Rework WX-78 Eating Gears

[WendyHater9000]

You know this game encourages you to explore right?

1. You get guaranteed living logs from gesto cave

2.You get guaranteed pig skin from moon alter if every structures are destroyed 

3.R/P/G gems can be easily generated from boulder bough, other 3 from dfly.

4.Gears are guaranteed in ruin.

In my mind those are the same thing that you just need to explore

 

Edited March 27 by WendyHater9000

[AliceShiki]

5 minutes ago, WendyHater9000 said:

You know this game encourages you to explore right?

I feel like you keep want everything spawned abundantly nearby without the need to spend 10-20 days exploring lol.

... You do realize that OP is talking about pub servers that will probably die by winter, right? 10~20 days exploring is a big task for someone who wants to actually build the base that helps the people trying to rush FW, CC and whatnot.

[WendyHater9000]

15 minutes ago, AliceShiki said:

... You do realize that OP is talking about pub servers that will probably die by winter, right? 10~20 days exploring is a big task for someone who wants to actually build the base that helps the people trying to rush FW, CC and whatnot.

Ppl dies in Winter no matter if the base is good or not. 
I’ve done d6 big base rush with woodie, with t2 magic and science with 6 crockpot+bird cage. And bring back 2 star caller at d12.

Guess what? People died in base because they are lazy to get food by themselves.

Dont tell me I need to babysit them one by one

Op can simply make a functional bases around d6-7 and go explore, no much conflict between going out to explore and building a base

 

Edit: I misread that op is claiming those four stuff is scarce in base, but actually op is just replying to someone. Classic TL;DR moment

Edited March 27 by WendyHater9000

[AliceShiki]

3 hours ago, WendyHater9000 said:

Ppl dies in Winter no matter if the base is good or not. 
I’ve done d6 big base rush with woodie, with t2 magic and science with 6 crockpot+bird cage. And bring back 2 star caller at d12.

Guess what? People died in base because they are lazy to get food by themselves.

Dont tell me I need to babysit them one by one

I get that you made an edit there and stuff, but just to clarify my point.

I wasn't talking about people dying on Winter. I was talking about everyone quitting the server on Winter and the server dying... So like, since the server will be around for 1~2 seasons at most before going poof, nobody playing the server will have much time to invest on anything in particular for a long-term base.

It's just people trying to make a functional base as quickly as possible, and other people trying to rush content as quickly as possible before everyone quits the server, so time ends up being the most scarce thing they have.

Edited March 28 by AliceShiki

[Kvetevk]

7 hours ago, GRC said:

A single right-click, at the right time and wrong place, does leave me having less fun with the game, yeah. I'm not worried about reigning in all the potential right-clicks in DST that can do that, just this one in particular.

I'll try my best to be brief.

1. I suggest WX-78 maintains their ability to eat Gears while other players replacing said Gears no longer takes multiple days and/or excessive luck to do so, ideally with a consistent solution either within proximity of their base and/or quickly within early-game Autumn. (I don't have a more specific suggestion than that, that's what I wanted to brainstorm.)

2. The reason it should be changed is so that players who spend as much time as possible working on base (so others don't have to) and have the foresight/adaptability to these circumstances can continue to stay on top of their daily chores without losing as much time as they can currently plan for.

3. Once the Year of the Clockwork Horse is over, this would be a long-term solution to this issue that doesn't rely on yearly/seasonal events. If the right ideas are proposed: This would primarily affect the early-game player-experience such that a base-builder of a sufficient task-management level can bounce back from said inconvenience without neglecting their chores as long as the average make-up period currently requires. Bases in public-servers would likely be more prepared on average to sustain a big group of players, servers less likely to fizzle out before Winter even begins. WX-78's beneficiary interactions with Gears either remain completely unchanged or are perceived as a buff (depending on what was reworked).

• Consequence of the above likely includes DST's early-game being made even easier in some form or another. (Which, yeah, Skill Trees tend to do that no matter what.)

