Happy Friday Terrarians!
Remember a few State of the Game's ago when we mentioned that we were working on something pretty cool that would potentially change the way that people approach certain aspects of the game? Well, the time has come to give you a peek behind the curtain at Terraria HQ and let you in on some juicy details surrounding this new feature coming to Journey's End!
Building has always been a staple of the Terraria experience - but functionally-speaking, there has never been any real reward to making fun creations outside of the adoration of the community. Similarly, everyone builds their central base and sort of shoves everything there... sure, some folks build in other biomes, but only for fun. What if we told you that Journey's End is going to change all of this up, raising building up to being a core gameplay feature with its own rewards?
Introducing...
THE TERRARIA TOWNS SYSTEM
Towns will reward building like never before. Taking the time to spruce up your base(s), plan for NPC placement, and building bases in multiple locations will now provide you a variety of benefits that have never before been available. Of course you don't HAVE to partake in this new system, but we think you will find the positives in doing so to be quite tempting indeed.
Excited? Scared? Let's take a few minutes to dive into how this new approach to building works, shall we?
TREAT 'EM RIGHT! - NPC HAPPINESS
During Journey's End development, we conducted a focus group with all of the Terraria NPCs. Outside of some very strange requests (no, Guide, we cannot 'remove all doors at night'), their feedback was very clear: they are tired of being shoved into tiny cubicles or L shaped tubes and they want you to know this!
In order to help raise NPC morale so that they could be at their very best - and to reward players who go that extra mile to treat their NPCs with the respect they deserve, we are introducing the NPC Happiness System. How does it work? What does this mean for you? Read on....
What affects NPC Happiness?
- NPC's are happier when you locate them in biomes that they prefer
- NPC's are happier when they like their neighbors
- NPC's are happier when they are not overcrowded with other NPCs
Adding nice furniture and aesthetics doesn't directly affect NPC Happiness... but it sure will make you feel better about yourself when your friends come over for a visit.
What Happens if my NPCs are Happy/Unhappy?
- NPC Shop prices will adjust based upon how happy each NPC is at the time
- If you make an NPC happy enough, you will gain access to a Pylon for that Biome (more on this below!)
- You will notice a new dialogue option for Happiness for each NPC
- This will give you hints about what might make them happier as well!
DIVERSIFY & SPREAD OUT - BIOME BASES & TOWNS
Pretty much everyone does the same thing when base building right? A big central area right at the initial spawn point... crammed with NPCs and crafting stations and storage and more. At best, people stick up a single room with a bed for boss fight respawns. We can do better than this, and what about all of the other poor biomes that would love to have you set up shop in their neck of the woods, and - again - those poor NPCs may not want to live in the Forest Biome!
But wait, there's more! If you group at least 3 NPCs together in a given location, it will be recognized as being a Town. Towns are not subject to enemy spawning - outside of invasion events - and you will get to hear the super cool town music when you visit!
All together, with Journey's End in conjunction with the Happiness System, you will be rewarded for building multiple bases across the scope of your world like never before!
Forest Base
Underground Base
Snow/Ice Base
Well, that is great and all, but how will you get around your world to visit your now happy, but far-flung NPCs? Let's bring it all together and close out with the brand new Pylons!
ROADS, WE WON'T NEED ROADS - INTRODUCING PYLONS
We briefly mentioned these mysterious Pylons in our section on things you can get with happy NPCs. So what are these, and why should you care? Well, if you have enough happy NPCs in a given biome, you will unlock the use of a Pylon for that biome. Pylons allow you to instantly teleport from one Pylon to another! With Pylons in place, your "big central base" now becomes an interconnected network of cool outposts all over the world, allowing you to get around quickly without the need to lay tracks or teleporters... and providing you a home away from home wherever you are!
PYLON INSTRUCTION MANUAL
You can only have one Pylon of a given biome type placed at a time (so you can not have, for example, an Ocean Pylon at both Oceans)
Pylons must be placed in their aligned biome in order to function (you can place them anywhere else, but they will not work!)
Pylons must also have two nearby (and living) NPCs in order to function - again, the idea here is to reward building those bases/towns!
Pylons cannot be used during Boss Battles or Invasion Events!
Pylons are quite easy to use. Once placed in their aligned biome, you simply click on a nearby pylon. This will take you to the map screen where you can locate another placed pylon to which you want to teleport, click it and off you go!
That's all for today! Look forward to more Terraria: Journey's End Feature Articles throughout the next few weeks up until Launch Day, May 16th, 2020!
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gem trees? I didn't know I needed those so badly until now
