It's a game. It has a shelf life. You play it until you get tired of it. No game is supposed to last you forever. Even a game like Skyrim can get old. It's good to move on to new games anyway.

Thanks for the replies, it seems then that since my enjoyment mostly comes from the exploration and seeing new stuff rather than the building/challenge runs, i'll continue waiting for new content updates. I'm glad ya'll are having fun with it still.

You don't mention if you finished all the bosses when you last played so if you did not then it would be worth a play (with all the added changes since release - like mountain caves and new mobs) to do that.

Beyond that many people take on some self imposed challenges to make new game starts a bit different. From no portal runs to no boss runs to perma death runs. Each adds a different challenge.

For instance in no boss runs you have to 'troll mine' for your first ore and then 'Stagbreaker/maul search' for iron and silver. Nothing like smacking the snow in the mountains looking for silver while at the same time letting every wolf in the area know you are there to be eaten.

And some people are starting games and getting themselves established while trying to keep their exploration to a minimum so when the new biomes drop they can play the same save.

Lots of options...

the game just has a phenomenal balance of things to do. the way they tied bossing with progression is awesome, the building is unmatched(wish water building was easier lol), the graphics are simple but very pleasing. I love this game, but i do take long breaks from it but thats ok

nah looks like they have done very little sadly

It's mostly been tweaking/developing of existing content rather than anything new. This is not an unreasonable approach, as making these refinements further on down the line would undoubtedly be more painful, but it's regrettably frustrating when you're hungry for new challenges to meet.

I recommend picking up Conan Exiles in the meantime if you've filled up on Valheim, but still have the itch to explore. You know Iron Gate is doing something right when a much larger developer lifts Valheim's building interface for their own game. Tells me that, despite the bumps, Valheim is probably on the right track.

I'm still playing and I'm the middle of building the most epic castle you ever saw. It's taking me a very long time, because I'm mining and collecting all the resources myself. Permadeath and no cheating. We haven't even scratched the surface of what we can build in this game yet.

If you had actually read any of the responses to posts about this very thing you would see why this is a very tired and loaded question. This has been answered over and over again.

Yes, the devs are slow with updating. No, I am not sticking up for them. It's a bugbear for fans so much as it is for those who prefer having content constantly fed to them. HOWEVER, the fact that tens of thousands of people are still finding enjoyment in it means that to those people it's still worth playing. This shouldn't be a "surprise". It's clearly fulfilling a niche in gaming that few other titles have. It appeals to a particular play style and player and they don't need to justify why they enjoy it.

It's easily one of the most replayable games on the market at the moment, even in EA format. But again, if you're just wanting to fight new mobs and conquer new biomes/bosses, then you'll probably be disappointed.

You can find what the developers have changed in their updates and see for yourself. If that doesn't appeal to you, then don't play it again. Easy.

What @Renlish wrote. I really got nothing more to add to it.

Mods are the sole reason I still play.
It's looking grim though, a bunch of modders for some of my favorite mods have already abandoned the game due to how slow the updates have been, so it's going to be rough when some non-update breaks them all again.

If you are ok with spoilers, check out the patch notes here on Steam or on the wiki:
https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Version_History

While I do agree that there is some appeal to start over, I wouldn't say that "every playthrough is different" because of the procedural generation.

You really only need to explore 1 meadow, 1-2 black forests, 1-2 swamps and 1-3 mountains. And the generated biomes are "different" in their size and layout from one map to the next but that doesn't really change how you progress through them.

On an actual gameplay standpoint, the generated biomes from one map to the other are indistinguishable. Only the exploratory aspect really changes as you look for cool (completely random) "landmarks" or layouts, which is fine btw.

And before some people say: but this map had x characteristic...
What did that actually change though? Distance between biomes is irrelevant because it at most makes things take more time (if you can't use portals).
The amount of each biome (as in total area) and the average amount of islands is gonna be the same, making each *insert biome* just another *insert biome*.

So I don't think that you can really say that the procedural generation innovates each playthrough when actually the only impact is on progression speed.

consider an online server. i am having SO much fun on comfy that I wouldn't do it any other way.

There are new monsters in swamp and plains, and a new dungeon in the mountains. A couple light armor sets and a few new build pieces have been added. Food has been completely reworked, along with blocking which now is paired with your health. Up to you if you think that's enough to jump back in.

One reason why people still play is because no other game has quite the same feel as Valheim and the procedural maps make every playthrough different. So the people who like to play challenge runs (permadeath, no portals, etc.) and build stuff are still around.