Nude_Cactus
Skeletron
Do you think that it adds to the game or do you think that it should be eliminated or at least nerfed a bit?
How do you feel about RNG in Terraria?
- Thread starter Nude_Cactus
- Start date
Isaac the Jester
Eater of Worlds
I feel really lame for asking this, but what does RNG mean? If I know I can properly answer the question
MiltVala
Plantera
Random number generation
Funny, when I was playing Mass Effect 3, I used to call it the Random Number Goddess when I opened up packs.
I guess that's who Liara was referring to.
Isaac the Jester
Eater of Worlds
Ok thank you
As for the question, I'd say a few items should be tweaked, but overall pretty good
Kreuz Drache
Official Terrarian
I think RNG-droprates within reason are fine. But when you have stuff like a like Turtle Banners dropping more often than Frozen Turtle Shells, then things start becoming more obnoxious. And at the time, I could have sworn they had the same drop rate.(Not sure if it was changed recently.)
I mean, let's be honest. Trying to obtain a (exceedingly) rare item in Terraria is not "hard". It is tedious. It is fake longevity.(Which I don't see why Terraria needs it, since there is plenty to do to begin with.) And I am not suggesting that we get rid of drop rates altogether, but for them to be a little bit more reasonable.
EDIT: I will say, I REALLY like what they did for the frost armor from the Ice Golem. Rather than dropping a random piece of frost armor(Like it used to be.), the Ice Golem now drops a Frost Core, which is used to make the armor. No more depending on RNG to get the last piece you needed, which you can now more reasonably obtain.
I mean, let's be honest. Trying to obtain a (exceedingly) rare item in Terraria is not "hard". It is tedious. It is fake longevity.(Which I don't see why Terraria needs it, since there is plenty to do to begin with.) And I am not suggesting that we get rid of drop rates altogether, but for them to be a little bit more reasonable.
EDIT: I will say, I REALLY like what they did for the frost armor from the Ice Golem. Rather than dropping a random piece of frost armor(Like it used to be.), the Ice Golem now drops a Frost Core, which is used to make the armor. No more depending on RNG to get the last piece you needed, which you can now more reasonably obtain.
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TTSp00k the Invincible
Queen Bee
It needs a nerf.
Badly.
That Eater's Bone I've been trying to get for a MONTH now is a good example...
...or maybe I'm the most unlucky entity in the universe.
Badly.
That Eater's Bone I've been trying to get for a MONTH now is a good example...
...or maybe I'm the most unlucky entity in the universe.
MegaMage314 🌳
Living Tree
I usually don't have a problem with RNG, but I would be lying if I said I never felt like the game was purposely keeping items away from me...
I think there just needs to be something in place to prevent you from spending days trying to get something that shouldn't take an hour. The main problem with RNG is that no matter how many monsters you kill, or how many nights you wait, or how many bosses you defeat, you are never any closer to your goal then when you started because everything is completely random
MiltVala
Plantera
Cultists*
Personally, I only have a few gripes with RNG. Mostly things that can't be grinded like Ice chests.
Dragrath
Duke Fishron
hmm Its a mixed bag in proper amounts RNG can be a good addition to the game and make you feel like a drop mattered but beyond a certain point it changes to sheer lunacy especially when what might be fine drop rates become ludicrous to to the enemies rarity (for example clowns)
Right now Terraria is needlessly sick on RNG and its showing. The worst examples are world gen RNG which can require hundreds and hundreds of worlds to get a rare painting.
To me some of the factors that should be applied to a drop are:
Importance-anything that becomes essential to progression (for example the emblems from the WOF and the voodoo doll needed to summon it) should not be subject to high RNG.
RNG should be saved for trophy weapons and scaled such that a person who dedicates 1-2 days of standard play (not AFKing )to acquiring it should have a nearly certain chance to obtain it. Additionally world gen RNG (such as rare chest rewards or items that only are spawned at world gen) should be kept to a minimum.
Accessibility-a world drop that can drop from any enemy can stand to be far rarer than a drop from a single enemy. A drop from a single enemy should be scaled to the same probability as the world drop so rarer enemies should have a much higher drop rate.
