Server without mods?

All official servers run Chronicler, DiscordLink and parts of the Nid toolbox. They don't contain any gameplay changes though, aside of White Tiger and Dusky Robin.

Most modifications are simply changes to some server files, so it's hard to even show you what was changed in any specific capacity. We plan to display mods in the future (mostly anything that downloads), but not simple changes to core server files, given we consider that to be _necessary_ to be done by admins anyway, to adjust the experience to the specific server population. The idea of there being one vanilla experience is one that people shouldn't fall for - that vanilla experience is only suitable to a specific corridor of player amount and time usage. I can't repeat often enough that Eco is mostly a framework that admins can use to make their own experiences that work with their server population. They're doing god's work and it is necessary for a good admin and server to think about this.

That's a very one-sided view I don't want to let stand uncommented. Not debating Eco is a grindy game given manual labour is supposed to be depicted and valueable in the economy, but while it's true there is many servers that just make things easier (or even into what I'd _personally, not as staff_ call "cheat mode", which is great for those for who it's fun, as that is all that matters), there is many servers that make things even harder and just rebalance things to fit better together, especially the high population ones to ensure good economy and fairness. Those, as all servers do, adjust things - but not for reducing the grind. And hardcore and casual players play there alike, like White Tiger - which comes mostly from support programs and good laws supporting casual and less experienced players through the help of more experienced ones. It always needs a full server concept to make things work the best possible way, but that doesn't need to include reducing difficulty or grind to work out for most people - often that actually reduces longevity for big population servers. What makes people able to coexist from hardcore to casual is a server concept that enables and supports that, makes everyone feel useful and giving everyone the opportunity to pursue their personal goals, no matter what others do.

But I also have good news: We will both add a XP catchup mechanic and extend the exhaustion feature in one of the next updates to be much more usable for those who want to limit playtime to an area they are comfortable with for all players on their servers.

That's near impossible to do with any senseful UX, as admins can change every single file and recipe - all of that is considered a modification that will ultimately change your experience. It will show in the recipe tooltips on the server anyway.

Those sliders we have as well, but it's config options - I assumed the whole thread was about modifications, and those start at modifying .cs files which already allows you to do tons of stuff - like changing all recipes or adding your own, or removing some. Or move them to other tables, or whatever else. Basically you can edit nearly every single item.

And then there is mods that download files for new content (though tons of stuff can be added without that as well, it's only required for assets) - those we can easily identify and display in the future, but showing you a good overview of all those manual changes admin can make is hard. Some servers have 200+ files changed to balance the game to the amount of players they have and the typical playstyle of people playing there.