Focusing only on base-building and never exploring is not a good way to play the game. Don’t Starve Together is designed around exploration, adaptation, and shared responsibility. If one player chooses to stay in the base all the time, they are missing a core part of the gameplay and putting unnecessary pressure on others to gather resources, scout, and solve problems.

Also, it’s not fair to complain about other players or the game when the problem comes from how you choose to play. In a multiplayer game, everyone contributes differently, and no one is obligated to play around one person’s strategy. If someone decides to stay in the base and handle chores, that’s their choice but it shouldn’t limit others or be used as a reason to why something should change.

I get that it must be annoying but choosing a right server to play on is also another important thing to consider, especially like others mentioned, taking care of a base while playing with incompetent players will lead to your demise.

Solutions:

1. Get the resources before anyone else and before making the base.

2. Play with friends or a group of people who have dedicated server.

3. Play as wx78 and eat all the gears and hammer all the fridges you can see (this is a joke, please dont do that).

Edited March 28 by Kvetevk

[GRC]

On 3/28/2026 at 1:21 AM, Kvetevk said:

Focusing only on base-building and never exploring is not a good way to play the game. Don’t Starve Together is designed around exploration, adaptation, and shared responsibility. If one player chooses to stay in the base all the time, they are missing a core part of the gameplay and putting unnecessary pressure on others to gather resources, scout, and solve problems.

Ah, but to assume a base-builder does no exploration is to neglect the amount of exploration already involved in base-building! A player making a half-decent base for others is not sitting down at the first Science Machine built, they're spending their initial days in the server doing nothing but exploration and gathering before setting up shop.

Bases that are helpful sooner than later involve figuring out the layout of the world-gen's biomes and wormholes, gathering a lot supplies from all over the Constant (basics, plantables, Gears, Silk, Charcoal, Reeds and any other further stretch-goals they want to hit) and only then actually settling on what location to base-in with other players' interests in mind. (Are multiple folks trying to rush bosses, Ruins or the Ocean? Are some players characters that aren't going to have fun living next to pigs? Immovable set-pieces like MacTusk? So forth.) You get exploration out of the way ASAP to have that much more time to base, since each day more of exploration is the initial price to pay before you can even begin base chores. The sooner you can start working on base without needing additional trips out of it, the better, cozier, group rush-enable-ier base ends up being.

On 3/28/2026 at 1:21 AM, Kvetevk said:

Also, it’s not fair to complain about other players or the game when the problem comes from how you choose to play. In a multiplayer game, everyone contributes differently, and no one is obligated to play around one person’s strategy. If someone decides to stay in the base and handle chores, that’s their choice but it shouldn’t limit others or be used as a reason to why something should change.

I get that it must be annoying but choosing a right server to play on is also another important thing to consider, especially like others mentioned, taking care of a base while playing with incompetent players will lead to your demise.

I wholeheartedly agree with that notion and frankly don't understand what that has to do with anything here. Not once have I ever mentioned wanting to limit others, just having something changed in DST so that others won't necessarily limit me as much. I'd like to enable incompetent players as much as possible--every player starts out bad at Don't Starve before they can be good at it and I want them to get to spend more time alive in the game. I think that's the furthest thing from asking to limit others. I want to be able to do that without as much of a compromise to my own fun if things go awry, hence my call to either seeing WX-78's mechanic change (without losing what people love about it) or some kind of mechanic surrounding it to make getting that Gear back a far less tedious thing.

Edited March 29 by GRC

[Kvetevk]

24 minutes ago, GRC said:

Ah, but to assume a base-builder does no exploration is to neglect the amount of exploration already involved in base-building! A player making a half-decent base for others is not sitting down at the first Science Machine built, they're spending their initial days in the server doing nothing but exploration and gathering before setting up shop.

