One of things i was bothered throughout the game was dependency on your equipment. Like, complete dependency, especially on later stages. Even when you spent hundreds of hours exploring and adventuring you are the same poor viking with 25 hp, small stamina bar and fragile body. You are nothing without your armor and food. Unless you have spare set of lower tier armor you won't survive in zone you already conquer. And its gonna be even worse when new harder bioms will be added.

I think thats gonna be nice to get some small permanent upgrades for character throughout the game, maybe with complicated mead or by creating some kind of things or for finding in dangerous parts of the world or killing bosses. Small cumulative bonuses to reward for your exploration
For example:
-small amount of additional hp or armor
-small amount of additional stamina, slightly faster stamina regeneration, lesser delay (oh i really want that one)
-Overall finesse- faster swimming or running, negating armor debuffs
-knowledge and perception- like crafting 2 star items on 1 star station, crafting more simple items without station etc, after creating them once and etc; higher radius of map reveal
-Additional inventory slots

This system is rewarding for your exploration and crafting, making difficulty spikes between regions less painful and giving additional sense of progression.
What do you think?