I have over 160 hours in Boundless right now, I started in August with the new universe, and I would say 150 of those hours I’ve been stuck on a Tier 3 World leveling, with 100 of those hours gem mining (I still don’t have all the power coils I need…)
That’s not good. There’s no sense of exploration, barely any new blocks or toys to play with, it’s like the game just froze and content disappeared.
The issue isn’t just the intense grind, it’s that I’m been unable to meaningfully progress in over 100 hours because of the game’s design.
The time it takes to reach level 10, versus level 20, versus level 30, and then 40, and finally 50, are utterly inconsistent, primarily because if I were to leave the Tier 3 world and set up base on a Tier 4, all I would do is lower my XP gain because blocks and ore would be harder to break, and animals would be harder to kill.
This causes the first 30 hours to be absolutely great, but then rapidly you find yourself unable to progress, unable to make a new home, and to visit new worlds without constantly feelin’ like you’re slowing your progress down.
So for 100+ hours, and still, I’m stuck on a Tier 3 world, I don’t ever visit tier 4, and I’ve spent 80-100 hours gem mining with an iron hammer on Tier 5, only to learn about bomb mining.
In 8 hours of bomb mining, I got as many ore and gems as I got in the previous 50 hours with maxed mining skills. That’s really inconsistent.
Right now the core gameplay loop feels like this =
- Experience new amazing world, with frequent objectives and level-ups, and new content.
- Travel to new Tier 3 world if you were warned ahead of time not to travel to another Tier 1/2 world thinking there would be Iron there.
- Spend the next 150+ hours on Tier 3 world because going to Tier 4 is just going to slow your progression as all the objectives suddenly dry up and their XP bonuses become negligible because of the grind.
- Learn about bomb mining, and realize you wasted 80 hours mining with an iron hammer.
- Find out XP from mining blocks has been further reduced, thus definitely forcing me to stay on a Tier 3 world until I finally reach level 50.
All in all, I still really LIKE the game, I wouldn’t put in 160+ hours if I didn’t, but it would be one of my all time great favorites if I felt like I was making actual progress, and advancing in the world tiers.
A good way to fix this would be to boost XP gain on higher tier worlds, revert block XP to 4 instead of 2, and then increase the XP cost for those leveling beyond level 50. The recent XP nerfs only serve to hurt the casual and lower level players. This way I actually have incentive to play on Tier 4’s and 5’s, instead of just visit them once in a while.
edit And content. I’ve never made silver tools, or Gold tools. They feel inferior. I considered Gold Hammers, but then I learned about bomb mining, so instead of putting my points in agility to boost crit chance, I skipped all Silver and Gold tools, so for the last 100 hours I’ve been using Iron and nothing else. I don’t feel like I’ve unlocked a new tool in forever… and I can’t begin to afford titanium tools yet because everyone keeps harvesting the plants I’d need for them, let alone gem tools…