LadyWYT

Could be. My perspective is probably rooted somewhere between the American South and the Midwest.

I don't know that it will stop 100% of incoming damage, but it should mitigate enough to make dealing with them easier. It's not something the player will want to have equipped all the time due to the 20% hunger penalty that holding items in the offhand incurs, but it's not a bad option for early defense.

I voted "Yes" on each question, but wanted to explain my reasoning as to the "why". Every so often the forums go through their own equivalent of a temporal storm, in a sense, and get a little dramatic for a while before chilling back out. It tends to happen most often when an update drops, since updates bring with them many changes and players are, understandably, going to have varying opinions on those reactions. It's also likely to happen when more divisive areas of the game come up in discussion, like combat or temporal storms. That's not to say those discussions shouldn't happen--indeed they should because that's how the good ideas get brainstormed, oftentimes. However, that doesn't mean such discussions are always going to be the most fun, so to speak. Also keep in mind that as the game continues to grow, there's going to be new arrivals to the community, both good and bad. I think maybe the best litmus test for the overall health of the forums is to look at what happens when a new player arrives, or a player is otherwise asking for help. Generally, the community, both veterans and newer arrivals, will show up with warm welcomes and a friendly variety of advice and jokes/stories about various game experiences. Same. I've had similar concerns, however, it's not just the devs I'm concerned about; it's also newer players, or those otherwise considering whether or not to give Vintage Story a try. Not everything needs to be sunshine and roses 24/7, but if I saw a game's community constantly trashing the game then I'd be more inclined to give the game a hard pass. It's also why I try to be very careful when giving advice to new players, and recommend trying the game on Standard difficulty first, while also making a note of Exploration difficulty and other settings they can change if they find Standard to be a little too difficult for fun learning. That is, I try to make sure they're aware they have options to make the experience easier if they wish, rather than try to push them to play the game in a very specific fashion(for example, making them aware that there's an option to disable temporal storms and temporal mechanics if they decide they don't like those mechanics, rather than telling them to immediately disable those things). I think part of it is also we sometimes forget to explain the reasoning behind some opinions and ideas. To try to use sticks as an example: stick-crafting is not an uncommon request in the Suggestions part of the forums. Oftentimes it gets brushed off with "We don't need stick crafting because sticks are easy enough to gather with shears"(which is the stance I take, by the way). However, on a large multiplayer server, sticks can be a real issue due to spawn getting picked clean, which may also include all the bushes getting sheared and trees getting cut down without getting replanted. In that context, adding some way to craft sticks makes a lot more sense, but it's not necessarily the kind of problem most players will be aware of since most probably don't play on large multiplayer servers. This too. My own strategies will absolutely be changing in 1.22, and I don't think that's a bad thing. It's also something I'm going to consider when offering advice as well, as while there are strategies that are better than others, the game is quite flexible and the most optimal strategy by the numbers isn't necessarily the most fun.

Welcome to the forums and game! Which version are you playing on? It's a known bug for 1.22.0-rc1. https://github.com/anegostudios/VintageStory-Issues/issues/8571

I want to say that the main difference between jelly, jam, and preserves is that jelly is just the preserved juice--no fruit bits. Jam will have bits of mushed fruit and seeds in it, depending on what it was made from, so it's somewhat of an in-between of jelly and preserves. Preserves is very chunky and not really meant to be quite as spreadable as jelly or jam. At least, that's my understanding of it. To put it another way, if peach is the flavoring then: 1. Peach jelly will taste like peaches but won't have any bits of the fruit in it. 2. Peach jam will taste like peaches and have a thicker texture than peach jelly due to having actual bits of fruit in it, but won't be all that chunky. 3. Peach preserves will taste like peaches and be very chunky due to containing chunks/whole slices of the fruit in question.

Sometimes the fish are pretty hard to see, but in any case if it's a decent-size pond it's usually worth fishing in even if you see no fish. Generally it doesn't take fish very long to bite a baited hook, if the area hasn't been overfished. I say "generally" because I've had it take a while to get a bite sometimes despite the area not being overfished. In that case I usually just reel in and re-cast, sometimes in a different spot, and have better luck. Sometimes the slow bite times can be due to the bait attracting a fish that is elsewhere in the lake/pond and is having trouble reaching the bait. If there's no fish in the lake/pond you won't see anything swim toward the line. You'll just see the bobber bob when there's a bite.

Don't forget that Commodities and Survival Goods traders often have lime for sale. It's a good workaround if you have lore content enabled and a few rusty gears lying around.

Welcome to the forums! If you're talking about the cave-in mechanic, it's enabled by default for Wilderness Survival only. It may become the default for Standard and Homo Sapiens someday as well, but I'd wager the reason it's not the default right now is that the Standard game difficulty isn't intended to be that hard, and it's not a mechanic that average player will necessarily enjoy.

Welcome to the forums! I highly recommend just using the world edit tool to copy/paste the structure to a new location. That's one of the reason that such a tool exists and moving structures manually block-by-block is a logistical nightmare. If it feels too "cheaty" though you can always use world edit to delete the original structure once you've got everything moved.

