The direction of the game at times seem a little random. I would love to see more progression and survival-aspect-oriented changes.
On temporal storms and drifters
One thing I would love to have changed is for drifters to be able to break doors, but be unable to spawn inside enclosed spaces.
Another thing that would make temporal storms more interesting is if crops can be hit by rustblight from drifters, if you allow them to reach your fields—introducing a siege mechanic to the game.
To make this work, drifters should be unable to spawn within 30 blocks of a planted farm plot with at least 16 connected and planted soil blocks.
This would make farms something you actually have to defend, instead of something that just passively produces food.
That said, while a 30-block spawn radius would be somewhat hard to exploit, it is likely still possible for players to game the system by placing multiple farm plots to prevent drifter spawns entirely. It would therefore be worth considering how to avoid this becoming an unintended “safe zone” mechanic.
Another suggestion is for a new mob to be added which is capable of destroying any blocks below mining tier 4 or the like, but very slowly, which yet again introduces siege mechanics.
This could be a drill-type drifter that fits into the lore of the game. It should not tunnel through the ground, but instead slowly break through walls, attempting to pathfind towards farm plots or the player base.
This also means that drifters will now spawn outside of the player's base, where they will attempt to break in, rather than dead-center inside the room, which is the main annoyance temporal storms and drifters currently come from.
The addition of these features means:
Farms can be destroyed if drifters are allowed to stay for too long (siege mechanic)
Bases can be breached through doors and walls (another siege mechanic)
Iron doors, however, should have insanely high health.
On progression and late-game systems
Some other ideas could include enabling aluminium and titanium to be harvested and then worked through electrolysis.
This would require a significant amount of power, which could be generated using coal and wind power to drive a generator. The generator itself could be the final reward for beating the underground boss, tying progression and combat together.
From there, more advanced and realistic processes could be introduced, such as:
Electrolysis for aluminium production
More demanding refining processes for titanium
A primitive type of arc furnace for high-temperature metalworking
This would add a clear late-game progression path that feels grounded in the game’s logic and tone, while also giving players something meaningful to work towards beyond basic survival.
The creators of the game are free to elaborate on this advice, ignore it completely, or implement it in their own style.
I will say that food security was never stable in the Middle Ages, and neither should it be in a game like Vintage Story, where most of my goals revolve around staying alive and gathering for winter.