Nerf hayfever a bit, please

[Rellimarual]

I think you've overcorrected the original version, where you could control it by flicking on the gas mask for a few seconds. I managed to survive my first lush season with it because 1) I got to the second plateau in time to buy a tam and 2) I killed a thief whose stash included a sewing kit. But for a newer or less lucky player, I think it's too steep to make them wear the gas mask pretty much continuously, usage that will require either a repair or getting a second mask. You should at least be able to make it through the first lush season with one mask.

Both humid and lush season really limit the player's mobility, especially when it comes to ruins exploration because you have to constantly reserve the head slot for controlling the seasonal effect, leaving the hand slot for light and the body slot for armor -- so no weapons unless you can drop a lantern or campfire. Exploring is pointless in humid season due to low visibility and limited in the lush season due to vines. (Bat wings are a rare drop, so not everyone can make a cowl.) This kind of forces the player to hunker down in town, and that gets a bit boring. Having made it through the first year and the return of the humid season, my first sentiment was: Oh, crap, I'm pretty much stuck in this pig city for the next 24 game days. Yes, you *can* go out, but it's mostly too much trouble.

I really hope more can be done with the ponds in the final version. They're really beautiful and it would be nice to spend more time with them. 

[TheMetalMan]

I agree, I think both the fog and the hay fever limit the player too much. You could argue that it's similar to winter in the base game, but that has more solutions and perks than these two seems to have.

I like to see mechanics in Don't Starve as win/loss.

The Volcano is a bother because of the dragoon eggs raining during the dry season, but with that comes dragoon hearts and lava pools(obsidian)
The sealnado is a bother to fight, but the Iron Wind is the best way to move around.
The Bearger and Deerclops are imposing and dangerous as they can destroy your base, but their loot is great for the up-coming season.

 

Neither Hay Fever or the Fog seem to provide any pros, heck even during winter, food spoil at a lower rate!

[orian34]

1 hour ago, TheMetalMan said:

I agree, I think both the fog and the hay fever limit the player too much. You could argue that it's similar to winter in the base game, but that has more solutions and perks than these two seems to have.

I like to see mechanics in Don't Starve as win/loss.

The Volcano is a bother because of the dragoon eggs raining during the dry season, but with that comes dragoon hearts and lava pools(obsidian)
The sealnado is a bother to fight, but the Iron Wind is the best way to move around.
The Bearger and Deerclops are imposing and dangerous as they can destroy your base, but their loot is great for the up-coming season.

 

Neither Hay Fever or the Fog seem to provide any pros, heck even during winter, food spoil at a lower rate!

You're also disregarding that most of those are enemies you can run away from and avoid any danger.

[Rellimarual]

15 minutes ago, TheMetalMan said:

like to see mechanics in Don't Starve as win/loss.

The Volcano is a bother because of the dragoon eggs raining during the dry season, but with that comes dragoon hearts and lava pools(obsidian)
The sealnado is a bother to fight, but the Iron Wind is the best way to move around.
The Bearger and Deerclops are imposing and dangerous as they can destroy your base, but their loot is great for the up-coming season

This is a great point. The lush season in Hamlet does finally provide a chance to replant the jungle trees, but that's about it. Hopefully the seasons in Hamlet will offer some more pluses. I guess you can go to the jungle and spray lady bugs to look for light bulbs, but I'm not even sure they respawn. There are tons of glow flies spawning from flowers at the beginning of the game, but they get scarce in the second temperate season.

In DS/DST, the winter is a challenge because of the cold and lack of plant food, but it brings MacTusk and ice and Klaus. Summer has fewer pluses in both of those games, though Antlion has some good drops.

[TheMetalMan]

At this stage, the seasons move to fast so you're unable to prepare for the coming seasons, the crowl, which is used against the Fog requires a rare drop and same could be said for the Hay Fever.

I dunno if with more time this is easier to counter, or if they're just too hard. but right now it's only a huge bother that provide no benefit.

Like if the fog slowed down other mobs, like guards were also slowed, making stealing items during the fog, ideal.
And maybe if you could buy/make an inhaler to help with Hay Fever, this would be a bit better.

[Rellimarual]

The gas mask isn’t that hard to get. You can pick infinite  of feathers off a pea hawk if you don’t kill it, and you do have to get lucky at the general store to buy cloth, but there’s not much else to do in the humid season since the jungles are full of bug gangs.

[Zeklo]

3 hours ago, Rellimarual said:

Both humid and lush season really limit the player's mobility, especially when it comes to ruins exploration because you have to constantly reserve the head slot for controlling the seasonal effect, leaving the hand slot for light and the body slot for armor -- so no weapons unless you can drop a lantern or campfire.

Fog doesn't work in ruins, so that's not a hindrance, and you can prepare some nettle or other antihistamine food items to allow use of a headslot while in the ruins during Lush season if that's something you feel you need.

[Rellimarual]

16 minutes ago, Zeklo said:

Fog doesn't work in ruins, so that's not a hindrance, and you can prepare some nettle or other antihistamine food items to allow use of a headslot while in the ruins during Lush season if that's something you feel you need.

Not if you only eat meat!

[Zeklo]

13 minutes ago, Rellimarual said:

Not if you only eat meat!

Yes, so in one specific instance.

