Blocks & Decoration Crystal Mounds - A Shadow Orb/Crimson Heart Variant for the Hallow

[Dreadnautilus5000🌳]

Out of the three spreading biomes, two of them have destructible background objects that provide loot when destroyed and summon a boss when every third one is destroyed. But the Hallow doesn't have one, probably because it generates differently. But I don't see any reason for it to not have a Shadow Orb/Crimson Heart of its own.

Also, Hallowed/Divine Crates are currently pointless. Sure, they provide Souls of Light and Crystal Shards, but considering how rare Biome Crates are it's much faster to just farm for them normally for them rather than fish. This suggestion would give them a primary loot pool. It wouldn't be possible to get Crystal Mound loot in Pre-Hardmode, since you can't get the Hallow in a Pre-Hardmode world without bringing Hallowed Seeds or Hallow blocks from another world, which I consider cheating.

Crystal Mounds would generate on the ground in the Underground Hallow the moment that your world enters Hardmode. They would generate in a line, spaced out from each other vertically, along the Hallow's side of the V, from the top of the Underworld to the top of the Underground layer. The larger your world, the more Crystal Mounds you'll get, so that on larger worlds you don't have to travel any farther between Crystal Mounds.

When destroyed, Crystal Mounds would drop one out of its loot pool of five items: 3 weapons, a light pet, and an accessory. Every third Crystal Mound destroyed would also drop a Gelatin Crystal, allowing for Queen Slime to be summoned. The Mounds themselves would each resemble the crystal inside Queen Slime, except all the individual crystal are pointing upwards.

Spoiler: Loot

Crystal Paladin Staff
This staff would resemble a royal scepter with the colour scheme of the Hallowed Mimic's drops, and small crystals jutting out from the sides. it would summon a minion that would resemble the Stardust Guardian in terms of shape, and that would stand behind you like the Stardust Guardian. Similar to the Desert Tiger Staff, the Crystal Paladin would increased in size when summoned multiple times. If an enemy is within range, the Crystal Paladin will charge at them and attack them with his sword.

Crystal Machinegun
This would be a magic gun that would look similar to the Laser Machinegun, except have the colour scheme of Crystal Shards. Unlike the Laser Machinegun however, it doesn't increase its fire rate as it's fired. It would act like a slightly weaker Crystal Storm with non-bouncing projectiles but much more range, allowing it to be useful against bosses.

Illuminant Boomerang
This would be a Boomerang with Chaos Elemental colours and stats similar to the Bananarang. In terms of functionality it would seem like a regular Boomerang at first, but upon hitting a solid block it would disappear in a burst of harmless purple projectiles. If there are enemies nearby within 10 tiles of a solid block, it would reappear in the same way next to a random block near the closest enemy to the cursor and fling itself at them. After teleporting like this 5 times, it would disappear. Once the Illuminant Boomerang has teleported to an enemy nearby or simply disappeared, another one can be thrown. This would make it a good choice for killing enemies underground.

Crystal Clump
This would be Crystal Mounds' light pet drop, the equivalent to the Shadow Orb and Crimson Heart light pets. It would resemble a floating Crystal Mound with crystals coming out of the bottom. It would have a brightness of 75%, which would be slightly lower than the Hardmode ones that are obtained after at least one mech boss is defeated (Fairy and Flickerwick), but still be brighter than the Pre-Hardmode light pets (Shadow Orb, Crimson Heart, and Magic Lantern). It would move identically to the Flickerwick light pet.

Chaos Stone
Upon striking an enemy, this accessory would provide a buff that would increase damage, attack speed, and melee weapon and whip range for 5 seconds. The stat increases wouldn't be very large, but it would be enough of an increase to increase your DPS somewhat and benefit an aggressive playstyle to a reasonable degree. This accessory could have some useful tinkers, such as a Power Glove tinker, a Magic Quiver tinker, and a Mana Flower tinker. This accessory would look like the Band of Regeneration or the Band of Starpower, but its band would be the the same colour as the pink part of the Rod of Discord and it would have a crystal on it with the same colour scheme as the Chaos Fish.

If anyone wants to make sprites for this suggestion, they are welcome to!

