Expand Your Terraria Empire - Pylons, Town Building, and NPC Happiness

[Nicol Bolas]

Yeah people have different playing styles, and this one is meant to give benefits to players who enjoy building. It's not a feature that is exclusive to builders only and does not require good building skills, but it allows more creativity and possibilities for people who do enjoy building. Builders don't ever get any attention in Terraria, the game is currently designed for you to be able to beat the whole thing with barely any building. This change lets builders have something fun to do that has benefits.

But here's the thing: "builders" (let's pretend for a moment that people either are or are not "builders", rather than the reality where some people feel like "building" at some times and don't at others) already get rewards for expressing "more creativity". What makes "building" fun is the results. For someone who wants to be a "builder", crafting a meticulously designed domicile is its own reward.

I don't need the game to tell me when I've built a cool structure; that's for me to judge. If I want to build a castle with dozens of rooms, with each NPC room tailored to what I feel is that NPC's preferences, I don't need the game to tell me whether I am right or wrong with those preferences. So where is the "more creativity and possibilities" coming from?

In fact, this provides less creativity. The powers that be impose what they feel would make particular NPCs happy. Person A wants to live near Person B, and if you put them next to each other, you get a gameplay reward. Person C wants to live in Biome Q, and if you put them there, you get a gameplay reward.

But what happens if I don't agree? Maybe I think that the Dryad finds the Merchant's mercantile ways interesting. Before, the game didn't have an answer to that, so I was free to choose for myself.

Now it has an answer, and that answer isn't necessarily my answer. How is denying me a gameplay reward (or punishing me) for roleplaying as I see fit helping my creativity?

This doesn't benefit "builders"; it benefits builders who build as they are told to. Blessing a single, specific style of play is not enhancing creativity. Or at the very least, it's not enhancing mine.

Never said he's a bad person, just that he's lazy.

Calling someone lazy is in fact a pejorative.

 

[TubaVeganMason]

But here's the thing: "builders" (let's pretend for a moment that people either are or are not "builders", rather than the reality where some people feel like "building" at some times and don't at others) already get rewards for expressing "more creativity". What makes "building" fun is the results. For someone who wants to be a "builder", crafting a meticulously designed domicile is its own reward.

I don't need the game to tell me when I've built a cool structure; that's for me to judge. If I want to build a castle with dozens of rooms, with each NPC room tailored to what I feel is that NPC's preferences, I don't need the game to tell me whether I am right or wrong with those preferences. So where is the "more creativity and possibilities" coming from?

In fact, this provides less creativity. The powers that be impose what they feel would make particular NPCs happy. Person A wants to live near Person B, and if you put them next to each other, you get a gameplay reward. Person C wants to live in Biome Q, and if you put them there, you get a gameplay reward.

But what happens if I don't agree? Maybe I think that the Dryad finds the Merchant's mercantile ways interesting. Before, the game didn't have an answer to that, so I was free to choose for myself.

Now it has an answer, and that answer isn't necessarily my answer. How is denying me a gameplay reward (or punishing me) for roleplaying as I see fit helping my creativity?

This doesn't benefit "builders"; it benefits builders who build as they are told to. Blessing a single, specific style of play is not enhancing creativity. Or at the very least, it's not enhancing mine.



Calling someone lazy is in fact a pejorative.

The feature doesn't require you to be a good builder. You can make NPC prisons at each pylon and have all the NPCs be just as happy as if you had NPC prisons all in one spot.

If you want to build a castle with dozens of rooms, you can literally do that. The only downside is that prices of those NPCs will be slightly increased. You act as if this new feature doesn't allow you to use NPCs at all unless you have absolutely ideal conditions for them.

Apologies for calling you lazy, was not meant to be an insult.

