[Spoilers] Most 1.6 book powers feel underwhelming

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII]

While it's nice to have a bonus in addition to what you're already doing, let's see the bonuses. Here are some that stood out to me.

Way of the Wind 1 & 2 (+0.25 speed each): In theory amazing to have permanent +0.5 speed but coffee gives you +1 and other foods also give +1. By the time you can afford this you will have permanent coffee buffs already.

Monster Compendium (3% for double loot): 3%? Really? When Burglar's Ring exists?

Friendship 101 (+10% to all friendship gains): You don't even feel 10%. Compare it to the Friendship Blessing is a 200% increase to friendship from talking to villagers. This book also takes a lot of Prize Tickets to obtain... in my case it took me 3 seasons of doing Help Wanted and Community Board requests. By the end of year 1 most of my hearts are maxed out, so it has even less impact.

Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Thick (+1 defense). 1 damage reduction. Not great when end-game enemies deal 40+ damage.

Woody's Secret (5% chance for double wood): Better than Monster's Compendium but statistically it's like getting a free extra tree for every 20 trees you chop. Compare to a Shaving Iridium Axe which is basically +25% on all the wood gains you get.

Dwarvish Safety Manual (25% less damage from bombs): Sounds good but your own bombs barely deal damage to you to begin with, so why not just give a higher bonus or immunity?

Book of Mysteries (33% higher chance to get Mystery Boxes): Sounds good in terms of numbers butt he chance to get Mystery Boxes from most sources is incredibly low, so boosting super low numbers to be a fraction higher is not something you will tangibly feel. It's like playing the lottery with two lottery tickets instead of one.

Horse: The Book (+0.5 speed on horse): I can understand +0.5 for running but not 0.5 for a horse. It stacks with +0.4 from carrots and coffee boosts.

It's nice to have extra powers that are functional all the time but realistically I feel like these listed effects would need to be doubled for you to be able to feel a difference. I'd personally go as far as to triple Woody's Secret, Monster Compendium and Book of Mysteries' effect.

[Sstavix]

You may have a point, but when you compare it to the powers of books before 1.6....

...

... well, the library has expanded a bit more....

[Koumori]

Originally posted by Sstavix:

[...] compare it to the powers of books before 1.6...

This is my stance. The book powers are already making you stronger above and beyond what was previously possible, and the game hasn't been made any more difficult to compensate, so do you really need the books to give big buffs? They're just a fun thing to collect and get some small perks from.

[DaBa]

They feel underwhelming only if you expect too much from them. It's clear from the get go these are only supposed to be really small bonuses that work in the background, not bonuses on the same level as professions or masteries. Align your expectations properly and treat them as small, nice to have things.

[arkkumanu]

Even a small boost is better than nothing. All books cannot be amazing, there are bound to be underwhelming ones for balance. I personally liked the speed boost, because I tend to walk everywhere and don't use food buffs outside the mines much.

[AshenBuncakes]

Originally posted by arkkumanu:

Even a small boost is better than nothing. All books cannot be amazing, there are bound to be underwhelming ones for balance. I personally liked the speed boost, because I tend to walk everywhere and don't use food buffs outside the mines much.

I agree. The other books are just little bonuses, but the speed books are really good. No more speed running willy to 6 hearts to get a lifetimes supply of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crabcakes.

-for me, at least.

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII]

I hear you, but I don't really equate getting 10% more/less materials to the game being more or less difficult.

These books are also not something you will get early in the game, but even if you do, the effect most of these books have is so negligible that the difference between having them and not having them is not even noticeable. Towards the end-game they are pointless because there you get alternatives to acquiring hundreds of resources like Deconstructors/Wood Chippers, Buffs and Rings.

Except for the speed boost, you feel virtually no difference between having all books and none of the books by the time you get them.

[DaBa]

A lot of much stronger and significant things get pointless towards the end-game, so that's no argument to make. Again:

Originally posted by DaBa:

They feel underwhelming only if you expect too much from them. It's clear from the get go these are only supposed to be really small bonuses that work in the background, not bonuses on the same level as professions or masteries. Align your expectations properly and treat them as small, nice to have things.