As far as the early game goes, berries are, for the most part, the same. The bushes aren't so obvious so players might need to look a little more carefully, however, it's easy enough to learn what the new bushes look like. Fishing, I would say, is probably a better balance to the hunting changes, since animals will now try to move away from players that get too close. I think it's less about diet variety and more about just fleshing out agriculture and food-related mechanics a bit more. The natural berry patches feel more valuable now since the player can't just uproot everything and take it with them, and it otherwise takes a little upfront investment to get a berry patch going at home. So far I've found it to be a rather straightforward process and relatively easy to acclimate to, but then again I also played with Wildcraft quite a lot, which had some similar mechanics. Oh I figured. One other thought I forgot to mention: I daresay at least some of the reactions might be due to the fact that the mechanic was way too easy before, so having something that's definitely more complex is going to feel even more like a stark contrast. For a game that likely intends the average world to last a few in-game years before the player manages to complete the main story though, I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to have the balance shift to support a reliance on hunting/foraging for the first year while the player gets their agriculture and livestock established.

I don't disagree, however, it's the kind of thing that I think is balanced okay for what the game is right now. It gives the player a chance to notice and correct the problem before they just die outright. A status effect system would be better for more weather-related penalties, but in the meantime I've found that making the player more vulnerable to cold in the survival options to be a suitable solution. As for the water bit, I also like being able to swim around underwater for a few minutes before actually needing to surface, as I do like to go poking around underwater occasionally. I think if the drowning penalty were very harsh, I'd be looking for a way to turn it back down.

For sure. I'd expect maybe just reducing natural health regen, or perhaps slowing movement speed/work speed a bit. Difficult to really work efficiently when exhausted, after all. That being said, I'd also expect the player to need to go a few consecutive days without sleeping in order to incur such a penalty. That way players can still work through some nights if they wish, just not every night.

Welcome to the forums and the game! Baskets should burn. I recall having some next to a pit kiln once and having them catch fire. If they aren't burning for some reason then it sounds like a bug that needs reporting on Github. Sound is one of those things that's still being worked on. Footsteps have been added for bears and wolves in 1.22, so it's a start. One mistake that many players make is looking at the voxel graphics and assuming that Vintage Story is Minecraft but with more realistic graphics. And it's very much not. Vintage Story is its own game, and a very difficult one at that; the challenge is why many players prefer it to the other block game, so I don't think it's a good idea to make the default experience easier. I will note that there are already several options at the player's disposal to make the game easier or harder, as well as good presets for just jumping in and playing. New players who struggle with Standard may find Exploration difficulty more enjoyable to play, since it tones down many challenges and is more forgiving. Wilderness Survival is a good preset for those who don't find Standard challenging enough, but it's a game mode that is more recommended for advanced players due to its unforgiving nature. Homo Sapiens is similar to Wilderness Survival in that regard, but without any lore content. Bowtorn are easily countered by a bit of armor, a shield, or even just running at angles or ducking behind trees. They aren't terribly good at shooting moving targets unless the target is running straight at them. Likewise, they also aren't very good at making sure they have a clear shot at a target, so they will happily sit there and fire into a wall/fence/branchy leaf block just so long as they can "see" the target. They won't move to have a clear line of fire. As for dodging, do keep in mind that they emit a loud screech right before they fire a shot, so that gives you some time to hide behind an obstacle or otherwise get out of the way of the incoming shot. They also don't like to fight in melee, so while they will try to smack you if you get right up next to them, most of their efforts will be devoted to running away.

I would expect as much from a status effect system, and it's partly why I'm starting to dread its addition. Not because I would find such a thing a problem--I already sleep through most nights because I prefer daylight to work in, and it makes sense that there would eventually be some drawback to going without any sleep at all. It's more that, given recent reactions to 1.22 content and other cases of more nuance/challenge being added to certain areas of the game, I'm not looking forward to the reactions such changes will likely stir up.

It's for grain crops. Yields have been cut in half from what they previously were, so players will want to make their fields a little bigger. That's all. To balance it out, wild grains now spawn in larger patches, so it's easier to gather more seeds quickly. In my experience it really doesn't affect much at all, though that depends on how the player approaches farming. My strategy was to simply till a large field exclusively for grain--about 75-100 tiles if I had to guess--which yielded enough flax for a full smaller windmill plus a little left over for bandaids and stuff. The backyard vegetable patch of previous game versions is still fine for growing vegetables, but players who try to rely on the backyard vegetable patch for growing grain crops are likely to find themselves getting frustrated.

I mean bears gotta eat and have fun too!

My hunter friend enjoys making the hunter backpacks. They aren't something I bother with myself in singleplayer, but they're a nice option to have for players who want to take things slow, or are otherwise still figuring out how to make progress in the game. The linen sacks can be useful for an early edge on inventory, if one scrounges up enough flax fibers. They're also rather useful on maps where leatherworking ingredients aren't so easily found(like colder climates).