You say it provides less creativity, but a vast majority of players don't think about the details of "oh the dryad likes the merchants mercantile so I'll put them in houses together!" and instead just throw them into an NPC tower. This update gives you incentive to not do that, but doesn't tell you that you can't do it. If you're part of the tiny minority who specifically wants to put the dryad and merchant together, you can still do that.

 

[TubaVeganMason]

But here's the thing: "builders" (let's pretend for a moment that people either are or are not "builders", rather than the reality where some people feel like "building" at some times and don't at others) already get rewards for expressing "more creativity". What makes "building" fun is the results. For someone who wants to be a "builder", crafting a meticulously designed domicile is its own reward.

I don't need the game to tell me when I've built a cool structure; that's for me to judge. If I want to build a castle with dozens of rooms, with each NPC room tailored to what I feel is that NPC's preferences, I don't need the game to tell me whether I am right or wrong with those preferences. So where is the "more creativity and possibilities" coming from?

In fact, this provides less creativity. The powers that be impose what they feel would make particular NPCs happy. Person A wants to live near Person B, and if you put them next to each other, you get a gameplay reward. Person C wants to live in Biome Q, and if you put them there, you get a gameplay reward.

But what happens if I don't agree? Maybe I think that the Dryad finds the Merchant's mercantile ways interesting. Before, the game didn't have an answer to that, so I was free to choose for myself.

Now it has an answer, and that answer isn't necessarily my answer. How is denying me a gameplay reward (or punishing me) for roleplaying as I see fit helping my creativity?

This doesn't benefit "builders"; it benefits builders who build as they are told to. Blessing a single, specific style of play is not enhancing creativity. Or at the very least, it's not enhancing mine.



Calling someone lazy is in fact a pejorative.

Also, if you want the pylon that bad, just make temporary NPC prisons in the biome and then once you've got the pylon, just rearrange the occupants.

 

[Morgiana!]

View attachment 268764​

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!)​

How can I tell if my NPCs are Happy?

• 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!​

View attachment 268753

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!

View attachment 268760
Forest Base

View attachment 268762
Underground Base

View attachment 268761
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!

View attachment 268763


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!​

super exited for this. cant wait!!

 

[Nicol Bolas]

You don't seem to realize that pylons exist to make NPCs easily accessible. It's legitimately two clicks and takes 3 seconds, plus it makes them give you discounts. Are you SERIOUSLY complaining about this?

Let's analyze this "two clicks" thing. For whatever reason, I decide that I have an urgent need of the Dryad's services.

As the game stands now, I do this:

* Mirror-recall back to base.
* See where the Dryad is on my screen.
* Go to the Dryad.

Nice and simple. In 1.4, I will have to do this:

* Mirror-recall back to base.
* See that the Dryad is not in my base.
* Click the Pylon.
* Pan around the map until I see the Dryad's icon.
* Teleport to the Pylon nearest to the Dryad.
* See where the Dryad is on my screen.
* Go to the Dryad.

It may be only a few more clicks, but it's a longer thought process. And for what purpose?

This feature is being added so that you don't just view NPCs as game mechanics and instead actually have incentive to be a tiny bit more creative than making a large wooden box on top of a room full of chests and crafting stations every single time you play the game.

This makes the NPCs have a tiny bit more depth than just coin-to-item machines.

But it's not interesting depth. You just read what biome they like, and see what NPCs they don't want to hang out with, and like pieces of the easiest jigsaw puzzle, you slap them where they want to go. Even ignoring how inconvenient this is for the player, doing it doesn't provide more interesting play dynamics.

There's exactly and only one right answer for each NPC, one answer that gets rewarded by the game. It's the equivalent of giving each NPC their own silly little quest, which consists solely of sticking them in a house in the biome of their choice. It's about as interesting and brainless as fishing. You don't do fishing because you enjoy the "gameplay" of fishing; you do fishing because you'll get certain rewards from it, and for no reason other than that.

If this feature is being made to make NPCs more than just game mechanics, then it's not very good at that. Before, they were "coin-to-item machines". Now, they're "coin-to-item machines and fast-travel boxes".