Time-RNG should mix things up not forcefully extend the game its fine if not every enemy gives something but the point where you need to set up an auto farm for days on ended or make 30 plus worlds that should ring alarm bells "this is to rare we need to fix this". Right now Terraria has missed those warning sirens and has hit the point where the reactors about to go critical...
for example
Mimics-(fine)- decent use of RNG you will get an item though you don't know which so your efforts aren't wasted and they can be fairly easily summoned.
Black recluse-Spider fangs(75%) the Poison staff(2.5%) and the black recluse banner(.5%) (fine) All are the drops are within reasonable levels a dedicated player can easily get everything of progression value and with some effort one has a good shot at acquiring the purely cosmetic banner. The use of crafting helps break up the otherwise far higher RNG abuse.
Clowns-(really, really, bad) both for banner(.05%) and Bananarangs(3.33%)
while these rarities would be fine for a common enemy ,the clown is anything but this these items have an inflated rarity and are vastly harder to get than their rarity entails
Item wise: Broken hero sword-(borderline) the item drops from enemies that are common enough to generally lend the player at least one copy for their efforts however the drop rate is low enough that factoring in the rarity of the event a player may be seriously denied the item fro a significant period this a slight increase of the drop rate would help out.
Death Sickle-hahaha! good luck seeing this with regularity in less than 10 eclipses...
Right now Terraria is needlessly sick on RNG and its showing. The worst examples are world gen RNG which can require hundreds and hundreds of worlds to get a rare painting.
To me some of the factors that should be applied to a drop are:
Importance-anything that becomes essential to progression (for example the emblems from the WOF and the voodoo doll needed to summon it) should not be subject to high RNG.
RNG should be saved for trophy weapons and scaled such that a person who dedicates 1-2 days of standard play (not AFKing )to acquiring it should have a nearly certain chance to obtain it. Additionally world gen RNG (such as rare chest rewards or items that only are spawned at world gen) should be kept to a minimum.
Accessibility-a world drop that can drop from any enemy can stand to be far rarer than a drop from a single enemy. A drop from a single enemy should be scaled to the same probability as the world drop so rarer enemies should have a much higher drop rate.
Time-RNG should mix things up not forcefully extend the game its fine if not every enemy gives something but the point where you need to set up an auto farm for days on ended or make 30 plus worlds that should ring alarm bells "this is to rare we need to fix this". Right now Terraria has missed those warning sirens and has hit the point where the reactors about to go critical...
for example
Mimics-(fine)- decent use of RNG you will get an item though you don't know which so your efforts aren't wasted and they can be fairly easily summoned.
Black recluse-Spider fangs(75%) the Poison staff(2.5%) and the black recluse banner(.5%) (fine) All are the drops are within reasonable levels a dedicated player can easily get everything of progression value and with some effort one has a good shot at acquiring the purely cosmetic banner. The use of crafting helps break up the otherwise far higher RNG abuse.
Clowns-(really, really, bad) both for banner(.05%) and Bananarangs(3.33%)
while these rarities would be fine for a common enemy ,the clown is anything but this these items have an inflated rarity and are vastly harder to get than their rarity entails
Item wise: Broken hero sword-(borderline) the item drops from enemies that are common enough to generally lend the player at least one copy for their efforts however the drop rate is low enough that factoring in the rarity of the event a player may be seriously denied the item fro a significant period this a slight increase of the drop rate would help out.
Death Sickle-hahaha! good luck seeing this with regularity in less than 10 eclipses...
Frain Breeze
Terrarian
High-rarity RNG is an anti-game mechanic and should be relied on as little as possible. A good gameplay mechanic is fun, rewards the player for skill, or at least balances the game in some way. Let's put it to a quick test, shall we?
1. Does it balance the game in some way?
No. Rarity through random chance will never, ever appropriately balance the strength of an item. It just limits how often you see it being overpowered.
2. Does it reward player skill?
Barely. The only argument you could make here is that more DPS = more chances for a drop in the same time period. But on the small scale, of one player looking for one item, there are far too many instances of "First kill drops" and "I've been grinding for ten hours and got nothing".
