1.6 Update Tea bushes

[Lew Zealand]

Just for the sake of avoiding a "Mob Mentality", I would like to hear from people who dislike early game, and also why.

I'll approach this from a different angle by comparing to other games I play specifically because I freekin love the early game in all of them:

Minecraft Mega open world, do whatcha want but yer probably gonna need a bed soon or spend your nights dodging and weaving. No quests. Shortish continuous day-night cycle, can skip night. I always play not to kill animals nowadays so I'm focusing 2 Iron or Villages at the beginning. There is pressure but the openness of the "map" makes that feel manageable and once you get a bed, the game is very chill for me. It becomes an inventory management game until I can find a nice site to build.

Horizon Zero Dawn A game with a clear narrative so shepherds you through early game though you get to roam and do your own thing-ish soon enough. Directed quests, some overlapping, sometimes annoyingly so but also easy to ignore. Long, continuous day-night cycle. Gear shortage early on doesn't seem pressuring to me.

Ark: SE Single Player or PVE, open world, do whatcha want but you'll need shelter relatively soon. No quests. Long continuous day-night cycle. If you choose a Hard spawn, you're gonna be dying all the time. Easy Spawn, you can chill and build and grab a Parasaur when you want one. Gear shortage early on but also doesn't seem pressuring.

Stardew Valley semi-open world with a small world that slowly opens up. Directed quests, most players follow them. Shortish, discrete day-night cycle, can't work all night, late night penalty. It is easy to feel time pressure when you have many tasks with discrete days and sometimes Seasons to do them in. I sometimes need to take a step back and remember to chill. One amazing way to do that is quit and come back later/ the next day. I completely forget what I was doing and just have fun and then come up with whatever next thing I want to focus on.

You can see the frustration that's leveled at SDV when it comes to "playing it your way" as it's a less flexible and more directed game, especially if you choose to play through the individual quests and are playing with limited IRL time. And don't have access to or choose not to use mods. In this fashion, I'd rank early game in SDV 4th among these 4, even though I love all these games.

 

[ArtifactSpot]

I'll approach this from a different angle by comparing to other games I play specifically because I freekin love the early game in all of them:

Minecraft Mega open world, do whatcha want but yer probably gonna need a bed soon or spend your nights dodging and weaving. No quests. Shortish continuous day-night cycle, can skip night. I always play not to kill animals nowadays so I'm focusing 2 Iron or Villages at the beginning. There is pressure but the openness of the "map" makes that feel manageable and once you get a bed, the game is very chill for me. It becomes an inventory management game until I can find a nice site to build.

Horizon Zero Dawn A game with a clear narrative so shepherds you through early game though you get to roam and do your own thing-ish soon enough. Directed quests, some overlapping, sometimes annoyingly so but also easy to ignore. Long, continuous day-night cycle. Gear shortage early on doesn't seem pressuring to me.

Ark: SE Single Player or PVE, open world, do whatcha want but you'll need shelter relatively soon. No quests. Long continuous day-night cycle. If you choose a Hard spawn, you're gonna be dying all the time. Easy Spawn, you can chill and build and grab a Parasaur when you want one. Gear shortage early on but also doesn't seem pressuring.

Stardew Valley semi-open world with a small world that slowly opens up. Directed quests, most players follow them. Shortish, discrete day-night cycle, can't work all night, late night penalty. It is easy to feel time pressure when you have many tasks with discrete days and sometimes Seasons to do them in. I sometimes need to take a step back and remember to chill. One amazing way to do that is quit and come back later/ the next day. I completely forget what I was doing and just have fun and then come up with whatever next thing I want to focus on.

You can see the frustration that's leveled at SDV when it comes to "playing it your way" as it's a less flexible and more directed game, especially if you choose to play through the individual quests and are playing with limited IRL time. And don't have access to or choose not to use mods. In this fashion, I'd rank early game in SDV 4th among these 4, even though I love all these games.

I just love you minimizing/meh playstyle thread. This should be the to do list/quest list for the actual game. No Mr Qi, no perfection. Lew Zeland’s minimizing/meh list! I think so many more people would play the game for longer if they did. Lots of people give up in year 1 or 2.

 

[Odyssey]

Who would have thought a thread on saying I dislike halving the price of tea saplings would start a heated argument.

I wouldn't say people were arguing about liking/disliking the early game, just sharing different opinions.

Personally I found it interesting that my perception of the game was so different to yours and wanted to share that. I don't think you're wrong to dislike the early game and prefer playing on your more established save. I really like games that are flexible enough to be played in many different ways and therefore can be enjoyed by a wider range of players.

I've used the tea sapling strategy a number of times and was initially annoyed to see the sell price reduced but it was pretty inflated compared to the ingredients previously and I do think it is better balanced now. It's a shame the change has negatively impacted you though.

