Originally posted by flux:

I just kinda hoped that there would be bigger updates down the line by this point to keep me coming back. I just want to know why it seems things are lagging a bit.

There are two issues here...

A) More People Doesn't Mean Faster
There is a major misconception on 'money made = faster production' when it comes to software development. A lot of people think that software development is the same as factory production line working and all it takes is to hire more people, thus more work can be done. It doesn't work that way. More often than not, more people in software development can slow down development.

In a factory, you have a system already in place. Now all you need are drone workers to line the belts and get them to work. If you're a large factory with one worker per belt, then your final output will be slow as hell. However, if you fulfil each belt with his optimised worker cap of say 10 in this example, then your factory will churn products out efficiently and quickly.

Key note: drone workers don't need to think. They just need to repetitively do something repeatedly throughout the day.

In a development studio, there is the Game Designer with a vision and a document spanning hundreds of pages. There is the Lead Programmer who utilises in-house and 3rd party tools to get the flow going. The LP will also create the framework for the code to exist. The Creative Lead or Creative Director will work hand in hand with the Game Designer and other department leaders in figuring out style, create sketches, create concepts, and go through a review process, before creating the real assets for the game. Then of course, the other aspects like Creative Writing, Sound Engineering, Legalities, Administrative, Community Management, so on and so forth.

Once all of those different aspects come together, they get the right amount and right type of people to fill in the spaces in which to further develop the software. Too little heads, it might put too much developmental stress on the existing staff. Too many heads may cause workflow inefficiency, as well as the time to learn the in-house system, and clash with the overall vision. Etc, etc, etc.

On top of that. people often equate more money means more people to hire means faster production, but these same people look at the final stage of the product being put together, then shipped. They don't look at other 90% of the business where before a product becomes a sellable item, it must go through a whole series of conceptualization, prototyping, market research, testing, creation, review, revision, approval from a government organization, etc, etc, etc, etc, before it even reaches mass production.

So think of software development as the 90% of the factory's business, before a product is released to be mass consumed.

B) Expectation Of What Is To Be Expected Versus What Is Realistic
You and many others might not realize this, but you're expecting an Early Access title to be as fulfilling as a fully released version 1.0+ game. There is a deception of how this is actually perceived versus how it should be perceived.

You mentioned you have played the game for 300+ hours, built castles, built villages, created some of the best gear, have seen most of what is available already. Well here's the thing. You're expecting that by the time you're satisfied with what you've got and done, the game should already have other content for you to continue your journey. Your 300+ hours is a moot point. You can very well have played 30 hours or 3,000 hours. At the end of the day, it's your contentment on content amount that spurs you on to make the decision whether this game is 'worthy' of your further attention or not.

For people like myself, I see Valheim as an Early Access title and I understand what Early Access means. So I do not expect Valheim to give me complete fulfilment, because there is more to come. However, people like yourself expect Valheim to give you complete fulfilment, even though you are aware it's Early Access, because you cannot grasp what Early Access really is about. You have an expectation that the game should give you XYZ more fun, because you've done it all by now. Where as for me, I don't expect that Valheim will give me more fun until the game is done in 3-5 years.

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TLDR: Vermicelli can be cooked in many ways, including rice wraps, spring rolls, and stir fry. At the end of the day, most consumers don't care how it's made. They expect only that it's made.