Why is progression just bosses and fetch quests now?

[Jakepeng99]

2 minutes ago, PonyOfApocalips said:

Welp rifts are something that u need to active. And i dont thnik any new danger after rifts can be balanced cause you can active it whatever you want and be ready- rifts content cannot give anyone same feeling as new season in RoG/Shipwrecked/Hamlet because it was all about "bring chellenge to player" now players choose when they want new chellenge 

True. If you could choose when Winter starts, it would be a different experience.

[RoughCactus69]

6 hours ago, GetNerfedOn said:

 

 

HIIII

Oh goodness how I missed the forums!

[FillerText]

5 hours ago, Milordo said:

Looool, very ironic this phrase after Rifts.

To clarify, diseases and summer wildfires are very bad survival content design and people have good reasons expressed ad nauseam through years. Klei removed disease after 4/5 years because the datas showed 99% of players removed it from their world. 99%. Jesus. Wildfires were in second place with something like 95%.

  Reveal hidden contents

coff coff **as it happened with reap what you sow** coff coff

Then I have nothing else to add that hasn't already been said in the @aidancode @Szczuku and yourself comments.

Imo Wildfires have only been an issue in DS due to smoldering only occuring from Wildfires. If a fire starts it was entirely pointless to try to stop it because no matter how many flingomatics you had, it will just burn down anyway. Now that fire spreads through only smoldering it quickly became more reasonable, but still punishing. People just don't like repeating grinding, and rehearsing the same gameplay because it's just rather grindy to collect the same resources you accumulated throughout the entire year. 

[Milordo]

8 hours ago, PonyOfApocalips said:

Welp rifts are something that u need to active. And i dont thnik any new danger after rifts can be balanced cause you can active it whatever you want and be ready- rifts content cannot give anyone same feeling as new season in RoG/Shipwrecked/Hamlet because it was all about "bring chellenge to player" now players choose when they want new chellenge 

Yeah yeah. I was just saying since Rifts got the exact reactions and feelings Klei expected.

3 hours ago, FillerText said:

Imo Wildfires have only been an issue in DS due to smoldering only occuring from Wildfires. If a fire starts it was entirely pointless to try to stop it because no matter how many flingomatics you had, it will just burn down anyway. Now that fire spreads through only smoldering it quickly became more reasonable, but still punishing. People just don't like repeating grinding, and rehearsing the same gameplay because it's just rather grindy to collect the same resources you accumulated throughout the entire year. 

No. I despise wildfires because they happen out of your screen. I despise wildfires because even if smoldering is objectively better now, there isn't any difference in power between a small fire created by wildfires and one from star caller staff. Every fire in Don't Starve still has the same power in affecting structures/items and spread.

If wildfires would only come at the middle of summer for 3-5 days (which kinda already does) with visual aspects of the sun in the clock becaming visually "fiery", your character saying things like "it's very hot today!" and very few little orange/yellowish balls start to fall down from the sky like snowing and start smoldering only on your screen, if they only touch weak flammable items/structures (like they can't start smoldering ice boxes but for twigs or flowers yes) and they can't spread fire that much because they're not that strong alone, but together they are, then nobody would have a problem. This was just an idea of mine made at the moment. There are thousands of possible ways to rework them.

Edited May 28, 2025 by Milordo

[Hungry French]

Because Klei chose the easiest way to earn money. Creating bosses is easier than additional Shiprecked and Hamlet level content.

[ukul]

why not fight the boss on a new island 

the content at sea is so scarce 

iceland is shoddily made 

we need more contnet relate to the sea

[Mike23Ua]

11 hours ago, Hungry French said:

Because Klei chose the easiest way to earn money. Creating bosses is easier than additional Shiprecked and Hamlet level content.

This is the sad reality we live within.

[Jakepeng99]

10 hours ago, ukul said:

why not fight the boss on a new island 

the content at sea is so scarce 

iceland is shoddily made 

we need more contnet relate to the sea

Junk island

[aidancode]

15 hours ago, Hungry French said:

Because Klei chose the easiest way to earn money. Creating bosses is easier than additional Shiprecked and Hamlet level content.

creating bosses: makes no money

shipwrecked and hamlet: makes money

checkmate  (yes i know what you're trying to say)

[Evelo]

Simply making most of the optional bosses not optional any more by having them actively attack the player after some allotted time (akin to Deerclops, Bearger, and Antlion) would dramatically make the survival aspect of the game more present. Klei can in fact, have their cake and eat it too. They are choosing not to which is mind boggling.

