Any tips for improving replayability?

[LIMP BISQUICK]

Before I start, I just want to get out of the way I think it's a great game and all that. I had fun on my first playthrough a while back.

I've been wanting to come back to this game. I DREAD having to go through dungeons fighting for for that loot and dealing with repetitive tasks like mining. Something about it just a major turn off to me cause I thought most of it was boring af my first time. Was hoping for something above ground. I'm even down for it to be more difficult to acquire. Are there any mods that give alternative methods to acquire such items?

I'm aware there's a slider now to get more resources when mining too but I feel like that's not solving the problem, only alleviating it. I believe it also drops more loot on mobs and I don't think I want that. Just open to hear any other tweaks/mods you guys do to improve your experience as I haven't played with any of them.

Contemplating no portal no map too. I remember the map generation not being all that interesting. Not sure if it's worth playing with those disabled tho. Open to hear some feedback on that.

[Mharr]

The options available are pretty extreme. You can go as far as removing all building / crafting costs so you just need to acquire one of each ingredient to unlock the recipes then you have an endless supply of that item.

[Veseljko]

Try The Olde Road.
It's a pre-made world with a road leading you through all the biomes and bosses with already prepared bases in each biome. Some of weapons, tools and armors are already made and stored in bases or hidden around the road, while some will still require mining and crafting. It will probably take 2-3 weeks to complete if you are not rushing.
I played it pre-mistlands and it was awesome. It is now updated for mistlands too.

It's recommended to be played without a map.

Search for it on nexusmods and see if you like it.

[Zep Tepi]

Valehim plus is what I use, but make sure to get the new fixed version, not the old pre-mistlands version. It lets you change all kinds of things that you didn't know you needed. I like the automatic smelter that pulls from chests and put ingots back in. Note that it is not compatible with the Odin series of mods.

I believe there is a mining mod that will instantly break up a node.

For No Map, I got a cartography table mod. It allows me to see the map only when I'm at the table. I still have to make sure I don't get lost, use roads and trail markers, but bosses and merchants will appear on the table when I discover them. You can't place berry markers on the run, but have to remember where things were if you want to mark them when you're back home. So basically you lose the mini map.

The included free build mode is nice for a faster playthrough if chopping down a bunch of trees to make shelter is one of the slower points for you. Note that you won't get materials back from your builds, so you can't use it to get free wood, and you do have to unlock materials before you can freebuild with them. All you need is a single surtling core or a single piece of iron to start building with them.

[LIMP BISQUICK]

Originally posted by Veseljko:

Try The Olde Road.

Thanks! I may give that a go at some point. Sounds interesting. Is it somewhat common for people to craft worlds like that to play on? If so that's pretty neat.

Yeah, I think the mining mod would help out with the mundane part about it. I just wished other things like iron and dungeon parts were more entertaining for me to get. Perhaps a mod is buried somewhere that addresses that.. I don't necessarily want to be swimming in supplies but I do like to build.

I did see a mod about being able to ride on wolves and other animals. Maybe that will help with getting around quicker if I do no portals.

[Schrader]

I'd say mods but you'll be able to play for a max of 5 days before these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ devs release a 10kb hotfix that fixes a blurry pixel on the main menu and breaking every single mod in the game

[Twinkies]

Having unlocked all the features, you have the option to initiate a new world, employ hammer mode, and construct an impressive base. Then, you can utilize a new character to explore and interact within the newly built base, which adds an enjoyable element to the game. Another option is to explore dedicated servers and engage in role-playing with fellow players. However, I must caution you, as this approach to playing can be highly addictive.

[Steve]

Without mods, and not on your first playthrough, I think the best QoL you can do re: what you mention is to minimize what resources you need.

The biggest grind saver is to skip ~95% of the bronze age. Just get your axe, Cultivator,
and whichever weapon(s) you prefer.

Iron age, you can skimp on armor there too. Upgraded Troll armor can last you to the mountain if you are careful. Again, just get metal for the tools you really need and the weapons you want/prefer.

