Ven

That is strange.. I cannot find patch notes either. And checked files in previous versions too. Tier 2 indeed.. But I definitely felt the difference once 1.20 got released, like they started to deal 2-3 times less damage. Maybe because blackguard shield got buffed, or I just became that used to deal with them eventually As long as no other fauna is included by the devs, yes. At very least they have to be more dangerous than wolves in the temperate/northern climate. That's why I mentioned Survival difficulty, on normal they are quite manageable either way but on survival even fully equipped for melee combat you will likely leave from the encounter with less than 50% hp left (if you had all 27 from nutrition) and many wasted poultices and nerves. But that is why it makes forests so unwalkable at first place and that's why Hunters are called Hunters so I think it's ok

UPD: my own overlook with tiers, didn't figure out how to delete the topic so leave it edited as is. I've been playing VS a lot for the last few years as it was progressing through versions, and bears still remain a blind spot of the overall game balance. I'm going to write down all my thoughts so it might take a while.. All that stated is said for Wilderness Survival difficulty, on normal it becomes even sadder. First of all, before 1.20 bears used to be the main "natural" threat to the seraphs, and they remained the deadly threat until your very last day out there. You could wear the best armor possible (blackguard\forlorn), carry best honey poultices, carry steel falx and best shield you could make, yet an encounter with a grizzly or even worse, polar bear will end up in a mortal duel where you both have more or less equal chances to survive with a few health points. That was not because the bears back then hit "that hard", but because they had (and still have!) ridiculously broken hitboxes that you miss with the melee weapon 80% of times. The bear would just soak you up inside its large body and poke to death as ALL of its hits reached you, unlike yours. Despite that, the weird perk of those things worked well for the class ballance between Hunter and Blackguard classes. Both are combat-related classes but with mutually exclusive abilities - hunters thrive where blackguard will suffer, and vise versa. And playing Blackguard most of the time I can definitely tell that bears were the main reason I digged many kilometers of tunnels under taiga forests instead of paving a surface road(except for -40C in winter) That was also the reason bows and spears were the only effective weapon against bears, because of mentioned hitboxes. Before 1.20 bears had attack tier 4 which was very realistic in terms of damage and armor ruining but higher attack tiers also have a heavy knockback (often way too heavy!) launching you flying 10m away in full plate armor. The problem is that the armor weight does not reduce the knockback from heavy attacks and it really should be done with, that's a common problem related to all creatures. After 1.20, as new dangerous mobs were introduced, as I assumed to not make players suffer too much, bear attack tier was nerfed from 4 to 2, which rendered bears literally harmless not depending on the difficulty. Same attack tier as wolves..? Yes, the bears were a menace because of mix of broken hitboxes, ABSOLUTE SILENCE, overly aggressive behavior and surreal knockback, but just lowering the attack tier is not the way how it should be fixed. Here's my list of points how bears can find their place in Vintage Story world at last: 1) They are absolutely silent! Yes, they do growls sometimes, but when you walk down the forest harvesting logs and step accidentally on grizzly's tail, because when sleeping they are impossible to notice (and it kept ignoring you after that because ate some rabbit an hour ago and not hungry!) scaring you to death; Or when you walk in the plain all-white chalk-covered hill with a clear line of sight and a white bear backstabs you out of nowhere the next second, without any single sound, you start to wonder how a 500kg meatbag possess ninja skills? 2) Their behavior most of the time is a blunt aggression VS bears might completely ignore you when fed, or be only self-defensive when you come too close; otherwise their only pattern is to chase and attack, like a brainless mob. Their behavior is not affected by the seasons, as it heavily does affect the real-world bears (I'm not a super expert though) 3) They have to stay the highest nature threat until and after very end-game, of the same level as double-headed and nightmare drifters. Their attack before 1.20 was just enough to feel the menace, but hitboxes made them impossible to fight with without ranged weapons Any additions and thoughts are appreciated!

+1

As simple as the title says. That device has fantastic appearance and work animation, yet with its current range it is useful only as a garden decoration and doesn't worth the resources and fuel it requires...

In version 1.19 their fake attacks in the darkness in the middle of the night when they just run into you, sniff and run away (then repeat) are already able to freak out most of players. Tested and witnessed personally They don't even have to posess the actual damage attack to be creepy and treated like the wildlife, because they tend to stalk you, mess around, block your line of sight and provoke you to hit them in any way, after which will attack you for real. Behavior of the intimidation kind "you are not welcomed here". If you try to ignore the moose presense nearby the risk to accidently hit it with the hand or a tool is getting pretty high anyway after which it becomes aggressive. As to me it's a good variety addition to the predators that attack you on sight.

I'm aware that charging but not attacking mooses was unintentional bug and it got fixed already in lastest version(as far as I know), I liked old mooses more to be honest. The wilderness already has too many large creatures that want to kill you. Maybe cute shy mooses should be left as a game perk instead?