Toadstool could start to infest the caves with spore pollution that obliterates perishables, only way to make them stop is to kill Toadstool.
Celestial Champion phase 1 could spawn after the 2nd year (or 140 days) and Moonstorms show up almost globally, forcing the player to deal with dreaded bird infestations, until they defeat CC. Want to stop them from happening again 30 or so days later? Go and do the questline.
Crab King could send an invasion of little crab arms to latch onto your boat and some crab minions could raid your ship. Only way to stop it is to kill Crab King. After which there will be a timer on when it happens again, maybe 40 days or something idk, idc.
The Shadow Pieces at level 1 could spawn on New Moons after a certain amount of time, they don't drop anything they just attack the player and don't level up when killed. Their little shadow goopy thing could run toward the Statues if those havent been completed yet and will stop appearing once all possible statues have been repaired and broken (be it on new moon or full moon).
Ancient Fuelweaver could start to open more of those fissures gradually over the entire cave system that follows the Nightmare Cycle. So the threat of nightmare phase is an emerging problem throughout the whole system instead of only the ruins. Defeating the AFW will reset this and force it to re-propagate the cycle.
Bee Queen could send her royal bees to attack the player much like Hound Waves. A land variant of the Monkey Island raids possibly as they would be only when in range of the Queens hive. She could respawn bee hives and killer bee hives so there is more of a threat (albeit an easy one) to approach her. They could be "hastily made ones" that drop no resources too if that is an issue.

It is fine to have some optional bosses, but seriously, the last boss we got that was non-optional (kind of) was the Depths Worm, before that it was Antlion all the way back in the beta. Force us to fight these bosses, that is survival at its finest!

[aidancode]

2 hours ago, Evelo said:

Simply making most of the optional bosses not optional any more by having them actively attack the player after some allotted time (akin to Deerclops, Bearger, and Antlion) would dramatically make the survival aspect of the game more present. Klei can in fact, have their cake and eat it too. They are choosing not to which is mind boggling.

Toadstool could start to infest the caves with spore pollution that obliterates perishables, only way to make them stop is to kill Toadstool.
Celestial Champion phase 1 could spawn after the 2nd year (or 140 days) and Moonstorms show up almost globally, forcing the player to deal with dreaded bird infestations, until they defeat CC. Want to stop them from happening again 30 or so days later? Go and do the questline.
Crab King could send an invasion of little crab arms to latch onto your boat and some crab minions could raid your ship. Only way to stop it is to kill Crab King. After which there will be a timer on when it happens again, maybe 40 days or something idk, idc.
The Shadow Pieces at level 1 could spawn on New Moons after a certain amount of time, they don't drop anything they just attack the player and don't level up when killed. Their little shadow goopy thing could run toward the Statues if those havent been completed yet and will stop appearing once all possible statues have been repaired and broken (be it on new moon or full moon).
Ancient Fuelweaver could start to open more of those fissures gradually over the entire cave system that follows the Nightmare Cycle. So the threat of nightmare phase is an emerging problem throughout the whole system instead of only the ruins. Defeating the AFW will reset this and force it to re-propagate the cycle.
Bee Queen could send her royal bees to attack the player much like Hound Waves. A land variant of the Monkey Island raids possibly as they would be only when in range of the Queens hive. She could respawn bee hives and killer bee hives so there is more of a threat (albeit an easy one) to approach her. They could be "hastily made ones" that drop no resources too if that is an issue.

It is fine to have some optional bosses, but seriously, the last boss we got that was non-optional (kind of) was the Depths Worm, before that it was Antlion all the way back in the beta. Force us to fight these bosses, that is survival at its finest!

Consider that dst is very specifically trying to be ds solo but with more things added on top. Most dst bosses are designed with multiplayer in mind. A new player playing by themselves should not have something like this happen. Especially considering how obscure most boss spawning methods are (and how bee Queen and afw have incredibly singleplayer-unfriendly mechanics). This is a nice idea on the surface but just doesn't mesh with how dst is trying to be inclusive.

[Waywarbler]

2 hours ago, Evelo said:

-snip-

Does your ideal version of DST have most of the bosses be like Antlion (constantly cause problems from a distance until you kill it)?

