty, its some weird form of stockholm syndrome that because you have spent an unreasonable amount of time getting good at DST that you wrongly expect others to do the same.

Maybe these updates arnt for you guys? Maybe this should be a "i quit" post for all veterans with 10000+hrs.

Skilltrees are alot of fun and if they help new players reach the endgame within a reasonable amount of playtime then thats a massive win.

 

You don't understand. You put words into his mouth.

I myself agree with all that's being added, it's just that the way they're doing it is hurting the game.

Aside from so many problems the game has, the main one he's discussing is that dst updates are like buying groceries without a fridge to prepare for a hurricane.

1 hour ago, Gashzer said:

Ok so if not many people are making it to the endgame then how is "powercreep" not needed? 

 

I feel like DST veterans have been spoilt (for lack of a better word) by DST's insane and unreasonable difficulty, its some weird form of stockholm syndrome that because you have spent an unreasonable amount of time getting good at DST that you wrongly expect others to do the same.

Maybe these updates arnt for you guys? Maybe this should be a "i quit" post for all veterans with 10000+hrs.

Skilltrees are alot of fun and if they help new players reach the endgame within a reasonable amount of playtime then thats a massive win.

 

You and the other people who upvote you missed the mark completely and want to stay in a horrible close minded "us vs them" mentality.

First, Dst and Ds are not games with insane and unreasonable difficulty, as after you "complete" and "conquest" the first level (just the surface) and some part of the caves, the difficulty of the game already decreases a lot. This franchise difficulty is locked behind knowledge and since Klei doesn't warn you when you open the game "you should play and experience this game as blind as possible" as they always wanted, it depends on the person how much can be difficult, since wikis,guides,youtube videos, ecc... Then after knowledge we add the complete unbalance mess of Don't Starve since 2013, so YEAH. These last updates are factually and objectively making worse the situation, although I want to precise 2019-2022 was for the first time making the situation a little bit better and 2024 too, with this last ocean update.   

Second, people don't reach this new bad (for now) experiment of Klei with rifts not only because of the knowledge thingy but because the game is already very big. Without considering difficulty in the process, there is a lot of things to do in dst and dedicated people with a lot of effort, sweat and blood barely reach the end. I know it, on my very skin. Over 50+ people, a community at this point, of which I accompanied to introduced them to Dst. No backseating, no help either. I absurdly don't use items or strategies if they first don't discover them. All 50+ of them pure blind. Barely 7 are almost reaching Ancient fuelweaver and CC.

Third and final, skilltrees do not and will never (until they're not changed in their core) aid new players. What they do now is simply buffing already knowledged good-mid players and make better what already the character did better. Veterans or expert players don't need skilltrees to complete the game. New players will always die on darkness, on low food, on winter for freezing, on Deerclops, on the advanced hounds/deepth worms waves, on rains, ecc.... as skill trees don't give you anything to understand better the game.

 

Look, it's clear Antynomity is very tired and dissatisfied with how the game is going and I assure you it's not alone, but it's not a """veteran spoil"""" thing or how ridicule you want to call it, as surprise suprise, a lot of my new players and people in general complained on similar things and more (and we didn't forget what happened in 2023 right?). I don't find myself 100% agree in all Antynomity points' but for sure I don't try to discredit all just like that. We can try to reach a comprimise and understand each other. I will not continue further because I know how it is here in this forum and it seems a futile battle, so I'm ready to be ignored and downvoted with Shopcat and Haha, lol. 

31 minutes ago, zhangsheng said:

:wilson_dilemma:It can only be said that the survival of games is indeed decreasing, and games have become much easier than before. From the perspective of gameplay, survival seems to be no longer the most important thing. This is a sacrifice made to expand the market. We only hope that after the skill tree is updated, there will be more real updates on the nature of survival that are different from the quality of life updates.

I kinda don't want them messing with the survival aspect of the main game; maybe the end-game content like the rifts needs more survival traits, but aside from that, randomly changing the original DS on DST won't make much sense unless it's just new stuff on a new area with new things. What people can't realise is how brilliant the DECISION that klei had for this end-game is, unfortunately the execution lacks some things to be desired.

