Question for people against rift content

[Draggofroot]

2 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Return of Them, (The very first ocean content update) added an island out in the Ocean called Lunar Island, this Island had its own weird Moon Themed Inhabitants, Most namely: Gashalt, Shattered Spiders, Horror Hounds, Horror Pengull, Carrats & SaladMander.

The most recent lunar rift content update for the surface shard of DST added Crystal Crested Buzzards, which now mutate regular mobs after you defeat them, Spiders turn into Shattered Spiders, Hounds turn into Horror Hounds, Pengul turn into Horror Pengull, but these mobs have existed in the game since the FIRST Return of Them update.

So yes… Rifts (specifically lunar) ARE Connected to the Return of Them updates.

this is like saying shadow rifts took 10 years to make because batilisks are summoned while the rifts are on when you have enough nitre

[Maxil20]

It's kinda fascinating reading responses from people who don't do X thing due to rifts as someone who plays well into the endgame and still pretty consistently uses a lot of these methods in my playstyle. I still use a good bit of pre rift gear in case by case scenarios (I just leave it at the Point in question and swap to it when I'm doing something), I keep a major pig farm around as Easily my main source of meat in my world, and use old setups from years ago pretty consistently. I think the only thing I've truly abandoned on my world is eating raw honey because the polar bearger bin gave me a genuine reason to use crcockpot food again (which I can't really see as a Negative...), and stopped using bunnymen ever since reap what you sow gutted them, which is entirely unrelated to From Beyond as a whole (even the wrathful rabbit wouldn't impact much, as they never died from my own attacks).

I saw a lot of people compare it to Terraria, which I don't feel is entirely Accurate. Terraria's progression makes items from earlier stages obsolete because the items you get later will never break/be lost and have vastly superior stats as a whole, much less hardmode entirely bodying most early-mid pre-hardmode weapons/armor thanks to the defense/damage hardmode enemies achieve. By comparison, while post rift stats are better, they don't completely overshadow pre rift options, and the durability means that you will need to spend time/resources crafting kits to sustain your loadout. I still pretty consistently use things like hambats or thulecite suits when the situation doesn't call for a post rift option (I had to clear a cave swamp for a future project I did, and instead of using like 8-9 kits to take out all of the spiders and queens, I just crafted a hambat and dealt with the situation after a few days). Most rift enemies are also in spots you can pretty comfortably ignore/slip past if you know their mechanics, and Pre rift options still have some usability against them compared to just dealing 1-2 damage. Heck, I even dig how planar damage works when getting attacked, as it allowed a way for armor stacking to exist without being gamebreakingly powerful as it was in DS while still allowing flexibility in what builds people use for fighting an opponent (I will say I like how planar damage to the player works a lot more compared to how planar defense works for players attacking enemies, though).

For the post itself, My main gripes for rift as a whole stem from anti-accessibility and lack of world options for mechanics. As a builder, Buzzards are not my cup of tea and those have a setting to ignore, but I also don't like masques for the same reasons and the solution for that is to entirely disable cave rifts as they still lack a world option to toggle that mechanic. I also really don't like how things like the empowered crown don't have a way to mitigate/dampen the bright blue filter you get the entire time when wearing it, and I ultimately had to enable a client mod to disable the overlay because it was giving me headaches (seriously, why is the endgame reward something that can cause issues like this???)

[Jakepeng99]

Also the options on this are really limited.

[Draggofroot]

1 hour ago, Jakepeng99 said:

Also the options on this are really limited.

yeah i couldnt think of any more, what else do you need me to add?

nvm i realized i cant edit polls

Edited February 23 by Draggofroot

[Radicaljoe]

For the most part, I don't think there's anything in the lunar rifts worth getting except maybe the bearger bin, and even then I still have bundlewrap; the bin is just more convenient.
Shadow rifts are good though, they offer actual upgrades and new tools. Ex, the beefalo bell to save your beefalo if something bad happens, or the scythe to harvest mundane resources 20x faster than before, or the umbralla that lets you protect yourself from rain in an area (drying racks too.) Not to mention shadow has the better range weapon of the 2 rifts (despite being like 40x cheaper somehow.) And the dangers the shadow rift brings feels like good trade for said rewards. Lunar rifts are slowly getting better, but emphasis on slowly. (which I get, they have a lot of stuff to focus on already)

anyway, Shadow rifts awesome, lunar rifts stinky, Wagstaff made my favorite island into a parking lot and I'm still pissed about it.

[Primalflower]

10 hours ago, Harrowick said:

for me, the rifts feel too much like a departure from the survival game I fell in love with (I still love the game!!) and more akin to something like Terraria's emphasis and focus on boss fights.

The game is in constant battle with adding survival changes with a bite hard enough to fit the phase of the game they're added in, and then people watering them down a lot with complaints and reconsideration. (although, to be fair, it's going to be last decision by the devs own internal discussion, I guess I cant be too mad ) 

In particular Lunar hail's original implementation, or as I liked to call it, knife rain felt like a really interesting little element to merely existing, I don't think I need to wax poetic about it other than just that I found it changed my gameplay or mindset in a really cool way due to worrying about it.

