it's not that grindy as you decribed. (and more you progress into the game faster you get basic resources like wood and stone).
personally i think the only tedious part is getting metal during iron-silver age. cuz you can't use portals for easy transportation back to base. and it's heavy enough to require multiple runs (even with a use of transportation).

Yeap its in the heavy side , not for normal building , wood is quite easy to gather
The problem comes with metals for equipments or special building support ( iron wood support ) , metals are not easy to transport , yes in boats but takes a lot of time ..., the grind issue start in the second biome black forest whete you have to grind copper and tin to make bronze ( 2 cooper + 1 tin = 1 bronze ) , after that in the next biome Swamp that devs make it a lot more harder in last update for new players , you have to grind in dungeons/crypts iron scraps , there are more easy than bronze but you have to transport in boat to not take you ages to have it in you base to make iron bars , in next biome Mountain , just have to mine silver , this one is easy if you have a tall mountain near you base , and the last biome The Plains , you get blackmetal just killing normal mobs from there or raiding their villages , blackmetal are for last tier of weapons and some forniture , last tier armor you have to grind iron again.

Originally posted by Grathkaal:

I was about to buy this game, mostly for its huge procedural world and excellent lighting, but then I read that it is quite heavy in terms of grind.
I'm aware that there's always a fair amount of grind in survival games, but from what I gather, Valheim is on the heavy side.

Put differently, I don't want to spend several minutes just to get enough wood to craft one square metre of wooden wall.
Artificial grind is one of the worst things that plague most survival games IMO (even more so if you're a casual gamer), so how does Valheim compare in that regard, knowing that it is still in EA?

The wood is quite plenty, BUT if you want to get a max upgraded set of leather armor, that will take you some time. On a cons side - you'll get quite a load of food for killing that many pigs and deers, so you might go through 2-3 biomes without bothering to find more meat.
Same goes for almost each "maxed out upgrade" thing you might get.
Getting level 1 full silver set with a weapon and a shield won't take much of your time(you'll spend more time hauling ores around than actually digging them out. To think of it.. digging is actually the fastest part of the process), BUT if you decide to upgrade it OR worse, max it out - prepare for the grind-fest.

P.S. Digging iron at the crypts might be tiresome, so you might wanna have a better pickaxe.
If you hate the digging/chopping process - get bees, craft mead. Drink mead when your stamina is zero.

Thanks for your kind answers.
I'll leave the game on my wishlist for now.

Originally posted by Grathkaal:

Thanks for your kind answers.
I'll leave the game on my wishlist for now.

If you can still get it on sale I'd recommend that you pick it up now. It will probably never be cheaper than it is right now. The grind isn't bad unless you insist on fully upgrading every single piece of your gear as much as you can before you venture into new biomes. It's not even remotely necessary to do that unless you really want to or unless you're simply not able to grasp how combat works in the game.

There's no need to fully upgrade leather armour unless you're really, really struggling with combat. You get other options so quickly that it's simply not worth the time investment to upgrade it fully. Get a good shield, decent weapon, basic leather armour then move on.

Please understand that many players think the grind is bad, but they choose to spend time mining when they don't have to. If I sat in one place trying to get ore for 3 or 4 hours straight I'd probably feel like the game has too much grind as well, but there's no reason to do that. Yes, some of the ore (iron, copper) takes a while to mine but you really don't need all that much of it. Get a few dozen pieces, then go explore. Get a few dozen more pieces later and then go explore. If you just sit and mine all day then you're choosing to sit and hit a rock all day. Don't do that. Mine a bit, toss it in the smelter, go do something else while it's smelting.

So much of Valheim hinges on what you choose to do, and it can be as grindy or exciting as you make it.

if you play alone is no grind at all, and all depends how you play the "grind" game .... hauling stuff to a faar away base. that just takes time... :)

Originally posted by Grathkaal:

Thanks for your kind answers.
I'll leave the game on my wishlist for now.

it really doesn't have to be depending on how you play and build. If you only build small things and use skill over armor its not that grindy. For 20 bucks i would try it for yourself. You might be surprised.

