I’d like to offer some constructive criticism regarding the ballistas.
But before I do that, I want to emphasis that this is a FANTASTIC game which has given me an embarrassingly high number of hours of entertainment! This is my first game in this genre and I’ve been hooked for a while now. I love the Mistlands update, and it was more robust and large than I imagined. I imagine I’ll still be enjoying this game for quite a while. I love 98% of this game, and just have a few minor issues I’d love to see changed. This post is not in any way meant to insult or attack the devs who have built a wonderful game. People tend to reach out only when they're upset and not when they're happy. I want to emphasize I'm happy with this game!
Ballistas:
I was incredibly excited when I saw ballistas were added to the game! Once I realized I couldn’t fire them myself, I was disappointed. And once I realized they would fire on ME, I was thoroughly confused. Respectfully, I’d like to ask the devs under what circumstance they envisioned players building them. I could only envision building them near things I would like to protect, like my base. But I also don'twant to get shot when I'm coming back to my base either–so I just don't build them. I can’t think of a use for them quite honestly but I acknowledge that maybe I’m just missing something?
My opinion is:
–Ballistas build by players should only be able to be fired manually. That being said, it would be great if a player could manually turn on/off the current automatic version of the ballista if so desired.
–Ballistas should damage anything and everything they hit–players, tame animals, wild animals, buildings, enemies, etc. but only when manually fired.
–I would be thrilled to see automatic ballistas added to Fuling camps and Dvergr bases as long as they didn’t attack Fulings in that Fuling camp or Dvergrs in the Dvergr base in which they were built. Assaulting those bases with ballistas firing at you would be a blast, and make things quite a bit more difficult! The concept of the ballista automatically targeting players is great! I just feel it should apply to enemy ballistas (which don't yet exist) and not apply to ballistas built by those same players.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/zt0jno/constructive_criticism_for_ballistas_and_ideas_to/