Because I like to punch trees

I assure you fellow survival fan, you not being able to carry materials through portals will absolutely improve the game and not just pad it out significantly!

(Valheim, in case you were wondering)

I agree, but I'm also torn there. The first boat trip back with a full cargo of previous new resources definitely felt more awesome than just stepping through a portal. By the fifth time the novelty has worn off though and I would like to teleport it please. Maybe something like the first 50 ingots need to be produced at the home base for your character to get "magically attuned" to the metal ?
- They introduce a tier 2 portal in the Ashlands that let's you teleport metal.
  IMO, a little too late (in terms of the game's biome progression), but still useful because sailing to and from the Ashlands in a bloated barge is a real bad time.
  Edit: added a parenthesis for clarity
- You just need to have something gated behind either a boss or significant investment of metal that you can upgrade your portals with.
- There are a few different mods that allow you to gate material teleporting in various ways. Closest to what you're suggesting would probably be AdvancedPortals which adds tiered portals created with higher-tier materials. I just use TeleportEverything because I don't think the restriction is fun or presents an interesting challenge.
luckily there were mods in the early days and then an official toggle for that feature.
I understand the design philosophy (we want people to sail around and experience the world) but after 100 hours the diversity just ain't there.
And on top of that, not make sailing a skill, the map reveal range hilariously short even in wide open oceans, not having much to do other than sometimes stopping to fish or collect chitin, and really only one threat in the ocean for 95% of the game who stops being a real threat once you're beyond wood/flint arrows (the actual threat being your fellow players shooting the boat's wonky collision)
I fully expect them to go back and rework sailing but right now its not a great time.
Still love it though

Mods make it easy, mods make it hard.

I personally am the over prepared type but that's why I get mods that extend the end game and put me through my own optimization and automation personal hell that causes everyone around me to question why I've never seen a therapist for my clearly neurodivergent behavior.

Y'know, expert Minecraft mods.

I have been playing a load of Abiotic Factor, It sits on the sweet spot between story and fun for me, Constant new mechanics, always the feeling that I am sneaking in a better way to do the thing. Game kinda Feels like Valheim got cuddley with HalfLife.

I've played that before, but have they removed/made players able to reduce frequency of appearance or outright stop the annoying moaning monster from the lab zone yet? I'm a solo player and it was a creepy encounter the first 5 times and then just an annoying interruption, and it was so constant and inescapable that it made me stop playing.
- You unlock a way to recontain it not long after it's introduced. You may need to build the x-ray lamp to get it to show up in your recipes.
  Fair warning though, there's a very similar monster in the late game that's infinitely more annoying, though at least it only appears in cold areas.

That's basically Grounded.

At least grounded has qol features for inventory management.
Most survival games don't even ship with quick stack or crafting from chests.
- This alone is one thing that makes Grounded stand out so much. Why do they make me suffer? Shuffling my equipment in and out of chests is not fun. I want to organize it, and then fill it up.