If you're willing to wait a season to get your money you can actually make more money per sapling if you plant them at the start of a season, harvest the tea leaves for a week at the end of the season (unprocessed tea leaves sell for 50g each so you get 350g with no farming perks and 385g if you have the tiller profession from farming level 5) and then chop down the tea bush and sell the sapling for 250g, so 600g in total. Tea bushes don't need watering at all so the only input needed is harvesting the tea on the final week of the season and then chopping the bush down (or leave it alone to get more tea next season).

I use tea saplings for a quick infusion of cash in spring and early summer of year 1 so the above method doesn't make up for the price reduction in that case but it could work for you :)

I did still use the tea sapling method in my first 1.6 playthrough and it was decent in the moment of making the saplings since the recipe is still a profitable one. My problem came later on when I wanted to level my foraging skill quickly and could no longer rely on growing loads of summer forage seeds at 7xp each so needed fibre for tree fertilisers and regretted having used so much on tea saplings as I had to spend extra time collecting more in the mines.

As a result on my current 1.6 farm, I chose to use some of the new 1.6 content to get more money from fishing early on and have also taken advantage of some new ways to get foraging xp. I've just started summer year 1 and things are working pretty well so far.

 

[ArtifactSpot]

I wouldn't say people were arguing about liking/disliking the early game, just sharing different opinions.

Personally I found it interesting that my perception of the game was so different to yours and wanted to share that. I don't think you're wrong to dislike the early game and prefer playing on your more established save. I really like games that are flexible enough to be played in many different ways and therefore can be enjoyed by a wider range of players.

I've used the tea sapling strategy a number of times and was initially annoyed to see the sell price reduced but it was pretty inflated compared to the ingredients previously and I do think it is better balanced now. It's a shame the change has negatively impacted you though.

If you're willing to wait a season to get your money so can actually make more money per sapling if you plant them at the start of a season, harvest the tea leaves for a week at the end of the season (unprocessed tea leaves sell for 50g each so you get 350g with no farming perks and 385g if you have the tiller profession from farming level 5) and then chop down the tea bush and sell the sapling for 250g, so 600g in total. Tea bushes don't need watering at all so the only input needed is harvesting the tea on the final week of the season and then chopping the bush down (or leave it alone to get more tea next season).

I use tea saplings for a quick infusion of cash in spring and early summer of year 1 so the above method doesn't make up for the price reduction in that case but it could work for you :)

I did still use the tea sapling method in my first 1.6 playthrough and it was decent in the moment of making the saplings since the recipe is still a profitable one. My problem came later on when I wanted to level my foraging skill quickly and could no longer rely on growing loads of summer forage seeds at 7xp each so needed fibre for tree fertilisers and regretted having used so much on tea saplings as I had to spend extra time collecting more in the mines.

As a result on my current 1.6 farm, I chose to use some of the new 1.6 content to get more money from fishing early on and have also taken advantage of some new ways to get foraging xp. I've just started summer year 1 and things are working pretty well so far.

Thank you for this!

 

[LRangerR]

I wouldn't say people were arguing about liking/disliking the early game, just sharing different opinions.

This. I would hardly say this is an argument, I just didn't want anybody else's opinion being drowned out because it wasn't fitting with the popular opinion, (and I know how the internet can get), and I was also genuinely interested. @ArtifactSpot What disabilities do you have that makes early game such a frustration to you? (if this is prying to much then just ignore the question)

 

[JuniperSkyy]

Who would have thought a thread on saying I dislike halving the price of tea saplings would start a heated argument.

I mentioned why I do. It’s too much struggle. I struggle enough in real life, I don’t like to struggle in a fantasy world too. Disabilities are hard. They make every move of every game that much harder. When something makes it even harder it’s extra hard. That’s all. I guess you can’t dislike tea sapling prices going down here. I’ll remember that for next time. I don’t like starting arguments. I was just wondering if anyone else didn’t like that change.

Don't want to be insensitive but..... If you don't like the aspects of the game then....... maybe just don't play it?? I see you've complained a lot about not very important things, and it seems like you don't like the game that much. Please stop ruining the experience for other people.

 

[ArtifactSpot]

Don't want to be insensitive but..... If you don't like the aspects of the game then....... maybe just don't play it?? I see you've complained a lot about not very important things, and it seems like you don't like the game that much. Please stop ruining the experience for other people.