Originally posted by Grathkaal:

Thanks for your kind answers.
I'll leave the game on my wishlist for now.

Oh! And totally forgot! My favourite anti-grind tips!:
When you're moving your digging sites - move your kilns and forges with you. To avoid moving ores anywhere - smelt them into ingots and craft your stuff there. Your armor/weaponry has no "no teleport" penalty, so you won't have to haul anything, anywhere. Stuff like leather and wood can be easily moved in using teleporters

Its really not a bad grind IMO, yes you have to travel distances at times but you have to be smart about it. What I like to do is make a portal at each island near where I am looking for metal. I then make a small base next to the water. In the swamp I make staging areas get the ore that I need then make a cart and bring it next to the water line. Once I have all I need then its a matter of getting on your boat and going to each pick up area. It also helps if you buy that belt for the extra weight and take only what you need. weapon, shield, pickaxe exc. You do this for each island and your set. Sailing is the best part for me as its relaxing, then once you find a serpent you get excited your heart starts pounding and you start looking for land lol..

I don't think the grind is too heavy here.
Every building game will have ressource collection, but it really comes down to: "Is it fun?" - And I can say that I do enjoy the collection as well as the building. I never felt like I had to force myself to farm mats at all.

Between boats, carts, monsters attacking, terrain and finding ressources in the first place, there is a very fun game loop to be had, that I don't consider a grind at all.

You can get by with VERY little stuff. If you want to build big, you need more obviously. But that is a personal tradeoff.
I am enjoying it.

It is way less grindy than some games.

No where near the level of Monster Hunter or any korean mmo.
Less grindy than stalker kills in Killing Floor.

The reward for work isn't really all that bad. If you logistically plan base locations for processing ore the only really one that feels a bit grindy is black forest bronze.
People complain about Iron but frankly I find that one faster than most. Silver, to me, is the easiest. Black metal gets delivered as drops from kills as well so you don't even mine it.
edit add - since the changes to how the pickax works mining iron and silver is so much faster than before H&H since it will hit all things the swing arc passes through. So instead of swinging and getting one surface hit you get multiple hits in one swing. The sludge piles in the iron crypts just melt now. And the multiple hits means less stamina used per drop and more xp gain per swing.

Growing food isn't bad as well... you only need to find one set of seeds to plant.. then you can plant the item for more seeds. 3 for 1 so you build up fairly quickly and crops only need to be planted and forgotten... no tending needed through to harvest.

I think a lot of the complaints come from people who play shooters or just want to kill bosses and be done with the game. So any grind they would complain about. But that is the thing though...the game does attract all kinds of players who do find it fun. Just some of the details are not what they are used to.

It really all depends on a couple of things if it's too grindy for your or not imo.

1. Luck of the seed you start on.

The seed I play on is stacked. Bosses are all fairly close to one another, it has tons of iron ladden swamps not far from the starting point, trader close to the starting point, etc. Just a great seed imo.

2. Where you place bases.

As close to the resources you are after as possible. Less travel between farming points and manufacturing points. Faster production. Also the use of a cart in this situation is easier when closer (also safer) and allows even more product to be carried.


If you get a bad seed, it's going to be painful. Making bases without a strategic plan can make things painful too.

Originally posted by Trakehner:

The seed I play on is stacked.

Could you please share your seed?

Thanks!

Originally posted by TooTall1:

Originally posted by Trakehner:

The seed I play on is stacked.

Could you please share your seed?

Thanks!

00OxXXxO00

The only real "grind" for me honestly is iron and flattening land. Iron because you need to find a decent swamp with lots of crypts and wandering through all the water and poison. Flattening land as if it isn't already pretty flat you'll need to build a foundation level to begin with then build above that, which becomes very expensive to do with stone as you essentially need to completely cover the floor in stone wall, then put the floor over that.