 

[Sora_92]

The general idea is interesting, but wonder if it would be any necessary? Like, it don't feels lacking from progression.

It sounds more interesting for a possibility, where hallow would be there instead of the crimson or corruption since pre-hardmode, and it would need a few interesting pre-hardmode loot, and a way of getting those (much like the shadow orbs and crimson hearts)


plus, I'm not quite sure if such objects can generate properly upon entering hardmode, e.g. what if there's something else where they would generate, like a house or something?

also, on a side note, I don't quite see an early harmode geared player defeating queen slime down in the caverns. It would be very difficult to dodge her, expecially in 2nd phase.

 

[Dreadnautilus5000🌳]

The general idea is interesting, but wonder if it would be any necessary? Like, it don't feels lacking from progression.

It sounds more interesting for a possibility, where hallow would be there instead of the crimson or corruption since pre-hardmode, and it would need a few interesting pre-hardmode loot, and a way of getting those (much like the shadow orbs and crimson hearts)


plus, I'm not quite sure if such objects can generate properly upon entering hardmode, e.g. what if there's something else where they would generate, like a house or something?

also, on a side note, I don't quite see an early harmode geared player defeating queen slime down in the caverns. It would be very difficult to dodge her, expecially in 2nd phase.

Of course it’s not necessary, but it would make the Hallow more consistent with the Corruption and Crimson. As I said in the OP, it would also give Divine Crates a purpose, and I'm also going to include weapons that'll help in early Hardmode, since these wouldn't take too long to get to, and a couple of other items that'll fill some gaps.

The bit about Queen Slime is to make Crystal Mounds consistent with Shadow Orbs and Crimson Hearts without creating a whole new boss, and serve as an alternate way of summoning her. Since Crystal Mounds would generate up to the top of the Underground layer, you could break one that spawned close to the surface and then go back up the surface to fight her.

 

[Sora_92]

Of course it’s not necessary, but it would make the Hallow more consistent with the Corruption and Crimson. As I said in the OP, it would also give Divine Crates a purpose, and I'm also going to include weapons that'll help in early Hardmode, since these wouldn't take too long to get to, and a couple of other items that'll fill some gaps.

The bit about Queen Slime is to make Crystal Mounds consistent with Shadow Orbs and Crimson Hearts without creating a whole new boss, and serve as an alternate way of summoning her. Since Crystal Mounds would generate up to the top of the Underground layer, you could break one that spawned close to the surface and then go back up the surface to fight her.

Well, I'm curious what weapons you have in mind.
I still feel odd about queen slime though.

 

[Calen]

Of course it’s not necessary, but it would make the Hallow more consistent with the Corruption and Crimson. As I said in the OP, it would also give Divine Crates a purpose, and I'm also going to include weapons that'll help in early Hardmode, since these wouldn't take too long to get to, and a couple of other items that'll fill some gaps.

The bit about Queen Slime is to make Crystal Mounds consistent with Shadow Orbs and Crimson Hearts without creating a whole new boss, and serve as an alternate way of summoning her. Since Crystal Mounds would generate up to the top of the Underground layer, you could break one that spawned close to the surface and then go back up the surface to fight her.

Personally, I don't think the Hallow should be consistent with the world evils. It is my understanding that the Hallow is purity to the extreme - a counterbalance of good to the evil infection. Consistency would make the Hallow another evil rather than their opposite.

I also like how the Queen Slime is currently summoned. The crystals that form in the Hallow feel like the the ground is squeezing out purity, and that condenses into the crystals. The Gelatin Crystals seem like a natural extension to that.

 

[Dreadnautilus5000🌳]

Personally, I don't think the Hallow should be consistent with the world evils. It is my understanding that the Hallow is purity to the extreme - a counterbalance of good to the evil infection. Consistency would make the Hallow another evil rather than their opposite.

I also like how the Queen Slime is currently summoned. The crystals that form in the Hallow feel like the the ground is squeezing out purity, and that condenses into the crystals. The Gelatin Crystals seem like a natural extension to that.

In my opinion, the Hallow can be consistent with the world evils without being evil. There are many consistencies currently, and yet town NPCs can live in the Hallow whereas they immediately move out if the area around them gets Corrupted/Crimsoned, which shows that they don't like the world evils but they're fine with the Hallow.

