No bows. Strong believer that they remove almost all of the challenge. Spears instead. Works great for 99% of the game, but Drakes can be frustrating because you need to aim up so high that if you miss you yeet your spear into the horizon. Luckily Fang Spears are really really silver cheap to make, so I just carry a few and don't sweat the lost ones. This playstyle has really made me appreciate the spear (new favorite). It's the only weapon other than the bow (and harpoon I guess) that you can aim up or down, and if you need an extra meter of range or something, throwing it short distances is basically just like a long thrust (makes up for spear melee range being shorter than it seems like it should be).

Few to no portals. Kinda the same thing as the bows, once you have an extensive portal network nothing seems risky or adventurous anymore. So I pretty much just use them when I'm exploring far away. I also drop a lot of beds so that I spawn near my death instead of spawning at home and then portaling. Definitely no ore through portals, IMO that turns metal gathering into a tedious chore with no risk and no reward. At least something interesting can happen on the way home if you have to sail or cart. Unpopular opinion, but the most fun session I've had to date, in over 500 hours, was an absolute catastrophe sailing home with my group after our first iron haul. That created hours of really fun times that never would've happened if we just portaled or world hopped.