There's really no incentive to want to play through Summer

[oCrapaCreeper]

Don't get me wrong, Summer is a great addition to the game, and it brings some new challenges to the table. But it is probably the most undeveloped season of the DLC in my opinion, especially in comparison to Winter. the other extreme point of the year.

Other than the loot from the Dragonfly, which like all the giants inconsistently appears in your world at random, there's no benefit to surviving Summer. So the entire season essentially boils down to managing your ice flingomatic, repairing your ice cube, waiting for the boss which may or may not attack your base, and then waiting for it to end. It's a boring season to play after you learn how to overcome overheating.

Summer feels more like a giant roadblock that you need to wait for to be moved, and you have more incentive to have the option to skip it rather than play it. Whenever Summer hits in one of my worlds, I honestly feel like spending the whole season in the caves instead, as there is more incentive to play down there than summer itself. It lacks aspects that make you want to play the season. Things like MacTusk, Walking Stick, Tam O' Shanter, Blow Darts, and Pengulls makes you look forward to playing Winter, and Summer seems to have nothing like that. Even Spring has some benefits, such as crops constantly growing. It even has the benefit of letting you wait longer before you have to deal with summer.
 
For a more visual representation, @Deceiven made a chart that lists some of the fun factors of both Winter and Summer, and the trade offs. You may notice how uneven the two extreme points of the year are in terms of content. Winter has a good balance of both fun unique things, and "trade offs" and Summer appears to focus too much on difficulty, and lacks "Fun exclusives" that give incentive to play through the season.

It probably would have been nicer to the devs point this out earlier in the DLC's development, but unfortunately this is one of those things no one really thinks about until we've finally had the chance to thoroughly play the game and think about it

[RalphKastro]

I agree, summer needs more risk/reward interactions and more uniqueness.
Doesn't even need to be something completely new. For example the Fire Hounds could only attack during summer, making red gems rarer, making the red:blue gems ratio seem more logical, and making people looking a bit more foward for summer(just that won't do, though)

[ConeyKrab]

Yup, that's why I said we need more seasonal creatures, but the devs don't seem to agree/care (too much work for them to bother, most likely). I don't know, it's probably too late now, unfortunately.

[oCrapaCreeper]

Yup, that's why I said we need more seasonal creatures, but the devs don't seem to agree/care (too much work for them to bother, most likely). I don't know, it's probably too late now, unfortunately.

Yeah, I think too much time was spent on the challenging aspects of Summer itself (Overheating, mainly). So when overheating and smoldering structures become easy to deal with, what's left becomes dull.

[Strangerdanger101]

Sad but true.

[Maximum124]

I agree, spring's sort of like this too, but since its not as extreme and the rain at least makes things like grass and crops grow it just seems like a buffer for inbetween winter and summer. Which spring actually is but gameplay wise theres not much reward for waterproofing yourself other then the fact that well now you're waterproof. Same with summer, its just maintaining your temperature and putting out fires.

[ConeyKrab]

I wonder if coming up with ideas as to how making them interesting could help?

 

For spring:

-An enemy influenced in power by the current intensity of the rain- something water based

-Some sort of plant creature that grows stronger the more you leave it out/the more rain/water it absorbs. It's stationary but threatening, growing vines and flowers. budding and spreading spores, think of like, Lureplant 5.0

-An enemy powered by how wet the player is- trivial at low levels, deadly at high- a larger motivation to stay dry.

 

Summer:

-Event: Vulture Swarm! since it seems that biomes can't affect atmosphere/temperature, maybe vultures could become more hostile during the summer. Perhaps they could also either spread out more during this season, or even occasionally attack the player in packs regardless of their location, as an event to rival frog rain.

-I like the idea of a fire creature. It could be accomplished in a few ways. Perhaps stopping too many natural fires will cause one to show up, an angry spirit mad that the season can't do as it pleases. Perhaps it could generate from overheating, or a lack thereof. 

-What about a demanding creature? Something weird that pops up and demands you help it stay cool, or else face its wrath.

