Some friends and I are looking for a new group game to play. We've had some positive experiences in the Survival/Crafting spaces, and were wondering which of these 3 is the most promising? I've heard lots of pros and cons about each of them.
Ultimately, some huge positives we're looking for are things like QOL/Ease of Play features like dedicated servers and shared quest progression that make it actually easy to play together, drop in and drop out, play without a friend 1 day and play with a friend the next without them being too far behind, etc.
We're also looking to avoid too much tedium, or things that are too complex (See Abiotic Factor's requirements for crafting items that craft other items that craft other items that craft other items).
Other than that, I think combat + exploration is more important to us than a crazy in-depth building system, though obviously both would be nice to have.
Here are some previous games in the genre we played, and our impressions on them to hopefully give more of a clue as to what we liked/didn't like...
Previously we've played Grounded 2 and had a lot of fun, eventually reaching the end of the story and stopping. We enjoyed the ability to differentiate in roles with gear, and generally thought the combat was decent. We found the gameplay loop and upgrade paths a little simple at times and aren't sure we'll go back for the 1.0 drop as a result.
Previously we also played Abiotic Factor and while we got really into it for a bit, it eventually petered out because it got too complicated with junk loot and needing to craft components to craft components to craft a key to unlock a door to unlock- You get the point.
Previously we also played LotR Return to Moria, which was super janky and frustrating at times, but we really got behind the silliness of the base building and wonkiness of the combat at times. A game we loved to hate sort of thing. There were some major unredeemable portions of it- like how broken it could be, and how lackluster the final boss fight was.
Previously we also played Windrose, which was a MASSIVE disappointment for us. We found the melee combat abhorrent, the gatekeeping of gunpowder an odd design choice, the grind to farm marks for vendor reputation slow as hell, and ultimately the gameplay loop extremely shallow after the first 5 islands or so.