And to preempt the inevitable shitpost: yes, we know they're SAYING this feature will be optional. But our trust that it won't become a mandatory obstacle at some point is basically non-existent.
Paranoia much? I actually agree with the rationale, too many new players go for a challenge start or a profession like Prototype Cyborg first, get frustrated, and quit. Those professions being available to new players often hurts them.
But what if you decide to update and just start all over rather than having to mess around with moving folders and want to play one of the challenge things from the start rather than having to go through a bunch of shit to get the achievement?
Don't you already move settings and save files and stuff like that when updating? You can also use a launcher and forget about it.
In general, this feels like more knee-jerk drama and overreaction that will be forgotten about in a month. Plenty of other roguelikes and roguelites have this kind of meta-progression, and for good reason. Having too many options available to new players tends to lead them into doing things that sound cool but simply can't be pulled off by them. I bet if the BN devs did this, we wouldn't hear a single peep here. But no, Kevin and Erk are literally the second comings of Hitler and Stalin, and nothing they ever do is good, any design decision they make is meant to remove fun, and every out-of-context quote from them represents their intent. Grow up. The whining here is some amazing motivation for me to make PRs for DDA.
I actually think realism is fun, TBH. Part of why I don't play BN, the other part is that the community has too much freedom of speech and thus attracts various bigots who were expelled from the DDA community. The last thing I want to do is associate with them. It's toxic.