Latest update changes the essence to rune ratio from 1:10 to 1:1 (or maybe 1:2 if you want to play an obnoxious mini game). Or you can run around the whole map looking for some randomly spawned anima geyser things....

I've only had this game for a short while and only just started to understand how it plays. Of course I leaned into magic user play and the mage uses runes as ammo (like ranged uses arrows). Ammo wasn't a problem before this big update. Now it is a huge problem and I don't see how I can play as a magic user without having to spend a significant portion of my time farming essence with this change. All this update added was a more complicated system that only wastes my time.

Guess I'll have to shelve it until they reverse it or find some middle ground (if they do).

Edit: As I play more I feel the need to express some more annoyances that I've experienced... Does the dragon really need to attack me several times a day? Do I really need to deal with a warband every other day? Do I really need to be hunted every other day? Why can't i just go out and play the game without being harassed by some mechanic everytime? All of that needs to be dialed WAY back... Or at least make them settings on the world.

Saw many reviews where people compare this game to Valheim...well, lets do the same damn thing.

Following aspects of the game wont cover the whole experience, its just my personal obeservations, that make me prefer RSDW over Valheim.
Also, I dont dismiss cons of the game, they surely exist (as for ANY game), but they may greatly vary for different gamers.

This review may contain spoilers on gameplay, so heads up, be cautious.

Grindy
Some folks geniuenly do believe that Valheim is less grindy, and overall easier.
Lets do some math. Valheim T2 Leather Armor full upgraded requires 154 deer hides and 125 bone fragments. Basically you need to kill ~200 mobs (since materials not always drop 1 at a time, and considering you havent change drop multipliers). We set aside the fact, that skeletons (as all other mobs) can have stars, which increase their HP and attack, and can make your grind just a bit painfull, when they 1shot you, or deplete balance bar with one hit.
On the other hand, Runescape T2 (or as it said on wiki T3) Hard Leather set, requires 20 hard leather (40 animal hide and 20 swamp tar to glue it up), 10 fleece and 5 bronze bars (since they smelted in pairs, it`ll be 6 bars = 18 copper + 18 tin). So you need approximatly 4-5 times less mobs (if you lucky, you aint gonna need to fight at all to gather tar or ores). Not to mention ore made here less realismy and annoying, you dont have to dig up the whole node.

Magic
In Valheim you get your hands on magic 2 bosses prior ( or 3 if we count on upcoming North biom) game has nothing left to offer (aside from making your base more boujee).
In Runescape magic is accessible the minute you gather your first rune essence (which is pretty fast, all you need is basic pickaxe). Moreover, magic in this game is not only about casting offensive speels, but also make your materials refine faster, traverse terrain, gather materials faster, or add some defences.
If you not really fond of magic, its not a big deal, but for those who love play as a mage, its whole lotta difference. Worth to mention, that this game has air magic, which is by itself not often presents in such games. But also has some good effects on gameplay like enchance jumps or stun enemies.

Skills
This mechanic is pretty the same: do things to lvl up particular skills, dont die so you wont lose the progress.
The difference is, here you have food/trinckets to boost skill xp rate. Also, if you unfortunate enough to die multiple times in a row, you wont lose skill points at all on normal difficulty, or beyond your current skill lvl on hard mode (as states in tips in world settings). So you wont get in a situation when your, i.e. 20 martial skill lvl becomes 10.

Base defence
Some may say, that in RS raids is pretty boring. They dont last long, dont destroy your base to the ground, lack defensive structures, and raid bands power depends on your base location, not overall world progress. And I wont argue. But for some, not to dig the damn moat along all your base so big fat angry enemies wont erase your hard efforts on building, is pretty important. Especially if you`re a solo player.

That being said, I myself was among those unfortunate people who waited couple years for Nigntingale to bloom, and those who recently found out that VRising got where it should be in devs eyes so no new content is coming. So I wont be surprised if another bit of my money will go down the drain again. Sad, undoubtedly. But imho RSDW still gave some good time with its distinctive mechs.

Any one that joins your world can instantly destroy all you have built and steal all your loot, they need to fix this immediately