Yjay
Terrarian
Firstly, a concrete idea on how to do this:
Change the Bast Statue from a primary to a secondary item (i.e. Same spawning rules as Desert Minecart as Encumbering Stone. Chests in Terraria are guaranteed a primary item, and they have a chance for one or more secondary items.)
Suggested Rarity: 1/5 or 1/7 (same as Encumbering Stone)
And - Bast remains on Oasis / Mirage Crate loot table. (Other secondary items are not obtainable via crates but it makes sense for the Bast to remain accessible through via crates.)
Rationale:
1.4.4 is already bringing a change to Bast Statue spawning- specifically, allowing it to spawn on the ground like a regular statue. So, it's evident that the devs want to make it more common.
As a whole, making Basts' easier to obtain is logical because unlike other items (i.e. Magic Conch), you need more than one to the bonus they provide efficiently and effectively in your world.
Two or three Bast statues is enough to cover even a large arena- but most players have more than one arena. (i.e. Main one near base, Jungle Arena, eventually Ocean for Duke.) It is an option to carry it from arena to arena, but it's also evident that the devs are wanting to minimize moving around arena-related items in 1.4.4 as well, given the changes coming to the sharpening station / ammo box / etc.
(Specifically, see here, from upcoming 1.4.4 changes:
Having the Bast spawn on the ground will help casual players obtain more of them- however, I still think that even then it will be too to be useful in a regular run, due to their spawning rules in chests.
From the wiki:
In generating small worlds for research purposes, I noticed that 1/5 of them didn't have a single Bast statue anywhere- much less enough to cover multiple arenas. (Tools used: TEdit chest search funtionality functions).
Getting a subjective grasp on the rarity is what spurred me to do more quantitative research on Large Worlds, figuring that Small Worlds were just a worst case scenario:
From 25 Large Worlds generated, the data was the following:
If you were to explore the entirety of the underground desert in Large World, you'd still only get an average of 3-4 Bast statues. Which, is sufficient for two or three arenas- But that would require hours of exploration that a player would rather spend doing other things, rather than getting a small +5 defense buff for bosses. Obtaining a workable number of Bast Statues should just be a by-product of Underground Desert exploration, rather than something you need to go far out of your way for.
Now then, I know you can obtain Bast Statues from fishing. But even that is remarkably slow- During a long, 10-person playthrough, I fished for about three hours with high power (Full angler gear + crate potions + golden rod). The yield was forty some-odd Oasis crates, which provided about 8 Bast statues; We went through about six of them building arenas during the course of the run.
From what I've gathered, that's more fishing than many players do over the course of an entire run, much less time spent exclusively Oasis Fishing to get Bast Statues for arenas (The other reason I was fishing for so long was to get Pearls, but their rarity has since been improved.)
One last comment, pertaining to 1.4.4- I'm hoping that floor-placed Bast Statues can spawn in both Underground and Cavern layers as another means to help reduce scarcity, to once again help Casual players find and use them more. (As opposed to locking it to only the Cavern layer, like how they currently spawn in chests.)
Summary
Overall, I think that the Bast Statue fits well as a secondary item- it is not as impactful as the other weapons it shares the lower-desert loot table with, and the average player needs multiple to get convenient use of out of it. So, it being a secondary item (with the potential to spawn in a Sandstone Chest in both Underground or Cavern layers) suits it well, and help alleviate the rarity issue.
Feedback and discussion are welcome and encouraged!
Change the Bast Statue from a primary to a secondary item (i.e. Same spawning rules as Desert Minecart as Encumbering Stone. Chests in Terraria are guaranteed a primary item, and they have a chance for one or more secondary items.)
Suggested Rarity: 1/5 or 1/7 (same as Encumbering Stone)
And - Bast remains on Oasis / Mirage Crate loot table. (Other secondary items are not obtainable via crates but it makes sense for the Bast to remain accessible through via crates.)
Rationale:
1.4.4 is already bringing a change to Bast Statue spawning- specifically, allowing it to spawn on the ground like a regular statue. So, it's evident that the devs want to make it more common.
As a whole, making Basts' easier to obtain is logical because unlike other items (i.e. Magic Conch), you need more than one to the bonus they provide efficiently and effectively in your world.
Two or three Bast statues is enough to cover even a large arena- but most players have more than one arena. (i.e. Main one near base, Jungle Arena, eventually Ocean for Duke.) It is an option to carry it from arena to arena, but it's also evident that the devs are wanting to minimize moving around arena-related items in 1.4.4 as well, given the changes coming to the sharpening station / ammo box / etc.
(Specifically, see here, from upcoming 1.4.4 changes:
- Sharpened, Clairvoyance, Ammo Box and Bewitched buffs now last until death.)
Having the Bast spawn on the ground will help casual players obtain more of them- however, I still think that even then it will be too to be useful in a regular run, due to their spawning rules in chests.
From the wiki:
- Each naturally-generated Sandstone Chest will always contain one primary item, and may contain one or two secondary items. Besides one of the items listed here, they will also contain common items depending on the height they were found in: Underground or Caverns
- The statue can be found in Sandstone Chests in the lower portion of the Underground Desert, or in Oasis Crates and Mirage Crates.
In generating small worlds for research purposes, I noticed that 1/5 of them didn't have a single Bast statue anywhere- much less enough to cover multiple arenas. (Tools used: TEdit chest search funtionality functions).
Getting a subjective grasp on the rarity is what spurred me to do more quantitative research on Large Worlds, figuring that Small Worlds were just a worst case scenario:
From 25 Large Worlds generated, the data was the following:
If you were to explore the entirety of the underground desert in Large World, you'd still only get an average of 3-4 Bast statues. Which, is sufficient for two or three arenas- But that would require hours of exploration that a player would rather spend doing other things, rather than getting a small +5 defense buff for bosses. Obtaining a workable number of Bast Statues should just be a by-product of Underground Desert exploration, rather than something you need to go far out of your way for.
Now then, I know you can obtain Bast Statues from fishing. But even that is remarkably slow- During a long, 10-person playthrough, I fished for about three hours with high power (Full angler gear + crate potions + golden rod). The yield was forty some-odd Oasis crates, which provided about 8 Bast statues; We went through about six of them building arenas during the course of the run.
From what I've gathered, that's more fishing than many players do over the course of an entire run, much less time spent exclusively Oasis Fishing to get Bast Statues for arenas (The other reason I was fishing for so long was to get Pearls, but their rarity has since been improved.)
One last comment, pertaining to 1.4.4- I'm hoping that floor-placed Bast Statues can spawn in both Underground and Cavern layers as another means to help reduce scarcity, to once again help Casual players find and use them more. (As opposed to locking it to only the Cavern layer, like how they currently spawn in chests.)
Summary
Overall, I think that the Bast Statue fits well as a secondary item- it is not as impactful as the other weapons it shares the lower-desert loot table with, and the average player needs multiple to get convenient use of out of it. So, it being a secondary item (with the potential to spawn in a Sandstone Chest in both Underground or Cavern layers) suits it well, and help alleviate the rarity issue.
Feedback and discussion are welcome and encouraged!
Last edited:
![Toxophilite [East]](/data/avatars/m/166/166394.jpg?1584244058){kind=avatar}
I already think they somewhat overdid it with the first 1.4.4 change, but then again, it does make the Underground Desert a bit more interesting when it comes to combat; maybe even in Hardmode too.