Reality is that, dst needs more intriguing things to be put into the game and impactful ones like the bs gear, but with REASONABLE drawbacks of having it, instead the game will always feel like we're too powerful for it.

Honestly, if they're adding so much raw power for everyone in this game, I'm kinda scared and excited for when the weight is added to the other side of the scale. But judging from how easy it is to kill dragonfly as 6 players without skill trees is, we're never getting a power-creep fix, even if planar dmg is a thing - since BS stuff can be acquired right after opening the rifts AND some skilltrees have planar on day 1 which doesn't make sense.

40 minutes ago, grm9 said:

people with less hours in comparison to that don't like new stuff too

it isn't needed because most people probably don't know how to do that instead of being unable to do that, there're almost no skill requirements for both quest lines if you do CC 1st for brightshade staff or use gunpowder

do they?

rifts' quest lines don't have it, making the game hard's optional, you can always use cheese or get a lot of stuff if you don't want to use hard strats, you do waste more time because of being bad at the game but that's how games work, you get something for getting better at the game, why don't people in communities of other games complain about being unable to do stuff fast because of being bad at the game? some people even still think that doing things fast isn't fun and people that do things fast're idiots that torture themselves for no reason even though they've fun that way, why did people start complaining about things requiring a lot of time to do if you're bad at the game even though that's how it's in practically all games? or what's even the issue with getting the ability to do things fast as a reward for getting better?

People dont have 1000's of hours to learn a game. You have to be realistic, people shouldnt have to be obsessed with DST like us to get good enough at the game to experience the endgame content.

From that poll in another thread too many people with hundreds of hours admit they are still "bad" at the game. Klei need to address this.

6 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

From that poll in another thread too many people with hundreds of hours admit they are still "bad" at the game. Klei need to address this

they can't make people better at the game through making the game easier

6 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

People dont have 1000's of hours to learn a game

they don't need that many either

6 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

You have to be realistic, people shouldnt have to be obsessed with DST like us to get good enough at the game to experience the endgame content

so you want the game to become shorter for people to stop playing it earlier?

26 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Yeah but is it really?

Heres my take and I’ll use Winona’s Skill Tree as an EXCELLENT Example.. because she can unlock every bit of her skill tree without having to do ANY end game content.

The problem however comes from the fact that Willow Players and Winona Players are now walking around with Lunar/Shadow infused Bernie Dolls & Catapults before the mobs those mechanics are meant to directly interact with are EVER introduced to the game..

And for newer or less skilled players in particular, they have access to content that goes hand in hand with super late and highly obscure content they MAY NEVER SEE.

I think this mindset “but it’s still hard on newbies” yeah that needs to change… nothing about Webber getting free completely passive tents out in the wilderness is “hard on newbies”

It makes him a more unique fleshed out character for sure.

But your lying to yourself if you think it’s fair for WX78 to have Infinite Night Vision in a game mode labeled “Lights Out.”

I don’t claim to be a DST veteran, but I know when to call bs when I see bs, and I think it’s well beyond time we stopped trying to cater to newbies, make us ALL (Veteran, Casual, Newbie..) learn to survive all over again, with new rules, new weather, new A.I. Behavior, Etc..

Why? Because that’s what Klei expected you to do when you bought Shipwrecked or Hamlet for solo DS…

Thats what Fortnite expects you to do Everytime they remove gun rotations and alter the game world map..

I really think this “it’s already too hard on newbies” mindset is now more harmful for the game then it is actually doing any good.

Maybe the game should start them out on “Relaxed Mode” so they can get the hang of things from now on before bumping up to standard or higher difficulties?

One of the biggest issues for me is not making skill trees more interactive with the world. The requirements for some of these are weirdly put and doesn't even make the player actually engage in it. It's like, giving the controller of a ps5 to my 5 year old son while it's disconnected and I'm playing against a bot, making it seem like he's winning.

We're the kids simply pressing a button and BOOM, we're now buffed and stronger, without any interaction, just a click of a button of UI that adds a perk to the character. And is also permanently unlocked so you'll never have to worry about it again.

