Strength and Quality of Life

[aidancode]

I've seen a sentiment around the forums for overpowered stuff. You'll see people say things like:

Quote

Beefalo can't get an early game combat saddle! Them getting into a fight with a tentacle is the only thing nerfing an otherwise completely overpowered feature!

Or a few minutes ago I saw a post where people argued:

Quote

Maxwell can't be given QoL, since he's already the best character. Anything more would just be him playing the game for you!

And just to be clear, I don't want to say these people are totally wrong! It's true that QoL can often be seen as a buff. DST is often seen as an easier game compared to DS due to all of the QoL features. But at the end of the day, QoL does improve the game.

We can even look at things like Wigfrid drinking tea. This is a QoL change that many players felt infringed on a defining characteristic of Wigfrid. Some people felt this made the downside too easy (well, to be fair, it would only become easy in the super late game)

I think in order to make room for these much needed QoL changes, these overpowered things really need to be nerfed. Not substantially, but at least a little. This would make it a lot easier to justify QoL features.

Anyways, I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this so I'm just gonna leave it at this without making any crazy suggestions.

[Evelo]

Regarding the Beefalo dying to a tentacle:
If it is attached to a beefalo bell, you can run away and it will eventually follow you even if it is in combat. Beefalo are still completely overpowered in my eyes.

QoL =/= make the game easier. An example could be fixing pathfinding for units. This could also affect enemy units (imagine if Dragonfly Lavae started attacking walls or went around!)

Though in general I do support nerfs that affect player power because holy crap it feels like it has gotten out of hand. I know the game is still difficult if you lack the knowledge, but so much can be mitigated through various means.

[Jakepeng99]

4 hours ago, aidancode said:

I've seen a sentiment around the forums for overpowered stuff. You'll see people say things like:

Or a few minutes ago I saw a post where people argued:

And just to be clear, I don't want to say these people are totally wrong! It's true that QoL can often be seen as a buff. DST is often seen as an easier game compared to DS due to all of the QoL features. But at the end of the day, QoL does improve the game.

We can even look at things like Wigfrid drinking tea. This is a QoL change that many players felt infringed on a defining characteristic of Wigfrid. Some people felt this made the downside too easy (well, to be fair, it would only become easy in the super late game)

I think in order to make room for these much needed QoL changes, these overpowered things really need to be nerfed. Not substantially, but at least a little. This would make it a lot easier to justify QoL features.

Anyways, I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this so I'm just gonna leave it at this without making any crazy suggestions.

I don’t think your post really makes any points at all, but they should nerf things more.

let people cry for a bit before they realise it was a good thing for the game health that Weremoose does less damage or something.

2 hours ago, Evelo said:

Regarding the Beefalo dying to a tentacle:
If it is attached to a beefalo bell, you can run away and it will eventually follow you even if it is in combat. Beefalo are still completely overpowered in my eyes.

QoL =/= make the game easier. An example could be fixing pathfinding for units. This could also affect enemy units (imagine if Dragonfly Lavae started attacking walls or went around!)

Though in general I do support nerfs that affect player power because holy crap it feels like it has gotten out of hand. I know the game is still difficult if you lack the knowledge, but so much can be mitigated through various means.

The most broken “QOL” they added was feeding beefalo while riding them.

Thats a huge buff

[YouKnowWho142]

32 minutes ago, Jakepeng99 said:

I don’t think your post really makes any points at all, but they should nerf things more.

let people cry for a bit before they realise it was a good thing for the game health that Weremoose does less damage or something.

The most broken “QOL” they added was feeding beefalo while riding them.

Thats a huge buff

If there’s anything I’d nerf about weremoose just give him an actual sense of progression where his wereforms get stronger over the course of the game with upgrades or experience or something. It’s not fun to me being max potential from the very start 

[DegenerateFurry]

Nerfs to player abilities are a tricky thing in games like this. Nerfing a fun mechanic in a way that either removes it or makes it useless for the sake of "balance" in a co-op game isn't going to be fun for anyone, it takes options away and that sucks. That's one thing to keep in mind: Don't Starve Together isn't a competitive PVP game with tournaments, it's a sandbox survival game with bosses. Balance matters only in the sense that the game is fun for the majority of players. It's okay to have a Wolfgang character who's just flat-out overpowered for the sake of it if playing him is optional and not a detriment to other players; Wolfgang doesn't need to be fair because this game's meant for co-op and what he's fighting isn't other players, it's mobs.

Do not idealize balance for the sake of balance, the point of a game is to be fun.

[Jakepeng99]

7 hours ago, YouKnowWho142 said:

If there’s anything I’d nerf about weremoose just give him an actual sense of progression where his wereforms get stronger over the course of the game with upgrades or experience or something. It’s not fun to me being max potential from the very start 

Yeah I agree.

