Blocks & Decoration Battle Standards: A much needed answer to Terraria's RNG grind.

Would you lot find this a useful?

  • Yes, but I wouldn't use it often.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    11

Phyzile

Terrarian
I came up with this idea while I was farming for the Nazar in expert mode, which took literally 150+ cursed skull kills (based on the number of banners I'd acquired)
The RNG based system for rare items is undoubtedly annoying and encourages AFK farming rather than active gameplay. This is the solution I came up with.

Battle Standards: a placeable block that toggles more frequent spawning of a specified enemy with higher drop rates, balanced with buffs to said enemies.
This would kill two birds with one stone; increasing drop rates to quicken gameplay while buffing them to make the gameplay more engaging and enjoyable.

Of course, a concept like this has a couple of hurdles.
1) Choosing the enemies.
Now Terraria has a distinct style where blocks don't tend to have any sort of GUI, being limited to chests and crafting utensils. Most utility blocks have a single button for use, like switches and campfires. Now this limits how we can implement an item like this, since using a GUI isn't like Terraria and _not_ using a GUI reduces how we can use it. My solution is to use banners.
Banners have the advantage of being fully programmed, textured and polished while also being placeable. My idea would be to place the banner onto a Battle Standard frame to complete it, converting the banner from a player buff to a mob buff. Here's a mock-up of how that could look:
Battle Standard Concept (SCALED) .png


2) Balancing.
An item that increases spawn rates _and_ drop chances is definitely a powerful one. Ideas for balancing were briefly mentioned above, but here's a more in-depth look:
One way to balance these would be to, as stated above, buff the enemies too. Increase their health, defence, attack, speed etc to make them more powerful, engaging the player.
Another way to balance these would be to limit their usage. Perhaps the battle standard could trigger a mini-event that consumes the banner, prompting an invasion like scenario not too dissimilar from the goblin or martian invasions. Perhaps they could only be used where the creature is found (i.e. corruptors only spawn in corruption, so the standard can only be used in corruption).

What are the benefits of this item then?
Well the primary purpose is to reduce the grindy aspect of Terraria. Some people love it, others hate it, hence why it's an item and not a built in mechanic.
This item could also revitalise long forgotten materials and creatures. Who here honestly goes out to kill off goblin scouts? Who here farms vileshrooms? Not me, that's for sure. An item like this can add a new use for older items, I mean tattered cloth is already used to make a Goblin battle standard, so why not a generalised one?

Overall, the point of this would be to crack down on Terraria's grind while adding a fun challenge. Not much else I could say. Any questions can go in the comments below :)
 

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Tbh I feel like it would be better if this was just a change made to banners as a whole. If you have the patience to kill 50 of an enemy (especially "rare" enemies like chaos elementals) they should make banners boost the spawnrate of that particular enemy. Plus, it would have adventure map potential if they made it so being near a banner spawned that enemy even if you weren't in the right biome (could get buggy with sand sharks though...)
 
Tbh I feel like it would be better if this was just a change made to banners as a whole. If you have the patience to kill 50 of an enemy (especially "rare" enemies like chaos elementals) they should make banners boost the spawnrate of that particular enemy. Plus, it would have adventure map potential if they made it so being near a banner spawned that enemy even if you weren't in the right biome (could get buggy with sand sharks though...)
Making banners spawn enemies more frequently would entirely change their purpose, making them do the opposite of what they already do.
 
And that's where the Battle Standard comes in
Imo we don't need a new item for this when the current system could be modified to work just fine. The original point of banners were to be COMPLETELY decorative, so we're lucky that 1.3 even gave us the current system.
 
Here's a few ideas:

As for balancing, why not make banners and battle standards nullify each other? That'd mean battle standards nerf the stats that the banners buff and viceversa (Instead of buffing the enemies directly, it's easier to nerf your damage against them, since it's just a banner in reverse).

That'd way, you wouldn't be able to abuse having banners of that exact enemy there to make farming them even easier, but it'd still be helpful, as you'd be facing hordes of that very enemy… they just wouldn't, be as strong as with the battle standard alone; the standard could just nullify the banner by out-nerfing the buffs it gives, if that ain't enough.

It'd also be interesting to have battle standards come in tiers (Duel Banner/Battle Standard/War Flag?), that way you'd be able to sort of measure the risk and reward of facing a horde of an specific enemy.

Wanna fight a bazillion ×4 damage unicorns with 50% damage mitigation just to get swimming in horns & blessed apples? Be my guest, if the option to fight a smaller horde of easier enemies for the same loot on a larger timespan (or viceversa: harder enemies to save even more time grinding) is there, well, that'd be nice too!
 
I don't get why people call Terraria "grindy". Like...do you even need an Ankh shield? It really doesn't do much for you late game anyways.
And nor do you need the super specific weapon drops of an enemy, Terraria is balanced in that any item you pick up has a replacement for it, you don't *need* the best stuff. It's not grindy you're just trophy hunting.
 
And nor do you need the super specific weapon drops of an enemy, Terraria is balanced in that any item you pick up has a replacement for it, you don't *need* the best stuff. It's not grindy you're just trophy hunting.
How can you argue that Terraria isn't grindy when so much of it is just waiting?

Trophy hunting is a part of any game, you're doing it wrong if your game is unfun when players try to get everything
 
I don't get why people call Terraria "grindy". Like...do you even need an Ankh shield? It really doesn't do much for you late game anyways.
And nor do you need the super specific weapon drops of an enemy, Terraria is balanced in that any item you pick up has a replacement for it, you don't *need* the best stuff. It's not grindy you're just trophy hunting.
Always, has a replacment? *Celebration walks in*
 
Always, has a replacment? *Celebration walks in*
The Celebration is unironically good. It's not even the worst moon lord drop (that honor goes to the Rainbow Crystal Staff.)
How can you argue that Terraria isn't grindy when so much of it is just waiting?
You only need to wait twice in a playthrough minimum, and that is for voodoo demons, and also debatably plantera. You can just rush and go out of your way for boss spawners if you are that impatient.
 
The only problem with it is that the Snowman Cannon is better than it and it's obtained before the lunar events.
I wouldn't say it's better, they just fill completely different niches. It is probably better overall, but the Celebration hits through walls with much greater efficiency..

Plus, even the Queen Spider Staff is more useful than the Rainbow Crystal. At least it HITS things.
 
How can you argue that Terraria isn't grindy when so much of it is just waiting?

Trophy hunting is a part of any game, you're doing it wrong if your game is unfun when players try to get everything
Oh no...have I spent 900 hours of Terraria playing it wrong?! :eek:
There is no wrong way to play a game.
You only need to wait twice in a playthrough minimum, and that is for voodoo demons, and also debatably plantera. You can just rush and go out of your way for boss spawners if you are that impatient.
^ Said it best. There is no grind to be had, the most tedious thing I've had to do is get the Supreme Fishing quest achievement, and that was of my own volition.
I'm not one of those people who needs or wants to spend hours finding the best farming technique for Crimson Keys.
 
I love these, as a sort of opposite of a banner system. There have been many times when I wished I had the increased slaw rate of certain enemies in order to gather their loot. The only problem I see is a meteor head one. Sure, it’ll make them stronger, but not by much. And their loot totally justifies the risk. Some late preHM weapons can one shot them, and soon you’ll be racking up a bunch of money.
 
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