Bases that are helpful sooner than later involve figuring out the layout of the world-gen's biomes and wormholes, gathering a lot supplies from all over the Constant (basics, plantables, Gears, Silk, Charcoal, Reeds and any other further stretch-goals they want to hit) and only then actually settling on what location to base-in with other players' interests in mind. (Are multiple folks trying to rush bosses, Ruins or the Ocean? Are some players characters that aren't going to have fun living next to pigs? Immovable set-pieces like MacTusk? So forth.) You get exploration out of the way ASAP to have that much more time to base, since each day more of exploration is the initial price to pay before you can even begin base chores. The sooner you can start working on base without needing additional trips out of it, the better, cozier, group rush-enable-ier base ends up being.

I wholeheartedly agree with that notion and frankly don't understand what that has to do with anything here. Not once have I ever mentioned wanting to limit others, just having something changed in DST so that others won't necessarily limit me as much. I'd like to enable incompetent players as much as possible--every player starts out bad at Don't Starve before they can be good at it and I want them to get to spend more time alive in the game. I think that's the furthest thing from asking to limit others. I want to be able to do that without as much of a compromise to my own fun if things go awry, hence my call to either seeing WX-78's mechanic change (without losing what people love about it) or some kind of mechanic surrounding it to make getting that Gear back a far less tedious thing.

I understand, so gears shouldn't be a problem, even if wx78 eats all of them, because I forgot the most easiest method for obtaining gears:

Spoiler

Wandering trader, 1 gears for the low price of 3 pig skins, he also lives on the main island and he restocks his trades.

Im sorry that I couldn't think of it sooner.

Edited March 29 by Kvetevk

[GRC]

5 minutes ago, Kvetevk said:

I understand, so gears shouldn't be a problem, even if wx78 eats all of them, because I forgot the most easiest method for obtaining gears:

  Hide contents

Wandering trader, 1 gears for the low price of 3 pig skins, he also lives on the main island and he restocks his trades.

Im sorry that I couldn't think of it sooner.

Him existing does help with the availability of Gears in the first place, but his random elements mean he isn't a too reliable source. He can appear in various places across the map (meaning whether he's a quick trip out of base or an entire several-day journey depends on luck) and has no way to be consistently hunted down--he's definitely been more trouble than if I sooner farmed Tumbleweeds in at least a couple sessions I've done. His items don't refresh either unless players stay away from him for a long enough period, which also means you're required to base a certain minimum distance away from his last known location. But yeah, as currently is, Wandering Trader is not much more help than the Tumbleweeds, Graves or Junk Pile for all the good that RNG and restrictions I believe he has.

Incidentally, this won't change much on the above but it's one question that would help to know. Are the starting Gears he offers a one-time offer to the first player that reaches him, or does he offer those Gears per player that has 3 Pig Skins? If it is the latter and we got a change to where he always appeared near the Florid Postern (one of his potential locations) on certain days (Every multiple of 3, maybe?), that would be a great alternate solution to this thread as well, even for basers who don't already have Pig Skins in the first 3 days via joining the server late. (Again, all that assuming it even works like the latter and that other players haven't committed a similar degree of hoarding on the Pig Skin.)

[Kvetevk]

7 hours ago, GRC said:

Him existing does help with the availability of Gears in the first place, but his random elements mean he isn't a too reliable source. He can appear in various places across the map (meaning whether he's a quick trip out of base or an entire several-day journey depends on luck) and has no way to be consistently hunted down--he's definitely been more trouble than if I sooner farmed Tumbleweeds in at least a couple sessions I've done. His items don't refresh either unless players stay away from him for a long enough period, which also means you're required to base a certain minimum distance away from his last known location. But yeah, as currently is, Wandering Trader is not much more help than the Tumbleweeds, Graves or Junk Pile for all the good that RNG and restrictions I believe he has.

Incidentally, this won't change much on the above but it's one question that would help to know. Are the starting Gears he offers a one-time offer to the first player that reaches him, or does he offer those Gears per player that has 3 Pig Skins? If it is the latter and we got a change to where he always appeared near the Florid Postern (one of his potential locations) on certain days (Every multiple of 3, maybe?), that would be a great alternate solution to this thread as well, even for basers who don't already have Pig Skins in the first 3 days via joining the server late. (Again, all that assuming it even works like the latter and that other players haven't committed a similar degree of hoarding on the Pig Skin.)