 

its also way too cheap. It’s designed for post riffs but accessible at the start for 3 meat and 2 grass

[Velvy]

15 hours ago, Jakepeng99 said:

I don’t think your post really makes any points at all, but they should nerf things more.

let people cry for a bit before they realise it was a good thing for the game health that Weremoose does less damage or something.

The most broken “QOL” they added was feeding beefalo while riding them.

Thats a huge buff

Using any phrase of "let people cry" when it comes to balancing makes you look incredibly rude

[Jakepeng99]

6 hours ago, Velvy said:

Using any phrase of "let people cry" when it comes to balancing makes you look incredibly rude

Thats normally what has to happen sometimes

[Velvy]

13 hours ago, Jakepeng99 said:

Thats normally what has to happen sometimes

it just makes you look like a prick

[Naifxoxo]

still maxwell must be nerfed or avoid giving him more qol

[Jakepeng99]

8 hours ago, Velvy said:

it just makes you look like a prick

Its just a saying. Im not hoping for people to actually cry. Just means to let it settle in

[Mike23Ua]

I want a QoL so the player can “Destroy” items in their inventory like you can on Lego Fortnite BrickLife.

Why? Because I’m tired of throwing tools with 40% or less durability on the ground and crafting fresh ones.

the “deconstruction” staff, or even that grinder thing we got sometime awhile back, these items do not cut it…. I want to be able to erase the item from my inventory, so it isn’t causing my world to look cluttered or lag down worse, AND because it would make managing limited inventory space less frustrating.

For anyone who disagrees with this, I challenge you to spend as little as 3 hours sailing around on a boat platform doing ocean activities… when the deck of your boat starts becoming a cluttered mess, you’ll understand quickly why I want this feature.

If your on PC (apparently?) you can just drag and drop stuff over into the ocean and problem solved.

For now on Xbox my way of “solving” the clutter problem is to run around on the deck of the boat gather all the clutter, store it in a chest on the boat, &/Or build a secondary grass boat dropping all the items on the grass boat and setting it on fire.

Spears, Axes, Pickaxes etc.

I ALSO want a QoL so if you have multiple spears in your inventory you automatically equip a new one when the first breaks, I legit have no idea why this isn’t a feature yet… Armors auto equip secondary pairs when they break, axes and pickaxes.. so why are spears the oddballs? If you only knew how much unnecessary damage I have taken while trying to equip the next spear after the first one breaks you’d understand why I need this.

Edited February 28 by Mike23Ua

[DegenerateFurry]

20 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

I want a QoL so the player can “Destroy” items in their inventory like you can on Lego Fortnite BrickLife.

Why? Because I’m tired of throwing tools with 40% or less durability on the ground and crafting fresh ones.

the “deconstruction” staff, or even that grinder thing we got sometime awhile back, these items do not cut it…. I want to be able to erase the item from my inventory, so it isn’t causing my world to look cluttered or lag down worse, AND because it would make managing limited inventory space less frustrating.

For anyone who disagrees with this, I challenge you to spend as little as 3 hours sailing around on a boat platform doing ocean activities… when the deck of your boat starts becoming a cluttered mess, you’ll understand quickly why I want this feature.

If your on PC (apparently?) you can just drag and drop stuff over into the ocean and problem solved.

For now on Xbox my way of “solving” the clutter problem is to run around on the deck of the boat gather all the clutter, store it in a chest on the boat, &/Or build a secondary grass boat dropping all the items on the grass boat and setting it on fire.

Spears, Axes, Pickaxes etc.

I ALSO want a QoL so if you have multiple spears in your inventory you automatically equip a new one when the first breaks, I legit have no idea why this isn’t a feature yet… Armors auto equip secondary pairs when they break, axes and pickaxes.. so why are spears the oddballs? If you only knew how much unnecessary damage I have taken while trying to equip the next spear after the first one breaks you’d understand why I need this.

I know it's not as convenient as Terraria's trash can, but you can use a scaled furnace to delete items now. 

[Evelo]

41 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Lego Fortnite BrickLife

My eyes bled from reading this combination of words.

Edited February 28 by Evelo

[Mike23Ua]

39 minutes ago, DegenerateFurry said:

I know it's not as convenient as Terraria's trash can, but you can use a scaled furnace to delete items now. 

Yeah but, I’m not going to fight dragonfly to build a incinerator it’s highly ineffective.

Like I guess Klei thought this was a good “reward” or whatever.. but, from a gameplay perspective to get any actual use out of it you either:

A- Have to build them everywhere you want to use them.

B- Put them on your boats and nearby shores.

or C- Build them long enough to destroy items and then destroy it.

