The Terrain/Hoe Update was a mistake

Once upon a time you could with just 4 stones raise the ground nicely and if use a pickaxe to even extend certain platforms. It looked a bit funny but it worked, as it was intended.

Yes, it was an accidental stroke of genius and everyone that claims it was "an exploit" probably never tried to make a big build. The update basically shafted everyone that wanted to make big builds. I kinda expected the response already because it seems that the Redditors and Steam Forum people really want to defend this really poor decision to "fix" the stability of the game. The actual solution to fix the stability of the server would be to make terraforming work in an online environment instead of shafting a mechanic that was used by many and made the game fun.

It basically just destroyed my project but besides that everyone that wants to do any terraforming can only use mods since a creative mode is not in the game.

Since we are already here. Let's go to a few arguments I've heard defending the terraforming update.

Realism. Ah, yes. Realism. A game where you fight trolls, goblins, and a fire skeleton titan. Realism is totally the focus of this game. Of course, you would need exactly 4 stones to make 1 tile? raise up by 1 unit? Yeah, cutting the stone requirement to 2 and making it impossible to just continue at the same height breaks the realism of the game.

It's an exploit. So you want to tell me that even in the light developer test absolutely nobody figured out that you could terraform like that? You want to tell me that the developers that probably by now have literally thousands of hours in the game testing, playing, playtesting the game have not figured out that you could terraform like that? Here is the reality. Ofc the devs knew how the terraforming worked but it was causing server instability when people were playing together. How do you solve that? Fix the net code? No, you shaft part of the player base by shafting the fun mechanic and pushing everyone that was using "the exploit" away from an intended mechanic that worked just fine.

It's early access. If the developers suddenly made this game into a fashion make-up visual novel I could make the exact same argument. Just because it is "early access" doesn't mean devs can just do whatever they want to "fix" an issue. Let's be honest. In reality, they didn't "fix" jack. They just pushed the problem forward. Let's think about this. They have 5 to 6 major updates planned. Hearth and Home being the first. Every time they introduce a new mechanic from now on you will have to fear that once you are having fun with it, it might cause "server instability" and be shafted because you know? It is easier to shaft the mechanic than actually fix the underlying issue.

Developers are always right. / It's the developer's Vision. Nope and nope. You want to tell me that a mechanic that was probably used and abused by the developers themselves since probably the inception of the game is now suddenly a bad mechanic? Come on. This is clearly a patchwork to "fix" one issue that in reality is just kicking it down the road.

Support the devs. Nope. The devs made a mistake and everyone defending the decision doesn't understand that at least a part of the community stopped playing the game. You just need to look at the steam charts. Look at the date of the update and you can see how many people stopped playing the game.

It doesn't affect me so why should I care? It is similar to the "It's an exploit" argument. "I don't build like that so it can vanish and I won't suffer." You are not the only player/playstyle. There are builders, farmers, fighters, gatherers, crafters, and so and everyone makes use of their specific mechanic. The builders made use of "the exploit" to build incredible structures. It is already super tedious to get stone since there is no mini-game or fast way to gather stone. There is no automation, no transportation method that works reliably. Yes, there is the cart and portal but you can't really build roads that make transportation faster. Trust me. I tried.

It breaks immersion. Same as the realism one. Come on people make better arguments.

This is not how you are supposed to play the game. What are you? The fun police? We don't live in Germany (I am German) The mechanic was in the game. The mechanic was fun. They shafted the mechanic because it was a quick and dirty fix to the game but it didn't fix the game at all. It was a waste of time for everyone and probably pushed a decent amount of players away from the game.

Play modded/survival and creative (if or when it comes out). Yeah, doc. The balance between adventure, building, terraforming, and farming was held by a very thin line. Now that line has been cut and terraformers basically just up and left. Yeah, sure you can mod the game but how many people actually do it? What if the game lands on consoles at some point? Can you still make the same argument? "Just mod it, mate." Good luck modding on consoles.

Rant section over and now to more productive stuff. There are several options that could have been implemented that would have made everyone happy. An option to switch on "low lag terrain" and "high lag terrain". Keep the old stuff and offer a solution for the people who are experiencing lag.

Actually fixing the underlying issue. The fact that the game is not optimized and therefore things like terraforming causes lag.

Actually fixing the issue and offering an option between those two.

Integrating a terrain builder mode that lets the player carve more easily with for example an item you get for defeating the latest boss.

I bet every commenter on this sub could come up with a better solution than just "let's cut the stone requirement to 2, cut out the "exploit" that made terraforming easier, and let the community defend our decision because we ourselves don't really understand why this was a great mechanic."

You know what is also a bug or glitch? Trees suddenly wildly flailing around and one hitting you? Do I want that to be gone? No. 100% not. It is hilarious when it happens but is a "glitch" and like an "exploit" it should be shafted, right? Good luck trying to make another argument for an unintended mechanic ever again.

This post is very long and will be downvoted to oblivion. Most of you won't even read it but that's fine. It is mostly me venting a bit and offering some solutions at the end that the devs won't even read which is fine. Anyways good luck guys and let me know if the Hearth and Home update is any good once it comes out.