It really all depends on a couple of things if it's too grindy for your or not imo.

1. Luck of the seed you start on.

The seed I play on is stacked. Bosses are all fairly close to one another, it has tons of iron ladden swamps not far from the starting point, trader close to the starting point, etc. Just a great seed imo.

2. Where you place bases.

As close to the resources you are after as possible. Less travel between farming points and manufacturing points. Faster production. Also the use of a cart in this situation is easier when closer (also safer) and allows even more product to be carried.


If you get a bad seed, it's going to be painful. Making bases without a strategic plan can make things painful too.

Originally posted by Trakehner:

The seed I play on is stacked.

Could you please share your seed?

Thanks!

Originally posted by TooTall1:

Originally posted by Trakehner:

The seed I play on is stacked.

Could you please share your seed?

Thanks!

00OxXXxO00

The only real "grind" for me honestly is iron and flattening land. Iron because you need to find a decent swamp with lots of crypts and wandering through all the water and poison. Flattening land as if it isn't already pretty flat you'll need to build a foundation level to begin with then build above that, which becomes very expensive to do with stone as you essentially need to completely cover the floor in stone wall, then put the floor over that.

it's not that grindy as you decribed. (and more you progress into the game faster you get basic resources like wood and stone).
personally i think the only tedious part is getting metal during iron-silver age. cuz you can't use portals for easy transportation back to base. and it's heavy enough to require multiple runs (even with a use of transportation).

Yeap its in the heavy side , not for normal building , wood is quite easy to gather
The problem comes with metals for equipments or special building support ( iron wood support ) , metals are not easy to transport , yes in boats but takes a lot of time ..., the grind issue start in the second biome black forest whete you have to grind copper and tin to make bronze ( 2 cooper + 1 tin = 1 bronze ) , after that in the next biome Swamp that devs make it a lot more harder in last update for new players , you have to grind in dungeons/crypts iron scraps , there are more easy than bronze but you have to transport in boat to not take you ages to have it in you base to make iron bars , in next biome Mountain , just have to mine silver , this one is easy if you have a tall mountain near you base , and the last biome The Plains , you get blackmetal just killing normal mobs from there or raiding their villages , blackmetal are for last tier of weapons and some forniture , last tier armor you have to grind iron again.

Originally posted by Grathkaal:

I was about to buy this game, mostly for its huge procedural world and excellent lighting, but then I read that it is quite heavy in terms of grind.
I'm aware that there's always a fair amount of grind in survival games, but from what I gather, Valheim is on the heavy side.

Put differently, I don't want to spend several minutes just to get enough wood to craft one square metre of wooden wall.
Artificial grind is one of the worst things that plague most survival games IMO (even more so if you're a casual gamer), so how does Valheim compare in that regard, knowing that it is still in EA?

The wood is quite plenty, BUT if you want to get a max upgraded set of leather armor, that will take you some time. On a cons side - you'll get quite a load of food for killing that many pigs and deers, so you might go through 2-3 biomes without bothering to find more meat.
Same goes for almost each "maxed out upgrade" thing you might get.
Getting level 1 full silver set with a weapon and a shield won't take much of your time(you'll spend more time hauling ores around than actually digging them out. To think of it.. digging is actually the fastest part of the process), BUT if you decide to upgrade it OR worse, max it out - prepare for the grind-fest.

P.S. Digging iron at the crypts might be tiresome, so you might wanna have a better pickaxe.
If you hate the digging/chopping process - get bees, craft mead. Drink mead when your stamina is zero.

Thanks for your kind answers.
I'll leave the game on my wishlist for now.

Originally posted by Grathkaal:

Thanks for your kind answers.
I'll leave the game on my wishlist for now.

If you can still get it on sale I'd recommend that you pick it up now. It will probably never be cheaper than it is right now. The grind isn't bad unless you insist on fully upgrading every single piece of your gear as much as you can before you venture into new biomes. It's not even remotely necessary to do that unless you really want to or unless you're simply not able to grasp how combat works in the game.

