On 1/17/2024 at 10:05 AM, Vaeliorin said:Look, I really don't care that much about the water change, I mostly think it was pointless (because I still end up with hundreds of jars of water in storage), but I used to be able to go weeks without stepping foot in a POI (I like to build/mine) and now if I want to do that I have to build a field of dew collectors.
It surprises me to still read people who think that the point of the change had anything to do with how much water you end up with. It's like they think TFP were trying to stop players from eventually being able to stockpile all the water they need and want and were trying to make players struggle for water the entire playthrough despite all the communication to the contrary. And no matter how many times it gets repeated that the change was for how we start with dealing with water and the journey of getting to the point where we are flush with water, this old false idea that TFP wants to stop players from ever having an abundance of water keeps coming back.
The water change was to affect the beginning of the game and not the middle or end. Instead of gaining a stack of water jars on day one and never having to put any thought or choice in the actions you take to acquire water or use it since it just naturally ended up in your inventory in stacks from the get-go and with infinitely refillable jars making it so players never really had to ever choose between drinking it and crafting with it--instead of that-- now we often need to choose how to use water in the early days, and sometimes we may have to drink murky water so we can make glue with our clean water, and building a dew collector becomes one of the tasks that joins the mix of other early game tasks we need to juggle and plan for.
As to whether it is all annoying and a worse gameplay loop, all I can say is different strokes for different folks. I like it and enjoy crafting dew collectors and gaining satisfaction from harvesting the water from them. I like that there is enough water to be found to survive but often I must choose whether I use water for drinking or for crafting during the first week. It was a choice absent from the game until A21 and I think such choices are good gameplay.
Does water eventually get solved and become something I never have to worry about or think about? Yes, and that is by design. It isn't something they were trying to change and failed at. But at least water is something never to be worried over only in the mid to late game whereas before it never had to be worried over in the early game either. I've gone back to play A20 as well as some mods that return empty jars and I hate it. It feels like playing with creative mode enabled. But that's me.
I just want to point out that what you find annoying, I find fun and there are probably others just like both of us.