The dev has been on point for years but I'm definitely not a fan of repurposing the Stone of Disarming to help ID items.
The exploding trap item ID "exploit" is way overblown IMHO. It came at the cost of losing and not using or selling non-upgraded items in shops. It was also plausible that higher quality upgraded items are built better to withstand the explosion.
I've never had to rely on it as there's lots of ways to ID items and don't care if others use the trap as the game is all about having multiple ways to accomplish goals. If it bugs most players then ok fine... nerf it... but not at the cost of other very useful items. It's not like the trap is that common where it's game breaking though. You might not even encounter one before slotting the items you want to use for the rest of the game.
The change came at the cost of providing much fewer ways... and in some case the only way... to deal with traps. The biggest one is being forced to duke it out in summon trap rooms if you don't have a potion of levitation which mainly only drops to fly over other trap rooms. Another is running from a mob on low health and being stopped by a nasty undiscovered trap in a hallway with no other item or skill to leap over it. It also uses up items that players use to do and craft other things.
Also, I saw that bombs don't work on wood walls in the stone of enchantment room anymore? Items that make fire are easier to get but it's annoying when you don't have something earlier in the game so you have to keep going until you find one then trudge back at the cost of satiety... and it may have dropped for a wood walled up door so you have to repeat the process.
Anyway, no complaints to add a new stone of detection rather than replacing a useful one which reduces the interesting and plausible ways to do things.
You should try out the new bombs.
A single upgraded bomb absolutely demolishes those summoning trap rooms. They now have more range and more damage.
This imo balances things out
Also, disarming, is really not that necessary on most runs . Traps are never in the way of important stuff
Keeping in mind that different players have different play-styles, the issue is changing a commonly found solution for encountering certain challenges that don't have a special drop to solve them on the same level. This is especially true earlier in the game before you've collected the items needed to craft alternate solutions. You may also want to use some items to craft other more useful items rather than making up for the deficit left by changing a useful one. So additive features like a new ID stone along with the ones you mentioned are the way to go rather than reducing limited options IMHO.
The game is constantly changing, it's better to just adapt to change.
This specific change, really isn't as bad as you are making it out to be. But we'll have to wait and see I guess. I trust Evan's judgement
The reason for the change wasn't nearly as bad as some made it out to be either.
The change isn't considered ideal on the PD sub-reddit so I suppose it depends on which bubble you (and the dev) are in.
I mean, what do you want from me? You want me to agree with you? I think you are wrong
Let the dev cook. He does take feedback, so maybe he'll listen to you
It's not about you. I'm just explaining my side and you keep coming back for more. Not that, "It's fine... you're wrong... deal with it." is much of an argument.
As for dev feedback, he's kind of walled himself off in his own garden here which makes me wonder if that's the reason for making unpopular choices based on limited feedback from a culture of unconditional love here.
IDK about others but 'complaining to the SPD dev' is the only reason I use Lemmy... lol... but that's out of love for the game.
Hey, just wanted to pop in and say I am listening, and sorry that people here have been a bit aggressive in their replies to you.
Leaving Reddit (and twitter) was never about shutting myself out, it's entirely because those platforms are run by vile people and I can't stand to use them anymore. Back in the early days Reddit was 100% of my community interaction, and I admit I do miss participating in big discussion threads there, but these days the majority of my communication time is through direct messages (mainly email) and that's been the case for years.
Making changes to existing items like this is always going to be tricky, because of course it's going to upset someone. In this case it felt like a worthwhile change to make because a relatively large number of people wanted more ways to ID gear, and lots of other options for trap disarming already exist. It also feels like a better thematic fit for remove curse, as the stones now interact with equipment too.
Thanks for your response and I do understand your view of Reddit as a company. I still considerate it to be the moronic cousin of Digg and forums of old so it's not my first choice either... but it is the most popular one (and simply works better than Lemmy) so you can have some engaging and productive discussions there. At least some of the time. Sifting through its culture of upvoting snark can be annoying in finding good answers and opinions. I legit lol'd when I saw OpenAI partnered with Reddit to train AI as that's largely like tapping into the brain of a 12 year old.
Discord is my least favorite platform as it can definitely be a cultural bubble of like-minded opinions. It's also shut off to search and there's no way to back it up so all that great knowledge can be forever lost if the group or company suddenly shut down without warning. It also demands you visit it regularly to keep up with the fast and endless stream of convos which not everyone has time to do.
The problems with all these platforms can sometimes mean you have to find straight answers from a forum post from 2007 which'll probably still be there and useful in 2037... forever immune to our modern online issues with critical thinking, reading comprehension, and empathy. Fortunately, the SPD wiki is fantastic in providing up to date knowledge transfer.
Anyway, regarding the stone change, I personally would've liked a new ID stone rather than repurposing the disarming stone, but like I said, you've been on point for years, so don't take my detail oriented style of writing as meaning I think it's the end of this corner of the world. It was just an interesting convo that I brought over to broaden the discussion of what players here think might make the game better... and to help provide some more content and engagement here tbh.
Anyway, cheers and thanks for all your great work!
Message him directly, he listens, always
Maybe... I'm not the only one who feels this way and was just bringing over a productive convo about it from the reddit sub... but getting a kill the messenger vibe here.
You shouldn't get any negative vibes from anything
Feedback is always welcome. There are always changes based on player feedback
However, something you gotta realize is that the player base adapts better than you might think. Also the whole player base doesn't follow your exact play style, so even if you think something is weak, or strong, it might not be born out of the data.