Straw Hat became craftable from the start when RoG was added to DST.
In my opinion, the same should be applied to Earmuffs.
Reasons:
- It's a bad item you never go for if you already have a Science Machine. Why lock it in the same tier as Winter/Beefalo Hat?
- I play early game 90% of the time in DST. I have joined servers in Winter countless times.
9/10 times you will not have any gold left to craft a Science Machine, because people on the server have already hoarded everything.
In that case you have to either:
1. Search for Pig King.
OR
2. Craft a piece of grass armor and rush searching for MacTusk (and pray that others did not already kill him before you got there).
Also, pray for good RNG, because MacTusk doesn't always drop his hat.
- Earmuffs give you a couple additional seconds before freezing to death again. This means less trees burnt (the only way to survive Winter with no cold-resistant items), and if someone joins after you they will have a higher chance of survival (because you did not burn every tree on his way).
What are your thoughts on this?
Should this be a thing?
Maybe there is some broken cheese mechanic I do not know about that lets you skip the entire game and beat all bosses by Earmuffs becoming craftable with no Science Machine.