[PirateCaptainDark]

The seasons move faster than in the base game which I am hoping is because it's in closed beta - because that sure does not give you enough time to prepare for these two seasons. Sure, being difficult is part of Don't Starve's charm but slowing down the player during fog feels like you slow down the gameplay. Doesn't make sense either. Sure, the sandstorm effect I can understand, but fog? I don't slow down while walking during foggy weather. There's no reason to. Why not just reduce visibility? 
Allergies are to me an enigma as I just encountered them recently. I sneeze every so often and drop 1-3 items along with losing a bit of sanity each time. The only remedy I found was to eat the tree nuts but even those were not a permanent solution. I thought about making a gas mask but I did not have the necessary materials nor did I know if (or even where) I could get them now. Also the thorn-vines that grow throughout the ground may be a necessary evil of the season but at least have them drop something if hacked? Like vines?

[JazzyGames]

Once you get a Pith Hat and umbrella, Humid season becomes pretty easy. Hammer the parachute for cloth, kill flytraps for vines, chop a claw palm tree for cork. Boom, pith hat. The season doesn't seem all that overpowered to me.

As far as Lush goes, I would agree that the hay fever is a bit overbearing especially towards the end of the season. I don't mind having to wear a gas mask the whole season but there needs to be a less costly way to repair it. A repair kit involves buying two hounds teeth from the Oddities store in the second Hamlet, then farming eight silk from the Spider Monkeys. I hope to see some of these materials become easier to acquire in the main release.

[Zeklo]

37 minutes ago, PirateCaptainDark said:

Sure, being difficult is part of Don't Starve's charm but slowing down the player during fog feels like you slow down the gameplay.

This isn't a problem unless you make it one. You have three options for fog:

1 - Get the equipment to counter it. Best solution.

2 - Take off your equipment. No backpack/armor. So less space/no combat during fog.

3 - Keep on your equipment. Slowness.

So long as you unequip your gear the slowness is a non-issue. Obviously there are trade-offs but you won't be slowed.

[PirateCaptainDark]

12 minutes ago, dannyweller said:

Once you get a Pith Hat and umbrella, Humid season becomes pretty easy. Hammer the parachute for cloth, kill flytraps for vines, chop a claw palm tree for cork. Boom, pith hat. The season doesn't seem all that overpowered to me.

As far as Lush goes, I would agree that the hay fever is a bit overbearing especially towards the end of the season. I don't mind having to wear a gas mask the whole season but there needs to be a less costly way to repair it. A repair kit involves buying two hounds teeth from the Oddities store in the second Hamlet, then farming eight silk from the Spider Monkeys. I hope to see some of these materials become easier to acquire in the main release.

 

11 minutes ago, Zeklo said:

This isn't a problem unless you make it one. You have three options for fog:

1 - Get the equipment to counter it. Best solution.

2 - Take off your equipment. No backpack/armor. So less space/no combat during fog.

3 - Keep on your equipment. Slowness.

So long as you unequip your gear the slowness is a non-issue. Obviously there are trade-offs but you won't be slowed.

Now that you two broke it down in terms of weight and ease of acquiring the necessary items, it doesn't seem as bad. But I still stand beside my point of it not making any sense in terms of reasoning. No one slows down in fog (unless driving).

[Zeklo]

1 minute ago, PirateCaptainDark said:

Now that you two broke it down in terms of weight and ease of acquiring the necessary items, it doesn't seem as bad. But I still stand beside my point of it not making any sense in terms of reasoning. No one slows down in fog (unless driving).

Now I mostly agree, but I'm going to play devil's advocate anyway.

If you think about it there are two important things.

1 - The fog is not cold fog, it's hot fog.

2 - The fog drenches the player in water quite quickly. Normal fog is humid, but to literally drench someone in water? Ehhhh.

That is to say, the water in the air, in the fog, is quite heavy, and hot. Any additional weight and or warming items are just too much.

Do I believe it? Ehhh, I don't know enough about fog, especially tropical fog to say, but it's worth considering.

[Charsis]

I was able to put on gas mask and the fever would go away almost instantly, now I have to hold it on till it goes away and then for a bit longer to keep the effect on, all while sanity is draining. Sucks, because with nettle it just become another hunger meter that you satisfy now and then. Gas mask should not need to be put on for so long, may be 10 seconds max for same effect as a nettle.

[JazzyGames]

3 hours ago, Charsis said:

I was able to put on gas mask and the fever would go away almost instantly, now I have to hold it on till it goes away and then for a bit longer to keep the effect on, all while sanity is draining. Sucks, because with nettle it just become another hunger meter that you satisfy now and then. Gas mask should not need to be put on for so long, may be 10 seconds max for same effect as a nettle.

I imagine they will eventually split the difference between the original ramp-up time of hay fever and the recent one. New time feels way to fast and overbearing.

[PirateCaptainDark]

16 hours ago, Zeklo said:

Now I mostly agree, but I'm going to play devil's advocate anyway.

If you think about it there are two important things.

1 - The fog is not cold fog, it's hot fog.

2 - The fog drenches the player in water quite quickly. Normal fog is humid, but to literally drench someone in water? Ehhhh.

That is to say, the water in the air, in the fog, is quite heavy, and hot. Any additional weight and or warming items are just too much.

Do I believe it? Ehhh, I don't know enough about fog, especially tropical fog to say, but it's worth considering.

I guess maybe it can be hard to breathe? But even if this was the case, why not have it affect other mobs like the Pig Knights who are wearing full armor and waving around a battle axe?