They are nice when they happen. They are very small bonuses that individually don't do much, but when you get most of them it's just a little bit on top of everything. They are NOT supposed to be game changing. From they way you talk about them you want them to make a significant difference, but that's just not what the devs want them to be. Your expectations are out of whack, that's why you are underwhelmed.

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII]

Originally posted by DaBa:

A lot of much stronger and significant things get pointless towards the end-game, so that's no argument to make. Again:

Originally posted by DaBa:

They feel underwhelming only if you expect too much from them. It's clear from the get go these are only supposed to be really small bonuses that work in the background, not bonuses on the same level as professions or masteries. Align your expectations properly and treat them as small, nice to have things.

They are nice when they happen. They are very small bonuses that individually don't do much, but when you get most of them it's just a little bit on top of everything. They are NOT supposed to be game changing. From they way you talk about them you want them to make a significant difference, but that's just not what the devs want them to be. Your expectations are out of whack, that's why you are underwhelmed.

Nope, I'm asking them to give a 10% bonus instead of a 3% bonus so you can actually notice the difference. Or to give you a +0.1% chance instead of a +0.03% chance to find something that has a 0.1% chance.

[Sstavix]

I managed to get Woody's Secret and the Monstrous Compendium on the same day as random drops. Jack be Nimble came shortly after that. All in Spring 1.

Yes, later in the game you can find better items. But if you are lucky enough to get them early in the game they are nice bonuses, indeed.

[DaBa]

Originally posted by DaBa:

They are NOT supposed to be game changing. From they way you talk about them you want them to make a significant difference, but that's just not what the devs want them to be. Your expectations are out of whack, that's why you are underwhelmed.

I really don't know what else I can tell you for you to understand that your subjective vision of how things should work is not any better than the dev's, I'm literally just copying what I've already said because you keep missing the point.

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII]

Originally posted by DaBa:

Originally posted by DaBa:

They are NOT supposed to be game changing. From they way you talk about them you want them to make a significant difference, but that's just not what the devs want them to be. Your expectations are out of whack, that's why you are underwhelmed.

I really don't know what else I can tell you for you to understand that your subjective vision of how things should work is not any better than the dev's, I'm literally just copying what I've already said because you keep missing the point.

That's the point of feedback. I'm sure ConcernedApe had his reasons for making the numbers as they are, but that's not to say that the initial value for the values is the optimal choice.
If you add a feature that's meant to add to the game, but the feature is so low impact, so negligible that the player would never figure out it was there unless you specifically brought it to their attention, then the feature is probably not doing what you want it to.

So of course the only logical conclusion is that the books just exist to give you more things to collect and the mostly negligible bonuses are just to set them apart from other artifacts and collections. Hopefully mods will come out that will make the bonuses less disappointing.

[Anzaman]

Quite many books can be obtained very early into your run and as they are permanent with no other activation required, they had to be balanced somehow.

Way of the Wind is decent speed boost that also works indoor where horse isn't allowed, and as far as I know, stacks with other speed boost increases, so it'll always be handy to have.

Monster Compendium can proc on top of your Burglar, giving 4x loot instead of 2x.

Friendship 101 is a bit random as how early you can get it, but I've seen it as early as first spring, depending on the rate you get wanted quests. And if you play with mods, like Expanded, you get more NPC's into the game as years go on, so it'll have some effect even after maxing out your usual villagers.

Jack suffers from the games overall, IMO quite poorly, implemented defence system. +1 defence won't really do much in the late game, but it's OK in early game.

Not sure in what world Mystery Boxes would have "incredibly low" drop rate, but I'm constantly being bombarded by them, especially with the book. And any that increase the chances of getting more Golden Boxes with chance of containing Auto-Petter? I'll take it.

[Ranayna]

Lowkey the best of the books is Ol' Slitherlegs.
Finally i am not slowed down by grass or crops anymore.

[Calico Witch]

Originally posted by Ranayna:

Lowkey the best of the books is Ol' Slitherlegs.
Finally i am not slowed down by grass or crops anymore.

Yeah, I like that one!