Am I the only one who hates the new upgrade system?

[tnbp]

I've been playing Grounded since the first year of release.  I've got about 217 hours of playtime logged on Steam.  I've never posted an opinion or feedback on anything Grounded-related prior to this.  But I'm just so incredibly turned off by the new "nugget" system that I felt compelled to post.

Though the nugget system is certainly an upgrade from the quartzite grind of the past, I find it to be a completely immersion-breaking, non-sensical solution.  What the hell is a "nugget?"  How can this "nugget" be used to upgrade armor or a weapon?  I just don't get it.  Not at all.

It seems to me that this is a solution that has been implemented for a valid problem that has been done without a greater vision for what the game is supposed to be or how it's supposed to play.  Previous upgrade system is way too grindy and needs changing?  Let's just makeup a mcguffin item to solve that problem.  And let's give that mcguffin a silly, nothing name, while we're at it...

It's come as no small surprise to me that this, of all things, might be the straw that breaks the camel's back and pushes me to stop playing Grounded after release.

The system, itself, is an upgrade to the previous system.  But the implementation?  I personally hate it.  So, am I the only one? 

[AlwaysGrounded]

I don't understand the "nugget" idea either. The leathers, plates,globs and jewels made sence for upgrading armor and weapons. It was a pain and a hard grind but it fit the story. Even using the candy and salt for weapon mods fit. Now there are these nuggets just laying around the yard. Or we can craft them with bug parts and sap? So are the nuggets just bugs that got trapped in a pool of sap and hardened?

They could have used hundreds of items that are actually in the backyard as upgrades but they chose to makeup an item and call it nuggets.

Cool nugget and fashion nugget what even is that?

[AvMAN]

+1   
I totally agree. This new "Nugget" thing is just silly and feels like it does not fit at all.  
I mean the old way was a grind, but it fit. It made sense. It was logical.  

To me this new system is just random, silly nonsense. 

[dow]

not a fan either. even though it was grindy to get to a lvl 9 item of any kind, it at least seemed more "realistic". instead of this upgrade system, the old one just needs some rebalancing. the grind for quartzite really wasn't THAT bad as it forced me to return to the oak lab and haze areas more often than I would otherwise. as far as getting twinkling shells, once you have a crossbow and marksman cap upgraded to around 5-6, you can one-shot the scarabs. The excessive need for sap in the armor upgrades was really my only gripe. You could fix that simply by making the sap collectors more efficient or even upgradeable (use mosquito noses and bombardier beetle parts to make them generate more sap/hold more sap) . instead of just sap, use acid glands, red/black ant parts, mite fuzz, weevil noses, or stinkbug parts as I have whole boxes of all of them and not nearly enough use. Lastly, the amount of collectable pupa hide needs to be raised a bit. instead of 1-2 drop, either a 1-3 or 2-3 drop or just put up more hanging pupas. I'm really enjoying needing to shoot them down and break them open while fighting off ladybirds. the ones in the canyon just seem out of place.

you already have SO many materials in the game that could use some love in the existing recipes, why create a whole new upgrade system with materials that don't make any sense?

[AvMAN]

And now with the latest patch they have renamed them. The absurdity continues... 

Quote

-"Fashion Nuggets and "Rock of Fashion" have been changed to "Style Nuggets" and "Rock of Style"

 

[tnbp]

Quote

And now with the latest patch they have renamed them. The absurdity continues... 

  Quote

-"Fashion Nuggets and "Rock of Fashion" have been changed to "Style Nuggets" and "Rock of Style"

Ugh.  Really??  It's just SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad.

It's depressing.  After playing all through Early Access, this final update has me NOT wanting to play at release.  This has effectively ruined the game for me.  Sad.

Edited August 19, 2022 by tnbp

[girierm]

Well, I'll be the devil's advocate here  But I totally understand that it break your immersion.

I don't think it's stranger than raw science. So maybe they can just implement some lore behind it, like raw science as a residue from shrinking...

Or it's just because we play kids. Kids find shiny or strange or cool rocks, they collect them and make their weapons cooler with them : no logic here but it fits a child's view of the world. It kinda fits the theme of this backyard which is linked to childhood rather than adulthood (I mean, except the pipe and ashtray, everything is candies and toys).

[AvMAN]

On 8/19/2022 at 1:46 PM, girierm said:

no logic here but it fits a child's view of the world. It kinda fits the theme of this backyard which is linked to childhood rather than adulthood (I mean, except the pipe and ashtray, everything is candies and toys).

I don't agree. All the other resources, crafting items, weapons, tools, building materials are "Grounded" in realistic names. No made up nonsense.
If the kids can call grass... grass, pebbles, pebbles, and all the bug parts by their appropriate names... then why would they suddenly call granite, or quartz,  "Style Nuggets" and "Rock of Style"?!   