There's also the fact that some skill trees don't even make you feel like you're choosing sides, is just blatantly making you feel like it's impactful while just changing colors from blue to red and having a new power. You can't choose to have Area of Effect damage, planar1 or planar2, Focused Damage, Tool efficiency, honestly some of these skill trees are purely combat oriented and some has little to no combat it feels weird that Woodie Skill tree is literally a band-aid fix on the character instead of fixing it permanently and THEN adding a cool skill tree for him. Most skills even are so forgivable I might just not lvl up them never ever. It's like so boring honestly.

Skill trees are harder to make than they look, and Klei shows sometimes that they're not too experienced with impactful rewards in it.

10 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

too many people with hundreds of hours admit they are still "bad" at the game

That's a lie. Too many people is atleast implying the majority. And this is just the forums, these polls are mostly for fun.

13 minutes ago, Swiyss said:

I kinda don't want them messing with the survival aspect of the main game

Tecnically they did it no? With Reap what you Sow atleast and it went out as a masterpiece. Hands down best content of 2019-2022 dst era

15 minutes ago, Swiyss said:

 What people can't realise is how brilliant the DECISION that klei had for this end-game is, unfortunately the execution lacks some things to be desired.

Can you help me realise it? As right now I can't see it with all the problems.

3 minutes ago, Milordo said:

Tecnically they did it no? With Reap what you Sow atleast and it went out as a masterpiece. Hands down best content of 2019-2022 dst era

This type of "messing around with" I agree, I'm mostly talking about adding a new deciduous lookalike biome to the main surface with a torch no.2 that can be acessed on day 1 or 2, anything that touches too much on the survival aspect of the game. "why care about charlie if I can just play wx with a night vision circuit?" "well if you get wet or frozen you'll lose that in a second", Feels like the DRAWBACKS are NON-EXISTENT for these new perks that we're getting. It's basically a rework no.2. Honestly if klei decides to rework or change drying racks for example, I wouldn't mind it, honestly I would love it we gotta move on with the game.

4 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

Its about reducing the playtime needed for new players to experience the whole game and have fun doing it

that's a bad thing tho, they'll stop playing the game earlier

4 minutes ago, Gashzer said:

have fun doing it

they can get fun through learning, some people also think that the game was most fun for them back when they were newbies

the whole skilltree concept was bad from the getgo. Why are they doing reworks 2.0 when we endured 3 years of them already (2020 - 2023), We really needed content, not another character rework phase. By this time I would have liked more biomes, more islands, more interesting quests, more resources that majorly affected the early, middle, late game. Instead we got more skilltrees and rifts in a span of almost 2 years.

I definitely like some of the skilltree content additions but I feel they didn't need a "skilltree" to be added.

1 hour ago, Gashzer said:

Ok so if not many people are making it to the endgame then how is "powercreep" not needed? 

I feel like DST veterans have been spoilt (for lack of a better word) by DST's insane and unreasonable difficulty, its some weird form of stockholm syndrome that because you have spent an unreasonable amount of time getting good at DST that you wrongly expect others to do the same.

Maybe these updates arnt for you guys? Maybe this should be a "i quit" post for all veterans with 10000+hrs.

Skilltrees are alot of fun and if they help new players reach the endgame within a reasonable amount of playtime then thats a massive win.

 

Nah, hold up. Where do you think you're going with this?

First of all. How come it's the players who have already gotten invested into the game that should be abandoning it? Why should they loose the thing they love just so new players can fall in love with something else completely? Ain't that a bit screwed up? How'd you like it if  show or game you like suddenly took a hard 180 to appeal to an entirely different demographic? Probably a bit bad, eh?

And second. Why are you acting like the game needs to be easy. Has it occurred to you that there are people who like hard games? Dark Souls and it's successors put From Software on the map for most people after all and those games are hard. So how come next to nobody's asking them to turn down the "Insane and unreasonable" difficulty?

Here's an idea. Maybe YOU are the one who doesn't like Don't Starve. Yeah, sure. Maybe you like the characters or the moment to moment gameplay. But apparently you don't like the whole "Uncompromising Survival" aspect that the game was built on. So how about you go play something else instead of trying to kick the players who've already been here for years out of their house and calling it your own.

 

 

Ehem, back on topic, I definitly agree. I think a big problem with the way "Hard mode" is implemented is that a huge reason that Planar exists in the way it does is to try and "nerf" combat characters. But you're only able to unlock planar entities by killing several of the hardest bosses in the game. I also wouldn't be surprised if Klei themselves realized this and rapidly pivoted to skill trees, which is why they immediately gave Wigfrid and Wolfgang all of their planar damage back and then some.