There's no need to fully upgrade leather armour unless you're really, really struggling with combat. You get other options so quickly that it's simply not worth the time investment to upgrade it fully. Get a good shield, decent weapon, basic leather armour then move on.

Please understand that many players think the grind is bad, but they choose to spend time mining when they don't have to. If I sat in one place trying to get ore for 3 or 4 hours straight I'd probably feel like the game has too much grind as well, but there's no reason to do that. Yes, some of the ore (iron, copper) takes a while to mine but you really don't need all that much of it. Get a few dozen pieces, then go explore. Get a few dozen more pieces later and then go explore. If you just sit and mine all day then you're choosing to sit and hit a rock all day. Don't do that. Mine a bit, toss it in the smelter, go do something else while it's smelting.

So much of Valheim hinges on what you choose to do, and it can be as grindy or exciting as you make it.

if you play alone is no grind at all, and all depends how you play the "grind" game .... hauling stuff to a faar away base. that just takes time... :)

Originally posted by Grathkaal:

Thanks for your kind answers.
I'll leave the game on my wishlist for now.

it really doesn't have to be depending on how you play and build. If you only build small things and use skill over armor its not that grindy. For 20 bucks i would try it for yourself. You might be surprised.

Originally posted by Grathkaal:

Thanks for your kind answers.
I'll leave the game on my wishlist for now.

Oh! And totally forgot! My favourite anti-grind tips!:
When you're moving your digging sites - move your kilns and forges with you. To avoid moving ores anywhere - smelt them into ingots and craft your stuff there. Your armor/weaponry has no "no teleport" penalty, so you won't have to haul anything, anywhere. Stuff like leather and wood can be easily moved in using teleporters

Its really not a bad grind IMO, yes you have to travel distances at times but you have to be smart about it. What I like to do is make a portal at each island near where I am looking for metal. I then make a small base next to the water. In the swamp I make staging areas get the ore that I need then make a cart and bring it next to the water line. Once I have all I need then its a matter of getting on your boat and going to each pick up area. It also helps if you buy that belt for the extra weight and take only what you need. weapon, shield, pickaxe exc. You do this for each island and your set. Sailing is the best part for me as its relaxing, then once you find a serpent you get excited your heart starts pounding and you start looking for land lol..

I don't think the grind is too heavy here.
Every building game will have ressource collection, but it really comes down to: "Is it fun?" - And I can say that I do enjoy the collection as well as the building. I never felt like I had to force myself to farm mats at all.

Between boats, carts, monsters attacking, terrain and finding ressources in the first place, there is a very fun game loop to be had, that I don't consider a grind at all.

You can get by with VERY little stuff. If you want to build big, you need more obviously. But that is a personal tradeoff.
I am enjoying it.

It is way less grindy than some games.

No where near the level of Monster Hunter or any korean mmo.
Less grindy than stalker kills in Killing Floor.

The reward for work isn't really all that bad. If you logistically plan base locations for processing ore the only really one that feels a bit grindy is black forest bronze.
People complain about Iron but frankly I find that one faster than most. Silver, to me, is the easiest. Black metal gets delivered as drops from kills as well so you don't even mine it.
edit add - since the changes to how the pickax works mining iron and silver is so much faster than before H&H since it will hit all things the swing arc passes through. So instead of swinging and getting one surface hit you get multiple hits in one swing. The sludge piles in the iron crypts just melt now. And the multiple hits means less stamina used per drop and more xp gain per swing.

Growing food isn't bad as well... you only need to find one set of seeds to plant.. then you can plant the item for more seeds. 3 for 1 so you build up fairly quickly and crops only need to be planted and forgotten... no tending needed through to harvest.

I think a lot of the complaints come from people who play shooters or just want to kill bosses and be done with the game. So any grind they would complain about. But that is the thing though...the game does attract all kinds of players who do find it fun. Just some of the details are not what they are used to.