And there are already a lot of consistencies. The Hallow generates in a diagonal line at the start of Hardmode, like the evil biomes, and spreads in the exact same way at the exact same rate as them. It transforms the exact same blocks as the world evils to Hallow variants as it spreads: stone, ice, grass, sand, hardened sand, and sandstone. Souls of Light drop from enemies in the Underground Hallow, like how Souls of Night drop in the Underground Crimson and Corruption. Same can be said for Light Shards and Dark Shards. The Hallow also has Enchanted Swords, which are its version of Shadow Hammers and Crimson Axes. Each of the three biomes also has a primary slime variant (Illiminant Slime for the Hallow, Corrupt Slime for the Corruption, and Crimslime for the Crimson), a Pigron variant, and a Mimic variant, which drop almost the same general stuff. The only real differences in my opinion are theme and enemies (apart from the ones I just mentioned), and that the Hallow generates the start of Hardmode instead of being there at the beginning.

I think that it can still be an opposite to the world evils if it's consistent with them. The Hallow has Souls of Light, which are consistent with Souls of Night but the opposite of them. It generates on the opposite side of the world as the evil biomes. It also doesn't spread into the Jungle or make town NPCs move away, which implies that it is more good than the evil biomes. The atmosphere is much more bright and inviting them the evil biomes. However its enemies do try to kill you, so it isn't as good or tame as the Forest or Snow for example.

Also, Gelatin Crystals would still exist and would summon Queen Slime, they wouldn't get replaced by Crystal Mounds. If this suggestion made its way into the game, Gelatin Crystals would serve somewhat as a Hallow alternative to the Bloody Spine or the Worm Food. It summons a Hallow boss when used in the Hallow, like the Worm Food and Bloody Spine. As I said in my recent post, Crystal Mounds would serve as an alternate way of summoning her, though Gelatin Crystals would probably be a better way of summoning her.

 

[whoneedsnamestbh]

I would say that the third crystal should drop a Gelatinous Crystal instead of spawning Queen Slime. The underground Hallow isn’t nearly as well prepared for Queen Slime as the other two evils, and this way you still get the boss every third mound but have more control over it and new players don’t think she has to be fought underground.

 

[Toxophilite [East]]

Terraria Community Forums

Out of the three spreading biomes, two of them have destructible background objects that provide loot when destroyed and summon a boss when every third one is destroyed. But the Hallow doesn't have one, probably because it generates differently. But I don't see any reason for it to not have a Shadow Orb/Crimson Heart of its own.

Well, as far as I know, the lore would suggest that these "orbs" are the thematic reason for the spread; sort of a "pulsating tumor". Someone already said it, but the crystals generated underground are the equivalent you're suggesting is missing. Somebody already explained the reason as well, it'd be out of place for Hollow to function similarly to any of the World Evils.

In addition, the Hollow even has it's own variant of critters, that also function similarly if Summoning a Boss was the agenda... which also fits thematically to the Hollow, forcing the player to do something cruel to summon Empress. What you're suggesting is pretty abrasive to the World Building that 1.4 added.

Also, Hallowed/Divine Crates are currently pointless. Sure, they provide Souls of Light, but considering how rare Biome Crates are it's much faster to just farm enemies for them rather than fish. This suggestion would give them a primary loot pool. It wouldn't be possible to get Crystal Mound loot in Pre-Hardmode, since you can't get the Hallow in a Pre-Hardmode world without bringing Hallowed Seeds or Hallow blocks from another world, which I consider cheating.

Well, the crates exist for similar reasons to the trees... for consistency's sake. Pointless is a bit of a reach but, I can agree that defeating enemies is likely the more desirable way of obtaining Souls of Light, I'm certain there's some who might disagree. Farming for Souls of Light on the surface could be a desirable option for someone who plans to have the Hollow be more "controlled", but still have the ability to obtain a resource on their own terms.

I mean, we do have builders in this community too, it's a shame how they often get left out of the pool of consideration so often, with most suggestions that significantly change Terraria.