In Lego BrickLife it’s as simple as scrolling to the item in your inventory & holding down the “destroy” prompt.

This really needs to be a QoL.

[Hi.]

On 2/26/2026 at 4:48 PM, Evelo said:

Beefalo are still completely overpowered in my eyes

I don't think beefalo are "op" Imo they are decently balanced. Beefalo can be really good (especially if you are Wendy, Wes, or Max) but newer players might struggle with taming one. Although Beefalo with a nightmare saddle are pretty op but that's endgame.

Edited February 28 by Hi.

[cybers2001]

4 hours ago, Hi. said:

I don't think beefalo are "op" Imo they are decently balanced. Beefalo can be really good (especially if you are Wendy, Wes, or Max) but newer players might struggle with taming one. Although Beefalo with a nightmare saddle are pretty op but that's endgame.

The fact that beefalo can completely negate a 100-0 instakill from ickers is so wack.

Edited March 1 by cybers2001

[DegenerateFurry]

33 minutes ago, cybers2001 said:

The fact that beefalo can completely negate a 100-0 instakill from ickers is so wack.

The fact that beefalo can completely negate a 100-0 instakill from ickers is so wack.

The fact that you bring up ickers and present them as "a 100-0 instakill" is even more wack, though. Beefalo largely negate icker "instakills" by just letting you be fast enough to not get stuck in one when running past as they drop, which you don't even need a beefalo for. They're such a joke and easy to avoid that this isn't a factor in beefalo balance.

Edited March 1 by DegenerateFurry

[cybers2001]

1 hour ago, DegenerateFurry said:

The fact that you bring up ickers and present them as "a 100-0 instakill" is even more wack, though. Beefalo largely negate icker "instakills" by just letting you be fast enough to not get stuck in one when running past as they drop, which you don't even need a beefalo for. They're such a joke and easy to avoid that this isn't a factor in beefalo balance.

Uh. If you're full health and one falls on your head. You die. That is the definition of "100-0 instakill." And no need to flex there, champ, we all know you're good at this game.

Edit: And to clarify, the speed of the beefalo isn't required to avoid them. You can stand directly under them and not be affected while riding.

Edited March 1 by cybers2001

[Mike23Ua]

8 minutes ago, cybers2001 said:

Uh. If you're full health and one falls on your head. You die. That is the definition of "100-0 instakill." And no need to flex there, champ, we all know you're good at this game

I’ve never had an icker fall directly on me, They always tend to fall ahead of me before I get there. But also I don’t use speed boost items so that could be a factor I guess???

Eitherway, On Xbox you can just walk past them there’s always a gap to slip past.

[cybers2001]

2 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

I’ve never had an icker fall directly on me, They always tend to fall ahead of me before I get there. But also I don’t use speed boost items so that could be a factor I guess???

Eitherway, On Xbox you can just walk past them there’s always a gap to slip past.

Dunno what to tell you. It happens rather easily.

[Edible Coal]

although i do think beefalo are inherently op due to their natural 1000 hp health pool , and i do think they should get nerf in half (500) exchange for more beefalo tools . but i think they are a well design *tool* ,60% speed boost in early game , able to transform vegetable healing to armor benefits character like warly and wormwood. in exchange , the player need to take care of a extra entity that can die if they arnt careful enough.

not to mention i love beefalo synergies that feels fun to play

On 2/27/2026 at 5:48 AM, Evelo said:

Regarding the Beefalo dying to a tentacle:
If it is attached to a beefalo bell, you can run away and it will eventually follow you even if it is in combat. Beefalo are still completely overpowered in my eyes.

QoL =/= make the game easier. An example could be fixing pathfinding for units. This could also affect enemy units (imagine if Dragonfly Lavae started attacking walls or went around!)

Though in general I do support nerfs that affect player power because holy crap it feels like it has gotten out of hand. I know the game is still difficult if you lack the knowledge, but so much can be mitigated through various means.

i would like to know why people think they are overpowered? they arnt even the best in combat in most cases and are mainly a transport tool

[Evelo]

6 hours ago, Hi. said:

Beefalo can be really good (especially if you are Wendy, Wes, or Max)

This is WHY they are op. Completely remove the downsides of the characters.

14 minutes ago, Edible Coal said:

i would like to know why people think they are overpowered? they arnt even the best in combat in most cases and are mainly a transport tool

Upside 1) 1000 hp compared to base 150 from characters (if we include a single log suit then that becomes 475 hp (which costs resources, takes an Item Slot, and has durability)) which regenerates passively at a rate of 0.69hp/s compared to a Wilson's Health Regen of 0hp/s
Upside 1.5) Beefalo heal 4x the amount of health that would heal a player from food (which can be fed while mounted) while also ignoring any sanity reductions caused by food.
Downside? 1.6) Yes Beefalo take 4x damage from food as well, but you wouldn't feed yourself a damaging food if you needed the HP?
Downside! 1.7) Yes Beefalo can only eat Vegetable Foods. Just like Wurt, which is typically a non-issue given the prevalence of Blue Mushrooms, and how much food can be acquired from Farming.

