New player here so pinch the salt and all that;
Crest wrote:2. No basic red defense in the starter deck
4. Combat move bloat
Too many combat moves. Most of them are trash. Is anybody going to be sad that Haymaker and Watch Its Moves are gone?
I quite like the state of combat, disregarding UI complaints. The range of 'useless' moves allows newbies to learn what works and what doesn't, but most importantly
why which is key to learning. Beside that there's a cool roleplay effect in that the moves you learn inform your character development. When you finally get that IP generating move (whatever it is) you're glad you can finally start Kicking the shit out of things and actually utilise that that damage cooldown ratio.

You might be suprised to learn, for example, that Left Hook is more powerful than Punch, contrary to many combat guides. Punch may be quicker to build openings but Left Hook caps out higher and is far better to use if you're in a long fight soaking damage with armour - yes that's right, if you play the game sans
cheese the system starts to make more sense. This goes for Haymaker and other 'useless' unarmed skills, too. I'm talking UA PVE by the way, didn't get much use out of weapons.
Maybe if there were drawbacks to the most commonly used combat moves, that the 'useless' ones could take advantage of?
Crest wrote:5. Adding new things then but then half assing them.
Bit of a broad one here but things like oceans, seasons (looking at winter specifically) and volcanos.
Devils advocate; you complain about winter specifically (presumably that it grinds gameplay to a halt), then you ask for season dependant gameplay loops.
During winter you're offered a huge degree of exploration with he freezing of rivers and bonuses to movement speed. Apparently few people appreciate this.
What might be some cool effects for the remaining seasons or biomes?
Crest wrote:3. Forager Credo (and Bunny Slippers)
Why am I forced to take this immediately if I want to travel outside? People have given a ton of great alternatives yet world after world we still need to rush this shit. I hate being pigeonholed into this early game checklist of things I basically have no choice but to get done before anything else I'd rather be doing.
>Remove and replace the speed bonus when chasing small animals bonus from the forager credo
>Make that same bonus into a skill
Bunny slipper/forager skill doesn't actually solve the problem in your rhetoric, it's still locked behind an arbitrary requirement. Perhaps just remove the movement speed bonuses entirely,
reduce stamina consumption while chasing instead - or expand the range of slippers so it's not a one hit requirement, rather a literal bonus if you happen to cross the right creature for what you're wearing
(Switching shoes temporarily debuffs movement speed to discourage auto-scripts).