Pixelgabe

I would tend to agree with you, but like you further pointed out, it does remove the torch. I could see some ways of making it more nerfed than how it is presented here. Perhaps, there could be some way to make it risky to start fires from, such as it taking a lot of burn time from the ember carrier when you try to start a fire with it. I think I also said in the original post that wind would make it burn faster, and maybe the remaining burn time isn't displayed on the HUD. For the former, I can see how people would just make it into a new torch and just light two when starting a fire with it? and for the latter I can also see people getting rightfuly fustrated from forgetting to check the carrier and losing their ember. If there are some better ideas, I'd like to hear them, but for now I still think it would be a much better system than the torch.

Listen... I really hate how fire is handled right now and let me explain, 1) can we please have a fire/ember carrier? For instance it could be a tin can, charcoal, tinder plugs, and maybe some old man's beard lichen. You would just need to add more charcoal and tinder. You could also, if you are feeling nice, simply add a bundle of tinder wrapped in old man's beard lichen. The idea is that it would last longer than a torch and be something you would actively craft while it wouldn't give off any light or heat. Similar to fires and torches wind would make it burn faster so taking it out in a storm would be a bad idea for longevity of your ember. The motivation for this change would be to remove the weird torch judgling that later survivers need to do before the magnifying glass (and to take fire indoors), and for another reason further in this thread. 2) Add late game renewable starters. So far there is only the magnifying glass, and it is all powerful for a matchless world. This tool makes a lot of sense, it doesn't degrade on use, but it is hard to find, and it can only be used outside on a sunny day. Again makes sense, but why not add fire plows? So, what would this entail? I propose that you would need to craft the plow out of a stick with either a knife, a hatchet, or even a stone (possible, but very time intensive) it would break quite easily. However, the fire board must be a branch. You would need to prepare the branch/limb out in the cold with a higher time sink than the crafting of the plow. This would give you only several tries before becoming useless 5 tries but a fail only counts as a half, for example. Make the staring chance 2% therefore it would only become useful for firestarting at level 5 with a max of 52%. Have the act of fire starting with a plow drain your stanima, use a buttload of calories, and make the starting of an ember not the end, you still need to carry it to the place you want to make the fire (i.e you need to make the fire again). I.e. it would be a fustrating way of making a fire that would onyl become attenable at the end game, and the magnifying glass would still be better overall, you just can't "softlock" yourself by never finding the mag before your matches goes out. This is completely optional in my mind, but you could also add pyrite stones and quartz/flint stones. The former could be exceedingly rare if you want, and the starting chance would be equally low. It basically would be a reward for exploring and keeping an eye out for stones that stick out. It could also give a reason to use the "viewing" screen when you pick something up. 3) Please add brands back. I hate with a FIERY passion that I can pull out a fully formed torch from my campfire. I really liked the brand, it made you need to get close up and personal to scare away a wolf and was always a last ditch attempt at scaring away a wolf if all else failed/ you didn't plan for it. I don't like that I have to throw the cussing thing (I imagine the torch going head first into a snow bank and fizzeling out). the brand should not last long and should be dim. I don't think I have ever crafted a torch in game after this change since it is always a waste of fuel, firewood, and cloth that I could make a quincy or bandage (if I'm not doing so hot). This is also why I think there should be a ember carrier because the removal of a torch would require a carrier to make the game more or less playable at harder difficulties (ehem... just interloper really, but stalker doesn't give me the experience I really want). I mean, I get throwing a flare, but would it kill to add brandishing back with throwing requiring a held button instead of a click? You could even throw the brand too, just have it lose a lot more durability when you do it. If you really need to have some form of torch early game when exploring a cave, just have tinder torches. three tinder plugs and a couple of sticks, or so, that goes through durability really fast, so you would still need to make a bunch before you enter the caves. I know these are asking a lot, but I think since fire is the core of almost all systems it should be attenable through multiple methods. I also want to play "The Grey" with the wolves. Stay warm, Gabe