[Mike23Ua]

15 minutes ago, aidancode said:

Consider that dst is very specifically trying to be ds solo but with more things added on top. Most dst bosses are designed with multiplayer in mind. A new player playing by themselves should not have something like this happen. Especially considering how obscure most boss spawning methods are (and how bee Queen and afw have incredibly singleplayer-unfriendly mechanics). This is a nice idea on the surface but just doesn't mesh with how dst is trying to be inclusive.

Okay but consider this, bosses of dst .. let’s count them, off the top of my head there has to be at least 20, if not 30 of them by now, these “bosses” seem to be the only type of content Klei actually wants to design for the game.. leaving any player who does not engage with them “Starved” (pun fully intended for a game called Dont Starve) for Content.

Now from my perspective the boss fights usually have unique elements to them, either a cool fight, mechanic or exclusive to the fight minion is involved.

Unfortunately: These bosses are also skill checks, you either “Git Good” “Git Mor PlayerZ to help” Or you “Git Dead”

Since there’s no way of scaling them to be enjoyable even on “Relaxed Difficulty” they’re something that can’t be adjusted to be comfortable and enjoyable for all skill levels.

19 minutes ago, Waywarbler said:

Does your ideal version of DST have most of the bosses be like Antlion (constantly cause problems from a distance until you kill it)?

This isn’t a bad idea.. if the bosses health, damage etc can be adjusted to be a comfortable fight, and if whatever effect they cause does not bring direct base destruction to a megabasers poor precious base.

Bee Queen continuing to live can passively spawn angry bee dens over time  etc.

[Evelo]

1 hour ago, Waywarbler said:

Does your ideal version of DST have most of the bosses be like Antlion (constantly cause problems from a distance until you kill it)?

Yes. Antlion is one of the best bosses added to date. I know many people will disagree with me but it is fundamentally a proper Don't Starve boss. Much like Bearger, OG Dfly, and Deerclops. Simply forcing players to deal with the struggle with them being alive (occasional pit traps with Antlion or falling boulders), or kill the creature to prevent it from continuing. At least for a little while.

2 hours ago, aidancode said:

Consider that dst is very specifically trying to be ds solo but with more things added on top. Most dst bosses are designed with multiplayer in mind. A new player playing by themselves should not have something like this happen. Especially considering how obscure most boss spawning methods are (and how bee Queen and afw have incredibly singleplayer-unfriendly mechanics). This is a nice idea on the surface but just doesn't mesh with how dst is trying to be inclusive.

I think the multiplayer in mind only actually applies to AFW, Bee Queen, Toadstool (pre-nerf to remove the timer), and Dragonfly (when not using wall cheese). That was only because of the health pool. Now that bosses have more normal health pools like Crab King rework, Werepig (both variants), Frostjaw, and now WARBOT it is pretty apparent that is just not the case anymore.

While I agree with obscure boss spawning methods, this could also be a great way to introduce ways to spawn bosses. I even alluded to that with the Shadow Pieces, how their level 1 defeated forms would fly to the statues effectively screaming, "Hey! Want to stop this from happening? Destroy the Statues!" There are infinite ways for DST to be inclusive while also adding this semi-predatory feature to bosses. Hell we just got the Trader who trivializes gears, red and blue gem acquisition in the early game. Too much inclusivity can be quite alienating. Usually not, but sometimes.

[Ardcrumb]

Survival games are like a bread and butter to me, my favourite games are survival games, pathologic 2, the og don't starve, vintage story, etc.

What my point is, if you look at the survival mechanics in most games they boil down to a meter going down, and ways to make sure it doesn't go down.

Many survival games have the issues of having a solution to the meter too early on, like the water and thirst in raft being more of a chore after the 2nd hour, as an example.

The original don't starve saw the issue of the nullification of the meter and solved it by adding hurdles and stops to getting food, first with hounds, then sanity, and soforth, and the more time that passed added more ways to try and solve the issue of hunger; until it WAS solved, at least to anyone with any actual experience.

The only time the current don't starve is an actual survival game is the basic parts of the original being experienced by someone new.

The other ways the devs have tried to add more "survival" mechanics is by added solutions to a solved problem behind frankly tedious and boring combat system at its core.

I don't have a magical solution that the devs should follow through with, I just want to make the observation that the very concept of starving itself has been powercrept to the point where it hardly interacts with any mechanics of the game beyond a meter that just goes down.

