Well, I have decided it might be a good idea to make another Calamity playthrough, and keep track of things that I notice. Just did two others the past weeks, this one I am doing now is purely Calamity mod though. No other mod. I hope I can perhaps contribute to some balance issues or general progression issues. I hope no one minds that I do it (in separate posts as I progress).
The quick hunt for Armor: Wulfrum
Well, the start is decided quite quickly. Chop some trees, make a tiny shelter, and go from there. My general idea was to quickly obtain some decent armor. And what better way to do so than Wulfrum? And this deed was done relatively quickly. On the first day, even. With a bit of luck, I also found enough lead to make myself an Anvil. And without much trouble, I got myself a full set of Wulfrum armor. But I quickly noticed how effective this armor was. It was almost too effective. It boosts damage a little, movement, and otherwise gives a ton of armor on low health. I mean, a total of 14 armor when below 50% health for the melee armor, that's more than what Tungsten/Silver armor has. And is even higher than Victide's base armor.
After finding out about this, I kinda thought it's a little too much, isn't it? Well, it is, actually. 14 armor, even if it's only conditional, for an armor set you can obtain within one day with low effort is nuts. I remembered the Wulfrum pickaxe was a really fast one. So I crafted it the next day as well. But I was disappointed by the slow speed. I was actually sad about the nerf, because it didn't have to be. The fast speed was good for exploring, evening out the ground, etc. But well, that's just my own interpretation. The weapons are mediocre, and quickly outclassed by what you can find in chests. Considering the armor set, it's proportionally unfair. Weapons bad, but the armor good. But that's not the only set with that issue.
Armageddon on - Victide done
Well, the next goal was to defeat the desert scourge. With the preparation that I usually go for, and Armageddon enabled, I quickly managed to rip through the desert scourge without problem. And with that, I got 6 treasure bags. I got a shadow heart, and a dashing item for the water. As well as enough victory shards and sea stuff to make a bunch of Victide bars. And Viola, victide stuff has been made. Full armor, Desert Scourge stuff, and of course the lovely and fast pickaxe. But wait... This pickaxe also wasn't fast. It's frustrating to see how slow most pickaxes got.
The armor set is pretty neat, but outside of the ocean, abyss and sunken sea, it's not my cup of tea, and actually feel like it tends to be worse than Wulfrum armor, if you ask me. Don't get me wrong, inside liquids, and especially in the Sunken sea and the Abyss, it's a must have if you go there early on. Provides a ton of buffs. But outside of it, I prefer to use Wulfrum armor or gold armor. Perhaps it's just me, but that's what I feel.
As for the weapons however, Victide stuff is pretty great. Sword and Bow are must haves for me, and the urchin spear is equally as useful for crowd control. The Boomerang? A true killer. This is the exact opposite of what the Wulfrum set is. Good weapons, mediocre armor.
Smiling down upon the bosses
With decent armor on, I went ahead and defeated bosses. Preparing for the King Slime boss fight, he was spawned and finished off quickly, even in Armageddon mode. Which was some more money and equipment. A grappling hook, and a mount. It seems funny how easy this boss went. It wasn't much different with the eye. However, I kept the Armageddon mode off this time. And even this boss fight was easily done. And with the Counter Scarf equipped now, I had extra defense.
Well, my verdict for those few hours played: Both Victide and Wulfrum equipment render pretty much everything else useless. I don't need to mine for Crimtane, considering I have crimson. BoC will be done easily with the weaponry given. The only thing I need is life crystals, and perhaps some more accessories. But what I can say by now is that Victide and Wulfrum may need a little look over. Especially when it comes to weapon-to-armor balance.
My suggestion: Remove the +5 armor effect from the Wulfrum armor, and replace it instead with "Super fast mining speed for Wulfrum pickaxe". Make Victide armor a bit more on-par with the progression. Considering how easy it is to defeat the Desert Scourge, it's pretty much guaranteed you can beat it theoretically right at the beginning with enough preparation.
Next goals/feedback will be: Sunken seas, and everything until hard mode. Again, if anybody minds this documentation, I can always stop and put it in a single document instead.
Kind regards ~ peri