When destroyed, Crystal Mounds would drop one out of its loot pool of five items: 3 weapons, a light pet, and an accessory. Every third Crystal Mound destroyed would also drop a Gelatin Crystal, allowing for Queen Slime to be summoned. The Mounds themselves would each resemble the crystal inside Queen Slime, except all the individual crystal are pointing upwards.

I mean, I don't know... I kinda feel like the Hollow is already pretty unique without all the extra stuff. It's one of the few places Underground where the player doesn't need torches or Light Pets. it gives off it's own "natural lighting" & looks pretty if you ever get to stand & just look around without being attacked (Journey Mode). That being the case, I'm super curious about what inspired all of these suggestions??

Anyhow, I think Hollow is fine as-is. The wacky enemies & weird trees w/ backgrounds already sale themselves, but the added content, especially the NPC happiness System seals the deal. None of this seems necessary IMHO.

 

[Dreadnautilus5000🌳]

Well, as far as I know, the lore would suggest that these "orbs" are the thematic reason for the spread; sort of a "pulsating tumor". Someone already said it, but the crystals generated underground are the equivalent you're suggesting is missing. Somebody already explained the reason as well, it'd be out of place for Hollow to function similarly to any of the World Evils.

In addition, the Hollow even has it's own variant of critters, that also function similarly if Summoning a Boss was the agenda... which also fits thematically to the Hollow, forcing the player to do something cruel to summon Empress. What you're suggesting is pretty abrasive to the World Building that 1.4 added.

The official lore doesn't say anything about the Shadow Orbs or Crimson Hearts, nor does it mention a "pulsating tumor". Even if it did, the official lore wasn't very well thought through nor did it explain anything that answered any burning questions other than where the mech bosses came from. I'm also not saying that Crystal Shards are the reason that the Hallow spreads, I just decided to make Crystal Mounds crystal themed because crystals are the theme of the Underground Hallow.

As I explained in my previous post, there are a lot of similarities between the world evils and the Hallow in terms of function.

Well, the crates exist for similar reasons to the trees... for consistency's sake. Pointless is a bit of a reach but, I can agree that defeating enemies is likely the more desirable way of obtaining Souls of Light, I'm certain there's some who might disagree. Farming for Souls of Light on the surface could be a desirable option for someone who plans to have the Hollow be more "controlled", but still have the ability to obtain a resource on their own terms.

I mean, we do have builders in this community too, it's a shame how they often get left out of the pool of consideration so often, with most suggestions that significantly change Terraria.

That's a stupid argument. The trees are very obvious, give Pearlwood which is a good building block in my opinion, and it would be strange if the Hallow didn't have trees, since it is a spreading biome. What would happen if it didn't have them? Would regular trees just be unaffected by the spread or be destroyed on contact with Hallow? That second option wouldn't really enforce that the Hallow is a good biome as opposed to the evil biomes.

Have you ever tried fishing for biome crates? They are really rare compared to regular crates, and there's only a 1/10 chance to even fish up a crate. And these rare crates only have a 50% chance to give Souls of Light, and when they do it's only up to 5 of them at a time.

"More controlled". The Hallow only generates in Hardmode, and when it does a lot of it is generated, and by the time you beat the mech bosses and get access to the Clentaminator it would have already spread quite a bit, not to mention that breaking an altar can spawn a block of Hallow somewhere. Even if someone managed to control it, it would still be much better to farm underground for Souls of Light.

How would this suggestion impact builders? I'm not suggesting anything that would make certain blocks inaccessible or allow specific blending of blocks that most builders prefer a different way. Or are you saying that every suggestion must introduce new blocks or something in order to be more "builder-friendly"?

I mean, I don't know... I kinda feel like the Hollow is already pretty unique without all the extra stuff. It's one of the few places Underground where the player doesn't need torches or Light Pets. it gives off it's own "natural lighting" & looks pretty if you ever get to stand & just look around without being attacked (Journey Mode). That being the case, I'm super curious about what inspired all of these suggestions??

Anyhow, I think Hollow is fine as-is. The wacky enemies & weird trees w/ backgrounds already sale themselves, but the added content, especially the NPC happiness System seals the deal. None of this seems necessary IMHO.

Why were Hallow bosses introduced in 1.4? Because the Hallow didn't have any. Hallow bosses weren't necessary, but it was done to make the Hallow more consistent with other biomes that have specific bosses associated with them.