The feature doesn't require you to be a good builder.

Then how can you claim that it encourages building and creativity? It doesn't help get people to put more creativity into their NPC housing; it merely changes what the lowest-common-denominator looks like. Before, it looked like a bunch of cookie-cutter blocks in one location. Now, it will look like a bunch of cookie-cutter blocks in several locations.

Why is that important to tie fast-travel into NPC happiness and preferences? Why can't they just give us biome Pylons in some other way?

 

[Lucasness]

Probably somewhat telling the devs haven’t said anything to allay concerns people have

 

[SagetheWise]

Probably somewhat telling the devs haven’t said anything to allay concerns people have

I don't blame them.

 

[TubaVeganMason]

Let's analyze this "two clicks" thing. For whatever reason, I decide that I have an urgent need of the Dryad's services.

As the game stands now, I do this:

* Mirror-recall back to base.
* See where the Dryad is on my screen.
* Go to the Dryad.

Nice and simple. In 1.4, I will have to do this:

* Mirror-recall back to base.
* See that the Dryad is not in my base.
* Click the Pylon.
* Pan around the map until I see the Dryad's icon.
* Teleport to the Pylon nearest to the Dryad.
* See where the Dryad is on my screen.
* Go to the Dryad.

It may be only a few more clicks, but it's a longer thought process. And for what purpose?



But it's not interesting depth. You just read what biome they like, and see what NPCs they don't want to hang out with, and like pieces of the easiest jigsaw puzzle, you slap them where they want to go. Even ignoring how inconvenient this is for the player, doing it doesn't provide more interesting play dynamics.

There's exactly and only one right answer for each NPC, one answer that gets rewarded by the game. It's the equivalent of giving each NPC their own silly little quest, which consists solely of sticking them in a house in the biome of their choice. It's about as interesting and brainless as fishing. You don't do fishing because you enjoy the "gameplay" of fishing; you do fishing because you'll get certain rewards from it, and for no reason other than that.

If this feature is being made to make NPCs more than just game mechanics, then it's not very good at that. Before, they were "coin-to-item machines". Now, they're "coin-to-item machines and fast-travel boxes".



Then how can you claim that it encourages building and creativity? It doesn't help get people to put more creativity into their NPC housing; it merely changes what the lowest-common-denominator looks like. Before, it looked like a bunch of cookie-cutter blocks in one location. Now, it will look like a bunch of cookie-cutter blocks in several locations.

Why is that important to tie fast-travel into NPC happiness and preferences? Why can't they just give us biome Pylons in some other way?

The current process is this

Go to your base
Look at your entire NPC prison system
Scan through it for a bit until you manage to find the Dryad
Maneuver over to them
Use the Dryad

The new one will be this

Go to your base
Use a Pylon (which you wrote to sound incredibly over-complicated when it takes 2 seconds)
Walk over to the Dryad because there's only like 3 NPCs there and you don't need to scan an entire NPC prison
Use the Dryad

it honestly sounds like it'll take a shorter overall time using Pylons because you dont have to maneuver through your base and NPC prison to get to an NPC in the far corner of the top of the prison.

Also, the new depth is MUCH more interesting than what it was before. Before NPCs had no personality to them, and now they do. Is it so unrealistic for a character to have preferences? Would you enjoy it if you were a nature lover stuck in a tiny wooden box crammed into a huge NPC prison system nowhere near any interesting nature? Now they have personalities and preferences like any normal person would have, and letting them enjoy their preferences makes them enjoy you as a person and give you rewards.

Look at Stardew Valley. The game is, at it's core, about farming. There is absolutely NO requirement to go and make friends with the NPCs in the game, but if you make friends with them, they give you a lot of nice items and make progress easier to achieve. That game is a masterpiece and people LOVE the NPCs because they actually have depth and don't just unconditionally send you nice trinkets in the mail every day. It gives you a sense of accomplishment for making friends with them.