Upside 2) Super easy to tame since the introduction of the Beefalo Bell. Made even easier with the introduction of feeding while mounted: Simply feed your beefalo a lightbulb every 25 seconds slowly increasing the duration over time while always riding the beefalo. Need to do stuff while not mounted? Ok! Just feed it some Steamed Twigs so its hunger isn't 0 while you do the work briefly then mount back up. It's not hard at all anymore.

Upside 3) Ornery does 50 damage which is a very VERY important breakpoint to where it can kill units with 100hp (spiders, bees, etc) in 2 hits instead of 3, while also having infinite durability. When combined with a Warsaddle (which is super easy to acquire while mounted on a beefalo) makes it do 66 damage (2 less than a dark sword and allows mounting mid combat).

Upside 4) Beefalo negate the downsides of many characters while not also negating their upsides. Wendy and Wes's 25% damage Reduction? Ignored. Abigail's Damage boost? Granted. Maxwell's low Health, and Wormwood's inability to heal with food? Negated. Maxwell can cast spells? You bet cha! Wormwood's Bramble Husk Skill Tree Upgrade affects beefalo attacks? Sure why the F not!

Upside 5) Beefalo can be saved from certain death simply by running away. Did you engage in a fight and fear your beefalo is going to die? Is it attached to a Beefalo Bell like a modern sane individual? Just... Run away! Your beefalo will teleport to you and be slightly injured, ready for you to remount and feed it that amazing Dragonpie! But Wait! Are you also post shadow rift content? Well then upgrade your beefalo bell so if it does die because of a big dumb dumb mistake, it will revive good as new! Plus with the Nightmare Saddle, much like the War Saddle, it can be mounted while in combat for an easy escape.

Downside? 5.5) "But there are plenty of knockbacks in the game that counter beefalo!" 1) In the late game, sure. But early game. No, the only 2 examples are newish content with the Werepigs. Additionally if wearing a marble suit, the knockback is severely diminished in intensity, and it doesn't take damage! 2) Relating to point #6, Beefalo are FAST. If you can't dodge, with that amount of speed, then the knockback is of lesser concern.

Upside 6) Beefalo are ridiculously fast. Especially given how easy it is to mount one early game. It makes Woby and the WereGoose look pathetic in comparison. Just smash a pig house, make a saddle, explore the entire map in 3 days, 6 days if you also do the caves. Meanwhile because you are always mounted, you are progressing your domestication.

What really tipped beefalo from, to me, "overpowered" into "This is stupid how broken it is" was the change to allow beefalo to be fed while mounted. Having to dismount, feed your beefalo to heal it up, was actually a major risk for the safety of yourself and the beefalo. (not completely, but mostly cause, it's fast and you can just run far away enough to get in a few feeds then remount) Now, there is no risk.

[Mike23Ua]

I believe your being a bit one-sided when it comes to beefalo being OP for Wes, Maxwell & Wendy, these characters all have very low health, but.. they also can not do half the cool crap that someone like Wormwood can. Wormwood can heal by just existing at the right time, can eat red caps with no downside, every character has their strengths and weaknesses. And I think that it’s important to note that some characters are better synergized while on a mount, whilst others excel greater when on foot. Wolfgang, Wormwood & Wortox come to mind for those roles.. their “abilities” are better suited for Un-Mounted Gameplay.

With that said, since this is a thread to ask for QOL Updates, I have a few more things I want to suggest. 
WHY are boats faster if you paddle using an easy and cheap Oar Vs actually dedicating the time into gathering the ingredients to craft a mast?

I absolutely hate the ocean experience in DST, it’s painfully slow.. but also: Cluttered.

With any number of masts on your boat the screen becomes “blocked” by the sail, this is dumb… and sails should be made see-through so you can still see what’s on the deck of your boat, or the mobs you need to see to fight.

And 500th request to please buff the light radius of the deck Illuminator, it is laughably bad at night time sea navigating.

[Jakepeng99]

4 hours ago, Edible Coal said:

i would like to know why people think they are overpowered? they arnt even the best in combat in most cases and are mainly a transport tool

You can beat most bosses with no preparation or resource costs as ornery beefalo.

you can get by most fights without healing. But now that you can heal while on the beefalo, it’s a no brainer and removes the strategy of getting to a safe space to heal which was like the only downside to a beefalo.