 

[Toxophilite [East]]

The official lore doesn't say anything about the Shadow Orbs or Crimson Hearts, nor does it mention a "pulsating tumor". Even if it did, the official lore wasn't very well thought through nor did it explain anything that answered any burning questions other than where the mech bosses came from. I'm also not saying that Crystal Shards are the reason that the Hallow spreads, I just decided to make Crystal Mounds crystal themed because crystals are the theme of the Underground Hallow.

Some things are obvious if you care about them, especially the "Official Lore". It's not always about what's written on some forums somewhere, or what the Developers say & then retract, it's as simple as playing the game sometimes. If I was to suggest that the Hollow was just another arguable "World Evil", we can all agree that-this isn't the case, because of actual game mechanics, not because the Lore wasn't clear enough.

Funny enough, someone made the claim that it couldn't be proven that the Hollow wasn't just another World Evil, until the evidence against this idea was so overwhelming, they had to admit they were reaching, just to make ends meet that were the farthest apart from what made any actual sense, which if that's what you're doing here... fine. I just think that the Hollow being separate in every way to the World Evils makes sense thematically, mechanically & from a World-building perspective. You're free to believe otherwise...

As I explained in my previous post, there are a lot of similarities between the world evils and the Hallow in terms of function.

From a rudimentary gameplay perspective... yeah, kinda. However, when you start to really break them down mechanically, especially in 1.4, that's not really true. The differences are so obvious, that I'm pretty sure I don't need to list them; but if you're still holding something like 1.3.5 over my head, then ok, but that's still a big reach.

That's a stupid argument. The trees are very obvious, give Pearlwood which is a good building block in my opinion, and it would be strange if the Hallow didn't have trees, since it is a spreading biome. What would happen if it didn't have them? Would regular trees just be unaffected by the spread or be destroyed on contact with Hallow? That second option wouldn't really enforce that the Hallow is a good biome as opposed to the evil biomes.

That's the part that confuses me, you understand the importance of Pearwood, yet claim that being able to fish for crates in the Hollow is pointless?? Even if the player fishing for them doesn't want what's inside, Hollow/ Divine Crates are attractive Furniture Items. I'm not sure if somehow you missed what I'm saying, when I specifically brought up the Trees, but since you did, let me make a bullet point & itemize what I mean.

• Pearwood is not optimal for Weaponry, even if it's locked behind Hardmode, however, it's a nice building block.
• Divine & Hollow Crates are not optimal for resource fishing, there are better options, but they make nice-looking Furniture pieces.

Have you ever tried fishing for biome crates? They are really rare compared to regular crates, and there's only a 1/10 chance to even fish up a crate. And these rare crates only have a 50% chance to give Souls of Light, and when they do it's only up to 5 of them at a time.

I have, & as a person who enjoys Fishing (a lot), I know just how easy it is to Fish for Crates if you invest into it. However, I can only assume that this is a mechanic you're not very familiar with because of this comment.

"More controlled". The Hallow only generates in Hardmode, and when it does a lot of it is generated, and by the time you beat the mech bosses and get access to the Clentaminator it would have already spread quite a bit, not to mention that breaking an altar can spawn a block of Hallow somewhere. Even if someone managed to control it, it would still be much better to farm underground for Souls of Light.

Just so you know, there are many excellent ways to control the Hollow & as a person who does a LOT of fishing, breaking Alters isn't necessary for obtaining Hardmode Ores. Like I said, builders play the game very differently from Adventurers like yourself. I'm not just disagreeing with you because I'm bored or something, your suggestions leave a lot to be desired for a person who might not approach the game the same as you do, or for anyone who actually enjoys the Lore.

How would this suggestion impact builders? I'm not suggesting anything that would make certain blocks inaccessible or allow specific blending of blocks that most builders prefer a different way. Or are you saying that every suggestion must introduce new blocks or something in order to be more "builder-friendly"?

I said that the Hollow is fine as-is, so I'm not sure how you'd conclude I'm asking for more "stuff", I'm saying we don't need it. A controlled Hollow allows Players to make all kinds of cool-looking builds, because it's NPC friendly & has already-unique attributes. Also, building Underground in a wild Hollow Biome is dangerous, because enemies can warp through walls & Hollowed Mimics tend to spawn at random. Having a controlled Hollow is pretty common in this community.