If you check the wiki you would know all his locations and that he stays in one place for 10 days, he also restocks every 2 days and the gears are always there + there can be additional gears in stock.

[GRC]

11 hours ago, Kvetevk said:

If you check the wiki you would know all his locations and that he stays in one place for 10 days, he also restocks every 2 days and the gears are always there + there can be additional gears in stock.

I was checking the page to fact-check before responding before, yeah. It doesn't answer my question though: Are those starting gears a client-side offer (one Gear per player) or a world-based offer (only one set of starting gears)? The wiki's don't clarify and are a huge factor in how consistent said Gears actually are in a public server.

[Kvetevk]

11 minutes ago, GRC said:

I was checking the page to fact-check before responding before, yeah. It doesn't answer my question though: Are those starting gears a client-side offer (one Gear per player) or a world-based offer (only one set of starting gears)? The wiki's don't clarify and are a huge factor in how consistent said Gears actually are in a public server.

Im pretty sure its world-side, but honestly when did you saw someone actually trade with him?
There are so many ways to get gears and in the earlygame you need only 1 to 3 for the fridges, during middlegame its best to either farm scrappy werepig or ruins.

Also do you stream or make videos? Because I would like to see your perspective and know how often you need gears.

Edited March 30 by Kvetevk

[GRC]

1 hour ago, Kvetevk said:

Im pretty sure its world-side, but honestly when did you saw someone actually trade with him?
There are so many ways to get gears and in the earlygame you need only 1 to 3 for the fridges, during middlegame its best to either farm scrappy werepig or ruins.

Also do you stream or make videos? Because I would like to see your perspective and know how often you need gears.

Not often enough that it's a regular problem, but that's usually because finding the Trader ends up being the bigger headache in the first place. It'd just be nice if, if it were client-side, that at least it's a matter of finding him being a promised benefit for the time it could take rather than only a potential one, you know?

Again, mid-game is a whole different discussion. All I've been focused on is the perspective of the first 20 Days in a world and the lack of quick, consistent methods of obtaining Gears should they get nabbed up, or back in relation to this thread, should they get eaten prior to their intended use. If things don't go according to plan, my call to action is finding something that either reduces that risk or makes it quicker to bounce back from it.

I don't produce any video content, no. I'm just a player who hops on a lot of public servers and plays score-attack with how nice of a public base I can set up in the first 20 Days (and usually sticking around for Deerclops). I've had long-term worlds with friends before, but I'm much more versed in the various routes one can take in DST's early-game (and the subsequent perks/flaws of basing across various biomes of the mainland, Cave basing, Lunar basing, etc.) and mainly just bring that perspective here in the call to see WX's Gear-eating find a different end-result than a stubbed toe for all the much that one mechanic (alongside the rest of DST's various systems as is) affect the rest of my early-game run.

Edited March 30 by GRC

[Kvetevk]

34 minutes ago, GRC said:

Again, mid-game is a whole different discussion. All I've been focused on is the perspective of the first 20 Days in a world and the lack of quick, consistent methods of obtaining Gears should they get nabbed up, or back in relation to this thread, should they get eaten prior to their intended use. If things don't go according to plan, my call to action is finding something that either reduces that risk or makes it quicker to bounce back from it.

Oh so the first 20 days? Yeah I dont think gears will ever be as common as other resources, you already have multiple ways to get them, not like in DS, wx78 eating gears was way worse before gears had more ways to get them, the most possible change I could see in the future is making scrap consumable for wx78.

Also if wx78 eats the gears you can still kill them to get the gears back, if the pvp is on thats even easier.
But like I said before, losing rare resources is only caused because of players, Im pretty sure that if the players killed all the pigs and destroyed all the houses and used all the pig skin, it made them impossible to get anymore, until the wandering trader was introduced (1 pig skin for 3 beefalo wools)

Doing a poll would be useful, because you can see how many people agree or disagree, so if you can add poll to this post or make another post with a poll, it would be great.