This is the foundation of my argument though. So much of what they’ve done is complex.
Do you honestly think so many of these complex design decisions have resulted in sales for the game that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred?
If you took all the development time spent on the settlement system, and footfall, and instead had that put towards content updates, I find it hard to believe the game wouldn’t be more successful right now.
Saying it is just a name is playing both sides a bit and would justify no changes hehe.
However plotting ahead wouldn’t solve the trouble. Yes, if I am building a solo city, plot ahead…but if I am building an open city that others join then plotting ahead wouldn’t change anything and the example I was thinking of.
You could have an opt-in button, “Warning, if you place a beacon next to this settlement, you agree to share the name of whoever has the most prestige” right? Heh.
No one has a crystal ball that can determine what would have happened had time been spent in other places. Yes any decision can result in some good and bad scenarios happening. The settlement is complex for a variety of reasons because of what they need to get out of the model they designed.
Personally I am a builder, so I don’t agree with footfall and various other things in the game. I would have approached things different and likely not made the decision to create a MMO, etc scenario. But, I came into the game a little over 2 years ago or so and it was already at the state it was.
Even though I don’t agree with many decisions and direction and some of the complexity and likely agree with many of your points, I just accept that the decisions were made. My goal from that point was then to make the best of what we have and try to influence changes where it made sense.
Overall I don’t think most of the problems with this game is related to the decisions made or what we have versus what we don’t have. I think it has to deal with the fact that the developers don’t play the game enough themselves so I feel that consistently puts them too far out of touch about the reality of the game we play versus what they would like it to be.
No matter how critical I might be, I’ve been lucky to be able to talk to James and Ollie directly many times, which has given me insight to the reality and most importantly - challenges - they face. They are really doing their best to walk us into new territory while trying to deal with the good/bad of previous decisions. If we want the game to rally be successful we, as a community, need to do our best to start supporting them with honest constructive feedback instead of much of the subjective opinion based discussions that have.
We also need to look at the game in a long term mode like them - what features offer the best experiences for ALL players and not just a select few. What gives everyone something to do and how to we keep it as fair as possible for everyone - new and old players.
It is very easy for a person to have all the “answers” and feel they could do a better job while standing outside of the situation. But, when they are actually in the box of that situation they maybe will see there isn’t always an easy answer.
As for the sales component - I think that has nothing to do with the game as a whole. People came in with expectations and too many correlations to MineCraft that are very hard to break assumptions on. Added to the fact that the game wasn’t fully ready in a few areas created a more perfect storm to have the results we have had since then.
For me content wasn’t the issue… there is enough content for those that just want to build - we just have too many restrictions and maybe not enough assets/decorations. For those that want hunting - then there isn’t enough content. For those wanting economy - there isn’t enough. It all comes down to what you want in the game. When you try to mix too many modes and things into a game (or anything for that matter) it become exponentially harder for you to succeed on all fronts.
I like the way cities and stuff develop organically in this game. I don’t find the time they have spent working on it to be a waste at all. They have adjusted it in a way that helps stay with their vision of the game and takes into account player feedback to help make a solid base.
(Playful sarcasm alert!) If you don’t like the changes they have made or know you can do it better, you should go take all of your ideas and make your own game. I jest of course. Making our own games requires a lot of time, talent, money and effort which is why people hope others will make their perfect game for them. This game is the closest to my idea of a perfect game that is currently out, so I can understand why so many people are pushing the devs so hard to move in their ideal direction. Especially when it comes to the underlying foundation.
I don’t find anything overly complex about any of the boundless systems other than the coding. The systems themselves are actually quite simple to understand and figure out. They just lack a solid explanation for new players. The good news is the OP is literally about this very subject. I’d go into more detail, but this post is already long enough. Have a good night folks.
TL:DR In my opinion the systems are fine and relatively simple. However, they don’t always match up with what individuals see as their ideal game mechanic or don’t have a good explanation for new players.
Maybe I’m the minority, but I actually prefer the old system of settlements. I don’t like how now cities have sections that aren’t technically part of the city. It’s weird.
I get that people don’t want to be absorbed by some jerk with a gleam tower, but personally, that could never happen to me. I have places I have built that I love to death. But if anyone ever tried to take it over to claim as their own settlement, I’d rip the whole damn thing to the ground. Every single block. One by one. No one is taking my settlement from me. I do the taking.
