[How does gamestage actually work]

TY. And that stuff about party gamestage seems to be all gibberish. Bleh.

 

That at least partially explains why my gamestage is much lower than theirs, at least. I die a lot.

[How does gamestage actually work]

I've tried singleplayer and can't figure it out. Let me preface this:

 

Me and two friends play cooperatively, and split the perks/work in the game. My gamestage is always significantly lower than theirs,  so what exactly determines it. One friend will be the crafter/cooker and it's usually not me, I'm more of the looter/miner, whereas our other friend is the sniper/backup miner. Yet despite regularly making stuff with/using crafting stations, my gamestage is significantly lower than theirs, even if we're all in roughly the same gear.

[Adding a Perimeter to quest areas after acceptance.]

I have to agree with the above. The dig markers are a thing because of how the narrowing works (each X number of blocks shortens the zone you are told to dig in) and the fact that any maps/locations from traders are supposed to be "approximate" so you (as a character) know "I dig around here, I'll find it"

 

Also, the only quests in a POI are fetch quests. If you're "caught up in a POI" you only need to look at the upper right corner, unless you have a permanent quest there or something, it's not like you'd be used to having text there. Plus, you have to activate the quest to begin with. If you do that and forget, then like Liesel Weppen said, the avatar isn't wearing VR goggles that make this a game-in-a-game in a sense, so either don't do fetch quests or don't do them if you see it's a POI you care about?

 

If the game has to be made easier because you can't remember you're on a quest, it's not for you.

[Counterfeit Dukes/Fraudster perk]

I got this idea from one of Rekt's dialogue lines of "I hope you are bringing some of that fake money in here" or something (I don't remember exact words). So here's my idea:

 

Using the forge, you can create fake dukes (maybe using iron and brass? Or lead and brass). There is a base chance, let's just use 50% for sake of numbers, that you get caught when you use these at a trader. If you get caught, you get kicked out of the trader (a la the trader closing) for the rest of the day. When the trader opens normally the next morning, the prices will be increased for selling to you, and buy prices will either be significantly reduced or the trader will refuse to buy from you. This will last for an amount of time (i.e. a week) before you "regain their trust" in a sense. However, get caught too many times and word will get around to all traders, and all prices will be increased at all of the traders.

 

With counterfeiting dukes comes a new perk! Fraudster! This would probably be under Intelligence, and each level increases the chance you won't get caught, or possibly the "quality" of the fake dukes you make, which would do the same.