Yep it needs some balance, btw what level are you right now?
Wat. I’m not seeing the problem with not being able to make iron tools until level 13 or so when you can make copper ones at level one or two. Iron doesn’t mine anything copper can’t, it just lasts a bit longer because it takes fewer hits (it doesn’t even mine faster since it hits more slowly).
That being said, I could see if the equipment crafting tree were lowered to be unlocked with ten skills attributed… But I guess you couldn’t even use gold/silver hammers for much of anything anyway if you can’t even get off-planet yet.
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Hello,
I am a new player. I might be able to provide some insight on how the progression feels.
- Leveling Up
I am currently level 11. I think I have been playing for 10+ hours. I felt as thought the leveling process was a little slow. I feel like I was taking advantage of the Objectives and spending a fair amount of time gathering (while also learning the game).
By level 10 I had an idea of the specialty I wanted to engage in and had some basic skills. I feel like I could have reached this point a little faster. I was dragging through level 5 - 8 and needing the skill points before I could progress / improve.
A portion of this was because I had no idea what I needed to do to get to the things I wanted (clarity around skills and what growth options there were).
What I knew was: I want to swing my hammer faster and I wanted to be able to build some new tools (which means I needed a new bench thing to build). I didn’t know how to build new tools, so that did slow me down a little bit…but I will talk about that further down.
TL:DR - I think the speed I am gaining levels now (11 - 12) is fine…but I would have thought my early levels would go by a little faster.
- Skills
Aside from the required first few skills, it quickly became confusing what I needed to take in order to get what I wanted. I realize skills will be fleshed out with better descriptions later. As I was progressing I didn’t know what to spend my points on.
Because of this, I was confused on how to build new tools.
- Building
I felt like I could build things really early, and had fun throwing down some early blocks.
- Get Copper Tools
I think the Workbench? makes these copper tools. I was very confused on how this machine worked. I received an objective to build a power source for this machine, but apparently I can craft things through it without the power source?
Because of my confusion, I didn’t try and build copper. I thought I needed the spark engine thing to power it to make the things within it.
This did slow me down, and I ended up using stone tools for a bit longer then I thought.
I really like the game, and have been having fun. I hope my notes are helpful! This game has been so cool 
Thanks!
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How much of a confusion was this? Is it odd for a machine to require spark [fuel] for some recipes or should it require spark for everything and we put those items which don’t require spark in another machine?
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Based from my experience, I also got confused with this one at some point (crafting at first feels intimidating with those fancy spark). My familiarity with the game before this was implemented and my lurking here in the forums made the experience a little easier.
Would it make sense if you just explicitly mention in the ingredients needed “0 Spark” or would it look dumb?
Actually whats ironic about what u said it beinh slower Stone is .5 seconds quicker in mining then copper is without masteries of course
I didn’t say it mined slower (goes back and forth based on masteries… at max power copper pretty much always mines faster), I said that it swung/hit more slowly.
Hello Luke,
How much confusion? Oh, it took me a few days (I was only playing a few hours each day) before I realized that I could be making copper tools (so maybe 4 hours of in game time). I only realized that spark must not be the requirements because the spark core was created by the Workbench, and then I started to second guess how the thing worked.
I am still confused on what requires spark and what does not. Maybe when I have more items I can craft it will be more clear. I built the Extractor and the Compressor, and as I was building them I wondered if there was any point. Do these items require spark, or do they not requires spark? Are these items like the Furnace which needs a power source, like the crafting table which doesn’t or like the Workbench which may or may not requires spark.
I do think it is confusing. Moving the items from the Workbench to another item which does not require spark and having the workbench be an item that makes this with spark, seems logical to me.
I did not build a furnace and assume that it would run without power. I expected to have to power it.
I do not build a machine after building a furnace and make the leap in understanding that it will function without a power source. Machine require power, the furnace needed a power source to make it, and it seems the power source it needs is spark. It seemed so straight forward to me that I could not use it until I had Spark.