You should travel the southern US. Neighborhoods of millionaires and around the corner trailer parks. Cities in the south have no planning what so ever, in contrast to the Pacific Northwest where cities have everyone virtually on top of each other and store placement is perfectly spaced between neighborhoods.
It’s a bug and shouldn’t be there.
The panel was copied from a previous event that contained wearabke items.
And I can see how this might be very misleading.
That button will be removed.
It’s almost 5:30 am on a Saturday… you’re not at work already are you!!
Fair enough. It’s why I’m giving my feedback.
I think they should stop trying to please everyone then. I think they should avoid complicated solutions because you can rarely please everyone.
I don’t think people buy Boundless because they want intricate, complicated systems.
I think that’s a good question to ask all new players.
“Why did you buy this game? What did you want from it?”
Did you want to be part of a city, or make your own?
Did you want to hunt? To build? To explore?
Did you want to interact with others?
Etc.
I look at the most recent Steam Review, someone complaining he couldn’t find a place to build so he just refunded the game.
He obvious landed in a huge city, and because the player run speed is so abysmally slow, he got tired of running in one direction endlessly, and just stopped playing the game.
Just from this I can see multiple issues.
1a. Swimming Speed comes to mind, it’s absurdly slow also.
What I find irritating in this community is people who say the game is simple, or easy to understand.
This shows extreme ignorance. I can sit a 10 year old in front of Minecraft, and they can learn it pretty quick. If I sit a 10 year old in front of a Centraforge, and then explain to them how beacons work, and how guilds are tied to beacons, and how you have to give permissions to your alts to the specific beacon but you have to log in to that alt first but that alt first has to level up far enough and find a portal to get to where your other alt is because he won’t start right next to you, and then I explain that skill sets shouldn’t be bought until you’re max level because you can’t share skill points so it’s best to have an alt first, and then they have to learn about “bridging settlement errors”, and then they have to learn about rubberbanding into lava, and then they have to learn why they can’t get one torch to go to all the hotkeys, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on.
NONE OF THIS IS SIMPLE FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON.
I wrote that in a wall of text to show just how ridiculous learning how to play this game becomes, and why contributing to this community is such a waste of time, because you get people who go,
The number of people in this community isn’t enough, and catering to them means not catering to new players, who are needed.
So many of the “First Impressions” posts get lost in here, how is there any value in the feedback of such a small community when the people the developers need to hear from, are the ones who quit without saying anything?
To be clear, the only position I take is that whatever changes this game makes needs to be specifically to boost player retention, even if that means changes are made I don’t like. I’m not trying to mold this game into something I want, because I’m waiting for private servers where I’ll be able to do what I want.
Cannot say how many times ive been in exploring and then realising i didnt save the hub location. 
Really like this!
I understood perfectly fine, but if quite a few players are wanting to hear about ‘new content’ and then only saying they did an overhaul of some underlying system WITHOUT telling us why that was a good idea didn’t sit well with me because that was the info those players wanted to hear!
Agree, I think the game is complex and it seems to get more complex the further we go into it. I’m not complaining, I’m pointing out the problems I had and have ready and discussed PM with other players, or read on Steam, vidoes I have watched.
When I first started I was lost. If my son, who is a experienced player quickly figured things out hasn’t been there to help me and I like forums, I would have rage quit.
The objectives were confusing and I wasn’t sure what ones I was supposed to do in some cases. Make a settlement, heck, I didn’t even know where one was at, and How in the World was I, one player, going to make a settlement and attract players to it? Go to a elemental dangerous world and get gold. At level 14, are you kidding me? It doesn’t say wait till you can handle it. Don’t go until you have such and such skills and protection.
You mentioned Centraforge, I have yet to even check it out, the complexity of the gums, bases, paste and all that is needed has me lost, I don’t want to deal with it right now. And that is not counting the cost that these needed items have on them, to either collect or buy.
Portals, finding them. I read look for the purple rectangle. Except a lot of cities/settlement have been deserted, you follow to it and you find they are closed. Or, they are personal portals and are behind locked doors. Don’t know how many planets I have go to explore, forgot to mark the portal location I came through and three hours later am lost and can’t find one. Or, go back and find the portal has closed, that has happened to me. Needed, highly necessary item, shimmering orbs is a key one, is very hard to find, only in glowing mushrooms, but they are few and far between, sure some know great spots, but many are wiped out when many others go there.
