After 40 hours, full impervium, 43 pen weps, all techs, etc - Here is my opinion on the game state:

Thank you for the response =]
Really cool to see the dev interaction.
Good to know, can't wait for the patch!
Do you guys have a more specific time frame on it at this point or is it still kind of up in the air?

 

Well megaman is my favorite game so I'm really glad to hear that. I really need to start working on my Megaman X speed runs.... 2muchstarbound

I could tell by the spaceship doors, exactly like the megaman boss room doors =P

 

I agree that you shouldn't be able to melee through blocks. It feels cheap. I like being a bastard but I have standards, too.

I disagree on your assertion, however, that building needs to be disabled when within a certain proximity of monsters. If you remove the ability to melee through blocks it shouldn't be a huge issue whether or not you can trap them. Trying to build while being assaulted by a group of monsters or even one boss is a challenge in and of itself and being able to do so successfully should be rewarded. I rather like the dev's current idea to make some monster attacks able to destroy blockades. It allows building blockades to become a viable strategy, but not an end-all solution.

YOU NOTICED THAT, TOO?

I keep trying to jump when I approach the door, thinking for some reason my character should pause in mid-air and slide out.

Ah, the good ol' days...

 

i43 is not the max penetration.

 

1 & 2: Being able to attack though walls in and of itself isnt a terrible gamebreaking issue. People are quick to point at Terraria and say "Those bosses werent so exploitable because you cant attack through walls!". Which isnt really true as there are infact weapons that let you attack through walls in Terraria. Bosses werent so exploitable in Terraria because, as far as i can recall, they all ignored terrain collision.
They would just float or burrow through any obstacles you would put up to slow them down. And this worked quite well.

I feel general mobs are okay if they get a bit cheesed with such tactics, as it also means progressing really slowly. And to mix it up, some mobs can in return be given one of various abilities that lets them circumvent dirt-blocking. For example, wall climbing, teleporting, hitting through walls, to name some.
Infact i feel more of such traits/abilities for mobs would be a good thing to keep things interesting. And give mobs a more unique feel aswell as push the player to actually study mobs to learn their trick.

3: Techs are very unbalanced right now. No real doubt about it. I am expecting to be able to utilize multiple techs at the same time, aswell as seeing some sweeping nerfs to certain techs. In particular the butterfly boost and the dash. Which can both be fairly easily balanced.
Dash either needs a cooldown, or doesnt reset untill you touch solid ground again (like double jump). And butterfly boost would do well with a start-up boost. Where activating it, it consumes extra energy, which makes tapping it unviable as it would cost more energy that way. Just some thoughts.

4: Ore spawning has indeed been broken around the platinum part, and in general could do with some minor tweaking. I dont know how its like beyond beta sector, but if what you say is true this would suggest that ore generation beyond alpha is pretty messed up.
I like the way its done in alpha.

They are currently working on rebalancing combat, and i feel this is an important part to note aswell. How fast certain weapons or armor can become redundant. There is very little substain on your gear right now, and you are constantly pushed to get the best thing or you are severely punished in terms of combat.

There are also some awkward gaps. As mentioned the platinum armor thats suppose to succeed Steel. This however leaves Steel as the best armor at 15, in a sector that goes upto lv20 with a lv20 boss. The best armor for this tier and you get one-shot in the later parts by everything.
The sweet spot where combat is balanced, and both the player and the mob dont get one-shot is very small. I feel this really needs to be adressed because it creates an unenjoyable situation where you either one-shot, or get one-shot. And i personally experience very little excitement over drops (even purples) as they become redundant incredibly fast.

Also Gold is in a weird spot right now, its hardest to find and never really used as it can be immediatly upgraded to the relatively dirt cheap Steel.
I feel as if Gold armor should've been a part of tier1. Have the boss balanced around Silver armor, those who are good can deal with it. Those who are not so good at combat can instead put a longer effort into acquiring gold armor (which is much harder in tier1) and get carried by the gear advantage.
Gold would be the entry level armor, the copper armor, of tier2. Quickly upgraded to Steel and later to a tier that is to be added. The entry level gear for tier3 should again be available at the end of tier2 altough at much higher personal effort similar to how gold would be in tier1.
This would give players a bit of a choice in playstyle. Those who care for combat and are good at it can fight a boss at silver-level (or whatever that equates in other tiers), those who care more for the exploration aspect and are not so adept at combat can spend more time in getting geared better for the fight and use this as a crutch to help them progress into the next tier. Altough a bit slower.

Additionally, make guns available earlier on. As actual drops. So players can diversify their playstyle and experience, aswell as practise, using firearms.

 

Will be streaming at www.twitch.tv/M4X_L10N for the reset rushing Delta Sector as quickly as possible with a friend if you wanna check it out =]

 

Now that level 1 planets are filled with unrelenting flying mobs which exclusively keep their distance from your swords and will follow you AROUND a planet, and wait for you to leave a building... that "cant build when mobs are around" thing is looking even cruddier.