[2023] a21 sounds horrible

Heck of a blanket statement.

Not a single thing? Nothing? At all? Not the decorations, not the added world gen options, not the new POIs, Nor the environmental hazards? Not the water update? The spear changes? Electrical changes?

Like, I can understand thinking certain things aren't going to pan out well.. But..

At the end of the day, you can opt into A20.6 when A21 comes out- Play blisffully here forever more as your favored version. Or mod, or whatever. But I'd personally suggest you at least give playing with the changes a try before blanket deciding it's the worst thing in the history of ever.

Originally posted by Dewguru: Making things more grindy hurts the game imo. We all play for different things though.

The more recent changes that eased up on the punishing health and stamina changes made the game more fun. I'll try out the newest build, but at this point, it'd be nice to see them stop tweaking some things and simply progress on this supposed story. Otherwise, we'll be in R50 and still no end in sight.

And if you look at other similar games in the genre, is "I wish it was harder to find potable water" really a thing?

To the last line, No...but, "I wish there was some actual challenge to survival" is.

Currently, there is no challenge- Within the first day, if you know what you're doing, You can have enough water to last you nearly the rest of your playthrough, not counting any additional water you find during the rest of said playthrough. There's no challenge to it, no reward, So all that remains is the tedium of having to drink every so often.

May as well just remove the hydration mechanic- That's how unimpactful it is.

The changes aim to correct that. To make gathering water more of a challenge, so that it's more rewarding- So that it IS impactful.

Problem is, As an existing user, You've been in the age of gold- You know what it was like, and you can't forget it. So any change that makes it less than what it is is gonna stand out to you like a sore thumb- And you're going to distaste it because it is factually lesser, even though the intention is to provide a more engaging and impactful experience.

It's literally how our brains are wired- Seek abundance, fight the taking of that abundance. Pure survival instinct kicking into gear to make you knee jerk and say "this is a dumb change, it takes away my water!"