wandering trader feedback

[aidancode]

I get what the purpose of the wandering trader is, and I think it's a fairly neat addition in a vacuum, but I think it really clashes with Don't Starve's very isolated feel. Even in multiplayer DST feels very isolating; the only NPCs with coherent thoughts being Wagstaff, who shows up at the end of the game, and Pearl, who's tucked away on a faraway island. I think the Wandering Trader is pushing it a little. It might be neat to give him his own island, perhaps somewhere just off the coast of the mainland, so at least he's still in his own isolated area. I'm really not sure. Just a general concern I have.

 

I get that the vision of the rift arc has a very different goal to the original game but considering the wandering trader is always accessible it seems a little weird.

[Pet Rock]

It'd be cool if you could find him anywhere beefalos are. It would make him a nice surprise for keen eyes along with keeping him contained in certain areas

Edited May 24, 2025 by Pet Rock

[Edible Coal]

15 minutes ago, aidancode said:

I get what the purpose of the wandering trader is, and I think it's a fairly neat addition in a vacuum, but I think it really clashes with Don't Starve's very isolated feel. Even in multiplayer DST feels very isolating; the only NPCs with coherent thoughts being Wagstaff, who shows up at the end of the game, and Pearl, who's tucked away on a faraway island. I think the Wandering Trader is pushing it a little. It might be neat to give him his own island, perhaps somewhere just off the coast of the mainland, so at least he's still in his own isolated area. I'm really not sure. Just a general concern I have.

 

I get that the vision of the rift arc has a very different goal to the original game but considering the wandering trader is always accessible it seems a little weird.

consider he appears in a random point of the map, you are not gonna always met him

 

[ShadowDuelist]

As a random spawn I really like him. We also got pearl, the monkey queen, the merm king, the crows from Autumn event. We are slowly interacting with a lot of sentient npcs

[Girl Bart]

Honestly I’m on the opposite end, and the wandering trader was one of my favorite additions for this beta. I love and welcome some more npcs to interact with. It makes the world more alive to me.  (Have long dreamed of traders npcs like this)
 

One of the things I loved about the Gorge, was interacting with the npcs to trade ~ felt like there was life there and it wasn’t too bloated with npcs as the civilization was dying. I found it the right balance of some population but not too much and breathed more intrigue into the world for me. 

[Semind]

I really enjoyed going in blind and having a 'WTF IS THAT?' moment. It was 3am IRL and night time in game, so his disguise being so scuffed actually made him spooky to me for the 2 seconds he was on screen before he stood up. Straight up could have been a Mimikyu type of creature and it would have fit the moment impeccably.

Otherwise, I like that the guy's finally in the game proper instead of living in the margins.

[abrocator]

Yes! A human or human-like NPC is completely off for this game. I’m not a big fan of crows either.

So the game has changed since 2013, it’s not so desolate any more. That’s fine. But a human NPC available from the start of the game is too much.

I would welcome more NPCs as you work your way through the game. Like a questline to populate the weird world.

(You know when the Rifts beta came out I actually expected NPCs to come out. Like people repopulating the lands after the bad CC was gone. And I was excited for that. But we got plants?)

[Creatorofswamps]

1 hour ago, abrocator said:

Yes! A human or human-like NPC is completely off for this game. I’m not a big fan of crows either.

So the game has changed since 2013, it’s not so desolate any more. That’s fine. But a human NPC available from the start of the game is too much.

I would welcome more NPCs as you work your way through the game. Like a questline to populate the weird world.

(You know when the Rifts beta came out I actually expected NPCs to come out. Like people repopulating the lands after the bad CC was gone. And I was excited for that. But we got plants?)

According to the story, Constanta used to have a LOT of PEOPLE from our world, Constanta knows about them firsthand, pigs are not afraid of people, and mermaids even have a term for these creatures. Skeletons of people and the remains of their camp are literally scattered everywhere. The merchant is just one of the old survivors who got here a long time ago (judging by his quotes), he just didn't want to join our survivors, that's the whole point. There is nothing strange here, he just survived and adapted to this world, not considering it necessary to be friends with someone, just business