I love the game. I’m very much looking forward to most aspects of 1.6. I’m just sad that because my hands don’t work right I can’t enjoy it yet. I’m not ruining it yet. Did you ever think maybe you PCers are ruining the anticipation and excitement for us who have to wait several months to a year more than you all to enjoy what you are privileged to enjoy now? I know we are the minority, but we are still a significant chunk of Stardew fan base. I’m not the only one feeling this way. Please don’t blame me. It’s not my fault I’m disabled and can’t yet experience what you’re enjoying now. I miss talking to people about other things here. The game isn’t all 1.6. That’s a small update compared to 1.5 or whatever. Please I know you all are excited, but be considerate of our feelings too. Imagine if you were with a group of ten kids and only 6 kids got candy bars and the others had to wait a long time for theirs. It’s rough ok. Please just think of other things to discuss as well. Yall could a month ago, why not now?

 

[ArtifactSpot]

Again tea bush prices of all things turning into to this kind of heated debate thread. Its Nbd. I’m totally over it.

 

[JuniperSkyy]

I love the game. I’m very much looking forward to most aspects of 1.6. I’m just sad that because my hands don’t work right I can’t enjoy it yet. I’m not ruining it yet. Did you ever think maybe you PCers are ruining the anticipation and excitement for us who have to wait several months to a year more than you all to enjoy what you are privileged to enjoy now? I know we are the minority, but we are still a significant chunk of Stardew fan base. I’m not the only one feeling this way. Please don’t blame me. It’s not my fault I’m disabled and can’t yet experience what you’re enjoying now. I miss talking to people about other things here. The game isn’t all 1.6. That’s a small update compared to 1.5 or whatever. Please I know you all are excited, but be considerate of our feelings too. Imagine if you were with a group of ten kids and only 6 kids got candy bars and the others had to wait a long time for theirs. It’s rough ok. Please just think of other things to discuss as well. Yall could a month ago, why not now?

again, I am a console player too. Also, comparing this to kids getting candy is nowhere near the same thing. That would be unfair to the kids however, it's different for SDV. They need time to add the update or whatever they do to mobile and console, so just be patient. No matter how much you complain, it's not going to move any faster. so don't complain and waste other people's time.

 

[JuniperSkyy]

Again tea bush prices of all things turning into to this kind of heated debate thread. Its Nbd. I’m totally over it.

also, you are the one who started the thread complaining about tea bushes, but you devolved it into a complain thread where others try to tell you you can't do anything abt it, but you keep repeating the same things. SMH.

 

[SoftViceMaster]

Yes it’s his game. I guess he wants us to struggle a ton the first year or two so we have that moment “was it really worth giving up the city life for?” “Can I be a poor farmer, forage for food and still find joy and happiness in this valley anyways?” Maybe that’s the moral to the struggle. Anyways, it’s his game. It’s a great game. I just hate starting new files it reminds me too much of the struggles of real life. More struggles=more reminders. I’m glad I have my file where I finally don’t have to struggle. I can just play in the mines or whatever I want.

That does feel like the tone he's going for, I mean the whole struggle between Pierre's and JoJo Mart also bleeds over into things like the Community Center and even the Blacksmith. The farming portion is meant to be a struggle, but also more rewarding in the end (especially since you get the Junimos by going that route) while going the JoJo route is a lot easier but (in my opinion) also feels really empty. It's why most players go for the Community Center over the JoJo route, you get to see the community itself grow over time and really feel like you've done something pretty big. And I'm not denouncing the JoJo route at all, but there is a cruel irony whenever a player chooses it because (lore/story wise) they never truly escaped that capitalism death trap the character was in before they moved to the valley. So of course farming isn't supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be rewarding.

Still hate that Tea Saplings were nerfed tho. I used them all the time, but I guess now I'll just start up my w**d farm like I planned.

 

[ThePerfectGarden]

Imagine if you were with a group of ten kids and only 6 kids got candy bars and the others had to wait a long time for theirs.

I think that's a poor comparison. Even my 12-year-old grandson would no longer be envious or sad if he had to wait longer for a candy bar than his mates.

 

[MintBerryCrunch]

Sorry but complaints about stuff like this are a bit silly. CA makes changes to his game to reflect the kind of game he wants to exist. The farm building is a process that happens gradually. Then one day you're like "wow, look how far I've come! I used to have to spend days selling weeds and picking up shells!" There's your reward.

I don't see the purpose in taking a chill game like Stardew and applying this min/max hustle nonsense to it. "I NEED TO MAKE SO MUCH MONEY YEAR ONE!!!!!!!" No, you don't. One in-game year is a very low number of years to be wanting all of the progression. Who are you competing with? Relax. Go read a story to your parsnips. Or bring some food to Linus. Go on a nature walk and shake every tree. Understand that these needs you want from the game are a product of something totally outside the game.

If you need a series of rapid dopamine hits of progress that much and that frequently, play an ARPG or something.
If that's still not enough, there's also a brightly lit city out in a Nevada desert that is waiting for you.