Many benches no longer have stop and play buttons. This has to be intentional for some reason. Adding an appropriate crafter thrall to your base does not change this.
Here’s the list in game EL/S benches that had the buttons and now no longer do:
- All altars
- Golem workbench
- Delving bench
- Sacrificial stone
- Shallow Grave
- Circle of Power
- All carpenter benches
- All firebowl cauldrons
- All alchemist benches
- Artisan table
- Torturer’s worktable
- Fermentation barrel
- Casting table
- All armorer’s benches
- Tinker’s bench
- Fluid Press
- Grinder
- All Planters
- Dismantling bench
- All Beehives
- Tanner’s Table
List of benches that still have the button:
- All furnaces
- Wheels of Pain
- All stoves
- All campfires
- Dryer
- All Tannery’s
For some things, ok ya, doesn’t really make sense to have a stop/play button. But for many, and arguably all that had them, there’s significant utility to be able to turn off a bench. Especially for WOPs and Altars.
One thing I see here is that the majority of the lighting effects have been removed:
So this means that largely turning off a bench to prevent light seepage out of your base isn’t a factor… but still, why remove the buttons for some things and not others? Why keep the horrendous bright light of the sacrificial stone?