I was an early access backer. Exploration is pretty vital in my opinion. I like that the game has in-built flexibility with the editor (to create whole mod-like sub-systems and events.) but I see this as a means to enhance and chisel the exploration experience for a particular game/server.
I look forward to the Exploration updates mentioned:
* Expandable maps. (Great! I hope that with this comes slightly larger landmasses with smaller satellite masses around them. If the distance between Ylands could be significantly increased, then it would be perfect.)
* Water Physics. (Excellent. This caught me by surprise when someone on my game dug the edge of the starter Yland and it caused a trippy underwater tunnel.)
Could I also suggest the following too:
* Add functionality to the screwdriver to toggle the "pickable" property of free-placed items. (With one-way setting for the Building Blocks - ie; make non-pickable.)
* Add game options to disallow Barriers & Propeller Packs (Maybe block-owners could "unfix" their building blocks, and blocks could have a lot more health with ways of reinforcing them, instead, maybe? (especially doors.)) - I feel that Propeller packs are too OP right now. You can get one pretty quick in an exploration game and they very quickly remove a lot of difficulty. I would like to disable them; but if not - then making them slower and requiring charge at the very least would be nice.
* More drinks! (Coffee, beer, wine etc..)
* Capped collection backups (A rolling set of n backups for a game.)
Some more far-reaching ideas:
* Rope mechanics. (Tether things together - small boats to a dock, a horse to a post, a small boat to a larger boat)
* Hot-Editor (Access to an instance of the Editor while playing for Characters with a Role assigned - I understand this would need to be limited to certain editor features, but being able to lock things down / move things / change entity properties on the fly would be a great addition. Currently I have to quit and create a new editor instance, then open my game file from there, then re-join my new game.)