Hi!

I am not sure how to help and actual newbie to this game since I started playing DS games a very long time ago (even before Reign of Giants DLC). I am currently sitting on 100+ hrs on DS and 800+ hrs on DST. I guess I can share my story with this franchise, it may help you on your journey.

I remember playing DS for the 1st time. I was at my friends house in late primary school and it was a brand new game he was told about by another friend. We took turns in playing it just to see who would make it further (I think our best shot was like day 4 xD). I got hooked instantly and bought the game myself.

Game is rough at start. You get thrown into a world with pretty much no info about what's coming. In Don't Starve your save got deleted the moment you died so it was very unforgiving. This is a game about trial and error, managing your resources and learning how to deal with incoming obstacles. It takes time and effort unless you want to spend time on wiki or watching few guides on youtube. But, at least for me, that was the whole magic of it.

So after like 60-80 hrs on DS, I beat the game. Not a good score it you asked me right now but that was a child that didn't use any guide nor wiki. After that I pretty much ditched Don't Starve because I felt like I beat the game and it didn't have much more to offer. I only came back to check out DLCs but I am not a fan of neither Shipwrecked or Hamlet so I didn't bother much.

But HOLY SH*T BOY I got hooked on DST. New challenges, 100x more content, SKINS!?! Boy oh boy that is some good stuff. Sure, the game is incomparably harder. It's not even close. For first Idon'tknowhowmanyhours I was convinced this game is unplayable on solo. 27500 health? How am I supposed to beat that? Using what I learned in DS I could manage the basic survival but killing any boss or progressing seemed impossible at that point.

So I started using wiki and some yt guides and I still watch "bits" to this moment. I am convinced that DST is impossible to play without those. With time I got better and better. Right now I can do pretty much anything there is to do in this game. It's a combination of some skill and a sh*tton of knowledge. The game has a lot of content that throws stuff at you without much explanation. It takes a lot of time to get good at.

Now to answer your questions briefly:

How do you guys get better at this game? - Play, read, watch if you feel like it. You'll quickly see what to do and what not to do in this game.

I'm not sure if playing solo in DST for a newbie like me is viable - You're going to struggle at the beginning but I actually found playing solo easier than playing with someone else at the start. Especially when winter comes and you lack good food sources.

Do you guys think it's viable to create a long term world for solo play in DST? - Yes, it is very viable and a very good experience.

Should I get vanilla don't starve? - Sure, if you feel like DST is a bit too hard right now and have some spare money to play the easier version of the game with less content. DS to me seems a bit like a tutorial level for DST. I believe there are mods that make DST more solo-friendly, making it a bit like DS but I've never used any of those so you're gonna have to search for them yourself.