[Erathia]

10 hours ago, Evelo said:

Simply making most of the optional bosses not optional any more by having them actively attack the player after some allotted time (akin to Deerclops, Bearger, and Antlion) would dramatically make the survival aspect of the game more present. Klei can in fact, have their cake and eat it too. They are choosing not to which is mind boggling.

Toadstool could start to infest the caves with spore pollution that obliterates perishables, only way to make them stop is to kill Toadstool.
Celestial Champion phase 1 could spawn after the 2nd year (or 140 days) and Moonstorms show up almost globally, forcing the player to deal with dreaded bird infestations, until they defeat CC. Want to stop them from happening again 30 or so days later? Go and do the questline.
Crab King could send an invasion of little crab arms to latch onto your boat and some crab minions could raid your ship. Only way to stop it is to kill Crab King. After which there will be a timer on when it happens again, maybe 40 days or something idk, idc.
The Shadow Pieces at level 1 could spawn on New Moons after a certain amount of time, they don't drop anything they just attack the player and don't level up when killed. Their little shadow goopy thing could run toward the Statues if those havent been completed yet and will stop appearing once all possible statues have been repaired and broken (be it on new moon or full moon).
Ancient Fuelweaver could start to open more of those fissures gradually over the entire cave system that follows the Nightmare Cycle. So the threat of nightmare phase is an emerging problem throughout the whole system instead of only the ruins. Defeating the AFW will reset this and force it to re-propagate the cycle.
Bee Queen could send her royal bees to attack the player much like Hound Waves. A land variant of the Monkey Island raids possibly as they would be only when in range of the Queens hive. She could respawn bee hives and killer bee hives so there is more of a threat (albeit an easy one) to approach her. They could be "hastily made ones" that drop no resources too if that is an issue.

It is fine to have some optional bosses, but seriously, the last boss we got that was non-optional (kind of) was the Depths Worm, before that it was Antlion all the way back in the beta. Force us to fight these bosses, that is survival at its finest!

Some of these suggestions are totally absurd. Honestly, sometimes when I see posts like this, I get the feeling that very few people have really thought things through or have any experience with game design... I'm not even sure if it's worth responding at all because it feels a bit like talking to a wall.

I understand the idea and the general frustration that some bosses are too optional, but making all of them actively attack the player after a certain amount of time simply wouldn’t make sense and would break the game’s balance.

Look, if every boss appeared on its own after some time and attacked the player, then every few dozen days you’d have another siege, raid, major event, or invasion. That’s not survival — that would be an endless series of battles without a moment of rest. Even a hardcore player would eventually burn out, and a new player would have no chance. It’s still easy to die, most players who have been playing for a long time and have built huge mega bases still end up rolling back their games because you can sometimes die for a really stupid reason, and you always have to stay careful.

Honestly, I completely disagree with this idea. To me, it’s absurd. Don’t Starve Together is not a soulslike game where there has to be a boss fight and constant pressure all the time. This game is about survival, planning, and risk management, not constant fighting with the next boss just because 30 days have passed. It’s also worth remembering how many players love building mega bases in this game.

The game already has plenty of survival elements  from temperature, rain, and cold, to overheating, acid rain after activating rifts, as well as lunar versions of seasonal bosses during lunar rift events. I know we live in the 21st century where most people expect instant gratification and dopamine hits from every direction, but if you feel it’s too easy and want a bigger challenge, just set all the difficulty options to the maximum in the game settings. 

Besides, the current system rewards understanding the world and making thoughtful decisions. Bosses like Celestial Champion, Ancient Fuelweaver, or Toadstool aren’t just “meat to beat”,  they are tests of your knowledge about the game world. Do you know what triggers moonstorms? Can you get into the ruins and survive the Nightmare Cycle? Good job, the game rewards you with fights and powerful items that help you deal with future threats or weather and make it easier to build a mega base. It works and creates a satisfying progression loop. The game tests your engagement, it can be a shallow survival experience where you just focus on getting through the four seasons, managing hunger, dealing with waves of hounds, and fighting easy seasonal bosses like Deerclops or Bearger. But the more invested you become, the more the game reveals the conflict between Charlie and Wagstaff, offering new perspectives to explore the story and deeper involvement. As a result, you unlock additional bosses and earn better gear as a reward.

