Non-combat fun stuff in the game?

[Gared]

Hey guys, I want to hear a word from experienced and/or informed Valheim-dwellers.
Is there a large enough number of non-combat activities, to warrant this game as a friend & family game?
I'm talking a long-running 5-person co-op experience.

We've been playing Terraria and Conan for some time, but it's grown a bit stale at the moment. A part of our group is hesitant of going Valheim, because they are concerned there is little else besides woodcutting, stone-smashing, hunting and fighting. To cut, smash, hunt and fight more.

Any pets? How's building and decoration these days?
I've seen the Hearth update, but I heard it barely deepens anything in this department.
I don't know whether that's true or not

[Kaziklu78]

Ok. If you mean non PvP yes it is designed from the ground up to be a Co-op Experience.

If you mean not being attacked by stuff then no the game is 100% impossible without someone doing combat.

The Game has many similarities to Conan and many big differences. (like natural resources not respawning (minus animals) You are regularly harassed by mobs while doing most anything in the game. However if you have a child that just wants to farm... you can actually farm from early on. Boars at the start. Then Carrots, Turnips, Wolves, Onions and Lox (bisonish) You can also build a tree farm for lumber and Mining can be done without combat with two people where one person protects the other.

Invasions however do happen at your base depending on where you are in the game as such if you have someone playing without weapons then the will have to hide while the people willing to fight does that.

A non violent player can also cart supplies, sail a boat (to cart supplies) was well as smelt and even be your dedicated cook and builder.

So you can have a player that technically never actually attacks anything or anyone.... and would only kill animals for food and leather.

The game isn't designed to be played that way... but if you had someone that didn't want to fight but wanted to build, farm, forage and mine... well that can be done so long as you have people happy to fight.

[jonnin]

building is required; you can't get gear upgrades without making a base with a fair number of crafting station items. You also need food, and there again, you need stations to cook it and a plot to farm plants. Decorative/fun building can get very involved and some people have built small cities, others giant castles, and so on. You don't need all that, but if you enjoy it, you can certainly do a ton of things with it. Decoration ... there are some decorations and such, and enough pieces to build things that look good. One enterprising person has a screenie of a computer on a desk, for example.

you can tame / domesticate some animals and they are 'pets' of a sort. The biggest one can be ridden with a saddle.

H&H added a fair number of home decoration and construction items as well as workstation items (cooking). It added a lot of changes to the food system -- now you make dough and bake it in an oven; before you just cranked out bread directly from a stewpot.

This is NOT an MMO and it is not much like an MMO. There are no quests. At the end of the day, making food and building a bigger house and combat are the 3 major components of the game. If you need the game to tell you how to have fun and what to do, this is not for you: it is a building sandbox and light survival game.

[Gared]

Sandbox survival and "find your adventure" concept is just perfect.
I didn't mean to completely avoid combat, our group is capable. It's just that others need a bigger concept, than plain domination of the environment - a home, of sorts, to have a reason to play and fight at all.

I personally usually just roam - I'd grind levels and sleep in the woods, get stronger and get that next boss / challenge.
Others would do the same, in terms of leveling and fighting - but more moderately - and find it largely meaningless without a base, animals, and a place to kick back and decorate.

How tedious is crafting?
I remember The Forest game had payed so much attention to woodcutting, it's really engaging there. Even forging in Skyrim felt pretty neat - smashing that hammer, metal singing. Is there something like that in Valheim, or the usual (for the genre) looking blankly at the crafting table, watching numbers go up?

[CoopedUp]

The building aspect in this game is INSANELY well done. As someone who has played multiple Craft/Survival games I will say that the building system in this game has one of the most complex physics system compared to others. I actually find that this system makes the building system MORE fun, since now you have to actually plan trusses and support structures without subtracting from the building aesthetics.

It's actually really easy for someone to get lost designing and building a 'Viking Village' with different kinds of buildings and landscaping. ESPECIALLY if they have admin control and can spawn rocks/bushes/trees and other things.

The Cons for Non-Combat players ...
1.) Pets\Taming\Breeding is very simple and hands off. You'll spend more time finding a higher level pet to tame then actually doing any of the taming/breeding. And there isn't a wide selection of animals that you can tame.

2.) Decorating isn't very in depth. The best decorating I've seen people do is by using non-decorating build items in different fashions so that they perform a more decorative function. (like using shields as table platters or signs to make storage boxes). So decorating is possible, but sometimes requires some 'out of the box' thinking.

3.) Farming is more 'free' in where you can plant stuff, but as long as you spaced your crops out enough it doesn't take any other work to make it grow. Just plant it, wait, and harvest.

[Crom]

Thats a good question.

