Hi, I'd like to share some of the ideas I've thought of that would could possibly greatly improve this game. I'll keep it short and simple. Help discuss.
1. Add curiosities as good and rare as flotsams to land to encourage foraging on land rather than on rivers. (Preferable only grown on forest-uninhabitable land)
2. Reduce a deer's healing by half to allow hunting them in groups less of a chore (They'll still heal about 150~ if they're grouped in 3, that's pretty reasonable to me). I find it pretty unreasonable that newbies can kill a bear easier than a deer.
3. Add a river mob OR mobs that can swim and be on land(piranhas?) to not make boat travels as easy.
4. Add items that improve gathering speed (Gathering gloves?)
5. Make it so Speed of boats depend on Q of boat. (Better cars anyone?)
6. More mobs on land, less mobs on rivers.
7. Reduce a mob's attack based on how many people are around. This will stop people from river hunting and encourage people to group hunt and have fun together.
8. Bears in caves. Bears dwell on caves, why aren't they in HnH?
9. New skill: Animal Tracking. Allow hunters with high exploration and perception to find mobs based on tracking methods on land.
10. Food decay (Q decay). Forces traders to trade quickly, stops huge stocks of food, lets players decide wether to butcher quickly or not.