Why were Hallow bosses introduced in 1.4? Because the Hallow didn't have any. Hallow bosses weren't necessary, but it was done to make the Hallow more consistent with other biomes that have specific bosses associated with them.

Maybe, but I think the Hollow feels complete; It has two Bosses. One for early-Hardmode & one for mid/ late-Hardmode. Even with the newer additions, including Bosses, it's still thematically different than the World Evils. At a certain point, you kinda have to see the extra mile the Devs went to-to make sure these two type of spread were different from one another...

...or not.

 

[Dreadnautilus5000🌳]

Some things are obvious if you care about them, especially the "Official Lore". It's not always about what's written on some forums somewhere, or what the Developers say & then retract, it's as simple as playing the game sometimes. If I was to suggest that the Hollow was just another arguable "World Evil", we can all agree that-this isn't the case, because of actual game mechanics, not because the Lore wasn't clear enough.

Funny enough, someone made the claim that it couldn't be proven that the Hollow wasn't just another World Evil, until the evidence against this idea was so overwhelming, they had to admit they were reaching, just to make ends meet that were the farthest apart from what made any actual sense, which if that's what you're doing here... fine. I just think that the Hollow being separate in every way to the World Evils makes sense thematically, mechanically & from a World-building perspective. You're free to believe otherwise...


From a rudimentary gameplay perspective... yeah, kinda. However, when you start to really break them down mechanically, especially in 1.4, that's not really true. The differences are so obvious, that I'm pretty sure I don't need to list them; but if you're still holding something like 1.3.5 over my head, then ok, but that's still a big reach.

The Shadow Orbs and Crimson Hearts may seem like they are behind the spread of the evil biomes, but if you remove all of them (which is completely possible in a regular playthrough) the Corruption and Crimson still spread. This is enough evidence to make it clear that they don't have much to do with the spread.

Game mechanics are actually against you here. As I said in my post replying to @Calen, the Hallow has a lot of similarities with the evil biomes that I feel would be pointless to list off again here. Of course the Hallow is completely different thematically, are there unicorns, pixies and crystals in the Corruption or Crimson?

I am completely against the claim that the Hallow is a world evil. While a lot of its creatures do try to kill you, the same can be said for any biome in Terraria. There's no point in blaming the biome itself for what its inhabitants do. The Hallow feels much more inviting and full of life whereas the evil biomes are death-related and full of lifeless monstrosities that give you the urge to remove it, whereas I'm completely fine with the Hallow being anywhere other than where my Forest Pylon is.

That's the part that confuses me, you understand the importance of Pearwood, yet claim that being able to fish for crates in the Hollow is pointless?? Even if the player fishing for them doesn't want what's inside, Hollow/ Divine Crates are attractive Furniture Items. I'm not sure if somehow you missed what I'm saying, when I specifically brought up the Trees, but since you did, let me make a bullet point & itemize what I mean.

• Pearwood is not optimal for Weaponry, even if it's locked behind Hardmode, however, it's a nice building block.
• Divine & Hollow Crates are not optimal for resource fishing, there are better options, but they make nice-looking Furniture pieces.

Well, they do look nice, but every other biome crate contains actually useful loot related to that biome, for example Ivy Chest loot being in Jungle/Bramble Crates and Sandstone Chest loot being in Oasis/Mirage Crates. But the Hallow doesn't have a loot pool like that, unlike every other biome.

Just so you know, there are many excellent ways to control the Hollow & as a person who does a LOT of fishing, breaking Alters isn't necessary for obtaining Hardmode Ores. Like I said, builders play the game very differently from Adventurers like yourself. I'm not just disagreeing with you because I'm bored or something, your suggestions leave a lot to be desired for a person who might not approach the game the same as you do, or for anyone who actually enjoys the Lore.


I said that the Hollow is fine as-is, so I'm not sure how you'd conclude I'm asking for more "stuff", I'm saying we don't need it. A controlled Hollow allows Players to make all kinds of cool-looking builds, because it's NPC friendly & has already-unique attributes. Also, building Underground in a wild Hollow Biome is dangerous, because enemies can warp through walls & Hollowed Mimics tend to spawn at random. Having a controlled Hollow is pretty common in this community.

