Another game I play often does "balance previews" when major changes are coming. The draft patch notes with all exact numbers and planned changes are posted a week or more before the actual patch.

This allows the devs to gather community feedback before things go live. If something was overlooked they can make tweaks before patching, and if there's backlash they know exactly what to watch and assess and possibly go back to the drawing board on. Usually the preview is very similar to what actually goes live! But it gives the community time to prepare and gives the devs a headstart on identifying any issues that may need more work.

Wth the intent to overhaul cooking and stamina, I think LW could benefit from doing something similar.

I think this would be a great idea! To be fair, Lorwolf is still a slighty newer game, compared to FR, CS, etc, it it wouldn’t hurt!

What other games does this?

(@DuskWolf pinging because you asked which game, but this is also just elaborating on the suggestion in general ^^)

The one I was personally thinking of when making the suggestion is Guild Wars 2. Which, granted, is an MMO and not a pet site. But it really works well, and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work here too. Here's an example of their most recent preview. This one came out a month before the update did. When changing something fundamental to the way the game works, it's just fact that devs can't always anticipate all the ripple effects or ways it'll impact different playstyles. Getting feedback before things go live is therefore extremely valuable.

I do want to emphasize that this is NOT something they do for every update. There are still regular small balance tweaks that just go in standard patch notes as they happen. Balance previews are specifically for large scale sweeping changes that will have big impacts on all manner of gameplay.

Those sorts of massive changes will be much more likely to happen in an MMO than a pet game, clearly. But as LW is getting their footing and potentially having to make major changes for the overall health of the game, I think that providing this sort of detailed preview would be helpful to both the devs and the players. It would also help generate goodwill, as players will at least know what to expect and can prepare accordingly, even if they don't necessarily agree with the changes made.