Don’t misunderstand me, but you experience players, I don’t care about what you like or want one in one way, I care only for the new players who are lost, confused, don’t know what to do and get told to go and buy expensive items to do something. Want orbs, go and buy this and this, don’t forget to have regen bombs and don’t mention they need protection for the planet, that the needed items are expensive to buy for them. Might now be for higher level players, but when a new player has only 5k coins, they can’t afford it.
I’ve noticed in visiting forums of early access, or watching a dev play a early release of a alpha try to play their game and it is obvious they haven’t sat and spent 1o hours playing as a new player and not cheat and use the items they can get from creative mode. You have zombies, mention they are attracted to doors and you have four doors? Are you Nuts? Why not put a ladder on the side and have a trap door in the roof?
I’ve read on forums of how the players from the start talk of how boring the game is, how easy, make it harder. Well, devs listened to them and now the new players can’t survive, so nasty reviews, remarks of how hard it is to play and sales are down review are losy and I think they ruined a potential great game catering to the older experienced bored players.
Think, focus on what new and middle level player Need, not what the experienced, bored players want.
Okay, think skin is on and letting you know that I am not going to respond to the nasty responses, did that, stressed myself out and almost quit the forum and probably the game because of some threads.
I can handle the game, I’m not having major problems, I can survive level 3 now on my own, for me, who came from Sims 3 and match three games, with my health problems, that is a accomplishment and I am happy with it. I enjoy the game, may having fun playing it. But new players aren’t and they ae quitting and giving bad reviews on how difficult it is to understand what to do, how complex it is.
My two cents.
Hmmmmm, I can do some massive clean up of my locations list! No need for any of those hubs in there anymore!
Your feedback is the feedback that’s needed.
It’s what I’ve been trying to say for a long time whenever I post.
There’s a real sense of elitism, those who stuck through it, know the ropes, and become convinced it’s easy and simple, and simply don’t understand what the average person goes through when they start the game.
Playing Boundless, I constantly felt punished for not playing “the right way”.
Eventually, when I look at the screenshots,
I thought Boundless was going to be some magical adventure, where I never felt rushed, or penalized for not using a brew, or not using a centraforge, or not collecting footfall, or not being part of a town, where I’d set out and explore, and see magnificent cities.
Instead, the sense of awe lasts just as long as I get to see the abominations some people call player cities, the countless beacons strewn across the landscape, all while my run speed is so slow I feel like I spend all the time in the day I have to play trudging through molasses, and never truly get to experience anything unique.
Gleam Club and Footfall led to so many screwed up planets and cities, instead of regeneration doing what it should and leaving only the best of the best, planets are littered with single beacons, unfinished builds, and just ugliness.
Nothing looks like you expect it to.
And even if I move past that, there’s the grind…
The best way to get resources? Drink a brew, and hold left click as you mow through an entire mountain. Where’s the skill in that? Where’s the fun in that? No cave exploring, no mountain climbing, no epic dungeons with gem and ore as rewards. The game just becomes … boring.
And while I had issues with bomb mining, there’s no reason something people considered fun should have been murdered. Bring it back. Just balance it by implementing a % chance the bomb destroys the resource.
Considering actual cave exploring is the worst way to play the game, might as well give people bomb mining back, since yeah, it’s far more fun than the alternative.
Omg thanks for the portal home that helps alot
This seems odd to me. I’ve played 1000 hours and never drank a brew, never felt rushed, only just tried a centraforge to make a lootstck, not part of a town and not looking for footfall. Are you trying to do all the things you don’t like?
I found an empty desert and started a 15x15 plot build and had no neighbours for several weeks. An Ash farm has come alongside and the owner asked if I was ok with it.
I like to explore and see other people’s builds. When people make the effort to make and post a screenshot I like to go and visit it. And they are fantastic!
No-one makes you drink a brew and buy a 3x3 hammer to strip mine a mountain or whatever people do. I agree I couldn’t think of anything more dull tbh.
Edit: sorry … this was off topic … love the new player QoL improvements. I found Yilis Youtube channel very informative on this. Also those that asked for help on the forums were clearly demonstrating a need to improve things. 
Ye pretty much … my locations list is like a scrolling shoppinglist
Ah, fair enough! I did wonder how it would tie in. For future reference in case it’s ever considered, a cubit-bought world pass for a subset of worlds would be fine with me as long as there was a larger set of “free” worlds.