I agree with HellishFiend (The post above me was not there a minute ago, blimey ,p)
I seem to be again totally direction less and left without any guidance after the tutorial.
->
1. Get granite. Then get and use a residential and storage tower NPC.
2. Get Purple shards. Now get a Stonebinder Tri-Tower.
3. Now that your Stonebinder should be at level 3, get blue shards and use an Aquaurgists Well.
4. Now that you can make windshelters when you want, get green shards and make a Lumbermancy Focal Station.
You can make it a toggle but i feel as if this whole build-up phase needs a feature rich (meaning not just a "go there, fetch that" quest style) tutorial that leads us from start of the game to stage 4
After all, the game only really "starts" proper after you got to stage 4 - and for the first continent it seems to me this ought to be a tutorial/scripted section for the very first continent. And this should cover all gameplay related elements as well in the process (resistances, shields, spells, materials, where to get what, easy way to find where to get what, etc.)
After this level-up to stage 4 phase the over-arching goals should be revealed (not before) so that clutter and confusion are kept to a minimum.
call it the "tutorial mode" or whatever because after the first time and barring heavy changes this is then no longer needed. I also think the text and dialog for that first "tutorial mode" peek into the game should be of particular importance and written with great care. This is what sets the game up - if the learning curve is a cliff, then that would be bad ;p)
(to me, its a black hole, because i am a bit confused with old/new information right now)