Durability Amount: Challenge vs. Annoyance

[Castaway on the Moon]

Thank you to the makers of this game for giving us such a unique and engaging experience for this low price.

 

I have a suggestion that I would like to propose though it may not be of much importance to you--

 

Having survived past day 500 on default settings, (including going down into the ruins, making all the ancient armors, etc etc) I now feel that I have the right to make criticisms on one of aspect of the game which, while challenging, is more tiresome than challenging.

 

I believe in the realism and the basis behind durability and usage limit, but I just find that it is overall so exaggerated that it becomes a nuisance to do things, which cuts time from exploring and even journeying through the world. Basically it cuts ENJOYMENT of all the other wonderful aspects of the game. I've listed a few examples on what I mean, but I do not in any way imply that my own reasoning is superior to the developers'. These are my opinions. I only suggest, that the overall experience would be more enjoyable if other challenges replaced the nuisance of constantly re-crafting items that have such few uses.

 

Examples: 

• Why can you only use a bug net 10 times? A bird trap I understand - a tooth trap too. They take a beating each time!
• Why does a boomerang only have 10 uses? Surely it's made of hard wood. It's a rather weak item isn't it at roughly 30 dmg.
• Why does a vest, silk hat, beefalo helmet - only last roughly the duration of 1 winter? Surely, I understand that the challenge is that there will need to be further effort to continue living comfortably, but having to re-craft all these things becomes a nuisance. The challenge in this and in the re-crafting of survival tools is very small in comparison to the simple annoyance of having to do it. This game, of course, isn't made for utter realism, but still in truth it's hard to find a reason that a piece of clothing should break after 15 days of use. The inclusion of repair kits is nice but also a bit of a nuisance for how little amount of uses they have.
• Golden tools were a very nice addition to the game and provide a nicely balanced amount of use vs. mats. This is a great example of replacing nuisance with challenge.
• The inclusion of an ice box was also a very nice touch. I might give my opinion in saying that when I refrigerate food in real life it lasts roughly 7-10 times as long as it does when I leave it out.In an ice box this would be exponentially more (months). Perhaps the ice box in game, should do slightly more than simply double the time it takes for food to spoil? Though I should add that I do find the variance of expiration times for different foods is a very nice feature, as it makes choices difficult and engaging.

 

Unfortunately, for these reasons I have since been compelled to enabling mods which turn off these excessively tiresome features of the game as there are none that create a middle ground. I have survived the challenge long enough that I know I CAN do it, and now it's just so much more fun not having to deal with these things over and over again. I am sure I am not the only person who shares this view!

 

Thank you for taking the time to read these comments and please continue to bring us the unique challenge and fun that no other game out there can match.

[TeoSS69]

• Why can you only use a bug net 10 times? A bird trap I understand - a tooth trap too. They take a beating each time!
• Why does a boomerang only have 10 uses? Surely it's made of hard wood. It's a rather weak item isn't it at roughly 30 dmg.
• Why does a vest, silk hat, beefalo helmet - only last roughly the duration of 1 winter? Surely, I understand that the challenge is that there will need to be further effort to continue living comfortably, but having to re-craft all these things becomes a nuisance. The challenge in this and in the re-crafting of survival tools is very small in comparison to the simple annoyance of having to do it. This game, of course, isn't made for utter realism, but still in truth it's hard to find a reason that a piece of clothing should break after 15 days of use. The inclusion of repair kits is nice but also a bit of a nuisance for how little amount of uses they have.
• Golden tools were a very nice addition to the game and provide a nicely balanced amount of use vs. mats. This is a great example of replacing nuisance with challenge.
• The inclusion of an ice box was also a very nice touch. I might give my opinion in saying that when I refrigerate food in real life it lasts roughly 7-10 times as long as it does when I leave it out.In an ice box this would be exponentially more (months). Perhaps the ice box in game, should do slightly more than simply double the time it takes for food to spoil? Though I should add that I do find the variance of expiration times for different foods is a very nice feature, as it makes choices difficult and engaging.

Because f*** you that's why. The game is supposed to be about survival and hard. You don't get that with high durability items.

[Craig_Perry]

I think durability is fine as it is,

 

clothing items: want longer lasting clothes? theres a sewing kit for that

 

boomerangs: cheap as the recipes resources become very abundant during mid to late game

 

Ice box: in real life a freezer only extends shelf life of natural products by about a week, as there are no preservatives                            used on them so that's fine as it is

[Spazmatic]

Whilst I can understand your point of view on the matter, I don't entirely agree with you. 

