i've got over a hundred hours in the new patch, and wow they really did do a number on it. the performance in particular is notable, game is much smoother. the water changes are a bit of a nothingburger in terms of difficulty change, but the new learn by looting system is still going through some growing pains. (it's been tweaked a couple times already).
my major issue with the learning system is i'll get 7-9 days in and my ability to craft is entirely eclipsed by my loot and trader stages to where there becomes no point in doing anything but trader quests, which gets stale. i'm doing some testing on a mod trying to bring things in line so crafting can still remain viable in what is ostensibly a survival crafting game.
the changes to difficulty overall are welcome, if punishing. the lighting overhaul is spectacular, the tweaks to POI's are p good, and the new POI's are some of the best content i've seen in the game so far, much more elaborate and involved in some cases than what you'd normally see in a given quest tier.
idk wtf they're talking about "better intro for new players" tho, it's the same starter quest we had in alpha 20, but now you might spawn over a kilometer from your trader.
random world gen speed is INCREDIBLE tho. alpha 20 a 10k map could be upwards of 20m to generate, now it's about 5m. it's insane how much faster it is now.
Agreed I'd rather see an entirely too long post occasionally than have to click/tap every other one just to see the punchline to a meme I already read half of while scrolling