“Not adding stuff just for looking cool” statement and what worries me from it

From fireside chat:

​

"We try not to add more build pieces just to add more variety, we try to add stuff that actually adds some kind of mechanics or some kind of purpose outside just looking cool."

​

I know, how the heck can someone think that's not the right idea? This sounds like a 100% great statement from your dream game studio, in.. almost all cases, imo.

So far I've been liking the direction for Valheim; they've addressed the bugs and performance first, and reworked a lot of groundwork for the coming future updates, and took their time and did not rush for the most quality assuring contents they can achieve.

But from the fireside chat quote above… one thing kind of conflicted with me.

I browse around this subreddit and Valheim discord often, and found that a lot of players have pretty neat ideas and suggestions to the game, and some of the stuff I think belongs to "it's cool but doesn't server any new purpose":

​

• Beech, Fir, Pine, Birch, Oak, Ancient Trees; why not have them all drop their own type of wood, like different meat, just for different types of building pieces? Say, you can have different looks of wood pieces for variety.
  (Does not serve new mechanics, but adds variety for looks and creativity in buildings.)
• Vikings painted their buildings a lot, what about paints?
  (May require a new mechanic, but mostly for the aesthetics as well)
• Different angles for the build pieces?
• Additional dyes or decorations for armors and weapons?
  (Solely aesthetics and building decos)
• More "simple" creatures like bears, squirrels, hare, geese, chickens etc in the existing biomes
  (Yes, they need to think about loots they might drop and food balances, meaning, it's a lot of work, but might help the zones feels even more lively and "cooler", again, does not serve new mechanics unless they have special attacks or new farming system)

​

Some of these suggestions I dug out, might require a new mechanics and would fit the bill, but some, especially related to building materials, I don't think they do, but I would love to see those varieties, and would sink my time in even more, if they existed.

But I worry that if those varieties are considered a waste of development time for the devs, because it basically serves no "new purpose" albeit I don't know what their standard is.

What do you guys think? Would you prefer the devs to focus on bigger contents, rather than working on the smaller materials like others suggested above?