I’ve mostly explored the south-east, west, north west, and central region of the island and reached up to level 30. Here’s my early feedback:
The Good
-
The map itself is really well done. Wide open fields, beautiful vistas, great lighting, cool looking atmospheric effects with the portals and maelstroms. Overall, you did an excellent job with the new map.
-
The new enemies look great as well, especially during the maelstrom event. Very spooky with low visibility and threatening demons.
-
The island is a bit more challenging compared to the Exiled Lands, which is nice since there’s a real feeling of threat.
-
The new rhinos look great. Very threatening looking.
-
The new building sets are awesome! Especially the floatsam set. Finally a tier 1 building set to replace the sandstone eyesore
And it also comes with gates, so that’s awesome. Again, great job here!
The Concern
-
You need to dial down the number of wolves/dogs near the starter zones. Just move them a little more inland so players actually have a chance to acquire some plant fiber to craft twine and our first weapon.
-
Rivers and lakes are a little scarce inland. I feel this will lead to overcrowding as more people build their homes in specific spots to harvest fish and collect water. I’ve parked my home at Violet island at the north west and it’s starting to get crowded.
-
Steel production feels like it will be a challenge in the new map. Brimstone isn’t as common as it is with the Exiled Lands, and I’ve yet to find a place similar to Asagarth or the Cursed Mound to provide ample steel drops. With fewer access to thralls, production crafting costs will also hit quite hard.
-
Having started a new character and what also feels like an increase in required twine in recipes, the hardships of collecting plant fiber by hand really really hurts the gameplay experience. We need iron and bone sickle tool unlocks to improve that experience. If there’s one thing high on my wish list, it would be this.
-
I feel the costs of the new flotsam foundation need to be lowered a little bit. I spent a great deal of time cutting down entire forests just to build a small home. The ratio from planning and building a home versus the time required to acquire materials is a bit out of proportion. Unlike crafting sandstone, which has rocks in close proximity and is faster to acquire vast amounts of them, trees are a bit more spread out and require more run-around time. You should factor that in your material costs.