Title says it, but I feel the need to reiterate that the wind in this game just gives huge "feelsbadman" vibes and really kills enjoyment and pacing of the game when I'm forced to deal with it.
Yes, I'm aware of tacking. In my opinion and experience, it's generally non-viable. It feels like paddling with extra steps. Additionally, the gaps between land masses don't always afford this option being available. Thanks for your readiness in suggesting it.
Up next on the suggestion list is "Kill Moder". Yeah, I'm working on that, but still have not identified the location or a runestone for its location yet.
Just yesterday, my wife and I were sailing out to find an island closer to the edge of the map to source new materials, notably silver, and have access to some of the higher-level biomes as we knew it would be coming to that at some point once we get more situated. We sailed to get 2/3 to the edge of the map. I watched as the wind would shift in front of me consistently. If I turned to curve around an island and continue another direction, I'd enjoy 30 seconds or so of it in the top right or top left of the boat to have it curve directly in front of the boat, forcing me back to paddling. We sailed for over an hour to reach our final destination. I sailed it again, following the same path, and, fortunately, had the wind with me that 2nd time and it took roughly 20 min.
I'd always been suspect of the wind, but after that experience, I was flabbergasted at the sheer amount of time that could be killed just trying to get from A to B. This really killed the pacing for my wife and I. She played on her phone and I just sat there checking for land changes, checking the wind, or if my behind was about to be chomped by a serpent. I doubt this is the intended feeling, but there's really not much to do while you're "waiting" for your arrival, save for the random serpent appearance. Either the wind needs to change more often, or there should be some way of predicting what direction it'll be for different times of the day. At the very least, a way to plan out what would be least impacted by unfavorable winds. At this stage, I'm just about ready to suggest we mod the game to remove the problem entirely, but I don't typically like to do this until I've enjoyed a game in its most "vanilla" of flavors.
Is there an argument to be made that sailing needs some adjustment in this game? As I mentioned before, some way of predicting or planning out sailing trips would truly help in knowing when and where to attempt. Heck, I'd even be interested in if they could have currents associated with different pathways that would alternate based on night/day. At least then, it's predictable and you would have to plan and plot out paths to various areas.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/te2sck/the_wind_in_this_game_is_plotting_against_me/