"One Terraria" - For too long, we have felt that the Terraria community was too "fragmented", driven by some pretty large content differences between the various versions. One of the key goals of the Console & Mobile rewrite is to bridge that gap and bring everyone together into a more unified experience. What does that mean, exactly?
- Bringing the other versions more in-line with the expectations of the core PC version in regards to gameplay and visuals - only deviating where appropriate or needed.
- Narrowing - or even potentially eliminating - the "update gap" between PC updates and when these are rolled out to Console (and Mobile).
- Once that is in place, even exploring more "out there" ideas like crossplay or content sharing that such parity could potentially allow (no promises here - just sharing the thinking!
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So, what does this mean in practical terms? That we have done all that we can to make what you will receive as close as possible to the PC Terraria 1.3 experience. It also means that the teams have a pretty aggressive update plan moving forward with the goal of fully catching Console (and eventually, Mobile) up to PC... and then closely coordinating update development once we are at parity to greatly shrink or even remove the "update gap" altogether. Once we get all of that together, gone should be the days of Console and Mobile players getting content up to a year later - if all goes to plan.
We suspect that will be music to your ears - and it certainly is to ours! We are looking forward to sharing the details of that plan once we get through the Console 1.3 launch window. That said, this plan has other implications, so we encourage you to read up on those below. Taken together, we are confident that this will put Terraria and the community in a much better place a year from now than today - and today is pretty good already.
Several of you asked along the way what would come of the exclusive content that was originally released for console Terraria at launch in 2013. As we noted in response, the teams were going to take a close look at all of that content and decide what the best path forward would be here. Below, you will find the end results of that review. We fully expect that this will be met with a mixed reaction, so we want to share the "why" and logic behind this decision up front. In the end, we feel this will be a small bit of short term pain for some... with some longer term benefits for everyone.
Most of the current "exclusive" content in Console will be greatly changed or phased out altogether. (Details Below)
Why?
- When this content was added to the game, things were very different. PC development had ceased for a time, and this was all "endgame" content for everyone to interact with and continue their adventure.
- Since that time, things have obviously greatly changed for Terraria and the game's development. Quite simply, the game has outgrown the content itself and even the need for there to be exclusives for console.
- The content itself is obsolete and has never fit with the vision for Terraria. What was endgame gear is now a mix of vanity and mid-game gear that is more of a stopgap/alternate to Chlorophyte that is simply not needed in the game anymore.
- These tweaks make possible that the remaining content may see its way onto PC, finally yielding a true "One Terraria" experience once the "catch up" effort is completed.
What is changing?
- Current Console Exclusive armors will remain in game, but will be converted to vanity sets. These will be available via the Traveling Merchant's rotating inventory.
- Currently-owned sets will still exist, but will automatically be changed to Vanity.
- Current Console Exclusive weapons will be removed from the game entirely.
- Currently-owned weapons will be automatically replaced with similar gear at the Chlorophyte tier (i.e. Tonbogiris will be replaced with Chlorophyte Partisans)
- Sharanga will be replaced with Hellwing Bow and Spectral Arrows/Vulcan Bolts with Hellfire/Chlorophyte arrows, respectively
- Console-Exclusive mobs will be removed in their entirety.
- Most of these were reskins/recolors that do not fit into vision and balance of the game. There is a chance that a few of the more interesting will be revisited at a later date.
- Console Vanity will be removed from the game, with the exception of the Horned God set. This will be added to the Traveling Merchant's inventory.
- Sparkly Wings will be removed from the game
- Currently-owned Sparkly Wings will be replaced by Cenx's Wings.
- Console-exclusive Pets will be removed from the game
- Currently-owned exclusive pets will be replaced with a gold bunny each. Feel free to sell him for 10g or put it in your very own bunny cage to replace that pet companionship.
- There is a chance that a few of these will be revisited at a later date and re-added to the game with revamped art and/or AI.
These changes will also apply to the Mobile version of Terraria. **We have not yet discussed the Mobile Exclusive Content. We do, however, understand that the Mobile experience is a different and unique one - so we would ask that no one attempt to draw any premature conclusions on what will happen there based on what our decisions were here.
You will have noticed that Ocram was missing from our list above. Well, to be honest, we have never felt Ocram was a good fit or a really engaging boss fight. So, we are afraid that Ocram will be leaving us once the Terraria Console 1.3 update arrives.
Ocram Changes
- Ocram and his related mobs and summons will be removed from the game.
- Ocram Mask and Trophy will remain in the game as "legacy" items. Any that exist at the update will remain, but there will be no further way to obtain them in game once the update arrives.
- Souls of Blight will be removed from the game
- Players will receive 5g for each Soul of Blight owned (the current sell price of Souls of Blight)
Whew, that was a lot to cover! We are sure that you all have tons of questions, and we will seek to answer them as we can. No, we do not have an exact date to give you right this second other than to say a TON of progress has been made and the team is hopeful to have something more concrete to share soon. The Pipeworks team is focused on the last few things before they can submit - squashing the final list of bugs and working on Split Screen Multiplayer performance optimization. Once those are wrapped up, they should be ready to submit. The goal remains to reach submission before the end of Q3, but we will not submit before the game is ready. We will absolutely let you know the instant submission occurs or if a bit more time will be needed.
Thanks for all of your support along this long and winding journey to Console and Mobile 1.3. We know it has required your patience, but we are confident that the end result will be well worth the wait!
