Touch Stone

[Btwonu]

Hello.

I want to just take a moment to talk about the Touch Stone system in DST. Now, I'm not one of the best players out there so maybe it's not my place to talk about game balance, but I do consider myself somewhat of a veteran as I've played the game before DST and I can certainly hold my own against the world and survive a decent amount of time. I've also seen some discussions about touch stones in DST around the web and I had nothing against it's current ghost-2min-stone-touching system.. until now. 

I just happened to die alone on my server early during first winter. I'm not going to bore you with the circumstances of my death, as the relevant part is the following. I had a touch stone somewhat nearby (manageable to get to it in less than two minutes) so I had a backup plan in the case of my death. As all of you know, reviving naked during winter is hard enough as it is, but it's still possible for me to survive at this point if I'm able to just find couple of grass and twigs to make a touch, burn something to get warm and try to advance to my base, etc. I don't have problem with it being difficult at this point, because it's my own fault to put myself in this position. Having said all that, I did die during night. So when I got to the touch stone, it revived me at night time(I'll note right here, that I don't have a way to wait until daytime as my ghost timer is ticking). So I'm finding myself in a position where I have my hands tied, revived in darkness and I have no way to even pick up anything (on top off everything I'm playing on console and it's actually impossible to click on anything at night). 

Needless to say, I died. I'd be okay with all that after all, as I said it was a new server, it wasn't a big loss also I was the one to put myself in this position, but I'd like to at least have a chance. So basically what I'm asking is to either make it possible to gather resources without seeing anything (nighttime without a light) or change the touchstone system to revive you during daytime, or both.

Gathering resources without a light maybe deserves it's own separate topic and I don't even know if it's possible on console so I'm not going to go further into that discussion. But concerning the touchstone, it can at least provide some kind of light source (as it seems unpractical to skip a whole night phase if there are for example other people on the server). Just my thoughts.

Cheers, everyone

Klei, I think you're doing a great job and this is one hell of a game!

[fimmatek]

Yeah, that's an annoying situation. If the touchstone would wait with the revival till the morning it could be the best solution, but still it's not a very good one because in winter you could have to wait like 2 minutes. Being able to gather resources in the dark isn't a good idea in my opinion, you would die to Charlie before getting a torch. And then we haven't mentioned touchstones in the caves where you might be in complete darkness.

My suggestion would be to be extra prepaired for such situations (always expect the worst) and leave some resources near the touchstone you want to get revived at. To solve the darkness problem you could put down a lantern to a firefly close to it so you'll be able to pick it up at any time, then when you have light you'll have much better chances to continue.

As a conclusion I don't think any changes are needed, if there are multiple people on the server then the reset won't be a problem and if you're alone then you're free to leave anything at the touchstone, nothing will be stolen.

Good luck with your next world  

[Cyberboy2000]

If you go gravedigging there's a good chance you'll get a lifegiving amulet that you can keep in your base. Just remember to put it on the ground and not in a chest.

[Sinister_Fang]

There's also meat effigies as well. Unlike in DS, they only cost current heath, not max health. So they're pretty easy to use if you can get the resources.

[Kolascay]

Honestly, I think that revival at a touch stone should indeed create an aura of light effect (similar to joining the server of the caves at dusk or night), as to make it so the player isn't completely powerless if just so happens to use a touch stone at night. Would be nice way to solve the problem, (since solution from DS, spawning in morning, wouldn't really work in DST). You're telling them to just use other ressurection methods, but this defeats the purpose of the touch stone in the first place; a freebie to help those who die with nobody to give them a heart. And if this freebie, 1/3 of the time, it doesn't help at all (as players get killed by darkness instantly after respawning). So maybe... aura of light please? Easy & quick solution.

[Btwonu]

5 hours ago, Master Jand said:

You're telling them to just use other ressurection methods, but this defeats the purpose of the touch stone in the first place

My point exactly. 

All being said, though I must say that I still managed to keep my server intact. When I died in darkness after being ressurected for the first time at the touchstone I left the game immediately. Later, after I posted this topic, I joined the same server thinking it's going to reset anyway and I'll be starting from the beginning. To my surprise, there I was, in ghost form (I suppose this was my second ghost) with some time to spare on my timer. The touchstone was already used and I couldn't use it again. The strange part is at this point, it was daytime. I'm pretty sure when I left I was around the middle of the night phase. I don't really know what happened there and if it was intentional mechanics or not, but at that point I went to a second touchstone and survived. Maybe it had to do with me leaving the game, I'm not sure. 

About being able to gather resources in the dark, I miss that I can't equip a torch for light, then remove it to equip a weapon/tool and attack/gather in the dark for a few seconds before equipping the torch again. But as I said, on the console it's different you must see the obejcts in order to highlight them, therefore being able to issue the command of attacking/gathering or whatever you want to do. I don't know if it's possible to change that on console or maybe it's intented to be this way so you can't abuse it, either way it probably belongs in a separate topic. 

[Kolascay]

On the topic of not being able to gather resources without a light source, I think this completely your own fault. It should be your priority to place torches, unperishable food, and warm clothing near the touch stone in advance for ressurection. If you want a better chance of survival after being ressurected, you need to do this. My main complaint was the fact you are spawned at night with the inability to pick up things, and the darkness that will inevitably kill you, while you are able to do nothing; this is easily counterable by spawning in the morning, or as I proposed, creating an aura of light effect around the stone. 

[fimmatek]

1 hour ago, Master Jand said:

My main complaint was the fact you are spawned at night with the inability to pick up things, and the darkness that will inevitably kill you

This can be easily avoided if you put a lantern and a firefly near the touchstone. If someone plans to use a touchstone, this is a pretty cheap way to counter darkness, what's more, it can be done at every touchstone.