8 minutes ago, Milordo said:

Can you help me realise it? As right now I can't see it with all the problems.

Planar damage equation is almost perfect in theory, It's making it hard for planar mobs, but the same for non-planar. Literally a difficulty added that's WAY WAY WAY SMARTER than 99% of games that simply just add health and armor to the new mobs and make old mobs a joke.

Now in practice, it's ridiculous. You just open the rifts and get brightshade gear before even having to deal with armored bearger, crystal deerclops or possesed varg. Honestly you can just ditch them completely by simply dragging them to bee queen or dfly. Killing brightshades with non-planar weapons is just a matter of patience, not difficulty. You can also cheese the brightshades anyway. Now I have absolutely nothing against cheesing, I think some people need it and others just don't mind dealing with it, but if the intended way is cheeasable then it will never make sense. They're adding the rewards before the challenges, that's why Klei said "those are the hardest bosses we've ever created" and everyone was complaining how boringly easy they were. Klei is also making these bosses dodgeable with regular speed, which is not something I disagree with, it's just that to account for the ever-so-useless average wilson, the ever-so-overpowered wolfgang will have a breeze with these. Again, I don't have a problem with wolf beating them easily or wes having it slower, those are just time issues, one will take longer, The problem is on the design itself that makes it easy cause you're already geared in brightshade.

We really need enemy changes (starting for bugged ones like mctusk), new mechanics like poison and adding more swamp/ruins like biomes.

Hardmode can be beneficial if doing right, instead we got easy mobs and weather effects, but adding stuff avaraible since the beginning with different grades of difficulty and reward benefits a wider audience and, even if the players is to noob to survive a new hard biome, atleast thry will know that there is cool content that they can experience if they stick to the game while removing the feeling of exploring c&p forest and empty dead biomes

The problem is that the game is getting so big that is hard to keep adding interesting rewards, way harder if they waste too much bullets in a single item like the BS helmet, so they need to start adding new problems like weather, mechanics like poison, etc

They wont keep veterans hook of the game becomes easier and easier

 

Edit. Also the problem with power creep is that, outside of bosses, we arent getting strong mobs for daily combat and exploration survival.

Feels dumb to kill 100 spiders in 2 seconds when always has been something that needed to be done with atleast a minimal of carefulness. If we get stronger mobs these new powers would make more sense and wont feel like p2w Asian arpg kind of gameplay .

Also doesnt help that through the years was never added. Maybe this rift content is what is trying to achieve but that wont change how year 1 is the same as year 1000000. There can be drops in temperature making you lose temperature faster while also doing more damage (not simply something that a jellybean can counter), more migration of mobs (i love moose goose dst design for this), etc. Rift changes should be more impactful while "through the years" kind of changes chould be more soft simply to break monotony.  

I bet a lot of people dont reach end game content because they get bored of experiencing the same seasons over and over so they never stick enough time to learn everything (plus is also too obscure but even if were clear they will feel monotony..). Seasons that, once they survived them once, they already beaten them for the rest of the run (aka thermal stone and umbrella)

10 minutes ago, arubaro said:

We really need enemy changes (starting for bugged ones like mctusk), new mechanics like poison and adding more swamp/ruins like biomes.

Hardmode can be beneficial if doing right, instead we got easy mobs and weather effects, but adding stuff avaraible since the beginning with different grades of difficulty and reward benefits a wider audience and, even if the players is to noob to survive a new hard biome, atleast thry will know that there is cool content that they can experience if they stick to the game while removing the feeling of exploring c&p forest and empty dead biomes

The problem is that the game is getting so big that is hard to keep adding interesting rewards, way harder if they waste too much bullets in a single item like the BS helmet, so they need to start adding new problems like weather, mechanics like poison, etc

They wont keep veterans hook of the game becomes easier and easier

Idk I've been making god's work with the amount of deep down reviews of the game that sometimes takes days to properly understand and ppl don't think they're a problem.. until it's not fixed they won't realize the mess.

So many 10/10 games out there know this stuff and I played most of them..

Most of what you described here should be common sense.

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