My thoughts on progression and how I think it could be improved [very long]

Hi, I'm new to this reddit. I've got about 188 hours of playtime, which isn't actually a lot compared to some people. I've played through all the way to the plains twice (never fought Yagluth though) and I just started a fresh new playthrough recently and have just finished mining 2 silver veins and done a few frost caves. Anyway I wanted to share some thoughts about progression, and give some feedback on how I'd like to see them changed (It's longer than I was planning, hopefully that's okay. I'm open to feedback, but please try to keep it constructive).

Weight Limit
Sometimes it can be hard to find Haldor to get Megingjord, and the Silver Era is particularly rough since you usually need to equip the Wishbone. As such I propose 2 simple tweaks:

• Base Weight Limit: 300 -> 350
• Megingjord Weight: +150 -> +100 Weight Limit.

Basically max weight is still 450, but Megingjord is really good instead of practically essential. I think this would preserve Megingjord's importance while helping out with general gameplay, especially metals. Speaking of metals…

Metals
The amount of metals needed for a new base are extremely high later in the game. So you either need to transport a massive amount of heavy metals really far away, or you need to set up your base next to a lot of biomes, which really limits your options. In my opinion this isn't inherently bad, but the weight of metals seems a little bit overtuned. I think metal should get some changes (especially Silver due to poor conditions for transport):

• Copper Nodes: Now 1/2 as big but drop x2 copper (same yield, easier to mine whole node)
• Tin Nodes: Now x2-3 rarer (Copper and Tin should share the grind, Tin is basically free as-is)
• Scrap Iron: 10 -> 8 weight (You need and get a lot of iron and IRL it's actually lighter than copper)
• Iron (refined): 12 -> 10 weight (not sure why it's heavier after refinement but I won't question it)
• Silver Ore: 14 -> 12 weight (mountains make supply lines difficult, less weight helps)
• Black Metal Scrap: Now x5 rarer from all Fulings (they drop too much)

In the game's current state, Tin has never been an issue for me. With these changes, players spend less time mining copper and more time searching for and mining tin. I think this would be more interesting gameplay.

When I grind iron, I will set a chest outside the crypt and fill it with iron every time I'm encumbered by the weight. Usually this happens 3-6 times per crypt, depending how much metal is in the chests. It's not very fun spending half your time walking from the entrance of a crypt to a new part and back several times per crypt. Reduced weight would help.

As for nerfing black metal drops, it's arguably easier to get Black Metal than any other metal, but there's not even armor that uses it. I personally think it would be more interesting gameplay if players needed to find black metal from structures instead of from enemy drops. Enemies would still drop quite a bit over time – instead of getting 150+ black metal from enemies, it would be 30+, which is still a decent amount from a common enemy. It also reduces the amount of extra weight you end up having to carry.

Resistances
Add a new tier of resistance. Right now, Normal Resistance is 0.5x and Very Resistant is 0.25x. The new tier is Slightly Resistant, which is 0.75x

Armor Progression
Overall progression of gear is pretty balanced (at least in regards to maces, I haven't used other weapon types at all) but there's a few things I think could be changed, particularly in Fenris Armor and Root Armor (one isn't very good at survival, while the other is way too good for how early it is).

• Root Harnesk: Pierce Resistance: Normal (0.5x) -> Slight (0.75x)
• Fenris Armor: All pieces give base 10 -> 12 Armor
• Fenris Leggings: Gain Slight Resistance to Blunt (0.75x)

Root set is kind of broken in my opinion. Half damage from Poison is extremely useful in Swamps. +15 Bows is extremely useful for fighting Drakes in the Mountains. And half damage from Pierce is extremely useful against Spear Fulings, Deathsquitoes, and Arrows. In other words this set has got you covered in Swamps, helps in Mountains, and gives you some powerful support in Plains. As a set it's pretty good in the endgame, but it becomes extremely powerful in the endgame if you only use the Harnesk with stronger leggings and helmet.

As such I think the pierce resistance should be nerfed to a new "Slightly Resistant" tier (0.75x instead of 0.5x). Even with the nerf, it's pretty good and generally outperforms the Fenris set in comparison. Adding a slight Blunt Resistance to Fenris puts it more in-line with Root Armor for usefulness (Plains has some heavy hitters that do Blunt) while the armor buff makes it more comparable at base power to Lvl 3 Root Armor. It would still be a little less versatile, but it would be powerful within its niche.

General Additions
Some aspects of the game are a little rough. As such I have a few additions I think would generally help a lot:

• Allow Raspberries, Blueberries, and Cloudberries to be used as seeds to grow new bushes
• Add a new weapon, Bone Claws, made with Bone Fragments, Leather Scrap, and Bronze. Deals 20 Slashing damage and uses Fists skill
• Add a new weapon, Abyssal Claws, made with Chitin, Leather, and Fine Wood. Deals 40 Slashing damage and uses Fists skill
• Add a secondary attack to the Claws (probably something high damage in a small AoE with medium knockback)

These changes would help make farms more interesting, would offer some building options in the form of berry bushes for decoration, and would make it easier to maintain a decent number of berries (due to how long it takes them to regrow, it should be really balanced too). Additionally it would add more gameplay options for fists in the form of new fist weapons, which I think would be pretty good. I haven't gotten the Flesh Rippers yet, but its stats are comparable to a silver dagger so I made Bone Claws and Abyssal Claws comparable to Bronze and Abyssal daggers respectively.

Those are my ideas, hope it was worth the read for anyone who read it.