"Raw Science" can get a pass, as its part of the XP system and tied to the fantasy of technology that allowed the kids to be shrunk.  
"Style Nuggets" and "Rock of Style"  literally are out of place when every other item in the game is named after its real world, backyard counterpart.

[Rahsna]

I agree that the new name is not grounded in the world the same way as the rest. But I do not feel that strongly about it.

That said, instead of agreeing it sucks, why not agree to come up with a better name ? I am not trying to be a troll, just trying to help the devs get some constructive feedback.

[AvMAN]

I think they should just take it back to a more realistic naming. 
Quartzite, Granite, Micha, Jade, Amethyst, Etc...  use real rock & gem names.
Or use some of the myriad of other crafting resources that have little or no other use.

  

[DUDEmanhunts]

I made a note of this in my recent post I’m not a fan of it either and it really turned me away from the idea of even using the upgrade system, that being said you worded it far better then I did lol

[KnightX13]

It seems like a really unnecessary change when simply rebalancing existing recipes or better utilization of existing and underutilized crafting items could have solved the relatively minor problem. And the limiting factor wasn't even the quartzite, as you could farm that really easily, but hunting scarabs. Which they also fixed this patch by reducing their health and vision. 

So overall an over thought fix to an issue that likely would have already been resolved with a related fix being implemented.

[LadyBugWins]

Call it reinventing the wheel...instead of fixing it.  Sure...the rims were rusty, the spokes were loose, and the axil needed a bit of work.  But it was a simple fix. Just reduce the numbers. That's all.  The process was logical, intuitive and made sense. The required ingredients were simple and easy to come by or make. There was a natural progression as you leveled up and more recipes became available.  All we asked for was an adjustment  to the  recipes to reduce the grind. 

Too late in the game to fix the broken wheel, I guess. So....let's compromise and merge the two systems a bit.

Weapons: use the 'new' rocks but name them appropriately after rocks or  other bits of materials you would naturally  find in a back yard. Iron nails, for an example. Granite. Slate. Gravel. Cement. Glass marble. Agate. Concrete chunks.  Harden clay. etc. And....of course.....Quartzite.  If you want to push the envelope a bit, try radiated stones from the haze.  (for  those sleek options we all like but wish would actually be worthwhile).  

And we will just not mention the recipe of bug parts + sap = stone?  (No one loves a Ladybug when she goes from a gentle purr into a flash of red coming at ya. Nope. Not gonna mention this at all. )  Sigh. 

As for armor upgrades?  Using specialty ores are not uncommon, but only when mined and smelted first. And normally only for higher end armor and in combination with other materials like leather/hide/cloth etc. I guess you could use bits of stone on leather hide for a studded armor upgrade?  Not sure how to combine the two systems, but would prefer to keep some of both, rather than all 'fashion stone' or nothing. Just a thought.

Oh....and I would love to see the 'rock/stones' respawn over time.  Rather than the (unmentioned) recipe system.  Spider fangs into a rock? That just can't be allowed.  George is finally able to get that long awaited (undisturbed) nap since they removed the quartzite from his favorite sleeping rock.  But now....."Sorry George. No, no.....Don't need the Quartzite any more. However.....have you've seen a dentist lately? I could sure use those lovely fangs of yours. No.....?) 

[tnbp]

I assume they changed it from the previous materials because it *forces* you to move all around the yard.  You can't just find one spot to farm berry leather and one spot to farm quartzite and, instead, you have to spread out all over the yard.  That's an argument against just rebalancing, I suppose.  So I think, with that in mind, that I can understand why they didn't just rebalance.  They wanted to push us into exploring more of the yard, so they incentivize us to do so.  My hang up on the new system isn't the system, itself; it's the names.  The names of the materials are what kill me.  AND the fact that we can take a bunch of unrelated materials and apparently morph them into these new materials, magically.

It's just so, so bad.   (Although, I *could* get behind something like the glue station as an armor upgrade, mashing bug parts to make some type of paste or something.  But turning a spider fang into a rock is just a bridge too far.  It's asinine.)

Edited August 31, 2022 by tnbp

[AvMAN]

On 8/31/2022 at 9:16 AM, tnbp said:

I assume they changed it from the previous materials because it *forces* you to move all around the yard.  You can't just find one spot to farm berry leather and one spot to farm quartzite and, instead, you have to spread out all over the yard... The names of the materials are what kill me.  AND the fact that we can take a bunch of unrelated materials and apparently morph them into these new materials, magically.

I agree 100%.   Needing to move around the map is good.  But the names really bother me too.