 

Bug net's usage is too little you say. Well, you can effectively get 10 plantable flowers, 10 miner hats and 2,5 bee boxes worth of bugs per bugnet, and the cost isn't all that bad either. Cost : benefit balance is good on this one.

 

A boomerang has 10 uses aswell, and does 27.2 damage precisely. This is enough to kill birds and rabbits with 1 hit with all characters but Wendy and Wes. Useful to get you some winter food and feathers, and again the material cost isn't all that bad either. Could be used as a ranged weapon for MacTusk to kill him in 6 hits. Just don't forget to hit spacebar. Cost : benefit balance is very good.

 

Sewing kit for your clothing, materials are easy to get in midgame.

 

The ice box is fine as is, if it would halt spoilage even more then everyone would hoard food again like you could before the Spoiled Rotten update..

[Castaway on the Moon]

Ice box: in real life a freezer only extends shelf life of natural products by about a week, as there are no preservatives  

 

 

I appreciate your input but this is very, very far off. You can eat frozen berries after a year and they're fine.

[Castaway on the Moon]

supposed to be about survival and hard. You don't get that with high durability items.

 

This is why I made an effort to explain myself and it would've been nice if you had acknowledge my point: having to constantly re-craft items at this rate is not more challenging just more tiresome.

[TeoSS69]

This is why I made an effort to explain myself and it would've been nice if you had acknowledge my point: having to constantly re-craft items at this rate is not more challenging just more tiresome.

And hard at the beginning so you don't get the good stuff even earlier than you do now.

[Craig_Perry]

I appreciate your input but this is very, very far off. You can eat frozen berries after a year and they're fine.

those are completely frozen, most conventional freezers don't cool it enough, besides how are you going to get a super freezer out in the wilderness

[J20hawkz]

The way I see it, is like this. Wilson was teleported into another dimension full of weird and wonderful creations. In this world time is different to time in the "real" world. Days last longer. So basically winter lasts from November through to February. So that's 4 months. Which is around 120 days. In game winter lasts for 15 days. So roughly 1 day in Don't Starve is 8 days in real life. That is why things such as clothing degrade faster.

[Grumpy]

Basically, taking away the durability of items makes this less of a survival game and more of a crafting and exploration game.  Personally, I find the first 40 days or so to be the most engaging because of the survival factor.  Once I'm past the second Winter the world is my oyster and I'm not that interested in spending hundreds of days building elaborate bases.  But that's just me.  I can see for people who want to keep playing past a certain point just for the sake of building decorations that removing durability at that time might make it more enjoyable.  But at that point you're not surviving, you're building for fun.

[Castaway on the Moon]

Basically, taking away the durability of items makes this less of a survival game and more of a crafting and exploration game.  Personally, I find the first 40 days or so to be the most engaging because of the survival factor.  Once I'm past the second Winter the world is my oyster and I'm not that interested in spending hundreds of days building elaborate bases.  But that's just me.  I can see for people who want to keep playing past a certain point just for the sake of building decorations that removing durability at that time might make it more enjoyable.  But at that point you're not surviving, you're building for fun.

This is a good point thank you.

 

My idea was that perhaps other things could be made challenging in order to fill that necessary need for some challenge. I don't mean that durability should be gone but perhaps there would instead be less to worry on that and more to worry on other dangers. Anyhow, it's just an idea remember! I love this game already -

 

and thank you for making this very good point that it's also relative to how far you've come. You say after the 100+ days basically it's more about building and fun. That's true!

[ARamblingSpider]

The way I see it, is like this. Wilson was teleported into another dimension full of weird and wonderful creations. In this world time is different to time in the "real" world. Days last longer. So basically winter lasts from November through to February. So that's 4 months. Which is around 120 days. In game winter lasts for 15 days. So roughly 1 day in Don't Starve is 8 days in real life. That is why things such as clothing degrade faster.

In a world where giant cyclops deer, lovecraftian shadow monsters, two legged giant rino's, Scottish hunting walruses and robotic chess pieces thrive to kill you I think we can assume that the world doesn't fully apply by our universe's laws.

[J20hawkz]

In a world where giant cyclops deer, lovecraftian shadow monsters, two legged giant rino's, Scottish hunting walruses and robotic chess pieces thrive to kill you I think we can assume that the world doesn't fully apply by our universe's laws.

You forgot talking pigs.