Maybe I am a one off case though I hope the feedback is helpful, and at the least I appreciate you taking the time to ask your question.
I am going to go back to building~! hehe
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This is Krimson, I created another account because I didn’t think I already had one setup on the forums. But… I said I played 16 hours which turns out not to be true at all and instead I have only played 8 hours. This game currently just doesn’t feel very fun and I LOVE games that require grind as long as it is decently rewarded. I’m level 9 currently and dread the idea of playing to get to the point of actually being able to do anything. To top it all off I now have to have 2 levels worth of experience which take forever to get in order to just unlock anything and in order to actually craft anything with the new stuff I unlock I will need to unlock something else… Long story short i’m looking at about 6 levels worth of grind to make any real progress. I keep opening the game and attempting the grind but currently it just isn’t fun to do so… Hopefully it changes since this game has a lot of potential but if somebody like me who loves to grind and loves voxel games can’t get past the current leveling system then I doubt most others would either. Considering when I log on it says there are about 4 other people on the entire planet I am guessing this is a very accurate statement.
You can level quickly by mining higher-tier ores. It also gives you a lot of the materials you need to progress further. I’d recommend Septerfon or another moon world - it is easy to get ore there and thus rather good for XP.
Thanks for the info. Sadly I can’t currently leave the planet for another 2 levels since I don’t have anyway of making the bone extract that is needed. I hope this game gets better after all this non fun that players are forced into early on. I know I would have 0 chance in convincing any friends to play this game since you have to play for over 12 hours to even maybe have fun…
There’s a portal network covering all the planets which is easy to reach from pretty much anywhere. It has entry points in every big city. Easiest way to find any of the big cities is to follow the markers for other players on your compass - most people play/build close to them.
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What planet are you on. There are portal hubs all over the place. I have a hub that connects every world to one line. I will send you coordanents when I get off work.
Also keep in mind that there is a lot more balancing to come. The game you are playing now will most likely be very different after the 1.0 lunch.
I hope your experience improves. If there is any way I can help let me know 
hey @Odine I hear ya 
I have opened fresh account a few days ago. It is very grindy. If I haven’t known some stuff from before, like where to find fossils/tech fragments etc, I don’t think I’d be able to progress as fast as I did, and even with that it was painfully slow. I have played about 8hrs and after first 7-8 levels grind becomes real.
Game is still in heavy balancing process, so what is now might completely change in next update regarding progression speed. Feedback like yours is very valuable to devs and I’m sure they will appreciate it. The only thing I can advise at this point is to join active settlement in your planet. Through exchange with other players you’ll be able to progress more quickly. This is where MMO part comes out
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Hey I’m newish too. One thing that might help, and that I didn’t know about and got (happily) surprised by at lvl 10, is that you start getting more skill points per level (goes from 5 per to 10 per at either 10 or 11, and then to 20 per at lvl 20. I assume it keeps going up but I haven’t got to 30 yet :P).
Everything is so much better once you finally have the complement of basic crafting machines/recipes unlocked!
Anyway, since I’m here, might as well share my experience too. I started playing “for real” a couple weeks ago (got the game a while back, but before the objectives etc it mostly just confused me into quitting). I hadn’t ever got far – I had a beacon and a crafting table when I logged in this time, but that was all. I remember that I either spawned in or fell into a cave, months back, and then trying to figure out where the exit was and how to get out – without a torch or a grapple or the ability to jump more than a single block at a time – made me decide to wait again.
Okay fast forward to the present! I like the objectives a lot as a kind of advanced post-tutorial tutorial. They got me past the confusion block of furnaces and crucibles and workbenches and into actually playing. However, right now they’re a bit wonky in the way they require things but don’t always tell you a) which prereqs you need, b) how to get those prereqs, and c) that you may not actually want them, or want to do all the categories of objective, in the end. I remember spending an evening trying really hard to cook my wildstock steak over a campfire because…I dunno, it didn’t occur to me to put a hunk of meat in a smelter. Like, wouldn’t the drippings contaminate the metal later, because I don’t have a crucible-washing station? And the other way round, lead poisoning from licking broiled smelter-residuals? That…can’t be healthy…?
