4Game

Hello! Please see below the ideas I wrote out on an iPad, one-handed, without glasses, while attempting to fall asleep. I think these would go a long way towards improving certain aspects of the game's "quality of life." I apologize if someone else has posted the same (or better) ideas prior to me, but I hope that's an indication that these are worthwhile ideas. Please note that there will be very minor progression/upgrade tree spoilers below, so I suggest not reading if you really don't want to know what you'll unlock after the first few boss fights.

1. TOOL BELT – There are at least two belts, that I know of, currently in the game. Currently, for those of us who erect lengthy walls/barriers, we're required to build a workbench/stonecutter/whathaveyou every x meters in order to simply repair said walls after a troll attack. This has, in my case, led to many workbenches around my settlement, either buried/hidden or just out in the open because I couldn't be bothered just so I could repair my wooden gantry. I would love if at least some of the function of the tool bench could be compacted into a tool belt, to allow for those of us who enjoy building to more freely build and repair, without needing to reserve 10 wood for a workbench, carry stonecutter mats to repeatedly build/breakdown, etc. There could be levels of belts, e.g. level one only allows for wood working, level two wood and stone, so on and so forth. Possibly limit some common-sense functionality to the various workbenches so there's still a reason to have a central crafting area.
2. MATERIAL PILES – Please allow us to work/draw from material piles as if they are in our own inventory, rather than needing to break them down first. Especially in the case of large construction, this process is a time waster and leads to lots of superfluous inventory management just to make room for stacks of wood and stone. I'd rather that material piles acted like silos, i.e. you put down 50 stone, build some things, then it shows you have 12/50 left. Or, just make the piles grow smaller as they're used – one log on a pile is equivalent to five logs used, or something (I forget how many logs are in one pile). As you proceed through construction, it finishes one pile and begins drawing from the next one. This also opens up possibilities for lumberjack camps, quarries, etc. and could give players more reasons to build outside of their initial settlement.
   1. Additionally, please allow us to stack core wood, fine wood, ingots, etc.
3. BETTER (STEALTH) ARMOR – All armor should be given an option to "armor up/down" depending on play style, i.e. each tier of armor should have three (or more, depending on future updates) variants – light, medium, heavy, which visually reflect their variant. Players who want to tank can modify or build armor that is heavier (but slower), for more or additional mats. This gives tank players more options than just using a tower shield. In the same vein, players who want to focus on stealth builds would have a reason to switch from the goddamn blue troll armor set. Let me tell you, it's no fun to watch your friends working through the upgrade tree, getting cool new armor with every boss fight, seeing what new stuff is unlocked, while you're stuck just wearing the same boring (IMO) blue leather forever. Or even worse, playing solo, and unlocking armor you don't even have a use for.
   1. I believe that troll armor should be an intermediate-grade armor, between leather and bronze, and be useful to all players. This may require some rebalancing, but could serve as a way to buff players doing initial runs into the Black Forest while they build up enough copper and tin reserves to build bronze items. Troll armor could maybe provide some unique benefits in the same way as wolf armor or certain weapons. Alternatively, do away with it entirely, and use troll leather for something else.
   2. Assuming the above "light" variants of armor existed, all such variants could provide the 25% "Sneaky" buff to sneaking. This would allow for stealth players to still receive the cold resistance bonus conferred by wolf armor without needing to give up the "Sneaky" buff conferred by the troll armor. This also allows for similar possibilities with the introduction of new biomes, mechanics, etc. In the same way as "heavy" armor, I'd expect "light" armor to require additional leather or other mats.
   3. This provides for more, cooler variations in armor between players at all levels of progression.
4. ARMOR DYES – Fairly straightforward – add a dye system for customizing armor colors. The dye bit already exists for crafting banners, and the "style" button is there for shields – combine them for armor. Small thing that goes a long way towards customizing a character, especially if combined with the above suggestion re: armor variants.
5. SPEAR (AND TOWER SHIELD) IMPROVEMENTS – Would be nice if spears had an alternate, underhand, thrusting attack (as opposed to the overhand downward attack that still somehow misses low enemies) that allows for greater range, maybe at the expense of a little damage or increased stamina usage, without actually throwing the spear away. Without getting into historical accuracy, there's not much point in having a weapon with the reach of a spear if you're only able to hit enemies less than a meter in front of you, as it currently works. You may as well be using a sword or any other weapon. I'd rather lose the ability to throw the spear, or limit that to the flint spear, as it's almost always going to be significantly worse than using the bow.
   1. Additionally, allow players using tower shields to spear enemies while guarding, maybe at the cost of lower speed and increased stamina usage, per above. This adds increased versatility to tanking, where currently the only advantage is damage absorption at the expense of being able to deflect. The above-mentioned heavy armor + tower shield + spear combo would be formidable in just about any fight against a ground based opponent or slow-moving boss. Would allow for squishier players to fire arrows from behind them. Teamwork!
6. As some others have mentioned, additions to the hunting system would be nice. The weird deer noises need to be toned down significantly, and being able to track a deer that's been hit by an arrow via a blood trail would be helpful, given the odd patterns they run in. Knowing the direction of the breeze is and using it to your advantage is a fun mechanic. Also, bears. Please add bears.

Thanks – hope people like/enjoy these ideas. Certainly open to feedback – I tried to provide as much "balance" as I could, but I'm sure there's room for improvement.

Edit: clarification on point 2; grammar