yeah that's a totally fair critique and i agree with 100% of what you've written
im sorry you had a bad experience, i really have no excuses
Okay, so I found a recipe page for the Crafting tome, and that makes the game INSANELY easier and more balanced. I'd honestly suggest having that recipe be automatic[also, there should be something that prevents duplicate recipes from base unlocked ones]. And for people who are looking into this game, to make the crafting book, you take a Study Book[8 paper+2 treated leather], 20 paper, and I believe 8 more treated leather. Then, based on level, you can simply right click items and learn connected recipes. It won't always work[dunno why, cause I have material items, and have the level, but it just refuses to work on random items]. Also, a tip to people: HUNT DOWN BAGS AND LOOT THEM!!!!! They can contain EXTREMELY strong and useful items, such as a very powerful pickaxe, good weapons, armor, rare ingredients, etc. They spawn randomly in villages and other areas. Also, best way to find Iron is slime spawners. They are completely random, but they will always have a single iron ore directly up and to the left of the spawner. Also, spider spawners are useful for gathering spidersilk, which is good for bowcarfting
Oh I know. I managed to get lucky wandering on the surface to find a wizard NPC selling both a magic wand and a return jewel. made a book, got mana, and bam. had a wonderful time. started doing dungeon dives after I managed to find an opal rapier[stupidly good weapon btw early game], and after that, well, I managed to find an npc selling an Omnibench 5000. Farmed up money, bought it, and then went demon hunting in dungeons to make demon metal equips[it is STUPIDLY easy to do that btw, like seriously!]. Before I stopped playing, I had started simply wandering aimlessly on the surface, opening map every tile hoping to find more blood crystals in order to make the highest tier drill. already got every spell, max mana, but I can't cast the higher tier time skips, they just crash. Oh, I also got enough shop price lowering acc's to make it so I can infinitely loop for infinite money
Mana: Wander the surface until you find a Wizard selling either a Mana Jewel or a Wand. If Jewel, craft it with a stick at a bench, if Wand, craft a book. Use the wand on the book to get the Spellbook. Open the Spellbook and use the only available spell[Mana Acquirement I]to unlock mana, and set your max to 50. If you REALLY wanna craft your own, I don't honestly remember where you craft them at.
Metal Progression: Forge to craft Bars, 6 Cobblestone Walls+4 Coal, to craft with metals above Tin, you need an Anvil, which is 6 Cobblestone Walls+4 Iron at a Forge. Copper tools require String, and must be done at Stonebench next to Workbench. I honestly suggest simply finding a town that has a forge and an anvil and steal them, fairly certain you need at least Copper level to break it.
Demon Skin: Armor is crafted at a Forge+Tannery at the same time[Armor has set bonus that boosts your damage output, EXTREMELY powerful]. Demon Metal[1 Iron+3 Demon Leather] needs Alloy Smeltery[2 Forges, 26 Cobblestone Walls, 8 Coal, 4 Iron], Demon Metal tools are Iron+Tin+Demon Metal.
And I'm not on a server, don't even think there ARE servers.
Also, sorry for not responding anytime recently, don't check this website much.