I love this game as an immersive peaceful tame relaxing game....but its in need of a fixed identity and if you PLEASE read on you can see why this is one of the most important aspects of this game and how it applies to the "planned building strategy". If this doesnt get done right for the average player seeking some sort of realism procedure, then all RW will be is pegged as a building simulator, while every big title name game out there is winning gamers and streamers with building survival, recipe's, and procedure.
This question should really be asked to "new" players and what they want to see in a game to get a true perspective.
No one seems to have a problem with making fireworks or complain do they?
1. They get sulfur, then smelt it.
2. They gather wood, then turn it to sticks.
3 They gather wool/cotton, spin it to thread, turn it to cloth, turn cloth to paper with water.
4. Then combine it all at the bench.
With the logic of just turning something into any shape while skipping everything in between is just catering to creative players type of system and generate comments about the game is lacking immersion.
I care about where our RW community could go compared to the low player base it has now with so few servers and WHY so many sit empty and its not because of the age of the game.....its the building interaction that keeps a game alive in all aspects, and the continuation of that interaction to keep players wanting more and more. There are other games out there that 10 years of playing them you still dont know all the recipe's and its what keeps people playing them.
Proof in this is going into any long time server and seeing all the bases built up to a certain point and then the player just quits. There simply are not very many players who just want to build, So the building interaction needs to mean something to them to stay and keep building and be immersed in the game with that experience.
The players RW has at the moment are mostly builders......my family and I who play together are builders also. But there are 2 types of builders.....the ones like us who like to interact with the stations.....and the ones who just spawn and plop in creative. We prefer going out and harvesting all the resources ourselves and interaction with stations and when we get done its something we are proud of because we did it all ourselves. Its how we get satisfaction from the game. I dont have a problem with creative mode style of play......but then all the builder is doing is playing a 3D cad cam program trying to wow everyone, and not really playing the full game is my take on it. It may as well be cheating in the eyes of many.
This style of building takes away other competitiveness also.......just like a player working weeks in a server building things up, and then another player comes in and plops a city with blueprints in 10 minutes then leaves. That doesnt impress anyone at all.
Its not hard to build a block station or sawmill close to where you are working, or move it to another spot as you progress to another part of the building. If we click the wrong part, its our fault, not the design of the game. where we need to switch blocks to something else like its creative mode......the creative mode players are the ones who want this, not us. Everyone has gone to the store before and bought the wrong item in the past is what I am getting at.
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If anything this is what I would suggest to add immersion into the game to keep players interested is below.
(Have a sledge hammer removal tool that can span a row of blocks instead of one chunk at a time would help for starters).
1. Tier 1 block station for starting out with basic shapes.
2. Tier 2 block station for the more intricate shapes. Possibly a way to make a custom shape block.
3 A sawmill station for making logs into base materials. I mean seriously....I can craft lumber with my bare hands? Make the sawmill out of logs to solve the lumber issue needing to build the sawmill. Then when they get planks, be able to upgrade the look of the sawmill.
4. A carpenters bench for building those base wood materials into components and furniture.
5. A recycle station for all the left over blocks from a build or wrongly made blocks that go back to a stockpile of whatever its base material was. You already have the grinder station for turning stone to gravel right? Adjust it with a menu to return blocks back to original materials.
6. Maybe a tech station for other items not building related.
I am very sorry if any of my suggestions upset someone......but this is a game....and if based on a easy creative building simulator...nothing will change for player base than what we have now......and this game will not grow anymore than it has now just catering to creative builders without more immersion.
On another note......this game would bust wide open for player base.....and make the builders we have now look like gods, if the game turned in a direction that role play could be a thing.....steamers would stream and players would be drawn in masses to this game and stick with it instead of leaving when then get everything and all that is left to do is build.
