Anyone else find Gorge woodcutting terrible?

[Dreamscape18459]

Firstly I like the concept of the Gorge. Its a whole lot of fun to experiment with the new recipies and shop system.

The only thing I can't stand is woodcutting. Its a basic chore in DST that I can do year round (or have Bearger do) and isn't something I wanted to do in a limited time event. Klei could have made this interesting through character perks (Maxwell's codex umbra seems like it could be a lot of fun) but the perks for characters who can cut better than their peers in Gorge are overall horribly designed. WX78 moves faster (which he also does in the normal game) and Woodie chops faster (again something he does in the normal game.) Unlike the normal game Woodie doesn't even have Lucy or his Curse so he arguably cuts wood worse in the Gorge than in the base game while lacking 2/3 of his unique woodcutting perks that make him interesting in the base game. The only character who lets us have a different woodcutting experience than the base game is Maxwell. For a limited time event having 1 out of 12 characters provide a new, unique experience for a menial task we can do year round is extremely disappointing.

I haven't played a lot but in every single public lobby I have not seen anyone willingly choose the wood cutting role. Its generally thrust on the lower level players completely new to the event who don't know how to play the event but do know how to cut wood because its something that they likely do year round. For a limited gamemode that, in my opinion should, have unique gameplay to draw people back into the game I think this is a very bad thing. In many public lobbies players slightly experienced with Gorge wont willingly choose the woodcutting role. (Why should they? Its something they likely do the rest of the year in DST.) I have seen players in quickmatch leave because no one wants to cut wood. (I honestly don't blame them. I didn't queue into the Gorge just to do something I do year round in the base game.) Abandoners could be solved by playing with friends but in every match at least one person will have to be in the woodcutting role at least for part of the game.

I can't speak for anyone else but I think the current iteration of woodcutting's role and execution in the Gorge is absolutely awful and not fun. The Forge was great because, even though combat exists in the base game, combat played differently and every character had unique perks not present in the base game which ensured that everyone playing had an experience that they could only get by playing the Forge. Gorge does offer unique game play elements while sharing similarities with the base game. Cooking is extremely different and has more depth and the farming system is quite different. Unfortunately the same courtesy was not extended to woodcutting or characters perks related to woodcutting. The only character who literally had to operate differently was Maxwell (since crafting in the Gorge is different from the normal game and nightmare fuel doesn't exist) so he got the attention he needed. For me personally woodcutting (and some of the characters perks that were directly ported from vanilla, like WX78, or Woodie, who somehow also lost most of his unique vanilla gameplay.) gives me the impression Klei didn't have the time to give these mechanics the attention they needed (like the farming and cooking differences from the base game) to ensure the Gorge was a completely unique experience for everyone playing.

So is anyone else disappointed with how woodcutting turned out in the Gorge? I am fairly certain at least one other person feels the same way.

[Tumalu]

It's not great, but you can have all the wood you'll need for the entire match chopped by the time they unlock the sugarwoods/have salt ready to harvest, so it's not a huge deal.

AKA, by the time there's even anything else for you to -do-, you should be done with wood for the whole match.