Turning this into automatic boss attacks would be like turning DST into a tower defense with forced boss rushes, but the strength of this game is exactly its emergent gameplay and player control.

Bosses like Deerclops, Antlion, and Bearger already introduce seasonal pressure, and it works because it’s organic and predictable. But imposing that logic on every other boss (especially the endgame ones) would be artificial player overload. The game would lose its rhythm, there would be constant escalation, no chance to catch your breath, and planning would turn into chaos.

Klei isn’t “not wanting to have their cake and eat it too,” they balance optionality and threat very well. CC, AF, and Bee Queen are well-designed systems that reward engagement, exploration, and mastery of mechanics. This isn’t “optional content for the willing,” it’s something you activate when you’re ready, and that’s why those fights are satisfying. So no, it’s not a matter of “Klei not wanting to,” but “Klei knowing that mindless escalation doesn’t make good survival.

 

[Popian]

1 hour ago, Erathia said:

That’s not survival — that would be an endless series of battles without a moment of rest.

The suggestion does have elements of survival. You have to pick your battles if you want to get things done because it will limit time as a resource, and you will get different outcomes based on what you have done. (I think it is a good callback to the Spider Queen not feeling survival-like because space is plentiful and generous so the encounter isn't "forced".)

I don't agree that it is literally the way to take things forward, just that the concept is something that can be considered.

Edited May 30, 2025 by Popian

[Erathia]

I don’t agree with you, i understand your point, that time pressure and the need to prioritize actions might feel like survival. But the strength of Don't Starve Together has never been about arbitrarily limiting the player’s time, it's about emergent difficulty that arises from the player's own decisions. If bosses start attacking automatically after a set time, the player is no longer choosing their battles,  they’re just being forced into them. That’s not strategic survival; that’s forced escalation.

And sure, the outcome might change depending on what you’ve done, but at what cost? You strip away flexibility, creativity, and pacing. One of DST’s core strengths is that it supports different playstyles. Everything should be balanced. Some players rush bosses, others build mega bases, some roleplay or experiment with world generation. Forced boss timers flatten all of those experiences into the same pressure loop.

Time as a resource already exists in DST, winter, summer, moon phases, seasonal bosses, and events like rifts and moonstorms already create pressure. But they do so in a way that can be anticipated and managed, and that’s what creates real tension and reward. Forcing bosses to attack regardless of your readiness just punishes slower or more creative players.

So yes, on paper, it might sound like survival: more pressure, more timers, more consequences. But in practice, it undermines the design pillars that make DST compelling: freedom, control, and mastery over systems. The game is difficult not because it throws everything at you, but because it allows you to fail on your own terms.

[Erathia]

6 minutes ago, Wraif said:

Is it possible that people simply want to play a different game, but don't really want to outright admit it?

I get the feeling that some of these people don’t actually play the game, or at the very least, they don’t understand what Don’t Starve is really about. Their suggestions often target the core mechanics that define the identity of the game. They criticize systems that not only shape its gameplay but are essential to what makes Don’t Starve unique — things like optional exploration, the emphasis on planning, risk management, and the freedom to play at your own pace.
As a result, a lot of these proposals sound more like an attempt to turn Don’t Starve into an entirely different game rather than meaningful improvements to the one we have. It shows a lack of understanding of what makes Don’t Starve compelling in the first place, and why it has such a loyal community.

This game hasn’t been out for just a year, and it’s not in early access anymore, where certain shortcomings or major overhauls to core mechanics could still be justified. Don’t Starve Together has been on the market for many years, it's a game that has been developed and refined over nearly a decade, with a massive player base and a well-established identity. Klei isn’t experimenting blindly anymore  their design decisions are deliberate, based on years of balancing, observing player behavior, community feedback, and a clear vision of what this game is supposed to be.

At this point, we’re talking about a title with mature mechanics, a defined gameplay structure, and a distinctive style. Trying to force radical changes, like mandatory boss fights every few dozen days or pushing players into one “correct” playstyle", not only goes against the spirit of the game but also disregards its history and evolution. Suggestions like that might have made some sense in the early stages of development, when everything was still flexible, but not now — not in a game that thrives because of its balance between freedom, difficulty, and player agency.

Expecting Don’t Starve Together to suddenly rewrite the foundations of its gameplay isn’t just unrealistic, it’s harmful. It’s like complaining that chess doesn’t have co-op boss battles. If the game doesn’t meet someone’s expectations, maybe it’s just not the right game for them — and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean the developers are doing something wrong.

