Current Difficulty of Stalker Mode

[Yolan]

So any players of stalker mode care to comment on if it has gotten any harder?

I like the difficulty of interloper, but it is an "extreme" mode. Ideal for me would be if stalker was balanced to actually be a proper challenge like it should be, as it is the hardest "normal" mode.

I haven't played Stalker in a few months, but I note that we have had changes to...

1. Weather getting tougher over time. Animal spawns going down. Etc.

2. Item spawn re-balancing.

3. A new clothing system.

So has any of this really impacted to make stalker more of a challenge? Whats the word? I'd like to start a new round, but every time I play I quickly end up

with 8 axes, 10 knives, 400 kilos of food, and I'm scratching my head as to what is going on.