ifoz

Unless it's bugged, I'd recommend looking around the site of the X. The X is usually never directly on top of where the treasure hunter is, but just somewhere roughly nearby.

As far as I'm aware this is still accurate, but here's a chart going over all the possible buried treasure loot tables that I made a while back for anyone curious. In my eyes "candlemaker" is probably the best one to find, followed by "machinist" and then "royal" (two guaranteed high status clothing items is cool!)

I like this idea, and to add onto it wonder if it'd be interesting if palisades couldn't be placed on top of stone. Maybe not things like stone bricks since that might limit player freedom to build, but specifically raw and cracked rock. I say this because that way the classic cheese of placing fences in caves to wall off monsters would require a bit more time to pull off, since suitable blocks would have to be placed first and then palisades.

This kind of thing would be really nice. I never noticed it when I was a new player, but over time I've slowly come to realise just how disjointed the temporal mechanics are, in a game that usually does a great job at interconnecting its systems. Rifts spawn monsters, but so does darkness underground. Temporal storms spawn monsters, but without darkness or rifts. Monsters can't normally spawn in lit-up areas, aside from during temporal storms. Having low stability spawns monsters, but without rifts. Low stability surface areas as far as I am aware do not have a chance to have higher rift activity, since rifts and instability are not connected. There's three main systems here (rifts, storms, surface instability) that you would think would all be linked in some way, but they aren't really. Darkness and rifts are at least connected, though darkness isn't connected to storms and instability.

While a body type option would be fun (and the game supports such things, as seen with the clothing the traders wear - they're internally Seraph-sized, but trimmed down to fit the trader model) I also think just giving certain clothes 3D detailing could also go quite a long way. Some jackets/coats having the sleeves flair slightly at the ends instead of just being flat, more gloves being worn over the sleeves and given 3D geometry, etc. Quite a few of the gloves feel too flat to me actually, things like fur gloves and the different craftable mittens should probably be worn over the top of sleeves (unless the sleeves belong to something that would realistically be bulkier itself, like a fur coat or parka).

Even if so, I'd imagine it would still have been a lot - the merchant set description makes mention that the Hansa had to charter a massive amount of goods and refugees. Given that the Commoner is also described as a refugee, I think the "goods and refugees" described were those going toward the Grand Machine, or at least the large shelter civilisation that developed around it. In regards to food underground, it does seem to have been incredibly valuable. The most abundant resource found in the fortified "vaults" of the dynamic dungeons is rot, which would have once been foodstuffs. There is also some evidence of attempted farming underground, a small handful of ruins have areas with fences, troughs, aged hay and animal bones.

I also wonder if Malefactors could hold off longer before feeling the effects of starvation (assuming hunger and starvation are to become status effects rather than a flat HP drain when the bar hits zero). Given their expeditions to the surface and criminal background, it'd make sense if they were more used to going without food for a longer time as opposed to a class like the Clockmaker or Tailor who worked a trade. I always thought it was weird the vessels dropped stone tools - back when I was a new player I thought this implied the ruins were left behind by some other stone/copper age civilisation, but I soon learnt that no, most ruins are supposed to come from the old world. In a society that had Jonastech and steel production, I doubt anyone would really be using stone or copper tools unless absolutely necessary. Personally I think your idea of them dropping scraps could make more sense, or even dropping rusted/corroded tools. It'd make more sense for tool vessels to drop things like heavily corroded knives and axes that are just as functionally bad as stone, but aesthetically different and more thematically fitting.

I think a proper stealth system could help Malefactor out a lot, and incentivise their 'scout/stealth' playstyle by giving players options to avoid/sneak around combat encounters. I'm unsure about this one, as I think it leans a bit too far into restricting gameplay considering just how important flax is in this game. Windmills, armour, repairing clothes, sailboats. The Malefactor also seems like one of the classes with the most theoretical survival skills - realistically the tailor might be better at weaving fancy things, but the Malefactor's whole shtick is supposed to be that they're an adapt improvisor, capable of working with what they've got. If anything, the class that makes the most sense to get crafting debuffs would be the Blackguard, since they are described as "not having the talent for delicate work". I think it'd be nice if this was the aspect leaned into further for the Malefactor - alternate recipes for certain items, and maybe even a few outright new ones. I like your ideas of them being able to use nettle for certain flax recipes, as well as moss for early healing. I had an idea a while back that the Malefactor should be able to make upgraded (bronze-tier) versions of the current vanilla metal scrap weapons, that are copper tier, which would also tie into their ruin-hunting traits. You mentioned adding more scrap tools for them to use, and I think that'd bring some unique options to the table.