Then in the mountains go for the fenris set, again, just getting the minimum silver you need for your choice of weapon(s). Upgraded Fenris can serve you very well into ML.

In the plains, again, upgrade your axe and pickaxe, and whatever weapon(s) you prefer.

Once in ML, iron and copper are **very** plentiful via mining and disassembling marble ruins. If you're brave/lucky you can find some of these and get the resources before you're ready for ML. You'll also probably be swimming in black metal from the lingering fuling patrols.

Enjoy your return!

[Riitoken]

I had a similar reaction my first play-thru when I hit the swamp mines and realized I'd need maybe a dozen trips ( or more ) to gain all the iron needed to get all max'd iron gear.

I recently returned and I can tell you that the world modifiers are your friend.

Based on what you wrote, do the following:

Set resources to 3x
Set portals to unrestricted

You will want to commit heavily to a main base (somewhere). You will need a solid defense strategy if you have raids enabled. If you disable raids then you can build the base anywhere you please as long as you're willing to deal with random spawns.

At your main base, make good use of well organized chests, and use the store stacks feature to quickly store loot (huge time saver).

[loppantorkel]

If you want a very simple solution - just bring some of the stuff from your old world, to the new one. You can keep every setting as you please without making things easier or so, it will just remove some of the early grind if you get some bronze, portal material if you want, etc. Pick and choose. Just alleviates the early grind like you want.

[Mharr]

If you're going heavily into mods Epic Loot turns the game into an ongoing Diablo style magic items hunt, but requires other mods to increase the power and variety of enemies.

[Thornwood]

Some of the speed runs on youtube killed all of the bosses up to and including the Plains without mining or grinding dungeons. The player was comfortable with combat in troll armour and cheesed some of the bosses. It may or may not be what you want.

[Lorska]

Originally posted by Mharr:

If you're going heavily into mods Epic Loot turns the game into an ongoing Diablo style magic items hunt, but requires other mods to increase the power and variety of enemies.

Or you just increase the difficulty through game options.
Though if you put the time in you can heavily modify almost everything in the mod and really fine-tune it to your liking.
I remember some earlier configs where starting in the mountains, enemies would just become loot pinatas, but I have no idea how things are these days, I use very customized configurations that mitigate most of the power creep.

[A-mak]

I use the mod VeinMine https://valheim.thunderstore.io/package/WiseHorror/Veinmine/1.2.10/

I just hold alt while mining whatever rock and it smashes it in 1 hit, anything underground will just pop up ontop of the land. It also degrades your tool accordingly and gives you skill xp accordingly.

There are many QoL mods to make the game less annoying, I use about 80 QoL mods with a total of 125 mods at the moment. I do not recommend V+ and instead opt for alternatives.

Some fantastic ones:
-Craft from containers
-Quick_stack_store_sort_trash_restock
-AzuExtendedPlayerInventory
-All the mods that add skills (except farming skill, conflicts with Plant Easily mod)
-Plant Everything & Plant Easily
-WardIsLove
-First Person mode by Azumatt
-PlanBuild
-Build Camera
-BetterDiving
-AzuAreaRepair
-Max Dungeon Rooms
+Many more

I recommend using r2modman over Vortex for installing mods, you can download directly from thunderstore.io or import the zip files from Nexus.

In terms of replayability you might set your eyes on content adding mods like Epic Valheim Additions, Creature level loot control, Therzies mods and JewelCrafting, all the build pieces mods (except dynasties) food mods (the one that ads fruit trees and farm animals is cool). In terms of the world you can create your own world from a heighmap using BetterContinents or make your world super huge with Expanded world size. You can even create your own biomes with Expanded world Data.

[sirstevolot]

I just play good ol' vanilla, but if you haven't tried a deathless run then see if that helps. The repetitive things in game feel a little more excitable knowing a single mistake or stamina mismanagement can end the run. Speedrunning is another fun style. GL :D