Saving up for skill trees was frustrating. I fell to my death so many times – dunno bout the other starter worlds but Berlyn is FULL OF CAVES FULL I SAY – and got lost in the darkness so often that I really really wanted the “Light Source” skill so I could quit having to guess whether the darkness in front of me was the darkness of my impending doom. (PS, Odine, the light source skill doesn’t work so don’t get it yet). So I was trying to save up 33 points, i.e. SEVEN levels’ worth, and consequently I was kind of angry and useless for a fair few levels. Because I couldn’t do the objectives without crafter skills, or without metal, but the metal was in the dark pit of darkness and death. Also I hated that everything needed tree trunks. Because the trees where I was were the tall slender single-trunk piney kind, which meant I could only reach like 5 blocks per tree. And there weren’t that many treees around. Also because I didn’t know about world regeneration and I felt so guilty just wantonly chopping trees left and right (I have like 5 different locations saved that are called “[world name] Deforestation Zone”).
Right, glad I got that off my chest…but please please can I just have a headlamp for NOT 33 skill points 
The way I ran it, in the end, I got most of my XP at low levels from the objectives – both the trackable kind and then others that would randomly show up. Some of those were probably feats but I was too confused to catch it (do you notice a theme here) (I am easily confused!). Things started getting properly “grindy”, as in I was getting most of my XP in +4’s from mining, round about 13. I started feeling like I actually had a say in how to spec my (as opposed to just taking things because they seemed mandatory) around 20. I’m …23? now, I think, and pretty happy with how progression has worked out overall. So far.
It’s weird when you’re new and you don’t know anyone and you can’t run fast or grapple properly, and people keep telling you that there are PORTALS EVERYWHERE! – which is true enough now but that’s only because I know where they are. Back in the day two weeks ago I was lost af. 
It took a pretty thorough forum search to figure out where New Berlyn was, and then once I was there to figure out where the portals actually were within it. I still get lost in the bigger cities…
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This chart may help around plots/skillpoints by level
As for 33 skill points for skill, it’s not a cost for that particular skill but for any next skill in that tree. It works like this: for first skill you choose from a tree it costs x, second costs y, … x and y are fixed but skills order is not. If you had account before the skills update you already have 4 skills unlocked in that tree regarding inventory size. If you want you can cleanse some of those, you lose 4 inventory slots per inventory skill level and that 33 will come down for next skill you want.
You are right that objectives should outline exactly what you need to complete them. One more point about them that is not clear is that they are optional! They are not meant to be done in order like quests, they are there to teach you certain aspects of the game and you can do them or not. If you’re not in portals and stuff you don’t have to do portal objectives ever. I think more appropriate term would be tutorials.
We have already commented about storage blocks in other threads that they should be craftable with basic recipes skill (one you have by default) because they are essential for gameplay.
@cor-karolis Thanks for the feedback, more there is game will be better 
and welcome to the community 
btw your avatar is awesome!
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Ooh, that chart is great. Thanks! OMG LOOK AT ALL THOSE PLOTS I WILL GET… drools
I think a lot of the things that bug/confuse me now will be naturally fixed as more tooltips and such get implemented. I didn’t even realize that I had cleanse points already until like lvl 18…kept reading the forums like what are these and when will I get them?
I have become ridiculously attached to Pink UnicornCat 
although occasionally the mask makes me think of
Edit: for a new player, the single most helpful features I can think of would be 1) world-wide chat system for “anybody out there” and “HALP” questions, and 2) writeable signs for vets to leave tips/directions
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Yeah, planet chat would be awesome feature
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We need a new craftibal item. 3 tech components and a refined metal to make a planetary communicator. For every 10 letters typed the communicator could decay 1 point. Use gold and titanium to communicate within your local system (server).
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