Originally posted by Lil brekky:

A handful of my experienced gamer friends gave up on the game as soon as they did the math on the Bronze grind. The first bronze bar is REALLY exciting. The 20th and 40th Bronze bars are exciting, because you're unlocking entirely new mechanics. The 200th bronze bar is not, especially when it takes longer and longer to get more bronze as you scrape out the nearby zone, and the benefit is less and less substantial AND less and less qualitative (VERY minor numerical upgrades that do not scale with the cost). I suspect most of my other friends would have also given up if I hadn't coached and motivated them through it.

The crafting numbers are simply wrong. 90 minute voyage last night netted me 100 Silver, which was enough to... upgrade two weapons to Level 4, ~10 damage each. The cost:benefit ratio on that is frankly insane. It costs more because it's "the max level" but it doesn't change anything substantially more than the cheaper upgrades. Imagine my frustration if that long voyage left me 1 Silver short.

The problem is worse when multiplied by worldgen RNG. Some worlds will have a much harder time grinding through ores than others. Heck, different runs on the same world can vary radically, but it's not GOOD variance. it's a difference of, "Player A can easily find a lot of what they're looking for nearby," vs. "Player B will need a dozen hours more because they randomly explored a different (wrong) direction". The variance is strictly better/worse, which is bad variance.

Anyway, that's my $.02 on why the dropout rate on this game is high.

That makes sense, but I think then too many people got caught up on getting more bronze without trying to progress. Me and my brother play together, and I do most the mining. I got us each lvl 2 -lvl 3 gear, fairly easily, then we beat the elder and started on the iron. After you get to iron bronze is basically useless besides some crafting. I think too many people are trying to max out nronze gear too much, as you only need like lvl 2 ♥♥♥♥, then iron is wayyy better.

I feel like most of the games progression is just gear yourself up just enough to start the next "age" and see what else you can do. It seems too many people just get "scared" or bored but dont realize theres so much to do, AND so many ways to take out enemies.

Like once you get iron Trolls are like nothing, and defending your base takes like a stack or 2 of stone to build and earth wall OR just a pickaxe and make a trench.

We put a wall 50% around the base and a trench around the rest. The game has gotten way easier. The first time you encounter a new enemy its tough, but once you find out what they are weak to the game becomes more simple.

In conclusion some people seem to enjoy the chill base building and nothing more. While others prefer a lil grind and progression.