To be fair, I prefer oil lamps for lighting up caves/mines because they are cheap and allow me to spot threats easily, without me being concerned about picking them up after I leave or otherwise needing to replace them. So I wouldn't call them entirely useless, as much as I would call them a bad choice if you want to actually minimize spawns.

Welcome to the forums! I do want to note that turning fruit into jam is already possible. You'll need honey in order to do so.

What did you light the area up with? Oil lamps will provide enough light for the player to see what's going on and are cheap to make, but won't provide enough light to curb many spawns. Torches are better in that regard, but not as effective as lanterns and will need replacing if not placed in torch holders. I'm guessing what happened is you ventured into a more unstable area underground, where monsters are more likely to spawn. Or perhaps ventured far enough away from an area that they could spawn in, that let them start spawning as a result. While rift activity does influence underground spawns to some extent, it's also safe to assume that the deeper you delve the more likely you are to encounter monsters, especially in more open areas rather than narrow mine tunnels. When mining that deep and traveling light regarding equipment, it's a good idea to pause every now and then to have a look around so nothing sneaks up on you, as well as check the rift weather to see if it's increased at all. When rift activity kicks up or stuff otherwise starts to spawn you might consider leaving and coming back with better equipment or on a quieter day.

Just chiming in here to say that while I like this idea, it does have one flaw. If the player starts at 100% stability, they'll have to wait until they drop to 80% before they get a chance to fight monsters, which isn't really ideal when the player wants to actually go out and fight. The stability drain of the storm could be increased, but then that's going to frustrate the players who are trying to stay at high stability so they don't have to fight, as then it may not feel worth it to stay at high stability. Players who want to go out and kill monsters aren't going to like having to sit there and wait in order to do so. There's also the fact that killing high level monsters can restore stability quite quickly, which also makes it rather awkward to try to rack up monster kills since it will mean the player needs to take breaks from fighting to let their stability drop in order to keep having monsters to fight. Basically I don't hate the idea, but it seems a rather awkward one to get to work properly. The way I generally approach things like this is that any change made should be convincing more players to give the mechanic a try, rather than giving more players reason to turn it off. That doesn't mean the mechanic necessarily needs to be a net benefit to the player, but it does mean that it should be a challenge that's reasonably satisfying to overcome. Personally I like stacking monster bodies and leaving a trail of destruction everywhere for my friend to find, but not every player is like that. I'm happy with the loot I get from the efforts, and while I wouldn't mind seeing a few more rusty gears(I do like shopping but those traders drive hard bargains), I wouldn't want to see the temporal storms become lucrative to the point I feel pressured to rely on the storms for materials rather than figuring out how to produce the stuff myself. Temporal gears and Jonas parts are exceptions, since they're rather esoteric items and the knowledge required to make such has potentially been lost.

I was just thinking about that the other day, actually. Playing with the map turned off creates a real challenge when trying to navigate, and currently there's not much in the way of landmarks to make areas stand out. There are mountains, yes, however, mountains can look very different depending on what angle they're viewed from. Rivers and the like are a good way to orient oneself to the land, as well as a convenient way to travel sometimes as well. I don't know how much of a travel barrier they'd be to the player since the player can just swim across, however, if they have a strong current(as they really should) then the player could potentially get washed downstream and get lost. I think that will probably come with a status effect system. Being soaking wet for an extended period when it's not a warm summer day is a good way to catch the sniffles. I had this happen once too--spawned in a hailstorm, which turned out to be pretty widespread and nearly died as a result. It was definitely interesting but I don't know that I would want it to happen very often. I wouldn't mind seeing potential avalanches or the ability for watercraft to get beat up if the player rams them into obstacles. I don't know that I would want to see faster drowning though. Then again I might be confusing the oxygen bar for actual drowning damage. Mud that slows the player's movement would make for some good swamps though. I'd expect it to be the land equivalent of trying to wade through shallow water.

I like the fishing, though I will note that fish is a good food source when cooked into meals and more of a survival food otherwise since the satiety value is pretty low. It shouldn't be the sole source of protein though, since areas can be overfished rather easily if one isn't careful. To my knowledge fish can still be caught in overfished areas, it will just take much longer. Otherwise, it's a nice, relaxing little activity to do every once in a while, and fun to collect trophy fish for decoration.

I think the berry bushes go dormant over the winter now, so while it might be possible to take and plant cuttings I don't think the cuttings would actually start to grow until spring. So the player could take and plant new cuttings from the old bushes before clearing them out, but in that case they're probably going to miss out on at least one berry crop, if not more. I don't know that it's entirely ineffective. There's probably still a few players that will try it, same way there's always a few players that go to the effort of digging up and replacing farmland after each crop rather than just rotating fields. But like I said(or tried to say) before, I think it's there to try to serve as a bit of extra deterrent rather than just outright banning players from trying that strategy. That being said, I'm inclined to agree that the soil degradation could be removed and the mechanic still serve just fine to stop the behavior.

Unfortunately that seems to have been changed in rc1. I don't know that the windup is as fast as previous game versions, but I'm not going to be surprised if spears become even more of the standard weapon if the windup remains that fast.