Now back to Terraria. This game is, at it's core, about adventuring and defeating bosses and becoming stronger. There is absolutely NO requirement to go and cater to the wishes of the NPCs in the game, but if you do give them what they prefer, they give you a neat system of maneuvering across the map quicker. You have to actually work for the pylons to get them, you can't just have them be handed to you while treating the NPCs like dirt.

Again, the feature does not require you to be good at building. You can get along with your NPC prisons, but the update itself was made for the purpose of giving incentive to build in new locations, which allows for more creativity and diversity in your builds. What's more diverse, one castle made of stone brick and wood, or a town of igloos in the snow biome, a western bar in the desert, a jungle treehouse in the jungle, a pirate ship in the ocean biome, a sky castle in the sky, and a mining quarry underground? Of course you don't HAVE to build those things, but the fact that I was able to just come up with nice build ideas is exactly my point. Without this update, I'd just keep throwing my NPCs into a wooden box with no thought or inspiration whatsoever, but now I can come up with creative houses for each of the NPCs that matches the biomes they live in.

 

[Lunex]

Hey, any reason to escape the tyranny of shoeboxes is fine in my books. I wonder if it will affect boss arenas in some capacity.

 

[Terraria Freak]

Nice!

 

[ShadowTiger]

The current process is this

Go to your base
Look at your entire NPC prison system
Scan through it for a bit until you manage to find the Dryad
Maneuver over to them
Use the Dryad

The new one will be this

Go to your base
Use a Pylon (which you wrote to sound incredibly over-complicated when it takes 2 seconds)
Walk over to the Dryad because there's only like 3 NPCs there and you don't need to scan an entire NPC prison
Use the Dryad

it honestly sounds like it'll take a shorter overall time using Pylons because you dont have to maneuver through your base and NPC prison to get to an NPC in the far corner of the top of the prison.

I hear ya, and I've been giving it a lot of thought. I think it's fair to assume a few things.

• We're familiar with the layout of the town we've built.
• We can eventually familiarize ourselves with the layout of a town someone else has built - I.e. multiplayer servers.
• We eventually learn where our NPCs are. Sometimes that's easy due to themeing. Dryads live in a forest house. Easy. ... ... Well, hopefully. Sometimes they're in a wooden box; I get it.
• People don't build that big - It shouldn't take more than fifteen seconds to navigate a small town.

Basically, my plan from now on while operating within this system is indeed to have small towns that maximize happiness and use the Pylon system. Each "town" will be a self-contained fully walled-off thematic bubble within its biome, and hopefully built in a way that's immune to wraiths or other things that can pass through walls.

The Pylon will be right in the middle, and the houses are arranged around the pylon such that each house's door will easily be within reach of the Pylon. I'm assuming that the Pylon will be the quick and easy way in and out of the place. The middle of the map will have my main chest area / item storage region as well as the rest of the NPC houses that don't quite fit in with the rest of the biomes.

I'm thinking that the most tedious part of this will be the zooming out of the map to select a Pylon. If the map defaulted to having the map fill the screen as much as possible so we don't have to zoom out, it just might save a bit of time.

Again, we'll eventually become familiar with the layout of our NPCs. If they don't really wander out of the house, (I plan on having my doors just be actuated walls so they can't get out. I'll stick platforms against a wall to make the house legit.) then we'll always know where they are and we'll go right to that NPC over time.

 

[butterflypixie]

As the game stands now, I do this:

* Mirror-recall back to base.
* See where the Dryad is on my screen.
* Go to the Dryad.

Nice and simple. In 1.4, I will have to do this:

* Mirror-recall back to base.
* See that the Dryad is not in my base.
* Click the Pylon.
* Pan around the map until I see the Dryad's icon.
* Teleport to the Pylon nearest to the Dryad.
* See where the Dryad is on my screen.
* Go to the Dryad.