Lunar buzzards too I would honestly liken to Hound Attacks (most Survivalest thing in the world) in their impact on my gameplay in a survival sense. It's just a bit of a shame that both of these mechanics, while still impactful in certain circumstances (Lunar hail will summon the evil t3 gestalts via moonglass spawning around, Lunar buzzards still threaten even if they're 10x less of what they used to be)

I guess I kind of just disagree with the notion that the game has ever stopped being a survival game, there are survival threats added by this most recent flow of updates even without considering stuff that doesn't have to do with rifts in particular.

[Uedo]

14 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Return of Them, (The very first ocean content update) added an island out in the Ocean called Lunar Island, this Island had its own weird Moon Themed Inhabitants, Most namely: Gashalt, Shattered Spiders, Horror Hounds, Horror Pengull, Carrats & SaladMander.

The most recent lunar rift content update for the surface shard of DST added Crystal Crested Buzzards, which now mutate regular mobs after you defeat them, Spiders turn into Shattered Spiders, Hounds turn into Horror Hounds, Pengul turn into Horror Pengull, but these mobs have existed in the game since the FIRST Return of Them update.

So yes… Rifts (specifically lunar) ARE Connected to the Return of Them updates.

'So yes… Rifts (specifically lunar) ARE Connected to the Return of Them updates.'  Mike said, willingly ignorant to fact he used an island as example that has no rifts, has never had rifts and will likely never have rifts as an argument.

[Radicaljoe]

12 hours ago, Primalflower said:

In particular Lunar hail's original implementation, or as I liked to call it, knife rain felt like a really interesting little element to merely existing, I don't think I need to wax poetic about it other than just that I found it changed my gameplay or mindset in a really cool way due to worrying about it.

Lunar hail could have been interesting, but the original way it was implemented was just, surface cave-ins that last ~3 mins. And it was very funny to me that the only real solution to the hail, was using the umbralla from the shadow rift. (or dance around madly and dodge the hail while trying to do something) Like, that seems silly to me lunar had to pull from Shadow's gear to be not ungodly annoying. 
Also, the tier 3 gestalt thing only happens if you're wearing the Scion crown I believe. Though it would be cool if that was something that happens during hail, if it also summoned a couple of those gestalts like a hound wave for each player.

[Nikki Darks]

My issue with rift content is how they work.

Activating rifts brings you new problems with solutions for those exact problems, and only THOSE solutions work against those specific problems.

It stifles creativity and forces you to use ONLY those weapons for their matching enemies.

Also, I just don't care about content I need like around 10 hours of gameplay to reach in order to obtain things very slightly better than what we've already had.

Biggest gripe is that they are putting skill trees (IMO the most important update to finish at the moment) on pause for content only a minority of players will bother engaging with.

Also planar damage is just one of the most donkey doo doo mechanics added to DST.

[crushcircuit]

On 2/22/2026 at 3:35 PM, Mike23Ua said:

Return of Them, (The very first ocean content update) added an island out in the Ocean called Lunar Island, this Island had its own weird Moon Themed Inhabitants, Most namely: Gashalt, Shattered Spiders, Horror Hounds, Horror Pengull, Carrats & SaladMander.

The most recent lunar rift content update for the surface shard of DST added Crystal Crested Buzzards, which now mutate regular mobs after you defeat them, Spiders turn into Shattered Spiders, Hounds turn into Horror Hounds, Pengul turn into Horror Pengull, but these mobs have existed in the game since the FIRST Return of Them update.

So yes… Rifts (specifically lunar) ARE Connected to the Return of Them updates.

this is like saying they've been doing rift content since A New Reign because you have to beat fuelweaver to unlock it. They've been doing rift content since the underground update because acid rain affects batilisks

rift content is not completely new content. it is natural for them to utilize content from previous arcs. Anything shadow related could be used in this exact argument to say they've been doing rifts for 10 years

the game's content being interconnected is natural, that does not mean it is all the same group of content updates though. the arc names were invented for a reason

On 2/22/2026 at 5:56 PM, Draggofroot said:

this is like saying shadow rifts took 10 years to make because batilisks are summoned while the rifts are on when you have enough nitre

LOL YOU HAD THE SAME RESPONSE MB

Edited February 24 by crushcircuit

[Mike23Ua]

1 hour ago, crushcircuit said:

this is like saying they've been doing rift content since A New Reign because you have to beat fuelweaver to unlock it. They've been doing rift content since the underground update because acid rain affects batilisks

rift content is not completely new content. it is natural for them to utilize content from previous arcs. Anything shadow related could be used in this exact argument to say they've been doing rifts for 10 years

the game's content being interconnected is natural, that does not mean it is all the same group of content updates though. the arc names were invented for a reason

LOL YOU HAD THE SAME RESPONSE MB

Okay then.. removing anything NOT specfically tied to rifts, that includes Shattered Spider, Horror Hound, Horror Pengul, Batalisk, What exactly has been added as rift content?

