Stralgaez

Possibly so. I did issue a refund because, along with the current situation regarding this and how its handled, there are certain directions of development I do not find agreeable.

Which is interesting - I thought we have the forums specifically to not directly need other social platforms for communication if you don't feel for dealing with their issues. Yet everywhere else but the forums get official statements posted. This all feels backwards.

I'd say that's fine because they'll wander either way until they find their perfect spot to settle down (if the Temporal Stability isn't ruining it for them), or take a gamble and zap themselves thousands of blocks away by the use of a teleporter for a change of scenery. If they are determined to reach the Resonance Archive because it interests them, they will make the trek regardless and prepare accordingly. For everyone else, they just want to build their little world of their own wherever want to and get lost in the chiseling.

I don't offer a lore reasoning to it, I just say what I would rather have, gameplay-wise. Just as it is acceptable to have stacks of solid rocks in your inventory and not get weighted down by it, or your bags suffering from carrying so much - People don't question it, either. It just works. Basic vanilla gameplay functions don't need much of a lore reason to exist, nor should be gated behind a item that is based on RNG where you have a chance you never would get your hands on it.

Because temporal gears are not a guarantee. Just like finding specific resources, you either hit the jackpot on day one, or you slog through for months or perhaps even years to find even a single piece of it. Or you don't.

Which is interesting since usually you would make the Main Story as accessible/approachable as possible, adding a small measure of difficulty so the most would go through it. And making the optional content for those who want a extra challenge. Here it feels like the other way around.

Fell down a partially covered hole. A deep, 25+ blocks drop. And survived without a scratch, apart my near-heart attack feeling of vertigo when I fell into the darkness.

Regarding that, how about using Cairns as a 'spawn point' - Easy enough to make with rocks and some knapping, and more on-point with where you start off, eventually coming with 'updates' to touch it up more visually once you get your hands on more fancier materials. A quick sit down in front of it, with a few second of meditation, and you are done setting your spawn. One reason my group won't go there at Year 3 of our server adventure - They do not have the time and commitment for it, neither the necessary 'skills' and patience to traverse the place reliably without getting frustrated. And that's just with the parkour, not to mention what comes before and after that. Luckily they did the trip to the settlement after the Archives and enjoyed it, so I set a 'southern winter' vacation instead of tackling chapter 2 to keep them motivated.

That may be the case, but in there can lose also everything you painstakingly crafted by hand, especially the armor if you decided to get into brigandine/plate, from materials you perhaps had to go quite around with prospecting pickaxes to find the ore or the minerals to be able to make such pieces. And given that the Archives can be relatively far away from when you start your journey, this comes with the near-guarantee loss of your items if you are killed inside there. My group didn't wanted to bother with the boss anymore after the second attempt (and fail) on vanilla, so I switched the mode and have it beaten while it was inert, then brought them in via teleport and switched back to survival. They still lost a lot of items, but managed to scrounge up some stuff after giving the place another sweep before entering the library. Was it silly to resolve it like this? Maybe. But this didn't bring them any fun, and before it killed any form of motivation and drive to pursue the story (and maybe the whole game itself), I intervened and made sure they came back with something.

It would be interesting, though how would tie it in with the satiation meter? Currently we got the thing of being able to keep running while constantly eating pies in from hands, which is ... odd, to say at least. Would it be somewhat similar of 'fatigue', where your character actually needs to rest (or sleep) once in a while order to recover from it, while the level of satiation offers a 'cap' to your stamina you can use for combat and traveling. Be full but too tired would risk you maybe falling over due to fatigue while suffering from running/combat speed debuffs.. Be well-rested but hungry would have you be barely able to run or fight due to the low stamina. But if you got both covered, AND a good night's rest on top of it would give you small additional bonuses (slower satiation drain and a small stamina cost reduction) that will last perhaps half a day, rewarding you for preparing ahead.

Adding Thirst, Fatigue and how much you can carry in weight with you before being encumbered.

Seeing it often having 900°C isn't enough to hammer out Iron plates from Ingots, myself - So I just made my windmill with 2 helve hammers, skipping that painful work on them as they work it faster then I do, saving time, nerves and coal on this.

Pressing a number key while hovering your mouse on a item in your inventory will apply it onto the selected hotbar slot. Also, when having your mouse icon at the crafting grid, you can transfer items from your hotbar to the specific crafting grid slot by pressing the corresponding number on your keyboard (for example, when having the mouse icon on the top right corner, and pressing number 4 with the coal in it, the coal will be placed on the top right corner of the crafting grid).

Especially on metals you need to put in some effort in order to produce them, like Steel - Only to have them disappear into nothing on the first quench.

My group does it like that as well - After some curious experimentation and the one or two tools breaking on the first quenching, they decided to abandon it altogether. And for the lack of caring about it anymore, they just place the freshly worked metal piece on the floor until it naturally cooled enough to be used with a stick to make the tool.