3. Is it fun?
Please take note of how often people try to set up elaborate, automatic grinding arenas. These people are going to great lengths to NOT play the game. I feel that's a fairly good indicator that they don't find the grind very fun.
4. Does it serve some other useful purpose?
RNG is sort of used as a gating mechanism, to keep players in an area longer. Except it does this very unreliably due to the random nature of it.
1. Does it balance the game in some way?
No. Rarity through random chance will never, ever appropriately balance the strength of an item. It just limits how often you see it being overpowered.
2. Does it reward player skill?
Barely. The only argument you could make here is that more DPS = more chances for a drop in the same time period. But on the small scale, of one player looking for one item, there are far too many instances of "First kill drops" and "I've been grinding for ten hours and got nothing".
3. Is it fun?
Please take note of how often people try to set up elaborate, automatic grinding arenas. These people are going to great lengths to NOT play the game. I feel that's a fairly good indicator that they don't find the grind very fun.
4. Does it serve some other useful purpose?
RNG is sort of used as a gating mechanism, to keep players in an area longer. Except it does this very unreliably due to the random nature of it.
Unknown Entity
Steampunker
One does not simply eliminate RNG.
Shockah
Grandson of The Wizard
One idea that could work would be counting the times you encountered the certain enemy:
* if it doesn't drop a rare item: add to the counter
* if it does drop one: reset/halve the counter value
Then, use some formula to have a bigger chance of getting rare items depending on the counter value.
* if it doesn't drop a rare item: add to the counter
* if it does drop one: reset/halve the counter value
Then, use some formula to have a bigger chance of getting rare items depending on the counter value.
Terra B Welch
Empress of Light
Or those freakin gold/ivy chests with useless crap...
*open ivy chest* oh hey! staff of regrowth! Dammit RNG!
*opens gold chest* oh hey! angel statue! *grumble grumble*
I'm a Raptor
Plantera
I think it is perfectly fine and should not be changed at all.
Items that are achieved through RNG are not needed to finish the game, contrary to popular belief. Yes, it is nice to have these items, and yes, they are quite popular, but there is absolutely no limitation brought about during gameplay that must be solved via RNG.
Items that are achieved through RNG are not needed to finish the game, contrary to popular belief. Yes, it is nice to have these items, and yes, they are quite popular, but there is absolutely no limitation brought about during gameplay that must be solved via RNG.
Garish Gnome
Terrarian
Yes and yes. Some RNG is perfectly fine, more on mundane items than others.
A complete axing of random drop rates would make plenty of items either annoyingly drop every time, or not at all. It really wouldn't make a lot of sense.
The best simple solution would be a scaling drop rate based on kills since the previous x item dropped. Barring that, bosses dropping materials to craft what they would normally drop would go a very long way to addressing things.
Voodoo doll.
Also, picksaw gates being able to grab the lihzahrd altar/bricks. While not strictly needed, is significant enough to mention.
A complete axing of random drop rates would make plenty of items either annoyingly drop every time, or not at all. It really wouldn't make a lot of sense.
The best simple solution would be a scaling drop rate based on kills since the previous x item dropped. Barring that, bosses dropping materials to craft what they would normally drop would go a very long way to addressing things.
Voodoo doll.
Also, picksaw gates being able to grab the lihzahrd altar/bricks. While not strictly needed, is significant enough to mention.
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[Not Admin] Iblob
Terrarian
I've been considering this to however it can make semi common drops like gel from slimes drop way to often depending on how it is set up (Rarity based wont work for instance as the common types of rarities change as the player goes through the game). Plus it may lead to a kind of "Encounter farming" Where people spawn bosses and enemies but don't kill them in order to get massive counter values and get usually broken items quicker than they should.
What i would prefer is just if they dropped the item after a certain number of kills such as for slimes they could drop 2-6 gel every 2 kills and a slime banner every 50 kills.
But this also has issues such as a useful items such as the various emblems taking countless kills to cycle to as the wall can only drop one "Unique" item each time. It could be fixed with boss drops as i have suggested below but it sounds like a lot of work and may delay the update.
Kreuz Drache
Official Terrarian
Whether or not the item has a use to "finish" the game is irrelevant, honestly. It does not change the fact that some items have unnecessarily low drop rates.