No you can not count the weapons and armors, I want to know what new mobs or Weather effects have been introduced for the Rifts. And after you name off that list I want you to tell me how many real world years it’s taken to get that small amount.

Brightshades, Ink Trio??

And to add even more insult to injury: Klei has already announced that the next updates will conclude the Rift updates. What conclude?? It barely feels like it even started.

[Draggofroot]

10 hours ago, crushcircuit said:

LOL YOU HAD THE SAME RESPONSE MB

Great minds think alike 

[crushcircuit]

13 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Okay then.. removing anything NOT specfically tied to rifts, that includes Shattered Spider, Horror Hound, Horror Pengul, Batalisk, What exactly has been added as rift content?

No you can not count the weapons and armors, I want to know what new mobs or Weather effects have been introduced for the Rifts. And after you name off that list I want you to tell me how many real world years it’s taken to get that small amount.

Brightshades, Ink Trio??

And to add even more insult to injury: Klei has already announced that the next updates will conclude the Rift updates. What conclude?? It barely feels like it even started.

https://dontstarve.wiki.gg/wiki/From_Beyond

[Mike23Ua]

3 hours ago, crushcircuit said:

https://dontstarve.wiki.gg/wiki/From_Beyond

I said “Rift Content”, specifically the mobs, resources or weather effects that happen during a rift being opened that cease once the rift closes up again, I would NEVER count an adorable Otter as being part of “Rift Content”

[ShadowDuelist]

Rift items should’ve let you upgrade old items in new, creative ways instead of just outright replacing everything with “better, forever-repairable” gear. You should still have the option to keep using whatever you liked pre-Rifts and just add new magical twists to it. I think they could still go in that direction and keep the current Rift items as the more generic, “meh” options if they wanted to.

Also, the Rift content itself is still pretty limited, and it doesn’t feel world-changing or particularly threatening, in my opinion. Everything new kind of ends up feeling like “just another nuisance.”

That said, I get that balancing this is tough with the community. Over time, I’ve seen a lot of people complain as soon as anything new and actually threatening shows up, since many players seem to want the late game to feel more like a slightly darker Stardew Valley–type game. I’d personally love for the Rifts to feel truly world-changing, with survival becoming a key part of the game again.
The game itself even warns you about a difficulty spike, but in reality, that doesn’t really happen.

[Reiko24]

On 2/22/2026 at 1:08 AM, Mike23Ua said:

“INCOMPLETE Moon Buzzards will mutate Spiders and Hounds into Shattered Spiders and Horror Hounds, but they DO NOT Mutate Frogs into Moon Blight Frogs.. why?

Because moon blight frogs have a gestalt inside them??????????

every mob the vulture revives is hollow and doesn’t have a gestalt inside

the moon blight frogs are a different type of entity, you misunderstood the mechanics

[Seero]

people think the rifts aren't impactful enough? the threat of the rifts is constant for me. 

[reddocc]

I whish hound waves and worm waves were changed when rifts are activated.

What I want is alternative ways to get dark taters and brightshade husks that don't depend in having the rifts active.

Maybe we could intentionally infect plants on full moon with charged glass and gesalts.

Feed bunnymans pure horror then they turn red to get the direct source of "cloth" for dark tatters.

I want brightshades to come with seasonal variations that aren't just the old regular shades, maybe even smaller variants that are easier to fight for players with no gear but also harder and bigger ones with more drops.

[cybers2001]

Most of the post-rift mobs are designed to be as annoying as possible, and always in your face.

(though my shameless plug mod at least makes the caves bearable to base in again)

Edited March 1 by cybers2001

[Hi.]

There was legit no point in adding rifts, Planar is annoying and hurts a lot of characters which then "forced" Klei to add skill trees which just added a lot of power creep. I really think they only added rifts to extend game time, there are a few things I like but I really don't care for rifts.

Edited March 1 by Hi.

[Jakepeng99]

On 3/1/2026 at 2:30 PM, Hi. said:

There was legit no point in adding rifts, Planar is annoying and hurts a lot of characters which then "forced" Klei to add skill trees which just added a lot of power creep. I really think they only added rifts to extend game time, there are a few things I like but I really don't care for rifts.

I like the bosses a lot. (I actually like scion too even if I don’t like how you summon it).

Feel like stuff like that could suffice for lategame on its own. For me cc always felt like lategame after getting its crown. I see why they added what they added but it could be better. 
a lot of stuff is still cool but pushed together doesnt work for me and ends up making servers feel like they end too fast since everyone’s goal is to just beat scion then gg.

 

Id like more stuff like the Pearl ipdate.

[Ev1l]

Buzzards

 

Other rift content is pure kino

On 2/23/2026 at 2:49 PM, Radicaljoe said:

Like, that seems silly to me lunar had to pull from Shadow's gear to be not ungodly annoying. 

Honestly, I like that fact that you'd need a shadow equipment to combat the lunar threat, and they should do the same the other way around, add lunar equipment to combat the shadow threat. That'd feed the notion that they're up against one another and they're luring you in with their respective gear to fight "the greater evil".