It may be only a few more clicks, but it's a longer thought process. And for what purpose?

Easy solution to this is have a bed near the dryad or particular npcs house, plus you'll eventually get used to the layout of your world anyway so no biggie.

I imagine the only need for the npcs to get back to normal pricing will be not being cramped, and being near someone or in a biome that they like will be things that lower it even further so in game all you'll have to do is make a centralised area with rooms/prisons at least a few blocks apart. I think the new system for npcs being crowded is just if there are x amount of air blocks that have an npc assigned to them in x amount of space raise price.

i honestly don't mind this system the only trouble for me is getting past the desert early game because for some reason it's always a sandstorm
edit* grammar

 

[polly4705]

I understand that the new changes aren't "required" or whatever, like sure we don't have to follow these new guidelines. but when you are telling people that they will have to pay more for NPC items, its hard for us not to feel like we're being forced to do it.

A few questions I have:
What will the price changes actually be? If currently prices are the highest they'll go then that seems like neutral ground. Lower prices if you want to "reward builders" or whatever, but don't price hike the players who like building the way they want to.

Will the goblin tinkerer charge more for reforges if he is "unhappy"? Some items have a base reforge cost upwards of 20 gold. That's expensive already.

How will this affect ranged players that don't want to comply with this change? Ranged is an expensive class to play as it is. A lot of ammo in early game is purchased from an NPC...

It also seems as though this is really not great for expert mode players. You have to have good modifiers on your weapons to effectively play expert mode, which can get hella expensive. Mechanical bosses have to be farmed to get enough money for things in the game with the way the prices are currently... Money is a BIG deal in this game so I don't know why so many people are saying it isn't???

What is even the point of having to put my NPC's in places they "want" to be? Just because the game devs decided they should go somewhere specific and I have to comply or pay more money?
NPC's already sell different items based on biome, is that going away?
And what happens after hardmode when you get more corruption/crimson and the hallow exists? Will we have to move an entire town?

Having a central base just makes sense to me and the way I play. I like seeing all my NPC's and watching my house grow to accomodate them. I like running across my world and seeing what's what.

Oh and one more thing- being able to mirror home and know where all my NPC's are just makes sense. I know my Nurse in the middle left room and there is a platform on the first floor so I can fly up to her through there. Easy. How is it hard to find the NPC you need if you literally BUILT THE HOUSE YOURSELF?? If you are having that much trouble maneuvering your own base, I don't really know what to say

 

[Ilmarinen]

Will the pylons work during an eclipse? It's hard enough to zip into town just to buy rockets IV as it is while the world comes to an end but if you become accustomed to using the pylon network in your multi-located "town" only for it to go down when you really need it seems... less than ideal. Or are the pylons simply meant to be an early game teleporter network that you are expected to abandon once you get the Steampunker? Are pylons going to have more purpose than just teleportation?
There seems to be a number of gaps in the information that we've been given. I understand wanting to save some mysteries for the release but in this case the subject has already been broached.
It feels like we either needed much less information or we need much more information. We have just enough for speculation to run wild and possibly not in a good way since some people have become very concerned.

 

[GloriousRadiance]

When will Switch split-screen come out?

 

[Casual_Bean]

ah yes the happiness system! I cant wait to ignore that feature!

 

[Lucasness]

The current process is this

Go to your base
Look at your entire NPC prison system
Scan through it for a bit until you manage to find the Dryad
Maneuver over to them
Use the Dryad

The new one will be this

Go to your base
Use a Pylon (which you wrote to sound incredibly over-complicated when it takes 2 seconds)
Walk over to the Dryad because there's only like 3 NPCs there and you don't need to scan an entire NPC prison
Use the Dryad

it honestly sounds like it'll take a shorter overall time using Pylons because you dont have to maneuver through your base and NPC prison to get to an NPC in the far corner of the top of the prison.