[cropo]

Everyone always says things like Eyebrella beats spring and summer, therefore it's a trivial thing but I don't entirely agree. Wearing an eyebrella is a sacrifice of a head-slot, a choice I make with a powerful piece of gear that I earned. The game only has 3 equip slots, and every single slot is fiercely competing with various important choices to make; even if you're the type who can juggle and swap between various pieces of gear on a dime you are still mechanically interacting with the game and fighting a problem that arises in gameplay and you are still dedicating your inventory slot economy to yet another item in your growing list of "solutions". 


The Umbralla takes the hand slot, this means no walking cane or no weapon. You can deploy it on the ground, but it needs to be picked up and then re-equipped and only has a certain range of effect. 


When it rains in the ruins, what am I to do? If I play Willow, getting wet is not an option because the increase in coldness will absolutely destroy me. But if I wear an eyebrella, I can't wear a football helm against the very dangerous enemies, some having ranged attacks that are not traditionally dodgeable and do a good chunk of damage. Maybe a regular umbrella and a football helmet? Then what am I going to kill the enemies with if my hand is occupied? Maybe I can swap back and fourth? Okay, but wetness can build up over time and unless I take the extra time to dry myself off with fire that still slowly brings the wetness problem back.

Chest armor? Okay, what about a backpack? The entire point of the ruins for most trips is to gather loot, going in with chest armor alone is putting the cart before the horse. Just swap between backpack and armor? The backpack can get wet on the ground, picking it back up would wear could lower my sanity and make me wet anyway. 

This isn't an impossible challenge, there are ways to handle it and I am simplifying it, but the act of solving these issues is still "Me seriously engaging with the games mechanics" and that's the sweet spot for difficulty for me. I am not in excruciating crisis, but I am not just yawning my way through it(some of you might, but that's because you're already so good that it's no longer an issue for you). 

Don't Starve's balance heavily relies on its restriction to 3 equippable items in my opinion, and what truly "ruins the survival" aspect is anything that allows you to bypass these 3 slots to "solve" a problem. While powerful end-game items are permitted to do this, or limited items like the staves(even if they're at present easy to mass acquire) one item in particular is a far greater issue to the survival element than all others and that is the Thermal Stone.  The Thermal Stone absolutely destroys the survival elements in every way, as it is an item that "does not need to be equipped" and requires very little effort to maintain its effect. It costs practically nothing to make and can be hidden in your pocket to become immune to every season other than some of springs wetness effects.

If you have ever complained that this game is lacking in survival elements on the level of Evelo, you are, in my opinion, compelled to condemn the thermal stone. Any attempts at defending its effects while also advocating for a bigger survival challenge is hypocrisy in my eyes.



On another note, I think it is impossible at this point for Klei to add in "survival threats" because raid bosses introduce a tight schedule for the player. If the player is spending hours and hours grinding materials for a big boss fight, then they start to head to that boss(lets say AFW) and then 20 billion raids and meteors attack you all at once it feels like a waste of time and a deliberate padding of game-time where it's just better to "wait out" the threat or just not bother with it at all if you aren't forced to. And if you are forced to, that's not fun, it just robbed you of your chance to do something you put effort into. I feel this way about Frog Rain; you simply run away from your base and hang around a non-important area and wait it out for a day or two to the point it's just a time-waster and not an actual survival mechanism.

[Bumber64]

20 hours ago, Evelo said:

Toadstool could start to infest the caves with spore pollution that obliterates perishables, only way to make them stop is to kill Toadstool.

You do realize that's a raid boss that basically requires a weather pain or glass axe to beat? Is the idea to keep new players from ever wanting to explore the caves? Considering the effect will probably be active by the time they first enter?

CC moonstorms? Better make time to do Pearl's menial chores! Which you've now got to do while contending with CK's minions, because you were too busy learning how to survive on land.

It all sounds so tedious, and leaves no time whatsoever to enjoy any other part of the game. Do you not realize that hound attacks alone are lethal to new players?

[Evelo]

12 hours ago, Erathia said:

Some of these suggestions are totally absurd. Honestly, sometimes when I see posts like this, I get the feeling that very few people have really thought things through or have any experience with game design... I'm not even sure if it's worth responding at all because it feels a bit like talking to a wall.