It would be nice if there was possibility to determine multiple separated spawnpoints that would be located far between each other or in specific climatic zones i.e. first one in temperate climate, another one in the tropics and the last one in the taiga/tundra. Every time a new player log in he is being attached to one of that spawnpoints(randomly or by choice). So several groups of seraphs initially start in different conditions and have no possibility to meet and interact with each other directly except trading. I think that could become a valuable option for multiplayer, somebody would want to start as a nordic tribe and somebody could prefer palms and mangoes That would also allow players to choose own ingame difficulty level and start a separate settlements with roleplay and trading between them more seamlessly than if that was just 1 common spawn for everyone. Of course the amount and location of spawns should be configurable in the world settings, maybe with some commands to modify already existing worlds and to change player's spawns.

I'm also radically against multiple windmills on one stick and normally just fine living with 1 tower that has 1 classic rotor. That is perfectly enough for everything you might need. 1 windmill if built well can power up any of the machines, but won't allow parrallel work and won't be very fast. Who needs to rush in VS anyway? But if you have spare lard and resin building stronger windmill will eventually save you lots of fuel and time for smithing so I made 9 dedicated towers and concentraced them in 1 big gear underground. You could also build something similar if you play without Millwright mod. Something like this (with screenshots): Takes lots of efforts and resources but eventualy keeps the surface clean, can be decorated in a much better way than I did, and your helve hammer/pulverizer will work like a machinegun at full wind. The gear has only 1 speed but with such large structure nothing would stop you from building a dedicated gearbox with several speeds(would take another separate room for that) ssss

Glider mechanic is too easy to abuse even as it is now. I've seen people building so-called "bed towers" that allow you to climb up 150-200m in mere seconds by holding right button on the bed and looking upward, then using the glider to fly off them continuously. That often leads to lethal outcome due to collision bugs, but still It already allows you to skip the wildlife and large unexplored areas sacrificing nothing but fewer inventory space, encouraging players to build more towers (usually terribly ugly) that would be required in large amounts for consistent travelling, instead of building surface infrastructure. I believe that glider mechanic should be present but more effective gliders given away to the modders, or at least revised thoroughly before implementing anything new in that area. Since it could easily destroy current game balance. The idea like building a flying city out of hovering land masses where glider would be the main way of moving around does sound good though. Maybe make those new gliders a super end-game content? Post terminus-teleporter era.. cause since you've got that home warp device assumingly you've got everything else, including roads and decent settled household. No any glider would rival with that thing in transferring capabilities in the end.

I think it's a good idea to add more distinction between classes by adding to them unique active/passive abilities(toggleable by the button and own mapping in the settings) or extending existing perks. Abilities that won't affect the gameplay and current balance much, rather extend them lore- and perception-wise. Mods are used as demonstrative examples of what can be changed in the base game. 1) A great mod Zoom button that works well even in multiplayer. Technically it does nothing new - just adds a toggleable button that decreases FOV to minimum, you can make that manually too if you like and it will work. It greatly helps during exploration to survey the wild woods for wild animals and distant objects. Hunter (and maybe malefactor too) could have a sharper eye than others since they specialize in survey and exploration. 2) Another great mod Killed by, that allows you to know exactly what killed the dead creature by adding another line to the corpse label. And you will want to know what killed the hare on your way, was it just a fox or something more menacing and you should be cautious! Hunters and malefactors could investigate corpses better due to their rich tracking experience. 3) Clockmaker, as it was discussed here: https://www.vintagestory.at/forums/topic/12993-more-sudden-temporal-storms-more-immersive-storm-warning/ could be the only class that could actually feel the upcoming temporal storms 4) Blackguard armor repair shoud be exclusive to that class. Because.. that is blackguard's armor? That could be easily implemented by adding that recipe as a part of "solgier" perk. 5) Add to the blackguard sword abilities of a knife/axe, with noticeable drops in efficiency. You should be able to use that straight sharp metal blade for some mundane labour when there are no other tools in hand, just like machete. To cut some grass, cattails, bring down a few trees. That sword is a decent and cheap weapon but will loose to the falx in attack speed (falx attacks slightly faster anyway). So since that is exclusive tool of the specific class maybe should it be more all-rounded? 6) Tailor, adapted to the civil life would be more fragile than others here. It is as good as it is now. But maybe he could see the state of the clothes that others wear? All clothes that are worn and lower would display right under the Name+Class label. To be able to suggest repair services to the new customers that wear unforgiving rags!

