Okay, I know what you're thinking: "Dude, just skip all of these." Well, you might be right, but hear me out anyway.
First, I apologize if this has been said before, but I couldn't find a similar thread to this.
Anyway:
I just recently got back into this game. I like to do hardcore runs, but I also suck, so you can imagine how that turns out.
To keep things interesting, I decided to only make my house at the Ocean. However, in the process of doing that, I think I've discovered an issue in the game: Cactus armor is OP.
Now, seeing as this is the earliest of early game. We need to think about it in two ways: veteran players and new players.
So, let's walk through both.
New players: They'll only craft Wood armor (or Booreal Wood armor, if they spawned in a snow biome).
They probably won't craft any other Wood armor (or Cactus armor), since going underground is what the game points you towards, getting the other wood is too difficult if they don't go underground, and who would expect Cactus armor to exist without prior knowledge?
Veteran players: They'll only craft Cactus armor (assuming they don't just skip this tier entirely).
Cactus, Ebonwood, and Shadewood are currently the strongest armor that can be acquired at the start of the game using only surface materials. Seeing as cactus is so easy to get, there is no reason not to just craft that and ignore the rest.
So as you can see, the Shadewood, Ebonwood, Palm Wood, and Rich Mahogany armors aren't going to be used in any playthrough. I have two solutions.
My first solution: Buff all of the useless ones up by 1. This will make Palm Wood and Rich Mahogany armors (which always require a little adventuring) slightly stronger than the Booreal Wood armor (which is sometimes available at spawn, but sometimes isn't, so it stays in a middling tier). This also makes Shadwood/Ebonwood armors stronger than Cactus! So, problem solved, pretty much?
Now, before you say this makes a wood armor as strong as copper - you're right, but getting Shadewood/Ebonwood is far riskier than getting copper at this point in the game. In fact, the evil & jungle woods could probably be buffed up more than 1, or even given a new set bonus, without ruining the balance. But if you're still hung up on it, my second solution bypasses this.
My second solution: Change Cactus armor to a different point of progression. If we look at the Jungle armor, it's crafted both from a plant and from enemy drops. I think this idea could be transplanted into Cactus. What if we added Antlion Mandibles to the crafting recipe for Cactus armor? Then Cactus armor could be buffed up by a lot. A thorns buff of some kind could be implemented, too. I mean, you'd expect thorns from a Cactus armor. (Though, I also think the Underground Desert enemies are way too strong and seriously need to be nerfed, which might throw a wrench in adding Antlion Mandibles here, but that's beyond the scope of this suggestion.)
Anyway, that's about it. I know Rich Mahogany, Palm Wood, and Pearlwood armors would still pretty much be useless, but having Shadewood/Ebonwood armor be appropriately leveled for the risk it takes to get them is enough, in my opinion; the others just need to be appropriately scaled to match. This is already the case for the swords (Cactus sword is 9 damage and evil wood sword is 10).
Imagine making an account just to suggest a couple armors no one uses should get 1 more defense.
First, I apologize if this has been said before, but I couldn't find a similar thread to this.
Anyway:
I just recently got back into this game. I like to do hardcore runs, but I also suck, so you can imagine how that turns out.
To keep things interesting, I decided to only make my house at the Ocean. However, in the process of doing that, I think I've discovered an issue in the game: Cactus armor is OP.
Now, seeing as this is the earliest of early game. We need to think about it in two ways: veteran players and new players.
So, let's walk through both.
New players: They'll only craft Wood armor (or Booreal Wood armor, if they spawned in a snow biome).
They probably won't craft any other Wood armor (or Cactus armor), since going underground is what the game points you towards, getting the other wood is too difficult if they don't go underground, and who would expect Cactus armor to exist without prior knowledge?
Veteran players: They'll only craft Cactus armor (assuming they don't just skip this tier entirely).
Cactus, Ebonwood, and Shadewood are currently the strongest armor that can be acquired at the start of the game using only surface materials. Seeing as cactus is so easy to get, there is no reason not to just craft that and ignore the rest.
So as you can see, the Shadewood, Ebonwood, Palm Wood, and Rich Mahogany armors aren't going to be used in any playthrough. I have two solutions.
My first solution: Buff all of the useless ones up by 1. This will make Palm Wood and Rich Mahogany armors (which always require a little adventuring) slightly stronger than the Booreal Wood armor (which is sometimes available at spawn, but sometimes isn't, so it stays in a middling tier). This also makes Shadwood/Ebonwood armors stronger than Cactus! So, problem solved, pretty much?
Now, before you say this makes a wood armor as strong as copper - you're right, but getting Shadewood/Ebonwood is far riskier than getting copper at this point in the game. In fact, the evil & jungle woods could probably be buffed up more than 1, or even given a new set bonus, without ruining the balance. But if you're still hung up on it, my second solution bypasses this.
My second solution: Change Cactus armor to a different point of progression. If we look at the Jungle armor, it's crafted both from a plant and from enemy drops. I think this idea could be transplanted into Cactus. What if we added Antlion Mandibles to the crafting recipe for Cactus armor? Then Cactus armor could be buffed up by a lot. A thorns buff of some kind could be implemented, too. I mean, you'd expect thorns from a Cactus armor. (Though, I also think the Underground Desert enemies are way too strong and seriously need to be nerfed, which might throw a wrench in adding Antlion Mandibles here, but that's beyond the scope of this suggestion.)
Anyway, that's about it. I know Rich Mahogany, Palm Wood, and Pearlwood armors would still pretty much be useless, but having Shadewood/Ebonwood armor be appropriately leveled for the risk it takes to get them is enough, in my opinion; the others just need to be appropriately scaled to match. This is already the case for the swords (Cactus sword is 9 damage and evil wood sword is 10).