Shoes: Warmth and Harvested Materials Logic

[GoGoGadget]

I'm relatively new to the game but I've been perusing the wiki pages reading about clothing items and have noticed some stats that seem backwards or otherwise don't make logical sense. I expected to find rationale by comparing all the items in the category to find some balance reasons, but a few don't seem right.

• Trail boots/Mackenzie's Boots: Same base warmth as the leather dress shoes and running shoes (which are typically synthetic materials and have mesh panels). This is absurd, less so for the leather dress shoes but more so for the running shoes, but both should be colder than any solid leather above-ankle boot. These two boots are also half the base warmth as the work boots, which are basically the same boot construction minus a steel toe in the real world. 
• Trail boots/Mackenzie's boots, ski boots & combat boots: When harvested, give only 1 cured leather, even though they are tall, full-shank boots. Combat boots and ski boots especially go halfway up the calf, but only give 1 leather, even though the shorter work boots give 2?
• Running shoes & leather shoes: When harvested, give 2 cured leather, while the trail/mackenzie/combat/ski boots only give 1. The leather shoes are made of leather, sure, but it really should give only 1 when harvested while those other four taller boots should give you 2 (but it's backwards). The running shoes really shouldn't give any leather, more like cloth, and if for the sake of the game mechanic of all shoes requiring/giving leather to repair/harvest, the running shoes should definitely not give more leather than any full-shank leather boot. 
• Making my own specific recommendations for the warmth/wind ratings of the shoes is complex because of having to weigh the other features of all the shoes, but in general I think these changes should be made:
  • Leather shoes should have more wind bonus than the running shoes, but perhaps leave the base warmth the same. Both should give only 1 leather when harvested, and maybe the running shoes should only give cloth and no leather. 
  • Trail/Mackenzie's boots should give more base warmth than the leather/running shoes, perhaps being the same as the combat boots or work boots. Both should give 2 leather when harvested, as should the ski boots and combat boots. 
  • Work boots base warmth should drop a bit and be the same as the combat boots and probably the trail boots, too. As of now they are way too close (only 0.5 C difference) to the warmth of mountaineering boots, which should be much, much warmer than any typical construction worker boot. Harvesting the work boots should give the same amount of leather as the combat and trail boots, meaning an increase in the other boots to 2 leather. 
• https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Clothing

[nicko]

some great detailed points which im sure the devs could use or act on balance issues. I have always gone for the Mukluks.

[s7mar7in]

20 hours ago, GoGoGadget said:

specific recommendations for the warmth/wind ratings of the shoes is complex

This is a good call-out @GoGoGadget, and welcome to the forum my friend.

To add my 2 cents:

• Possibly this is deliberately complex so players will consider more than the warmth value.
• Possibly these are game development place-holder values, (everything changes with time and updates).

The most glaring example of shoes not being a simple item is when you complete a series of quests during Story Mode, and are gifted with your first pair of mountain hiking boots,

 

expected Grey Mother's daughter's mountain climbing gear to be top tier items,

you find they are in perfect condition...but not a great improvement compared to other shoes.

Best of luck my friend.