 

Fall:

-I think the changing of birch trees/the falling of leaves should be made more monumental in some way, but I don't know how.

-I like piles of leaves forming, with something lurking underneath: watch your step! Creepy hands reaching from the ground and swiping at you? Maybe a random spider? Maybe something else?

-Something should be done to create more of a harvest theme. A cornucopia could come into play somehow. Maybe filling it up with a bunch of different vegetables could have some effect?

-What if scarecrows could be used in a different way, not to protect your crops, but something menacing? Imagine coming back to your farms to find a creepy scarecrow that you didn't plant milling over the fruits of your labor. Maybe it could sap the life/growth out of plants, growing stronger and more menacing as it does so. It would have to be done properly, players shouldn't be able to circumvent it by spreading farms too widely, and it should be fast enough to be meaningful, rather than having the player always coming home nightly to nip it in the bud while it's still weak every day. I don't know, maybe the player can't fight it until it grows powerful enough to move and become notably sentient?

-What about some sort of creepy "sacrifice for the harvest" type of scenario coming into play?

[Ridley]

Maybe feed the pig king some ice in exchange for something other than gold?

[The Letter W]

I wonder if coming up with ideas as to how making them interesting could help?

 

For spring:

-An enemy influenced in power by the current intensity of the rain- something water based

-Some sort of plant creature that grows stronger the more you leave it out/the more rain/water it absorbs. It's stationary but threatening, growing vines and flowers. budding and spreading spores, think of like, Lureplant 5.0

-An enemy powered by how wet the player is- trivial at low levels, deadly at high- a larger motivation to stay dry.

 

Summer:

-Event: Vulture Swarm! since it seems that biomes can't affect atmosphere/temperature, maybe vultures could become more hostile during the summer. Perhaps they could also either spread out more during this season, or even occasionally attack the player in packs regardless of their location, as an event to rival frog rain.

-I like the idea of a fire creature. It could be accomplished in a few ways. Perhaps stopping too many natural fires will cause one to show up, an angry spirit mad that the season can't do as it pleases. Perhaps it could generate from overheating, or a lack thereof. 

-What about a demanding creature? Something weird that pops up and demands you help it stay cool, or else face its wrath.

 

Fall:

-I think the changing of birch trees/the falling of leaves should be made more monumental in some way, but I don't know how.

-I like piles of leaves forming, with something lurking underneath: watch your step! Creepy hands reaching from the ground and swiping at you? Maybe a random spider? Maybe something else?

-Something should be done to create more of a harvest theme. A cornucopia could come into play somehow. Maybe filling it up with a bunch of different vegetables could have some effect?

-What if scarecrows could be used in a different way, not to protect your crops, but something menacing? Imagine coming back to your farms to find a creepy scarecrow that you didn't plant milling over the fruits of your labor. Maybe it could sap the life/growth out of plants, growing stronger and more menacing as it does so. It would have to be done properly, players shouldn't be able to circumvent it by spreading farms too widely, and it should be fast enough to be meaningful, rather than having the player always coming home nightly to nip it in the bud while it's still weak every day. I don't know, maybe the player can't fight it until it grows powerful enough to move and become notably sentient?

-What about some sort of creepy "sacrifice for the harvest" type of scenario coming into play?

 

Ah yes, the Anti-Smokey the Bear. 

[GalloViking]

Like I said somewhere else, Summer should be added some features.
 

1)Dehydratation is faster. Temperatures can reach ~80°C after all.
2)Some events should happen in desert biomes. Dunno, a mob that would spawn like Mac Tusk, Volt Goeats breeding season, etc.
3)You should be able to have a bath in ponds to cool your character? Just sayin'.
4)Pigs should be in sort of holidays, where they'd give you presents and follw you longer when fed!

5)Add some insects like grasshopers that would spawn only during summer and would give materials to craft cool loots!

 

And one last thing. Quit with those weird sounds. In Summer it's like if you're underwater...