You're saying that I should add more to my suggestion to make it more desirable to every playstyle? If you are, then you're being very confusing about it. And remember: this is just one suggestion, not an entire update to the game.

And having an uncontrolled Hallow is basically the same as having as controlled Hallow. You've got access to the exact same enemies, blocks, materials and drops either way. And it isn't possible to stop enemies from spawning without placing walls everywhere (which is pretty impractical), even in a controlled Hallow.

 

[Toxophilite [East]]

The Shadow Orbs and Crimson Hearts may seem like they are behind the spread of the evil biomes, but if you remove all of them (which is completely possible in a regular playthrough) the Corruption and Crimson still spread. This is enough evidence to make it clear that they don't have much to do with the spread.

Not entirely true, as disrupting them angers the World Evil's Boss. In addition, the World Evil's infection simply spreads independent of the "hearts/ orbs", but that doesn't mean that they aren't thematically supposed to appear as the source behind the original infection. If that weren't the case, then they'd have no other function beyond being free loot-crates for the Player.

Game mechanics are actually against you here. As I said in my post replying to @Calen, the Hallow has a lot of similarities with the evil biomes that I feel would be pointless to list off again here. Of course the Hallow is completely different thematically, are there unicorns, pixies and crystals in the Corruption or Crimson?

I'm not speaking superficially, I'm talkin' actual in-game mechanics.

1. None of the Hollowed Biome's Guardians attack the Player unless challenged/ provoked (because they're good guys).
2. The Hollow doesn't appear until the Player triggers an Event that causes the World Evils to spread more aggressively.
3. Hollowed Blocks don't attack the Jungle (because it's not Corrupt).
4. Hollow can & will attempt to overtake World Evil once triggered (regardless of what the Wiki claims).
5. Hollow again, produces it's own natural lighting, fitting it's Holy Ground Theme.*
6. NPC's can obviously live in the Hollow.*
7. It has it's own Pylon.*
8. Doesn't contain any Alters, unless they're Alters from a previously Evil Biome (Guardians cannot be crafted).
9. Doesn't posses any "tumor-like", thematic source of the spread, simply has useful crystals.
10. Doesn't provide the player with any passive Weaponry Loot, save for Crystal Serpent; Player must mostly challenge the Biomes Guardians for Weaponry.

Now, if you can name ten (10) distinct similarities, I'd really love to see them.

I am completely against the claim that the Hallow is a world evil. While a lot of its creatures do try to kill you, the same can be said for any biome in Terraria. There's no point in blaming the biome itself for what its inhabitants do. The Hallow feels much more inviting and full of life whereas the evil biomes are death-related and full of lifeless monstrosities that give you the urge to remove it, whereas I'm completely fine with the Hallow being anywhere other than where my Forest Pylon is.

Agreed...

Well, they do look nice, but every other biome crate contains actually useful loot related to that biome, for example Ivy Chest loot being in Jungle/Bramble Crates and Sandstone Chest loot being in Oasis/Mirage Crates. But the Hallow doesn't have a loot pool like that, unlike every other biome.

That's intentional, which is why you at least get something (Crystal Serpent) from fishing, but it'd be thematically inappropriate for Divine Crates to supply the Player with Weaponry; especially when it's only thematic purpose is to challenge the World Evils, which it does, mechanically (by not ruining NPC housing or the use of fast-travel).

You're saying that I should add more to my suggestion to make it more desirable to every playstyle? If you are, then you're being very confusing about it. And remember: this is just one suggestion, not an entire update to the game.

Not entirely, I'm saying that your suggestions are attempting to blur the lines between World Evil & The Hollow, which is abrasive & unnecessary. The Hollow isn't lacking anything, the Crystals themselves are used to crafts a bunch of amazing items, we don't need it to do more "stuff" for some reason.

And having an uncontrolled Hallow is basically the same as having as controlled Hallow. You've got access to the exact same enemies, blocks, materials and drops either way. And it isn't possible to stop enemies from spawning without placing walls everywhere (which is pretty impractical), even in a controlled Hallow.

