Many currently playing players of Haven and Hearth are veterans who remember how this game works, especially the GUI / game mechanics, but what about new players?
The problem:
If developers want more players, they need to understand that there are new generations of people who don't want to waste time googling/clicking through unofficial game wiki, searching topics on forum etc. like it was years ago.
New players keep coming to the game (the game has humongous potential, really), but one of the main reasons why the players leave and never come back is because of not understanding how to play this game
The gui/game at start tells nothing
What about health, what about crafting, what about fighting, creatures, curio, siege system, PVP, when players can fight / when not, what are "scents", criminal acts etc.
I know that there are tooltips on particular gui elements, but hey, do you really think that few sentences is enough to understand game mechanics?
Take a look at other games, like factorio, the player is nicely introduced.
Player has simple tasks which introduce game mechanics - how to: craft, build, fight etc.
Don't focus on new things, fix current problems, to help new players get into this game.
Maybe create small tutorial at "character creation" place, which tells the players how to move, interact which objects, craft, build simple constructions, gild system, how to cook simple food, like, telling the players what they exactly need to do, pointing on gui elements, like in many new games.
(for example, I think that new players don't know what is "Character sheet", what it looks like, how to open it etc.)
Of course it can be skipped.
After small tutorial, there MUST be an access to recent "glossary"/"help" section, from DEVELOPERS which is UP TO DATE.
What about the GUI?
The overall GUI is good, reflects the game vibes, but I think that the small icons with tooltips on the bottom right/left corners should be changed, there should be a list with icons and text, maybe change the display to list instead of "blocks"
I don't have detailed list what could be changed and how, but please, do research, think about it, watch some gameplay videos of haven, analyze how the new players play this game, what is frustrating.
I understand that I may be exaggerating, but the players should ENJOY the game.
Don't get me wrong, I love this game, but maybe it's time to think about new players?
To sum up:
- Change GUI of navigation to craft, build etc. (some UX/UI elements are very unpleasant, player has to guess what is where, for example gilds)
- Create a tutorial/guide to introduce the player to basic game mechanics instead of throwing them unprepared into the game world (some info about health system, which animals are aggressive, how to craft/ build, what to click)
- Developers need to know what is "user experience" (UX), really