Terminus Teleporter, when used in right hands. And a small labeled chest named "Revenge comeback" at your respawn point! With a set of heavy armor, 1 temporal gear, ladders, barricade blocks, shield and stack of poultices

I usually play a tailor or blackguard. It worth mentioning that the tailor despite his fragility is the most sociable class, if you play in multiplayer. You can't find or buy from traders tailored gambeson which is de-facto the most advanced light armor in the game. You can't repair that gambeson without tailor's hands either (bears and nightmare drifters tear that thing apart like paper). As well as warm winter clothes that help a lot in the northern climate when temperature goes below -30C. Only for that single fact you become a super star and everyone wants to trade with you and have you around. A perfect class for running a workshop in the village (+ no ore penalties, only lower mining speed). Blackguard is probably the hardest class to start with, not depending on game mode, if you prefer to live alone. You will be hungry. All the time. Very hungry. You can't pick berries well, your lowered ranged potential obstructs wild hunting, for hunting with melee weapons will need to think smart, making traps, luring animals to pits etc. The only real advantage you will have of all that early game on - 5 extra hitpoints. And that does matter a lot. Even in survival difficulty wolf bite takes away 12hp which is enough to oneshot any naked class without nutrition(8-10 hp). But not the blackguard - that hp bonus will let you survive 1 such bite and a chance to get out alive. You can suffer hunger, cold and even stability damage before death much longer than others. You can fall off higher places and stay alive where other classes would be pancaked. Every combat encounter will forgive you 1-2 extra hits other classes couldn't take. And as it was mentioned above already - this class starts to shine in the endgame as nothing else would. On the standard difficulty, fully equipped in the blackguard armor, iron\steel shield, with max nutrition bonus(32.5hp) and a bunch of healing poultices you become virtually immortal. Clockmaker's ability to spare tg on repairing translocators is often undervalued. Because Vintage Story is about roads. Where are roads - there is life. There is trading. And translocator chains is the fastest and the only way to cross tremendous distances in mere minutes, connecting different settlements over 30-50km. And for that to find and fix all translocators you would waste a good trunk or two of temporal gears. Which makes the clockmaker a perfect road engineer in the endgame

I love temporal storms! That is what makes Vintage Story itself. But warnings about the upcoming storm in the chat messages look a bit off... 1) It would be great if instead of chat messages player could detect the upcoming storm by being attentive to his surroundings. Small seamless changes in the enviroment around him, barely noticeable lags or crackling sounds, brief shifts in normal colors that are hard to notice without being attentive, changes in animal behaviors etc. Some tech classes like clockmaker could be more prone to its changes and notice them better, for example some weak ticking sounds in the head. Clockmakers do hear them actually, according to the class lore 2) The storm duration and occurence perioud could be much more random and harder to predict. "Oh the last storm was 5 days ago I have plenty of time for the expedition to the nearby forest", everyone would think. But uh oh! Wasn't vigilant enough, gotta think fast because it's gonna strike right now! The common rule could be like this: The more time had passed since the last storm(randomly) the heavier and longer it would become. And it could last for a couple of days (with some adjustments to the farming drifters to that occasion of course) when the occurence could go beyong once per several ingame months 3) A new temporal device made from Jonas parts that would resemble a modified weathervane, something similar to the rift ward. Fueled by temporal gears (1 per month or so) that will directly alarm if the storm is about to rage on, repeating the role of current chat notifications. Also, a great start to make it suitable for automatization (primitivly pushing the axle or connected to the resonator). Also, can be a unique recipe for clockmaker class! (I still think that most of jonas devices should be available to the clockmaker only)

For some people that like to play with music on - many can often face with that issue. Especially when they dig way too deep underground for the new bigger cellar and realize that at some corners there is a "cave trigger" when there is not enough sunlight and game starts playing creepy underground music every time they walk on that block. That interrupts any normal music that was playing at once as well. But you are technically still in your own house! As a solution that I've found is to add to the house ventilation mines - vertical shafts that have direct access to the sky covered with some chiseled opaque block for aestetics from both sides. Such tunnel will create another "surface block" and will disable cave triggers in the area around it too. That is a good solution for cellars and basements since in reality many real cellars have such ventilation tunnels. But what if you have just a long corridor underground between your buildings? It would be good to have some sort of lantern or game setting that would allow to consider underground structures as a part of the house and therefore not a cave. Screenshots of working workaround if somebody finds that useful:

Two explicit suggestions: 1) Double blackguard's walk speed penalty reduction from wearing heavy armor (25% => 50%) Explanation: I really like the Blackguard class but I was quite upset that the class that is heavily penallized in almost everything but melee combat/mining and probably the hardest class to start with doesn't benefit enough from heavy armor and doesn't outperform classes with pure 10% speed bonus. The heavy armor is already heavily penallized itself and I believe that the melee class should and has to specialize in wearing heavy armor to be able to outrun hunter/clockmaker that has general speed bonus. As for now the difference in walk speed with steel plate armor is 58% for all other classes and 68% for the blackguard, clockmaker and hunter - same 10% speed difference for all 3 of them which is strange as to me. Blackguard should be faster than others in plates by at least 10% to actually have the reason to stick to the heavy armor. 2) Allow tuning spear to hack sawblade locusts as well, making the process harder or more expensive No much to add here, just more fun and autonomy for the class that relies on mechanisms and is penalized in general combat.