There is a grind factor in almost every game of this genre. I don't love it, but I don't hate it, I'm sort of a grindnostic. I have learned to kill 2 birds with 1 stone to avoid a few grinding aspects, and a few tricks like trapping enemies in pits rather than killing them, so they do not hassle me while I gather resources. To avoid running pell-mell when I am in unknown territory, I pick up branches & stones which slows me down, forcing me to listen and look, and it saves me from making noise when I need materials to build my shelter in a new zone. To make grinding copper or tin less boring, I will hire an unemployed troll to mine for me.

Virtually everything that individuals complain about in Valheim, can be remedied with a stick or/and a mod.

"EquipmentAndQuickSlots by RandyKnapp" mod makes armor and belt equip on the side of your inventory. It's all the game really needs to be enjoyable. It doesn't even need to be installed on servers for players to be able to use it.

P.S.: I love the new foods. I did the math for how much I need to grind for each thing. Not needing barley cuts down on the grind by a lot.

The only part of the grind I don't like is metal. Partly I've made it hard on myself like someone above mentioned. I chose a main base location that was very scenic but remote. No matter what though, having to sail the ore can be tedious. What I do like about the game outweighs it though

the grind needs a rebalance for sure or even update to respawning enemies/nodes
the grind for silver and fenris hair is absolutely insane, ive played many grinding games
and im not unfamiliar with grinding in the slightest

its all about either good or bad ways of grinding but in this game, some resources availability or even how you access them feels like they almost ignored some of the content and just moved on from it

There are tons of ways to skip 'grinding' or make it more fun. A lot of complaints, I've had them too in the past, come from not knowing tips and tricks. The 'Guides' tab (up above) is a wonderful thing.

The moment one considers the game to be a grind, I would suggest one moves on to something else. There is so much whining and moaning from people who clearly should be playing something else. No game is fun to everybody, but the moment devs try to please everybody, nobody is happy with the result. Least of all the people that complained and campaigned the loudest, because more often than not, their 'brilliant' suggestions fail to please even them.

Split up required activities and it doesn't feel so much like a grind.

About 85% of the complaints are people who inflict a ton of work upon themselves. Examples include making the best foods in bulk, raising animals, leveling skills to max as a goal/task, gathering excess materials needed or not (eg soft tissue / sap beyond the pale), making extra complete bases (all crafting, all resting bonus), fishing, and so on. If you like doing it, fine, its fun and not a 'grind'. But the complainers, specifically, are often doing far more than is required and making it worse then blaming the game.

I like the grind, have built some big storage areas in my base^^

I don't mind the grind. After all, it's what this type of game is and I go into it knowing that it is going to be a grind. I like to build, so again, I know it's going to be a grind to do this. I am currently grinding for materials because I'm getting ready to expand my base. I do explore (looking for my next build location), and I do fight in the areas that I have explored and I am preparing for the next Boss, but it's all a grind. If you come into a game like this (survival), and then complain about how much grinding you are doing, then a survival game is probably not your type of game.

Grinding could be even more fun if inventory/storage management got some love. Things stacking properly, one-clicking inventory right into sorted chests, crafting/building from nearby chests. Other games have required special stations to access these mechanics and I think that would suit Valheim nicely.

Just always struck me as weird how you need to strip naked to be unencumbered when moving weapon/armour materials, only to craft them into something like 1% of the total weight

If you only really focus on your weapons and use the best foods, especially hp foods, you can really skip large portions of the grind in any biome. But if you know how to do that you obviously wouldn't be complaining about the grind

I neither love nor hate grinding for resources. Given Vikings in the Viking Age were limited to unpowered hand tools, the amount of effort required for mining, lumber-jacking, farming, and building seems entirely reasonable.

There are those who simply cannot tolerate the amount of effort required. I doubt they have ever had to earn a living through physical labor and have never developed the necessary mental skills. Perhaps they should find a game based on a more modern era.

The grind is tedious, and can be boring when it comes to farming and breeding animals. My server is made up of some awsome gamers. We work together gathering, cooking and farming. We all have shared resources and help each other out, thus leaving more time for adventures. We only do what's necessary, no more no less. So basically you can make it fun, or not.

If you like the grind, just hit whatever button is bound to the WALK function and use that. Double the grind. Don't use stamina food....even more grind.