There's actually a LOT of ways to have controlled Hollow that are meant to do other things, aside from spawning stuff, but if that's not the type of gameplay you're interested in, there's no point discussing it here. I assure you though, builders are more-than-happy with 1.4+'s new Hollow Biome.

 

[Dreadnautilus5000🌳]

I'm not speaking superficially, I'm talkin' actual in-game mechanics.

1. None of the Hollowed Biome's Guardians attack the Player unless challenged/ provoked (because they're good guys).
2. The Hollow doesn't appear until the Player triggers an Event that causes the World Evils to spread more aggressively.
3. Hollowed Blocks don't attack the Jungle (because it's not Corrupt).
4. Hollow can & will attempt to overtake World Evil once triggered (regardless of what the Wiki claims).
5. Hollow again, produces it's own natural lighting, fitting it's Holy Ground Theme.*
6. NPC's can obviously live in the Hollow.*
7. It has it's own Pylon.*
8. Doesn't contain any Alters, unless they're Alters from a previously Evil Biome (Guardians cannot be crafted).
9. Doesn't posses any "tumor-like", thematic source of the spread, simply has useful crystals.
10. Doesn't provide the player with any passive Weaponry Loot, save for Crystal Serpent; Player must mostly challenge the Biomes Guardians for Weaponry.

Now, if you can name ten (10) distinct similarities, I'd really love to see them.

I'm pretty sure that the Hallow's enemies do attack you on sight, other than the Hallowed Mimics but those are supposed to wait until you come near before attacking you.

Fine then, here you go:

1. The Hallow spawns in a diagonal line from the centre of the world at the start of Hardmode.
2. Souls are dropped by enemies in the Underground Hallow.
3. The Hallow spreads itself by converting grass, stone, ice, sand, hardened sand and sandstone to its variants of them.
4. The Hallow spreads at the same rate as Corruption and Crimson.
5. The Hallow's spread is slowed down once Plantera is defeated.
6. The Hallow has its own Biome Mimic.
7. The Hallow has its own Pigron variant.
8. The Hallow has its own sentient, magical weapon that can fly through walls.
9. The Hallow has the Crystal Serpent, which is its variant of the Toxikarp and the Bladetongue.
10. The Hallow has a primary slime variant of its own.
11. The Hallow has its own Sand Shark variant.
12. The Hallow has its own magic spell tome weapon crafted with ingredients from it.
13. The Hallow has a boss that can be fought as soon as the Hallow becomes accessible, that is summoned with a summon item.

I could go on, but I'll stop at 13. Are you satisfied now?

 

[Icyfoe88]

I'm pretty sure that the Hallow's enemies do attack you on sight, other than the Hallowed Mimics but those are supposed to wait until you come near before attacking you.

Fine then, here you go:

1. The Hallow spawns in a diagonal line from the centre of the world at the start of Hardmode.
2. Souls are dropped by enemies in the Underground Hallow.
3. The Hallow spreads itself by converting grass, stone, ice, sand, hardened sand and sandstone to its variants of them.
4. The Hallow spreads at the same rate as Corruption and Crimson.
5. The Hallow's spread is slowed down once Plantera is defeated.
6. The Hallow has its own Biome Mimic.
7. The Hallow has its own Pigron variant.
8. The Hallow has its own sentient, magical weapon that can fly through walls.
9. The Hallow has the Crystal Serpent, which is its variant of the Toxikarp and the Bladetongue.
10. The Hallow has a primary slime variant of its own.
11. The Hallow has its own Sand Shark variant.
12. The Hallow has its own magic spell tome weapon crafted with ingredients from it.
13. The Hallow has a boss that can be fought as soon as the Hallow becomes accessible, that is summoned with a summon item.

I could go on, but I'll stop at 13. Are you satisfied now?

This is... partly no. 3, 4, and 5 are all basically the same thing, you could easily fuse them into one unique quality listed, same with 6, 7, 8, 10, and 11. “The hallow shares the same spreading speed as the evil biomes and shares most blocks that are spreadable.” ”The Hallow shares many biome varient enemies with the evil biomes, those being mimics, pigeons, magical weapons, slimes, and sand sharks.” Everything else is good.