Also, the new depth is MUCH more interesting than what it was before. Before NPCs had no personality to them, and now they do. Is it so unrealistic for a character to have preferences? Would you enjoy it if you were a nature lover stuck in a tiny wooden box crammed into a huge NPC prison system nowhere near any interesting nature? Now they have personalities and preferences like any normal person would have, and letting them enjoy their preferences makes them enjoy you as a person and give you rewards.

Look at Stardew Valley. The game is, at it's core, about farming. There is absolutely NO requirement to go and make friends with the NPCs in the game, but if you make friends with them, they give you a lot of nice items and make progress easier to achieve. That game is a masterpiece and people LOVE the NPCs because they actually have depth and don't just unconditionally send you nice trinkets in the mail every day. It gives you a sense of accomplishment for making friends with them.

Now back to Terraria. This game is, at it's core, about adventuring and defeating bosses and becoming stronger. There is absolutely NO requirement to go and cater to the wishes of the NPCs in the game, but if you do give them what they prefer, they give you a neat system of maneuvering across the map quicker. You have to actually work for the pylons to get them, you can't just have them be handed to you while treating the NPCs like dirt.

Again, the feature does not require you to be good at building. You can get along with your NPC prisons, but the update itself was made for the purpose of giving incentive to build in new locations, which allows for more creativity and diversity in your builds. What's more diverse, one castle made of stone brick and wood, or a town of igloos in the snow biome, a western bar in the desert, a jungle treehouse in the jungle, a pirate ship in the ocean biome, a sky castle in the sky, and a mining quarry underground? Of course you don't HAVE to build those things, but the fact that I was able to just come up with nice build ideas is exactly my point. Without this update, I'd just keep throwing my NPCs into a wooden box with no thought or inspiration whatsoever, but now I can come up with creative houses for each of the NPCs that matches the biomes they live in.

You literally state stardew valley as your prime example, which only rewards people for engaging with the mechanic, and does not actively punish you for ignoring it. Rewards for engaging with the new system are fine, changing the current price structure for refusing to is not. Money is an aspect of terraria, and you already have to grind enough for reforged etc, so why make that worse for players who don’t want to partake in a particular feature?

 

[newbie243]

In fact, this provides less creativity. The powers that be impose what they feel would make particular NPCs happy. Person A wants to live near Person B, and if you put them next to each other, you get a gameplay reward. Person C wants to live in Biome Q, and if you put them there, you get a gameplay reward.

You can always match the correct criteria in another world and get cheap resources from there. That way your creative builds world is your canvas. Like creating crimson and corruption worlds for the items.

 

[Pendromeda]

You literally state stardew valley as your prime example, which only rewards people for engaging with the mechanic, and does not actively punish you for ignoring it. Rewards for engaging with the new system are fine, changing the current price structure for refusing to is not. Money is an aspect of terraria, and you already have to grind enough for reforged etc, so why make that worse for players who don’t want to partake in a particular feature?

To be honest, throughout the fifty+ runs I've made of the game, I never had an incentive to not just shove my NPCs into commieblock towers. If I have to suffer higher prices as a result, that seems like a good incentive to give them some room to breathe. It'll be more challenging, for sure, but I don't think we should discard it as bad right off the bat. It's just like when the devs nerfed various cheese strats against the moon lord. Sure it might've ruined some fun here and there, but it did improve the game overall. I even heard these same arguments used to blast the nerfs that were happening, talking about how it ruined their fun and how the devs were "forcing you to play a specific way". If it wasn't for that, the Moonlord would be trivial.

 

[Demonides]

The fact of increasing prices just because i don't want to explore other biomes and waste time to build castles for each NPC is terrible.
Developer telling me how to play the game, rewarding one playstyle and punishing the other one, used for years without problems...
I really hope it will be cut-out of final version or made ON/OFF in options, otherwise it's slap in the face for me and many other players who want to play this game as they decide.