There are few puzzles, litle bit of exploration, some building stuff, some raids, some sea faring, and thats it I think... Its minimalist game, not so much content sadly, but its totaly unique. There is no game like this one.

But it is early access, we dont know what final release will look like. Maybe there will be more content.

[blankitosonic]

Originally posted by Arkendight:

Sandbox survival and "find your adventure" concept is just perfect.
I didn't mean to completely avoid combat, our group is capable. It's just that others need a bigger concept, than plain domination of the environment - a home, of sorts, to have a reason to play and fight at all.

I personally usually just roam - I'd grind levels and sleep in the woods, get stronger and get that next boss / challenge.
Others would do the same, in terms of leveling and fighting - but more moderately - and find it largely meaningless without a base, animals, and a place to kick back and decorate.

How tedious is crafting?
I remember The Forest game had payed so much attention to woodcutting, it's really engaging there. Even forging in Skyrim felt pretty neat - smashing that hammer, metal singing. Is there something like that in Valheim, or the usual (for the genre) looking blankly at the crafting table, watching numbers go up?

Its pretty similar to The Forest in wood farming and building ( valheim building its like an "evolve" from the forest ) , but its a huge grind in bronze , iron and silver metals
Here sleep is not a need ( you are a warrior spirit anyway ) so not gives any advantages
The game only have a skill system about leveling weapons and some movements , the handycap of hp and stamina goes with the food that you eat

[hazelrah]

i'd say currently the biggest draw in this game is by far building, followed by exploring. progression through fighting bosses is primarily how to advance (most of the current game can be completed without fighting a single boss, even if it is difficult to do so). if your noncombatants like to be creative and build, then go for it! also bear in mind the game is maybe 3/5 finished. more content will be coming, which will likely expand all aspects of the game, from areas to explore, monsters to fight, to items to craft and things to build.

[GunsForBucks]

The concept of the world is that it was a place for Odin to put his enemies. He then cut off that part of the world and cast it adrift.

Upon hearing how his enemies were gathering strength Odin resurrects warriors and sends them to Valheim to beat them back and earn their way to glory ... or something.

That is the basic premise / purpose of you being there.

One of the biggest draws is the atmosphere. The devs really have done a marvelous job in world crafting. Each biome is unique and sounds and lighting play a huge part in how it all "feels" to be in those places.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2627653976

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2536831065

So for me there is a lot more to offer than just progression and crafting / building.
I enjoy the journey.

[Kaziklu78]

From what you have said you are looking for you likely won't find it here. The game's purpose is Kill the 5 bosses and you need to go to each BIOME to get the materials to kill (and find) the next one. There is not directed quests beyond that.

[Ghostickles]

Its a creative sandbox mate, make up your own fun. The crux of the game is kinda getting your import/export game up, moving around the world and hauling back the goods to your spot(s) and there is all kinds of conditions which can make that a fun prospect or a boring one, depending on how you want to go about it. First time straight isn't a bad time, and once you got the hang of it the later play through you can try things differently, for example having Eikthyr ripped apart by the wolves you tamed in the mountains. Its really on the group to decide what to do, the game does set up conditions for fun and nothing says you cant go play up to your 'skill level' instead of following the rails.

[redgreen999]

Building is the most fun in game. I player 107 hours solo and have yet to get cultivator to plant seeds. I spent a lot of time "farming" boars I guess. I would spend a week game time just collecting strawberries for them to eat and feeding 3 pens. Eventually got tires of that routine and have pork stockpiled for 2 years.

There is almost constant harassment from Greydwarves in early game. Almost to the point that I don't notice them anymore. I'll be chopping wood and just wait for the greydwarve to come near my log and then chop him and back to the log again. They are a nuisance and distract from the fun really about 90 hours in or earlier.

If you have 1 or 3 people that like fighting in a coop, you might think that they could just handle the battles. But the random raids happen mostly at bases, where you non-fighting members might have to fight off the raid in between planting seeds or feeding boars.

I have heard of mods that maybe reduce the raids and make the game a build only type of thing. In stock game, when you first go into a new biome, the mobs are rather intense. Then peter out as you clear the nests/bodypiles or whatever applies.

You can minimize the need to fight hand to hand in base raids with a moat. Early mobs will just be able to throw things and you can pick them off one by one with your bow. The game doesn't really fit my gaming needs perfectly. I would like there to be less fighting or less interruptions. You can ignore many of teh weak attacks, but then you have to listen to constant rocks hitting your fence from a greydwarve. That gets annoying, so take a break from cooking supper to go out and kill 1 useless greydwarve.

[Gared]

These are great answers
Sounds like the game is worth a shot, especially since it's work in progress
I'm going to fire it up today and check it out

Thank you, you've helped