I also think a doctor class could be fitting, but I do also wonder if some medical gameplay could be integrated into the Tailor. I say this because the tailor blouse has faint pink staining, consistent with other bloodstains in the game (barber surgeon apron, Nadiyan barber gloves), along with the description of "artisans provided what assistance they could and plied their craft when able". Together to me this kind of implies the Tailor might have also been stitching up the wounded in emergency situations. I think a herbalist class could also potentially be integrated into Malefactor, given they already have the "forager" trait. Forlorn Hope knight I've always been unsure about, given that the Blackguard already covers the melee/fighter playstyle. I think the only way they could offer unique gameplay would be if they had more to do with alchemy or the sciences. The Forlorn Hope were also scholars, so they might usurp the role of a Noble class, unless the Noble was explicitly something of a challenge class.

Honestly, right now I don't think they really have all that much of a point. This is totally subjective, but I assume the reason for them to exist gameplay-wise (they make sense within the lore, but I mean from a purely 'why is this a mechanic' perspective) is probably to nudge the player towards gearing up, especially since they gradually get more severe the longer you play in a world. With their current implementation though, this kind of falls apart. They're easy enough to cheese, and they're so unpredictable that hiding yourself in a dirt box and waiting them out is usually the far safer option. They also don't encourage you to interact with building at all, since monsters spawned by storms will ignore things like valid rooms, lighting and proximity to the player. I think they're also tricky to design though, since you'd want some way to encourage the player to gear up without having to resort to going AFK in a box or having monsters destroy player builds (given how in-depth chiselling is and how intricate builds can be, myself and many other players would probably be quite unhappy if that was a mechanic). The best solution I can think of is having the storms spawn rifts, which monsters will then emerge from (tying the rift mechanics to storms, as currently they are oddly disconnected). The rifts could spawn at a certain radius (eg, 50 blocks) from the player, but spawned enemies would aggro instantly, creating a sort of "horde" event that a good base can still protect from. This kind of implementation would also line up better with what storms are said to be in the game's lore, as their current form doesn't really match with how they are described. In the lore there's importance placed on survivors building fortifications and defending themselves from storms, but currently since enemies can spawn anywhere during a storm, fortifications don't matter as much as they probably should. Luckily, we do know the devs are planning to rework storms at some point in the future!

I'm pretty sure the elk actually gets a speed boost from roads just like the player does, so road infrastructure is still very handy even post-elk!

I don't know how to add a quote to an existing post so this can just be a separate message, but the sturdy pillion is actually already in the game! It doesn't really serve any functional purpose considering it's just a retexture of the regular pillion, but it is at least nice for consistency's sake. It'd be cool if we also had sturdy saddles and bridles too, so that your entire ensemble could match in colour.

Kind of off the topic of specifically the merchant class a little bit, but I wonder what the tradeoffs between mount types and the saddle with backpacks will be. If I had to guess, maybe horses can only step up one block heights unlike elk, but run faster. I feel like it's also decently safe to assume that since backpack mounting seems to be unique to a new type of saddle, there will probably be some tradeoff there, maybe in lowered movespeed. I do wonder though if the moose and camel will have some unique traits or not.

Yeah, a lot of the smaller dev updates are posted on the Discord, while the forums is usually reserved for the large update posts. Here's the screenshot!

Honestly, I feel like the way trading works could really use an overhaul before a merchant class could truly offer unique gameplay. I think one of the biggest things would be trader stocklists being made more versatile (eg, "looking for axe, will pay better depending on material" rather than "looking for bismuth bronze axe, will not buy any others"). These people are supposed to be scraping by in the wilderness, it doesn't make sense for most of them to be so picky about things like the colour of leather on a shield or the colour of the ceramic bowl you're selling them honey in. I also think a merchant class would greatly benefit from some kind of bartering or haggling system, especially if trader reputation was added. Making multiple consecutive trades could increase reputation, as well as potentially offering a trader supplies for free. Better reputation would mean you'd have a better chance to successfully haggle their prices down by a handful of gears, and a merchant class could gain faster reputation and haggle lower than other classes. Ideally I think clothing sets and clothing condition could also influence reputation/haggling, kind of like how KCD handles it. In regards to the buffs/debuffs you proposed, I think just getting bonus movespeed is a bit basic considering we already have two classes with bonus movespeed as it is - I wonder if something like bonus speed when riding an animal might benefit a merchant more, especially given the new mounts teased yesterday in the devlog that can be seen carrying both saddlebags and backpacks, which would benefit a merchant ferrying their wares across the land.