Hi,
@Xylia! I'll respond to your points in more detail below, but I want to assure you that none of my comments were intended as criticism or to imply there's something wrong with your guide. It's great, as I've said before! I just thought that it might be helpful for newer players to understand a bit of the context around all that preparation, and provide a slightly different perspective from about how necessary that preparation was, from someone with a different playstyle than yours.
Keymold Farming: While it is true you can't use keymolds until after you kill Plantera (who is after the three mech bosses as described in the guide), making a small arena where you can farm Pirates and deal with Solar Eclipse without getting killed no matter what gear you have (even a Night's Edge and Molten Armor will survive) is nice to have before hardmode even starts.
For sure! The key words there being "
nice to have." They're not mandatory, they're just nice to have. That's the only point I'm making, because not everyone is going to want to do as much preparation as you describe in the guide, and they may get the impression that that preparation is really important, when in reality it's just a playstyle choice. I think the reputation of Hardmode is sometimes a bit overblown (not in your guide, just in general) and I think newer players may get discouraged by feeling like there's so much preparation necessary, because it implies they're going to get destroyed as soon as they set foot on the surface, when in reality it's just not that different right away.
That way, if you should be the poor sod (or, in this case, extremely lucky one) who gets a Solar Eclipse or Pirate Attack on Day 1 or Day 2 of hardmode, you can jump right into the area you prepared and deal with them without having to try and scratch out emergency shelter/arena to deal with said event. It is the same reason why I preach wooden platforms on one of the oceans, or the Plantera Arena in the Jungle -- you want this stuff ready so you can go to it the moment Hardmode starts.
But you can't get a Solar Eclipse or a Pirate Invasion immediately upon starting Hardmode; you have to break an Altar before Pirate Invasions are possible, and you have to defeat at least one Mechanical Boss before Solar Eclipses can begin. You're right, of course, that some players may
prefer to do all that preparation in Normal mode, but for those who don't, they aren't going to face some insurmountable obstacles later. The guide could be clearer that it's just a suggestion or an idea, that's all.
Also, FWIW, that's why I did mention building some basic defenses for your base prior to HM. (I did so after starting HM, though, and it wasn't hard.) Some simple lava traps beside your surface home will handle the early Pirate Invasions just fine, in my experience.
When Hardmode Starts, and you're a newbie... do you want to be getting killed with pickaxe in hand trying to prepare a Jungle Arena for Plantera while being stung by Moss Hornets and torn apart by the Angry Trappers, do you want Pirates to cut you into a million bits, while you're trying to dig some shelter while you're still wearing Molten Armor?
I don't know why you would go directly into the Jungle as soon as you start Hardmode, that doesn't make much sense. The general approach as the game is designed would be to kill WoF, break a few altars, and start mining Hardmode ores to upgrade your gear prior to entering the tougher biomes, just like in Normal mode. When you start a new game, you wouldn't (generally) run off to the Jungle and try to start exploring while you're wearing Wood or Copper armor; in Hardmode, it wouldn't make much sense to try to do so without upgrading your gear at all either. Hardmode is the same general style of progression as Normal mode, in my experience.
As for the Keymold Bit, well... since the same area used for the Pirates is also used for Keymolds, why not kill two birds with one stone? Keymolds are rare drops, the more crap you kill in biomes the better. If you did have a Pirate Invasion early in Hardmode (naturally, or spawned by you on purpose), wouldn't you like to maximize your chances for a keymold by killing the pirates in a said biome? And why not do a two-fer deal and get Frozen AND Hallow/Corruption/Crimson chance at the same time? That's why I strongly suggest building the Keymold Farm before killing the WoF. That way it is ready from Day 1 of Hardmode so you can use it the moment any Invasion, Blood Moon, or Solar Eclipse happens to start farming the Keymolds as early as possible considering the rarity of these items.
As I said, these are not bad ideas, they're just not
necessary. You're an experienced player and you want to maximize your efficiency - that makes perfect sense. But new players starting Hardmode the first time may not want to or need to do so, just because that's your personal preference or playstyle. I don't want to do so, myself. I'd rather experience the challenge myself firsthand, and it's really hard to prepare for something you've never seen, even with a quality guide to help you.
As to "why not?" Because it's work, and time-consuming, and for some of us, building is boring. It's just a matter of different playstyles and priorities.
And again, it all comes down to whether or not you want to be fumbling around while there are enemies that can kill you in 5 seconds or less (while you're wearing Molten Armor). IMO, a newbie is better off properly preparing so they can spend more time dealing with the harder enemies than preparing terrain (something that could have been done during Normal Mode).
I completely understand where you're coming from, and I'm not even suggesting you change your guide unless you want to. I'm just providing a counterpoint for other new players who are entering Hardmode for the first time. It's just not so challenging as to be instant death, especially if you follow the game's cues and work on upgrading your armor and weapons early on.
Just personal preference anyways.
Exactly! See, we agree there. The only reason I posted my comments is because your guide reflects
your personal preference, and that preference isn't shared by everyone. I was following your guide myself (and loved how helpful it was in Normal mode, as I've commented upthread) but I was discouraged and slowed down by all the pre-Hardmode preparation. I did some other research and asked around, and found that all that preparation wasn't actually necessary. It can be really useful, for sure, but it's not mandatory. I think part of the issue on my end was that you're trying to avoid spoilers in the guide (which is a good thing), so you don't say
why people should do these things, which means your readers don't have the tools to make an independent assessment of whether those steps are truly necessary for their playstyle and experience level.
Ores & Altars. I didn't suggest fishing up crates because I consider it to be along the lines of cheating or exploiting and I would not be surprised if this is going to be patched out in 1.3. It has gotten a lot of attention on TCF and I'm sure Cenx and the other developers have seen the threads and testimonials of people getting Adamantite/Titanium Armor on Day 1 Hardmode without smashing a single altar. I don't want to put something in my guide that is considered an exploit and something that I am fairly confident will be nerfed in the upcoming 1.3 patch. If it isn't nerfed, then I would have to question the balance decisions made by the team (unless of course they wanted to nerf it, but couldn't for technical reasons). If 1.3 comes out and that is still a valid way of obtaining Hardmode Ore, then I may include it in the guide. Until then, I'll wait before advising and/or getting people reliant on that way of obtaining their Hardmode Ore.
Yeah, sorry, that wasn't a comment regarding your guide (let alone a suggestion for you to include it) so much as a related heads-up to new players approaching HM for the first time. I didn't personally find it necessary to do so at all, and like you, I don't even know if it's intended to work that way. Either way, it's not my style. I like adventuring and exploring, and I don't tend to want to spend a long time sitting around doing boring grunt-work like fishing when I could be enjoying myself with something more exciting.