[CREU]

Yea its sad but true

[mitboy]

I think, alternative to Mactusk would be enough. The can be reference to Japan. Drops something like bandana, greatly increases sanity and give protection from sun. And also red belt - alternative to cane, but increases damage by 25% (and wears in body slot)

[MilleniumCount]

A Samurai Serpent?

[TeSrOy]

Had a warg during summer very not fun

[DwerBomb]

What about a puddle covered in obsidian during all the other seasons that in summer (like walrus camp does in winter) becomes a lava puddle and gives you heat, burns things near it and spawns a new kind of mosquitoes that drop their wings which you could use to make the Summer Frest vest?

Also, cicadas should spawn.

[An Artifact]

 

And one last thing. Quit with those weird sounds. In Summer it's like if you're underwater...

 

^

[saltychipmunk]

I would be all for a fleshed out summer . If we do that we can also tone back the few but really over the top mechanics of summer so that the whole thing is more interesting.

 

The biggest threats in summer really are just  generic weather events. Sure if you ignore them you will get obliterated but   ice on your head and  rot in your pocket and both mechanics are largely reduced to acts of tedium. 

 

 

And we could have some cool stuff.

 

like off the top of my head

 tree guard migrations.  some where in the summer a group of like  10 tree guards  uproot and  move to another forest , but because it is summer they are also irritable and more violent. 

 

the deserts could become very hot and hostile  so that the whole biome becomes a massive death trap. 

 

ie fire hounds replace  normal hounds , buzzards become aggressive large vulturemonsters (mini bosses)   mirage monsters anyone?

 

and we can also get zombie pig invasion in full moons .

 

so cool

[Doomfan64]

I think it would be interesting if a fire elemental of some kind could spawn from wildfires. Maybe they can drop magical ash for a sanity restoring version of the Healing Salve.

[DwerBomb]

I think it would be interesting if a fire elemental of some kind could spawn from wildfires. Maybe they can drop magical ash for a sanity restoring version of the Healing Salve.

Fire cicadas

[MrTeHe101]

I have said this a few times about what needs to be added. The Mac Tusks are great mobs. They drop one of the most powerful winter item, and the highest sanity boost clothing. There needs to be a summer counterpart to the Mac Tusk hunting party that arnt just reskins. I love to have a creature that's like the hunting party. And drops a summer item that compares to the Tam o' Shanter.

[Renmiri]

bees produce a lot more honey in summer ? fireflies breed in summer ? just some ideas...

[Ridley]

The only reason I wouldn't like a mac tusk like mob in summer is because I don't go near mac after I get my stuff. I would want a creature that makes me want to fight it any day in the mid/late game like Dragonfly ( Though if feeding him ashes would make him a summer play mate, I would love that over fighting ).

[Hugo M.]

The only reason I wouldn't like a mac tusk like mob in summer is because I don't go near mac after I get my stuff. I would want a creature that makes me want to fight it any day in the mid/late game like Dragonfly ( Though if feeding him ashes would make him a summer play mate, I would love that over fighting ).

A summer creature who you can feed ashes to befriend would be a nice incentive to explore in order to find it.

[mrtwoface]

It seems kind of stupid that you can literally overheat on an island whilst standing an inch from the ocean. Pengulls can swim in it, why can't the player, even on a limited basis? Maybe some sort of flotation device could be crafted from a buzzard or pengull drop (since they don't have any unique loot atm) that allowed you to take a dip for half of a long summer day. It could give you a buff making you overheat half as much for 24 hours. There could be a chance if you swim of spawning some sort of ocean monster; imagine Bigfoot's son.

[WillPwn4Food]

Let's not add any more mobs that will burn the world down, okay? While difficult to implement, I suggested a dynamic mob last week that could be a summer only threat and add something fresh to the meta of bases: http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/35020-solution-to-lack-of-incentive-in-caves-raiders/

 

...and we can also get zombie pig invasion in full moons ...

 

and let's also keep zombies out of DS