 - snip -

2 hours ago, Bumber64 said:

You do realize that's a raid boss that... -snip-

Look, my point is that Klei is adding ONLY optional bosses. The Greater Depths worm can be despawned easily but Antlion was the last overtly hostile boss that has to be dealt with in some way or another. I was just throwing out dumb off the cuff ideas without any consideration to balance. Just something to make the player actually seek out the boss fights because, at least to me, having every boss be optional is unfun. I want to feel like I am prey in this hostile world. You still are technically with hound waves and Monkey Raids, Depth Worm waves, Antlion, Deerclops, and to a lesser extent bearger. Obviously balance would have to be added into consideration. I'm not saying every 2-10 days you get attacked, but hell every 30-45 days a boss comes to terrorize you sounds a lot more interesting. Yeah it is tower defensy, but how is that not survival? You are being attacked and you have to survive the attack. Maybe I am just lost in the language but given how trivial Acid Rain and Lunar Hail are, actual non-boss related survival aspects seem to be severely neglected by Klei whose desire seems to be solely focused on bosses at this point.

[xhyom]

20 minutes ago, Evelo said:

Look, my point is that Klei is adding ONLY optional bosses. The Greater Depths worm can be despawned easily but Antlion was the last overtly hostile boss that has to be dealt with in some way or another. I was just throwing out dumb off the cuff ideas without any consideration to balance. Just something to make the player actually seek out the boss fights because, at least to me, having every boss be optional is unfun. I want to feel like I am prey in this hostile world. You still are technically with hound waves and Monkey Raids, Depth Worm waves, Antlion, Deerclops, and to a lesser extent bearger. Obviously balance would have to be added into consideration. I'm not saying every 2-10 days you get attacked, but hell every 30-45 days a boss comes to terrorize you sounds a lot more interesting. Yeah it is tower defensy, but how is that not survival? You are being attacked and you have to survive the attack. Maybe I am just lost in the language but given how trivial Acid Rain and Lunar Hail are, actual non-boss related survival aspects seem to be severely neglected by Klei whose desire seems to be solely focused on bosses at this point.

I really agree that having more bosses attacking you directly is simply worse for the game, at some point it becomes a chore. But I would also like some of them to influence our survival, not by making a le epic TEST OF SURVIVAL by launching attacks that we have to withstand, but by changing our world, which we use to survive in our own way, even if in a subtle way just to encourage us to go after these villains who are getting in our way in some way.

[Jakepeng99]

10 minutes ago, xhyom said:

I really agree that having more bosses attacking you directly is simply worse for the game, at some point it becomes a chore. But I would also like some of them to influence our survival, not by making a le epic TEST OF SURVIVAL by launching attacks that we have to withstand, but by changing our world, which we use to survive in our own way, even if in a subtle way just to encourage us to go after these villains who are getting in our way in some way.

Malbatross is the best example of the boss.

[Mike23Ua]

11 hours ago, Wraif said:

Is it possible that people simply want to play a different game, but don't really want to outright admit it?

The reason Fortnite & Minecraft are still around is because the developers realized that in fact people actually DO WANT different experiences with the game.. and perhaps what’s most disheartening about that with DST is that there are 5 difficulty presets, and a TON of world configuration toggle options, but they aren’t different enough to make a huge standout difference.

Its still very much the same core experience across all game modes, even lights out mode still has easy to obtain light source to defeat the purpose of the mode..

And I think what really makes me upset the most is that I can see in DST what other players don’t see or don’t want to see- I can see it becoming a bigger game with a wider variety of game modes and preferences for people to enjoy..

And because I have a bunch of years in experience with creating my own games and mini-games thanks to highly in-depth in game creator tools (like little big planet, Battleblock Theater, FarCry 2, Fortnite, Minecraft & Fallguys Creative Modes..

I can safely say that if Klei were to add an actual “creative/sandbox mode” into DST that players would be able to design their own biomes, spawn in their own enemies and place them where they want, create chests and fill them with treasures etc.

If the creative mode was robust enough: I could turn DST into Guidus, or Yet Another Dungeon/Pixel Dungeon, Hamlet DLC temples were actually CLOSE to it already.

theres also the Gorge & the Forge which gave players (sadly for a limited time) different ways to play and enjoy DST without having to stick to the vanilla experience that after 10 years of playing the same kind of never changing gameplay- Of course fans are clamoring for something more.