This was not meant to be a big deal(tm). It was meant as an innocent way to introduce crafting buffs and the fireplace tripod, both intended to add some more structure to the early game. I can concede that poison in the waxing toadstools themselves is perhaps a bit unnecessarily repetitive given the volumes of them you want to work through, but there's a trend here of making this out to be a *far* bigger deal than it actually is. Have you even tried playing with it? Real fun would have been to make the effect actually be lethal.
You are of course free to write what you may, but consider that when you give us the hysterical zomg-lol-everything-is-terrible-devs-can't-code-nor-do-anything-right-ever-OH-TYPICAL!*****!!oneone-line, we can not, and do not, take you seriously. You are merely displaying your own short-shortsightedness and lack of temper, and you give me no inclination toward action, other than the urge to post funny pictures...
... because your butthurt indicates that trolling you could potentially be a whole ******** full of fun.
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I shall not say that the user numbers do not concern me, because obviously they do -- they always do -- but do not confuse cause and effect. Our primary aim is to try to build a good game, and to do our jobs as best as we know how. Our hope is that the user numbers follow from that. The user numbers are not -- and can not be -- our first concern. You may bring them up and laugh at us all you want, but do not do so in the belief that doing so will somehow cause us to suddenly realize that mushrooms should not be poisonous.
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More grind? Well, what are you looking for? A game is fundamentally about overcoming challenges, and building a game is to build challenges. If we do not make thistles thorny then there is no need to wear shoes, and thus no need to even make them. Granted, not all challenges are fun and meaningful, but perhaps some more precision in the argument wouldn't be too much to ask for?
Personally, I think the real grind is running around stuffing your face with overly important forageables, and I generally think that foraging should be made both less attractive and less necessary.
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FFS. It is not possible -- nor was it ever -- to gluttony up from modified values. Please be adult enough to assume that everything written in public threads on the forums are filthy lies.