The first few days you spend in the world, I find, are the most interesting. This is when things are at the most simple. Your challenges consist of high drops, deep water, slimes and other low level mobs; you have next to nothing to help you, no grappling hooks, lucky horseshoes or effective armour. You must work with your team to find ways to cross lakes, descend pits and keep threats at bay. Because you're in such a primitive state, finding ANY type of low level equipment suddenly changes things up. Uncovering a wooden chest in that little surface cave you're lighting up on the way still gives you that spark of excitement that no other point in the game can match.
However, I can't help but think that it all happens too fast and the challenges at lower levels are overcome a lot sooner than they really need to be.
However, I can't help but think that it all happens too fast and the challenges at lower levels are overcome a lot sooner than they really need to be.
- The best example of what I'm talking about is grappling hooks. They change EVERYTHING and everyone and their mother has one. Move them further along in the game, gem hooks should at least require the hook item. Features like knockback immunity, hotkey use, passive grappling etc should be reconsidered for the first grappling hooks you have access to. Climbing gear should take grappling hook's place in early game and made more useful by allowing upward climb both on blocks and background wall. Also, allow the various other types of rope more time in the spotlight before rope becomes obsolete altogether, chains should either boost climbing speed over rope or protect against knockback.
- Make it much harder to skip from wood/copper tier equipment to gold.
- It's far too easy to just upgrade from wooden arrows to flaming, so right from the start wooden arrows are nothing more than an ingredient. Unlocking some tier of metal should allow the crafting of braziers. Braziers are crafting stations to make fire arrows, it is better to take them with you and place them down wherever you need to light your arrows since there is a stack limit for flaming arrows. The upside is that enemies you burn will spread fire to other enemies they touch.
- Default tools. They should be built in to the player character and used by default (shift+click use) if no higher tiers of that type are in player's inventory. They are not items that appear in inventory and you can't sell them. This all includes hammers.
- Scrap shortswords. No one uses them and they only entrap new players to waste their materials.
- Money drops (from slimes at least) should be more proportionate to their level.
- Rebalance the mining helmet so that they can be yet another practical option for early game. Either reduce their cost or increase the window they have before they are replaced by glow potions. Perhaps it should be used as an accessory to allow them use with armour helmets.
- Disable life regeneration. Move healing potions further along and let edibles have more relevance but easier to obtain. Healing should not be instant which would basically make them an extra health buffer, they should heal over time but faster than band/potion of regeneration. Can't heal again until previous health item finishes effect. Potion sickness should take effect only if healing is spammed. The band of regeneration now has more purpose.
- Gradually unlock how much you can expand max health/mana every time the player progresses a tier.
- Scrap alternative ores. I don't really see the purpose in them to be honest, they don't really make mining more interesting. Perhaps instead use them as more tiers.
