Ranking biomes by the feeling you get before obtaining the gear from this very biome.

Just had this little comparison in mind.
How it feels entering the biome before you obtain this biome's resources and craft a new gear.

Update: to be extra clear, these are not based on the first time in the biome ever.
Just being on previous tier tech.

Meadows:
Nothing can really kill you here (except maybe two-star boars, but they are exceptionally rare).
*edit: and of course trees falling on your head, how could I forget.
Cozy atmosphere, the breeze of a new beginning, getting your gear piece by piece, enjoying the music, building your first base.
It doesn't feel hard, but it feels very meaningful.
8 / 10.

Black Forest:
Locals usually go in parties and are quite scary in the beginning.
Nothing out of ordinary, but after the calm of meadows — this definitely feels like it requires some effort and WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT A TROLL.
Now, being a veteran - I don't get much chills by getting surrounded by a pack of greydwarves and I know that a flint spear makes troll leather much faster than a bow, but this biome never feels boring (until I have bronze weapons, that is).
9 / 10.

Swamp:
The spike in difficulty could be offset by knowing what you're doing.
The combat feels more challenging, more variety in enemies, more brutal spawners than in Black Forest.
And of course, the people's favorite constant wet debuff, which is quite annoying.
Overall makes for more (both in quantity and quality) dangerous situations, the cost of the mistake is higher, but the victory feels so sweet.
One thing I really like the swamps for is - they're evenly flat.
8 / 10.

Mountain:
Introduction of a freeze mechanic, flying enemies, wolves hit like a truck (and there's always few of them in one place). Much more challenging in my opinion than Swamp (on enter), it could have been the most fun so far if not for one giant elephant in this room: SLOPES. Wolves hit like a truck, have (what feels like a) smaller hitbox than other enemies (except for Necks, probably) and OH YEAH IT'S TWO PIXELS HIGHER / LOWER than your character — git good and have fun at your respawn location.
Vertical combat kills so much fun off of the game for me.
4 / 10.

Plains:
I don't know where to start.
The fights feel fun and challenging.
Assaulting the villages feels even more fun.
Hunting Lox feels amazing.
Deathskitoes can be annoying, but I personally almost didn't have any problems with them. Maybe a couple stupid deaths, but not much.
The surface has different elevations, but changes are very gradual.
For the first time since meadows all required items just drop from enemies, no need to swing your pickaxe.
Hands down, best biome on entering (prepared),
10 / 10.

Mistlands:
It looks amazing IF ONLY YOU COULD SEE.
Being surrounded by the mist with only a few meters of sight radius with your wisp taking away the slot of your beloved belt might feel fairy for an hour, but gets really old rally quick.
Navigation sucks.
Did you like the verticality of a Mountain? Oh yeah, have some more verticality but this time with fucking STONE SPIRES.
Oh and don't you dare sprinting in here — one misstep and you check if you're above 100hp for taking that fall damage.
I did enjoy this biome after I obtained the gear from local resources, but before that I seriously considered quitting the game.
2 / 10.

Ashlands:
The landing reminded me of Doom Eternal, except you're a random NPC marine against the swarm of imps (twitchers) and Doom Guys (literally any other mob in the biome except vultures). Constant battles, getting your ass kicked, progressing 20 meters of landmass in 3 hours. Extremely challenging, but every battle won has the weight. AND THE LAND IS (almost) FLAT.
It's tedious, it's challenging, but it's really fun (unless dying really freaks you out). And it's very hard.
8 / 10.